Lucid Reality

Story is set in the World of Darkness gameline, whitewolf made that line not me..not profiting from this and all that jazz.

Story involves the supernatural, among things. Read, enjoy, provide feedback, or just be left wondering just what the hell is going on. :P

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Lucid Reality:
A Mage’s Tale

Prelude

What happens when your eyes are opened and you find out you’ve been asleep all your life? What would you do if you woke up and found that you could alter, bend, or shatter the laws of reality and that your imagination was your only limit?

Chapter One

Over eighty percent of those that came onto the battlefield with him were dead. There was little chance for their survival and if things kept on the same path, he was certain he would be dead within minutes. He could just feel it in his bones, death creeping up on him. He was not scared, or even nervous, like his few remaining comrades; however, he was more than prepared for it. If this was to be his end…he would stand up and fight until he could stand no longer, until his body was shredded by shrapnel or bullets, which ever got it first.

A darkness so complete that it was stifling at first overcome his sense. It felt as if the darkness crept into his ears, his eyes, his nose, his mouth…and snuffed out his senses. For a moment, he believed this to be death, but death could not be so cruel as to leave him fully conscious but without senses for all of eternity could it?

Calling it, this, death did not feel right though. Slowly some of his senses began to return, but it was as if he was in murky water. There were walls around him, he knew that. He was on his back, something cold and hard beneath him. He shifted his body weight and planted the palms of his hands against the hard surface, using them to help lift and turn his body. He still couldn’t see through the darkness, nor could he hear so much as the tiniest of sounds but for some reason he just knew were things were and that he was alone.

The man stood, turning his head to the left and then the right, mostly out of habit. He reached out and found hard, smooth stone. With his still murky senses he followed the wall until he felt a crack in it. A door, presumably, so he pushed and with no small amount of effort it was forced open and thus he was granted sight again.

Before him was a surreal scene, like something out of a painting. There was a grand, icy looking river and a marble street that had veins of gold and silver running up and down its length. Far off in the distance there was a massive, black glass tower that seemed to loom over the entire area and all along the street there were crypts and mausoleums. He could only assume he was on his way to the afterlife, in a transitional phase and before him laid the river of Styx…but that did not explain the gold and silver veins or all the valuable coins and blocks of rare metals that were all over the place.

He took a single step forward and it felt as if the ground beneath him trembled in response. This caused him to pause and look around again, half expecting to see some other source of the tremble. His eyes stopped on an eerie looking shadow that appeared to have the quality of water with the way it was quivering slightly, back in the corner almost completely out of sight. He took one step towards it and it bolted away, out of sight. This startled him and caused him to backpedal, but in doing so he found that going backwards was more than difficult, impossible even…something was forcing him forward, closer to the tower.

With each step forward, the ground trembled and he saw another shade. As he neared the tower, he couldn’t help but feel uneasy about all of the shades around him. They weren’t just shadows; he knew this because when he looked at some of them they appeared familiar somehow…as if he knew them. It wasn’t until he was at the base of the massive black glass tower that it became apparent just who the shades had been; his brother’s in arms. They were passing onto the next life, no more than mere shades in the underworld now yet he…was still bound within his mortal shell. He looked to each of them and then to the base of the tower, seeing all of the names inscribed upon it. He felt that he was supposed to do the same, but was unsure how…he had no carving tools, nothing sharp or solid, that could do the carving.

He bent down on one knee, pressing a finger against the cold, black, reflective surface. There was an indention where his finger touched upon it; he pulled his digit back and stared at it for several long moments. Still not quite sure what was happening, but knowing he’d be trapped here forever if he didn’t sign his name, he began to move his finger and when he pulled it away again his name was etched upon the tower.

Bullets whizzed by the trench he was in, he looked around frantically only to see that several more of his comrades had fallen and it was now just him and a few wounded men. He felt calm, still, though but now he knew that it was not his time to die and that these soldiers around him had not died in vain.

