Chloe At Worlds' End

Onri twisted the latch and slowly pushed open the door. It noiselessly slid open to more blackness. He whispered to Grog and Alessandro who were both pressing upon his back

“The door is open… shall we go inside?” the answer he heard in unison was

“Yes…”

The three of them, as quietly as they could shuffled in as a single unit and stopped when they were inside a few feet past the door. The only thing they could hear was their own nervous breathing. And judging by how tightly all of their sweating palms were gripped together… they were indeed nervous. Alessandro whispered

“It’s too dark in here… there’s no way for us to spy on anything…

Just then, the booming echo of the door slamming behind them sent a rush of panicked adrenalin painfully shooting to their brains. It was immediately followed by the loud clack of an industrial switch being thrown as dim emergency lighting lit up the large cavernous room which they were in. And they were certainly not alone. Several of the large tunic adorned wolf-like creatures grabbed and wrestled Grog to the floor. While two more, one on either side of them, latched onto Onri and Alessandro. Onri called out in his mind to Chloe

“Chloe… Chloe… it was a trap… we’ve been caught!” He then heard Mothers voice in his head.

“Onri, you will have to be brave and patient… Chloe is currently working on our problems and is indisposed in another dimension… and I am being prevented from retrieving you… please try to be calm and keep your wits about you”

Onri and Alessandro looked gravely at one another as the claws of the wolves were painfully puncturing their shoulders… then at Grog as he was being held face down on the floor. They hadn’t noticed the circular partition of thick black curtains in front of them until the portion of it which faced them slowly drew open. The horror that was Rajeem was sitting there in a lotus position with his legs crossed upon a large circular purple cushion. He was much larger than the other wolves by twice the size. And his eyes were closed as he sat within a pulsing crimson shield of a corona. There was a perpetual violet colored opaque mist which hovered over the corona, and within it and looking out at them was his purple iris ringed eye. When Onri and Alessandro again looked at one another, it was with mouths agape in astonishment and horror. When they returned their gaze upon him, their eyes were drawn to what they had missed the first time… sitting beside him on the floor, inside one of the glass canisters of the type which before had held one of the cloned brains, was his source of power. The amethyst colored jewel was aglow… and it looked as though it probably always was so, as Rajeem had it in constant use. They noticed that it was a little larger than the one on Chloe’s staff.

There were a few moments of nail biting silence… then Rajeem spoke to them

“Hello Onri, Alessandro, and Grog, it’s so very nice to see you again. And where may I ask Onri, is your stupid and ignorant sister… she didn’t care to join our party here again?” Onri tried to control his quaking and cracking voice.

“I’m sure that you will hear from her soon enough… Rajeem”

“Well, that is good… as if I have nothing better to do than wait around for her, that ugly, skinny little girl… it seems that is all I do of late… wait for the moment where I can destroy her utterly… forever, then I can finally go about my important business unimpeded”

Onri spoke to Alessandro and Grog in his mind

“Guys… I don’t think he can hear us as we communicate… we must be at our highest attentiveness, if anything should happen and the situation changes, we must act quickly. He is only a few feet from us… and the crystal is there… if we should get the chance to separate him from it, then he would be powerless”

Chloe felt that she now had enough information to proceed with her new plan. She would commence upon her return journey through evolutional time, and at the proper junctures, she would try to correct and restore any of the genetic coding that Rajeem had altered… and if she could, she would also try to omit the defects that humans had regarding their penchant for selfishness, hatred, and maliciousness.

Grog was growing restless, he wasn’t accustomed to being overpowered by any other creatures, and his desire for revenge upon Rajeem for killing his beloved brother Frog was beyond palpable. He began struggling more forcefully with his captors. Onri called out to him mentally

“Grog, you must remain patient… don’t provoke them… you must preserve your strength and your life for the right moment should it come! We could not hope to prevail against him just now when he is in control of his powers!”

Chloe reached the first juncture in human evolution which she sought, and stopped to exact some changes for the betterment of her race… she did so with some hope in her heart… then returned to her journey forwards.

Grog had heard Onri’s plea, but just couldn’t contain himself. He mustered all of his sizable strength and threw off most of his captors with a roar and stood up. Rajeem’s eyes opened in surprise as Grog wrestled with two of the remaining wolves. Rajeem laughed in obvious entertainment and said mockingly

“I so enjoyed watching your brother burn… prepare to join him now Grog”

The eye above Rajeem spewed its directed plasma, hitting one of the wolves wrestling Grog in its path. It howled in pain as it burst into flames, and ran off frantically waving its arms about. Grog then charged at Rajeem as he broke free of the last wolf. He took only one step when that wolf dove for his legs and grabbed them. Grog fell to the floor with a loud thump as Rajeem smiled a fang toothed grin. The eye again pulsed with a momentary recharging… Grog looked up at it in horror…

Chloe arrived at the second juncture of evolution which she sought. She could tell that this was it, as it was obvious that simultaneously the genomes of wolves and humans had changed dramatically. Without hesitation, she restored them to the way that they were just before being altered.

