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Above the domes, within those very same amethyst skies, gunships were flying. Massive, majestic ships that were beautiful in their dominance of the sky. Not only were they flying, they were also fighting...a nearly continuous battle that paused for very few things.

Today, one of those things would be the damsel in distress that had managed to catch the attention of not one, but two, ship captains that were as different as night and day. Obviously she didn?t realize she was a damsel in distress and she hadn?t exactly been in distress and wouldn?t be unless one of those captains reached her first.

Unbeknownst to the young elven woman that hunkered upon the greenery below, bared legs drawn against an equally bare torso, she was the linchpin in the latest of disagreements between the two most famous (or infamous) air captains in Biodome. Was it because of the young queen?s unmatched beauty? The exotic slant of her large green eyes, the tapered point of her ears or perhaps the perfect proportion of her chiseled, elongated body that gave evidence that the gods were more than simple minded narcissists, at least when it came to creating their art.

As true as any and all of these facts were regarding the young woman that had suddenly overcome the stupor of her ordeal and was now arising from her cower upon the ground, this was not the reason the two air captains were now lighting up the violet sky with angry red and gold explosions from their ship?s weapons. The dome above the elf?s head actually shuddered in response to a particularly nasty dual explosion, the aftermath rocked the smaller of the gunships out of the air but thanks to some brilliant, death defying maneuvering on the part of The Epyllion?s captain, the majestic ship refrained from crashing into the impervious dome below as it plummeted madly through the air, spiralling downwards at an alarming rate that had the crew bracing for the impact that, thankfully, would never come. There was a howl of maniacal laughter that should not have been audible and one could only guess that its origin was from the captain of The Kurgan, wicked being that he was.

No, as lovely as this young queen was, this was not the reason for the battle taking place above her. Honestly, neither captain could see her in any detail. She had been an object plummeting through the sky after a wormhole had opened and vomited her out into the Biodome?s atmosphere. As she had approached the massive dome that covered the terrain and protected air quality below it, a faint charge of energy could be seen. The elven maiden?s hair became a mass of electrically charged matter that splayed out about her in some otherworldly fan of obsidian with tendrils of frenetic silver electricity flowing between her body and the dome that she was somehow passing through as if it didn?t exist.

The fantastical two above the dome were locked into a battle that seemed to span, far reaching, across any space and time barriers. Theirs was a struggle, orchestrated by the universe herself, to maintain balance; and Isa`viel could be a weapon wielded by either side, whomever won the battle and found her first. Which would be difficult since they didn?t know she was a ?she.? She was simply an ?it,? an object they were fighting over because this was what was supposed to happen next, though neither knew they were being goaded into doing so.

The universe was a chaotic bitch, though neither evil nor good. While maintaining balance because the gods demanded that it be so, she did so in her own ways. Rescuing a young queen from her death in another dimension and imbuing her with the power needed for one side to win the battle over the other? Check. It would be entertainment for a timeless entity that was bored beyond all comprehension. What would happen when one side wielded their new weapon and won this battle? She, the universe, would orchestrate something new.

There would always be another battle. There would always be chaos. The balance would forever be maintained.

A playful, though far too curious red panda came barrelling towards Isa. This particular species of animal was foreign to her and in her experience, most animals of such a color should be avoided. The elf began her naked sprint across the flowered meadow that, within moments changed. Isa found herself attempting to halt abruptly as massive tree roots sprung up from the previously flat terrain directly within her path. Losing her footing, she sprawled face first upon ground that was, once again, completely flat. The tree roots that had arisen to trip her up were suddenly gone and the red panda was galloping faster towards her. Somewhere in the back of her mind, the elf wondered how a creature that was so portly was able to move at such a speed.

Scrambling to her hands and knees and then pushing off with the force of powerful thighs to propel her rapidly forward, the elf was confident she could outrun the strange creature. Until, yet again, the terrain changed and had her slamming face first into the smooth white bark of a tree whose girth could have easily made four of the elven queen. Knocked rather senseless, Isa stumbled backwards, was tripped by the tentacled vines of one of the oddest ?flowers? she had ever encountered, and found herself laying flat upon her back. The bumpiness of the ground beneath her smoothed out so that she felt the moist coolness of moss beneath her. A canopy of oddly shaped and multicolored leaves became her parasol. If all of that wasn?t enough change to throw the elf into shock, the red panda was suddenly standing right behind where she lay with its face, upside down, over hers. A warm tongue lulled from between powerful jaws and licked the trembling girl from her forehead to her chin, not omitting any feature in between.

The Queen of Faerondalen was once again unconscious upon a bed of soft grass and lovely wildflowers beneath peaceful amethyst skies, overcome by the onslaught of oddities since she had awakened in this fascinatingly terrifying new world.

Image above belongs to Gloria Scholik