Story: Chimera: Class of 666
Chapter: Two "Boots"
Part: One "Waking Up"
Chapter: Two "Boots"
Authored by:
Hannah Nyland (The Irreverent Revenant)
All Rights Reserved.
“Good,”
he sounds a little relieved, the word has finality in it. That settled, I dust some snow off my leg and
Jack makes a gesture to start walking back.
“Okay,
with regards the magic you’re manifesting, creating those tells comes from
three things: visualization (you have to picture the effect you want and how to
get it), desire (you want it to happen), and the exertion of willpower (you
force it to happen). With practice you should be able to feel your spells lain
into your body, strands weaved into the pattern that is you. You should also know that you can dismiss
them when they are unwanted. You simply break down the standing focus you
created, skilled mages can concentrate on maintaining multiple spells at once.”
Walking
back, I listen quietly, planning to test my sights on the amulet once I’m
alone.
“As
long as you’re subconsciously using the Mage Sights already you may as well
take this new information, that it comes from visualization, desire, and will
and try to control when they come and go.
Don’t overload yourself with them, you already know what they feels like
and the pattern of the body can only take so much supernal energy. Hold off on taking any action outside the
ordinary.”
“Okay,
I will try.” I reply quietly. This conversation has become very one-sided
but I don’t even know where to begin asking questions. After everything that happened I found I had
fallen into some kind of quiet acceptance of the existence of the supernatural. In video games, movies, books, I had heard
similar concepts explained. Play the
game, learn the system, and I let my brain try to take it in for later. The power of the amulet really helped, or I
was losing it, I wasn’t one hundred percent sure which.
Jack
again mutters those special words that boom with the undercurrents of power and
flicks another card into his left hand. Does
he keep them up his sleeve? He then holds the card out for me to take. I take
the card and note how normal it looks. It is a thick card of textured material.
On the bottom is says in tiny letters ‘The Prince of Cups.’ The image on it
depicts a barely clad man holding the reigns of an eagle which he appears to be
riding. On his head is a bronze or golden eagle, clasped in one hand a massive
chalice.
I
take the tarot card, flipping it between my hands and looking it over with
interest. I read a book once about the symbolism behind the Major Arcana, but I
haven’t seen this card before. Somehow it just feels . . . oddly fitting.
“I
need to thank you again. For weeks, I’ve had no idea what was happening to me.
Not knowing – I don’t handle it well.” As confusing as all of this was, I far
prefer it to being in the dark.
He
shakes his head in the negative, voice resigned but stern “you do not need to
thank me. For all you know I am getting you into heaps of trouble. It’s is
almost as dangerous to know us as it is to be lost on your own. The life of a mage
tends to be very… interesting. And my circles never do anything low-key. We
have enemies. But the most immediate enemies are dead.”
This
makes me very edgy, things he is saying becoming increasingly more worrisome.
“One thing though. Are you expecting me to need this,” I gesture to the amulet,
“Or is it just a precaution?” I really have no idea what to expect. It sounds
like the danger isn’t immediate, but to receive something this powerful right
away implies that I already have incredibly dangerous enemies. He already told
me as much hadn’t he?
He
sighs and shake my head again as we trudge back. “Okay, enough with the scare
tactics. I am busy making you as paranoid as me and telling you to be safe,
you’re going to be so worried about the hidden threats that you won’t want to
leave your house. I should be congratulating you.” His tone of voice becomes
lighter and more encouraging.
“Your
soul was ready for the Truth, you are slightly more perfected than the average
human. From here you have so much potential. I am giving you the something very
powerful, a sign of trust on my part, and I have warned you not to abuse it. I
truly am not worried that you will, I genuinely believe in you. I’m a fairly
good judge of character. Either way I will be watching you when you have it on.
So don’t like…take a shower with it or something…” he trails off, chuckling at
his own joke.
“So
I am pretty safe? We’re just being
cautious?” I prompt him again. He really hadn’t answered my question. He
pauses to think.
“No.
I am not worried about immediate threats to you in Jamestown. The nearest
concillium is in Fargo, and I have never seen anything that would suggest there
is a Seer presence in the North Dakota.
There is roughly 80 mile radius centered on Beulah is Horsemen
Territory, my former Cabal. I will give you there numbers so you can call them
if you need help, may I?” He reaches out
for my cellphone and I hand it to him. Jack
fiddles on my phone, entering numbers and continues.
“So
yeah, the amulet is just a precaution. Most mage orders don’t go to random
places in the middle of nowhere looking for newly awakened. They would most likely recruit before
anything else may resort to coercion or force if they thought it was for your
own good. Newly awakened tends to leave a remnant burst and trail of magical resonance.
Without the right veils you are walking around lit up like the fourth of July.
I am more about free will and choice when it comes to all the orders. I will
present all the information to you soon and you can decide to do what you want.
