[ForgottenCode]

BOOK ONE
http://www.leasticou...showtopic=15305

BOOK TWO
http://www.leasticou...showtopic=17679

BOOK THREE
http://forums.leasti...showtopic=22317

CAST LIST
http://forgottencode...tlist/Cast.html

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter One

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29538

Charles stood at the podium, his stomach doing flip flops. This was it, the meeting Kat had asked him to give in the aftermath of the fight with Scott. He knew people in the audience were going to be monumentally unhappy about some of what he was going to say and he tried not to let that bother him. After all, the time for thoughts was done, and it was time to speak.

He looked around the room. The associated Moderators who wouldn’t be coming sat in the back of the room. Drew was sitting next to Luke and Craig, scribbling on his notepad. Chad was talking in low tones to Dustyn. David and Big Dave sat a few seats away, playing a game of cards on an empty seat between them. Lar was seated next to Kate, and the Art Moderator was telling her a story while waving his arms about. The Miscellany Moderator was trying to contain her laughter. Robert sat alone off to the side, smoking a cigarette and staring into space. Scott sat on the other side of the room from the Observation Moderator, staring at Charles with his usual scowl. George sat somewhere between them, alone as usual and with permanent worry etched on his features. Tim sat more or less alone, dozing in his seat.

Empty floor space separated them from the rest of the audience; the group that would be coming with him when they embarked on their quest. The three students sat next to each other with Paul between Todd and Sarah, but none of them looked comfortable at either being here, or sitting that close to each other. Andrew was sitting next to Lauren, whispering to her. She alternated between frowning while alternating her stare between Charles and Steph and then laughing when Andrew said something that must have been funny. Dr. Zorbino sat next to Cadi, deep in conversation about something or other. Marcos and Steph sat more or less alone, but they were both relatively close to the other. Steph seemed lost in thought and he had to say she did look better.

Kat stood next to him beside to podium. Charles cleared his throat. “If I can have your attention please, it’s time we begin.” When the chatting died down he continued. “Some of you know almost everything that’s been happening, and others are more or less in the dark. So bear with me please if you’ve already heard what I’m speaking of.”

“I’ve gathered you all here due to the events that have transpired here in the last little while. It all started when a freshman, a girl named Kaleigh was attacked on school grounds after curfew. Such a thing should never have happened – our protections here are as good as anywhere I’ve seen and yet the attacker was still able to get through and harm the student who, as some of her Moderators have told me, should have been able to escape any such attack, and yet, as of today we still don’t know why she was targeted. We do know however who, or what did the attacking, which I’ll get to in a minute.” George perked up and looked interested at this.

“Not long after that, after the battle royale that took place on student grounds,” Sarah and Todd both blushed at that, “the school’s Proximity Alarms went off, and when I went to check it out, I found a girl lying on the front porch. She’d been tortured, was barely alive and her mind has been broken. We still don’t know much about her, including who she is and why she was dumped here, but after both events, Acting Principal Kat tasked me with figuring out who had done this.”

“The first thing I decided to do was call in Lauren. Lauren, would you mind standing up, so the people who don’t know you can see who I’m talking about?” Lauren scowled at him, but stood up all the same, and smiled as she waved to the rest of the crowd before retaking her seat. “Lauren has an amazing Gift. In addition to being a minor seer, she can access any piece of writing done by any human being on any subject, and thus I felt that if anyone could figure out what had happened, it would be her.”

“She had a look at both girls, and was able to tell me that the same hand hurt both of them. And that whoever, no whatever had done this was both Evil with a capital E and inhuman.” Some people mumbled at that but he continued. “It was then that Prophecy decided to speak with me for the first time.” The mumbled increased in volume. “Please, please people if you can stay quiet we’ll finish this in a timely and orderly manner.”

When the crowd quieted down, he continued. “If any of you have ever heard Prophecy, its voice is like nothing you’ve ever heard, and no matter what happens in the future, even if you someday get Alzheimer’s, you will never forget the words that it speaks. Through Lauren, it spoke the following words: ‘Take heed, Lost One, for dark times are ahead. Three triplets must you bring, all marked by the sign of thine ancient foe. The answers you seek lie in the realms of the Jae. Seek the Jae, Lost One, or what little hope is left will dwindle down into nothingness, and Darkness shall reign forever.’”

“Some of you may not know, but when I was twenty one years old, I was something of a prodigy. I was set to become the youngest Moderator in the history of the school, Scott’s appearance not withstanding and then I vanished. I don’t remember anything that transpired, but when I returned to the front steps of the school like the prodigal son in the stories I had seventy five years of memories that weren’t mind jammed into my head and it’s a miracle I didn’t go mad. My experiences and that Prophecy spoke to me make it pretty obvious that I’m being referred to here as the Lost One.”

“At first we had no idea who the three sets of triplets were going to be. Or what the Darkness was, or who the Jae are. In fact, there were so many questions and no answers. Then Andrew brought Todd to see me, and I had my answer as to what had attacked the girls at least looked like.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Two

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29589

Charles continued, "You see, Todd had been having these odd dreams, starting about halfway through the year. Well, not dreams, nightmares really. But he only got them if he slept at night. If he did his sleeping during the day, between classes and lunch, and stayed awake at night, the dreams stayed away. So this is what he did, and all through this, neither his moderators nor his friends were the wiser." Indeed, both Sarah and Paul were staring at Todd as if they didn’t know the boy who was sitting with them

“At first, the dreams were so fantastical, and when he looked for evidence of them being real he found nothing, and therefore he believed they were just nightmares, of course they were still bad enough he didn’t want to experience another one, but at least they weren’t real.”

“However, all of that changed when I found the girl on the front steps. I carried her through the halls, taking her to the infirmary I had set up when Kaleigh got hurt, and Todd was in those halls at the same time, on his weekly walk. He saw the girl, heard the six words she was screaming over and over again and knew without any more doubt that what he’d seen in his dreams was real.”

“Andrew found him sitting on the floor next to the lockers and repeating ‘It’s all real’ while burying his face in his hands. He brought Todd to see me and I got the whole story. From there, we contacted Steph.” Charles nodded to his ex-girlfriend and she rolled her eyes and waved so people could see who she was. “Steph is Andrew’s sister, and she chases dreams for a living. Basically, she meditates while her client is sleeping and when her client starts to dream, she hitches a ride.”

“Once inside the dream, she can jump into entities within the dream and chase them back to where they are on the outside world. Once we had Todd’s consent to have one more dream so we could find out everything we could about the stars of his nightmares we asked Steph to chase that dream and let us know what she found.”

“I’ll say this right now. I don’t care how old Todd is. The bravery he showed to have another of those dreams when he knew he’d be terrified about what he’d see and experience… That kind of courage means something. Those are the kind of men and women I’d love to have around me as we march off into the unknown.”

Todd blushed and tears brimmed in his eyes, but he was smiling.

Charles continued. “That last dream was more horrific than anything he’d experienced before, and Steph wasn’t able to find out as much as we’d hoped, but what she did find out is still extremely useful.”

