Op: Marraketh
"Transformation"

"And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."
			--John 8:32[1]

"It's the end of the world as we know it."
			--REM, "It's the End of the World"

	It was morning in Marraketh again. Remmick whistled 
cheerfully as he came down the steps into the dungeon and woke up 
the other guard. "Shift's over!"
	The other guard gathered his belongings and went 
upstairs. Remmick walked down the cell row to check on the lone 
prisoner in his keep.
	Katze was sitting up in bed when Remmick came by. She 
looked serene and happy about something, which made Remmick 
decide to ask a question. "What are you so cheerful about this 
morning?"
	Katze looked towards Remmick, as if noticing him for the 
first time. "It's all going to be over today."
	Remmick's mouth dropped. A couple of people had arrived 
at the underground headquarters before he'd left this morning, 
but he hadn't told Katze about it yet. "What do you mean?" he 
asked.
	"I mean what I say. Sid is going to be gone. Vamoosh."
        Remmick didn't understand the last word that Katze had 
used, but he didn't bother asking. Katze was being rather 
distant, and he wasn't completely sure why. "Are you alright?" he 
finally asked.
	Katze nodded. "More alright than I've been in my life."
	Puzzled by this turn of events, Remmick just shrugged. 
"Okay, Katze. I'm going to return to my seat, I just wanted to 
make sure you were still here."
	"Yep, I'm still here. And, I'm not gonna go anywhere with 
these bars in the way, right?"
	"True." Remmick went back to his seat, pondering the 
logistics. Mikje would be here around 9 AM local time. About that 
time, he'd have to find some excuse for going home so that he 
could join the liberation army.
	That stranger had better be right, or Sid would execute 
them all without blinking.

	Katze was in a trance that morning. Things were just so 
clear for the first time in her life. There were still minor bits 
of fog, but it was better than the haze she'd lived with all of 
her life. It was a wholeness that had been foreign to her 
earlier.
	She knew that Sid was going to convert her today. How she 
knew this, she could not tell, but it was suddenly as if the 
static that had held her in solitary had suddenly been pulled 
away. How simple it had been to break through it once she knew! 
How simple was it to go skipping through town and remain in the 
cell! And what a surprise Sid was going to have when he tried to 
convert her.
	She set Tyrene's journal on her cot and stepped away from 
it. It was a simple matter to get the book to rise into the air 
on its own... once one understood the way the universe was 
connected.
	Remmick came back again with breakfast, just some carrots 
and water. Katze didn't really care all that much this morning. 
She didn't even look at the plate when Remmick brought it in. 
Remmick retreated quite hastily, his mind still on other things.
	[How do I know that? It is no matter.] She explored other 
things that just suddenly made sense.
	Suddenly, her mind was drawn back to the room by a bunch 
of guards dragging a prisoner in.

