1999 – 7:00 P.M.
The theme song blaring loudly in the commons area, as well as the show playing on the large television against a wall, distracted the twenty or so young women as Valkyrie walked through the double doors.
"Oh, I hate that show," she snorted; she shook her head as she created a 'glamour' around herself to make herself appear invisible to the young women in the new time zone. "Ring – activate holographics - rotating overlay of the environment. Give me current temporal position and localize all bio-energy signatures out to ten meters. Refresh rate – point-oh- five seconds."
From the Ringbearer's perspective, razor-thin lines of light seemed to expand outward and form a faint overlay over the entire area, at a point just above and to the right of her eyes, she could see a display appear.
Position - 7:01:39 – 16
November 1999
==ALERT! Active HST
infestation zone
==Classification:
Ephemeral/Level Four
==Classification:
Ephemeral/Level Four
==Classification: Ephemeral/Level
Four
==Classification:
Ephemeral/Level Two
==Classification:
Ephemeral/Level Four
==Classification:
Ephemeral/Level Four
==Classification: UNKNOWN
==Classification:
Ephemeral/Level Four
"Great," she groused, her eyes
narrowing as she directed her attention from the display to the vibrant
environment that surrounded her. "'It's a dead man's party – who could ask
for more? It's a dead man's party, leave your body and soul at the door...'"
The sorority girls were totally
unaware of the Ringbearer as she paced the room, now able to perceive the
spectral beings – all female – that also inhabited the room with them, and were
just as enthralled in the program as they were. Jeez – six Level
Fours. They're not even worth bothering with – poor things; even now, I can
feel the sadness flowing away from them, as thick as warm taffy. All they're
doing is simply gravitating upon a point in time and space from when they were
alive and truly happy, trying to recapture some of those lost sensations-
She turned quickly, using the Ring's vibration-endowment to render herself momentarily 'out-of-phase' as a billowing cloud of glistening energy engulfed the area she stood in; her Ring also protected her from the sudden temperature shift as the ephemeral entity attempted to absorb the energy that poured from her and the Ring.
And there's our Class
Two. In another thirty or forty years, it might have developed enough emotional
stability to be classified as a Class Four, but with that lightning bolt, the
fact that this entire area's too unstable as it is and those dead cops – and
I'm not sure about that, now – it – she – has to be put down –
"Why do you see the speck that is in your brother's eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, 'Let me take the speck out of your eye,' when there is the log in your own eye?"
Valkryie turned to the beautiful young woman sitting primly in the middle of the couch to the left of the television; thick masses of butter-blond hair quite similar to her own fell easily over the girl's shoulders, and as she rose, her large, full breasts seemed to stretch the cream-hued angora sweater she wore to its limits. "You can see me," she said, increasing energy to her shields with a thought as she realized the young woman has turned to speak directly to her. It's the ephemeral that doesn't show up in the Ring's registry.
The young woman took three steps towards Valkyrie; effortlessly passing through human and lesser ephemeral without thought to stop directly in front of her. "You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother's eye."
Two similar pairs of large blue eyes moved slowly as the Ringbearer and the ephemeral appraised one another.
Valkryie was the first to speak. "This is not going to be good."
The ephemeral gave her the courtesy of a barely-perceptible nod. "This is correct."
*****
In 1962, Archangel felt the intense spear of pain from his fellow Ringbearer.
*****