This is a work of fiction involving the relationship of two young men ( late teens to mid twenties), both physical and emotional. If you are made uncomfortable by such subjects as gay sex, magic and the supernatural, then please stop reading now. Likewise, if you are below the age of 18, please stop here.
This story uses elements from White Wolf's World of Darkness series of games. Mage: The Ascension, Magadon Pharmaceutical, Verbena, Cult of Ecstasy, The Traditions, The Technocracy and similar elements are copyrighted by White Wolf Game Studio. This work of fiction is not a challenge to existing copyrighted materials, and no profit is gained by its publication.
Kate Sanders, Aaron Barry, and Stefan are the intellectual property of Don Bassingwaite and White Wolf Fiction. For a more in depth treatment of these characters, and a great read, pick up a copy of SUCH PAIN from Harper Collins.
Constructive criticism is highly appreciated; flamers and hate mail will be ignored. Write me at PaganGamer@yahoo.com with Awakening in the subject heading.
** I have also published this and the previous chapters in an MS Word format on the Gay_Fantasy_Fiction group at Yahoo Groups. I have started placing artwork depicting scenes and characters from the story there as well. Give it a look, or upload your own Sci-Fi / Fantasy stories. It's totally free. http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Gay_Fantasy_Fiction/ **
The Awakening
By Liam Barnes
6
Logical Choices
May 23rd, 2002 1:00 p.m. Mike's Home for Youths, San Francisco
Andrew and Marcus sat down upon the couch in the parlor. A chair across from them creaked as the female Technocrat sat down, smoothing over her gray skirt. Andrew leaned back, maintaining a near death grip upon the Cultist's hand as he watched the light haired woman with a smoldering glare. He bit his lower lip as he wondered at why Nox had stopped him from attacking her.
Kate studiously avoided looking at the two boys. By all rights she should do something to wipe their memories of seeing her here with Stefan. Not only had she risked her friendship with the Euthanatos, but also his own safety in the Traditions. Trying to think of some way out of the situation, she began to suck on her lower lip.
Marcus watched the Agent, wondering just what connection she and Stefan shared. He knew that some Traditionalists and Technocrats shared alliances on occasion, but he would never have believed that a Technocrat would ever deal with a Euthanatos, even if he were as atypical as Stefan. Hell, most Traditions don't even like to admit that the Euthanatos are on their side.
He was more than a bit angry, and surprised, to see her here, but he would be remiss in acknowledging the fact that she could have been telling the truth. After all, she wasn't there during his `interrogation,' nor had she shone much enthusiasm when she saw him being carried out of the room. He decided to reserve judgment until Stefan came back and explained what was going on.
Looking over at Andrew, Marcus smiled. The blonde youth glared over at the Technocrat, chewing on his lower lip, much like the agent was. The Ecstatic thought he looked more cute than intimidating. However, back in the foyer he had felt the strength of the newly Awakened mage. He had felt Andrew beginning to work some sort of magic back there, causing his own Avatar to resonate. And while he knew that their Avatars were separate, that it was their souls which shared a link, he was certain that the other could have easily tapped into Marcus to work a powerful spell.
He reached over and pulled Andrew's lip out from his teeth. "Stop that," he chided lightly.
Both Andrew and Kate jumped slightly. "Sorry," they said in unison. Startled, the two mages stared at each other, and then looked quickly away. Marcus would have laughed at it all in different circumstances.
The quiet was broken by Stefan entering the room. Sighing, he closed the doors and looked over at the two sides. There was an air of unease about him that seemed to spread to the others. Crossing his arms, he leaned against the doors.
"Okay," he began tentatively, "obviously, this is awkward for everyone. So, I'm going to speak first. Will you let me do that?" He looked over at Marcus and Andrew.
The two nodded. He glanced at Kate, who gave him a quick, but supportive nod. "Good. Marcus, you know a little about my Awakening, that Aaron Barry helped me out, but that's not all of it. It's not that I didn't trust you, or that I wanted to keep you in the dark, it was for the protection of those involved." He gave a slight pause, just in case someone wanted to intervene. When no one made to speak, he decided to continue.
