“What are you?”

            Atlas fell to his knees from the overwhelming power. He was not one for propriety or deference but staring into the eyes of one so powerful made him weak at the knees. The power pulsating like a rhythmic heartbeat saturated Atlas’s magical sense with such power, such vigor that he felt sick to his stomach. If he had food in his stomach, he was sure he would have emptied its contents right there.

            Charley gave him a weak smile back and a tilted head questioning him. Then his eyes shot open, and mouth dropped in surprise.

            “Sorry!” he said wildly.

As fast as it came, it was suddenly gone. What was once incredible power was now just an echo of something only in memory. He was left shaking on the ground, not in a seizure but in fear. Emotions would play on the edges of someone’s magical aura, and Atlas could feel his emotions plainly as clearly as if he were telling him. Nothing about this one hinted at a threat, but just the fact that he could feel the emotions so clearly meant that he was untrained. That was a terrifying prospect, and for a moment, and only a moment, he thought of killing the child. That passed as soon as it came, what could he do to a god? But was this a god? Certainly, no man could wield such power. Just the thought of something so powerful with no training…

            Atlas was helped to his feet but was too transfixed. Charley gave him a broader smile, but there was still worry in his eyes.

            “Wha…”

            “I heard you the first-time friend.” Charley Interrupted. “Now, I need you to take those embers from your ears and sit back.”

            “I’m sorr… I what?” Atlas asked stunned.

            “What? Oh yeah… well, I guess there’s a few things you should know friend. But before I tell you, you should meet my other friend first.”

            “Your friend?” Atlas completely forgotten about their earlier conversation.

            Apparently, there was another one outside the walls somewhere. Remembering that brought back his anxiety from earlier. He and consequently, the protective barrier had been removed from the equation for the past three days. That friend could not only survive in the forest, an incredible potent magical zone in which no one traversed, but could also enter his domain without taking it down or with a key. This was someone unheard of in Atlas’s experience.

            He stared back at the boy. He was unable to pass through the barrier like himself, Bane, or his friend. Did this mean that his friend was more powerful than he? If this one was able to drop his barrier so simply and exuded such raw magic, what was the other one capable of?

            Charley could see what was playing through Atlas’s eyes.

            “Do not worry.” He laughed. “Listen, you just kicked me down and made me show you my face. This was what I was really worried about, but you… I can’t help but praise the gods for where I ended up.”

            What was he talking about?

            “End… ended up?” Atlas was gathering himself.

            He was breathing hard, and heart was racing yet he had not exerted himself. Very few times Atlas had been able to recall such moments putting him in such a venerable state.

            “Alright, you think we just get it over with?” Charley said speaking to his side.

            There was nothing there.

            “Yeah… me too. Just be ready, alright?”

            “Who are you…”

            Atlas trailed off as golden mist that shimmered in the daylight began to melt from his body like warm water on a winter day. It flowed off him in haze and grew into something enormous. In front of his eyes, the golden vapor whipped up into something with a vague humanoid figure. The number of arms, legs and head were the only aspects even remotely close to that definition as the proportions were not anything of the sort.

            Standing in front of Atlas was a twenty-five-foot-tall creature made from gleaming golden plates and bronze gears. It appeared that the creature was made up of only moving gears, underneath those golden plates. There were hundreds of thousands of them connected and turning in a labyrinth of mechanical connections. His arms and legs were all five feet in diameter and while no joints were obvious, it moved freely where its elbow would be. Huge hands that were much too large considering its size waved at him.

            “Do not be afraid.” A voice echoed from behind the plates.

            He could see that no one was inside, and yet the voice’s sources were somewhere behind the chest plates. It made for an awkward conversation, did he look at the chest or the head? It was a normal human voice, perhaps a little deeper than your average human and tinny from the metal, with the same off accent that Charley had. That would be typical for familiars that could speak, but this was unlike any familiar that he had seen or even heard of.

            Atlas stepped towards the creature and with a tentative hand, placed it on the metal plate. It was cold to the touch, but he could feel the resonating coming from the moving gears hidden behind. It gave off power not too unlike the magical power Charley had, but much more subdued. It was more contained and felt… it felt warm in his chest.

            “What are you?” he asked.

            “Who do you want to go first?” Charley asked with a grin.

            Atlas, lost in his reflection from the gleaming plated thing in front of him, had forgotten about the boy. Brought back to the moment, he shook his head.

            “What did you say?” he asked.

            Charley smiled again, then up at the enormous golden creature then back down at Atlas.

            “I know… you were right.” The creature said.