	Remmick heard a commotion in the staircase, and a bunch 
of guards appeared, almost catching him off guard. They were 
dragging a prisoner, whom Remmick didn't identify. [One of that 
stranger's army men? I don't know what kind of army he's got, if 
he's got people like that?] But he didn't let on his thoughts.
	"Oy, Thartin," he called to one of the other guards, 
trying hard to finish his duties while holding back tears. "What 
goes in our fair city?"
	"There is a winged beast in the city that wishes to 
destroy us all," the other guard said, biting his lip to keep 
from crying. "The Master must not be pleased with us anymore. We 
must eat more healthy snacks and capture more enemies."
	One guard removed a piece of fabric that the prisoner was 
wearing, folded it up, and placed it down the hall next to 
Katze's stuff. He added a collection of stuff he found hidden 
around the unconscious form to the top of it. Then they lifted him 
up and carried it into the cell. "Watch him, Remmick, he's a 
slimy one," said one of the guards as they trooped up the 
staircase.
	Remmick sighed. Another prisoner to watch on today of all 
days? He looked up. Katze was looking across the hall into the
distance. Remmick almost got up enough nerve to ask Katze if she 
knew who the other prisoner was when he beheld the strangest 
sight he had ever seen.
	A glass of water set out on a journey across the hallway. 
It was being held very steadily and calmly. Remmick remembered 
his days in the MRFG. He could lift things without touching them, 
but never very steadily. Even Mikje, the founder of the Guard, 
could not do it very well. The Marrakethian Codes had taken their 
toll, and he was amazed to see this small display of what the 
Codes had taken away.
	The water continued on its dance across the hallway and 
into the new prisoner's cell. Effortlessly, Remmick moved to the 
other side of the hallway to see what would happen.
        The glass stopped over the new prisoner's head and paused 
for a second. Then it very neatly tipped over and poured its 
contents over the prisoner's head. It then disappeared from its 
spot above the prisoner's head.
	The new prisoner sat up, sputtering water all over the 
place. It squawked unintelligibly and unhappily. He reached up for 
the bars, shook them, and found they were rock solid. A good 
forge had made those bars before the Master took over.
	He watched for a while longer before he took his leave. 
Katze obviously recognized the person, and spoke to him in his 
own unintelligible squawks.  Neither of them would notice that the 
guard had disappeared. He hung the jail keys on a nail where they 
always went, hoping Katze would see them there and use them to 
get herself and her friend out of jail. He then ran up the 
stairs and out of the castle.
	How good it would be to see Mikje after all these years.

	Katze was silent with concentration as the water made its 
trip over to Red's cell. She needed Red awake, for some vague 
unexplainable reason. He was an interesting soul, and the first 
Jihaddi she'd seen except for Mal... and well, Mal sorta didn't 
count.
	With a deft nod, the water cup tilted and spilt its 
contents all over Red. Red spluttered and jumped up in anger. 
Katze waited impassionately as the assassin tried the door. 
Failing that, he looked right, then left. Finally, he looked 
straight across the hall. His jaw suddenly dropped and his voice 
went to a whisper. "Councillor?" he asked.
	His one word caused Katze to go spinning off onto another 
tangent. It seemed several lifetimes ago that she held that 
title. She knew it had only been a few days since she'd left 
Earth, but it seemed... distant. A tug of war game was going on 
for her very being, and she knew not who would win.
	However this was a perfectly normal state of affairs, 
and Katze was content with this. Therefore, the only acceptable 
answer was, "Yes, yes, that is me."
        For right now, anyway. Tomorrow could be different.
        Red pondered this. It was a quiet moment, and then Red 
asked, "Are you alright?"
	The unspoken question hung in the air--had she been 
converted? Heck no, but Red had no way of knowing that. And Red 
didn't know about the wonderful thing that had happened last 
night, and Red didn't know her plans for old Siddy boy. As she 
thought again of last night, a calm wave washed over her body, 
and she was at peace with the whole world. Worlds, even. "I'm 
fine... more than fine even." After those words, she pondered 
getting Red off these ideas--and finally hit on an good question. 
"So, how'd they get you?"
        Red looked at her and started to talk. Katze really 
wasn't paying attention. There were too many other things on her 
mind this morning. She just had a sneaky feeling Sid was going to 
try something desperate. Remmick was excited about something 
which means Sid has to be worried. But about what?
	Suddenly, she was yanked back to reality by one of Red's 
questions. He was asking about a black dragon. [Shad's here?] she 
thought to herself. Her surprise was so great, she replied to Red 
in Marrakethian.
	Red looked rather confused. "Could you repeat that in 
English?"
	Katze nodded, and tried to find the words. "That's Shad. 
He's a fellow officer in TRES Corps, and a good friend of mine."
[Wow. Am I that important?]
	Red fell silent. It was a good thing, for there were 
steps coming down the staircase. The person emerged, and by the 
torchlight, Katze could see that it was Josh. "What do you want?" 
she challenged in English.
	"Where's Remmick?" he asked in Marrakethian, slightly 
nodding at the other prisoner.
	Katze switched languages. "He went somewhere, I'm not 
sure where."
	Josh nodded. "The resistance is going to strike today. 
Mikje has come back to town to direct them."
	"You're kidding."
	"Nope. Did he take the keys with him?"
	"I don't know." Katze looked down the hallway. "What are 
those things hanging there?"
	"Those, I'd say, are the keys."
	"And why do you want the keys?"
	Josh walked down the hallway to retrieve them. As he 
picked them up, he said, "Because I remember the poppies."
	Katze gaped. "You mean you aren't a cruel heartless 
bastard that was just waiting for me to flub up so you could 
destroy me?"
	"I know, and I'm sorry. I made a mistake, and I'm paying 
for it. And I'd like to make it up to you." He swung the keys 
around and then inserted one in the lock. "I'm letting you go. Go 
join the others in the fight against Sid."
	The door slid open. Katze stepped forward, only to see a 
bright shape step out of the stairwell and fire something. 
"JOSH!" she screamed.
	Josh started to turn and run, but the crossbow bolt 
slammed right into his back and knocked him onto the floor. The 
back of his shirt started absorbing the blood from the wound. 
Josh lay still on the floor, and Katze wondered if her best 
friend was dead.
	A second soldier came out of the stairwell. "Come along, 
the Lord Protector has an appointment with you. And he'll be glad 
to know that traitor he had for a son is dead."

