Thread: Lucid Reality

Originally Posted by Oneironaut

I agree. Very well-written and already interesting. I'll be sure to come back in and check on this often. Just keep writing!

Thanks for the comments, both of you. I'm up to Chapter 17, so keepin' writing is no problem

Chapter Two

He looked up at the suit and tie Government agent, having just finished recounting the tale of what was called his ‘’awakening’ to the man while it was still fresh in his mind. The man hadn’t said a word throughout the entire story and appeared almost statuesque in the way he stood there with his back pressed against the wall and his arms folded over his chest. He wore a pair of horn rimmed glasses and it was apparent that he was beginning to suffer hair loss.

“Are you certain that no one else survived?”

His voice was cold and to the point, almost as if he had been through this process so many times that he was nothing more than an automaton now. The question was one that he couldn’t possibly know the answer to-but he did. Not by any means that he could explain, it was just a feeling that he had.

“Yes, Sir.”

The man straightened his glasses and pulled a pack of cigarettes out of his inside jacket pocket, sliding a single one into his mouth. He spoke again before lighting it.

“Alekxander Nicov; Killed in action May 15, 1916.”

The seated man paused for a moment then stared at the agent, whose cigarette was now lit, with a dumbstruck look. That was his name and he was quite sure that whatever had happened to him, he was no more dead then the man speaking to him.

“You’ll be transported out of here first thing in the morning. Your new code name will be Nox; be awakening while in service to the United States Military you have forfeited yourself to us for the remainder of your life, your only other option is death. I’ll assume you’d rather live.”

Nox looked at him with a mixture of emotions on his face. He normally didn’t wear his emotions on his face, but they were too potent to deny at that very moment. Being told that not only was he listed as dead, but also that the rest of his life would be in service of the US government was not something anyone would take lightly. All he could do, for now, though was stand and leave. As he walked past the agent he paused for a moment and looked into his dull grey eyes.

“Those cigarettes will be the death of you, you know.”

Smiling, as if he had won some tiny little victory, he departed from the room.

__

Yes, it's short. Some of these are short and some are long. Also note I never read back over it and fixed any errors.

Reading back is for squares.

I'm enjoying it.

Chapter Three

Nox had slept through most of the trip and as a result he wasn’t quite sure where he had ended up at. It’d be impossible for him to be back in the states so quickly, so he was left wondering what US base he had been tossed into. He rose up from the bed, swinging his legs onto the cold floor and looking around the room. It was bare, save for a small closet that had a single outfit in it. He stood and crossed the room, pulling on the clothes, socks and boots and then moved to the door.

Just as his hand reached out to grasp the handle, there came a knock and a sudden bright flash of light from the hallway as the door was opened. Before him stood a red head with a toothy grin, the sort of grin that was obnoxious in its own right.

“Eh, thought ya’d never get up. So how does it feel to be a dead man in a base that doesn’t exist?”

The grin only widened and left Nox with a sour taste in his mouth, he didn’t much care for the man and to make matters worse the man had a pungent stench about him. It was a familiar one, but Nox couldn’t quite put his finger on just what it was. He brushed the thought aside when the man motioned for him to follow, though, and walked a few steps behind the red head as he made his way through the base to a large room.

“The names Jason, they told me yours already. I suppose you got the same emotionless smuck the rest of us were introduced with, right? Horn rimmed glasses, a smoker; yeah…we all had to meet him at first. Hope he didn’t bother ya too much, rest easy knowing the rest of us are a little livelier, or at least I am. “

He came to a stop near a young girl with decidedly Russian features. She was moving between a large book and a piece of glass shined to perfection, which was currently doing nothing more than reflecting the lights from above.

“This here, this is Janice. Janice, this is Nox.”

She gave the pair a nod as she moved to the glass, running her palm lightly over its surface as she stared intently at it. After a few seconds, Nox began wondering if she could see something there that they couldn’t. It wouldn’t surprise him too much if she could, not after the things he’d experienced in the past few days. Then, without any warning, a living room suddenly appeared within the glass. The girl watched the elderly couple as they sat upon a couch, listening to a radio and clutching tightly onto each other. She glanced towards Nox and motioned him over; he took a few steps forward.

