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Overview
Synopsis
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Ember
Ember
timeline

Chronicles of the Deep World

Place of origin

Beyond the Veil; Earth

Alias

Red She-Devil, Redhair (literal translation of her Dutch name "Roodhaar), "The woman"

Characteristics
Race

Human

Gender

Female

Skin color

white

Hair Color

Red

Eye Color

Blue

Professional Status
Previous Affiliation

Kiley's Resistance

Occupation

Adventurer

Previous Occupation

Circus Performer; Prince Nomad

Partner(s)

Storm; Nomad; Kiley Death

Base of Operations

Pandarve;

The Drink Former

Personal Status
Status

Alive

Relative(s)

Father: Kiley's Brother Deceased

Foster Father: Kiley Deceased

Foster Mother: Elgara Deceased

Foster Sister: Pearl Deceased

Debuts
First appearance

STORM: The Deep World

Image Gallery


History[]

Ember was born within the society of the Krills a tribe of humans that lived Beyond the Veil in the Deep World.

Legend of the Krill[]

While records of her biological mother are unknown, her father lost his life while defending his home, when a group of mercenaries from the fallen city kingdom of Rhagus entered there domain. They attempted to kill the last surviving descendant of the royal line, a baby girl. Only one of the mercenaries escaped to tell the tale. The rest where left for the vultures. Kiley, who was the leader of the Krills, took the baby in and raised her as his own, as he did with his brother's now orphaned child Ember.

Unlike her sister Pearl, Ember wasn't the type to do chores that were expected for a woman, and saw herself on equal ground with the men tribe, much to her fathers disapproval.

Nearing her 19th birthday and her coming of age she had to challenge her fiancee Vitka, whom her foster parents had chosen for her, to unarmed combat. By beating him they would finally acknowledge that she was a warrior, not a house maid. But it seemed that Vitka's brute strength would win over Ember's speed and intelligence.

The fight was brutally interrupted when soldiers of the kingdom of Rhagus led by Captain Manan killed her fiancee, foster mother and others she knew her whole life. Ember, Kiley and the rest of the men tried to mount a counter attack but the surviving Krills stood no chance and were captured.

Pearl, Ember and the other young women and every male that could still walk where brought to the city where the women and men were separated.

Ember's temper and, later, her combat skill in defeating a monster caused her to be mistaken as the daughter of the former King of Rhagus. This caused her to be imprisoned with her father's killer who led her to the exit. A kindness that cost him his own life.

As she returned, Warlord Gordar and the vizier were about to execute the remaining Krills. In a last ditch effort, Pearl lost her life and Ember took the vizier's life in return. With the vizier gone, Gordar vanished like the illusion that he was.

It was there and then that Ember learned the truth: It was not her but Pearl who was the king's descendant. That the vizier was the Warlord Briek in disguise and who used the machines below to create the illusion of Gordar to rule behind the scenes.

While Ember could rule the city as a queen she refused to do so. She found it was morally unjust to replace one lie with another. Besides, the crown belonged to her sister. As Ember, Kiley and the remaining Krill survivors left the kingdom of Rhagus, they left Pearl there to be buried by her own people.

Silence before the Storm[]

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Ember's first appearance

After a few misadventures Ember was captured by the Warlord Ghast, who longed to find out about the cultures behind the enormous wall that bordered his kingdom from the land where Ember came from.

As she waited to be rescued by her allies, she had to share her prison with a man who claimed he came from another time, who Ghast had mistaken for one of her people. Ember herself thought at first that the man going with the name Storm was a spy. As Kiley sprung them out of prison the trio was tailed by Ghast and his men. It was thanks to the sacrifice of Kiley's men that the trio could escape to the city underground, where Kiley lost his life battling the Warlord.

As Storm and Ember reached the underground city of Mandros they met the Mandroid, a self thinking projection that showed them around the ancient machinery, which had the power to restore the waters near Florida to its original height. In his greed, Ghast pushed the fatal button and doomed himself and his people. The Mandroid led Ember and Storm to safety and conjured a raft to keep them afloat.

Master Cush' Travelling Circus[]

The water however seemed to slip between the cracks at the ocean floor once more. As Storm and Ember found themselves near the The Bahamas where they had stopped to hunt for Manyhorns, they caught the eye of the circus roamer Tchell, who deployed his Flix to captured the both of them, and they were drafted into the employment of Master Cush and his Travelling Circus.

While Master Cush at first was thinking about making a gladiator out of her just like he planned with Storm, she was employed as servant until she started to train in the impalement arts as a knife thrower. 

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When they reached the city of Soamandrakisal, a battle of life and death between the city's Champion and one of the circus' gladiators took place. Storms friend Barledoon was chosen for this. In a raging fit, Storm decked the victorious champion after he had learned that Barledoon was drugged before the fight started. With the champion beaten Master Cush had no choice than to present Storm to the city as their new champion, or be lynched on the spot.

The Leader of Soamandrakisal wasn't so confined about Storm's loyalty as their champion had to return to the city if successful and tried to persuade Master Cush to stay, Cush however had a better idea.

Ember was given as a hostage. If Storm didn't return from The Fortress of Death, she would be fed to the sleeping giant He-who needs-to-be-fed! Unknowing to the inhabitants, it was only a hologram. Storm returned however. But as the citizens were about to release her, the Watcher who had guided Storm cut the rope that held her cage and she fell into the god's mouth. As Storm jumped after her, the citizens declared them dead. As the duo escaped the pit of acid and witnessed the destruction of the Fortress, they traveled as far away from the city as they could, until they returned at the place where they hunted Manyhorns.

The People of the Desert[]

Storm and Ember continued their journey, but had to cross a salt desert. Ember fainted from exhaustion, but Storm managed to carry her to a shelter, despite being attacked by birds of prey. They rested at the reef until Ember awakened from the noise of a stranger trying to find a hiding place. The skin of the strange man was totally white. Storm tried to help the 'whiteman ' but suddenly two men, Mikkie and Kirst, appeared and shot a small red disc onto the whiteman's forehead. With the hypno, Mikkie was able to control the mind and the body of the whiteman and Storm and Ember were taken prisoner, although the whiteman had to knock out Storm first.

On the way to their camp, Mikkie explained the situation to Ember. Because the United Cities were dealing with overpopulation, they had hired a scientist named Prov to find a way to make it possible for people to live in the desert. Through genetic changes Prov was able to transform people into a new race, Homo Desertus. The whiteman was a future inhabitant of the desert. But as no one wanted to live in the desert, Banjo and his gang supplied Prov with 'guinea pigs' through razzias.

Banjo was impressed by Ember's beauty and tried to 'tame' her. Storm, who had regained consciousness, grabbed Banjo, but his attempt to rescue Ember failed when Mikkie shot a hypno at him. When Ember tries to remove the hypno on Storm's forehead, an electrical shock knocked her out. She was locked up while Storm was taken into the korite mines for slave labour.

When Ember woke up in one of the barracks, she found herself imprisoned. But thanks to a drunken guard she was able to escape. She then forced another sleepy guard, Torn, to bring her to Storm. They were however discovered by Banjo, who even killed Torn so that Ember couldn't use him as human shield. Ember still managed to shoot Banjo and wound his head. She then continued into the mines where she found Storm. But Mikkie was there too, trying to shoot a hypno onto Ember. At that moment, Storm shot Mikkie with his ray drill. Seeing it was Storm who saved her, Ember ran straight to him, even though Storm still had the hypno on his forehead. Storm then dragged Ember into a heli, and flew to Prov's lab, as it was Prov who was controlling him through the hypno.

Prov only saved Storm and Ember from Banjo's grasp to use them in his own plans. He thought Storm and Ember would be the perfect ancestors for his new Homo Desertus race, so he planned to have them transformed into 'whitemen' as well. Ember tried to stop Prov, but instead she herself was stopped by a whiteman.  

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At the last moment Ember resisted the whiteman with all her might and aimed her gun at Prov. As Prov ducked for cover, the shot from Ember's gun destroyed the central hypnometer. All hypno's fell from Storm's and the whiteman's foreheads. When they realised what had happened, the whitemen attacked Banjo and his gang, but had to retreat into the desert. Prov was furious to see his new race start their life in the desert in such an 'unglorious' way and attacked Ember, but Storm knocked him out. Storm and Ember fled the lab in a heli, but they were struck by Banjo's ray-mitraillette and Storm had to make a crash landing in the desert. They were found by the desert people who initially thought they belonged to Banjo's gang, but one of them noticed Storm too had a hypno mark on his forehead. They took Storm and Ember with them.

When Ember regained consciousness, Storm told her about the strange powers of the desert people. Storm had seen how they had healed Ember's wounds by merely touching them. Together they watched how the desert people summoned a cyclone of salt and dust, which wiped out Banjo's gang almost completely. Only Banjo survived, and Ember watched how he and Storm fought upon live and death, a fight which ended when Banjo lost his helmet and was blinded by the sunlight. Storm and Ember then followed the desert people to the remains of the camp, hoping to find a heli or an aero to take them out of the desert. The desert people themselves took revenge on Prov by turning him into a whiteman too. They said farewell, and Storm and Ember took an aero and flew out of the desert... towards the jungle of the continent that once was South America.

The Green Hell[]

When Storm and Ember flew on the aero over the Green Hell, they were attacked by birds of prey. During the fight, Storm fell off the aero into the jungle. Ember was barely able to control the aero, but managed to escape from the birds by flying through an open space between the trees. After a while, the aero crashed against a rock wall, but Ember had jumped off just in time. She fell down into the deepest parts of the jungle, her death prevented by constant bumping against the branches of the trees but still the long fall left her unconscious. 

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When she woke up, she found herself surrounded by cannibalistic mutants. But as the mutants were about to take her to their lair, she was 'rescued' by Toriander-with-the-Quick-Death. Toriander took Ember to the city Forgetyourworries, planning to sell her. Ember fled from Toriander, and received help from Saran, the owner of the local pub. Saran disguised Ember so she would be safe from Toriander, as she hated Toriander: The Quick Death (a laser gun) had caused Saran to lose her arm.

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Saran (left) disguised Ember to hide her from Toriander.

Meanwhile Toriander had put a price on Ember's head, but his men were however not able to find her. But one of Saran's waitresses had discovered that Saran hid Ember from Toriander. She told Toriander she knew where Ember was hiding, and Toriander forcefully retrieved the information that Ember was with Saran, not knowing that Ember's best friend Storm was watching him. Toriander furiously stormed to Saran's room. He quickly found out that Ember was disguised.

Downstairs Storm recognised Ember's voice when she cried for help. He came in time to save Ember from Toriander, but Toriander had already killed Saran. For this, Storm gave Toriander a fierce beating. After the fight, Storm ordered Toriander to reveal where he had found the space helmet Storm found in Grandpa's hut, but a frightened Toriander said that "they" would kill him if he said anything. After asking who exactly would kill him, a thunderstorm struck the city and Toriander, pointing to the storm, stated THEY would kill him. Indeed, Toriander was soon killed by a bolt of lightning.

As the storm was destroying the city, Storm and his friends tried to escape by climbing lianas. An exhausted Ember soon fell down into the depths of the jungle. Here she found shelter in a hollow tree where Storm soon found her again. But as the storm kept flooding the jungle, they had no choice than to find a way out.

