The Helix Hex (ATSSC), page 1

The Land of Danu (Eire). Past.

Ziz came to a clearing in the forest, at one end of which was a cave set into a small rocky abutment, moving no less casually than he had during his flight from the Erlking, he made his way slowly within. Once within the cave a faint light showed through the gloom ahead, occasionally Ziz would have to lower himself to his belly and crawl through small openings to continue towards the light. Behind him he could hear Fenrir snuffling and growling and pawing at the dirt, the openings too small to admit his massive torso.
At last he came to a large cavern which spread as far as he could see, water dripped incessantly from the ceiling making the floor of the cavern slick and glistening from the moisture. Here now for the time being he was safe, and he found a dark corner to rest, closing his eye's to dream of the prophecy amid the sounds of the trickling water and the steady beating of his heart. The final sound to reach his ears before exhaustion claimed him was the thunderous roar of Fenrir and the following deafening explosion as the cave entrance collapsed and sealed him within.

Somewhere in the US. Present.

" Look at him David he's harmless, take off the shackles, were getting nowhere like this " Liz stood defiantly in the middle of the living room floor, hands on hips.
God she was beautiful thought David, and bloody stubborn. He had held a torch for her for many years now but never had the strength or courage to tell her. And Liz for all her beauty and charm hardly ever seemed to date, she was way to engrossed in her work and scared the men off that she did date with her amazing intelligence.
" Okay, you win " he said.
As soon as he released the shackles from the clones arms and legs he began vigourously rubbing them, getting the blood circulating. David walked backwards to the other side of the room, never taking his eye's off the subject, his hand on the butt of the Glock in his coat pocket, the overpoweringly sweet body odour of the boy seemed to follow him across the room.
Liz gingerly approached the boy, they had dressed him in a pair of faded denim jeans and a black sweat shirt with a hood while he had been unconcious.
" It's okay, we wont hurt you " she said to the boy as she approached, hands outstretched.
" I know " said the clone.
Liz stopped short, David whipped the gun out from his pocket, they both looked at each other, momentarily stunned.

Beneath the Earth. Present.

The Erlking sat upon a throne of bones, at his feet lay Fenrir the wolf, all about the mighty cavern creatures of all shapes and descriptions cavorted madly, eating, fighting, fornicating.
" Fenrir, the cursed Tuath is alive, i know not how, find him and kill him and bring me his head, do not fail me again or Gleiphir shall hold you for eternity ".
Fenrir looked up at the grotesque figure of the Erlking seated above him on the throne, a low growl eminated from his throat but nothing more, the Erlking was his master through sorcery for now, as he had the power of the invisible chain Gleiphir.
" Before you kill the blasted Tuath i must know the whereabouts of The Lia Fail, the spear of Lug, the sword of Nuadu, and the cauldron of Dagda. Only then can we return to the surface and enslave the miserable humans. Go." He spat the last word defiantly into Fenrirs upturned face.

Fenrir rose to his feet and growled, the hackles upon his enormous back raised threatingly, he looked about the room and howled before moving slowly up a passage that sloped gently towards the surface. The creatures of the Erlkings empire moved out of his way, even the most ferocious and vicious lowered their eye's before the glare of Fenrir. Fenrir looked back momentarily and stared directly at a beast with the head of a hare, ears like a man, a long sinuous body with the forepaws of a badger and the rear legs of a bear. This was Rompo, who fell quickly in behind Fenrir as they ascended towards the surface.

Somewhere in the US. Present.

" I am Ziz, of the Tuatha De Danaan, i thought i was the last of my kind and died with that thought heavy on my mind, but now i find myself here in the distant future ", said Ziz, looking for all the world like an adolescent skater boy and not the last of a magical race of beings that had once inhabited Ireland thousands of years before and who had travelled to Earth for millenia before that.
David and Liz sat opposite Ziz on a small ragged couch, transfixed, all their fear and anxiety had dissipated the moment Ziz had started to recount his amazing story.
Of his Tuatha De Danaan's arrival on Earth, their battle's with the Firbolg and the Fomorians, their defeat and banishment to the Underworld by the Milesians and their near extermination by the Erlking and his minions.
Ziz recounted his own desperate escape from the dungeons beneath the earth as the Erlking tried to coax the location of the Tuatha's great weapons from him and their source of magical power. His last word's had described his escape from Fenrir into the caves, where he had slept and eventually died.
Or so he thought, but his liason with a human girl while imprisoned must have conceived a child, who had escaped with some other humans during the commotion of his own getaway, and for it to be a pure Tuatha De Danaan, then she must also have been of his race and was merely hiding out amongst the human population. These things he only surmised for he was as much astounded by his own presence here as both David and Liz were. Some part of their reanimation process must have awoken an otherwise unknown key within the DNA of one of his descendants, the one whose tissue it was that they had obtained.
" But how are you able to speak too, and understand us " asked Liz.
" We are telepathic and also able to absorb enormous amounts of knowledge, while you thought me unconcious i was busy learning as much about you and your time that i could ".
David was tempted then to remove his gun and use it, how dangerous to the human race would it be to allow this man to live.
" It would do you no good David, i could paralyse you before the thought of using your weapon could reach your brain, but fear not, i wish you and your people no harm, i want only to get to our escape vessel, from there i can reach our great ship and leave here. Aboard our ship is the DNA profiles of all my people and their neural imprints, with this i can travel on and find us all another home".
" Sorry Ziz, but i dont think i could have shot you anyway, it was just the momentary thought of the danger you could pose to my race ".
" Yes, as it was with your people when we first arrived here, and then later with the demons that live below the earth, you will never know peace and for that reason i will leave with the hope of finding another home for the Tuatha ".
" How can we help you ", asked Liz, before David could answer.
" I must return to the land of Danu, the place called Ireland, to the mound of Tara. Beneath this mound is the real Lia Fail with which i can call a ship to take me to our great mother ship hidden in a crater upon your moon".

[edit on 19/3/07 by mojo4sale]