How much time has passed
By Hamish Wilson

	Caleb adjusted his hat on his head, looked down at his victim and fired. It let out a little cry and then died with a look of peace on its beastly face. Caleb looked at its face, and began to envy this Shikari creature. Would he ever truly feel peace again?

	He had gotten lost from the others again, in the cold desolate landscape of the Ancient One's reality. The land seemed all the same, no defining features on its dark and stormy landscape. Caleb had a feeling he was not familiar with. Though he despised where he was from, he suddenly felt a feeling of home-sickness. It had now been a month since he had defeated Gideon once and for all and destroyed the Ancient One. He had battled and defeated the Nightmare and won. But he still felt no closer to returning home.

	He saw a fire in the distance and a sense of relief fell over him, followed by a sense of dread. This was not the first time he had gotten lost, and the other Chosen will probably mock him about it again. He was not looking forwards to that one bit. 

	“Good morning, and in case I don't get to see you again, good afternoon, good evening, and good night” Caleb geared. The rest of the Chosen looked up at him. Ophelia seemed for a second relieved, but then her face returned to its normal hard emotionless expression. Ishmael and Gabriela barely looked away from their warming fire. 

	“How many times has it been now Caleb...” Ishmael commented as Caleb seated himself by the fire with them.
	“Not right now, I am really not in the mood” he muttered as he put his sawed off back into its holster. He started reflecting about how he came to this point in life. He was once only a gunfighter fighting for his own purpose, in the days when the North American west was a wild and untamed place. “How long it seemed, how long ago it was” he thought to himself. He felt that he wished for those days again, when life was simple.

	He then thought back to the day when he first heard the name Cabal. That day could have been the most important in his entire life.  That day was etched into his mind forever. It was fun at first, finally a mission he could fulfil. Then his master Tchernobog, the one that binds, devourer of souls, changed his life forever.”You have failed me, I disavow you all” Caleb remembered him saying, right before he killed him and the rest of his Comrades.

	Caleb and the rest of the Chosen set out for another days travels around noon, if time really did pass in this desolate place. Night seemed like day, day seemed like night. The only thing that made the place unique was the horrific beasts you encountered. Some were small and viscous such as the ravenous bone leech and some were huge such as the drudge lord. They fell however, to the Chosen's mighty blast of force and magic. Caleb considered them for a moment. How did he get stuck with them anyway. Sometimes he wanted to rip there throats out and yet when he was not with them he felt a great sense of loneliness. Maybe it was because they, and only they, could truly understand what had happened to him. They had all fallen under Tchernobogs wrath, they had all been betrayed and killed all the same. They were all undead fighters now, united under a common banner.

	Evening was fast approaching now, and something in the horizon had finally peaked Caleb's interest. Ishmael to was also intrigued by the shape in the distance. “It wont be much further now” he stated matter a factly, as they all settled down for the night. “What is not much further” Caleb asked, with a tinge of annoyance. Ishmael never told him anything about what was going on. “Do you not know why we have been travelling to for all these weeks?” Ishmael asked. Caleb, Ophelia, and Gabriela just looked at him blankly.  Ishmael rolled his eye's and groined and then started to explain. 

	“After Caleb sealed the rifts between the realities, I knew there was only one way for us to return home” Ishmael explained. “There is one rift, which can only be sealed from Earth's reality. It was opened by CabalCo during one of their experiments. We must go through it, and destroy their machinery, otherwise our reality is till under threat”. Caleb did not understand everything Ishmael said, but he had comprehended enough that he would finally be going home. “I really need a rest” Caleb thought, I am thinking now more than I am killing!”

	Caleb had a long deep sleep that night, but he still woke up feeling desperately tired. He really need to return to his own reality, his home. He realized he was he first one awake, and he felt extremely hungry. They were out of supplies, so Caleb got out his sawed off and prepared for a hunting trip. There were very little things people would consider “food”  out here but there was one animal that was edible. It was a large and stupid beast, with long sharp horns. Caleb sighted a herd of them in a valley next to their camp side. “Looks like there's killing to do” Caleb uttered with a little smile appearing on his lips. He did enjoy hunting, but there was something about it that did not seem right. Probably because they did not fully comprehend, it was not as fun.

	The herd was grazing on a grass like plant that sometimes grew in valley where there was enough moisture. They did not notice Caleb approach, and Caleb thought he could easily take one of the ones that had wandered away from the herd. He was approaching the animal when he heard a loud bellowing noise. He had accidentally disturbed the bull of the herd. “This could be bad” he said, as he aimed his shotgun. It was then that he remembered that it was not loaded. Caleb then started running, but the beast was faster and was gaining on him. He had to his horror realized that he was against a cliff wall. Caleb closed his eyes and waited for death to finally retake him after all these years.