They were captured by the mutants, who took them to their lair. To Storm's surprise, the mutants were living in a graveyard for space ships. The mutants planned to eat Storm and Ember, but they were surprised when their lair was flooded too. Storm managed to grab the knife from one mutant and free Ember and himself from the net that held them. As the water level kept rising, the mutants climbed the wrecks, but Storm and Ember went inside one of the old space ships. Here they found space suits, and luckily the oxygen installations still worked, so they wouldn't drown. 

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Suddenly, from a hatch on the bottom of the flooded jungle, "frogmen" appeared. They shot Storm and Ember with tranquilizers and took them away. When Ember woke up, she found herself shackled and connected to strange machinery controlled by a blue-skinned man. Storm immediately came to help her, but more blue-skinned men appeard. Their Supervisor ordered the Censor to release Ember from her bonds and explained the situation with the help of a three-dimensional movie. The blue-skinned men, Azurians, came from the over-populated planet Azurion searching for other planets to live. One of those planets was the Earth, and during a galactic war, the forces of Earth was crushed. The Azurians decided to spare the remaining Earthlings, but to prevent they would ever again become a threat to the Azurians, all Earthlings were 'erased', all knowledge they had gathered throughout the centuries was banished from their brains. And so they became barbarians again. Human spies, such as Toriander, were used to warn the Azurians for any technical development. This unnatural balance had lasted for thousands of years... until the time traveller Storm arrived, armed with all the knowledge the Azurians thought they had destroyed. This danger could only be eliminated by erasing it.

The Supervisor orders to have both Storm and Ember erased, but Storm quickly takes the Supervisor as a hostage and forces him to bring him and Ember back to the Green Hell. Storm and Ember realise that they now have a task: To fight the Azurians and reclaim the Earth that has been stolen from the Earthlings.

The Battle for Earth[]

At some time while fleeing for the Azurians, Storm and Ember found a place inside a mountain range which Storm as an old air-raid shelter. This shelter was however used as a home for a group of humans led by Mordegai. They were captured, but Storm told him all about the Azurians. When later a group of Azurians were captured, and recognised Storm, Mordegai concluded that Storm had spoken the truth. Mordegai teamed up with Storm and Ember, despite complaints of his right-hand man Balder. To fight the Azurians, Storm decided to re-activate the shelter. Ember overlooked this process with him. 

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Storm and Ember overlooking the reactivation of the air-raid shelter.

But Balder, who had grown jealous of Storm and Mordegai's growing friendship, let the captured Azurians escape. Soon the Azurians, led by the Supervisor, attack the shelter. But Storm was able to re-activate the shelter just in time and with the help of a magnetic beam, the Azurians are defeated for the first time in many millenia. The humans choose Storm as their leader, even Balder who now understands the Azurians are truly the enemy. This is the start of the Battle for Earth, and Ember accompanies Storm as he marches with an army towards the nearest city.

During the march they are attacked by an Azurian squad led by general Solon. But Storm has yet another secret weapon which electrocutes most of the Azurians. Seeing his men die, Solon vows revenge on the Supervisor who had ignored Solon's advice to wait for more information about possible secret weapons. He goes to the earthlings' camp and convinces Storm that he wants to help them get into a city. Suspecting a trap, Storm leaves Balder in command and together with Ember and Bork he goes along with Solon.

They do walk into a trap, but this trap is not Solon's work. The Supervisor had been warned by a few surviving members of Solon's squad when they heard Solon's vow for revenge through the radio. As the Earthlings, informed by the escaped Bork about the 'trap', attack, Storm, Ember and Solon are locked up. They are however freed by Solon's girlfriend Silene, who had knocked out the Supervisor and stolen the keys of the cell. They now were able to attack the city from inside and open the city gates. But although Storm and his men were victorious, the Supervisor captured Ember. With her as a hostage he demanded a free retreat. 

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Months pass, but no trace of Ember or the Supervisor could be found, until Solon remembered that the Supervisor often retreated to an old Chulthu-cloister in the Himalaya. An attempt to save Ember however failed, as first Storm and Solon simply walked into a trap, and then an Inspector from the Azurian High Council came to investigate the rumours about a revolt on Earth. Shocked to see that Solon had betrayed his own race, the Inspector decided that the Supervisor had to be taken to Mars to answer for his actions before the High Council. Ember was taken with them.

The High Council sentenced the Supervisor for high treason to life-long hard labour, and decided to deal with Storm. They offered Storm to come to Mars as negotiator in exchange for Ember's life. Storm agreed, but when Ember arrived on Earth, it was just like she didn't see Storm at all. Indeed, Storm was betrayed, as this "Ember" was nothing but a projection. The real Ember was still a captive.

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Storm and Ember were led before the High Council and given the choice between being erased, or death. They both chose death, and they would be executed after 24 Mars-hours. In the meantime they were locked up. But then the Supervisor came to warn the Council about a revolt in the Mars-canals, caused by Balder and Solon, to rescue Storm and Ember. A rehabilitated Supervisor was then granted his wish to the executioner of Storm and Ember. But the Supervisor betrayed the Council: He merely executed a projection of Storm and Ember, and then eradicated the surprised Council after which he escaped from Mars with Storm and Ember as his prisoners.

But as the Supervisor forced Storm to control the dimension ship, he didn't notice that Storm had put the dimension regulator into the opposite direction. Suddenly the dimension ship was caught in a galactic thunderstorm. Despite Ember's attempt to stop him, the Supervisor escaped with a space pod. Storm and Ember then returned to their own dimension. First they returned to Mars to meet Balder and Solon. Then, returning to Earth, they made many succesful peace treaties with the Azurians. However, on the Moon a new Council of Azurian supervisors was formed, aiming to take revenge on Storm, the 'apostate' Azurians and on the Earth. A final decisive battle for Earth was at hand...

The Secret of the Nitron Rays[]

Ember did not join Storm in the final battle on the Moon, but she accompanied him when he was honoured in Freetown when the Battle for Earth had ended

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Later she went with Storm to an Azurian colony in the North to see the little girl Bitak, who had developed telekinetic skills. Storm decided to take the little girl to Mordegai, but the bored child used her powers to fly the plane to the moon. The lack of oxygen made them lose consciousness, but they were 'rescued' by a group of Azurian space pirates. They recognised Storm and Ember, and it was only thanks to Bitak's powers that Storm was killed. Bitak stayed with the pirates while Storm and Ember were put back inside their plane and launched back to Earth.

Returning to Mordegai, Storm and Ember were suddenly attacked by their own men, as Mordegai's assistant Benjamin had told Balder an Azurian ship with spies was approaching Freetown. Storm managed to make a crash landing, and he and Ember walked to Freetown. On their way they met Azurian refugees. Benjamin had told the people that Storm and Ember were murdered by Azurians and had started a 'witch hunt'. Storm and Ember entered Freetown through the sewers, just like they did with Solon when the city was still occupied by the Supervisor, and caught Benjamin who was poisoning Mordegai. They give Benjamin his freedom in exchange for the anitdote, but instead of the antidote, Benjamin gave an extra dose of poison, which kills Mordegai.

While searching for Benjamin, and also for Bitak, Ember came to tell Storm that a drifting spaceship was found with a statue of Storm on board. Storm and Ember visit the spaceship to see the statue and then travel to the colony by the Tecumseh Lake on Venus, where the spaceship came from. Their arrival chase away the pirates who were attacking the colony.

When taking care of the wounded people, an old man tells about the temple on the bottom of the lake where the statues of Storm were found. Storm and Ember decided to dive down into the lake to search for the temple. Inside the temple they were greeted by a group of fishmen who told about a group of 'star travellers' whose ship, with many statues of Storm on board, crashed down on Venus.

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Storm understood some sort of cult around him had been formed after his disappearance. The fishmen, who were overjoyed the 'god of the statues' had come, wished for Storm to stay with them and wanted to turn Storm and Ember into fish people. They were saved by the soldiers who thought Storm and Ember were staying under water far too long.

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After this, they set a trap for the space pirates. But they were too late, as Bitak had already left the pirates, together with Benjamin. A search for them had no results, so Storm decided on solving the secret of Bitak's powers. Shortly after finding out that the normally deadly Nitron rays created telekinetic powers in combination with a rare blood type, a wounded Bitak herself appeared in a dimension ship. She warned Storm that Benjamin and the Supervisor had figured out the secret too and were planning to attack the Earth with an army of gifted Azurians. The attack was however neutralized by the telekinetically gifted Azurians on Earth. After this attack, the psychic Azurians decided to never again use their powers for war. They left Earth in search for a place where they could live in peace. Bitak joined them after saying farewell to Storm and Ember. 

The Voyager Virus[]

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The Dallas Paradox[]

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The Stargorger[]

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The Legend of Yggdrasil[]

Although peace and fraternization between the Earthlings and the Azurians had been established, Storm and Ember were fed up with all politics. Especially after archaeologists had found a "Museum of Humankind", and Storm was again able to fly again in a Spitfire, he again longed to go back to his own time and he and Ember talked about a possibility to fly back through the Red Spot on Jupiter, now that spaceships were more advanced. Ember knew her friend too well and realising he would travel alone, she went on board on Storm's spaceship as a stowaway. 

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One of the few moments that Ember was very furious at Storm was when he decided to return to the Red Spot without her.

So Storm and Ember travelled together into the Red Spot. Just before losing consciousness Storm ordered the computer to let the spaceship return to Earth. As the spaceship was too severely damaged to land, they had to launch the capsule and make a crash landing on Earth. As they regained consciousness, they found themselves surrounded by dinosaur-like creatures who were about to sacrifice them to their goddess Yggdrasil. Ember in particular was upset when the Priest of Yggdrasil revealed the skin under her clothes to check if they were suitable sacrifices. But as the priest was about to kill Ember, the leader of the dinosaur-men, Wag-Nar, appeared to remind the priest that according to their law that the humans had to be given the choice between a quick death or a battle. Storm stated they had come in peace and did not want to fight, but he immediately changed his mind when Wag-Nar knocked out Ember, and even stated he was going to fight Wag-Nar. Wag-Nar, impressed by Storm's courage, accepted the duel, but he easily defeated Storm. At that moment, Storm recognised the goddess Yggdrasil as a tyrannosaurus. With these words, he fulfilled a prophecy that a man named Storm would come to the dinosaur-men to reunite them with their goddess. From that moment, Storm and Ember were honoured guests and friends of the dinosaur-men (with the exception of the priest). 

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Wag-Nar told them about how his people always fought against the humans.The balance was shifted when the humans invented fighting machines. On top of that, the humans found the hatchery and all dinosaur eggs were destroyed. Their only hope of survival was to be reunited with Yggdrasil, who was imprisoned in the City of the South. Storm and Ember went with them, as Storm had come to the conclusion that he and Ember had travelled further into the future, as there has never been a time in history in which humans and talking dinosaurs lived side by side, and the only way for dinosaurs to live in the future was through a time machine. It became Storm's goal to find that time machine.

During their journey to the City of the South, they passed the wreck of a space ship. Ember's intuition warned them for danger, and they were indeed attacked when they came too close to the ship. Storm decided to try to negotiate, and told Wag-Nar to not let Ember follow him. Ember tried to escape from the dinosaur-men no less than three times, until she convinced one of them, Fatty, to search for Storm. Again Ember's intuition was right, as Storm was captured by the Jackal Troops, who were about to kill him with the help of a moisture-hating insect, the Arryda. Ember and Fatty arrived just in time to save Storm and with the help of a tank, they completely wiped out the Jackal Troops, while their leader Dyan was bitten by the Arryda himself.

