Psychic War

Chapter 3: The Eternal Fire

On the second day of the lynx couples’ vacation an event happened that literally shook the world. The Zelpht ruins sank into the ground leaving no trace that they ever existed. As they sunk small quakes shook Dredia. None were strong enough to cause any major damage, just some shaken windows.


The third day came. Lystria woke, a little roughed up from the night she and Tarlem had. She climbed out of bed naked and took a shower. When she got out, Tarlem was awake and watching the local television.


“So babe what are we doin’ today?” Lystria climbed into the bed still naked and her fur a little damp.


“I thought that we could spend the day at The Midway,” Tarlem shut off the television, “but,” he looked at his nude mate, “You can’t go dressed like that.”





Irving stood outside his warehouse as a pair of black cars slowly pulled up, “Remus.”


“Yes?” the ocelot acknowledged his boss.


“Go welcome mister Mayson,” Irving commander Remus with a sarcastic tone.


Travis stepped out of the driver’s seat of his car, “Hello,” his cheery hello trailed silently off as he as greeted with a large bore shotgun in his face.


“Travis,” Irving called out, “you’re late!”


“Just slow down, man,” Travis became very nervous even with his boys behind him.


“Remus,” Irving called off the ocelot, who slowly pulled the shogun back and fired it into the engine of the car, which was very expensive.


“Whoa, whoa, whoa!” Travis shouted, “What the hell was that about?”


Remus cocked the gun again, “Welcome to Rommel Island!”





The lynx couple spent their day at the midway. The sun was going down. They walked across the illuminated bridge back to the main part of the island. Lystria stopped and look out over the sparkling water. Shimmering with the reflections of light  from Rommel. Off in the distance was an incoming ship, “Wow, babe, I can’t thank you enough for this entire experience.”


“Anything for you,” Tarlem wrapped one arm around Lystria. They looked silently towards the incoming ship. Screams from The Midway rang through the air.


“Just imagine the feeling those people have right now. Coming to the island. With it all lit up like this,” Lystria sighed.


“Alright,” Tarlem pulled his arm quickly away from Lystria.


“What?” Lystria seemed worried,  her ears went back slightly.


“I wanted to do this later, but,” Tarlem got down on one knee. A look of joy took over Lystria’s face, “Lystria Yelms, will you marry-” The entire midway exploded upwards into the sky, killing everyone on the outcropping. A rush of wind knocked everyone nearby over, and an invisible wave shot out shutting down everything electronic. Flaming boulders began to rain down from the sky, “Lystria, run!”


The lynxes stood back up and quickly ran across the bridge towards the city. A human running in front of them was kill when a boulder crushed him, “Tarlem, what’s happening?”


“I don’t know, just run!”





“What the hell was that?” Maurice was shaken from his book by the Midway blast, and the fact that the lights went out.


Atris looked out the window, “The fuckin’ Midways gone!”


“What?” Maurice scrambled over to the window.


“The whole damn thing must of just blown the fuck up! Look at it man, its fuckin’ gone!” Atris stared at the towering inferno in place of The Midway.


A human opened the door to Maurice’s room. It was one of Travis’ boys, “‘ey!”


Both occupants of the room turned to face the door. Atris pointed the AX-36 that he  had strapped on his, “What the fuck do you want?”


“Irvin’ ‘as called a meetin’. ‘E wants everyone there. ‘is study, now,” the human shouted.


“Send Remus up here. I can’t fuckin’ trust you. You’re one of Mayson’s boys. I oughta shoot the shit out of you right now!” Atris yelled at the human, who left instantly.





Tarlem sat against the wall in the hotel room with Lystria’s face buried in his chest, crying. Tarlem was trying to figure out what was happening. The sinking of the Zelpht Ruins and the eruption of The Midway, something was going on.


“Tarlem,” Lystria looked up at her mate, “I would’ve said yes.”


“Good, I hoped you would. When we get back to Dera things’ll be alright,” Tarlem attempted to calm Lystria.


