Issue #58 – Alert UMW: Mages
Part 2
“It feels weird just parking somewhere.” Kay was climbing out of Lisa’s rental car. As she did, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the window of the car beside them and, even though she knew better, she nearly freaked out. Then she remembered that glamors didn’t show up in reflections unless specifically designed to do so. It was one of those quirks of magic that she still needed to get used to.
To anyone not viewing her through a mirror, she appeared to by a dark skinned Hispanic girl with red hair tipped with orange to give the impression of flames, and three rings in one eyebrow. It was a good look; enough to make her consider getting the piercings for real—except why bother when they could just cook up an illusion of piercings.
She scowled a little. “One question though: you changed my skin color, the shape of my face—you even made me look skinnier.”
“Yeah?” Lisa got out of the driver’s side; pale skinned with razor-straight, jet black hair cut longer in front than in the back so that the ends came near her chin. Black lipstick, blank nail polish, and all black clothing completed the look.
“Why am I still short!?” Kay groused.
Lisa gave her an embarrassed grin and shrugged. “Sorry, but everything else is cosmetic. I can’t change where your eyes are though, so unless you want to look like you have something really wrong with your vision, you have to stay within an inch or two of the same height. That alternative is shape-changing and it hurts. A lot.”
Kay winced as the third member of their group exited the rear passenger door. He was tall, dark, and his head was shaved. His white tank-top showed off tattoos on his arms as well as rippling muscles. In Kay’s opinion, Lisa was a bit high on the estrogen when she made his illusion. It didn’t help that it was originally designed for JC, who had to cancel because of food poisoning from the rib place he and Warrick went to the night before.
“Your height is fine.” He said in reassuring tones, “I think you worry too much about it.”
“Says the tall guy.” Kay pouted. “Did you pick that out of my mind.”
Kareem shook his head with a small smile. Kay wasn’t the only one that had a hard time believing that anyone would voluntarily abstain from reading everyone’s minds all the time if given the chance, but unless there was a method of doing it he wasn’t aware of, he was pretty sure that no one who could read minds would do it idly; it was a loud, chaotic jaunt into a tangle of every little thing that went through a person’s mind at a given moment. Pulling coherent thoughts out of that was like putting together a puzzle after having the pieces from several others dumped on top.
“No one will be doing any mind reading, astral combat, fireball hurling or anything else under the general heading of ‘superheroing’ with any luck.” Lisa said, coming around to their side of the car. “Three people downloaded the Book of Passions here earlier in the year. We just need to find them, identify them, and link them to the forum we set up online for ‘real’ mages. We can figure out if they need to be stopped later. So today, no fights.”
“Unless they’re already mad with power.” Kay pointed out.
“Unless they’re already mad with power.” Lisa conceded. “But we’re hoping that’s not the case. Now that we know the magic genie is out of the bottle, we need to do everything we can to keep people from screwing something up big time.”
“Magic genie?” Kay asked.
“She’s been listening to Mr. Smythe too often.” Kareem chuckled.
Lisa glared at them even though a smile was playing on her lips. “Anyway. Just remember, I’m Linda; Kay, you’re Sharon and Kareem, you’re Keenan.”
She reached into her purse and took out an amethyst crystal on a silver chain. “Care to do the honors, Kay? It’s already tuned to the Book of Passions.” The charm was the latest in a long line of scrying tools Lisa had developed and refined. They’d already established that it could direct them to the Books, even in digital form if the device they were stored to was turned on.
Kay took the chain and wrapped a length of it around her wrist and first two fingers. She held it with the chain hanging down and the crystal dangling just before her eyes. “Seek.” She commanded, staring into the depths of the amethyst. Though she couldn’t cast spells that weren’t rituals, she could still use artifacts Lisa made if they didn’t need personal magic power to run.
Deep within that field of purple, she saw something swirl, a spindle shaped anomaly in the gem. Then the crystal dipped forward and to the right in a quick pulse that could have been missed by anyone not expecting it. But the motion of the crystal was just an indication that it was working. The real magic was the unerring sense of orientation that invaded her mind.
Some scrying let the user watch or listen to the target; the crystal just added something to the instinct that pointed the mind precisely in the direction of what they were looking for. It was the simplest and quickest in the library of scrying spells, but it was exactly what they needed at the moment.
***
The Manikin didn’t need to use any such instruments. Her original purpose was to be the perfect assistant for a wizard dedicated to research. Therefore, among the many spells layered within her was a suite dedicated to detecting and analyzing magical artifacts and phenomena. As a necessary security measure, special attention had been put into identifying potential enemy mages.