“We know that the leader of this cabal, and the man who Todd is stuck inside in the dreams, so he sees life from this man’s eyes and can’t do anything to stop the evils that he commits, calls himself the Scion of Synthetics. He is Gifted, and his Gift is strong. He has seemingly perfect control over plastics of all types. He can create it, mold it and shape it, or he can control existing plastics. He can encase a human in plastic, fully covering them with the material and yet they don’t die. Instead they are kept in a form of suspended animation, in which all they feel is eternal pain. We know he’s the C.E.O. of an unknown company and he has a secretary named Claire, but we know nothing about her. We know he is a murderer and extremely dangerous. Steph had worked with Lar and we have an accurate portrayal of what he looks like.”

Charles stopped and looked around the room. Paul and Sarah looked genuinely scared, while Todd looked relieved this was finally getting out. The rest of the room looked more or less worried.

“We know he has a partner. She is definitely not human, but we can’t tell what she is exactly. She kills without remorse, and eats babies for sustenance. However, left to her own devices, she is more like a force of nature. She kills, and then moves on. Only at the Scion’s command will she maim and torture, but she will if he so desires. She is the one who personally harmed both Kaleigh and the other girl…”

Todd broke in. “Her name is Ashley.”

Charles narrowed his eyes. “I thought you told me the Scion never referred to the creature by name?”

Todd shook his head and shuttered. “Not her. The other girl who was attacked, the one I spend time with sometimes. She can still only say the same six words, but when I talk to her, she can move them around. Her name is Ashley.”

Charles pursed his lips. “Why didn’t you tell me what you’d found out, Todd?”

The boy replied, “She needs her rest. If you knew her name or that she could communicate, you would prod her for information. I can’t let you do that. But at the same time, I can’t let her stay unknown anymore. She deserves to have a name that we use when we speak of her.”

Charles sighed and closed his eyes briefly. “Todd’s we’ll speak of this after the meeting.”

Charles opened his eyes and spoke to the crowd once more. “As I was saying, she’s the one who’s harmed Kaleigh and,” he nodded to Todd, “Ashley. I believe she’s linked to the Darkness that Prophecy spoke of. She has killed three men that we know of, and left two others to die. Lauren called her Evil with a capital E. If I had the choice, none of us would be dealing with either of these two and yet here we stand, needing to soon find the Jae, and discover a way to stop both of them, forever.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Three

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29592

Charles continued. "Other than those two there was also a thug with a tattoo on his arm that said Renswic and a mechanical Cat, who belonged to someone named Cyber and who had supplied the Scion with the electronics needed to watch the forest the dream took place in from many different angles so he could see with high definition details how the creature killed the men.”

“Basically, at the beginning of the dream, five men were encased in plastic statues, such as I spoke of earlier. The Scion let each go, and said they were free to go as he’d made his point and had the thug wielding a shotgun corral them into a clearing in the forest. Once they’d run their separate ways, he turned his partner loose and them and retreated to a cabin filled with electronics from this man Cyber and watched. I won’t go into detail about how they all died, because I don’t want Todd to relive what he’s already seen and frankly it all makes me sick to my stomach.”

“Regardless, Steph had a few options about who to chase. She immediately eliminated the creature, as she had no idea what she was and had never chased a non human before. She tried first the Scion and then the thug, and both were protected by a wall of black energy that had creatures of some kind within it. Without the aid of her partner and dog, Duke, Steph might had died in there. At the very least, her leg was badly damaged from when the creatures within bit it and she’s only now getting better. And yet she used Todd like courage and kept diving back in. Fortunately, the mechanical cat didn’t have any such protection. She wasn’t able to find much, but its master, Cyber, resides somewhere in the Netherlands.”

“I put Robert in charge of seeing if he could narrow it down at all.” Charles nodded to the Observation Moderator. “Get up here and tell the people here what you figured out.”

Robert took his cigarette out of his mouth, dropped it to the floor and ground it out with his shoe. He then straightened his leather jacket and walked up to the front where Charles was standing. Had anyone been paying attention to the cigarette butt, they would have noticed a panel of the floor quickly move to the side, causing the butt to fall out of view.

Robert reached into an inside pocket and pulled forth a crumbled piece of paper. He unfolded it and said, “In working with Steph we were able to narrow down Cyber a little bit. From what I can understand the mechanical cat had a strong connection to its maker, but was still a robot and therefore had no soul. If she’d dream chased Cyber himself, we would know exactly where to find him but instead she just got a general idea.”

“However, since she’s not familiar with the Netherlands at all, that was all she was about to get. In working with me though, we narrowed it down a little bit. I can tell you that Cyber resides somewhere between a hundred and fifty and two hundred kilometres away from Amsterdam. Let me tell you, that city’s incredible. The last time I was there, I hooked up with these two red heads…” He was interrupted when Charles cleared his throat.

Robert turned and stuck out his tongue in Charles’ direction before turning back and continuing. “Right, right, impressionable ears and all that. Well, that’s all I’ve got. But I’d like to go help find this guy. I mean, Charlie here is taking the nine people in front of us to find the Jae. But another group should also go find Cyber, right?”

Charles nodded and said, “That’s a good point Rob. I’ll be looking for volunteers once the meeting’s done. Alright, to continue, after Steph figured all of that out, we were at a loss as how to proceed. That was until Andrew turned on his Sight while when I had gone to watch Colin Zorbino work his magic on healing Lindsay. Scott and Marcos were there as well, and there was a confrontation between Scott and me. I nearly lost control of my anger and in my rage, this symbol appeared in my aura.” He drew away a curtain and the symbol of his ancient foe was there, drawn on a poster and affixed to the wall.

“This next part is going to make people a little peeved at me. I realize I crossed the line somewhat, and there would be an eventual confrontation from two of you about it, but I defend myself by saying I did what I did in conjunction to my duties as Acting Vice Principal. When the school or its denizens are threatened, the AVP can use whatever methods are at his disposal to end the threat. At the time I didn’t know for sure who I could trust and also I couldn’t stop and explain all of this to hundreds of people – it’s important we keep who knows all of this down to a minimum so as to not cause undue panic.”

“Now I’m sure you’re all wondering, so here it goes. I had Andrew use his Sight to gaze upon your auras looking for the symbol without asking you first. I will agree that one’s aura is their own personal metaphysical property, and to do what I’ve done is a violation of each of your personal space. For that I sincerely apologize, but I really didn’t have any other choice.”

The students looked confused, but everyone else, save those that knew, had a mix of emotions on their faces. Some were angry, some were accepting but annoyed, and still others seemed alright with the situation. Charles’ stomach settled. That wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d expected it would be.

He let the audience calm down and their murmuring stop before he said. “Now you’re almost caught up to date. There’s just one more thing. Kaleigh’s awake, and when she spoke, Prophecy took hold of her once more. Which makes three times it has so spoken to me. Once through Lauren as I’ve told you, once through Andrew when we were discovering what the symbol was and once through Kaleigh. And thus since it has spoken to me three times, and three is such an important number metaphysically, I will say this. We need to figure out who the Restless One and the Wanderer are, and how they can lead us to the Shadowlands before its all too late.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Four

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29597

Lauren stood up with a jolt. She shook her head violently and then spoke, her voice crisp and clear. “Woah woah woah woah… woah. Alright, let me get this straight. The Shadowlands, Charles? We’re supposed to bring three students out into the Shadowlands? Have you completely lost your freaking mind?”

