Katie had to admit though, she wasn’t that far behind in that area. The farm kept her in great shape, and her breasts were perky and she wore a thirty-six C bra. Still, she dismissed those thoughts as petty, she’d gotten over John a long time ago, and since the world as they knew it had ended, this was certainly not the time or place to compete for a man, even if it was a natural reaction.
John smiled, and despite her words she couldn’t help but to sit up a little straighter in her saddle when his eyes looked at her approvingly. Her girlish crush might be gone, but he was still a handsome man, and the sincerity of his smile came out in his light gray eyes. She also noticed he had a sword… on his back. She could barely see the hilt, but she could feel it there, it had a large concentration of magic in it.
John said, “Hey Katie, this is Nim, who I met this morning. Nim, meet Katie.”
Even the woman’s voice was entrancing as she said, “Hello Katie, it’s a real pleasure to meet you. I bet your confused, but we’re here to help.”
She looked over at John, but he just winked and shrugged, apparently content to be along for the ride.
“Help how,” she asked a little suspiciously.
Nim’s smile grew wider, “I’ll be able to answer some of your questions. Also, John and I will be coming with you, I have some small talent with magic, and I bestowed a sword on John. A lot has happened, and your predecessor, your ancestor, left you with nothing but questions.”
She frowned, she’d been alone and hating that fact, and she did have a lot of questions, but this seemed awfully convenient.
“Why?” she asked suspiciously, as she waved and they started going west along the road.
Nim laughed lightly, “You don’t trust easy, perhaps a good trait to have right now. Why? Because I worked with your ancestor Merlin in the past, and I am a servant of Gaea, whose mantle you now bear. As far as John, I chose him for many reasons, not least of which is that I believe you already know and trust him? I do as well.”
She wanted to laugh, Merlin? Right… pass some of those drugs this way.
John didn’t even bat an eye, so something must have happened to convince him… like a magic sword.
But she really couldn’t disbelieve, even though she wanted to, it had been his name in the dream that the queen elf called the old man.
She asked, “Why can’t I get a spell to work, like I did last night when my house was torn into splinters?”
Nim looked thoughtful for a moment, “When Merlin lay dying after releasing the spell separating the realms, and sent the staff to you, it was… charged with magic. That woke up your own magic and connected you to the staff. In other words, that you may understand better, he handed you a loaded gun, all you had to do was pull the trigger.”
Nim shrugged, “You feel the magic yes? You need to learn to channel it, control it, feed it to the words and intent of the spell. The staff… enables you to cast more magic than you normally would be able to. Magic is natural, like air, like the oxygen you need to live, or the food from the ground. But anything in excess is bad.
“I tell you this because you need to know, you must learn to do magic, but you must not use it for everything. It will prematurely age you, and force you to go into the long sleep to regenerate. When you do that, you’ll be out of touch for the world for a century or two, so it is a balance. Do not hesitate to use it if you must, but never use it if you don’t have to.
“You are a sorceress, and more than that. You have within you the ability to pull magic directly into yourself and cast, but you don’t want to do that if it can be avoided. The more magic that runs through your body, the more risk of going too far and aging. It is both cumulative, and something that wears off. As long as you don’t overdo it…
“That was Merlin’s mistake, he was so enamored of the advances of the last two centuries he did not sleep when he should have. So when it came to pass that he had to cast a great working last night, his body was too worn out to cast the spell of sleep, and he died, passing the staff to his descendent.”
She frowned, that was a lot of information jumping around in her head, but it still hadn’t answered her question, “Okay, so how do I use the staff then?”
Nim seemed to search her eyes a moment, and then she answered, “You need to pull in a wisp of magic, and channel it into the staff, into the glyphs at the head. Those are spells that will cause the staff to absorb a great amount of magic, and enable you to cast a spell directly from the staff.”
She tilted her head, “So I’ll only be using a little magic, so it won’t age me as quickly?”
Nim grinned, “Exactly.”
“John, how did you get roped into this?”
He shrugged, “She told me I’d get to follow you around and stab things.”
She snorted and gave him a look, and he laughed.
He said lightly, “She asked me if I would guard you, and something about a balance, and saving the world. I figured that was better than lying around and waiting to die. The world has changed, especially last night. If I can really make a difference… plus, it doesn’t hurt that it’s you. You look… really good Katie, and there’s always been something special about you.”
She tilted her head trying to figure out if he was serious or not, he sounded very serious at least. They’d barely spoken the last two years, and he could have asked her out earlier in the summer, or even last summer after her freshman year of college. She decided she’d deal with it later and turned back to Nim.
“Gaea? Mantle? And since you look nineteen, but used to work with a man that has lived millennia, what exactly are you? You don’t have to answer that last one I guess…”
She hoped she hadn’t put her foot in her mouth, but she was curious, and the young woman didn’t look offended at least, so she relaxed a little.