“They are my grandparents. They took care of me throughout my childhood.”

Nox watched the scene, amazed at what he was seeing. Was it some sort of illusion? How could such a thing be possible? Even with all the advances that were being made in science during the war, surely this was only a thing of the most out-there imaginations.

“…Distance is the only illusion, that you are experiencing right now, Nox.”

He was jerked out of his slightly mesmerized state, looking at Janice with an amazed gaze.

“We all have our gifts…”

She tilted her head forward, directing him towards something behind him. He turned to see Jason snap his fingers and create a ball of fire that seemed to consume his hand, but not burn him. He gave a sheepish grin as the fire was suddenly converted into sound loud enough to cause Nox to stumble backwards a few steps, even more amazed then he was before.

“You can see why the Government took an interest in you, in us…we all play special little roles in their plans. It’ll be great to have someone new around, though. Janice here doesn’t talk too much and Nic thinks I’m just a little too overbearing for her tastes.”

Nox knew that Jason wouldn’t find a talkative friend in him, but he didn’t have the urge to crush the boy’s dreams just yet. He was more preoccupied with the scent that didn’t seem to be coming from Jason, but in fact permeated the entire building…

Special powers? Wow, original.

...sorry.

I'm liking it so far.

Chapter Four

“What, exactly, am I…are we?”

Jason leaned against the wall in the small meeting room, with a ‘I know something you don’t know’ smile on his face. Nox felt as if it wasn’t often that something like that happened for Jason and felt bemused with the man thus far. Had the Government had the choice of who suddenly had gifts such as what had been displayed, he doubted that Jason or even he would have been selected.

“You are a mage, a necromancer from what I hear. I couldn’t tell you much past that, though, as it isn’t really my job. I can tell you about me, though. My specialty is converting energy, such as fire to sound or light to sound and so on. A very nifty trick, but hardly all I can do. I can control everything from fire to electricity…or I can unravel the very magic you might weave.”

His grin widened, obviously inflated by the self-importance that being able to undo another’s magic brought with it. Nox stayed silent, finding him wondering just how Jason used his gifts. He seemed like the sort that might get a little egotistical and go overboard in something that was merely a pissing contest, in the first place.

Nox shook his head and closed his eyes, leaning back in his chair for a few moments of piece. It was at that two things happened; the stench of death returned full force and someone entered the room. Nox didn’t open his eyes, rather he tried to further identify the smell. It was not the smell of rotting flesh, nor was it the scent of freshly turned grave dirt. It was just…death. Pure and simple. There was no better way to describe it. It was as if the smell encompassed everything that was death and this compound, this base…whatever he was in…was completely and utterly drenched in it.

“Nox; I suspect you’d like to know just what happened to you out there, as well as where you are and why you are here. I can answer some of the questions you might be having right now, but likely not all.

You are in a Government facility at an undisclosed location. Here, we specialize in predicting and preventing overt supernatural involvement in the war. You’ve been given a gift that…normal people must never know about. You’ve awakened; you’re a mage; particularly a mage that excels in the use of the Death Arcanum. We aren’t sure what other Arcanum you are skilled with, though I am sure we will know soon enough.”

Nox leaned forward, resting his elbows on the table and opened his eyes finally. He looked the guy over; dressed similarly to the first guy he met. He just figured the look was a uniform or something.

“Due to your special abilities, you are suited to…something that can be compared to integration; except with the dead.”

He let the sentence hang in the air for a few moments. Nox knew he could raise the dead; he had done it on the battlefield, but talking to them? Interrogating them? What they were asking of him was one of those things that just felt inherently wrong. Nox didn’t like the sound of it, at all, though he didn’t speak up about it.

“So allow me to get this straight, I’m a mage, I can raise the dead and talk to them, and you want me to speak with the dead and basically force them to give me the information you guys want?”

“Well, yes. You can also manipulate shadows, ectoplasm, open gateways to twilight, and force things to rapidly decay. We will help you learn to fully master these abilities here.”

It sounded like a fair enough deal, he would stick around long enough to learn some things and then skip out. It wasn’t the most honorable thing to do, but he’d rather screw them over then do something he felt was wrong.