Chapter Twenty-Four - Just a Suggestion

                              Chapter Twenty-Four
                              Just a Suggestion

         When the Defender regained consciousness, he was lying in a strange location. The ground was barren of all life. It was without dirt or sand but had a dull, glossy surface with a film of grit. The sky was orange-red without any clouds. There weren't trees or bushes, just rock formations that looked like they were made with quartz or some type of gem. As the Defender stood up, he noticed the air felt different than that of Earth's air. It felt heavier, like the air on a very humid day. He could still breathe; however, it made him wonder if he had super metabolism but never had a chance to try using the superpower before.

         As he walked, he noticed there were no other life forms around. He had seen several forms from a great distance, but he thought his eyes were playing tricks on him because they looked like they were stone statues walking around. But then again, it did remind him of the statue he saw earlier, before the accident that changed him. He picked the direction the statues were going and began to walk in that direction.

         Sometime later, the Defender saw a very large crowd of stone statues. They appeared to be walking around. Strangely, there were no sounds. As he got closer, he noticed several were beginning to notice him. Almost as one, half of the gathering turned and looked at him, stared for a moment, then turned away.

         When he was within speaking distance, the Defender tried striking up a conversation with one of the moving statues.

         "Excuse me, may I ask a question?"

         "I am sorry to bother you, may I speak with you?"

         "Hello?"

         The Defender was getting rather frustrated because he had not received a response. He decided to walk in front of one of them to get their attention.

         When he walked in front of the nearest statue, he noticed right away the face had no mouth, nose, or ears. It only had two normal eyes and the third eye like his. When he noticed the statue's third eye, the Defender's third eye opened and glowed bright green. There wasn't a beam, it just glowed brightly.

         What are you doing in front of me? I have no time for malformed Young Ones. Yes, yes You have a pretty third eye. Go bother someone else. The Supreme High One will be here soon and I need to be ready to listen.

         The Defender thought was it talking to him? He heard a voice in his head as if someone were talking to him. But they don't have a mouth? How was it talking? Dang buzzing noise. Can't seem to see where it is coming from. Sounds like it is coming from everywhere. Annoying.

         The Defender decided he would try and focus on the noise and determine where it was coming from if he could.

         He focused his attention on the noise and instantly became overwhelmed by all the voices he was hearing all at once. It was like being in a very large room with everybody talking all at once while using a microphone.

         He attempted to cut off all the voices that were the loudest. Suddenly, it grew a little bit quieter. He then focused on those individuals who spoke with authority. There was no change. This time, his third eye flared and the number of voices decreased to approximately one hundred. There was one person who seemed to do most of the speaking. The Defender never got his name.

          As most of you are aware, this planet we are viewing is now holding our attention. As you can see, this planet is slightly smaller than our planet and has large amounts of prisms. It can be seen the planet has prisms the color of the Smell of Silence, the Sound of the Sun, and the Vision of Forever. There are also prisms a color we are not familiar with. It appears on the planet's axes and a few other locations. When we focused on the axis of the planet, we discovered it was all colored the same. The air had small falling prisms the same color as the unknown color. We need to do more research on this phenomenon. This may include completely vacuuming the atmosphere as we have done before on other worlds.

         When we began looking at the life forms, one species appears to be the most dominant. We were amazed at the diminutive size, and lack of prism bodies. We did notice, however, that they came in different colors. Despite the variety, no one has the brilliant prismatic color we do. We are not planning to take other samples at this time. The previous samples taken have all been returned with memories wiped, but we will see.

         While looking, we noticed smaller versions of the other inhabitants. We surmised these were the appendages that formed into Young Ones and had joined the society. We became alarmed and surprised when the Young Ones were being carried by larger ones and did not seem interested in separating from their host.

         While viewing the inhabitants, specific individuals intrigued me. They had three lower appendages. Even though one was much smaller and connected to the upper appendage, mobility was acceptable. The bodies appear bent and do not move as fast as the other inhabitants. We have been following one specimen in particular.

          A collective thought occurred that this was an inflicted one, soon to be One with the Planet.

         The Defender saw the individual they were referring to. It was him. Well, it was him prior to his transformation. It dawned on him he somehow went through time and space. He is seeing himself before his change. The person who is leading the group must be whats-his-face. The big guy. The person he saw before.

         He can stop what happened to him.

         Bad idea.

         If he does that, his current self will cease to exist and everything he has done will never have happened. All the good is gone. However, all the bad stuff that occurred will never have happened either.

         Still being connected to the group, the Defender suddenly hears a horror-filled gasp from half of the population present. He wasn't paying attention to what happened, just that something very bad is occurring. He turns to see the window to earth fading before the strange lights going through, creating his future self.

         Acting out of instinct, the Defender focuses his attention and wills his power to flow toward the window to bolster it. While this is happening. The Defender then sends a message to the people holding the weakness at bay that the three light beams will strengthen the window.

         Not knowing if the message is received, he is about to resend it when he sees the leader holding three crystals up and aiming them at the window. Three bright lights appear and blast into the frame. It works. There is a mighty explosion, and the Defender is thrown into the air along with others, with his third eye closing and transports him home with no memory of the event.

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