Be Careful What You Wish For
The girl walked sullenly around the park, dragging her feet. She silently grumbled to herself with a scowl painted on her face. 'Whatever possessed me to start exercising on a Monday, I'll never know. Shit. This stuff would be a lot more fun with someone to talk to...' She knew that wasn't the problem. She didn't really dislike walking, far from it. She just didn't want to admit what the real problem was; that she was pissed at her room mate - again. That's why she was walking and brooding and not enjoying walking. "I will be so glad when she's gone!" Mari muttered under her breath. Suddenly, her room mate problem was put on the back-burner as her attention was captured by a stranger on the edge of the park. She hadn't noticed him at all. That unnerved her. She usually noticed everyone. 'I think he's watching me.' She thought, then dismissed the notion. She scowled more. 'No. He's just enjoying the park like you're suppose to be.' She attacked her walk with a renewed vigor. The stranger stayed in her thoughts. There was something about him. She glanced up and was surprised to see him gone. This made her uneasy. Every instinct screamed "bad-wrong-bad!" to her. A minute later, she saw him again, in a different place across the park. 'No way. How the heck did he get over there with me seeing him? OK... OK... That's it. Mari, my girl, time to go. And go now.' With that though, Mari changed directions and headed directly for her car. A snapping, crackling sound made her pause as she put her key in the car door. She turned, just in time to see an electrical wire break away from the pole and whip towards her. She yelped, putting up her hands to protect herself and ended up grabbing onto the live, sparking wire. Her mouth opened in a soundless shriek of pain and then she blacked out. When Mari regained consciousness, she saw a young man, about her age, leaning over her. It wasn't the same guy as before. She tried to move, but the man put a hand on her. *You'll be OK.* She heard in her head. *Who are you?* She unconsciously responded with her own thought. She noticed that she was feeling better at an astonishing rate. The man started at her question/thought. "Pete, she heard you and you heard her." Mari looked up at the second voice and gasped, her eyes turning into saucers. She could see right through him! "Oh boy. I'd say she can see and hear you too, Conan." The man looked between Mari and Conan. "*whew* Well, this is interesting." Conan said in that soft voice. He turned and looked over his shoulder. "Pete, the Nephandi! He's escaping!" "No, he's not." Pete muttered. Mari turned towards the direction they were looking in, just in time to see the man from the park getting into a car... that suddenly had four flat tires. Pete turned to Mari. *Sleep!* He thought furiously at her. She started to close her eyes but the fact that Pete teleported from her to the 'Nephandi' shocked her awake. Then the two men disappeared as Mari watched, disbelieving. She struggled to sit up and looked around, blinking. She rubbed her eyes. No use. Everything was glittery with pretty colors. She didn't know what the hell was going on. "You're supposed to be asleep." Mari started and saw Conan there. Swallowing, Mari looked at him carefully, "Well, I'm awake now. Um... you're a... ghost, aren't you? I can see through you. I'm alive, right?" "Yeah, I am ghost. Yes, you're alive. And you need to stay here 'til Pete gets back." Mari shook her head and the world returned to normal. "I don't think so. I'm going home now. I think I need to go home and rest. Why don't you go away now." Her voice was soft and slow. "I don't think I should. I - um... You've just been Awakened. This shouldn't have happened, especially like this." "Well, it did. And I want to go home. And I want to be alone! Now. Go. Away!" She snapped at him, suddenly furious. Conan disappeared. She got up, got into her car and sat there, shaking, for about 5 minutes. 'I was electrocuted. That's it. I was electrocuted and all of this was a hallucination.' She looked about. "Conan? You there? Conan? You can come back now...." She waited, looking about. No Conan. She nodded to herself. "That's it, a hallucination. That's all it was."
"... and then she banished me away from her. There was nothing I could do. I tried. I really did." Conan looked miserable. "So. Now we have a newly Awakened mage running about. Rather rudely awakened, I might add... She has no idea that she is a mage, no idea how to control her powers and no idea of the possible dangers. On top of this, the Nephandi that Awakened her and was attempting to capture her is still on the loose." The older man looked at Peter and Conan who both hung their heads low. He shook his head disbelievingly. "And this Nephandi obviously does know who she is." He mused, almost an afterthought. "Sometimes, you two are like the 3 stooges: bumbling idiots. Thank God there are only two of you." "But -" Peter began. The old man cut him off with a gesture. "Still, I suppose it was the best you two could do, going into the situation cold and being novices yourself. Not many people Awake with powers strong enough to banish spirits or talk with their minds. Then again, not many are Awakened by electrocution, either." He sighed. "And not many are Awakened so old. Early twenties, you said?" Pete and Conan nodded. "I guess you two are going to have to find this girl, - young woman -, before that Nephandi or the Technocracy do. I suggest you start immediately." He dismissed them with a wave of his hand.
"You lost her?! You idiot!" The man snarled in disgust and anger. "You finally manage to do one thing right, then you go and fuck it up." He growled, pacing. 'All that power, energy... pain from that mage girl, lost. Dammit!' He viciously kicked his cringing apprentice on the floor. "I was attacked! It's not my fault. I had -" "Spare me your lame excuses , boy. You are starting to become a liability, Dean..." He let the threat hang in the air. "Master, I can find her. I know who she is." Dean whimpered. "You can and you will. Or else I will use you to feed the demon with your pain!" The master snarled again. His pet demon was getting hungry, harder to control. He needed a victim and soon. "What are you still doing here?" He kicked at Dean's cringing form as he scurried away. Dean growled softly as soon as he was out of the master's sight. He slipped away, promising great pain to those who caused this.
'I can't get that guy out of my head.' She thought. 'Oh, get over it. It was a dream.' 'Are you so sure?' The mental debate continued. 'Of course, I was electrocuted and I had a hallucination.' 'Yes, you were electrocuted, but...' 'Fine. Yes. Something weird happened. I don't know what, but *this* can't be true.' 'Why not?' 'It's a book, a role-playing game! Nothing more.' 'If you wanted to spread an incredible story to the world, how would you do it?' 'I don't know.' 'A story. A fable. A game. Designed to be 'not real.' Don't you see?' 'This is stupid. It's just a game.' 'But, if it's true, your in deeeeeeeep trouble.' 'I know. I know.' The two sides of her were going over the same argument she'd been having with herself for the last two days. A stack of books sat next to her. The Storyteller "Mage" book sat on top, opened to a page with the word "Nephandi" as the title.
All stories, scenes, works and poetry owned by Eden Blackthorn
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