The Legend and Risk are both short stories of the serial A Love That Destroyed Time.

The Legend

"I don't know about this." Macker lifted his hand to the next rock to hang onto. His friend Alvo had dragged them through the forests and up the winding roads into the mountains. Alvo was a curious friend and he often made Macker follow along. Macker usually regretted the decision, his mommy and daddy

always scolded him and made him have time outs because of Alvo's stunts. He looked at his white and orange ringed tail, wondering if maybe this once he wouldn't be smarter

turning back? They were going up high and he didn't want to injure his tail again.

"Macker, come on!" Alvo yelled on. "We're almost there."

"But Alvo," Macker protested, "why are we doing this? Momma made me stay in time out for a whole half hour when we made a prank call. If she finds out we've travelled out to the mountains, she'll probably double that. My momma said to never climb the mountains and we are. We should stay on the path. Plus, my clothes and my tail are getting really dirty."

"Mackerella," Alvo teased.

"My name's not Mackerella, it's Mackerovich!" Macker climbed faster, his pride on the line. When he reached the top with Alvo, they both stared.

Green, translucent, a neon wonder of beauty. A crystal of such immense proportion that it jutted at the top like a pyramid but then sank below the ground like an iceberg.

"Wow, it's an inhibitor." Alvo drew closer to it and pressed his hand upon the sparkling structure.

Macker circled the area, not knowing what to make of it. The inhibitor was a mineral, a substance that grew in massive forms upon the mountains. They had an effect on his species, the warnos. They kept them sane. Legend said that before the inhibitors appeared, the warnos were psychotic and couldn't hold a proper thought for more than a few seconds. It was the reason very few of his race even left their planet. "It's gigantic. What is it, five feet?"

"Maybe even six," Alvo reckoned as he sized himself up. "I'm two feet and its three times the size of me." He laughed and his eye twinkled as he stared at the massive beauty. "How deep do you think it goes down? Do you think its most of the mountain itself or is this just at the top? Wow, imagine if

it was that big, Macker!"

"No one will ever know." Macker smiled, feeling the urge to touch it becoming stronger. "Sure is amazing."

"Worth the punishment," Alvo grinned. "I even brought a camera." He set the camera on a rock nearby, set the timer and ran over by Macker. Macker and him smiled a wide toothy grin.

"Did it take?" Alvo asked aloud not seeing a flash. It was a bright day and it was impossible to tell. He picked up the camera and tried to set it up again, but it fumbled from his hands. "Oops!" The camera fell backwards and a crack was heard. Macker shut his mouth. "No!" Alvo reached behind the rock. "I can fix it, maybe?"

Macker went over as he saw Alvo bend down to pick up the camera. "Is it savable?"

"No, it's gone." Alvo tossed the camera on the ground but held a small sliver of red in his hands. "It cracked this." He pointed behind the rock. "The inhibitor shows beneath the rock, it is huge. It's different colors too. Red, and a little pink." Looking back at the small red piece in his hand, his mouth turned up. "We've got a souvenir." He looked behind the rock again. "Colorful inhibitor. No one ever sees that. I bet we could sell some to every kid in town."

Macker didn't care as he stared out into the horizon. "Alvo, let's go home. It's getting late." He heard Alvo chip off more with the camera. "Alvo, come on. Leave it alone."

"It's pretty and sparkly." Alvo lifted up several tiny red and pink shards into his hand to show Macker. "They make me feel…" He grinned. "Awesome. It's

like an energy boost."

"Energy boost?" Macker didn't believe him. "Alvo, we are standing next to a humungous piece of inhibitor. Why are those little pieces giving you an energy boost?"

"I don't know." Alvo set them on the rock and bent down to collect more. "Maybe it's kind of like tomatoes. The big one's are okay, but it's the little ones that really pack a punch."

"What are tomatoes?" Macker asked.

"They're this import dad brought home from work. They're from Vehoria, but they are so good and easy to grow, lots of planets are getting them. Ooh, this is better than a sugar high."

"Alvo, it's getting late. We still need to walk all the way home," Macker reminded him. "Put down the little pieces and let's go."

"No." Alvo grunted. "Just a little more."