Onri and Alessandro, watching with frozen horror stricken faces, endured that millisecond as an hour, as the eye was about to finish their friend when somehow the impossible happened… Rajeem and the rest of the wolves, in the blink of an eye, reverted to just plain looking wolves standing on all fours… and the mist shrouded eye disappeared as the glowing jewel became lifeless in its case. Rajeem screamed “NO!” as he looked at it. Onri and Alessandro lunged towards the jewel. It began to start glowing again as Rajeem tried to regain control of it. Onri kicked the glass case… it shattered as it flew from his foot… with the jewel skidding across the floor into the distant darkness. As Onri chased after it, Alessandro dove onto Rajeem as he in return snapped his snarling jaws into his throat. As Alessandro wrestled painfully and messily on the slippery blood splattered floor with Rajeem, Grog appeared, towering over them both. He grabbed Rajeem by the scruffy fur of his neck and with one powerful arm, pulled him off Alessandro and raised him high and writhing above his head.

With Rajeem snarling and snapping his blood frenzied fangs, Grog spied some humming electrical transformers not far away and behind low chain link fencing, which had high voltage hazard warning signs upon it. Rajeem saw where Grog was looking… he began writhing and snapping more excitedly at Grog as they both locked eyes… then Grog spoke loudly to him, the last words he would ever hear again… “This is for my brother… FROG!” Grog threw him into the air, flipping and yelping as he arced over the distance to fence. He landed in the midst of the transformer pit accompanied with zaps of starry sparks, cracks of popping shocks, and wails of deserved deliverance.

Onri had raced back to the scene with the jewel in hand just in time to see the demise of the second Rajeem. He rushed to Alessandro’s aid as the poor boy lay there holding closed the gash in his throat. Just then Chloe appeared, walking through a violet mist portal. She screamed

“Alessandro! Everyone, I can help… step away!” She had just spent the last hour repairing genetic splices, so mending a little torn flesh now seemed almost juvenile. She held the glowing jewel of the staff over his neck… and before all their eyes as if by magic, it was again perfect under the messy smears of blood. Alessandro stood up and felt his neck, saying

“Oh thank you Chloe… I thought I was done for!”

“Don’t mention it Alessandro, of course you’re welcome”

They looked amongst themselves and they were now alone, as the rest of the wolves had run away. Onri said

“Chloe, whatever you did it worked… and without a moment to spare, your timing was perfect!”

“Well, on the aspect of timing I think we can be thankful that some luck was on our side. Shall we go outside? I think that we may have some nice surprises in store”

They hastily made their way out of the building, for just being inside of it still made them all feel quite ill from all of their negative associations with it. When they walked outside into the light of a dusky late afternoon, they found a very large throng of a crowd had gathered there… seemingly waiting for them. And when they appeared it erupted into jubilant celebration. People… real people… not apes, jumped for joy. They crowded around their heroes and hoisted all of them, including somehow the bulk of Grog, above their heads… passing them around. There were chants of praise, giddy laughter, and also the popping open of many bottles of champagne for quite a while before the melee even hinted at being concluded. Chloe said to her friends as they finally had a second to themselves

“I think we may excuse ourselves finally… we could use some rest back at the house in Oregon…” Onri replied

“Yes… ha ha, hurry before we are grabbed again!”

Before they knew it, the mist was clearing and Chloe, Onri, Alessandro, and Grog were standing in the center of the attic, and they were surrounded by all their friends. Charlie… the human one, Sissy, Colin, Ms. Aggie and her pups, all of their furniture friends, and of course not least of all, Mother. She said

“Welcome home to us… our hero’s! I took the liberty of gathering the rest of us here to celebrate our victory… hooray!”

Needless to say, Chloe and her fellow victors enjoyed another victory celebration which lasted into the late evening. When their hoopla finally wore down and all food and drink that was hastily gathered was consumed, the party ended quite abruptly, as everyone realized how completely spent they were. Chloe went to the second floor guest bedroom, which was still decorated as it was many centuries before, when her ancestor Chloe had stayed there. She closed the door, flung her exhausted self onto the bed, and fell into an almost coma like sleep.

It was late the next morning before any stirrings in the house began. When Chloe finally woke up around midmorning, she made her way to the downstairs kitchen. Mother was there, looking quite odd as a tortoise standing upon the booth behind the kitchen table, with the bulk of her shell resting upon the edge of it. And Colin was there as well upon the table, while Onri and Alessandro were seated alongside it. Mother looked her way, saying

“Good morning Chloe… have you any plans today besides a well-deserved rest?” She answered

“Good morning everyone… gosh I haven’t had a chance yet to think what I may have a need to do today” Actually she had thought of something… she felt a strong pull on her heart to visit the last place that she was with Mr. Carpet. But she would keep that to herself for the moment, as she wanted to go there alone when the time came. Alessandro said

“I am so happy that all the people of Sanctum are human again… do you think they have already cleared the rocky rubble away and are making their way out into the real world yet?”