“What do you mean?” Lystria’s ears went back, “You saw what happened. This islands a volcano. Its about to blow and it gonna take the whole island with it.”


Tarlem’s ears went back. He didn’t like what he was hearing, “No, we’re gonna make it home. It’ll be alright.”


A knock followed by a woman’s voice came from the door, “Hello?”


“Yes?” Tarlem shouted.


The door swung open, a porcupine entered, “Excuse me but we have some misplaced people here and we were wondering if you can take a few in.”


“Sure,” Lystria replied, “We can take some,” Lystria wiped a tear from the top of her facial fur.


“Thank you,” the porcupine was grateful. She turned to face into the hall, “You, you and is that your child… Hmm, him too,” in came a woman with a small boy and a Coati.


The human woman looked at the lynx couple, “Thank you. Others weren’t so kind.”


“You’re welcome,” Lystria stood up, “I’m Lystria and this is my fiancée,” Tarlem looked up at her, she really did say yes, “Tarlem.”


“I’m Andrea and this is Kevin,” she motioned to a worried little boy, “We don’t know where his father is right now.”


Lystria turned to the Coati. Who remained silent. When Lystria made some motions he spoke in a different language than her, “Lystria,” Tarlem stood, a small damp spot on his shoulder, “He speaks Nefelese,” Tarlem spoke Nefelese quite fluently. It was easy to learn. He spoke Derifas and Nefelese is a very closely related language. Tarlem turned to the Coati and in Nefelese asked him what his name was.


“Names Neris,” the Coati responded in his tongue.


“he said that his names Neris,” Tarlem suddenly became a translator for the Coati. That was the newest thing on his mind, but it remained behind the fact that the dream vacation of his mate became a hell. Not only a hell for them but also for everyone else on the island.





Maurice and Atris went to Irving’s study for there really was a meeting and that Mayson’s guy wasn’t lying.


“Alright,” Irving go the attention of everybody in the room, As you all know by now The Midway has exploded. A couple thousand people are dead and with this tragedy all law will fall apart. I wish to maintain the order in this city.”


“Irving!” Travis shouted, “You’re just trying to make yourself look good!”


“Shut up!” Remus tackled Travis and placed a gun to his head. Everyone in the room drew guns ready to kill, with the exception of Irving.


“Irving call him off!” Travis feared for his life.


“Remus!” Irving raised his voice at the ocelot, “If we want to survive this all this rivalry has to stop now!”


“Irvings got a fuckin’ point,” Atris added. Atris may have been unstable but he knew when to kill and when not to not to kill.


“Thanks for the input here Atris but shut up!” the jackal’s ears went back, “I’m serious about this. We all need to come together to survive until help arrives. You all got that? Especially you two,” Irving sternly pointed at Remus and Travis.





Tarlem woke uncomfortably on the floor. He and Lystria let Andrea and Kevin have the bed. He walked out on to the balcony, where Neris slept in a reclining lawn chair. The lynx looked at the gigantic fire that still burned where The Midway once was. He wanted to stop and get something to drink before they left. It was a good thing that Lystria talked him out of one.


He turned and looked at Neris when he made some noises in his sleep, only to return to deep thought about the fire, what it was and what it meant.


“Tarlem,” a voice snapped the lynx out of his thought. He turned and saw Andrea standing in the doorway.


“What?”


“Last night I had this dream. A horrible dream about my husband and that fire,” Andrea’s voice seemed to carry a tone of worry with it.


“Why are you telling me?” Tarlem was confused.


“In the dream I saw a lynx. His facial fur markings looked just like yours, except he had a broad black line running between his eyes,” Andrea continued to explain the dream.


“You just described my father. Why would he be on the island?” Tarlem sat on the railing intrigued by the woman’s dream.


“He wasn’t on the island. He was on a warship heading towards the island. The ship had no intention of rescuing anybody. Your father ends up on the island and,” she hesitated, “He kills my husband,” she began to loose it, “That fire. Its gonna cause a war. A war between us on the island, and not a regular war either.”