The diner continued, without joy but with the much needed sense of family, in a sad moment like that, for just more than one hour. Then, as it was evident that no one would have continued to taste the exotic recipes that Myrrdin's cook had prepared for the event, the Old Neanderthal with a simple nod of the massive head to Marcus signalled that was the moment to clear up the table.
The butler disappeared behind a door, and suddenly the servants returned, bringing bowls of fresh water for the presents to wahs their hands, and at the same time they brought away all the dishes and the various meals. Once the table was finally cleared up completely, Myrrdin stood up, and cleared his throat.
"Dear friends, time has come to start this adventure. Ameristar has scanned the Multiverse looking for a reality following the suggestions of Edulcore. Strange suggestions, I must add, but no one like him knows as Aurochs' mind works. That man's mind is complex, and follows strange ways. He joined the now dead secret society of witches and wizards, whose name is lost, but that was called, mostly by their enemies, Capes, by the dark cloaks they wore during their ceremonies. He joined it, I was saying, when he was a young boy, and his powers were discovered by an old member of the cult. He was a sad child, always bulled by many of his schoolmates; having lost his parents in World War One, he grew up in an institute. Slim, often sick with flu and other weakness, he developed a profound cowardly to survive the constant harassment of his friends.
And when he entered the Capes Society, and began studying magic, he remained that... a coward. So, he remained for long in the lower ranks, never going into the big battles with the rival society of the Hoods. But he was gathering knowledge, and powers... and recently, thanks to a moment of crisis, was able to step to the higher position in the society. But his lack of courage made him fail, and his failure took the whole society down... although him, like always, survived and found a way out. But enough with this talk about Aurochs. Both of you, Rama avatar and Edulcore Cicciotto, know him well.
Now, we come at the universe that Aurochs has chosen to hide Eddie. A universe where magic doesn't exist, where the laws of physics can't be bend or stretched by arcane spells. A universe where Aurochs' power is just what his moneys can buy: the strength of superpowered metas and of enchmen armed to the teeth. But also a universe where your arsenal of mythical weapons, Ed, is just a collection of old relics, of interest for an historian, maybe, but of no use for you. Your coat would not stop even a small knife, your wings would never even glide from an high point... and Durendal would be just an unmanageable rusty broadsword.
Aurochs feels saver to be in a Universe where you, Ed, are powerless, even if he is powerless too.
I'll leave to Tanya to highlight other features of that Universe."
The Old Man sat back in his chair, while the Ameristar stood up, to talk.
"The Universe is, like Myrrdin said, distinct by the absence of magic. Anything resembling true magic is either illusion or the product of technology. ESp powers, like telepathy and telekinesis are a product of the metagene, that enhances certain areas of the brain. But it works at a smaller degree than on the world you know so well.
The metagene is present in a much smaller part of the population of Earth; like on your Earth, it has been discovered in the blood sample of Edulcore Cicciotto requested by the American Olympic Committee after the row of victories at the Barcelona and Atlanta Olympic Games, where he won all the track specialities.
But the metagene was found in very few people in the world, so the "meta-hate" of your world never developed there. The few metahumans were all enlisted by government agencies of various countries of the world, until, in 2002, all the metahumans known to be part of these special forces where asked to join an international organisation, founded by the UN, called "Avant-Garde", and based in Geneva, Switzerland.
That Edulcore Cicciotto, a speedster, was the first leader of the team, but died shortly after his election saving Mandelovia from a falling asteroid.
One thing to say is that the metagene works a little different than in your world: it simply multiply the common abilities of any human. So, it can makes you faster, stronger, resilient, can increase your vision, your smell, your hearing, can give you a regenerative ability, or make you able to heal yourself from big wounds... this sort of thing. But don't expect to find people able to fly, or to change people into cows, or to teleport himself or material things. And also don't expect human bears, purple mohawk giants or bipedal eels. The key word of this Universe is subtleness. And there are no spandex wearing people, too.
I have no idea where Aurochs could hide, but knowing how he likes to gamble, I would suggest to start from Las Vegas, or Montecarlo."
"Just that?" asked Euro.
"Yes, nothing more. The fact that magic doesn't work there makes it impenetrable to your woman's psychic powers, so we have no idea where Aurochs could hide. And, to say the truth, we don't even know if Aurochs is there at all. There are other two different parallel Universes that share the same combination of factors, and nothing tell us that he is really in one of those three. So, I think it would be better to hurry up" said Tanya, sitting back.
Euro and Rama stood up at unison. "Are you with us?" asked the Italian to the woman. Tanya shook her head. "The peculiar characteristic of that Universe makes me not much useful, as my armour and my powers wouldn't works. I think for this one you'll be alone. But I will monitor you from here, and in case of danger, me, Trinity or one of the other warrior of Myrrdin could come to help."
Ed gave a kiss to Rose, one to the little Amara, and then asked, to Myrrdin: "To travel there, will you give us a Gaia Unit or what?"
Myrrdin smiled. "Just leave from the main gate of the manor and you will be in the right Universe".
"In Vegas?"
The Neanderthal laughed loudly, shaking his head. "Oh, no... you will be still on the Helgoland of that world. You will have to take a ferry toi the continent, and then a plane from Copenagen. Gaia Units don't work there."
Euro nodded, and looked at Rama. "I guess we'll have to buy two tuxedoes before arriving at Las Vegas."
Tanya smiled. "And don't forget long, black leather coats. And sunglasses, too."