Charles replied quickly to alleviate panic among said students. “Calm down Lauren. I’m not any happier about this than you are, but this is Prophecy. If I don’t take Paul, Sarah and Todd, we’re going to fail. Every one of us has a role to play in this, and I think you’re overstating the danger, don’t you?”

She sputtered and stared at him for a few moments before speaking. When she did, a tinge of anger had crept into here voice. “Overstating the danger? I have access to every document ever written by man. The Shadowlands are not a place to visit at all, the dangers there, as described in some of the texts are ridiculous. We should find another way.”

Marcos spoke, his voice quiet but certain. “Excuse me, but have you ever been to the Shadowlands?”

Lauren whipped her head around and locked eyes with the Transportation Moderator. “What?”

He repeated himself. “I said, have you ever been to the Shadowlands?”

Lauren narrowed her eyes, “Well, no, not personally, but…”

Marcos smiled slightly, “Well then, how can you really know, one way or the other?”

“But the texts… I’m not talking about one or two here, but a myriad of writings from a myriad of sources.”

He shrugged. “Stories have a tendency to be exaggerated.”

She frowned. “How about you? Have you been to the Shadowlands?”

He didn’t speak right away; in fact he looked like he was lost in thought. Lauren was about to repeat herself when he responded. “Yes, actually. After I graduated from school here, I embraced my talent for Transportation and visited everywhere I could. I have been to the Shadowlands. And while it’s not a walk in the park, there are precautions one can take to minimize the danger.”

Sarah raised her hand and Charles nodded to her, “Yes, Sarah?”

She stood and said, “Excuse me, but I think Marcos is the Wanderer.”

Charles nodded. “That makes perfect sense! Why didn’t I see that? And no one needs to comment on that last part.”

Robert let out of a laugh and Charles continued. “Well alright, let’s say Marcos is the Wanderer, than who’s the Restless One?”

Sarah just shrugged. “Well Todd doesn’t sleep regularly anymore right? So it would seem to me that he’d be Restless.”

Todd jolted around in his seat and stared at his friend. She ignored him and continued. “Well, it makes sense doesn’t it? Todd can Travel in the Spirit World. Marcos can Travel anywhere. The Shadowlands sound very Spirity.”

Marcos laughed and looked proud. “My student’s right. The Shadowlands are indeed a part of the Spirit World. One that is difficult to get to, but can be done for people who are interested enough. Todd, it seems we’re going to have some discussing to do. While I can get to the Shadowlands on my own, and I think with some lessons you could too, we need to get the rest of us there with us, and while Sarah can fly, and a smattering of the others may or may not have Transportation talents, none of that really applies here.”

Lauren looked around and grumbled. She’d been clearly outvoted. She sat back down but didn’t look happy at all.

Charles turned back to her and asked, “Lauren, do you know anything about this Hermit that the Prophecy also spoke of?”

She looked surprised at being asked after she’d just been shot down. “Um,” she stammered, “I’m not sure. It doesn’t immediately ring any bells, but I can do some research and let you know.”

Charles nodded. “Good, please do. Any bits of knowledge can only help in the long run.” He then turned to the students. “Alright, before I turn this meeting over to the rest of you and see if there’s anything I’ve forgotten, what say the three of you?”

Todd just shrugged. “I’m in. Dangerous or not, if I can do anything to stop the people in my dreams, no matter how hard it is, no matter what the cost, I’m in. I can’t say no, and then have it turn out I could have done something different.”

Sarah shrugged. “I can’t say I’m not worried. I can’t say I’m not scared or terrified. All of this sounds like way too much. But all the same, Prophecy wants us to go. I’m only fourteen years old. And yet, if this is what I was born for, how can I say no? I’m in.”

Charles turned to Paul. “And you?”

Paul just turned and looked at Sarah, with hope and emotion in his eyes and he simply nodded.

Charles said, “Alright then. My portion of this meeting is done, now it’s time for questions or comments or whatever. I turn the floor over to you.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Five

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29598

Robert stepped up to the vacant podium. “Alright. I’m going to go to the Netherlands to find Cyber. Who’s coming with me?”

Scott merely nodded to Robert. He said nothing else, but he didn’t need to, Scott’s presence alone was enough.

Luke nodded as well and said, “I’ll go too. I’m from Europe, and while I’m not from there, I might be able to help out a little too.”

Robert nodded. “That you can turn invisible will be good too. I’ll be good to have both of you. Anyone else? Make it an even foursome?”

George said evenly, “I need to do my part for revenge over what happened to Kaleigh. I’d like to go.”

Robert looked shocked by this turn of events but just shrugged. “Alright then. Scott, Luke, George and I make four. Looks like we’ve got some planning to do, boys.”

He pulled a cigarette from the pack in his pocket and lit it as he left the podium and walked back to where he’d been seated and sat back down. Kat was next to step up.

“If the four of you go, that means we’re effectively losing seven Moderators in addition to the Acting Vice Principal. While I agree that your adventures are going to be needed, that leaves us awfully short staffed in the meantime, and I shouldn’t have to remind anyone that we just had a gang war. Now’s not the time to leave the students to their own devices. So if this many of us are going to leave, we need to bring people in to fill their spots in the short term. Let’s worry about who’s going to teach what later and instead concentrate on who might be able to help us out.”

Andrew spoke up. “My sister Tracey would definitely be interested.”

Charles turned to his friend and hiding the fact that he’d spoken to her recently said, “How’s Tracey doing these days anyways?”

“Much better. She’s dating Jeff N now, and they’ve set up a music business together. She’s very happy.”

“Jeff N?” Charles asked.

“Yeah. He was with us in school, do you remember? He had an odd last name that no one could ever remember so we just called him Jeff N,” Andrew replied.

Charles thought about it for a minute. “Oh! Jeff Nalywajko? Really? Huh. What ever happened to Richard?”

Andrew shook his head. “You and your eidetic memory. It’s impossible to remember that name otherwise. And Richard got called back to England on business. He and Tracey decided to call it quits for good when that happened.”

Kat cleared her throat and Andrew said, “Oh sorry Kat for getting off track, but yes, I think we can count on Tracey.”

She nodded. “Alright, that’s one, anyone else?”

Cadi said, “I’m not sure on this because I don’t exactly have a lot of contact with them anymore, but from what I can remember Nadara might be interested.” She turned her head and looked at Charles. “Her and her husband Jesse might be interested.” She said to Kat, but was looking at Charles.

At the mention of Jesse’s name, Charles shuddered and he said. “That’s not a bad idea actually. Tim and Leah will think twice about messing with each other if Jesse’s here, once they realize what he can do.”

Kat raised an eyebrow but said something on the subject. “Well, Nadara and Jesse make three. We’re still four potential Moderators short.”

Lauren pursed her lips. “An old boyfriend of mine, Dave Ragnex could be someone to talk to. He’s a prankster but he did mention he was thinking of coming back here and seeing if he could get hired as a Moderator someday.”