Even before the others emerged from the astral plane following their teleportation back to Virginia, she had a fix on the locations of two sorcerers; those individuals born with the ability to manipulate magic freely without the structure of rituals and circles. A minute more made her aware of a few practitioners; those who knew enough to use rituals and did so often enough that magic became incorporated into their essence.
Four of them were together and the stronger of the two sorcerers was moving toward the group. This would be easier than she expected. In her day, mages rarely gathered in numbers larger than two, maybe three with an apprentice. She’d expected them to be spread out more.
“You look like an asshole.” Manikin, who as always wore the appearance she’d taken from the Heir’s mind, turned to find that the Knighthood had emerged. Dana was scowling at Wayne.
Wayne rightly reasoned that when Morganna sent them to force the allegiance of the local magic users to her side, that it might include some felonies. Being an easily recognized celebrity, he also rightly decided to disguise himself. The problem was his choice of disguise.
The fake beard was of better quality than something picked up at a dollar store, but it came with outrageously bushy sideburns and the color didn’t match the wig he was wearing under an LA Talent baseball cap. He still managed to look haughty at Dana’s remark.
“At least my idea of a disguise isn’t just a pair of sunglasses.”
“Maybe if your ego wasn’t so big, you wouldn’t have to worry about people on the other side of the damn country knowing who you were.” Dana shot back, adjusting her glasses without noticing she was doing it. “Besides, these aren’t for hiding who I am—I managed to become successful without getting my face slammed to the canvas on national TV every week. They’re to make me look good.”
Both of the Knights Amore Detestabilis wore steel torques around their necks. Morganna couldn’t be bothered researching how to channel their unexpected, debilitating and highly detectable effects on the astral plane and emotions around them, and so just created something to block it altogether.
“They make your head look tiny.” Wayne sniffed.
“Let’s not talk about tiny.” Dana said threateningly. “Or I might have to have some words for you about the steppes, around… I’d say 870?”
“Look how far you had to go back.” Wayne pointed out. “If I was going to talk about physical inadequacies, I’d mention—“
“Jesus, can you two give it a rest?” Behind them came Jay, the Knight Inexorable and he had reason to be surly. While the others were empty handed, he was carrying a rolled up carpet that was, even with his enhanced strength, obviously heavier than it looked. “You two have the easy job: win over a bunch of college kids? Just bring beer and wine coolers. You’re not carrying this goddamn thing across campus and trying to remember instructions that include ‘if you skip this step you’ll die’, okay?”
Dana glared at him. “Poor baby has to use a hammer and read instructions. Hope you never have to put together furniture. And for your information, these aren’t just drunken college kids, these are drunken college kids with spells and shit. We don’t know what they can do, so don’t act like this couldn’t turn dangerous for us too.”
Manikin turned to them. “We may all be in danger.” She informed them in a monotone voice. “If Jay Willis fails, we could all be destroyed by the energy released. If we fail or underestimate these mages, they may hunt us down without mercy and end us.”
***
“Feel the pain of oblivion!” Jeremy Silvers unleashed chain lightning that killed everyone in the room, leaving nothing but smoking corpses. Smirking, he stepped nonchalantly over his victims and stood over the object of his desire: the Key of Dominion Combined with The Keys of Fate and Retribution, they would open the Gate of Cyre and give him access to entire other worlds to conquer.
But his friends were waiting for him, so he used a potion of tethering to return to his house in the City of Alms and logged off.
That’s how he imagined magic to be when he found the odd post online that led to him downloading the Book of Passions. It was a lark, and he didn’t expect anything to work, especially since the so called ‘ancient book of spells’ was translated into perfect English, but from the first evening when he made a ring of light appear on the floor of his room at home, he thought he’d eventually become an all powerful force of nature.
Jennifer and her friends discovering him helped that along, but a full semester and much study in the field of ‘Kinetic Spells’ later and he felt like the low wizard on the totem pole. Jennifer got all the flash with her meta-magic, Elle got all the fun with her animal friends, and quiet little Theresa…”
He looked over at her. The four of them were alone in the basement of Frederick Hall. That was the new name, he didn’t know the old one. The room was laid out strangely; broken up by pillars and interrupted on one end by a sudden, steep incline, leading up to a ledge near the ground level windows. None of them had any idea why it was like that, but the ledge was a convenient perch if one didn’t want to sit at the re-purposed ping-pong table or elderly couches.
Somehow, with only three other people in the room, Theresa managed to blend in with the crowd. Barely five feet tall with pale blonde hair that didn’t quite reach her shoulders and wire framed glasses a little too big for her face, she kept her head down with her lips perpetually pursed as if she were always on the verge of saying something, but holding herself back.