After the battle, Fatty told (or rather sang) about the fight to his fellow dinosaur-men, when suddenly the ground collapsed. They discovered a secret passage to a teleportation centre. Storm concluded that the City of the South must be in the place where once Sydney was, and they decided to use the teleportation device as they won't make it across the land. However, in Sydney the teleportation discs now lie on the bottom of a river. They all got above the water alive, although the priest was caught by the local police.

Storm and Ember tried to gather information about Yggdrasil, but found out the people deeply hated the dinosaurs. They did find out that the people were searching for them, and had to flee. But they fell into a trap set up by the police with the help of the priest who betrayed his own people in exchange for his life. After a night in jail, they were taken to an arena which had a great dome in the middle.Storm discovered that the dome was made of the same material of the teleportation discs and had a mark similar to the emblem of Yggdrasil Wag-Nar was wearing. The emblem turned out to be a key to open the dome and Storm, Ember and the dinosaur-men fled inside.

Inside the dome a robot told them about the history of the dinosaur-men. The people who first lived there lived a life in peace, until they were attacked by the barbarians. With their time machine, they brought the dinosaurs to this age which were then developed into the dinosaur-men, the best warriors of all time. Despite the succesful defence against the barbarians, the

people decided to flee with the time machine to Antarctica. The original tyrannosaurus, Yggdrasil, was yet left behind inside the dome in a stasis-field. Wag-Nar was shocked to see the 'monster' that is his 'ancestor', although Ember tried to convince him of the beauty inside the creature's pure strength. 

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At that moment the priest and the barbarians entered the dome. During the fight, Fatty threw the traitor against the control deck, and the stasis field around Yggdrasil was lifted. Yggdrasil immediately broke out of her cage and ate the priest. Then she also broke out of the dome and kept searching for food. Ember was another prey, but she wasn't going down without her fight. She stabbed Yggdrasil with her sword, but the sword got stuck in Yggdrasil's palate. .

While Ember fought to keep Yggdrasil's mouth open, Wag-Nar climbed to Yggdrasil's head and killed her. With her death, Yggdrasil's slowed aging process developed in high speed and her corpse fell apart into dust. As Wag-Nar fell down, he fell upon his own sword and died too. With his final breath, he asked Storm to find a safe place for his people. At that moment, Storm's space ship appeared. He gave it to the dinosaur men and the robot accompanied them to find a safe place. Storm and Ember continued their journey: Across a bridge of light, they travelled to Antarctica, in search for the time machine.

City of the Damned[]

When Storm and Ember arrived in Antarctica, they found out that the landscape had changed and the bridge now disappeared into the rocks. They jumped off, and had still a long journey ahead. Luckily they found a shelter, where they also found warm clothes. 

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After a long journey (skiing, mountain climbing, snow storms), they found the city: A mushroom-shaped building towering many miles into the sky. Because of the heat this city emitted, the climate around it was relatively warm. As they arrived the city, they were attacked by an old forgotten defense mechanism, which Storm easily destroyed. After this fight, they were warped inside the city, where they were greeted by a guide. After he brought Storm and Ember to their room, he told them more about the city, but he also had bad news for Storm: Through a virtual reality helmet, Storm learned that through a highly dose of radiation from the sun accidentally broadcasted through TV sets, the civilization of his time had been largely wiped out. Storm still decided to go back to his own time. On their way to Terminal One for Storm's time travel, the guide showed Storm and Ember more of the city. Storm and Ember were however appalled to see that, when the fire extinguishing robots malfunctioned, people inside a burning building were left in the lurch and decided to save them.

After the rescue and arriving at Terminal One, Storm first liked to know more about the purpose of the city. He learned that the city was working to accelerate the stagnated evolution of Mankind. Storm was appalled when he heard that failed experiments were executed. The main computer, who took all decisions, states he wasn't programmed to judge, only to look over the safety of the city. The computer however asks for Storm's help, as energy walls had been appearing in the cities, causing thousands of people. Storm refused, but Ember convinced him to think about it. Storm gave in, but wanted to wait until the next day before telling the computer.

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A radical wardrobe change for Ember half-way through this story, the first step towards becoming the sexy woman who would eventually be voted 'hottest comic heroine'.

But when Ember, after a drastic change of clothing, entered Storm's room the next morning, he was gone. She found him at Terminal One at the side of a woman who called herself Anor. She told Ember that Storm had decided to settle down and Anor was chosen to find a permanent settlement for him. Ember was furious because of Storm's indecisiveness, and when he said he had no idea what she should do and just do whatever she liked, she decided to look behind the energy wall alone.

Behind the wall Ember was soon attacked by monsters, but was rescued by a group of refugees. The men showed her how the town was destroyed. Every person who lived in an area sucked behind the energy walls were turned into slaves, all buildings were demolished, and all metals were melted and forged into weapons. This operation was led by a man named Gor, a man with psychic powers, who did not die during his execution, but used his powers to escape. Ember also learned that Gor's most loyal followers also learned to control psychic powers and can be recognised by their red-white eyes. As Ember remembered that Anor also had such eyes, she understood that Storm was under her control. As she cannot go back to the other side of the energy wall through the inside of the city, she went back by climbing the outside wall of the city. But Gor's followers patrolled even the outside of the city, as an armoured man on a winged horse soon attacked. With the help of the refugees, Ember soon won the fight and the knight used his powers to disappear.

Ember flew back to Terminal One and fought Anor. Anor used a burning sword which broke Ember's sword, yet Ember managed to kill Anor with the remains of her sword. When losing control over Storm, Anor revealed that her master Gor had made a copy of Storm's mind. Storm's fighting spirit would make Gor's army invincible. Storm and Ember left in search for Gor. But Gor fought back with the powers of earth (making a cave come alive), air, fire and water. 

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Eventually they reached Gor's hide-out and entered it despite a weak attent of Gor's general Pulg to stop them. Ember soon find out that due to Gor's powers it was not possible to kill him. But Storm had the solution: With a time travelling belt, he sent Gor billions of years into the future to the moment that the sun will reach its critical mass and will explode, destroying the Earth - and thus Gor - in the process.

Back in Terminal One, Storm told the computer his reward for saving the city for Gor: To prevent that the city ever again had to face a similar disaster, Storm was going to destroy the computer. Now the humans would have to make decisions on their own instead. After this, Storm and Ember left the city for new adventures, now that Storm had finally accepted there is no way for him to return to his own time.

The Creeping Death[]

Storm and Ember travelled towards the jungle of former South America again, when Ember's hover scooter bumped against a giant snail. In a rescue attempt, Storm was knocked out. He regained consciousness, but without the hover scooters, the duo was now stuck in the jungle. Looking out from the trees, Storm noticed a building, and they fought a way through the jungle towards it. 

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Suddenly, Ember was shot in the arm by an arrow. The initial reaction was a near untamable fury, until she fainted and fell into a coma. Storm noticed that the arrow was poisoned and Ember's skin had changed colour. He went on through the jungle carrying the unconscious Ember. When he set up camp, he noticed the spot on Ember's arm was growing bigger.

The next day they reached the buiildings they had seen, but were ambushed by three men. Furious over Ember's poisoning, Storm beat up the men and forced them to bring them to their leader, Yucan. Yucan decided to make a deal with Storm: If Storm could bring back Yucan's son Huatl, who was captured by the enemy tribe, the Manatecs, then Yucan would give him the antidote necessary to heal Ember. After the arrival of the 'gods' (a group of rockets), and a duel in honour of them, Yucan introduced Storm to his younger son Kai who would tell Storm anything he needed to know to reach the city of the Manatecs. As Storm left to rescue Huatl, Ember was left behind in Kai's care.

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But Kai had fallen in love with Ember at first sight. Immediately when Storm left he tried to convince his father to cure Ember straight away, as he knew it was virtually impossible for Storm to return in time, even if he succeeded in freeing Huatl. Kai admitted to his father he loved Ember and wanted to marry her. Yucan however was not pleased that his son wanted to marry a woman who was not from their tribe, and refused to cure Ember. On top of that, he himself chose a bride for Kai, a girl named Tuapa. Kai in turn did not like the bride his father had chosen at all. He tried to steal the amulet that held the formula for the antidote, but he was caught by Yucan and shackled until his wedding day.

During the next visit of the gods, Kai called out himself when Yucan asked if someone was willing to duel against him. According to the law, Kai fought Yucan, but stood no chance. Kai was only saved when Tuapa begged Yucan to spare Kai's life. This gave Kai the opportunity to kill his father and become the leader of his tribe. And now that he had Yucan's amulet, he also could make the antidote to save Ember.

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Kai wasted no time in giving Ember the antidote. But when she woke up, she was not at all pleased with the idea of Kai being her future husband. Not accepting the rejection, Kai had Ember tied to the totem pole by her arms and legs, stating she would be hanging there in that way until she would give in and marry him. Still, after two days Kai thought it had lasted long enough and Ember would give in. He was wrong, as Ember simply threw the cup of wine into his face. A furious Kai now had Ember tied above a pit filled with glowing embers (what's in a name), and she would be sacrificed at the next visit of the gods.

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But as the executioner was about to cut the rope that held the poles to which Ember was tied upright, they were greeted by the return of Storm and Huatl. Kai stated that he had nothing to do with the promise his father made to Storm and ordered that the execution of Ember went on. Storm, who during the travel from the city of the Manatecs to Yucan's city had re-activated one of the rockets, warned Kai that the gods would be angry and as one rocket was fired, the people cowered in fear. But it was not enough to stop Kai, as he cut the rope himself. Storm swiftly grabbed the poles, but as he had to hold Ember upright, he could not fight Kai. And thus it was Huatl who killed his brother in a fight that ended as quickly as it had started. Storm revealed to the people that Huatl was not only their leader but had also become the leader of the Manatecs. Now the two tribes could live in peace. After a time of celebration, Storm and Ember left for new adventures, and without knowing it yet, for a new world.

Going to Pandarve[]

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Storm and Ember were preparing themselves for a journey through the desert, and as would happen more often in the future, they discussed whether the clothes they wanted to buy were actually practical. Suddenly a red beam of light appeared which fell down on Storm. Ember immediately tried to grab her friend and together they were dragged to the galaxy of Pandarve .

When the beam disappeared, Storm and Ember were still hovering thousands of miles above the planet. Their first surprise in this strange galaxy was that there was air in outer space. This meant they wouldn't choke to death, but it was still possible for them to burn to death because of the friction with the air. Soon enough they also found out that because there was air in space, there was also life in space: A big whale-like creature, a tariev, nearly swallowed them both. The only way to escape the beast's mouth was for them to push each other away.

At that moment, a hunter shot his harpoon at the tariev. While Storm managed to grab a fin of the beast, Ember was hit by the tariev's tail, and she was left behind unconsciously. 

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Ember was eventually found by the soldiers of Marduk, the Theocrat of Pandarve. Marduk had sent the beam of light, emitted from the Egg of Pandarve, to Earth to capture the Anomaly whose powers can make him the master of the Multiverse. He understands that because the beam has brought her to Pandarve, Ember must be very close to the Anomaly, especially as the Anomaly-detector also detects a mild Anomaly-function inside Ember. 