Charles turned so far in his chair to stare at his ex-girlfriend, he nearly got whiplash. “You dated Dave ‘The DIV’ Ragnex? And then had the audacity to comment on me dating Cadi? Come on Lauren, Ragnex was the captain of our sports teams. Hypocrite much?”

Kat stepped in before Lauren could respond. “Children please.” When Charles’ expression turned slightly abashed she continued. “Dave makes four.”

Luke spoke up. “Since I’m leaving, it only makes sense I help find a replacement. A good mate of mine, Christopher Nathan Zimmerman IX could easily cover for Cadi actually. He’s got a good way with words and is a trustworthy bloke.”

Kat replied. “Well good. That makes five and I have three applications on my desk that could use some on the job training. If those of you who suggested people could come and see me and give me their contact information, I’m done here. Who’s next?”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Six

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29609

There were some questions, but nothing that took too long to answer. After a few people stood up and spoke, and the discussions that followed, ended, it was time to finish the meeting.

Charles took the podium once more. “Well, I think we can safely conclude this now. I’m sure there will be subjects people haven’t spoken that they’ll only think of later. We’ll have another meeting before we leave and any of that can be handled then.”

He continued, “While most of you have quarters here, three of our number do not. If our three guests need to travel home and get whatever they might need for this sort of trip, now’s the time to do it. I don’t know what our time table is right now, but while our departure date isn’t exactly known, I think we can all agree it’ll be in the not too distant future. It is time for preparations. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, I now conclude this meeting. Go in peace.”

He nodded to Kat, and stepped down from the podium and walked towards where Cadi was sitting. Colin Zorbino intercepted him.

“I was wondering if we could talk for a couple of minutes,” the gifted doctor asked.

Charles nodded and then glanced back at the podium. “If this is something for the group it’s not too late.”

The other man shook his head once. “No need to bother everyone.”

“Alright, let me just talk briefly to Cadi. Meet me in my office in ten minutes.” Charles said, and the two went their separate ways.

Ten minutes later, Charles was seated at his desk, when Colin opened the door and stepped inside. The AVP motioned for the other man to take a seat and he did.

Dr. Zorbino gazed up over Charles’ head. “That’s a nice sword you have up there.”

Charles turned back and looked at it. It was his most prized of possessions and he always kept it in pristine condition. It was a medieval hand and a half broadsword. The hilt’s golden hue shone in the light of his office, and was wrapped with a purple cloth that hid about half of it from view.

He turned back to his guest. “Thanks. When I was in high school, I played in medieval war games that were called Dagorhir. It’s basically full-contact melee fighting with some ranged combat thrown in. We used to run around wearing armor and shields we made and wielding foam weapons. I mainly used a sword and a flail. I still try to get out there every so often, but I’m not as young as I used to be, and I don’t have as much time either.”

He paused and looked back at the sword again. “Whenever I was playing though, I always had an idea in my mind of what my weapons would really look like if they weren’t foam. When I finally had some money to my own name, I went out and found two such weapons. A sword which you can see on the wall behind me, and a flail which I have in my bedroom here at the school. While the sword looks like a replica, trust me, it’s not. I’m going to be bringing both it and the flail with me when ever it is that we get going on this journey.”

Colin said, “Alright, well I guess it’s about time I get around to why I’m here. The kids I’ve been working with, they’re not ready. There has been progress, for sure, but I can’t tell you with any certainty that if they stop coming to the sessions they won’t explode at each other again if the situation is right for it. There are a lot of old hatreds at play there.”

Charles nodded and sighed. “I know, and I guess part of me was hoping for a miracle. I’m not sure what I can tell you. I don’t know exactly when we’ll be leaving yet. So, I’d say continue to do the sessions until we have to leave. After that, we’ll warn the remaining moderators and those stepping in for us when we go to be extra careful around them, but other than that, there’s not much else we can do.”

A pensive look crossed Colin’s face. “What about this Jesse? It was mentioned that when his Gift comes to light, the General and the Firestarter,” he air quoted both aliases, “will think twice about messing with each other. I also didn’t miss the shudder that went through you when he was mentioned. What exactly can this man do?”

Charles ran a hand through his hair and laughed slightly. “Jesse… How to put this- Jesse can stop the sun. “

The doctor just arched an eyebrow and Charles laughed again. “Well ok, not exactly, but it comes to roughly the same thing. Jesse can fill the area around him with perfect darkness - a night so deep that you’re completely blind and completely deaf while inside it. He cuts off sight and sound in the area around him. But there’s more. He also had the potential to be one of the strongest telekinetics I’ve ever come across, and that was eighteen years ago. There’s no telling how strong he is now.”

“Think about it this way, Doctor. One minute everything’s normal, and the next, you can’t see, you can’t hear and an invisible force picks you up and pins you to a wall and there’s nothing you can do to free yourself because you’re terrified. Believe me if Jesse’s on the prowl, the natives won’t be acting up. Or if they do, the feeling of utter powerlessness will be enough to make sure they never do it again. I hope it doesn’t come to that. I hope you can tell me before we leave that there’s been enough progress that the Crusaders and the Blackguard can coexist peacefully, but if not, Jesse will be our ace in the hole, if Kat can convince him and his wife to come fill in here while we’re gone.

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Seven

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29615

Time passed, and for the majority of the school, things returned to more or less normal. There were little changes though. Todd stopped going to Dr. Zorbino’s class, so he could work with Marcos on how the two of them were going to get the group to the Shadowlands. The Blackguard hadn’t been happy that one of the Crusaders no longer had to come but all of their number did, so Colin allowed Sarah to skip the meetings too, officially to keep the Blackguard happy, and unofficially so she could do what she needed to do to get ready to go. No one complained over that choice since Todd and Sarah had been the least involved with everything that happened anyway.

The Moderator dormitories were expanded and Dr. Zorbino, Lauren and Steph were all given rooms of their own. Steph’s leg had finally fully healed, and so all three of them could be seen coming and going as they too prepared for the journey ahead. Although not at the same time as Lauren still did everything she could to avoid Steph but given Lauren’s power of near teleportation, she could go wherever she wanted whenever she wanted so that wasn’t much of a problem.

Kat was in the process of contacting the potential replacement Moderators. From what Charles had heard, Nadara was instantly interested, but Jesse was on a business trip for a photo shoot, so she’d need to wait until he got home to see if they could come. Dave Ragnex on the other hand was on his way. He’d been working retail at a video game store and he absolutely hated it and wanted a change. Tracey as expected had been very exited to come. Kat was still trying to reach Luke’s friend Chris.

As for the potential new recruits, Kat had whittled the list down to two. One was a woman by the name of Roxanne, and she was on her way for an interview. The other application though was problematic. It was one person, but three personalities. In a regular human, that was multiple personality disorder. Gifts however have a tendency to rewrite the normal rules and that was the case here. Twenty five years ago, a woman was supposed to have triplets. But when it came time to go into labor, she only produced one child.

The doctors were stumped and couldn’t tell the woman what had happened to the other two children – once she’d gone into labor they’d simply vanished. What had actually happened was the three children had melded into one. They were all Gifted, and having three Gifted fetuses in such close proximity had had unexpected results.

While growing up, the child knew something was different about him. He had three distinct personalities, and worked hard to not letting them show because he knew early that if he did, he’d be sent in for therapy. It was only, much later, once the young man had moved away on his own, that he allowed the other two to come to the fore and to figure out how to handle all of it.

