Story: Chimera: Class of 666
Part: One "Waking Up"
Chapter: Two "Boots"
Authored by:
Hannah Nyland (The Irreverent Revenant)
All Rights Reserved.
Chimera: Class of 666
By Hannah Nyland and Jerad Sayler
Seeing
me ease into it Jack starts again. “I sorry I said that... about your parents
and keeping this a secret from everyone we care about. I was worried you were
going to fight me on that point and if I didn’t convince you the Veil would be
in serious trouble and we soon would be too. If this didn’t go well, this talk,
I might be forced into a situation where I might have to altering the memories
of family members and I really am not okay with that… But I would do it if it
kept you all safe if I have to…”
He
puts me in an attempt at comforting me while speaking softly. I was feeling fine and comfort through
physical contact was definitely alien to me.
I ignored it… and found that it was easy to ignore. Jack continued.
“My long term goal isn’t to leave people in
the dark forever, it’s to free them when they are ready, like you are now. Your
soul has cast off the dregs of the Lie and now is ready to perceive the Truth.
My friends are focused on that liberation for all mankind. But that is a tall
order to fill, there are not very many of us.”
Jack’s
head cocks up for a second and then nods. “Someone who has been listening in
wants to join us for a moment.” He glances around to see if there is anyone on
this empty street then gets up murmuring those words of power while he put
several feet between us. The world
shakes slightly, reverberating off his speech before he cuts in. “This is going
to be a little scary, you may want to look away. It’s going to be okay though…”
Satisfied
that we are not being observed, he squares his feet and does something. I feel the power baking off him and see the
focus on his face. He pulls out a large combat knife that folds out into a
6-inch blade with his right hand and while his left hand flicks out. Into his hand is a large card.
“Seven
of Swords Inverted,” I hear him mutter with my hyper sensitive hearing. Then
red light flickers around him like a halo.
It is as if the very fabric of spatial distance dilate around him. I am glad I am sitting down. His black profile with the crimson light
behind it seems to simultaneously get closer while all the ground around him
recedes from us and stretches away. My
curiosity gets the better of me again, and I end up watching the spell despite
the warning.
It
happens so fast but I soak in every detail.
Flickering radiant red light pulsates behind him turning him into a
shadow. Then I see shadows of black bat wings spread out from that profile and a
line of seven golden flares ignite down the center of his body. Behind him I
see something in the distance of the light, a blade or tower stretching into
the infinite. I hear the howl of a demon-wolf calling from hell that echoes in
the distance and I know this call. One who calls from the pandemonian world I
saw in school. Just like me.
Jack’s
gives off an aura of menace and command, something noble but cruel. He slashes
the air in front of him with the blade finishes the incantation among the din
of demonic clamor. The air splits open and makes a hole, I can sense distance
converge, those silvery threads pulled together and ripped open somehow. My eyes widen as Zoe King blurs into existence
and stands beside her husband.
After
watching the spell I note to myself that I might actually want to listen next
time I’m told to look away from something. Because that? That was terrifying.
This
time, with my accelerated mind I interrupt before they can address me
again. “Won’t they notice we are gone?”
Jack
smiles at his wife and nods to me, “I have replaced us with some advanced
illusions which I am controlling from here.
Zoe is just an illusion, she is actually back with the fam, keeping an
eye on things.” I don’t even know where
to start at that… what?
The
illusion of Zoe, as real as the cold street, steps towards me, still wearing
the loose black dress she was wearing at the house, unconcerned with the
cold. “Hannah, Jack and I have been
communicating telepathically the whole time you’ve been talking so I completely
understand what is going on. We can cut
to it. I have something to say.” She cracks a sympathetic half-smile and
speaks.
“You
asked what you need to protect yourself and your family? You need friends
Hannah. Lucky for you we made the trek up to this fantastic winter Wonderland
for the holidays,” her voice drips with sarcasm. Being a southern girl this was the first time
visiting North Dakota and she hasn’t been super happy about the cold. Her illusion, naturally, doesn’t feel it.