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Therefore, Marduk used Ember in a plan to capture the Anomaly. After Ember had learned the language of Pandarve, she was dressed in Pandarvian style and beautified. Then Marduk announced that he would marry Ember in two months time. Marduk was absolutely sure that the Anomaly would come to save Ember. Indeed, when Storm, who at that moment had just let himself be sold as a slave in the Water Mines on Vertiga Bas so his friend Rann could free his daughter Leidse, found out that Ember was still alive, he freaked out and vowed to escape.

Ember of course had no interest in marrying Marduk. Marduk pointed out he was not at all interested in Ember, but only cared about the Anomaly. Ember understood he was talking about Storm, and Marduk told her how unique Storm was. As Storm had travelled through time, he held a power that could disrupt time and space itself. A power that Marduk wanted to use to become master of the Multiverse. To catch Storm Marduk merely used Ember and a fake marriage as a bait. But Ember was not impressed, as Storm had braved greater dangers before.

The Labyrinth of Death[]

Ember was freed from Marduk's grasp by the Rebellion, but soon found out they wanted to use her for the same reason as Marduk: as leverage to convince the Anomaly to join their side. 

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 Disguised as acrobats, and Ember wearing a black wig, they tried to become entertainers for the wedding. This plan was not entirely succesful, as they ended up in the kitchens. Therefore it was initially difficult for the Rebellion's agent to find them, but at night she could tell them that Marduk had caught the Anomaly. Ember was overjoyed to hear that her lost friend was inside the palace and was looking forward to see him again. At that moment, the agent was discovered by one of the guards. Ember interfered to save the agent, which led to the guard's death. Ember soon regretted the deed after the agent's ungrateful reaction.

The rebels quickly broke into the jail to free the Anomaly, but the only one who was there was Storm's new friend Nomad. Despite the wig she was wearing, Nomad quickly understood that the woman who called out Storm's real name instead of calling him 'Anomaly' had to be the woman Storm always had been talking about: Ember. Nomad told that they had just come too late as Storm had just been taken to Marduk. After some struggles between Nomad and the Rebellion, Ember convinced them that if they want Storm to co-operate with the Rebellion, they should not turn down his friends. Together they made for Marduk's lab through the air-shafts.

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As Storm and Ember were finally reunited, this was also the first time that the trio of Storm, Ember and Nomad were together in the same place.

They arrived just in time, as Storm had just used up all his powers to destroy Marduk's lab and the theocratic guard was about to seize him. The rebels fought the guards to give Storm, Ember, Nomad and the agent (who was nicknamed "Bristlehead" by Nomad) a chance to escape. But the hallway they took led them to the Golden Gate of The Labyrinth of Death. Bristlehead told them that although the gate could be opened with just one finger from this side, no one had ever returned from the Labyrinth. As she said that even Marduk didn't dare to enter, they all went inside without thinking twice. Marduk indeed didn't dare to enter the Labyrinth himself, yet he sent his guards and Visfil inside to bring back the Anomaly.

They soon discovered that a monstrous creature resided inside the Labyrinth. The monster used mental powers to paralyze Storm and his friends, but was a little scared to eat them, due to Storm's body emitting light; the residue of the powers he had used to destroy Marduk's lab. As suddenly Marduk's guards appeared, the monster focused his attention on them instead, giving Storm and his companions a chance to escape.

They soon found a room in the Labyrinth where the monster shed its old skins. Above they saw an opening through which daylight seeped into the Labyrinth. This gave Storm an idea. He let Ember and Visfil collect all the fungi they could find (and of course Ember did not like to work together with that little creep), while Bristlehead made a balloon from the old skins, and Storm and Nomad created a bucket from old weapons tied together with the skins. They tied themselves to the balloon with the monster's tentacles, and with his last powers, Storm lit the fungi that were put inside the bucket and they used the heat to let the balloon fly upwards.

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But they hadn't even gone upwards as the monster appeared again. It looked as though they had hovered out of its grasp just in time, but the monster was able to stretch out one tentacle and it grabbed Bristlehead. The monster was also very strong as it not only pulled down Bristlehead, but the whole balloon. Bristlehead then cut herself loose to save the others, repaying the debt she owed to Ember when she had saved her from Marduk's guard. Ember looked down in tears when Bristlehead fell back down to be eaten by the monster, as she did not even knew the name of the woman who had now saved her life.

With the loss of Bristlehead's weight, the balloon shot upwards and out of the Labyrinth. But once outside, the sudden change in temperature made the balloon fall down. To lose more weight, Ember cut loose Visfil. The heroes, who had now become a trio of friends as Nomad would stay permanently with them, flew across the edge of a mountain range towards the outstretched oceans and valleys of Pandarve, on to unknown dangers and adventures.

The Seven of Aromater[]

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Storm, Ember and Nomad made a raft of the remains of the balloon and travelled across the river to the port city Aromater. Here trouble started when a merchant wanted to buy Ember. A polite refusal was not enough, and Storm had to fight the merchant's bodyguard. During the fight Storm's sword broke, and the bodyguard sarcastically suggested that Storm could pull the sword of the Seventh out of its pedestal. To everyone's surprise, Storm succeeded. Storm was then surounded by a cheering crowd who brought Storm to the Temple of the Eternal Prince. Ember and Nomad followed the crowd and saw how Storm was forced to drink a potion created from the Blood of Pandarve, which turned him into a monstrous creature. After that, Storm disappeared with the Eternal Prince.

Ember and Nomad were however not planning on abandoning their friend, but they needed more information first. And who else than the merchant who had brought them into this trouble could tell them what was going on. The merchant told them all about the history of Aromater. This city, the 'queen of the ocean' had been ruled by two twin brothers. They were called 'the Eternal Princes', as they seemed to be immortal. The brothers received knowledge about the elements and the lower powers through a brain coral, a part of Pandarve herself. Through this wisdom, Aromater's power and glory kept rising... until the brothers started to fight. One of the brothers used the knowledge from the brain coral to create a potion from the blood of Pandarve, which turned him into a dark demon. Seven of his followers were turned into monstrous creatures who were able to steal the brain coral. From that moment on, Aromater was in decline and the remaining Eternal Prince had lost his immortality. To regain the Brain Coral, heroes were invited to become the Seven of Aromater. The fountain from which Storm had pulled the sword was deviced by the Prince to test the heroes. Each hero who succeeded was given the Blood of Pandarve (which the dark prince and his followers had left behind in their hurry to escape) and they too become monstrosities who would fight for Aromater. Storm had been chosen to become the Seventh.

Ember and Nomad decided to infiltrate the tower of the Eternal Prince. But when they arrived at the tower , they found it was standing in a volcanic shaft. 

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 Nomad was able to throw a hook with a rope through one of the tower's windows, and the two climbed inside. But still, the rope was set aflame by a lava spark and Nomad survived only because Ember was able to grab his wrist. Inside they spied on the Eternal Prince and his servant making the final preparations for the journey to the Red Tear

The next day a ship moved out of Aromater with the Seven on board, and Ember and Nomad as stowaways. After more than a day at sea, the Red Tear appeared in the sky, a  sattelite so close to Pandarve that it sucked the waters of the ocean towards itself. The Seven of Aromater took a little yacht towards the maelstrom that brought them to the Red Tear. Ember tried to stop them, but she and Nomad were soon overpowered by the superior numbers of the servants of the Eternal Prince.

As Ember and Nomad were bound and shackled and nobody was paying attention to them, Nomad gave Ember the flask with the Blood of Pandarve, hidden under her hair and the chains of her bra. (They had stolen it from the Eternal Prince's lab when they were spying on him). 

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 Ember now also transformed, but as there was not enough left of the blood for a full transformation, it did not make her lose her mind. She still knew exactly what she was doing, but was now able to follow Storm and the other fighters to the Red Tear. She steered the ship towards the maelstrom and the ship crashed down upon the Red Tear. Only Ember, Nomad and the Eternal Prince survived this crash.

On the Red Tear it became immediately clear that Ember's transformed body had special gifts. First of all, she did not need air to breathe. Also, despite the heavy gravity, she was able to walk while Nomad and the Eternal Prince couldn't move at all. At first, Ember was going to search for Storm, but soon they found out that little monstrous creatures were guarding the sattelite. After Ember chased the monsters away, it was clear that Nomad and the Prince couldn't be left behind, so she carried them with her. They followed the trail of the Seven of Aromater for hours, during which Ember's body absorbed all electricity from a thunderstorm. Then they had to cross a desert of glass. As they were reaching the equator of the Red Tear, gravity decreased, so eventually Nomad was able to stand without being pulled down. Eventually they reached the Brainmine, the location where the braincorals could be found. However, the mine was sealed by a thick yellow cloud. As Nomad and the Prince couldn't breathe in the cloud, Ember had to continue alone.

Once down, Ember was captured by a group of tentacles. Despite the fantastic strength of her transformed body, Ember was not able to free herself. But the solution came when Ember released the electric energy her body had absorbed in the thunderstorm. She was finally free, but this energy blast was noticed by the dark prince who was looking at the stalemate between his fighters and the Seven of Aromater for fun. As the owner of the Brain Coral, he had no chance of losing this fight, but now he decided to put an end to this fight. Ember arrived just in time before the Seven of Aromater could be killed. A rock made the brain coral fall out of the prince's hands, and then Ember herself faced the prince. As the prince had chosen black as his colour, the white Ember could break his power, as light makes darkness disappear. 

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 And when Ember's body started to emit light, the dark prince indeed disappeared into nothingness. As the dark prince had disappeared, an exhausted and 'empty' Ember fell on the floor, which was covered with the Blood of Pandarve.

Suddenly, Ember rose up, gasping for air. Her body had returned to normal. To her shock, she saw that the Seven of Aromater and the fighters of the prince were melting and flowing back into the Blood of Pandarve. She feared that Storm was melting too, but suddenly she heard his voice. In relief she embraced her friend. As Storm had no memory of anything that had happened after he had drunk the Blood of Pandarve, Ember told him everything. Storm concluded that they might have survived as he and Ember come from another planet, and even another time, so Pandarve possibly does not have any power over them as she does have over her own children.

But now that their bodies had returned to normal, the atmosphere in the Brainmine was poisonous for them. They hurriedly climbed back through the yellow cloud to Nomad and the Eternal Prince. As the Prince heard about his brother's death, he went hysterical and jumped down into the yellow cloud to retrieve the brain coral. This most likely led him to death.

As Storm, Ember and Nomad went outside, they noticed that a large horde of the Guards of the Red Tear was approaching. It seemed that they were trapped between the guards and the equally deadly Brainmine, when Storm noticed a crack in the mountain wall.

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 But as during the creating of the glass desert glass had seeped into the cracks in the mountains, they soon found themselves sliding down a very long slide. And the guards simply kept on chasing after them and slided down as well. When they finally reached the end of the slide, they ran towards a forest. The trees looked like giant dandelions, and Storm had the idea to climb upon one of the seeds which was then blown by the wind into space. In the distance, they saw a ship approaching...

The Slayer of Eriban[]

As Storm, Ember and Nomad called out to the ship, no response was given. Thanks to another fabulous throw from Nomad with a knife, a rope on the ship was cut, which the three friends then used to climb on board. They found out that the crew was dead for a long time already. 