	Sid Harldcast looked around the crowds that waited in the 
Great Hall. This was getting rather tedious, the Katze girl 
refusing to join his side. He decided that at the end of the day, 
she would be for the Master--whether it was by choice, or by 
force.
	The guards came in, followed by the prisoner. She looked 
at him, and shook her head.
	This infuriated Sid. "Why do you shake your head at me?"
	Katze shrugged. "Because I felt like it?"
	Sid scowled. "Have you made a decision yet?"
	"As a matter of fact, I have."
	Sid raised his eyebrows. "And the decision, lady Katze?"
	"I cannot, in good faith or conscience, serve neither the 
Master nor you."
	"Why you little..."
	"Let me explain. I cannot do this because I cannot 
condone the stealing of minds. I cannot accept that to serve the 
Master, one must give up freedom of thought, and freedom of 
action. I cannot accept these things, and therefore, I cannot 
accept your offer."
	Sid scowled as the crowd in the Great Hall gasped at 
Katze's words. "That is the choice you make?"
	"That is the choice I make."
	"Then I have no choice but to convert you by force."
	"Then I have no choice but to warn you if you try to do 
that, only one of us will walk out of this room alive."
	"Ah, so you are a seer as well now?"
	"No, I am not a seer. I just tell it like I see it. I 
would rather die than convert."
	"That can be arranged."
	"But is it worth it destroying me?"
	Sid blinked. Katze had called his bluff. "It could be, 
yes. Although, you'd still be more valuable converted."
	Katze looked him straight in the eye. "It will have to be 
over my dead body, I'm afraid. Anyway, what makes you think you 
can convert me? It took the Master a month to convert my father. 
What makes you think you can do it any faster?"
	Sid glowered at Katze. Katze shrugged.
	The room held its collective breath at the standoff. This 
was difficult watching the Lord Protector being given a hard time 
by the traitor. Finally, Sid spoke again. "Things have advanced. 
Besides, you have a weak point your father didn't have."
	"And that is?"
	"We know your habits."
	"This helps you how?"
	"Very simply. We know what makes you tick... and what 
will make you fall to your knees and succumb."
	"Try it then, if you think you know these things."
	"Very well. Cue song."
	[Cue song? I wonder what the fsck he means by that?]
        Katze stood alone in the center of the Great Hall. She 
looked down at her feet and noticed that she was standing almost 
directly on Rhye in the map of Marraketh. Why this minor detail 
occurred to her at such a point doesn't really matter. It was one 
of those split seconds that seem to last an eternity.
	The song started. If it hadn't been one particular song, 
Katze probably would have laughed at the absurdity of it all. 
Here was Sid, the only language he knew was Marrakethian, and 
he'd cued a song in English. The thing that took away from the 
humor was that it was the Wyrm's evil chant.
	[It could be worse, you could have the Wyrm himself here 
singing it to you.] This thought didn't seem to be much 
consolation, however. She was facing down what could be the end 
of it all.
	Suddenly, there was a loud noise. A door flew open in the 
back of the room, revealing Mal, in much more sane clothes than 
the last time she'd seen him, and Ari. Mal had a gun in his hand, 
and Katze instinctively ducked, although nobody else knew what 
that thing in his hand was. Mal wasn't aiming at anybody in the 
room, he was actually aiming at a thing--a bar on the front door 
of the Great Hall. With one quick shot, he took that out, and a 
crowd of people she recognized swarmed in the door and started 
tussling with the guards. The lords and ladies of the Lord 
Protector's Court were running for any available exit, and Katze 
looked around the chaos in complete confusion. What was she 
supposed to do?
	She looked at Sid and found him grinning evilly. "I've 
won," he said, yelling over the battle noises. "I'll convert you, 
and then all your friends. You'd all make excellent servants for 
the Master."
	Those words angered Katze. But she didn't know what to 
do, her easily made plans to destroy Sid had gone out the window. 
For the first time, she realized how helpless she was.
	Just then, it was like she was pulled into some cold dark
water, and she could not find the surface. Struggling 
drastically, she found no exit. Then she realized that she had to 
