[K T Ong]

(To Tiamat: I'm adding a little something to the history of Tiamat-World now!)

Among the many races of Tiamat-World (formerly Alenusia) were a unique race of winged humans. Not very advanced in technology (being roughly midway between the Orrak Druids and the Illithid), they nevertheless possessed remarkable powers which enabled them to hold their own against the most advanced technology other races could or might use against them. It is difficult to ascertain the nature of their powers; while obviously not technological by nature, those powers could not really be characterised as sorcerous by nature, either. They seemed more like a hitherto unknown form of psionics, set in motion through what to all appearances looked like praying. Perhaps the powers resided in the brains of the winged men themselves and the 'prayer' was merely a means of activating the powers, or perhaps alternatively the winged men really did call upon some higher being of unknown nature which was the source of those powers; to date, no one knows for sure.

Generally benign and deeply religious in temperament, the winged men lived in peaceful coexistence with the other races of Alenusia, and made a critical contribution to the overthrowing of the alien invaders. Nevertheless, with the dramatic alteration in climate following the crashing of the mother-cruiser into the planet Alenusia, and faced with now hostile neighbors all competing for dwindling resources, the climate-sensitive winged humans found it increasingly difficult to survive on the surface of the planet and were forced to build a sky-fortress which is now their home, held high above the clouds by the same mysterious powers they possessed.

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Hansel and Gretel looked ay each other for a moment, then turned to look at the winged stranger and at Little Red Riding Hood. "...All right, Mr Mar-dook," said Hansel sheepishly.

Then suddenly an ogre appeared from behind a large rock nearby, coming towards them and followed by two evil-looking creatures with bat wings and horns on their heads. The two creatures were all blood-red in color, and had real ugly faces with fangs sticking out of their mouths.

"See?" cried LRRH, pointing at the ogre. "That's one of the funny people I told you about!"

Marduk could sense that the three were not friendly. "Who are you, friends? What do you want?"

"I'm looking for human bones for my master's throne," replied the ogre. "It looks like those children's bones would suit his purpose."

When the three children heard this, they were terrified and quickly ran behind Marduk. "Oh, please, uncle Mar-dook!" cried Gretel. "Don't let those bad people catch us!"

"Have no fear, children," said Marduk, spreading his wings to shield them. "With me here, you are safe."

"Let's put that rather arrogant hypothesis of yours to the test, friend," sneered the ogre.

Marduk was about to answer back, but something about the ogre's voice struck Marduk. It seemed that the ogre somehow wasn't quite himself. Was he under some kind of spell?

Then the ogre took out a shotgun and began to fire! The demons also began to attack, spitting balls of flame. Marduk quickly clapped his palms together as if in a prayer, and a power shield materialised out of thin air like a scroll of light being rolled open, intercepting the space between him and the incoming missiles. Judging from the dramatic explosion of the fireballs as they struck the shield, they must have been extremely powerful.

"Uncle Mar-dook is so good!" cried LRRH happily.

Marduk raised his right palm as if to catch something dropping from the sky, while still holding his left before his chest as if in a prayer. Then he uttered a word. There was a deafening thunderclap and the shockwave caused the ogre and the demons to tumble back several paces. The demons were dashed against the large rock and vanished; two smoking depressions bearing their outlines were left in the rock.

A green haze crackled artound the ogre's head before dispersing into nothingness. Marduk recognised from this that a spell had indeed been cast on the ogre -- and had been broken by the thunderclap. "...oh, what happened?" muttered the ogre as he recovered from the shock.

"You have been under a spell, friend," said Marduk as he walked to the ogre and helped him up. "Explain yourself."