The sounds suddenly became dampened and the vibrant colors of the evening sky in the distance muted. At the edge of everyone’s sight, things blurred and the cries of soldiers echoed in each man’s mind as a prevailing sense of hopelessness that was already present was strengthened. The bleeding corpses around him began to tremble, then rise…still clutching their weapons as they rose up over the edge of the trench and began rushing towards their murderers. Some with limbs blown clean off, others missing large portions of their skull from sniper fire. Their sole purpose to rip the attacker’s limb from limb as their new master sat back in the trench, left in awe at what he knew he had just done...

Already told you, but I just MUST say again how great your writing is.So fluent, and so easy to understand ^^

great work... can't wait to read more ^^

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

Quote:

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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!

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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.

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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. :P

Reading back is for squares. :P

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. :P

I'm liking it so far. :)

:thumbup:

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.

Chapter Five

Days passed where he didn’t see anyone else other than his instructor. The instructor was a terse man that kept his distance. He himself could not do the things that Nox could, but he seemed to know everything about what Nox could do at that very moment and what he would be able to do in the future. As time passed and he continued his studies, he quickly learned that the second area he excelled in had to deal with the mind.


The Instructor was simply thrilled by such a thing and wasted no time in introducing him to various theories pertaining to Death and the Mind. Telepathy, mind control, and many other things all suddenly became very real possibilities. Very exciting possibilities and yet…he still missed being out there, having to worry about his day to day survival. He still missed his comrades that had died. As the days turned to weeks, he saw progression. He could fabricate a mental shield and force things to rapidly decay and diminish in a matter of seconds. His control of shadows excelled and soon he had a measure of finesse with them, as if he was a puppet master and them his puppet.


The scent that seemed to plague him did not leave though. He learned to study those that possessed the scent in greater quantities then others. It was very obvious that the scent was a measure of how closely intertwined the person was with death. Seeing the world through death’s eyes was another skill he began honing. He found that the easiest of all, as the scent of death was merely an innate extension of being able to see the measure of death that weighted down a person’s shoulders. He also began to see colors swimming around a person and with many nights of study he almost had all of the variations of colors memorized. They all represented some sort of emotion…they gave him insight into every person he came across and he felt almost as if it was an invasion of privacy. He vowed to only use it when he felt it required.


He lost track of time, he hadn’t seen daylight in who knew how long, and when he spoke for longer than a few seconds his throat would hurt. Sometimes he would forget to shave, even bathe, as he slowly was consumed by his work. Nox did not neglect his body though, making sure to work out each day and keep himself in some sort of shape.
Then, one morning, Jason arrived at the door of his room and began pounding on the door and calling through it to him to get up, they had work to do. Nox rolled out of bed, rubbing his eyes and staring at the door in quiet contemplation. He quickly decided that he had not missed Jason, though he also noted that the scent had grown stronger about him. He had obviously been up to something, but with the way things went around there it would be pointless to ask about it.


“Come on Nox! We’ve got to hurry!”


Nox quickly pulled on some fresh clothes and slipped out the door, quickly greeting the red-head with a nod of his head and then following the man down the hallway. Jason began talking the instant they began walking, explaining the situation to him.


“All right, so I’m not sure how much you’ve learned so far but tonight you’ll be learning something new likely. You see, we aren’t the only things out there that can do strange things. There are other things, yes…Not even we know everything that is out there, but…but we do know there are Werewolves out there and Nic has gotten a hold of some information about one! Lucky day for us, we haven’t been charged to kill it…rather capture it and cage it for study. We need to learn about them.”


Nox’s face displayed no hints of his emotion, but he was very intrigued at the notion of werewolves truly existing. Were they like the ones in the tales, mindless savage beasts that changed under the full moon to go on a night long rampage before changing back with no recollection of the events, or were they something entirely different? Tonight he would find out and he felt genuine excitement about it.


“They are little more than rabid animals after they change, but by being able to study them we can figure out how better to put them down. They are far too hazardous to let live. You’ll see Nox, I’ve had to deal with them before…”

You're all mean, I could have gotten this kind of feedback by not posting it. ;_;