They're something more; I don't knowa bout the king at all, he's neglectful and that's why she's doing this I'd say.

There aren't *too* many demons and such, yet. [I didn't say I was bypassing the filter, just that the admins are evil, excepting her grace, Coppertop]



*Chapter 22: Ring of fire*

The entity drifted through the world, wrapping itself around trees, gushing through streams, feeling its form undulate and disperse among the many, many novel toys there were here. The exceptionally perceptive may have seen It as a faint silver mist, or a golden sparkle as It shifted through reality, but little else. This was not just due to the fact that It was moving at a speed of almost 500 meters per second, but also because the entire planet had become surrounded by several miles of stormclouds. From space it looked like a dirty snowball. The entity was enjoying Itself; it wasn't very often It had the energy to become physically manifest, but It could feel the energy of the thread moving through It, not needing any interference but twisting reality around itself now. It wasn't a strong thread, it had not run very often, but it was gaining power rapidly now; when this loop was over it would be etched into perpetuity forever, it could repeat as often as it wished, and the energy it gave would never truly die.

Officers Sidera and Marco stomped grumpily toward the pillar of orange flame that seemed to be coming from somewhere near the city. Despite the panic that was increasingly evident around them they walked, what had happened to their cars, combined with the long dusty walk and finally the light drizzle that had stuck their uniforms to them till the chafed, covered them with mud and chilled them to the bone, had filled them in equal measure with a desire to see someone else suffer for a change, and the attitude to make sure they did. They hadn't been walking an hour before they reached the roadblock.

Technically the road into the city was totally unobstructed, if you didn't count a number of molten, blazing wrecks scattered around the countryside. It was just that a ten foot wall of flickering purple flames cut right across it. They were thin and insubstantial, the road could be seen to continue right through them, yet they seemed to radiate a solidness that went beyond the usual mutual electron cloud repulsions that defined ordinary matter. Several patrol vehicles were parked at the roadside and their drivers were absentmindedly drinking coffee and arguing with themselves. Marco approached the closest one and demanded to be told what was going on.

The cadet he confronted looked as if he was seriously considering quitting right then and there and starting up carrot farming. [The government heavily subsidized the industry and made sure 'unfortunate circumstances' occurred to those planets foolish enough to try and compete with their monopoly on the trade.] He stuttered when he spoke and was trying to drink two cups of coffee and a cigarette. "Well sir, as far as I can tell sir, this wall of flames sir, it appeared all at once sir, and, and anything that tries to cross it sir, gets burned to a crisp and frozen sir." Sidera frowned. "Burned to a crisp and frozen, I see, so I can make a good baked Alaska then?" Another rabbit, this one wearing a lab coat interjected. "Yes, haha, sorry, equipment failure you see, the temperature is about 720 degrees, but we were getting readings of 230 below, we’ll sort it out any moment now." [In fact, the $40'000 temperature analysis probe was doing a good job of measuring the real temperature of the flames, which was +720 and -230 degrees at the same time.] It doesn't go around the city, or even the main road sir, it just encircles a few square miles of empty land. We think this may be the turtle's doing."

This was a perfect opportunity to vent. "So- I suppose nobody's tried to fly over this then? They're only ten frelling feet high!" Another officer answered this. "He tried sir, got burned to a cinder like the rest of them, nothing up to space can go over the spot without becoming a deep fried icicle." He stared mournfully at one of the smoking wrecks. "Poor No'; he wouldn't have taken al those risks if he'd been named proper, he was a good guy." Sidera led him away, patting him on the back while Marco stood stock still and open mouthed. "What the hell is going on here?

He shook his head, for a moment there he'd heard a faint silvery voice whisper 'It is!'