What they had now were three distinct individuals, all with their own height, weight and appearance (the being had a Gift for Transmutation). Each member of the trio was active for eight hours a day. While one was active, another was inside planning what he was going to do during the next shift and the third was asleep. And thus, the being was awake twenty four hours a day in one form or another.

And of course, since all three were separate beings, they all had Gifts of their own. Charles had sat in with Kat and had spoken to Brian, one of the personalities in a conference call. It had been very enlightening and Charles hoped that he’d get to meet the man, or the men, before he had to leave and knew Colin would like to meet them as well.

After speaking the Prophecy, Kaleigh had fallen back into her coma. However she definitely looked better these days and Dr. Zorbino had said she should be coming out of it any day now. Mike and George alternated watching over her. At first, George hadn’t been willing to leave at all, but Mike had obviously been a little creeped out by the older Moderator constantly looking after his cousin and had gotten time of his own to spend with his family member.

Charles didn’t understand why George was there so often, but then he didn’t really know the Transmutation moderator very well. George had always been a bit of a loner and the AVP supposed it was good for the man to come out of his shell a little bit, even if it was all over a girl who was half his age. It was all a little weird, but nothing inappropriate had happened, and so Kat and Charles had been willing to let it go. After all, when she did come out of her coma, she would need all the support she could get.

Charles looked at his watch. It was almost time. Ever since Steph had dreamchased Todd’s dream, Charles had tasked Drew with figuring out everything he could about Cyber, the man who’d been in charge of the electronics for the Scion of Synthetics in Todd’s latest and more gruesome dream.

Now that a task force was set, manned by Robert, Scott, Luke and George to go to the Netherlands and find the man himself, it was important that they be educated on who they were hunting and what he could do.

Charles shook his head. Dustynn had definitely not been happy that he wasn’t going on that either, but he understood why the people who were going we going. Charles had tasked him with keeping the school safe. Jesse aside, Dustynn was now the most physically able Moderator if a situation arose where that sort of force was necessary and Charles knew that grumbles aside, the Ancient Civilizations and Religions Moderator would proudly stay behind and keep the children safe.

Charles looked at his watch again. Drew was holding a presentation about everything he’d found out about Cyber. Charles stood up from his desk, left his office and headed over to the room Drew had chosen.

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Eight

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29632

Charles strode into the room right before Drew was set to start. The four who were going to make the expedition to find Cyber were already there. Robert and Luke were sitting together, and as usual the Observation Moderator was smoking, however none of the smoke touched Luke as it was all stopped by an invisible shield of some sort. George sat a few paces away from them, and Scott a few feet away from him.

Sarah was in attendance as well. Charles wanted to ask why and then he remembered she had helped Robert narrow down where Cyber was, and now that she was going she had a right to know about the man she had been tasked to find. Steph rounded out the audience, and she was here because she had found Cyber in the first place and maybe this meeting would trigger something she had forgotten to mention given the traumatic events that unfolded in Todd’s dream.

Charles grabbed a seat and sat down, not particularly close to anyone. Drew nodded to the AVP at his entrance and shut the door. “Good, all of you made it. Let’s begin.”

The Communications Moderator glanced at his trusty note pad and said, “Not much is known about Cyber on a whole. Today I will present what I was able to find out and the popular rumours for what I wasn’t able to discover. I’m not sure these rumours will be of any use and it is not my intent to muddle the situation with half truths but I’ve decided that any information my help you and thus I present it today.”

Charles arched an eyebrow. Drew was clearly in professor mode. Normally Drew was a man of few words, but when he was teaching he was just as wordy or even more than most – it was an interesting dichotomy.

“The hard facts are these. Cyber is a mercenary and has worked for both legitimate clients, including the United Nations, although I wasn’t able to find out what he’d done for them, and less than savoury characters like our Scion. He is a master of artificial intelligence – in fact no one ever gets to meet with the man himself. He always works through his mechanical creations and they’re nearly always cats of some sort.”

Drew checked his notes. “A potential client lets it be known through the internet that he’s looking to work with Cyber. He or she receives no confirmation that there’s any interest until one day a mechanical cat shows up at the client’s home or office to discuss details of the job itself and of payment. Cyber is in constant contact with his pets and will decide to accept or refuse the employment during that initial meeting. After that, no matter what his decision, the cat vanishes, only to appear later when the job is finished with the merchandise if Cyber was in agreement with the opportunity in the first place. Once the equipment has been delivered, the cat stays with the client for the duration as Todd and Steph saw in the dream.”

With a glance at his notes, Drew continued. “Payment is in cash, but Cyber has made it known that he would look favourably on working for a client a second time if he is given a representation of some sort of a woman named Cyndi. Whether it be in a plastic statue such as the Scion was prepared to send, or original art, as long as he receives something depicting the girl, Cyber will work for the client for a second time. If no such exchange is made, at the termination of the job, Cyber will no longer take offers from the client.”

“As for who this woman is, very little is known. She has been depicted in a comic that was run for a very short time in some newspapers. In that form, she appeared as a beautiful Asian woman of above average height with bluish black hair. Here’s a depiction of how she was drawn in that form.” A portrait of a woman similar to how Drew had described appeared on a wall where everyone could see it.”

“Who is this woman and what does she mean to Cyber? No one knows for sure, but there are some prominent rumours that I’m going to go over now. Ignoring for the moment how she got into that comic – I haven’t been able to find anything about the comic’s author. It was signed anonymously and mailed into the papers for a short time. For all I know, the author could by Cyber himself. In any case, the one constant all the rumours have is that Cyndi is dead or has vanished.”

“Some say she and Cyber were married and he collects these mementos in remembrance of his late wife. Another prominent rumour is Cyber’s parents had arranged a marriage between their son and Cyndi only to have her disappear or die before that could happen. Still others depict the woman as someone Cyber respected and worked with and she was killed in an accident caused by one of his creations. Although the details aren’t solid as rumours never are, they all agree that Cyndi was someone important to Cyber, and thus he looks fondly on depictions of her.”

Drew glanced at his notes. “As to who Cyber is, we know even less. As I’ve said before no one meets Cyber in person. Before he became so adept at his craft so that people would agree to this hiring progress he likely went under a different name, but there is absolutely not solid information about what that name or alias might be. Sure there are all sorts of ridiculous rumours, but when one’s looking for information, wild allegations are the first pieces of data discarded.”

“We know for certain that he operates out of the Netherlands. But is he Dutch? Of that I have no information for you. Some rumours say he’s originally from Japan and has connections with the Yakuza. Others say he was a poor Indian child who worked his way out of poverty and to where he is today. Others still say he’s in fact a mechanical being who escaped from his creators. In fact, none of the rumours I heard depict him as being Dutch. Of course no one’s ever tried to dreamchase him before. Or that I know of anyways. We’re in uncharted territory, gentleman.”