Nim smiled, “Gaea is… the major deity of Nature. She encompasses all nature, down to the center of the Earth, and all the elements. The Magic around us, the atmosphere, the oceans, lakes of fire in the core of the earth, and the very ground you stand on. She gives us free will, so cannot stop us when mortals do something stupid, like disturb the balance, and threaten the very world we live on. There is a harmony to the races, Humans, Dragons, and Elves. There are many other races as well, but ones of magic.
“The magical races were separated from man, because man was destroying the races necessary for this world to live. Humanity too, has an integral part. There will always be some antagonism and even skirmishes between the races, but humanity was going too far, risking genocide with their holy wars. Unfortunately, Merlin had to put the realms back together before humans were really ready.”
She nodded, “The aliens.”
John grunted, “The aliens?”
Katie smiled at him, she’d worked it out this morning when nothing had worked for her, “Technology doesn’t work alongside magic. I imagine there were some unhappy aliens when their ships stopped working last night… or blew up. But back to the story?”
Nim grinned, “So free will, she restricts herself from taking sides, or interfering, but she grants the power to one human, a sorcerer or sorceress, to feel the balance, and help maintain it.”
Katie frowned, “What if I don’t want to. You just said I have free will right.”
Nim shrugged, “Then you don’t do it. Yet, here you are riding alongside us, ready to leave by yourself just a little while ago, to go northwest, where the balance of things guides you to go. That’s all it is, Gaea will not be giving orders, or telling you what you can or can’t do, just a sense of the balance, and you will do what you feel you must when you get there.
“You have free will, but you are also someone who freely believes in a balance, and wants to help others. The staff would not have come to you otherwise.”
She… had to admit that was kind of right. She didn’t have a clue where they were going, or why. There were no instructions, apparently all she had to do was… follow her own heart and instinct
s. She wasn’t a slave to Gaea, but more so to her own morality.
“Alright, and you?” she asked, Nim still hadn’t answered that last question.
Nim looked thoughtful, “The more powerful a god, the less they can interfere, it’s a paradox I suppose to ensure free will. Gaea as I said, is limited to one that carries the mantel of balance. The other gods, such as the Elven god Charites for instance, is a lesser nature goddess. She can do more, because her domain is smaller. Elven priestesses can receive limited guidance from their deity, and she can do magic through her priestesses if they wish it. The goddess is also responsible for the innate nature magic Elves can do based on wildlife.
“They can heal, grow a plant, shape a tree into a house, or a fortress, increase stamina and speed of a mount, tame a wild animal, and many other things. They have no control over the elements, because only natural life is within Charites power. The Dragons on the other hand, only control elements. That’s another thing that is different about you, holding the mantle of Gaea, you have access to all nature, not just life.”
She shook her head, “That’s all interesting, and thanks for telling me but…”
Nim giggled, “But what does that have to do with me? Your ancestors would have called me a minor goddess. You see, it ties in with what I just told you because those with the least power, can interfere the most. Demi-gods, very minor gods, they may walk the earth. It might surprise you to learn you have more power at your disposal than I do, what makes me a minor goddess is my service to Gaea, and my immortality.
“That doesn’t mean I can’t die; I am just… ageless.”
She froze for a moment, “Nimue?”
Nim sighed, “I like Nim better. But yes… and I’m nothing like that wretched book, except you know, magic sword, lake, immortal.”
She snickered, “Fair enough, Nim it is.”
Nim smiled shyly, and she realized the… goddess just wanted to be treated as another human. She thought she’d be able to pull it off, even though the gods were actually real, she had grown up in a society that hadn’t had any reverence toward them be instilled while growing up. She wasn’t entirely sure what to think, maybe she had more power in a general sense, but she had the feeling in the sphere of water Nim would wipe the floor with her.
She wasn’t sure how she knew that, she just… did. Maybe Nim’s power was part of the balance, so she was aware of it… strange though, it wasn’t really knowledge, it was instinct.
“Do you know how to use that thing?” she asked John.
John shook his head, “Not yet, Nim will train us when we stop. At least, that’s what she said.”
She asked, “Me too?”
He nodded, “Apparently that stick won’t break, and it will help having more than just magic as an alternative. You probably won’t be a master at fighting with a staff, not anytime soon, but all you really need is the ability to slow someone down long enough to hit them with a spell if they take you by surprise.”
She blew out a breath, it wouldn’t hurt. She’d learned enough for one day, her overall purpose and why, if not what she needed to do. Actually, she was pretty sure Nim didn’t know what they needed to do either, she’d have to figure it out when they got there. She tried to relax and figure out how to channel magic and then couldn’t help but ask one more question.
She asked Nim, “What about spells, I only know one.”
Nim smiled, “Spells are words and intent. Latin was Merlin’s first language, which is probably why he passed it to you in that language, he was dying and would do so by reflex if he didn’t think about it. It is enough to have the intent behind it and speak the word. It matters not what language it’s in. So if you want fire, say fire and channel the intent and word into the magic of the staff.”
“Intent?”
Nim shook her head, “Think about it, fire is generic. If you picture a small one to light a campfire, that’s what you get, if you picture a large ball of fire shooting at your enemies and exploding, or a wall of fire, or… you get the idea? Intent is very important, but the word has to make sense in the context as well. If you say water, and intend a fireball, it won’t work very well, if at all, because water has meaning to you and will… muddy your intent. Words form thoughts, which make up intent.”
