The Sketch Rift: The Eternal Crusade

The Only Other Option

"Did you find her?" a perspiring Alice inquired in a uniquely perturbed manner, as Theodore and the twins stood quietly at her side. Theodore had always been of a very timid temperament, but his daughters had supposedly not inherited that characteristic from him. Either Soal was entirely misinformed, or Ashley and Addison were more afraid of him than he was of them, to begin with.

"No," Soal was furious, but he was more ashamed of Alice than he was of anyone else involved. "In fact, a very knowledgeable character (in a way) there claimed that Isabel had never been to or never would arrive there."

"She's still lost," Alice slapped her forehead and slouched down on the living room sofa. "I'm a horrible mother."

"Alice --" Theodore approached, but Soal had greater plans.

"Well, isn't Isabel lured to the sound of your voice?" Soal conceded to the family that was separated from day one. "My assumption is that the only other option is... you know, to bring you along."

"Speaking of which," Alice cried despairingly, "wherever did you go during our wedding? Who kidnapped you or Isabel? How did you materialize on your bed long after we began our search? The entire community already knows about this."

Soal's eyes drifted to the twins, who gawked at him from Theodore's company of those interrupted to make way for the know-nothing and the know-everything. "It's been days since I last saw all of you," he glanced at each of them, now directing his speech to the household as a whole. "The only way I will be able to track down Isabel is with your assistance. Alice's, that is."

"What do you mean?" she wailed. "Do you mean, the only other option...?"

"Yes," Soal concluded, only now realizing that there was no way to return manually across the Riverift or even the Generift. He may have been a Sulukridger, but he could barely harness his presumed potential, if at all. Both this conversation and this logical problem-solving had hit a dead end. However, that would only have been the case had a convenient wormhole opened in the space between them, reflecting the vibrant color scheme that the Riverift continuously projected. Either this was his unconscious Sulukridger at work, or it was an attempt from the pseudo-Sulukridger to harness the holes left by fallen conjurers of the same variant. "This is exactly what I meant, Alice. You're following me on this one."

"Sam, what are you doi --" Alice's words trailed off as Theodore and the twins watched in horror at two familiar-looking arms yanking the mother and adopted son into the wormhole before its near-immediate closure.