"My Awakening took a while; it wasn't an instant process like with most people. Well, Aaron and Kate both helped me. She was originally investigating him and his connections when I came along. Due to the, well, odd nature of my Awakening, they were forced to work together. Once things were settled and I had Awakened, we all remained friends. Kate removed all evidence connecting Aaron to the Traditions, and even helped me set up this house without coming under the Technocracy's scrutiny. Believe me, that was no small feat.
"I've known her for about seven years, Marcus. If she said she didn't know about what happened to you, I believe her." Before the Cultist or blonde boy could say anything, he hurried on. "However, Kate, I saw the trauma to him first hand, and you admitted that the goon with you did it. I've known Marcus for a few years as well, and he's friends with Aaron as well."
"Apparently not as good of one as I thought," Marcus mumbled.
There was a moment of silence afterwards. Then, in a quiet voice, Stefan said, "We all have secrets that we would rather others not know about us. Whatever those reasons are.
"Anyways, Kate I can't imagine Marcus doing anything that would warrant the treatment he got. If he killed someone . . ."
Kate let out a long sigh. "No, Stefan, he didn't that I know of. That was one of the reasons that I was so upset with Agent Preston."
"So clue me in on what is going on."
"A girl named Audra Safavi, whose father works for Magadon Pharmaceutical, disappeared from her family's home a month ago. Mr. Uptmor, sorry, Marcus was the last one seen with her. She was later seen with him, after several of the company's projects began to be sabotaged. Agent Preston was observing him to determine the connection, if any. When he and Andrew became involved, Preston had him picked up under charges of trespassing and public lewdness, and then called me."
"Why then?" Stefan piped up.
Kate turned to him, and said, "His father also works for Magadon. It was felt that he was attempting to gain another connection on the inside."
"That's ludicrous!" Marcus shouted.
"Maybe," Kate said, crossing her arms, and glancing at him from the corner of her eyes. "But then, maybe you should look at it from our standpoint. A girl comes up missing, then projects that her father is involved in start being sabotaged. Then another youth whose father also works for the same company is seen with the one last seen with the girl. Doesn't that seem a bit much for a coincidence?"
"I don't care what it looks like to you. I didn't do anything wrong. Not even by your fascist point of view!"
"Fascist?" Kate exclaimed in cold fury. "Look here you drugged up ass! Maybe if you and your kind didn't spend so much time thinking with your . . . your manhoods . . ."
Marcus was up in a flash. "What's the matter, Techie? Sour grapes?"
Stefan watched the two yell back and forth for a moment, then decided that it might be wise to break this up before it came to blows, or worse. He raised his hand and opened his mouth just as Andrew jumped up.
"Would you two just shut the fuck up?"
Silence descended upon the room as the three mages turned towards Andrew in shock. He stood there shaking, his face red. "Is this all you all ever do? Fight?" He turned to face Marcus and Kate. "Can't you all just see what really happened? You're these all powerful mages. Why can't you just make the truth be known?"
Stefan grinned. He had once said something close to that to both Aaron and Kate when he was new to the whole magic thing. "What about a mind probing?" he suggested.
The Cultist and Gray Suit looked at each other, embarrassed. Marcus shrugged his shoulders. "Fine, but only if you do it Stef. Not her."
Kate rolled her eyes and spread her hands in a defeated manner. "If that's the way you want to do it."
Stefan walked over to Andrew and placed an arm around him. Leaning close he whispered, "Don't let it get to you too much. We're still human after all. Besides, you'll get used to it."
Andrew shook his head, looking at the floor. "Maybe that's the problem. I don't want to."
The black haired mage ruffled a hand through the younger mage's hair. "All right, let's do this."
