Sell you a Bridge chapter 308

June 20th 2016 Destiny Islands, 4:00 PM EDT

We  spent the next two days hanging out and bonding, but despite the fun we  were having on the island, the knowledge that we had the means to leave  had kind of ruined things. I'd talked over everything with the others,  mentioning the dark cave behind the waterfall. I'd even checked it out  with my aura sight, and the thing was basically a wellspring of dark  energy on a level I'd never even seen. Whatever was in there must be  powerful as hell and intelligent too, because the energy was completely  invisible until you got close.

Pretty much the ONLY upside was that the energy wasn't the darkness that Barbatos  and I used to travel between worlds. This was...different. Like magic,  but sort of the opposite. Eventually after a few days trying to ignore  things (one of which I spent with Rana with a promise to have another  bonding day when we could focus) we eventually made the decision to  explore the cave.

Finding  it was simple given Wally's directions and my clone's scan, and as we  approached it, I called everyone to a stop. Sindella, John, Jim, and Zee  were all starting to twitch as we approached, and I turned to my  sorceress with a questioning look. "Okay, what's the deal? You never  fidget. This place is clearly bothering you, is it the weird magical  signature? Because I can kind of feel that."

Zee's  eyes were bolted to the entrance to the cave even as she responded.  "Yes. I'm not sure what's in there, but it's not magic. Or maybe it's  not-magic?" She shook her head, turning to her mother. "I can't describe  this properly, do you know what the hell that is? It's making me kind  of sick just thinking about it." Her voice was uncomfortable, like she  was near something dangerous to her.

"No."  Said Sindella grimly. "Not even remotely. I'd say it was anti-magic.  But that's not it at all. Anti-magic as people describe it is a force  that neutralizes magic, whereas this is more like the polar opposite of  it. The only reason I'd use the term anti-magic at all is because this  reminds me a bit of anti-matter but it's spiritual instead of physical. I  don't...I don't think it wants to hurt us. We would know if it did. I  can sense the power and there's SO MUCH of it. I can't even conceive of  it. I've met literal gods without this much energy."

So  had I. Hell, Darkseid wasn't this strong. I didn't like their weird  descriptions of this stuff. I could sense it a bit, but my own energy  wasn't really magic. It could ACT like magic sometimes, but I had long  since figured out my 'points' were a sort of universal energy based on  falsehood. I didn't have Zee or Sindella's connection to real magic.

I  looked at the other two magic users, but both John and Jim were  apparently at a loss based on the silence. Amusingly, it was Suzie that  broke the tension. By burping. Loudly. We all turned to look at and she  sniffed and looked away. What. I had a few beers with lunch. This is  boring. Can we go inside? If something oogie-boogie is in there we'll  just punch holes in its arse until it gets out of the way."

Artemis  grinned widely at the shotgun wielding blonde, a spark of that same  hero worship I'd been seeing before returning. "See! This is why I like  her! No use standing around and flapping our gums. We can handle some  half ass cave dweller." She held out a fist and Suzie bumped it with a  grin, while the rest of us became very concerned about the possible  ramification of that friendship.

Luckily  fear of what Shotgun Suzie would turn my sister into dwarfed my fear of  the unknown, and it made staying nervous much harder. Eventually I  armored up, conjured Tartarus, and gestured for the others to follow me.  Taking point seemed safest with my defensibility. We had to struggle to  squeeze into the entrance to the cave, and I got down to crawl into the  opening, climbing back to my feet as I made it inside.

Since  there was no point in being subtle in a cave this size, especially  since we'd stood outside making it clear we knew it existed, I called  out for whatever was in the cave. "Excuse me. Is anyone there? We  noticed your energy signature and came looking for what was in here. We  aren't hostile if you aren't and we'd like to talk." I waited. There was  no response. "My name is Morgan. What's yours."

Silence.  More silence. Silence three, silence returns. Finally, when I was just  about to speak again, a high pitched giggling voice emerged from the  darkness. "A name?" The voice giggled. "How...quaint. Oh what fun, I've  never had one of those. I suppose I'll need to select one. Though maybe  not. You aren't exactly the most reliable source, are you, little  thing?" I couldn't see where the thing was, which was unsettling in a  cave this small, and the voice bothered me. Like the high pitched  whistle of the wind through the trees of a graveyard, or the yowl of an  injured cat.

I  cleared my throat. "I don't suppose you're...a certain bat related  being?" I didn't think so, which is why I didn't say the name out loud,  but I wanted to make sure as best I could before going forward. If I was  going to have to fight this thing anyway I might as well skip the  pleasantries.

The  sneer in it's voice was clear. "My first visitor and it's stupid. How  unfortunate. I just told you I have no name. The being whose name you  are currently voiding saying has dozens. You aren't exactly impressing  me. Still, if we're to work together a bit of leeway is to be expected.  You're still almost mortal. I've never had one of you to speak to  before, so I can put up with a bit of idiocy while you work out the  kinks."