give into the thing she had been fighting. She took a deep 
breath, and quit fighting.
	Her thoughts swirled around her, as the other entity 
settled in. Then she realized it had been herself she'd been 
fighting. But yet there was something different. But there wasn't 
time to ponder this stuff yet.
	[The game is not yet over.] The words swarmed out of 
memory from somewhere. She glanced around the room one last time, 
and saw Tyrene in the corner. He winked. With that wink, a name 
came floating out of memory, a name at once foreign and familiar, 
and she latched upon it as a thirsty man would latch upon water.
	She stared at Sid with a complete hatred. "I will NEVER 
let you mess with my friends, or else my name would not be 
Tjarlin Katze!" she screamed at him.
	The whole scene went into slow motion. She raced towards 
Sid with nothing but bloody vengeance on her mind. She took the 
stairs to the throne in one quick leap (at least she thought it 
was a leap) and landed right in front of Sid's shocked face. "I 
told you only one of us was making it out of here alive," she 
said to him, and then delivered a right hook to his face.
	Sid laughed. "You think you're gonna hurt me? I always... 
oof!"
	Katze's left hand had found its mark. But she wasn't 
causing very much damage, and she didn't know why. She started 
probing Sid's psychic boundaries, trying to find a way to win 
this personal battle. She also kept on slugging and kicking him 
in anger. Nineteen years of frustration and torture were behind 
every blow.
	Ah ha! There it was! Her mind leaped into the the crack 
in Sid's psyche, and she found herself faced with a view she had 
seen once before. The battlefield was warped and twisted, the 
grotesque shapes closed in to close the field, and the robed 
figure stood there. Katze now identified him as Sid, and was able 
to speak on his level. [It was you. You who lured me to Chicago 
by that dream.]
	The robed figure simply nodded. Katze shook her head to 
clear it, and found her hands unbound. [You know you made a 
mistake.]
	*I did. But it is no matter, I cannot convert you, but I 
will destroy you.*
	[I don't think so.]
	*I do. En garde!*
	Katze sidestepped the bolt of magic. [Do you ever learn 
not to warn me?]
	The figure reached up and pulled his hood off, making 
positive his identity. It was Sid, but he looked pasty, like he 
was suffering from some hidden malady. *Take your best shot.*
	[This time, I will not try to battle you physically. I'll 
return blow for blow.]
	*Go ahead and try it. I am more experienced at the mental 
realms than you are, and besides, you're just one of those stupid 
Marrakethians.*
	[Stupid Marrakethians?!? That's it, Sid.]
	*They have to be stupid, otherwise why would they let 
their natural gifts atrophy because of some stupid laws?*
	[Uh, Sid?]
	*Yessssss?*
	[You forget something.]
	*What's that?*
	Katze snapped a quick nod. [I didn't grow up here.]
	The shock coming from the other figure was fairly great. 
Katze used the advantage to reach down and start tearing the 
world to pieces. [You forgot that, didn't you? You expected I'd 
respond as a normal Marrakethian. One that is bound to follow the 
codes, just like Tyrene, like Remmick, like Josh. Welp, Sid, you 
guessed wrong. And you're now going to pay for it.]
	She had already torn a pretty good sized hole in the 
ground, that connected to nothing.  Sid just stood there, 
realizing he was beat. *but... but... let me exp--glurk!*
	[No explanation anymore, Sid. Goodbye.]
	Katze watched as Sid was lifted off the battlefield and 
thrust into the tear in the world. As soon as that happened, the 
world started falling apart. Katze stood there with her arms 
outstretched as the sky really fell, and then found herself being 
pulled back into the Great Hall.
	She looked around the Great Hall in confusion. There was 
blood all over the place, and Katze couldn't tell where the blood 
had come from. She glanced around the Great Hall and noted that 
the crude drawings of the Wyrm, the Master, were already starting 
to fade from the walls.
	Then she made the mistake of looking down at her hands. 
To her surprise, they were quite bloody. Beyond her hands lay the 
body of Sid, with his body split open from what had to be some 
fairly exciting explosions. But that wasn't her primary thought. 
"Oy vey," she said simply, and fell into a faint.