Out of the other three, she was the one whose power scared him the most despite how rarely she used it. Most of the time, it was moving a brick here, or lifting a rock there, but once, when they all went out of the city to practice at their fullest, he’d seen her lift, crush, then reconstruct a boulder more massive than all three of her friends put together. Then she asked if she’d done it right.
“It’s about time you noticed we were here.” Jennifer said crossly, arms folded. “We’re ordering takeout; do you want pizza, Chinese or a sub?”
“I’m voting sub.” Jeremy said, tromping down the inclined part of the floor. He wasn’t that tall, but he still managed to be gangly; all arms, legs and an Adam’s apple. Everyone said he’d grow out of it, but it wasn’t looking that way since he was twenty now. At least he’d cut off the youthful looking mop of curly brown hair. “And I waved when you all came in. I just needed to finish this one quest first.”
“Subs win!” Elle grinned. “Theresa, are you calling?”
The bespectacled girl looked up finally and nodded, taking her palmtop out of the pocket of the gray canvas dress she wore with an old t-shirt proclaiming her to be from the ‘CCHS Class of ’74’. “Um, yeah. What did everyone want?”
“Well we know what’s you’re getting, Miss Predictable;” Elle teased gently, “Roast beef, heavy mayo, lots of pepper. Same as it ever was, same as it ever was. Get me the Italian, extra olives, no tomato on toast. J or J?”
Jeremy was looking over the menu on his palmtop. “I think I’ll try something new too. Tuna melt with bacon added. Jennifer?” No answer. “Jen?”
Normally, being called ‘Jen’ would draw an angry retort. Only this time, Jennifer didn’t answer at all. She stood there wordlessly, head cocked as f listening to distant music.
“Jennifer,” Elle sing-songed, “If you don’t answer I’ll be forced to have Theresa order you a sub stuffed with meat. Not just meat, but fat. I’m not even talking mayo here, but just a huge dollop of lard right there on the–”
“Shh.” Jennifer held up a hand, still with her head cocked.
“Did she just shush me?”
“Looked like she shushed you.” Jeremy agreed. “Are you gonna take that from her?”
Elle pretended to feel faint. “I don’t know. I’m not used to getting shushed. This was all so sudden and harrowing. Catch me, Theresa, I might swoon.”
Jennifer gave them a sour look. “Guys, serious time here.”
“It’s always serious time when we get together to talk powers.” Elle whined. “It’s like a business meeting instead of ‘holy shit, I can do magics!’, which is how I’m pretty sure God, or whoever gives people magic–”
“The Devil?” Theresa asked, then looked thoroughly embarrassed for her slip.
Elle just nodded in half-listening agreement. “Yeah, or him—it’s what they intend, I’m pretty sure.”
“Plus,” Jeremy pulled up a seat at the ping-pong table and sat down, resting his chin on the green particle board, “It’s not like I ever have anything to report. ‘Yup, I still push and pull things’. I think I want to change my study… um… magic major.”
“Seriously, shut up a second.” said Jennifer. “I’m picking something—someone—up; another magic user like us. And whoever it is, they’re strong. There might be more than one.” It never seemed important, until that moment. After all, why bother counting what you assumed would always come at you one at a time.
Jeremy looked up at her without lifting his chin. “Is that a good thing, or a bad thing?”
She shook her hear. “That’s one thing I can’t detect. They might be just another student that only just now came into my range with a spell active, or they could be… I don’t know, a government team trained to recruit wizards?”
“Recruit if we’re lucky.” Elle said, but still lay down on one of the couches like she didn’t have a care in the world. “Hey, Theresa, did you send the order yer?”
The shy girl started at her name being called. “No one told me what they wanted to drink.” She hesitated. “…and I’m still waiting for Jennifer.”
“Garden Medley on wheat then.” Jennifer said hurriedly. “They’re getting closer.”
“How close?” Jeremy asked, sitting up straight.
Jennifer bit her lip as she did the math in her head. The detection spell’s range, they worked out to be one hundred, eight feet. The strength of the ‘tone’ it sent her to show the direction the spell was in increased directly proportional to how close they were. It was always a rough calculation, but it was all she had without setting up a scrying spell.
“Close. Maybe fifty feet? I think they’re coming straight for us.”
“Um… so what do we do?” asked Theresa.
Elle got up again and paced around the table. “You guys are actually acting like we already know they’re bad. What if they’re just like us, trying to meet other people like us?”
The idea was starting to settle into their minds when the door from the stairwell opened and three people entered.
About Vaal
Landon Porter is the author of
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