User blog:Skylord Elberich/The Element of Transition

The Collector and his new apprentice, Vidalia, were strolling through the streets of Chicago. This wasn't just a random stroll to nowhere in particular, considering this was Chicago in the middle of the night, and they were carrying tools for digging and breaking into coffins. They were searching for a graveyard, and as they sreached, they made idle conversation; mainly, the Collector making sure that Vidalia had recovered from her operation, and Vidalia responding that she was just fine.

After a while, they had reached a graveyard, and the Collector stopped and turned to Vidalia. "Before we go any further, I would like you to know, you are not being forced to do anything. If you wish, you can leave right now, and I will not think any less of you; I will help you get back on your feet, and that'll be the end of it." Vidalia nodded. "But" the Collector continued "Once you cross this threshold, there is no turning back. You're life will be changed, for better or worse, and you may even have to do some things you will not have bargained for. It's your choice." The Collector's face was terrifyingly serious, and Vidalia became extremely frightened.

But then she spoke.

"Look, Mr C," She said "You saved my life, even though I was going to beat you up in a dark alleyway. I owe you my life, so if you say 'jump', I'll ask 'how high'."

The Collector smiled wide, and said "Right then, that's settled! Vidalia, hold my shovel while I go find the grave we're looking to dig up." Vidalia sighed, grabbed the Collector's shovel, and followed him into the cemetery.

Whilst The Collector wandered around the graveyard looking at headstones, Vidalia pottered about, trying to find something to entertain herself with. "What exactly are you looking for, Mr C?" Vidalia asked, beginning to get rather worried about being in a graveyard in Chocago at night. The Collector chuckle to himself "Mr C? How quaint." Then answered "I'm looking for the alchemical symbol for mercury. It's a sort of horned circle, on top of a cross." Vidalia glanced at a gravestone near her, and saw the symbol he described. "Yo" She called "It's over here!" The Collector ran over to inspect the symbol. After confirming that this was the symbol he was looking for, he took off his jacket, took his shovel fom Vidalia, and started digging. Vidalia soon followed in suit.

As they were digging, Vidalia asked "Hey, what's so important about that mercury symbol?" The Collector explained "Well, it marks this grave as a doorway, a portal to another world." Vidalia rolled her eyes, as if to say 'sure, whatever you say'. After a few minutes of digging, they heard a loud thud from beneath them. "Aha!" Exclaimed the Collector "Finally! Vidalia, hand me that crowbar, would you?" Vidalia did so, and then exited the excavated grave.

While waiting for the Collector to open the coffin, she decided to keep watch for anyone that might catch them... or worse. Her body then noticed how late it was, and decided that she needed to sleep, so she set herself against a headstone, and closed her eyes. Just as she began to drift off, she heard a disturbance coming from the entrance of the cemetery. When she looked over, she saw a pack of greasy deviants she used to 'hang out' with. She called out to the Collector "Yo, Mr C, are you nearly done?" The Collector responded "Not quite. Why do you ask?" Vidalia merely exclaimed "Skids!" The Collector said "Well, I'm not surprised, considering you've been homeless for..." Vidalia interupted, saying "No, I mean SKIDS! Dirtbags, slimeballs, whatever you call 'em!"

The Collector, having absolutely no idea what Vidalia was yammering, poked his head out of the grave, and saw the pack of deviants coming towards them, likely with bad intentions. "Degenerates." He said. "Well, no time to lose!" He inserted the crowbar into the coffin, and then brought his foot down onto it so that it popped the lid off the coffin. The Collector then grabbed Vidalia by the scruff of the neck and threw her into the coffin, saying "Ladies first!" before jumping in himself and closing the lid. One of the deviants picked up a shovel and opened the coffin lid, hoping to see some fresh heads to crack.

All they saw was a desicated corpse of something that wasn't quite human. As they heard the police sirens, they knew their night was only gonna get worse.

Vidalia had landed face first on the pavement. She didn't try getting up. She had too bad a headache to try.

"Hey, kid" A deep voice asked "You alright?" Vidalia groaned and said "Leave me alone." The voice huffed and said "At least let me help you up." Before she could protest, Vidalia was yanked straight to her feet. "There, now I'll leave you alone." Vidalia, rubbing her eyes, said "Yeah, whatever man-" As soon as she opened her eyes, she saw that the deep voice belonged to a very large, and very furry ape-person in a homburg, waistcoat and khaki trousers. This revelation stunned her into silence. "What? Never seen a frostwose before?" The furry ape-person asked, irritated.

"Ah Tom!" The Collector said, apparently addressing the frostwose "Glad I found you! That cologne you ordered arrived yesterday! Come round the shop tommorow, and pick it up!" He then saw Vidalia's stunned expression. "Ah, I see you've met my new apprentice, Vidalia!" He then leaned in and whispered "She's new here" and tapped his own nose. Tom nodded in understanding, and held out his hand for Vidalia to shake. "Name's Tom, Tom Seldom." Vidalia gingerly grabbed and shook his hand and said "Vidalia... Vidalia Cohen." Tom then tipped his hat, and continued on his way. The Collector looked at his watch, amd said "Well, it's about sixish, so we'd best get home!"

As the walked to the Collector's apartment, Vidalia expirienced many wonderous things. Elves, Dwarves, bird people, fish people, astounding magic, astounding technology, astounding architecture, and a new sense of belonging. "Mr C, Where exactly am I?" The Collector smiled, and said "Necropolis. Don't let the name alarm you, finest city on all of Ultima Thule, by many accounts." This didn't exactly answer all of Vidalia's questions, but it would suffice for now. The Collector then said "Now, you've a rough night, so let's get you home so you can have a proper shower and a warm meal, eh?" Vidalia smiled weakly and said "Thanks, Mr C." She felt something she hadn't felt in a long time.

She felt she was home.