She sighed and tried to relax, she could feel the magic around her, all the time. It was like vision, taste, or smell, as it was just there. But when she reached for it… nothing happened. It was like trying to reach out with her eyes to touch the ground, that didn’t do anything either. At first the movement of the horse didn’t bother her at all, but the longer she tried and failed, the more it became way too distracting. She decided to take a break and rode up next to John.
She had to admit he was attractive as hell. She also had a lot of stuff spinning in her mind as she tried to not only absorb all she was told, but believe it as well. If Nim had told the truth, and she survived, she would watch John grow old and die, live a couple a hundred more years, and then sleep for a time before starting all over again. Talk about relationship complications.
On the other hand, she was a pretty straightforward person, and didn’t like all the little games. She didn’t need to play power games with men, if she liked someone, and they like her, that was more than enough. She wasn’t loose or indiscriminate, but John definitely met her standards, and they’d be together for a long time apparently. Even if they never got too serious…
Either way, she wanted to know what he had meant.
“What did you mean earlier, that I’ve always been special?”
He looked at her for a moment and said softly, “Just what I said. I always had a bit of a crush on the girl next door. Your gorgeous, a lady, but you never minded just having fun down in the dirt, if you know what I mean?”
She nodded, that was true. She was never the fussy type and liked the outdoors, and farm work was dirty, it never made sense to her when her women friends would act like going four wheeling and getting a little mud on them would be the end of the world. She supposed he just called her a sexy tomboy in so many words.
“Then why didn’t you ever… I had a huge crush on you for all four years of high school.”
He frowned, “I didn’t know that. But I did try, your father… chased me off when I dropped by one day to ask you out. I suppose he smelled me coming, and he had a point, I was eighteen, you were just sixteen and a sophomore. After you hit eighteen and went to college I suppose I just talked myself out of it. I didn’t want to bother with a short term summer romance.”
“And now?” she asked, searching his gray eyes.
He smiled, and it lit up his eyes, “Well ma’am, I intend to follow you the rest of my life, and protect you. I suppose from how far away is entirely up to you.”
Her mouth went a little dry at that and she felt a little flushed with desire.
She couldn’t help the smile as she said softly, “We’ll talk about it later, when we’re not on horses.”
Maybe she should have waited for the conversation, because she really wanted to kiss him, and more, but it would have to wait. She was also a little worried about jumping into something so fast when her world had just drastically changed. She knew she was desperate for an anchor in her life. She was attracted to him though, and she knew he was a good person.
She decided not to think about it so much, she had enough to worry about as it was. Such as what awaited her at the other end of the pull she felt to the northwest. She also needed to learn to channel magic, and practice without overdoing it, not to mention learning to swing this big stick at someone that meant her harm.
What happened if they met a psycho gang over the next hill looking for food. She sighed and closed her eyes a moment, depending on her horse to continue following along with John and Nim. She could feel them anyway through the magic, along with the road, and could steer with her eyes closed if it came up. Maybe if she stopped trying to pull the magic, and just opened herself to it. It seemed li
ke a breeze, or a current, now that she was concentrating on it, it didn’t feel like a blanket, so much as something that was constantly flowing and eddying, maybe she didn’t need to pull it in at all.
She decided if she didn’t figure it out, she’d ask Nim when they stopped for the day, but she really wanted to get it on her own. Then she had a strange idea, but she’d try the other first…
Chapter 6 - Sean
Sean washed his blood off of himself, the shower was cold but that was better than nothing. He’d sat in his blood for hours, looking at the empty eyes of Cynthia, not quite believing what he had done. It had even healed his wound, he was able to see his unblemished skin when he turned and looked into the mirror. It was self-defense yes, but she had screamed in pain and terror as he ripped her life force out.
The worst part was he had gloried in it. It had been a rush of pleasure as the bitch’s life energy had entered him. He enjoyed it, so much so he was hard as a rock afterwards. Only the immediately revulsion that followed after, at his enjoyment of draining her life, had kept him from finishing himself off. That… and the puddle of blood he had been sitting in.
He’d also gotten the memories of her life. It was different than the rats which had been ephemeral, living for the moment.
She’d been twenty-six years old, despite his younger estimation when he first laid eyes on her. She was selfish, a woman that went through rich and handsome men, stringing them along for gifts and money. Really, no better than a whore. He took that thought back, whores at least were honest and upfront about it, he’d bet some of them were even good people, just down on their luck with nowhere else to turn. She however, was evil.
He knew all women did that to a certain extent, it was wired into them to find a successful man and hook him, but most of those women also fall in love, or even simply care, there was more to it than a cold and heartless game. But not for Cynthia, she’d been colder inside than he ever would have believed. She liked playing men for the fools, hurting them when she left. It exited her when she hurt others emotionally, and he wondered if she’d been entirely sane.
Emergence: Return of Magic book 1 Page 3