            ‘I…”

            Charley was cut off by barking. Bane, who had been chasing some sheep and getting himself into the normal amount of mischief. He had run around completely missing the gargantuan creature in their home. When he finally had spotted it, he blurred towards it with a terror filled bark.  

            “Bane! No!” Atlas ordered.

            He ignored his master’s wishes and darted for the monster. The large being just went to one knee and placed his hand on the ground palm up. Bane leaped into the palm and up the arm. The dog showed incredible agility, and with a final leap still fifteen feet up, leaped onto the shoulder of the creature. He then proceeded to lick the side of its head, then plop himself down on his shoulder staring directly at Atlas.

            “You traitor…” Atlas growled.

            He swore he could hear the dog sniff at him.

            “I see you all have met…” He told them.

            Bane let out a light howl, he never howled! Why was he howling? Atlas could not help the bout of jealousy growing in his chest.

            “Three days and I don’t matter anymore. Okay, I think I will need to find a place to sit down.”

            Atlas turned and strolled out into the main path that led from the front of his home towards the only part of the obsidian wall that had a heavy stone doorway and a small dog entrance. The tamped dirt path was about ten feet wide and stretched a few hundred feet long. Benches made from stone or wood sat sporadically along this path; Atlas could not remember why he had built up such things, he never expected to have people here and yet here benches sat. Roughly halfway down the road was a gazebo back where he practiced his carpentry. Over ten years old now, it was looking worn and ragged and in much need of TLC. The center was hollow for a fire pit that had not seen and ember in many years.

            Atlas reflected on his time here, and it seemed the more he thought of his past, the more he had forgotten. He was not an old man, but he was getting up in age. He feared there was something wrong in his mind but would never return to civilization to seek treatment. That would be a sure way of getting himself killed. His family was gone to him, his home and even what had sent him here, but one thing remained the same; the world was a dark and cruel place and he needed to remain hidden no matter what.

            He went to go sit down in the gazebo but felt more than heard the large creature stomping up behind him. Well, there was no way he would fit in there, and he knew that he was delaying the conversation, but was not sure why. His mind was racing and yet felt blank, so he just turned around and shrugged.

            “I’m sorry, I do not have a chair for you.” He said to the golden beast.

            “I do not need to sit. But I thank you.” It replied.

            “Where are you from? I do not recognize your accents.” He asked them while staring at Bane who had climbed to the top of the things domelike head.

            “Not to far from here.” Charley replied.

            “What does that mean? There is nothing around here for hundreds of miles. How did you find me?”

            Charley took a deep breath, then began his tale.

            “Now, this may sound a little… well… okay well, you will probably not believe me, but I will tell you anyways. Umm… I will go ahead and tell you now that I cannot prove my story, but you will need to believe me anyways.”

            Atlas narrowed his eyes, then just nodded.

            “So… I… we are from around here, a city named Philadelphia. It used to be right there.” He pointed at the large mountainous peak to the north.

            “I don’t know what happened since I left, but that mountain was never there before. There used to be a city filled with millions of people.”

            Atlas was about to argue that no cities had that many people, right? But he paused that thought, waiting for him to continue.

            “I grew up there when the Source appeared.” He explained.

            “The Source?”

            “Yes, the Source. It is an enormous crystal that appeared in Africa. It is where our magic comes from.”

            “Our magic? It comes from the gods.”

            “Umm… no. The gods are something different, but we can talk about that later. The Source appeared and then the rifts opened. Much of the population was sucked into voids, and we never saw them again. In the first few days, nearly a billion were killed, and billions more in the next decade. Demons, or aliens or whatever you want to call them poured out and the invasion…” Charley choked.

            “It took everyone I knew and loved. There was a token resistance, but the world was cut off, all infrastructure was destroyed, shit… we didn’t even have electricity anymore.”

            Atlas had no idea what that was but decided not to interrupt. This was clearly a lie, but it did seem to affect the boy emotionally, perhaps he was just mad in the head? He was unable to explain everything well, as he kept choking up then changing the subject.

            “Anyways, magic didn’t manifest with any of the living population, only with children born after the Source had appeared. I came only a few years after the initial invasion, and me and people like me were the only ones able to hold back the fire. We were told that the magic would evolve, but I only arrived a week ago.”

            “What do you mean by arrive?”

            “What do you think he means? We are not from this time.” The large creature said, sounding exasperated.

            “What… What does that even mean? Also, what are you? I keep thinking of you as the large golden beast seems a bit rude.”

            “Oh right. I am Tomahook Dian Tresh…” he paused looking at Atlas’s eyes glazing over “Just call me Tom, that what he calls me.” It spoke gesturing with his hands a lot.

            Atlas looked over at Charley.

