Chapter 4: Schizoid Boy
                         -----------------------

   Omega looked at the carnage and smiled. He had taken on the whole crew
as easily as snapping his fingers. He hadn't lost his touch after all....

   He stooped and picked up the telescope from the fallen chest of the
ex-navigator. Wiping the gore from it, he put it to his eye: Ahh a town.
What did they say this town was called? Jidoor. Hmmm. Omega did not
remember any town name Jidoor. How long was he in limbo? For whole towns
as large as that to have sprung up. Questions questions. Another thing
that was bothering him was, frankly, his awakening. He knew what powerful
magic had put him in that void, and frankly, the crushing of the crystal
should not have released him. The animus esper was just too strong.
Something very powerful must have defeated the Animus esper to free him.
But why?

   Omega, to say the least, was puzzled. He also remembered the fool
leaving some sort of gaurdian to protect the crystal. What of that?
Curiouser and curiouser. Maybe it had something to do with the sense on
inferioriry and incompletion he had been feeling since his return, but
what?

   He began to estamate how long it would take till they docked. Too lo--
Suddenly he screamed in agony, falling to the ground, clutching his
pounding skull.

                               *  -  *  -  *

   Darkness.

   Void.

   Emptiness.

   A single entity rests in the void, barely aware. Somewhere in another
reality there is a scream, then:

   Pain.

   The void begins to crack and split and with it so does the entity,
screaming a silent scream in tune with it's agony.

   The being is pulled apart with the shock of a baby from a mother's
womb. It's very soul tears and rips, with a ghastly silent scream. One
thing prevails:

   Pain.

   The entity is split. It lies in parts an infintessimle distant from it
other parts. A knew feeling grows in the entity, a yearning. Yearning to
be whole. Yearning and hating.

   Emptiness.

   Void.

   Darkness.

                               *  -  *  -  *

   The pain in the dream was echoed by the pain in reality. Omega's screams
had stopped but not his torment. What was the meaning of this? He got up,
wiping sweat from his brow. Somehow this explained everything. He just
knew it.

   "But how?" he pondered. "What does it mean? Someone must be able to tell
me. I'll find myself a mind mage. That'll do the trick. In that town
there - Jidoor. I'll search it high or low till find one."

   Omega stood and went to the very front of the boat, and realized, to
his utter anoyance, that he had absolutely no idea how to dock a boat.
Well, it would be a good test of how this town handled Ghost ships.

   With that Omega splashed a large quantity of gore onto his body, and
lay down among his handiwork, hoping that the town's method didn't involve
fire.