"The Story: Leftovers"

  Some time after the mysterious man joins them; they need to go to the martial compound for something.  I have not really decided why they go, but Sensha has to talk to someone.

  They're in, and as they begin walking passed the people, most of them, when they become about 20' away from the mysterious man, they will just stop what they're doing, face him and then bow holding their position until he is beyond about 20' from them.  Once past, they would rise and just watch him.

  Sensha did not fully understand, but she understood enough not to question it.  She had her suspicions that he'd been there before, plus they could sense his power.  The ones that did not bow were obviously fairly new.

  Crysta was freaked out a little.  Mike was slightly weirded out, but still cool with it.

  One scenario that I don't really have a place for is where a small army of soldiers, from the conspiring kingdom, is pursuing the group.

  Our heroes are on their way somewhere, when they get word from Griffon that soldiers are on their way.  They are about a day or so away, and the group happens to be near a temple of monks.

  The only way to this temple is through a path carved through a cliff, or by the waters of a huge lake.

  Sensha is acquainted with the monks, so she asks them for help.  They do not fight, so they cannot offer help in that way, but for a reason I have not yet devised, a law or treaty, prevents the group from attacking the soldiers.

  Fighting is off the table, but these monks have a special talent.  I have not devised their religious position, but they combine maljek with their vocal vibrations.

  The plan is that when the soldiers get in that pathway, the monks will do their low vocals, enhanced by maljek, and cause the cliffs to shake, thereby raining boulders down onto the soldiers.  They will all be killed, but it will be attributed to a natural avalanche.

  The group will then continue to their destination by boat.

  I'm having trouble trying to find a way to work the "perfect sword" into the story.  I originally wanted to have a rich, Japanese business man commission it, then I thought maybe have the mastermind do it, then I didn't want to mastermind to be rich, so I'm back to the Japanese business man.

  Maybe I will have the thief steal it, via portal, and he can use it.  He can somehow be disarmed and one of the good guys will use it to finally kill him.  Maybe Mike.  Then Mike can have a portal opened to return it to the businessman, whom he will see face to face.

  They won't understand each other, but the man will see that Mike is bringing it back and showing respect, plus he will see the portal.  I would have to elaborate the theft and the return to make it meaningful.  Maybe in the beginning of book 1, Mike will be reading something about the sword having been stolen.  I don't know.

  Actually, might work better in book 2, right before Mike gets the call from Crysta about the abduction.

  I have not even thought of most of what I would have Griffon do, but everything would be far from the group, and he would not be part of the great battle.  He would be need elsewhere, and in some other capacity.

  At some point, Sensha would need to get a vital message to Griffon, but no portal opener would be available, and it would be virtually impossible to get it there any other way.

  Horses had been brought over from Earth long ago, but they were still relatively rare on the planet, because the kings of the five kingdoms wanted them exclusively for themselves.  Only royalty had them.

  The planet had beasts of burden, but no quick ones for riding.  Unless you were royalty, you either walked or teleported.

  Sensha had access to a horse, but even then, there was not enough time, because it would have to stop and rest.  Well, the mysterious man grabs the message, gets on the horse, and then takes off.  Sensha does not know what he will do, or how he will do it, but she trusts him, so she lets him go without question.

  He rides fast, but when the horse starts to tire and slow, he stops the horse, leans forward, lying along its neck.  He places his hands on the side of its neck, and we see nothing happen.  Soon, the horse seems to be more energetic, and then it takes off again.

  Using maljek, the mysterious man put himself in a state of union with the horse, channeling his own energy into the horse, but also using healing for the horse's muscles.

  The horse is able to run non-stop the rest of the way for a whole day or so.  The man also gave the horse a clairvoyant impression of the destination, so that the man could maintain deep focus.

  Upon arrival, the mysterious man is drained, unconscious, and near death, but Griffon got the message, and he makes sure the man is nursed back to health.

  Two or three people, including Griffon, at this location do get a look at the man's face, but the audience still does not.

  "Who is this mysterious man, darn you", you say?

  Well, right now, I imagine only Crysta finding out, and the audience will know when she does, but I would have to blend everything else smoothly into the audience knowing, unless I put it at the end, but that's not where I am imagining it, so I'm conflicted.

  This is not set in stone, but right now I have the revelation of him be part of what convinces her to "forgive" Grom.

  She will be upset, and he will come up to her or something.  They will be alone.  He'll either take the hood off, or she will yank it off in anger at him, but we will see a somewhat older, and definitely more rugged, version of Mike.

  He will explain that when it's all over, his younger self will decide to remain.  He will train in the martial arts and in the use of maljek.  He will discover new uses for maljek, including being the first to open a portal through both space and time.

  Using maljek, he's been able to slow down his aging so that he would have more time to learn.  He was able to go back in time to train with Musashi, himself, and the katana that he carried was Musashi's.

  He's jumped to different points in time, including the time of Maljek to witness him first-hand.

  She asks him to go back and stop Grom from kidnapping her son, but he says that he's already done that once, and because of it, the D'Warvine kingdom fell, followed by the other three, and the remaining defenders of the larger continent were no match for the Jaba Wokai and the sheer numbers of the warriors of the smaller continent.

  Everything hinged on her son being here.  She understood, but was still sad.

  He also told her that she must not reveal any of this to anyone, ever.  If anyone knew that time travel was possible, then who knows what chaos would befall both this world and Earth?

  I have considered having this older Mike be the one who had the Japanese business man commission the sword.

  I've toyed with the idea of younger Mike getting someone to open a portal to the sword so he could borrow it. The business man would see catch Mike taking it, but for reasons unknown to younger Mike, the man would respectfully allow him to take it.

  After the big battle, younger Mike would return the sword to the man. Younger Mike would still be unaware of why the man is being so cooperative.

  Younger Mike will never know that the mysterious man is actually himself older.