He closed his notebook and said, “I’ve already cleared this with Kat. I’ll be coming with you. We don’t know what kind of security Cyber’s going to have. But I can bet much of it will be mechanical or computer based. I trust Luke’s invisibility, Scott’s brute strength and George’s disguises. But without my Gift of Technology, I think that in the end you’ll come up to something you can’t deal with and if that’s the case and we fail because I didn’t come along, I’d never be able to forgive myself.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Nine

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29635

Time passed and at last it was time to meet all the replacement Moderators who would be teaching classes while Charles and his team as well as the group chasing Cyber were away. Everyone who’d been asked was coming to help out. After all, Sohmer’s Academy had a great reputation and it was a true honour to work there. It was hard to turn down that sort of opportunity.

The introduction was taking place in the Chamber. Charles met up with Robert and Luke in the halls, the three of them entered the largest room in the school together and Charles walked towards the podium while the two Moderators took their seats.

Kat was standing at the podium, ready to begin. Seated on the stage next to her were the new Moderators. Charles recognized Tracey, Nadara, Jesse and Ragnex. He’d seen Tracey recently, and the others had aged since they’d been in school, but it was still obvious who they were.

Of the others, he picked out Roxanne right away. It wasn’t very hard to tell who she was given of the others she was the only woman. She was dressed like she’d just stepped out of an Evanescence video, and come to think of it, she looked a tiny bit like the lead singer, Amy Lee. Next to her, sat a man wearing a fancy dinner jacket and actually had a monocle on his face. Charles took him to be the man with the long name that was friends with Luke. Lastly, there sat a heavily bearded man, who was taller and heavier set than the rest. He recognized this man as Brian, the man with three identities, from the conference call he’d had with Kat.

Charles fell into step next to Kat and she cleared her throat. “Thank y’all for coming today. We have many new faces here, so I’m going to ask each one to come up and give a little speech about what they can do, and then we’re going to figure out who will be teaching what while they’ll be filling in. Drew has decided to join Robert, Scott, George and Luke on their quest, so with his absence we’re looking to fill Communications, Transportation, Transmutation, Observation, Metaphysics, Advanced Reading and Fleshcrafting.”

“To begin I’ve asked Brian to explain his unique situation and what he brings to the table. Brian, if you would?”

The big man stood up and walked to the podium, and Charles got a better look at him. He was a few inches taller than six feet and weighed probably two hundred and fifty pounds. He had brown hair and a full but not bushy beard. He was wearing jeans and a buttoned collared black shirt. Black rimmed eye glasses covered his brown eyes completing the look.

He leaned towards the microphone and said. “Hello, my name is Brian. I’m not sure what you’ve all hard about me, so I’m going to assume it’s nothing. If it’s alright, I’d like to give a little background.” He looked in Kat’s direction and when she nodded, he continued. “You’ve probably heard of my mother. She’s a model who’s been Gifted with unaging beauty. Her name is Elin Grindemyr.”

Marcos and surprisingly Cadi made catcalls and Brian smiled slightly. “Exactly – now I’m not sure who my father is, as my mother gave me up for adoption soon after I was born, but since at least one of my parents was Gifted, my birth wasn’t exactly what you’d deem normal. You see, my mother was supposed to have triplets. Granted we were fraternal triplets, but regardless, there was supposed to be three of us. Only, once we were growing in the womb, things got complicated.”

“You see, my brothers and I share a Gift of Transmutation. Other than that our other Gifts are different, but from what I can surmise, given we all had shared a Gift for changing shape, and we were all in such close contact in our mother’s womb, we melded into one person just before Elin went into labour.”

“I’m sure the Doctor was quite confused when he was expecting three babies and got one instead, and unlike other situations where the other two babies died on the way out, there was no trace at all of any baby past the first. Regardless to say, our mother gave us a name that we don’t use, and soon after gave us up for adoption.”

“Before I get any further, I should introduce you to my brothers. As I’ve said before, my name is Brian. This is my brother Matt…”

Brian’s features melted away, and his body changed. He gained weight but stayed at around the same height. His hair changed to blonde and his eyes to blue. Whereas Brian had facial hair, Matt was clean shaven. Both wore glasses, but they were different glasses. He wore the same clothes, only fitted to his new shape. The entire change took maybe ten seconds. When he spoke, his voice sounded exactly the same as Brian’s had. “…and my other brother Matt.”

Again, he started to transmute, only this time the changes were far more significant. His frame shrunk in height and weight and added muscle tone. The final product stood around five foot eight with a wiry frame such that swimmers or mountain climbers often have. His brown hair was close cropped to his forehead and his eyes were light blue. Looking at him, the first thing Charles noticed was his nose was on the large side. He looked tired and had to stifle a yawn. He spoke, “I’m going to pass us back to Brian. It’s my sleep cycle.”

Just like that, ten seconds later, Brian stood at the podium once more. “There you have it. Three men, one body. When I’m awake, Big Matt is awake doing his preparations for his awake time and Little Matt is sleeping. When Big Matt’s in control, Little Matt’s in preparation and I’m sleeping and so on. And thus our body is awake twenty four hours a day, and we each have shifts of eight hours in control, eight hours in the background and eight hours asleep. We each also have our own Gifts, other than Transmutation that we all obviously share. I don’t want this to seem presumptuous or anything, but since you have a Transmutation opening at least for the moment, I think we’d be best suited to take the position, given our experiences on a whole.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Ten

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29643

Charles glanced at Kat’s notes. She’d apparently agreed with Brian and had him and his brothers replacing George. Luke’s friend Christopher Zimmerman IX was set to take the mantle of Manipulation and Communications. That got Charles to raise an eyebrow. One Moderator never taught two classes, but this situation with multiple Moderators leaving the school in the middle of the year didn’t happen either. If Kat thought this guy could handle both classes, than Charles was willing to back her up, just from the strength of her decisions in the past alone.

He scanned down the list. Jesse was going to teach Metaphysics, which given what he knew about the man’s Gift, he could see. Kat had Dave Ragnex slated to teach Fleshcrafting and that seemed like an odd decision given the former sports star didn’t have any body art that Charles could see. Still, he was sure Kat had her reasons. Tracey was listed as replacing Robert, and that fit pretty well, given what he could remember of her Gift.

Nadara was listed as replacing Marcos for Transportation. That got Charles smiling. What a change that class was in for, as Nadara, or Nay as she was insisting to be called now was about as different a person from Marcos as was possible.

Charles scratched his head. He’d accounted for all the missing jobs and yet Roxanne didn’t have any of them. He scanned the list again to make sure he hadn’t missed her, and saw that she was stated to fill Craig’s spot for Energy. But Craig wasn’t’ going anywhere. He wasn’t one of the triplets and he wasn’t one of the five going to find Cyber. So what was he going to be doing?

Charles turned to Kat and asked her a question directly into her mind. “If Roxanne’s replacing Craig, what’s Craig going to be doing?”

She rolled her eyes and responded in kind. “Someone has to replace your job, you nitwit.”

Charles nodded. That made sense. Craig was to be the Acting Vice Principal while he was gone, and Roxanne would take the empty Moderator position left in the Energy Moderator’s wake.

Craig wouldn’t have been his first choice, but come to think of it, he was definitely a good choice for the job. Charles would have to sit with him to let him know the details of the job, but there was still time for that.