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 Inside the cabin Ember found a 'sarcophage' with the body of a young boy inside. However, it soon turned out that the young boy wasn't dead. The 'sarcophage' was a regeneration capsule and the boy soon woke up from his sleep. The boy, Renter Ka Rauw, was a student at the Academy of Death on Eriban and was very skilled in fighting techniques which Storm and his friends could not even imagine. Storm realised they had no choice than to surrender to Renter, despite Ember's ongoing resistance.

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Renter did explain what had happened to the ship. He was raised on Eriban ever since he was a baby and now he was on his way to the Kingdom of Marrow for his last test. If he'd succeed in killing the king, he would pass the exam and become a true Slayer of Eriban. But on his way to Marrow, the ship was attacked by a swarm of M'anganesse, a flying insect that destroys everything in his path. to save their master, Renter's servants put him inside his regeneration capsule while facing death themselves. However, Renter cannot open his regeneration from the inside, so it was very lucky for him to be found by Storm and his friends.

Arriving at Marrow, Renter decided that he needed to gather information about the traditions and habits of the country. He took Ember with him as a hostage, so Storm and Nomad would not leave the ship, but also as a decoy: If Renter's young appearance would attract attention, she could act as his older sister (Ember was however not pleased with the suggestion she could act as Renter's mother.).

They visit an arena, where at the moment a Barsaman game is held. They listen to one of the inhabitants explaining the rules: All fighters stand on pillars which slowly sink in the sand.  The order and speed in which the pillar sink into the sand is completely random. The fighter who succeeds in reaching the one pillar still above the ground, wins the game.

Barsaman is very much a religion on Marrow. Each year in the capital Romilly a Holy Barsaman game is held (in which the floor is not made of sand, but of hot lava). As the king has no heir, the winner of this game will be his heir for that year. If the king does not die in that year, he will have to fight again later that year. With this, Renter had the information he needed and he and Ember returned to the ship.

To Renter's surprise, a huge crowd surrounded his ship. In his free time, Storm had created a chessboard and chesspieces, and had taught Nomad how to play. The people of Marrow were completely fascinated by this Barsaman-like game. One of them, a little boy named Tilio, even became so obsessed that he became a stowaway. Renter simply threw him overboard, much to the anger of Storm and his friends. When Tilio was then attacked by a group of Sheels, Storm immediately came to the rescue, surprisingly followed by Renter. As Storm (with the throw of a knife) and Ember (with the shooting of an arrow) simultaneously killed the Sheel Renter was fighting, he decided the spare Tilio's life on the condition that he'd leave immediately at the next port. At the times that Tilio didn't get lessons in chess from Storm, he helped Ember in the kitchen and developed a crush on her.

After arriving in Romilly, Renter and Ember immediately went into the city to find out more about the Holy Barsaman game. But when they returned at night, they found Nomad fighting with a group of people. Renter jumped in to rescue Nomad, but them Nomad surprised Renter and knocked him out from behind. The whole fight was fake, just to trick Renter. Ember then had the idea to lock Renter up inside his regeneration capsule, as he told he cannot open it from inside and falls into a deep sleep.

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Nomad then went looking for Storm, who hadn't returned from warning the authorities about Renter's plan to kill the king. But by morning Nomad hadn't returned either. At that moment, a worried Ember was visited by Tilio, who was on his way to become a rich man by introducing chess to the people of Marrow. He even asked Ember if she would marry him, but Ember passed it off as a joke. She asked Tilion if she would help him by watching over the ship while she went looking for the missing Storm and Nomad. The search was not very succesful until she overheard one of the king's guards talk about two 'murderers' he had locked up, and that one of them was a big red man. Realising that he was talking about Storm and Nomad, Ember hurried back to the ship to find weapons, or jewels with which she could perhaps bribe the guards. But when she entered the cabin, she was struck from behind. Tilio had been so curious and looked inside the regeneration capsule, and with that he had freed Renter again, who after a very short fight strangled Ember.

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But instead of killing her, Renter forced Ember to drink a cup of drugged wine, and then made her participate in the Holy Barsaman game. Due to her drugged state, she was no match for the other fighters. Storm, who had just infiltrated the royal lodge with Nomad (and found Renter, disguised as Tilio, beside the king), took two shields from the guards and with this protection he walked across the lava and caught the falling Ember just in time. But with the extra weight of Ember, the shields sunk deeper into the lava and were about to break. Nomad, who held the king hostage, had to let go of the king to help Storm and Ember, giving Renter all chance to fulfill his test.

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But before Renter could kill the king, his teacher appeared. He gave Renter the final instructions required for his task: The king of Marrow was Renter's father. The true final task for everyone to become a Slayer of Eriban is to kill his father. Renter was so shocked by this revelation that he could not bring himself to kill the king. At that moment the guards came to warn the king about a revolt in the prisons. And while the overjoyed queen held her long lost son Renter in her arms (much to his dismay), nobody paid attention to Storm, Ember and Nomad who escaped to the harbour, took Renter's ship and sailed away. But inside the cabin sat Renter. After he assured that he had given Tilio enough money to stay in hiding until after the Barsaman games, he asked to be locked up inside his regeneration capsule and be thrown overboard. After a last farewell to Renter, they set course for a return to Pandarve.

The Dogs of Marduk[]

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Back on Pandarve, Storm, Ember and Nomad sold Renter's ship in a port town. Nomad noticed they were being watched by a strange dog. But not only the dog was watching them, as in the pub there was also an agent of the Rebellion who had recognised the Anomaly. As they left the pub for the market, Storm and his friends were followed by the dog and his guide. But suddenly they bumped into a couch. The owner of the couch ordered his bodyguard to kill the beggar, and both the beggar and the dog fell into the water. Storm then saved the dog, without knowing the dog was sent by his arch-enemy Marduk. Marduk, who in his lab could see through the dog's eyes, ordered form him to return to his master now that he knew the Anomaly's smell.

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One of Ember's rejected outfits.

After they watched the dog run away, Storm and his friends continued on to the market to buy new clothes and equipment, and of course again Storm and Ember 'argued' about the practicality of the clothes. The Rebellion agent saw that they would most likely need a lot of time to make a decision, and he could use that time to warn his comrades.

Indeed, when the trio left the market in search for a job, they were soon surrounded by the Rebellion. Despite the outcries from the comrade-leader that they meant no harm, they decided to flee straight through a house, disturbing the bathtime of the inhabitants. Storm and Nomad even made the annexe of a house collapse to stop the pursuit. Eventually they decided to hide in the sewers for their pursuers.

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But there's something odd about the sewers. First Ember noticed there was not one single rat to be seen, and as they walked on further she noticed that the wallks looked like flesh. Nomad was horrified when he realised they had walked straight into the Gullet, a gigantic earthworm that the townspeople use to get rid of their garbage. He urged his friends to go back as quickly as possible, but it was already too late: The Gullet had swallowed them alive. Attempts to fight back were futile: They couldn't cut through the worm, as if they were trying to cut through rubber with a blunt sword, and it only caused the worm to produce more digesting acids. It looked as if they were doomed, until a huge flood (caused by the Rebellion) dragged them through the worm and into the sea.

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After they fell into the sea, Storm and Nomad quickly swam above the water, but Ember was stunned by the shock when she hit the water, and was sucked into the deep by the force of the waterfall. Storm managed to bring her above the water, while a friendly fisherman, who had already helped Nomad, now also helped Storm and Ember on board of his ship. Storm and Nomad were relieved that the unconscious Ember was still breathing, but the fisherman warned them that she could still die. Ember had swallowed a lot of water, yet she appeared more drugged than drowned. The fisherman explained that the sea had an intoxicating effect because of the waste products of the Gullet. But he assured them that his shaman knew what to do to save Ember.

And so the fisherman brought them to his home, the Seventh Rib of Pandarve. Here, the shaman would cure the unconscious Ember with Pandarve's Breath, a vapour with healing powers coming out of the inside of the planet. The shaman and the fisherman fastened Ember to the totem pole, which was also a crane, after which the shaman lowered Ember's legs into the pit from which the vapour came. As Ember would only wake up after a few days, all Storm and Nomad could do was wait on the island after being tattooed according to the local customs, as nakedness was considered a crime on the Ribs. Ember could get her tattoos later, because her life-threatening condition and the holy duty to save a person's life gave her an exception to this rule.

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But while Ember was hanging unconsciously in the open being cured, this made her an easy prey for the members of the Rebellion to abduct. But just when the rebels were about to take her away, Ember woke up from her drugged state. Seeing herself lying in the arms of an unknown man, she immediately cried for Storm's help, being too weak after being unconscious for a few days to fight against the abduction herself. Storm and Nomad immediately chased after the abductors, but as they already had Ember as a prisoner, all the Rebels had to do was to put a knife against Ember's throat to force Storm to surrender, as that was the only reason why they wanted to abduct Ember anyway. They were taken to the Headquarters of the Rebellion, The Temple of the God of the Vultures.

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As the Hound of Marduk attacked while the comrade-leader was questioning Storm, the trio was taken to a different dungeon. But as their guards were distracted by the battle, they knocked them down and escaped. They first climbed over the roof and finally they could leave the temple. Shortly after they left, the temple exploded after one of the rebels had activated all booby-traps simultaneously. Assuming that no one could have survived, they searched a way out of the region. They found the airplane that had brought the Hound and Marduk's soldiers to the Temple. But as Storm boarded the plane, he was caught by the pilot, who in turn was attacked by the Hound.

By finding the Anomaly, the Hound had fulfilled the task his master had given him. But now the Hound showed his gratitude to Storm: He revealed that although he had been changed into a different creature by his master, he was the dog that Storm saved from drowning in the port town. To repay his debt, he gave Storm and his friends the plane and their freedom. Seeing from his lab what was happening, Marduk activated the collar around the neck of the Hound, which changed him back into a normal dog. Storm flew the plane to a yet unknown destination and Ember suggested that they would fly to the other side of Pandarve, where no one had yet heard from Marduk, and thus also hadn't heard of the Anomaly before.

The Living Planet[]

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As Storm, Ember and Nomad had been flying for hours, and were most likely running out of fuel, they decided to look what lay under the clouds they were flying over. To their shock, they dived towards an ocean of lava. Storm managed to keep the plane above the lava, but they had to get back above the clouds as the intense heat of the ocean was using up all oxygen. They all fainted, but Storm had yet succeeded in bringing the plane into an upward course.

But as they woke up, they saw that some leprechaun-like people had boarded the plane, and the little people were demolisihng the plane. Attempts to stop them were unsuccesful. As he and his friends were facing death by falling into the lava ocean, Storm begged the leprechauns to give them a chance. The leader stated that he was only allowed to save their lives if they returned the favour to them. So it was decided that Storm and Ember were given two hover-wings and special seeds to enable them to breathe in the harsh climate of the lava ocean (while Nomad stayed behind as a hostage) and they would go searching for an Egg of Pandarve.

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But controlling the wings was very difficult. Ember's wing touched the lava and was quickly completely ablaze. Storm flew underneath her so Ember could jump and grab Storm's legs, but the combined weight of Storm and Ember was too heavy for Storm's wing. They crash-landed upon a rock, with no possibility to escape. To their surprise, they saw a ship sailing on the lava ocean. As normal signals couldn't attract the ship, Storm used his Anomaly powers to create a beacon of light to attract the ship. Luckily for them, they were spotted by a scout, and Storm and Ember were taken on board of the ship, the Salmander.