The  darkness parted like a curtain, and we could see into the cave. Off to  the side there were the chalk drawing and the strange door, but opposite  them was...weirdness. A large space, much bigger than should be here,  made of a multitude of shifting blues and purples and blacks. In the  depths of the space I could see stairs building to emptiness and set in  every possible direction.

There  was a ceiling to the vast space though, and from it hung...something. A  being covered in white scales. Its ears were open holes and it's mouth  sat somehow inverted on it's face. smiling right side up from an upside  down face with no eyes, exposing rows of needle sharp teeth in an  unsettling smile. "Oh." I said distractedly. "Hello. Nice to meet you. I  didn't see you there." It knew that of course, but I was kind of at a  loss for what to say to this weird fucking thing.

It's  upside down grin widened. "I know. I didn't want you to. But if we're  to speak, I suppose I should make the effort to talk face to face at  least. You may call me...the Upside Down Man. I am the leader of the  Otherkind." I felt Sindella and Jim both flinch back in horror at the  statement. The Upside Down Man giggled. "Oh dear, I seem to have scared  your dead things. A ghost and a revenant. You certainly do have such fun  don't you?"

I turned to look at  Sindella, who kind of looked like she was staring at the boogeyman. Her  eyes were wide and her face was pale as her lips trembled. I whistled  and waved my hand in front of her a few times. Finally, she flinched and  snapped out of her reverie. "I...oh gods, we need to go Morgan. That  thing is. That is to say..." She looked at the Upside Down Man. "Sir, I  don't mean to- but we need to be going. We should go. Let's go. We need  to go." She was babbling as she looked around in panic.

The hanging being giggled again. "Oh calm down little uncorpse. Unlike Barbatos  I have no interest in subverting such an interesting new development. I  don't need more power, as you well know. As for my nature...well, I  suppose there's a reason for everything, isn't there? Some forces are  needed for others to function. What better way to make a such place  habitable. It's really genius if you think about it. Regardless, I  simply wanted to meet a new coworker, and perhaps offer a helping hand  to start our relationship off on a good note."

I  looked at Sindella, who looked ill. "This is...the Otherkind. I know  about them. I don't know what this thing is, but the Otherkind I've  heard of. In the beginning, when the multiverse was created, magic came  into existence. Hecate was the personification of magic, its  incarnation. With her came other forces of magic, and with those forces  came the Otherkind. Dark reflections of sorcerous concepts. He's  like...the opposite of a spirit of magic. And if he's their leader..."

The  Upside Down man nodded, which looked...weird since he was hanging  inverted and had an upside down mouth. "Yes. I was the first. Hecate's  dark reflection. She feared me, and so bound me here, locked away from  all of creation." He paused. "Not..like here, here. Here as in the dark  multiverse, I go where I want in this realm, I don't just live in this  cave or anything. Still, I am to this realm what Hecate is to the realm  of light."

"Ok."  I said slowly, despite this being decidedly NOT ok. Lying was sort of  my jam though, so fake it til' you make it. "So you said you want to  help me because we're coworkers. I know enough about you  otherdimensional beings not to bother asking for an explanation of that  cryptic bullshit, but why would you help me either way? You might be  pissing off...him. Which seems like a bad idea."

The  Otherkind King shrugged. "So? He's boring. All he dopes is lord it over  his bullshit realm and watch it decompose. If I'm to be stuck in this  multiverse I think I'd like it spruced up a bit. You seem like you might  try something new, and doing away with my boredom is worth far more  that pissing off the unholy garbage disposal. It's not like he can hurt  me."

He  snickered. "And you have pissed him off. He has all his lit bat bitches  running amok looking for you, and he even sent his edgy boy worshippers  in the cloaks to wait at the edges of the dark. You'll need to pass  through Twilight Town to leave and they've been crawling all over it. I  can't help you out of here, obviously, but I can send you directly  there. I don't fancy watching you fight a variety of boring bat people  anyway."

That  was interesting. "Twilight town? That's the edge? But wait, what  exactly are the cloaked guys you mentioned. Cloaks like ours?" It made  sense someone else would have access to the cloaks. That castle had  probably been there for ages. Still, it was a worrying development.

The  Otherkind shrugged again. "Yes, but you should be more focused on me  sending you to Twilight Town. This is a limited time offer. If I stick  around here too long he's going to get curious. He's been looking over  this multiverse pretty closely, and concentrations of power like mine  aren't exactly a dime a dozen." He gestured toward the door without a  knob and a swirl of this same purple, blue, and black consumed it,  creating a portal. "So the question becomes, are you willing to trust  me. If you are, just walk on through. Oh, and don't worry about his  minions. I assure you. You have Nobody to worry about." I had to admit.  The high pitched giggling following that statement did NOT fill me with  confidence.