Marcus looked shamefaced at Andrew, sensing the despair that suddenly had enveloped his soul. He didn't want Andrew to think that being a mage was condemnation to a lifetime of fighting, especially it is all he has seen. "If it will help, she can join in," he muttered. "But I still want you to do it, Stef."
Stefan nodded and pulled a couple of chairs from the foyer into the room and sat them next to each other. He went back to the desk in the room and pulled what looked to be incense and communion wafers. Marcus crooked an eyebrow at the black haired mage.
"What, no wine, Father?"
Stefan gave a smirk. "It's soma, you fucking moron."
"Really, Stefan," Kate began flippantly, "this would be so much simpler if we just used a mind scanner . . ."
"We do it Stefan's way, or not at all." Marcus cut in.
"Fine," Kate muttered as she rolled her eyes.
Stefan patted her shoulder. "Don't worry, Kate. You know you love this type of stuff. Adds a thrill to an otherwise dull day."
"Uhuh." She took a deep breath. "Yes, nothing more exciting than unpredictability and uncertainty."
Andrew watched from the side, not sure of what was going on. He wanted something to happen, or to at least get involved. But he knew he was the odd man out here, and probably would be in the way. "Do I get to see too?"
Stefan ran a hand through his short black hair, and shook his head. "Sorry, but we're gonna need you to watch out for anything out here. We'll be mostly out of it until the spell is over."
Andrew managed an `Oh' and continued watching as the mages prepared. Stefan arranged the three chairs into a row, two facing each other, and one in the middle facing Andrew. Marcus sat at one end, and Kate at the other. Sitting in the middle, Stefan gave each mage a piece of soma as he lit the incense.
"Okay, place the soma under your tongues, and relax." With that, he popped the shriveled white fragment into his mouth.
Marcus slid it under his tongue, giving Andrew an alluring glance as he licked his lips. Kate rolled her eyes, but wore a slight smile. She held the wafer away from her, uncertain of what to make of it. Finally she sighed and placed it in her mouth.
The incense wafted through the air as Stefan began to mutter in obscure tongues. He placed a hand upon Marcus' and Kate's heads. Soon, all three were deep in what seemed to be a trance. Andrew sat in silence, expecting to see something. However, besides the slight prickling feeling he had about his neck, there was nothing. After several minutes of this, Andrew felt his mind being dragged into sleep. He leaned back and yawned.
<YOU NEED TO LEARN MORE PATIENCE, YOUNG ONE>
Andrew yelped as he nearly leaped from the couch. Next to him sat Nox, appearing the same as before, staring ahead at the trio. Trying to calm his heart rate, the youth looked at his Avatar. "What do you mean?"
Her pale lips twisted in a slight smile. <THERE IS ALWAYS SOMETHING THAT MAY BE LEARNED, NO MATTER WHAT THE SITUATION.> She stretched her hand out towards the three. <TAKE THIS SCENARIO, AND OBSERVE CAREFUL. LOOK NOT WITH YOUR EYES, BUT WITH YOUR OWN MIND.>
Curious, he did so. The three looked the same to him, just sitting there with Stefan chanting as filmy smoke wrapped around them. "I don't see anything different."
Andrew tried to relax as he watched the incense smoke rise. The translucent film looked like thin waves of sheer gauze, wafting about the three. It folded and twisted about, expanded and shrunk as Stefan's breath sent it spiraling into new patterns. The smoke changed to symbols and markings, translated from gray film to words as the mage chanted. Andrew leaned forward in amazement and he watched these symbols flow to both Marcus and Kate, entering the twos' mouths and exhaled in new words as they returned to the center. In a way, it reminded the youth of the message boards that lined Times Square in New York City.
"I see it," he whispered.
<IN TIME,> Nox began gently, <YOU WILL BE ABLE TO DO THIS WITHOUT MY HELP, AND EVEN THE MOST HIDDEN OF SECRETS WILL BE REVEALED UNTO YOU. THAT IS MY GIFT TO ALL OF MY CHILDREN.>
That startled Andrew out of his reverie. "What do you mean?" But when he looked again, she was gone. He stared a few moments before sighing and turning back to the three. Again, he jumped in surprise. Nox stood behind the mages, her arms spread wide apart.