Onri answered him

“Wow, I would love to see that. We must go check on that soon if it is possible, they may need our help” Chloe said

“Yes, it is certainly possible for us to go there and help… if not a downright requirement for us…” Mother then weighed in

“Yes, it appears you all have everything well in hand. And it is definitely past the time for me to be getting back to my actual, real existence in my realm where I belong. In fact, I can delay no longer… I bid you all good bye, I will miss you” They all responded with a

“Good bye mother, we shall miss you as well!” With that, she disappeared into a puff of violet mist… and she was gone. Chloe then said to the rest of them there

“Before we decide when we are going back to help Sanctum, I first need a little time today for myself to do something… I will see you all a little later”

Chloe arrived at the saddest place that now existed for her… the remnants of her old home and life. She had dressed in somewhat of a disguise by wearing a concealing, floppy hat and large sunglasses. Luckily there weren’t too many people around. Mostly she walked slowly through the debris of the house more in thought than actually looking for anything. She was finding it very difficult to be here now… much more than she thought it would be as tears streamed under her glasses. Then, something metallic and spherical in shape caught her eye under the dust… why, it was the Leviloop orb! She bent to pick it up as her nose ran a little through her tears… and laughed in flabbergasted surrender as she held it up in the light… then placed it into her pocket. She had brought a small empty wooden box that she hoped she would be able to use… for the remains of Mr. Carpet. She dearly hoped that she would find some.

She thought of where that spot could be while she had rode her last ride upon him, and walked in that direction. Why… she couldn’t find a thing as she circled and circled the area for quite a long time. She was starting to feel panicked and frantic… she had to find something! She would not leave here until she had found something! Her feelings were getting the better of her now as she became weak kneed while circling yet again, looking, crying, looking, crying… looking… wait… did she hear something? There it was again… a teeny tiny little voice, saying… “Chloe… Chloe…” Her heart caught in her throat… it couldn’t be! “Chloe… down here!” She ripped off her sun glasses and peered into the dirt… it was barely visible to the naked eye, but there it was… a single solitary fiber of a thread… of Mr. Carpet! It somehow escaped the flames!

She screamed and screamed “Mr. Carpet… Mr. Carpet… it’s you! I can’t believe it… Oh my god… I can’t believe it!” “Hold on Mr. Carpet, I see you… oh thank heaven! Thank you, thank you…!” She knelt closer… crying hysterically, but tears now of joy. She plucked the little fiber out of the dirt… it was less than a piece of thread, truly only a hairs width of a single cotton fiber. She said “Oh Mr. Carpet, I hadn’t expected to find anything of you that was still alive! I have an idea… hold on!”

With the fiber more than firmly pressed between her thumb and fore finger, she raised her staff high with her other arm as if in triumph. A crowd had gathered around her in curiosity from all her screaming and theatrics… but they hadn’t the foggiest idea what was going on… other than recognizing that she was obviously their one and only Chloe. Violet mist swirled from the jewel, then around her entirely. The crowd stepped back but kept watching… their eyes followed the wisps as they cleared, and Chloe was gone.

Onri and the entire party happened to be in the attic when Chloe reappeared. When the mist cleared, she observed the surprised and confused looks upon all their faces as she was excitedly and too quickly trying to speak, but she was just not yet intelligible… she stopped speaking and took a couple calming breaths… but could still barely contain her excitement. She said to Onri

“Onri, please go get a needle and thread… I saw some in the kitchen drawer… in the service porch!” He answered tepidly

“Ah, okay…” and sprinted down stairs. Chloe set down her staff and ran over to a pile of bric-a-brac in the corner, and started rummaging around in it with one hand, saying

“I know there is one here… I saw it…” then;

“Here it is!”

Many pairs of curious eyes silently watched her… and waited to see what could possibly happen. Chloe dragged a large rolled up carpet to the center of the room where Mr. Carpet had always lay, and quickly rolled it out onto the floor. As Onri came back into the room and saw some other carpet there in that sanctified spot, he was shocked beyond words… how could Chloe do this? She said to him

“Have you the needle and thread?”

“… yes… here you go”

Chloe was glad to see that the needle was still threaded as she remembered it was.

“Thank you Onri” She said, and continued speaking to everyone as she hastily started sewing.

“I’m sorry to keep you all in suspense… but I am now finished!” She then stood up.

Alessandro asked

“Finished what… what have you finished Chloe?” The edge of one corner of the carpet flapped

“Hello… can anyone hear me?” The room erupted with shouts of glee to say the least. Mr. Piano played enthusiastically loud merry music, and there was much celebration and dancing through the afternoon hours.