            “Aaaaand he is?”

            “He is my summoned familiar, a Golem.” Charley explained.

            “Never heard of it.” Atlas said.

            “I gathered as much. Anyways, he is right, we are from the past.” Charley said. “We were sent here to…”

            He cut off with a sharp gesture from Tom.

            “You are too trusting.” Tom scolded.

            Charley just nodded quickly.

            “You are right.”

            Atlas looked back at the large creature. He was smart, not to tell a stranger everything, but it still annoyed him.

            “Why are you here? How did you find me?” Atlas asked.

            “Oh, well we traveled here in time. We appeared where we were sent out. Somehow, they knew of this and must have followed… or prepared…”

            Charley began to pace back and forth rubbing his chin. The boy was just so skinny, he looked that any slight breeze would just take him away.

            “Tom… they had to have known… do you think we were infiltrated?”

            The large creature nodded his head, upsetting the dog who clung on for dear life.

            “Ten thousand years of preparation… well, I don’t think we have a choice.”

            As if noticing Atlas for the first time, Charley shook his head then continued.

            “I think they were looking for me, but they found you. I can hide myself and it looks like you can’t.” he continued to pace and spoke quickly. “I could sense you and that you were not a monster and… well… and no threat. So, I came to find you, but the thing got to you first, a Zetgast you called it?”

            Atlas nodded.

            “Well, it was looking for me. What I don’t understand, is that if they knew to prepare for me, why was there only one with such little power?” he asked no one in particular.

            “Little power? That thing can obliterate nearly any city it walks through. It was probably sent here from one of them anyways… I think I need to…”

            “Wait, it was sent to you from a city?” Charley asked alarmed.

            “Probably, they can’t survive longer than a few days without a summoner. Their bodies are just a magical matrix, and they’ll break down without a source of magic.” Atlas explained.

            “That isn’t good. It was a one of them, right?” Charley asked Tom.

            The golem nodded in assent.

            “One of what?” Atlas asked.

            Charley looked back at Atlas with wide eyes.
            “What has happened since I left? I need to know.” Charley asked, now breathless. “And how strong is that barrier?”

            “What? What is wrong?” Atlas asked.

            For an answer, there was a loud boom mixed with the sounds of shattering glass. Atlas looked up at what was supposed to be an invisible barrier, but he could see that it was now ripping like water with a light blue haze. Cracks racks began to grow and spread along its enormous surface, moving with the ripples, and spreading like a sickness. From where he stood, the cracks grew into the shape of a monstrous hand grasping the dome.

            Atlas ran to the source of the sound, he still felt weak from days in bed, and his stomach protested with each step, but he pushed forward. Near the front, there was a small tower that gave him a good view from the other side of the wall. He reached the wall and climbed up the ladder. Panting, he rolled to the top, and stood. He expected to see an army, and yet, he saw nothing.

            BOOM!

            The explosion of sound sent his ears in a ringing fit, and he could see that something had impacted the barrier, but there was nothing there.

            “What in the hell?”

            The ripples grew larger, and the cracks turned into voids. Shards of the magical barrier would flake off and turn to mist before hitting the ground. The holes were small, but it would not hold much longer.

            “They’re here. We must go.”

            Atlas jumped in surprise, not noticing the golem next to him peering down past the wall. He was much taller than the obsidian wall and rested his hands on it while looking down. Glancing behind the golem, he could see Charley and… and a monster trailing behind! But he recognized this monster.

            “Bane?!” Atlas exclaimed, jumping down and running towards them.

            The gangly teenager ran awkwardly next to a beast of an animal. It looked like Bane, same fur pattern, tall ears and goofy grin, though his eyes were serious. But he stood taller than Atlas on all fours. Perhaps ten feet tall, he was thicker in the chest. His legs were dense with muscles and paws that looked more like fists. The dog bared its teeth at the wall and Atlas could see that his white teeth were replaced with golden fangs dripping with drool that hissed and burned the ground beneath him.

            “Bane?” Atlas said again reaching for him tentatively.

            His wicked snarl turned on Atlas, and big man stepped back. Bane noticed his master and perked up. The hair on his back stood up, and he was clearly tense, but he recognized him. The monster of a dog stepped closer with his nose, now nearly the size of Atlas’s head, pressed up right on his cheek. He then licked his cheek followed by his excited hope hops back and forth, the exact same way he did when he was just a little dog.

            Atlas flinched waiting for the burning that he saw on the ground, but nothing came.

            “What did you do?” He asked Charley.

            “This was not us.” He said looking just as surprised as if just now noticing the beast. “Only the Twins are capable of something like this.”