<THERE ARE SIGNS AROUND EVERYONE, LINES OF FATE'S SKIEN WHICH REVEALS MUCH ABOUT THEM. WITH TIME, YOU WILL BE ABLE TO READ THESE LINES TO LEARN ABOUT OTHERS' PAST, PRESENT AND FUTURE. NOTHING WILL DEFY YOUR SCRUTINY.> As she spoke, the visages of the three changed.
Kate appeared as perfect crystal. Coruscating colors flowed through her form. Crawling across her form were what appeared to be tiny spiders made up of metal and glass. Each one spun out crystalline threads that slowly encased the technomancer. There was a certain creepy beauty to her.
Where the Technocrat was a vision of awe, Stefan was one of horror. He sat in the chair, covered in scars and track marks. The face of an older, bearded man overlaid his own, while behind him where dozens of other boys his own age but of differing races stretching back into the void of Nox's dress. Beneath his chair flowed a river of blood from which voices could be heard; they cried and shouted, laughed and screamed in anguish. Beneath it all was a humming, like the sound of a busy hive of bees.
Andrew was almost relieved to move on to Marcus, as disturbing a site that Stefan had been. What he saw took his breath away. Marcus glowed with the golden light of the sun. It emanated from around his head like a halo, and was reflected by the gold and white robe he wore. The vision was only marred by the crimson blossom of blood at his chest. Once again, he was confronted by that sight, and he didn't know why.
"Nox," he whispered, "Why do I keep seeing this of him? Why do I always see him as bleeding like that?"
His Avatar gave a secretive smile.
Andrew slowly shook his head. "I don't know what . . ." he trailed off as she continued smiling. He remembered the dream he had list night (was it only that morning?) of what his past self had thought. "No!" His voice was tight, barely even a whisper.
Nox's smile became seductive.
"I would never do it." The words were choked, and his eyes teared up.
<DO YOU SAY THIS BECAUSE YOU DON'T REMEMBER, OR BECAUSE YOU THINK TO DECEIVE YOURSELF?> She suddenly was beside him, her arms around his shoulders, a hand absently stroking his blonde locks.
He looked at Marcus, peaceful and god-like. He began to shake his head, almost relentlessly. "No, it's not true!"
"I beg your pardon?"
Andrew blinked, and saw the three mages looking askance at him. They had reverted to their normal visages, and he noticed that the scent of incense was faded. "I," he began, then stopped, not sure of what to say.
Marcus gave him a worried look, and Andrew felt his concern through the link. "I would have thought that you would be relieved that I was telling the truth."
Concern was plainly showing on Kate's face as she looked at the youth. "What's wrong, Andrew?"
He looked away from their piercing stares. "Nothing. I must have drifted off."
Kate folded her arms, he expression much like his mother's when she knew he was lying to her. "Are you sure, because . . ."
Stefan placed a hand on her arm, and shook his head. She looked at him and backed off.
Marcus got up and walked over to Andrew. The blonde youth wanted to cling to the Ecstatic, but something in him kept him from doing so. It can't be true!
"So where do we go from here?" Stefan asked.
"I say we go to Magadon and find out what is really going on." Marcus kissed Andrew's cheek and smiled roguishly.
"I agree," Kate said, surprising the Traditionalists. "However, there is no we, Marcus."
"What?" The mage tried to jump up, but Andrew held him down.
Kate held up her hand. "Now look. Whoever set you up is going to be expecting you to show at the office. That is precisely why I should be the one to investigate. No-one would think twice about it."
"She's right," Stefan added.
"Of course I am," Kate stated. "You two should just lay low for now. Stay here, or somewhere else that is safe. I will report back as soon as I learn something. We can plan from there."
Marcus sighed. "All right. Fine."