Unfortunately, Storm and Ember had no money to pay for their journey on board of the Salmander. But while they were willing to work as payment, they soon found out they would be used as slaves instead. A conversation with a fellow slave, who told that the Salmander travels the lava ocean to hunt for Fireworms, was interrupted by a slaver's whip. This angered Ember, who kicked the slaver, and this distraction made the wheel the slaves were turning stop. This disrupted the hunting manoeuvres of the Salmander, and the Fireworm crashed into the ship. Storm managed to grab the keys from the dead slaver and freed Ember and the other slaves.

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On the deck, Storm rescued a little girl who was about to be crushed by the Fireworm. Storm convinced the captain of the Salmander that he could rescue the ship. The captain decided to give Storm a chance, but he kept Ember, tied and hanging above the lava sea as a hostage.

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Storm however did succeed in killing the Fireworm as he let the monster swallow time-bombs. After returning on the Salmander, he immediately pulled Ember back on board. Their debts had now been 'paid', but all of a sudden Ember had trouble breathing and fainted. Storm too couldn't breathe: The seeds from the leprechauns had lost their power.

When Storm woke up, Ember was beside him. Thanks to a medicine of the doctors of the Salmander they had survived. They had been brought to shore with the other slaves and were declared free of debt. A grateful slave told Storm and Ember about the Egg of Pandarve they were searching for. Marduk had such an egg in his lab. Seeing as this might be the only way to free Nomad, Storm and Ember decided on stealing the Egg, after spending a few weeks working for a farmer to earn some money.

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After seeing Pandarve as Marilyn Monroe, Ember shows some jealousy for the first time.

But during this time, one of the former slaves on the Salmander had betrayed Storm and Ember to Marduk, hoping to make some money. As such, when Storm and Ember infiltrated into Marduk's palace, he was already waiting for them. The fight with the guards was suddenly interrupted by a little girl who Storm recognised as... Alice in Wonderland ! The little girl was however a reflection of the mind of the living planet Pandarve, which could appear in any shape you like. Ember was not very keen when Pandarve suddenly turned into Marilyn Monroe.

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Pandarve had a task for Storm. She wanted him to fight her subconsciousness. Inside Pandarve's subconsciousness, Storm had to cut an Egg of Pandarve from the Tree of Unknowingness and throw it into the beam of light in the middle, so the Egg would be sent into space and over the centuries would grow to become a new living planet. With the Chesire Cat as their guide, Storm and Ember fought many nightmares and neuroses and eventually found the Tree. But Storm cut two Eggs from the Tree: One to fulfill the task Pandarve had given him and one to free Nomad. With the second Egg attached to Storm's belt, he and Ember were sent into space with the Egg. The leprechauns soon arrived there too, Nomad was freed (although he had difficulty saying goodbye to the female leprechauns), and they were given a ship with which they could reach the nearby planet.

Vandaahl the Destroyer[]

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Storm, Ember and Nomad travelled to a planetoid that was completely covered with water. They stayed with a community of fishermen who lived in a gigantic tree. One day, when they had gone out for fishing, Ember saw something falling down from the sky. When the object fell into the ocean, it caused a tsunami and the boat is swept away.

After the sea had calmed down, they travelled back to the place where the 'skystone' had fallen. As the water wasn't clear enough to see what was lying on the bottom, the fisherman decided to dive down. Ember was disgusted to see that the diving helmet was in fact a special type of jellyfish and did not want to go diving, so Storm went with the fisherman instead.

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They found an armour at the bottom of the sea. As it hadn't cooled down enough yet, they came back the next day with a crane. To their surprise there was a man inside the armour who was completely unharmed. They took the armour to the nest of the fisherman's tribe to tell the elder about the armour. But while the adults were talking, some children took a look at the armour, and wondered what the buttons on it would do. As they pushed the buttons, the stasis field of the armour was lifted and Vandaahl the Destroyer was awakened. Vandaahl was clearly an arrogant character who was offended that someone dared to ask him questions as it was he who should ask questions and demanded answers. Ember was irritated by this behaviour but when she scolded Vandaahl, he grabbed her and the armour gave her an electrical shock. Luckily for Ember, the armour was not yet back to full strength, as the shock only knocked her out and did not kill her. Eventually Vandaahl decided to burn down the tree, but let the fishermen live so they could be witnesses of his first deed of holy destruction. He then flew away. Storm knew it was their duty to warn the people of Pandarve about the threat of Vandaahl. The fishermen gave Storm and his friends a boat and with the help of a tornado they sailed into Pandarve's air-pocket space. In space, they met a bigger ship, and the captain was willing to bring them to Pandarve in exchange for work.

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When they arrived on Pandarve, they saw that the city where they landed was already destroyed by Vandaahl. Only two people are still there, a little boy and his master. The older man tells them all about Vandaahl who had destroyed the city and then forced the survivors to become his army. Vandaahl then went to the North. As Vandaahl's trail would be easy to follow, Storm and his friends chased after him. The little boy begged them to take him with them. When Ember asked for his name, he said that everyone calls him Rat.

As Vandaahl's army grew bigger, his progress was also slowed down. Storm decided to make a boat and sail along the coastline to arrive in front of Vandaahl and warn the cities. At sea, a huge spaceship approached them. On board was the Chief Justice of the Highest Quadrant, who was searching for Vandaahl as well. But although the Chief Justice looked powerful with all his equipment, he needed this to keep a connection with his own universe, as his presence was a violation of the laws of nature. Instead he made Storm the executioner of his verdict, and with the help of a communication crystal, he sent Storm and his friends to Vandaahl's camp.

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At Vandaahl's camp they were 'greeted' by one soldier. Again Ember was annoyed by arrogant behaviour and a fight ensued. The fight was stopped by Vandaahl himself. As he saw Storm wearing a communication crystal just like the one on his armour, he saw this as an omen and made Storm one of his generals, despite thinking the coincidence was close to impossible, and having the feeling he had seen Ember before.

That night, a man fell into the part of the tent where Ember was sleeping. It was the 'welcoming committee' who was shamed by his companions, as he hadn't won the fight with Storm, and after that Storm was appointed general, he had to erase that shame by killing Storm. But Storm had woken up just in time and kicked him so hard he fell on Ember's bed. After Storm, Nomad and Ember had beaten him up, he was left to go.

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The next day Vandaahl and his army went to battle, and Ember decided to make the weirdest wardrobe change she would ever make: Apparently she thought it was a good idea to go to a battle topless! They watched as Vandaahl's powerful armour destroyed the city walls by absorbing and repelling the fire shot at him. The plan that Storm had made to let pickpocket Rat turn the button on Vandaahl's belt to deactivate the armour was abandoned when they saw the power to electrocute people who touched the armour was now on full-strength.

Storm eventually decided to fight Vandaahl himself and called upon the Chief Justice for help. Everyone looked at Storm and Vandaahl's duel while Storm was controlled by the Chief Justice through the communication crystal. But the fight was lost when the Chief Justice started to lose control over the powers that allowed him to stay in this universe. They had to sacrifice Storm, who was immediately shot by Vandaahl. But as he saw Storm fall, a furious and panicking Rat jumped towards Vandaahl. He managed to shut down Vandaahl's armour, but the electrical shock killed him. He died to save Storm.

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As Vandaahl had been defeated, the Chief Justice came to pick him up. But at that moment Ember heard the crying of a baby. As the armour was opened, they saw that Vandaahl was indeed a baby! As it turned out, time on Pandarve moved in the opposite direction compared to Vandaahl's universe, and also in a different speed. Now that the protection of the armour had dissolved, Vandaahl grew younger until he disappeared into nothingness.

With Vandaahl's threat gone, the citizens started to rebuild the city. Rat's body was placed inside Vandaahl's armour and the stasis-field reactivated as a tribute to the sacrifice he made to save everyone. After a few weeks already, Storm and his friends leave, before Marduk could find out what had happened and hear that Storm was in this city

The Twisted World[]

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Storm, Ember and Nomad travelled through Monument Desert to the city of Halfway by train. On board, Ember had a conversation with a fellow traveller who told them Halfway was the end of the line, and that everyone was travelling there to see the festival and the execution of the criminal Boforce.

Arriving at the station, Ember took care of a little girl who had lost her mother. But then she found out that she had forgotten her bag and rushed back to the train, leaving the child in Nomad's care. As a result, Storm and Nomad were mistaken for kidnappers and slave traders, and couldn't follow Ember.

Suddenly the train was started again (as the escaped Boforce and her lackeys had also boarded the train, on the wrong side), and it crashed straight through the Border Wall, into the Twisted World. Ember was surprised by the train's sudden movement and fell from the couch she was standing on to grab her backpack and hit the ground, losing consciousness. Storm and Nomad remembered that Ember was still on the train. As they didn't get any help to rescue Ember, they decided to enter the Twisted World themselves.

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Ember's attempt to trick Boforce was unsuccesful

When Ember regained consciousness, she was spotted by Wilp, a man who had been used to help Boforce escape from her prison (against his will). Wilp warned Ember to be quiet, but Boforce noticed this. When Ember heard Boforce's name, she quickly climbed on top of the train and threw away her bra, hoping that when Boforce noticed something hovering in the distance, she would think Ember had jumped off the train. Boforce was however not tricked, and decided to check if Ember was hiding on the roof. Ember had to jump down an air shaft quickly before Boforce could have climbed upon the roof. Taking the risk of jumping into the dark, she dived into the train's swimming pool, only narrowly escaping Boforce by hiding under the diving plank.

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While searching the train, Ember suddenly had to face a monstrous creature that started growling at her. Ember was at first terrified, but then a snake-like creature with the face of a woman told her she did not need to fear the monster named Dindel: He only wanted to be stroked. Indeed, Dindel turned out to be a very sweet beast, and Ember had made two friends. Dindel and the Snake Woman were the main act of Burlane's Travelling Exhibition of Miracles and Wonders of Nature, who had travelled to Halfway for the festival, but when the train ran wild, they themselves could not pull the emergency break. As the costumes of their act were also still on board, Ember also could borrow some clothes (which of course had to be practical again), and some weapons to defend herself against Boforce's gang.

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Shortly afterwards, they are joined by Wilp, who also tried to escape from Boforce's gang. Wilp was however not of much help: he didn't know how to stop the train, nor did he know anything about the landscape they were driving through. All he knew was that once Halfway was a stop at the railway towards the legendary city Terminus, but something went wrong and then the Border Wall had to be built.

But Boforce, who had a crush on Wilp, chased after him. Ember, Wilp and the Snake Woman had to flee, but were forced to leave Dindel behind, as his size prevented him to walk through the corridors. But Boforce set the circus wagon on fire to kill Dindel and give herself a passage. Ember and the Snake Woman crawled through the air shaft to the wagon with the pool's water reservoir, and knocked out Boforce's henchman Twello. Here they had enough water to quench the fire, and they used a firehose to spout Boforce and Varakker to the flames. But then Twello woke up again. As the Snake Woman fought with him, the wall of the water reservoir broke. The flood destroyed the circus wagon. While Ember was able to stay on board of the train with the Snake Woman's help, poor Dindel fell off. As Boforce and her men were buried under the wreckage, Ember and the Snake Woman assumed they were dead. They quickly reunited with Wilp, and continued searching the train. They were all pleased to find a kitchen.

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But Boforce was not dead, and furiously she continued her chase. But when Ember and her friends reached the final wagon, she disconnected the wagon from the train, so Boforce could not reach them. Boforce was mad with rage and nearly killed one of her men. She climbed on the roof of the train to walk back to the locomotive and find a way to stop the train. As Boforce disappeared, Ember used a cable as a lasso to connect the wagon with the train again.