“I
would have hated for someone else to come across you in your state. It’s not
easy, awakening, but it’s probably especially hard while you are trying to
transition to a new point in your life.”
She continues.
I
return her smile, albeit somewhat crookedly. “Yeah. I’m sorry. Really not at my
best here.” The smile drops off my face, and I look down, unsure of what to
say.
“You
are going to be just fine.” She says confidently, then nods to Jack. “That is all I wanted to say.” He returns her nod and the illusion unravels
into bluish flickering static and the same strange blur in the air. I watch and breath for several seconds before
I have another question.
“What
was the point of that? Seemed like a lot
of effort just to deliver a message.” I
wonder if she couldn’t just use her cell phone.
“Well…
she is being actively observed right now, she wanted to prove some point, drive
home how real this is… and you try telling her no when she wants to do
something.” I throws up his hands in
mock placation. “Okay. Let’s get back to
the amulet before we go any further.” He
scans me with his eyes and I feel that pressure against me, the weight of
observation, the heat vision.
He
nods me, satisfied. “Seems to be working
well. Cloaking your nimbus, creating a
normal sleeper aura, and also… boosting you.
Seraph is going to freak out if he finds out I handed this over to you,”
he grimaces. “This necklace is one of my tools, it is
connected to me and through it I will be close at hand. I have the ability, as
you have seen, to cross distance easily. You carrying this is temporary fix
until I can get you something of your own veil you from attention.”
He
holds out a gloved hand and I take it, using the leverage to rise to my
feet. I take a look around at our
surroundings. We had rounded the top of
the hill several blocks away from our aunt and uncle’s to another block of
houses closer to the highway. He glance
around and smile as I spot a gray two story house across the street.
“I
used to live there. 212 Eleventh Street Northwest.” He stares off into the
distance for a time, through the house. On his face shifts touches of warm
memory and a touch of saddens and for just the briefest second he looks forlorn.
Then the confidence is back. I pretend
not to notice and hold up the medallion again. I am not sure what these
connected orbs and symbols written on it are but they look vaguely familiar.
“Sky,
now listen this is very important. It is against my order to grant powers
beyond your understanding or level of control before you have earned it. In a world where you can change the world
with your mind you don’t give power to someone who has not demonstrated the
capability to use it responsibly… hubris is the worst sin for a mage. I am taking a leap of faith here and ignoring
requirements for proper initiation into the mysteries in order to protect you
and our family.” He takes a breath,
ending the disclaimer. I nod.
“This
amulet has the potential to ruin your life. I recommend only wearing it when
you go out into public. If you are not careful you will ace every test in
school and if you go to gentle sock someone in the shoulder you could knock
them into the wall. I am putting my faith into you, practice normalacy, and practice
carefully so you don’t accidently hurt someone or stand out. Do not use these
powers, they are only there because I cannot remove them. If you are encounter a threat, you run. If you are cornered you use the strength
granted by the Tree of Life to break free. Any mundane threat short of a l bomb
you should survive easily. So it is doubly important that you do not try to use
the other capabilities of the amulet. If you desire it, it may grant you
multiple Sights… it could drive the untrained insane.”
I’d
been subconsciously tracing a finger over the amulet since I pulled it out.
While that was succeeding at keeping me calm and focused, fiddling with an
absurdly powerful magical item strikes me as a bad idea, especially considering
that I don’t understand how it works. Truthfully, I’m vaguely uneasy about it –
in particular, the potential for me to slip up and possibly maim someone makes
me wince.
“Just remember you can always take it off. I
promise that I will get to work on a device of protection for you, two days, a
week at tops,” he adds. “Do you trust me to help you?”
“Yes.”
Very deliberately, I make eye contact and smile awkwardly. Just for a second
and then my gaze slides to the side, off at nothing in particular. My answer is
completely sincere, but I can’t help but think that I would have ended up going
along with this even if it wasn’t. I need more answers. What is his order of
mages? Who is Seraph? What supernatural threats, exactly? And I’d love to know
if I’m able to make illusions too, but I doubt that’s an appropriate question
right now.
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