"Alvo!" Macker grabbed Alvo's hands and heard a growl come from his end. "Alvo, did you growl at me?"

Alvo hissed and whipped his tail around. "I said no." He looked back at the tiny shards in his hand. Macker could see some of them were actually making his hand bleed, but Alvo had not cared.

Macker took two steps back. "Alvo, I don't like the way you're acting. I'm going home without you."

"No, wait." Alvo grunted as he looked back at the shards. "Sorry. I don't know what came over me." He handed the shards over to Macker. "Here, you hold

them. You're better at controlling yourself."

"I don't want to sell them. Can't we leave them?" Macker asked as he felt the weird sensation being emitted.

"It's fine. They are just a different color, what's the big deal?" Alvo asked. "They're only small pieces but we can sell them and get a new game. How much do you think we could sell them for?" He smiled at Macker. "You can even pick it out."

Macker pocketed the shards. "Okay, but this is all we're getting."

"Promise." Alvo raised his hand. "Don't let your parents see them though, stick them under your bed."

"I know. If they see these, they'll know where we went." Macker looked back down. "Who climbs down first?"

____

Alvo rubbed his hands together as he stood beside Macker's window. It had been a week since they went to the mountain. Alvo had got in trouble over the camera and Macker's parents had been suspicious their son was doing the same thing. They decided to wait a week before they started to sell their

pieces from the inhibitor. "Macker?"

"Go away."

"Huh?" Alvo crawled through the window. His tail wriggled as he saw Macker doing homework. "Where's the inhibitor?"

"I'm busy." Macker's attitude was sharp.

"Doing homework, but that can wait." Alvo said. "Come on, once we sell enough we can get a new game."

"They are merely pieces of the inhibitor," Macker said, not even letting his eyes leave his homework. "They have little value."

"Well yeah, but they're neat." Alvo explained. "They are colored and they're small enough they can't really do any harm.

Right?"

"Leave me." Macker finally lifted his eyes to Alvo. "Go."

"Well fine then," Alvo humphed. "I'll sell them. Where are they, under your bed?"

"Don't touch them, their mine!" Macker grabbed Alvo's hands before he could reach under the bed. "I'm not sharing with other stupid warnos." He pointed to his homework. "I've got it all done, three days ago. The Den teacher was proud and he gave me the schedule for the month." He picked up a paper nearby and let it fall to the floor. "I just finished it."

Alvo looked at the paper. "There were over thirty assignments and you finished in a week?"

"It was easy. Everything's easy." Macker pointed to the papers on his desk. "I'm doing dad's work for his job and even that's not hard. He's proud of me, and they are talking about upping my allowance." He crossed his arms. "I'm not letting you take that away."

Alvo looked unsteady at Macker. His friend was changing, he didn't seem the same anymore. The old Macker would never stand up like that to him. The way he spoke too, creepy.

"Alvo, they said they were proud. Proud of me." Macker pointed to himself. "I'll let you have a small piece."

"I don't want any piece." Alvo looked at Macker. "I think maybe you were right. This was a bad idea."

"No, it was brilliant," Macker said. "The more I acquire the more proficient I become."

"Acquire and proficient? What do those mean?" Alvo didn't feel right, something was happening to Macker. "That's not you. We need to get rid of the colorful inhibitor, we're too young to have it."

"I'm not," Macker yelled at him. "Don't you tell anyone I have any either." He held up his hand in a fist. "You'll regret it."

Alvo's mouth dropped. Macker wasn't just standing up to him; he was ready to fight him. "This isn't you, Macker. You need to stop this."

"That inhibitor is the best thing that's ever happened to me." Macker didn't lower his hand. "I could beat you if I wanted too." He fisted and unfisted his hand, eagerness in his eyes. He took a deep breath and put his hand down. "Don't tell anyone. It's our secret. I'll give you a piece, like I said. My life is better than it's ever been."

Alvo debated in his head. Warnos never really fought, except over girls and they didn't give a lick about girls yet. They were only 100 years old. Macker was different though, and maybe he could actually want to fight? Plus, his parents were proud of him and Macker never had that. Neither had Alvo. "Okay, Macker," Alvo agreed. "I don't want any pieces but I won't tell anyone."

Macker gave Alvo a slight grin. "Thanks, Friend."