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Ember didn't know that at in the meantime Storm had figured out the secret of the Twisted World, and he and Nomad were now on the roof of the train as well. While Nomad fought with Boforce and her lackeys, Storm went to the locomotive and found the brakes. He was able to slow down the train enough so it would not smash to pieces against the Border Wall, but had still enough speed to break through the wall and return to Halfway. Back in Halfway, Ember and Wilp said goodbye to the Snake Woman, who went back into the Twisted World to search for Dindel, and also because she felt she belonged in that world. Ember was then reunited with Storm and Nomad, while Wilp was reunited with his lover, and Boforce escaped through the sewers. Storm, Ember and Nomad then took a hot-air balloon, away from Halfway...

The Robots of Far Sied[]

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Storm, Ember and Nomad found a job on a ship, but the captain had told them the ship would stay in the harbour of Scum for repairs. They will have to search for another job there. It turned out that Ember was a terrible cook, and the captain did not understand why Ember was useful for Storm. Storm on the other hand seemed to know exactly what was so good about Ember.

At the pub in Scum, Storm informed about a possible job (but only if the three of them could stay together). They were approached by the captain of the ship "The Flying Nut", but shortly after Storm and his friends accepted the job, the ship burnt down. Almost immediately afterwards, while Ember was still comforting the captain of the Flying Nut, Storm was approached by Mother Crone and her sons. As they needed a job anyway, Storm accepted to work for Mother Crone, despite Ember not feeling comfortable about this.

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Ember's feelings weren't wrong, as soon after they had left Scum, Nomad discovered that the "merchandise" the ship, the "Shiftwind" was carrying, were in fact young children: slaves! But as soon as he had discovered this, Nomad was locked into the hold himself. Storm started to fight with the sons of Mother Crone, but had to surrender when Ember was taken hostage, and tied to a harpoon. Storm was forced to steer the ship wherever Mother Crone told him to go, otherwise the harpoon with Ember would be launched into space.

Mother Crone lead them to the Snake Cyclone, which took the ship to the part of Pandarve's air-pocket universe that lies on the exact opposite side of the White Hole. Here, they were bought by a machine, which took them to Far Sied, a metal world in the shape of a wheel. In this world, humans are nothing more than pets at best, and slaves in the worst situation. But not all robots find this situation acceptable. A small group fight for equal rights for humans. One of them, Rak*El, tried to free Ember during the chaos when a protest action was quelled by the police. Although Rak*El lost a leg during this action, she and Ember manages to escape.

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While Rak*El repaired her leg, she told Ember all about Far Sied. On Far Sied it's a simple fact that flesh is inferior to metal. Every revolt is doomed to fail, as humans will lose their lives while the brains robots are nearly indestructible. And while some robots fight for equal rights, the humankeepers had made all actions against them illegal. Nevertheless, Rak*El promised Ember she would help her find her friends.

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Rak*El and a disguised Ember soon visited an arena where humans fought against each other for the entertainment of the robots, as if they were pitbulls. Rak*El begged Ember to feel pity for her people too, as they did not know anything about the emotions humans feel. Soon Storm entered the arena. But Storm refused to fight, telling his opponents that they weren't dogs. For this, Storm was punished with an electrical shock. Worried about her friend, Ember shouted out to Storm to fight before the robots killed him. But the robots noticed that this voice was humans, and while Rak*El was able to escape, Ember was soon captured. Now the robots forced Storm to fight, otherwise they would kill Ember. To make matters worse, Storm had to fight against Nomad on life and death. But thanks to Rak*El who returned with a huge machine, all three friends could escape soon.

But their escape (or "abduction") had big consequences. While hiding inside the old prison Nucleus, they heard the news that the program Mainframe, which controlled all robots, had decided that all humans had to be executed (like dogs with rabies). To prevent this, Storm had his body digitalised, so it could enter Mainframe as a computer virus. Ember and Nomad watched while Rak*El (who was not connected to Mainframe while hiding on Nucleus) did the necessary programming to let Storm (or rather, as it turned out later, his digital copy) erase Mainframe.

As they returned to Far Sied, Rak*El told them that she could bring the robots back to life by activating the back-ups in the Mainframe archives. With one little difference: she would erase the part of the programs that said that robots are superior to humans. From now on, there would be equality between robots and humans.

The Return of the Red Prince[]

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When Storm, Ember and Nomad visited a fun fair, Nomad lost their money on a shell game. To win back some money, he decided to compete in a wrestling match. Nomad was clearly winning, but suddenly he heard a voice, quit the match and left. Storm and Ember followed him. Nomad did not respond to anything, kept on walking, did not eat and did not even sleep. All he did was walking at daytime and meditating at night.

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Storm and Ember had no choice than to follow Nomad. He did not let any obstacle stop him. A dog was thrown aside, while an attacking tigerbull was knocked out with a large rock. Nomad then moved on through a desert, in which Storm and Ember rescued him when a sandstorm buried him alive. But even after that he kept on walking. Eventually Nomad climbed a high mountain, which turned out to be a volcano. Here, Nomad finally talked to his friends again. Now he had fulfilled the first part of his journey, the Call that had possessed him gave him back his freedom. But here he had to wait for the Sleep that prepared him for the last part of his journey. He warned his friends not to resist, no matter what terrible things they would see. Soon, they all fainted, while a dragon approached.

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The three friends were swallowed by the dragon, but were 'reborn' again after the dragons layed eggs. When everyone had 'hatched' from their eggs, Nomad told them they were in the Land inside the Ring of Fire. Because of the Ring of Fire, no one could travel the sea, so using the 'travelling eggs' from the dragon were the only way to reach this land. Nomad was called to this land, and soon a soldier appears. To Storm and Ember's surprise Nomad was a prince of this land. 

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But as the soldier brought them to Nomad's hometown, they weren't taken to the king straight away. As they were 'reborn' from the dragon's egg, they were naked (nobody is born with clothes on, right?) and so the soldier said they would be taken to the tailors first. But instead, they were thrown into the dungeon. They had been captured by Nomad's cousin Prowesse, who wanted to become queen of the land after Nomad's father, the king, died. For this goal, she already had Nomad's brothers killed in 'accidents'. Nevertheless, Prowesse would keep Nomad alive for the moment for possible leverage. 

But shortly after Prowesse left, the floor of the dungeon started to move. It was Nomad's niece Diamet, who wanted to help Nomad escape from the dungeon through the hole in the ground and through an old sewer. However, the hole was much to small for Nomad. So Ember went in his place. To mark her as Nomad's replacement, he scratched The Sign of the Pearl on Ember's forehead. For Nomad's people this meant that Ember literally was Nomad, while the real Nomad was "dead" until the sign disappeared from Ember's forehead.

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Ember followed Diamet through the old sewer, but to her shock, the exit hang above an abyss. While Diamet easily climbed the tower walls, Ember became too nervous. Even worse was that she was discovered by Prowesse's soldiers, who warned their mistress. Prowesse returned to the dungeon, but was also unable to follow Ember through the sewer. Instead she poured oil into the sewer, which was then set on fire. Ember now had no choice than to throw herself down the abyss if she didn't want to be burned alive. Luckily for her, Diamet had managed to steal a Plunder, which now saved her life by grabbing her by the arms while she was falling down.

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Diamet took Ember to her friends, "The Army of Prince Nomad". These children knew everything about finding secret passages and stealing. They took her to the hide-out where they kept the Holy Ornaments for Prince Nomad. Although they still had to flee for Prowesse's soldiers, attracted by the screams of an old woman, who thought Ember was a walking corpse because of her white skin, they still reached the hide-out. As Ember, now clothed in the Holy Ornaments and openly showing the Sign of the Pearl, appeared before the soldiers, there was some discord over whether they should capture Ember for Prowesse, or obey the Pearl. In this chaos, Ember and Diamet escaped.

They arrived just in time before the king could crown Prowesse. But Prowesse had another trick upon her sleeve: She challenged the prince to the Dance of Death on the Drum of the Gods. A challenge that can never be ignored. To Ember's bemusement, the Dance of Death is literally a dance, but still a dance on life and death. After being taught the dance for just a few hours, the duel happened that same night.

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Despite Prowesse's experience and Ember's dislike for dancing, slowly but surely it became clear that Ember was still winning the fight. But Prowesse still had another treacherous trick: One of her soldiers had been hiding and now shot an arrow at Ember, wounding her shoulder. Ember reacted by throwing her sword at the soldier, killing him. But now she had only a dagger left and was only able to use one arm, making it virtually impossible to defeat Prowesse. But at the last moment Ember pushed her dagger into the Drum, which ripped when Prowesse landed on it. While Ember was able to grab a stalagmite, Prowesse fell down the volcano and was presumed dead.

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But Ember's deed had unexpected consequences: As she was still "Prince Nomad" with the Sign of the Pearl on her forehead, Nomad was accused of sacrilege as the Drum of the Gods was destroyed. Nomad had no choice than to go into exile once more. The three friends watched as the King appointed Diamet as his heir, and then left the Land inside the Ring of Fire on the backs of a group of Plunders.

The Von Neumann-machine[]

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As Storm, Ember and Nomad had set up camp, Ember, who is the best archer, went out hunting for food. To her surprise she saw a giant clothed white rabbit passing by. While she thought she must be dreaming, she decided to shoot it anyway. Returning at the camp, Storm immediately recognised the White Rabbit from Alice in Wonderland. The White Rabbit had come to take Storm and his friends to the Queen, and Storm understood this Queen had to be Pandarve, the Living Planet herself. After changing clothes in the candy house from the fairytale Hansel and Gretel, they suddenly found themselves in a Wild West city. At the saloon, Pandarve was waiting. She had taken the shape of Marlene Dietrich (although she greeted Storm with a quote from Mae West).

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Pandarve had a warning for Storm. While the biggest part of her mind was working on solving mathematical problems (like at this moment, solving Fermat's Last Theorem, which she incorrectly described as a³ + b³ = c³), a small part of her consciousness looked at problems near her. One of those problems was an object which was on a collision course with the planet. In this collision, both Pandarve and the "Intruder" would be destroyed. So, someone had to go to the Intruder, find out its motives, and try to change its course. And as Storm was the only person on Pandarve who had ever travelled in space, he would be that problem. After Pandarve gave Storm a goodbye kiss (much to Ember's jealousy), she sent a part of her spirit in the shape of Alice as her replacement with Storm and her friends.

After they took the exit into a 'nothing', they soon found a junkyard with old rocket remains. To Storm's shock, he found himself soon face to face with his archenemy Marduk. Marduk of course immediately wanted to capture the Anomaly and his friends, but Alice soon intervened. She reminded Marduk that in the end he was her servant, and therefore had to co-operate with Storm. Storm was told to build a rocket from the remains and for this he also had the help from their old friend Rak*El, who also had been recruited by Pandarve. After all, the collision between Pandarve and the Intruder would also threaten Far Sied. Sir Makinx had come along as well.

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Soon they could test the fusion engine for the rocket. But Marduk, who was still treacherous despite being forced to co-operate, made Ember stumble and fall down in front of the engine, so she would be burned alive once the engine started. Only a quick action from Sir Makinx saved her life.