	Darkness.
	"Open your eyes."
	Katze did as she was told. There the old man sat, on a 
fencepost, with a city Katze identified as Rhye in the 
background. Then she looked down at her hands and saw the chains 
that kept her from acting.
	The old man spun some keys around his index finger, then 
inserted them into one of the locks holding the chains together. 
"Well done. You pulled it off. But then I knew you could, ever 
since you were safely stashed away."
	The chains fell off Katze's hands, leaving her to rotate 
them. "I won't be here any longer, it is time for two pieces to 
become one again. But you'll be fine.  You've found something to 
believe in, and something to anchor you. Marraketh will always be 
open to you. But the Master needs fighting, no matter what 
incarnation he appears in, and I think that's an appropriate job.
	"Be proud, and now may you be whole. Hands and mind, and 
hands are nothing if you don't have a quick mind. Return to life, 
and may the truth set you free. As Mikje would put it, may the 
Old Man Across the Sea bless your journey. And may he meet you on 
the other end."

	"Katze?"
	Katze opened her eyes. "go 'way" she muttered.
	A figure stood over her, and then offered her a hand up. 
"I'm not going away, and you should know that."
	"Ari?"
	"Yes, now get up off the floor."
	Katze got up, still blinking. "What... wha, huh?" She 
looked down at her hands, still caked with blood for some reason 
or another. But it wasn't the blood she was seeing, rather it was 
the lack of a force holding her back. "They're... they're no 
longer chained."
	"What's no longer chained?"
	Just then, two men with swords drawn entered the throne 
room. Katze blinked. "Remmick?" She then looked at the other 
figure, an older man, and really did a double take. "Professor 
Schmidt?"
	The older man, the one identified as Prof. Schmidt, 
nodded. "Actually, Mikje. But I'd never get by with a name like 
that."
	Katze shook her head to clear it. "Oh man. Four days ago, 
I..." She shook her head some more. "...I never expected this."
	Somebody from the group of rangers took this moment to 
pipe up. "Can we go home now?"

To be concluded in "Paradigm Shift" (epilogue seg)

[1] I'm not very religious, but this quote just struck me as
appropriate.