Kate stood up and straightened out her dress. "I need to report back in to Control. They will start to wonder about me if I don't."
Stefan started to move things back into their original positions, and said a goodbye to Kate. As she was leaving Marcus stopped her.
"Look, I appreciate what you're doing, and I'm sorry about what I said earlier."
She gave a sigh and smiled. "Don't worry, it was understandable. Agent Preston had no cause to do what he did. Plus," she added with a cold gleam in her eye, "I don't care for anyone deceiving me." With that, she gave a final wave and left.
"I'm going to check around the house and make sure no-one heard too much of what went down. Take it easy for a bit, and I'll be back." Stefan gave a wink to the two boys as he closed the parlor doors.
Finally alone, Andrew grabbed Marcus in a tight bear hug. "Whoa!" the Ecstatic laughed. "What's wrong, babe? You feel . . . tense."
Andrew buried his face in Marcus' dark hair. "Nothing, I just panicked."
Marcus sensed that he wasn't telling the full truth, but didn't want to pressure him. "Okay." He leaned back on the couch, pulling the other youth with him. "Why don't you call you home and let your mother know that everything is `A Okay' and then we can grab a bite to eat. Sound good to you?"
Andrew nodded.
A sly look crossed the Cultist's face. "And maybe later we can pick up where we left off from."
Andrew smiled. "That would be so great!" deep in his mind, however, he could feel Nox smiling, and he tried desperately to banish it from his thoughts. I won't let it happen!
May 23rd, 2002 12:00 p.m. Magadon Pharmaceuticals, San Francisco
Agent James Preston of the Iteration X Convention strode into the offices of one of the world's largest manufactures of health and drug products. He passed the rows of identical looking cubicles, all a dull gray, and pasty faced employees who looked as though they hadn't seen a day of sunlight in years. There was a quiet sense of expectation, or perhaps it was desperation, he thought, that underlined the steady drone of clacking keys. He wanted to laugh at it all.
If only they really knew what they worked for, Preston thought maliciously. To the world, Magadon was one of the highest rated makers of medicines and sponsored all sorts of treatments for the sick. They also supplied a number of food supplements to the gyms and health stores for those looking to stay fit and young in this age of obesity and stressed living. However, that was just the facade that the corporation wanted seen.
The company was actually part of a larger corporation known as Pentex, one of the greatest forces of corruption and decay that the world had ever scene. Few knew the truth of what the products they created did, and those who did weren't going to talk about it fore they existed solely for the destruction of the world. Few outsiders even had a clue to the shady habits. Pentex specialized in spiritual entropy, destroying the souls of humanity even as they feigned to strengthen their bodies and minds. Preston was in on the joke.
Iteration X, indeed, the Technocracy as a whole was part of the clueless. If they ever did find out, he was certain that they would dedicate their resources to Pentex's destruction. He had only become clued in himself because he displayed traits that the mega-corporation found desirable; a strong desire for power and the sadistic immoral reasoning to do whatever it takes to get that power, even if it means selling his soul. So he had.
Getting into an elevator, he pushed the button for the top floor. His real boss would want an update on the situation. He wouldn't like that the little faggot had gotten away, but at least that would provide the needed distraction to keep the Union from seeing what was really happening. He only hoped that his boss saw the advantage as well. Failure in Pentex was normally a fatal mistake you only made once, if you were lucky.
The lift slowed, a tinny bell dinged as it stopped. The doors opened flooding the small space with harsh florescent light. Steeling himself, Preston stepped out and on towards his meeting.
<Well, that's the end of this chapter, boys. I hope you enjoyed it. I have received a lot of e-mails from fans, and love to hear from you all! So sorry it took so long with this one, but I have been desperately searching for a new residence as my Landlord is being a bit of a prick. Hopefully I should be getting the next chapter out sooner. Don't forget that if you want to be added to a list notifying you when the next chapter is out, to let me know.
Thanks again you all!! Love Liam ^_^>