You are under mine and Persephone’s protection until you wish to dismiss us as
your guardians. You may invoke the name of Casstiel, Persephone, or the Bridge
of Souls Cabal and that should keep some people from just nabbing you. No
worries though. With the amulet on there
is almost no way they will even detect you anyway.”
“There
are also non-awakened threats, things that feed on magical energy, things that
get you in your dreams, things you can’t imagine. Don’t dwell on that. We try
to keep North Dakota free of those kinds of monsters but if they stay low on
the radar they may not be a priority. On the whole you should be very
safe.” I couldn’t tell me if what he was
saying was a relief or just an opening for more dread.
“Keeping
up so far? We can start your training as soon as I am done with that new charm. Do you have something personal you wish me to
enchant? It works better when it is something of yours…” He gestures open handed
at the necklace around my neck.
“Keeping
up? Yeah, I guess. Don’t think it’s really registered. It’ll click eventually,
and then my head will probably explode.” I let out a dour laugh, face a blank
mask. At some point in the last few minutes, I regained my composure and went
back to being detached. I’m still turning the card over and over in my hands, a
nervous tic I can’t manage to suppress.
“The
one asset you have right now is that you are a tiny invisible fish in a sea of
sleepers, the big bads aren’t going to focus on you. True there are things that
feed on sleepers. The missing person ratio is absurdly high in this county. 1
out of 300 people go missing every year... let that sink in. That is like three people from my graduating
class from a town where you know everyone.
Truthfully,
didn’t don’t actually need help to become paranoid. I’m perfectly happy not
being in mortal danger at the moment. However, the existence of people and
monsters who could squash me with half a thought are not especially comforting,
no matter how far away they might be or how many guardians I have. I need
training, information, preparation. Ideally as soon as possible.
“But
now that you can flip a small car with your bare hands,” he continues, “I am
less worried about you. I am serious through; don’t use the power unless you
get attacked. And in a few seconds I will be by your side or portalling you
out.” He sounds utterly confident as he continues in the lecturing tone and
making the topic seem less serious and more blasé.
Blasé
about monsters, teleportation, magic. No wonder it’s so surreal… Just another
day at the office for Jack or he is putting on a great front. “So relax,” he
continues. “We are just being prepared. I wasn’t a Boy Scout but the Air Force
has all that be prepared thing too…”
Right,
prepared. I need something for a charm.
“You could use these,” I indicate my boots. “If that works?” I’m wearing them
the majority of the time anyway; people generally expect it now. There are
certainly worse choices if my goal is to appear normal.”
“Nice
footwear,” he says with genuine interest. He clicks his black three-buckled
Harley Davidson boots together to call attention of how similar they are to
mine. Nice, I hadn’t noticed them until this moment. Too caught up in my own
affairs to notice… well really anything.
“If
you wear them all the time, you realize that I will need to take them with me
then after I leave here? Do you have other footwear in town?” He asks.
“I have some formal shoes for the church
service. They’re back at grandma and grandpa’s house, in my suitcase I think.”
I frown. “They’ll do, but my parents will find it odd that I’m wearing them.
It’s not really in character for me.” It was hard enough getting me to bring
formal shoes at all; there is no universe in which I would be willingly wearing
them on a casual occasion. A small thing, but they know me too well to overlook
it, especially given my strange behavior lately.
He
nods from within his hood as we head back up 11th Street to 1st Avenue
Northeast. Then his face lights up with an idea. He steps off the road onto a
clear patch of sidewalk.
“I’ve
got it, we swap our boots. You wear mine while I enchant yours. In a week I
will visit you in Jamestown, I will call you.” He starts taking off his
Harley’s by pulling down the large zippers on the inseam of each boot.
“Hmm.
These do look like something I would wear. Pretty similar to mine.” I nod
approvingly, unzip my boots and hand them over. His boots feet my feet
perfectly as I zip them up.
“Holy
crap, they fit!” Jack shouts in
excitement. “What are the odds?”
“Well,
we are family. Gotta be some chance
right?” I supply.
“Well,
very cool. Strange and fortunate.”
“You
may be wondering why I don’t just pull your shoes out of thin air or put a
spell on them to make the difference in your footwear less noticeable.” Jack
says. “I can do all these things. But a wise magi tries to avoid using his
magic for selfish reasons, or to make life easier with magic. The power you can
call down tends to leak and affect reality in strange and unpredictable ways. I
wouldn’t want to have family undergo unnecessary surgery just as I wouldn’t
want to alter them in any way with magic. Make sense? I’ve already done enough
magic for one night under the excuse of necessity. No, I think that this boots
thing can go unnoticed. If someone points out your boots our different, just
tell them we did a trade, some kind of cousin thing.” He shrug absently.
“Should
work.” I provide, amiable enough to this
course of action.
No comments:
Post a Comment