Kat returned to the podium. “Thank you Brian, Matt and Matt, and to be honest, I agree with you. There’s no one better here today to take over the spot of Transmutation Moderator while George is abroad. So ladies and gentleman, please give a round of applause for your new Transmutation Moderator.”

When the clapping stopped she said, “George, why don’t you take Brian to one of the side rooms and give him a run down of your position and what he needs to expect from his new class?”

The Transmutation Moderator stood up and motioned for Brian to follow him, which he did after hopping down off the stage. The two of them left the Chamber and entered one of the small adjacent rooms.

Kat spoke. “Good. Next up on the agenda is Roxanne. If you wouldn’t mind coming up here and giving us an idea of what you can do?”

The woman stood up and was about to reach the podium when the door to the Chamber from the outside slammed open and Todd ran in. He seemed to be completely oblivious to what was going on and what he’d disturbed as he ran directly to where Marcos was sitting.

The rest of the room had quieted down completely when this happened, so no one had any problem hearing him. “We have to leave now, Marcos. The denizens are speaking of a storm unlike any they’ve seen in eons and if we don’t leave now, we’re going to either get caught up in it, or be behind it, and if that’s the case we’re never going to find the Shadowlands.”

Marcos said, “Wait, wait, slowdown. A storm in the spirit world? That’s impossible. The spirit world doesn’t have weather like we do. The concept of a storm would mean nothing to the spirit world denizens.”

Todd shrugged. “And yet that was the word they said exactly. A storm is coming. A storm is coming. They kept repeating. When I pushed for more, all I could get was we absolutely don’t want to get caught in the storm, and if we don’t hurry, the storm will hit and close off the Shadowlands for a long time. We don’t have to leave this second, but we absolutely have to be gone before tomorrow morning or we’re not going to make it.”

Marcos stared at Todd for a moment and then nodded grimly. He turned back to the stage. “Kat, I’m sorry, but we’re going to have to cut this short. I don’t know the details yet, and trust me I’m going to go figure them out now, but if Todd’s right, we have a lot of packing and preparing to do and a very short time to do it.”

He paused and continued. “I’d love to sit here and listen to all of your stories and I truly mean that. But it looks like that’s no longer in the cards. The rest of you can stay here and the meeting can go on, but Charles, Cadi and I should get going. I know I’m not ready to leave this instant and I doubt either of you are either. So let’s move it people. We have a lot to do and a very short time to do it in. If Todd made any mistakes I’ll PM everyone, but for now, assume he’s right and get yourselves ready.

Charles nodded and jumped off the stage. “Alright. I’ll send out the PMs. Cadi, Marcos, Todd – meet me back here at say five o’clock in the morning if nothing changes.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Eleven

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29645

Charles left the Chamber at a brisk walk, Cadi at his side. They’d had weeks to prepare for this, and he knew exactly what he’d be taking with him, but all the same, his heart was fluttering wildly in his chest. He also knew that after today he didn’t know when the next time it would be that he’d have some quality alone time with his girlfriend and he wasn’t about to waste any of it.

Much later, Charles was standing in his office making his last few preparations with a permanent smiled etched on his face. It was time to dress in what would be his travelling and if necessary, fighting gear. He pulled on a black pair of jeans first, and looped his belt through his pants as well as the scabbard for his sword. A purple t-shirt completed the first layer.

Over that, he pulled on the chain shirt he’d acquired years ago, first for the Dagohir, but later in case he needed to fight in a real battle. Now it was lined with Kevlar making it even heavier, but useful if he was facing a sword or a gun. Over that, he pulled on his purple and black travel wear. Lose enough to let a breeze in but of the right material to keep the rain off his chain shirt if it came to that.

Lastly he took his sword down off the wall and slid it home into his scabbard. He then picked up his flail in one hand, and rested it on his shoulder. With his other hand he grabbed his pack. He was ready to go.

He met up with Cadi and they walked back to the Chamber together. The Manipulation Moderator was wearing form fitting clothes made of what exactly, Charles didn’t know. But for certain it was something that would give her room to move, accentuate her beauty (although that really wasn’t needed) and protect her if needed in a fight. While he was covered in purple and black, her costume was all whites, blues and a smidgen of pink. She had her pack hoisted over one shoulder.

Charles entered the Chamber and looked around. Gone were all the chairs from that afternoon. Instead, it was just a large open space. Marcos and Todd were already there and the two of them were talking in low voices that Charles couldn’t hear.

Marcos was wearing a sleeveless black shirt and a pair of cargo pants. While Charles was dressed for war, the Transportation Moderator looked like he was planning on flopping down on his couch and watching television while drinking rum. It was only when Charles walked closer that he noticed around the other man’s waist were a series of knives holstered in his belt.

Todd on the other hand looked like he’d just stepped out of a B movie. He had a pair of swimming goggle over his grimly determined face. He was wearing a long grey trench coat that covered the rest of him from view.

Charles let them discuss and settled against one of the walls to wait. A few minutes later, Lauren walked in with Andrew close behind her, talking excitedly about something. Charles glanced at Cadi and arched an eyebrow. Andrew had been good friends with Lauren when they were all in school and in fact it had been Andrew who had first introduced her to Charles, way back in the day. But their friendship had always been platonic. Charles wondered if it would stay that way. A lot could happen on a trip like this.

Lauren was as beautiful as always. She was wearing all white with golden trim. The material didn’t look flimsy and Charles would have bet that her clothes were either lined with Kevlar, or there was some other material underneath. At her waist was a wicked looking hunting knife.

Andrew on the other hand, looked something like a lumberjack. He was wearing jeans, with a red and beige plaid shirt, and a blue bomber jacket over it. He was holding a hatchet in one hand, had the back of the head wresting on his right shoulder and held a walking staff in his other hand.

Charles nodded to his friend, who in returning the greeting led Lauren to the opposite side of the room. The two of them sat on the floor and continued their conversation. Lauren seemed completely oblivious that Charles was even there.

Colin Zorbino arrived a few minutes later, escorting Paul and Sarah into the room. The Gifted doctor wore a simple blue tshirt and beige khaki shorts. He also wore a pair of yellow tinted glasses over his eyes. He looked very down to earth.

Paul was wearing a green cloak over his usual tshirt and jeans. He was carrying a potted plant in his hands and whispering to it.

Sarah looked very nervous. She was shuffling her deck of cards, and she seemed to be calming herself by setting up different card tricks. She was wearing a white top and maroon slacks.

Now everyone had arrived except Steph. But it was still only 4:45am, so she wasn’t quite late yet. Colin went over to where Andrew and Lauren were seated and sat down to join their conversation.

Paul and Sarah looked a little lost, and fortunately Cadi noticed, walked up to the students, and squatting down to be at their level spoke calming words.

Finally at five to five, Steph strode into the room, completing their group. She was holding her dog Duke in her hands, and let him go as she crossed the threshold. Her miniature dog jumped out of her hands and ran towards Sarah, who got a huge smile on her face as she started to play with Duke.

Steph was covered in denim. Blue jeans, slightly frayed at the knees, with a blue shirt and a jean jacket over it. She had her belt looped through a motorcycle helmet, holding it fast at her waist.