Eventually the rocket was finished. Storm, Ember, Nomad, Rak*El, Alice, Marduk and Visfil went on board, after Storm told Marduk his guards weren't welcome. But once in space, Marduk tried to open the cargo, no knowing that outside the crew compartinents it was a complete vacuum. While the door to the cargo automatically closed when air was drained, Marduk still lost consciousness due to lack of air. He was still alive, but Storm went inside the cargo wondering why Marduk wanted to go there. Inside the cargo, Storm found Marduk's guards and assumed they had died in the vacuum.

Before Storm could question Marduk about the guards, Ember spotted the Intruder on the computer screen. But when Rak*El tried to zoom in on the Intruder, all systems failed. To keep the rocket in motion, Storm had to ask Alice to use her energy as a substitute for the engine. Alice understood she had to do this to save Pandarve, however this meant that her physical appearance would disappear.

After a few weeks, they reached the Intruder. It was not a natural object, yet it had to be the biggest artificial object in the whole Universe. 

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 They were able to land upon the Intruder, and found out that the gravity was only very slightly less than on Pandarve. Most likely the gravity was artificially created. Storm, Ember, Nomad and Rak*El went outside to investigate, but Marduk preferred to stay inside the rocket, being too old for these kinds of hardships. But once Storm and his friends had gone outside, Marduk raised the ladder of the rocket. On top of that, Marduk's guards were still alive... or rather, Storm came to the conclusion they had to be robots, or androids. When he found them, they weren't dead, but merely switching towards functioning inside a vacuum. It's clear that Marduk wants to capture Storm when he's unconscious due to lack of oxygen. The only way to prevent this, is to find a way to the inside of the Intruder.

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Rak*El found a sluice leading inside the Intruder. To everyone's surprise they saw a grassy field, with an angel flying above. They also discovered a lion standing side by side with a sheep and a lamb. Storm understood they must have entered Heaven. Ember decided that if lions and sheep could breathe inside the Intruder, then so could she, and took off her space helmet. As Rak*El stated Ember wasn't wrong, Storm and Nomad did the same. The angel, who introduced himself as Gabriel took them to Heaven's Gate, where they could change their clothes. The cherubs who were there to help decided that 'ladies go first' and took Ember with them. But at that moment Storm noticed there was something strange about the angels: They called themselves the "New People", and New People didn't need to eat, as only animals needed to eat. It also turned out that New People, again unlike animals, didn't multiply themselves. So when the cherubs noticed certain parts of Ember's naked body, all hell broke loose. Gabriel called upon God to judge the 'animals' who had dared to enter the Holy Kingdom disguised as New People. The face of God appeared in the clouds, telling Gabriel to throw the 'animals' into Gehenna's Depths (Hell). 

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After passing the gate to Hell, Storm and his friends were questioned by King Minos. Storm decided not to wait for his judgement, but told his friends to go searching for a way out instead. They went deeper into Hell, which Storm recognised as the Hell as described in Dante's La Divina Commedia and as illustrated by Gustave Doré. When they hear a man call to them to follow him, Storm concluded that this man had to be Virgil. But again there's something odd: Unlike the Virgil in La Divina Commedia, this Virgil is not a sinner, but a man who travelled through many cocoons of the Intruder. Virgil became the guide and lead them through Hell. Storm noticed that Virgil often called upon Neumann, and this reminded him of the scientist John von Neumann. In the 1950s, Neumann had the idea of sending a robot ship into space that could make replicas of itself. 1 would become 2, 2 would be come 4, 8, 16, 32, etc., into infinity. Neumann had calculated that after a few hundred years, all matter in the Universe would be used up in bulding these "Von Neumann-machines".

Virgil eventually led Storm and his friends to a door out of Hell...

The Genesis-equation[]

Roodhaarontvoering

The next cocoon included an upside down city. Long ago, this was a wealthy city, but once new cocoons were attached, the city was turned upside down, and Storm and his friends were walking upon what once was the sky. All people had deserted the city, although sometimes people from other cocoons still visited this place, just like Virgil. Most airplanes had crashed against the sky, but one plane was still intact, and Storm recognised it as a Sopwith Camel, showing yet another connection between the Intruder and the Earth. But at that moment they were attacked by pterodactyl-like creatures. One of them, controlled by a mummy grabbed Ember and took her to the city above. Virgil shouted out that Ember couldn't be saved and that Storm should save himself. But Storm ran to the Camel, which luckily still had some fuel and ammunition, and chased after Ember. The mummy had captured Ember to eat her. But with a kick in the mummy's face, she made it clear that she wouldn't go down without a fight. 

Fightwithmummy

 Storm soon found Ember and the mummy, but as there was no way for him to land, he simply crashed the Camel straight through the window. The fight of Storm and Ember with the mummy was soon ended when Storm used the guns of the Camel to kill the mummy. Storm and Ember then used the parachute of the Camel to go back down to the 'sky'.

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They hurried to the next cocoon before the monster birds returned. Virgil warned them for this next cocoon and hoped they could hold their breath for about sixty seconds: The next cocoon had no air, as it was an underwater world. Here it was Storm who was captured to become food, but instead of a mummy, it was a giant hungry squid with which Storm had to fight. And when Ember warned Virgil, he again abandoned his companion to save himself. He and Nomad brought Ember to safety, despite her struggling against them to try and save Storm. To her relief, Rak*El saved Storm from the squid.

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The next cocoon initially seemed to be another underwater world, but in fact it was just that the sluice was lying on the bottom of a river. When they came above the water, Storm recognised the city as London. As they climbed out of the river, they were spotted by a pickpocket known as the Artful Dredger (an alternate version of the Artful Dodger, from Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist"). Dredger made fun of the naked Ember, as he had no idea where he had to start to pick her pockets. The other people of Neu-London were however not amused, and Ember and her friends were almost arrested. Dredger saved them by stealing the policeman's suspenders and took them to his master, Fuggin (an alternate version of Fagin). But while fleeing from the police, they were separated from Rak*El.

Fuggin liked Dredger's idea to let Storm replace Bill Sikes, let Nomad become a street fighter, and Ember could be "NO lady." Storm was not amused when the 'decent clothes' Fuggin gave to Ember was some sexy outfit used in a brothel. Ember herself had no idea of the outfit's connotations, and having worn many sexy outfits in the past after all, she did actually like her outfit which to her was not only looking good, but was also practical. She also decided to not wear a dress over it, as it would hamper her movements.

But at that moment Fuggin received news that Neu-London was attacked by strange troops. Soon Marduk's troops were knocking on Fuggin's door. But the troops fell through Fuggin's trapdoor. Fuggin ordered the Artful Dredger to take Storm and his friends to Sherlock Holmes

Sherlock holmes

 After Storm explained the situation to Holmes, he understood that to save everybody's lives, Storm had to find out why and how the Intruder was created. For this, he had to reach the First Cocoon, and the quickest way to do this was to travel through the Fourth Dimension, and solve the Genesis-Equation: >4&X. This is the central dogma in the religion of nearly all cocoons of the Intruder: The Holy Neumann promised it held the secret of the creation of all cocoons. While Nomad and Virgil created a diversion for Marduk's troops, Storm had to go through a 'trash dump', a gateway to the Fourth Dimension. As the trash dump was at that moment on fire, due to Gabriel's flaming sword, Ember decided to not let Storm die alone and followed him. Despite the fire, they were able to reach the trash dump.

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The trash dump looked like a computer gone berserk. As they walked down, suddenly the staircase disappeared, and Storm and Ember were sucked into a fractal-whirlpool. Suddenly the Chesire Cat appeared again, telling them to close their eyes. They could open their eyes again when they could feel ground beneath their feet. But instead of fractals, they now saw a world like a 3D book. Eventually they found the way forward and were taken to the First Cocoon.

Storm asked the computer of the First Cocoon for help to prevent the collision between the Intruder and Pandarve. The computer told Storm about the downfall of Earth's civilization, exactly as he had heard it before when he and Ember visited the city on Antarctica. Of course, the Intruder had been created before in case such a disaster would strike Earth. The First Cocoon had been created after the idea from John von Neumann. However, Neumann's prediction that all matter would have been used up after a few hundred years was incorrect, as travelling to the stars in itself would take hundreds, if not thousands, of years. After many millenia the program >4&X ("Go forth and multiply") was infected: The cocoons still multiplied but instead of going their own way, they stuck together. Storm realised that he had not enough time to get to know all about the computer to fix all bugs and viruses himself, and therefore another virus should solve the problem: Through the Chesire Cat he asked Pandarve to send his digital copy inside the Danderzei Mainframe to the central computer of the Intruder...

The Armageddon-traveller[]

22b

Ember stood beside Storm when he spoke to his digital copy and explained the situation to him. But Pandarve had not only send Storm's copy to the central computer, but also created a smaller version of Alice from the remaining energy that had been used to keep the rocket in motion. This version of Alice would accompany Storm's copy and keep a connection between the copy and Storm and Ember. However, when the copy hadn't made any contact after a long time, Storm decided to check if the Internet is still working and use it to find Alice.

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 Storm was first able to show Ember pictures of Lewis Carroll and his inspiration Alice Lidell, before they finally found Alice. Storm wanted to draw Pandarve's attention, and the only way to do this was to tell her that Fermat's Last Theorem had already been solved by Andrew Wiles. Pandarve was very angry to hear this, but is also grateful for Storm's warning of the approaching Intruder. 

Reunion

 Alice went out to gather Storm's friends, and also ordered Marduk to stop playing god-king, and come to the rescue as well. As such, Storm and Ember were soon reunited with their friends, as well as with Marduk and Visfil.

But then came the big shock: Storm's copy had turned into an evil version of Storm. After being abandoned inside the Mainframe of Far Sied, he had come to hate Storm and his friends. And now Storm himself had given him the perfect opportunity to take revenge. By "killing"/deleting the main program of the central computer of the Intruder (which appeared as John von Neumann himself), it was not possible to change the Intruder's course, and the collision was inevitable. But then Alice appeared again inside the computer, and with her she brought... Storm's parents! They too were downloaded into the First Cocoon's computer after Storm himself disappeared into the Red Spot. They took the copy to their home, the Old Postoffice, but then some viruses appeared as well. To save his parents, the copy told Storm to re-program the Genesis Equation into the computer. This caused the Intruder to break apart into smaller cocoons. While many cocoons, including Neu-London, disappeared into the vastness of space, the First Cocoon fell upon Pandarve. But now that Pandarve's full attention was fixed on the Intruder, the First Cocoon landed on Pandarve without damage.

Emberstormkiss

Pandarve appeared in the shape of Marilyn Monroe, singing "Happy birthday" for Storm. She claimed this was Storm's new birthday, as she had decided to let him live, but 'punished' him with a kiss. Of course this made Ember jealous once more, and she gave Storm a kiss as well. Storm told Pandarve about another unsolved mathematical problem, Goldbach's conjecture, and also told Ember that Pandarve could not possibly know what a true kiss is, and also that according to Tony Curtis, kissing Marilyn Monroe was like kissing a toilet. Storm still wondered about his digital copy and that he is somewhere in space now reunited with his parents. But Ember and Nomad comforted their friend, telling he still had them. 

Storm-frame

Personality[]

Power and Abilities[]

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Equipment[]

Trivia[]

  • Don Lawrence nicknamed her Carrots
  • In 2011, Ember was voted 'most beautiful comic heroine'. [1]

Quotes[]

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References[]

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