	After hearing a loud noise Caleb opened his eyes. To his surprise the beast was now lying on the ground dead, with the rest of the herd running away in a stampede. He then looked up towards the camp-site and saw the answerer. Ophelia had taken it out with a blast from her prized sniper rifle. “You dumb bastard” she geared, but Caleb knew she did not really mean it. They walked hand-in-hand back to the camp-site, taking Ophelia's kill with them.

	Ishmael and Gabriela who were awoken from the sniper rifle's blast were alert and waiting for a fight. “Be careful now you'll shoot your eyes out” Caleb said dropping the remains of the beast. They then started a fire and cooked breakfast. Ishmael packed the rest of the meat for later, and then lead the Chosen to what he said was “their last day of desolate toil”.  It was around noon when they arrived at the large stone circle that they saw on the horizon the day before. In the centre was a large spiralling vortex, which must be the last rift between the worlds. 

	Ishmael examined it for a long while. Finally Caleb impatiently grumbled “Well, now what?” Ishmael continued thinking for a second and then said “I do not think we can just enter, we must make sure we know here we will be arriving. Maybe we should send someone as a scout.”

	“I will go, but you cowards better follow me” Gabriela said in her thick accent. She proceeded to the vortex and jumped in, and immediately disappeared. The remaining Chosen waited for a couple of minutes. 

	Caleb began to sing to himself, “Its a long to Tipperary, its a long way...” He was interrupted by a severed head of a Cabal soldier being flung through the vortex. “That probably means we should go now, yes” Ishmael said, as the three of them approached the vortex. Caleb saw the world dissolve into green as he, Ishmael, and Ophelia entered the vortex, not knowing what was on the other end. 

	Caleb opened his eyes to see that they were in a large room. There was many electrical equipment around the place, and Caleb realized that he was in a Cabal laboratory. “This place should be giving me kickbacks” he muttered to himself. Gabriela was examining one of the machines, her large chain gun covered in Blood. Ishmael stood examining the largest machine of them all, that was in the centre of the room. 

	“This is probably the singularity generator. We just need to destroy this and the rift will seal” Ishmael said, as he examined the machine closely. Gabriela aimed her chain gun at the machine and fired. She was surprised however when it did not even make a dent. “What the hell is this?” she groined. “The metal is to thick for ordinary weapons, do you still have any explosives Caleb?” Ishmael asked.

	“God damn it” Caleb thought, he had used the last of his explosives on the Nightmare. He was about to tell the rest of the Chosen this when they had an unwanted visitor. “Crudox Cruo” the Cultist said as he took out an assault rifle. Caleb immediately jumped and pushed Ophelia out of the way of the bullets. The cultist then aimed for Ishmael, but Ishmael ran out of the way of the bullets and used his soul staff against him. The cultist fell to the floor with a scream. “Pathetic insects” Caleb taunted, lifting himself up again. 

	Unfortunately for him more Cultist had arrived, and he once again had to swerve out of the way of their gunfire. Caleb manage to fire a few shotgun rounds at two of his attackers, and the other was masterfully shot down by Gabriela. Caleb then turned to see another cultist coming at him with a knife from behind. The cultist was about to strike when it was shot down by a sniper shot. Ophelia somehow had managed to hide behind a couple of boxes and had set up a sniper position. Caleb heard a cultist shout, this time in English “Come on, lets get out of here. We must return with more forces”. They had to act quickly now before the cultists returned.

	Ishmael noticed that one of the boxes which Ophelia used for cover had the words “Caution: Explosive Materials Inside”. A smile appeared on Ishmael face, knowing that a great explosion was coming.  Caleb picked up the back and put it on top of the large machine in the centre of the room. The Chosen then retreated to the stairs that the Cultist had come from. Once they were right by the door, Caleb fired his shotgun at the crate, and they all ran out the door. They could hear a loud explosion behind them, and fell to the ground as the shockwave shook the building. After they had gotten up the four of them examined the carnage they had created. 

	The room was a mess, there was rubble everywhere. The bodies of the cultist where now piles of bloody mush. Smoke and and sparks poured out of many of the machines, and the one in the centre was completely destroyed. The green vortex that had once appeared on one of the walls no longer existed, the wall was bare. They had done it, all the rifts were sealed. They exited the building and walked into the outside world.

	They were standing on a large hill, in the distance you could see the sprawling city that was New Town before them. It was not the city Caleb was born into, but it was the closest thing to home for him that existed. He and the other Chosen simply stared down at the City, a mild wind blowing against them. Caleb then let out a smile, and the other Chosen smiled alongside them. They were home again. 

Hamish Wilson March 27, 2008. Thanks to Monolith Productions for the Blood Games and Characters