Shane Porteous - The Battle of Ebulon - A Shared Anthology

“I agree,” Black Cat said, “Wonder Wolf, take Wonder Horse and find Asantra as quickly as you can.”

“Okay,” Wonder Wolf agreed, quickly mounting her horse. “We will be back soon!”

Black Cat’s sidekick, the little brown Chihuahua, Chihuahua, then quickly pushed a button on the wall, opening up a large hole in the observatory ceiling so that Wonder Wolf and Wonder Horse could fly out of the building without any delays.

Asantra was in the middle of class when Wonder Wolf rushed in with Wonder Horse.

“Dillon! I mean…Wonder Wolf!” Asantra exclaimed in surprise, “What are you doing here?”

“We need your help!” Wonder Wolf said hurriedly, “Have you ever heard of a world called Ebulon?”

“No,” Asantra replied. “That isn’t a world in the Other Realm. Why?”

“Star Power got a distress call saying Ebulon needed help,” Wonder Wolf explained.

“And you think Ebulon is a world?” Asantra asked.

“We did,” Wonder Wolf said disappointedly.

“It still could be,” Asantra replied thoughtfully. “It could be a dimension.”

“A dimension?” Wonder Wolf asked.

“Dimensions are worlds in the Mortal Realm,” Asantra explained. “It’s a recent discovery. Mortals sometimes just call them worlds. Sometimes they are also known as alternate realities or alternate Earths. Until my discovery witches didn’t know that they really existed. We always thought the only worlds in existence were those connected to the Other Realm. Although we now know of a few, we don’t know all of the dimensions in existence.”

“How would I find Ebulon?” Wonder Wolf asked.

“Follow the voice,” Trom said walking into the room.

“What voice?” Wonder Wolf asked the old warlock confused.

“Didn’t you hear a voice in your head from Ebulon requesting your help?” Trom asked.

“I didn’t,” Wonder Wolf said. “Star Power did, but he didn’t hear the whole thing.”

“Hang on a minute,” Asantra said. “Trom? You received a help request from Ebulon?”

“Yes,” Trom confirmed. “The voice said to follow it to Ebulon.”

“Why didn’t you follow it?” Asantra asked.

“Because, I can’t just leave,” Trom said, “I have duties here.”

“Well, Sky and Jill can cover for me.” Asantra said quickly.

“What are you talking about?” Wonder Wolf asked.

“I’m going with you!” Asantra said determinedly.

From atop her shoulder Asantra’s familiar, a Double X Bird called Screetche, said, “I’ll go too.”

“But you guys aren’t superheroes,” Wonder Wolf said, “And from what I can gather from the call, is if out world is being contacted from another dimension, then there must be a big war or something happening.”

“I have been in fights before,” Asantra said stubbornly. “And I am a witch.”

“Asantra definitely knows how to fight,” Screetche said, “I have seen her in action. She once took on and almost won against a whole wolf pack!”

“Well…okay,” Wonder Wolf said hesitantly. “I guess Ebulon does need as much help as it can get.” Upon saying this Wonder Wolf and Wonder Horse turned to leave. “Meet us at the observatory as soon as you can!” Wonder Wolf said to Asantra.

As the heroes were leaving Trom called, “Remember, tell Star Power to follow the voice!” Then to Asantra he said, “Tell DWW and the others back home about this!”

“Why?” Asantra asked confused.

“Ebulon needs them!” Trom replied offering no further explanation.

Not wanting to waste time Asantra changed into her wolf form and sped home with Screetche flying as fast as he could behind her. Just before she left the school she called back to Trom, “Tell Sky and Jill to cover for me here!”

Once home, Asantra changed back into a human and ran inside where she immediately ran into her mom’s familiar, a Golden Retriever called Trillman.

“Asantra!” Trillman said in surprise, “What…?” He began.

“I need to talk to you, DWW, and even Sampson quickly!” Asantra interrupted.

Sampson, who was a goldfish that had once been a warlock, upon hearing his name looked at Asantra expectantly and eagerly.

DWW had been in a room nearby. Upon hearing Asantra’s urgent request she came into the room. Asantra quickly told them everything. DWW was the first one Asantra would have expected to agree to help so she was surprised when DWW reluctantly said, “I’m not sure that’s a good idea.”

“But Trom said…” Asantra started.

“I know,” DWW said, “And for this reason I will talk to Turtle. If she agrees then we will go help.” Turtle was a witch living in the Other Realm who was now in charge of making most of the decisions regarding magic users.

“Okay,” Asantra said, “But hurry!”

DWW zapped herself to the Other Realm where she quickly found Turtle.

“We should help them,” Turtle said after DWW told her the situation.

“But witches have never been involved in a Mortal Realm war before,” DWW said.

“You wanted witches and mortals to get along,” Turtle reminded her. “Just because Ebulon is a different world that doesn’t change the fact that mortals live there. Don’t you want to have a good relationship with all mortals, no matter where they are from?” Turtle paused before saying, “Helping these mortals in a large war like this could only help.”

“You’re right,” DWW said slowly. “I do want to help them, but…”

“I know,” Turtle answered softly, “It’s a part of war that can’t be helped, but this doesn’t mean you have to take part in the killing. There are other ways you can help. Besides death, war comes with injuries, some of which a witch can fix. You can help everyone as a healer.”

“I could do that,” DWW said thinking it over. “Okay, I will tell Asantra that we will help Ebulon.”

After DWW returned to the Mortal Realm, before following her, Turtle’s familiar, a Labrador Retriever, asked, “Do you want my help?”

“Yes,” Turtle replied. “But not in battle.”

“Then what do you want me to do?” He asked.

Before answering him Turtle went to her friends, a witch and her familiar. “I need you two to cover for me while I am in the Mortal Realm,” She said.

Both agreed to do this. After they did so, Turtle turned to her familiar and said, “I need you to make sure someone stays out of trouble.” When she said this she was looking at her friends familiar.

Her own familiar saw who she meant and dutifully said, “Got it.”

Now in the Mortal Realm, Turtle said, “Because Ebulon will need strong fighters, I am going to release Sampson from his fish prison and allow him to become human until we return home.”

Because DWW had once allowed Sampson to return to his human form with disastrous results she said, “Why would you do that after what he did last time?”

“Because,” Turtle said, “He was one of our best fighters during the witch/witch hunter battle. He was a big help to us.”

“Yes, but he had alternate reasons for helping!” DWW insisted, “The last thing we need is for him to turn traitor again!”

“Again?” Asantra asked confused, “When was the first time?”

DWW and the others stared at her. “How could you forget?” DWW asked.

Sampson laughed. Something in the way he did this made Asantra suddenly remember. “Oh, yeah. I was there!” Asantra said.

Answering DWW, Turtle firmly said, “We need him.” Not waiting for any kind of reply from anyone, Turtle transformed the fish into a man. The next thing Turtle said was, “Now that everyone who is going is here, Asantra, lead everyone to the observatory to meet with Heroes United!”