She dumped her pack down on the ground upon entering and walked over to where Marcos and Todd were deep in discussion. Right when she got to them and was about to say her greetings, Marcos turned to the group. “Alright everyone listen up and gather around and Todd and I will explain how this is going to work.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Twelve

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29650

Marcos turned to the group and spoke. “Alright, so, Prophecy decreed that Todd and I would be the ones to lead you to the Shadowlands. Since we found that out, the two of us have been working together to figure out how we’re going to do that. I personally can travel anywhere and through any element, but I can’t bring anyone with me.”

“Now Todd is by all indications new to his talents and thus isn’t always completely aware of what he can and can’t do in any situation. Take the brawl for a moment. Todd was sitting in the spirit world and Sarah came swooping down at Hawk’s side aiming for Leah. Had I been in his place for some reason I would never have even thought of catching Sarah and pulling her leg through the boundary between world because I know I can’t do that. Todd didn’t know, and fortunately it worked.”

“So, there was something good that came out of that brawl.” Marcos laughed when Charles scowled at him. “Anyway, what’s going to happen today is this. I’m going to travel through to the spirit world first, and then Todd is going to pull each one of you through. I’m going first to scout.”

“There are a few things you need to understand about the spirit world for those of you who don’t know. If you do know or think you do, listen anyway, you might just learn something.” He smirked slightly.

“First off, there’s no weather in the spirit world like there is here. There’s no sun, no moon, no wind and no rain. You’ll be able to breathe and the air won’t be stagnant, but no matter how much or little you wear, you won’t feel cold or hot. Which makes Todd’s information about a storm so troubling. I have no idea what would qualify as a storm in the spirit world and I’m pretty sure I don’t want to find out.”

“Moving on. There are structures in the spirit world, but they don’t match what’s here. One theory is they’re buildings that die and are transferred over. Of course, to believe that, you need to believe buildings have a soul, and aren’t completely inanimate and I think only architects believe that. Another theory is they were always there. Regardless of how they got there, in the spirit world those ruins are real. You can tie rope to them, like Todd did to keep Sarah’s leg trapped on the other side. You can hide behind them or take shelter in them or whatever you like.”

“Lastly, there are denizens in the spirit world. Most of them are completely harmless and some of us use them for our Gifts. For example, when Drew created his machine to send PMs to people, he has it set up so a spirit denizen delivers the message, since they can pass through barriers in the real world that don’t have a similar counterpart on the other side. Generally, if a denizen looks something like a flying/swimming eel and is about a foot long, it’s completely harmless and wont’ bother you, so leave it alone.”

“There are however some creatures on the other side that aren’t quite so harmless. We will treat each encounter separately. One thing though is very important. Charles may be leading the expedition, but the spirit world is my domain. If I give you an order, I expect it to be carried out immediately. There are dangers, ladies and gentlemen, and I’m not going to let someone get hurt just because you may or may not like me enough to listen to what I have to say.”

“Are we clear?” Charles noticed that Marcos was staring directly at him for his question.

Charles nodded once and then clarified. “It’s true; you know a lot more about the spirit world than I do. That said, I will only disobey an order if I get the instinct that I’m supposed to. Prophecy has spoken to me three times now, and every time it has called me the Lost One. I clearly have a purpose here, just as we all do, but my purpose is probably more. I’m not sure what it’s going to feel like when I know I must do something, but if that feeling comes, I can’t in any kind of good conscience ignore it.”

Marcos rolled his eyes. “Just as long as you don’t go traipsing off in a random direction. If you get this ‘instinct’, make sure you tell me about it first. I can’t very well lead us anywhere, especially quickly so we can avoid the storm if you’re wandering off every five minutes.”

Charles sputtered. “I’m not an idiot Marcos. I just wanted to let you know that the possibility’s there.”

The Transportation Moderator smirked again. “Whatever. Anyway, for the rest of you, when Todd pulls you through it’s very important that you do three things. One, you hold your breath. Two, stay as still as you can. And three, if he asks you to do anything to make it easier on him, do it. I know being brought through is going to feel weird, but if any of you freak out over this, it doesn’t set a good precedent for the trip on a whole. We’re venturing off into the unknown. So let’s get through to the other side quickly so we can get moving.”

He turned to Todd. “Send them through in whatever order you feel is best, but give me some adults before you drag your friends through.”

He then turned back to the group, winked once and then started to run. The tattoos on his arms glowed gray. Once he’d picked up speed he jumped forward in the air, stretched his hands in front of him and his legs straight behind him like he was diving in a pool of water. His hands seemed to pierce a hole in the very reality and he slipped through, vanishing when the hole closed behind him.

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Thirteen

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29652

Todd said, "I’ll be right back."

A look of concentration flashed over his face and then he simply faded away, like a fog bank had suddenly materialized behind him and was slowly enveloping him. He became harder and harder to see until he was just gone.

His disembodied head faded back in a moment later. Sarah had been expecting it to happen as she’d seen it before when he tied her leg down in the spirit world, but she still let out an involuntary gasp when the rest of his body didn’t follow suit.

Todd smiled slightly and then brought his arms into existence. He floated over to where Steph was standing. “Alright, Steph. You and Duke are going to go first.”

Charles arched an eyebrow. “Why is she going before I am?” he asked.

Todd didn’t turn around, he simply said, “I have my reasons.”

Charles frowned. “And they are?”

Todd sighed and his head turned around to face Charles. “Didn’t Marcos tell you to listen to me, sir?”

Charles’ frown depended. “Please Todd, indulge me.”

A resigned look hardened over the boy’s face. “Fine. You may think I’m just a kid, but I observe things. I don’t have a Gift for it like Sarah does, but that doesn’t mean I can’t study people and come to conclusions. I’ve picked Steph to go first for three reasons. First, right now, Marcos and I are standing in the spirit realm. We’re each part of a separate triplet. The only triplet that is missing a member is the one made up of Steph, Cadi and Lauren.”

Charles interrupted him. “Well, why not Cadi or Lauren then? Why Steph?”

Todd sighed again, more deeply this time. “I said there were three reasons. But I’ll add a fourth. I don’t know Lauren very well. In fact, I’ve only just met her. I know Cadi, she teaches me Manipulation, but everyone knows Cadi and Marcos have a history, and also Steph is the most courageous person in this room, at least to me. She braved one of my horrible nightmares and kept diving back in even after she was physically injured to make sure I’d never have to dream of those monsters ever again.”

Steph blushed slightly but Todd continued unaware. “And lastly, Marcos is for all intents and purposes alone in there right now. Most of my body may be currently in the spirit world, but my consciousness isn’t. I’m bringing Steph along first because she gets along better with Marcos than you do. It’s obvious the two of you don’t get along. So please, can I get on with this?”

Charles kept his frown but said nothing more. Todd nodded and turned back around to Steph. Her cheeks were no longer rosy and she was smirking at Charles over Todd’s head.

“Steph, please hold onto Duke and keep him calm. I know you can talk to him, so get him to hold his breath if you can and do the same yourself. This will feel very strange. If you feel me pulling you, please don’t resist.”

Steph nodded and called Duke, who was still running around Sarah and Paul excitedly. The miniature canine ran over to his master and jumped up into her arms. Steph leaned over and whispered into her dog’s ear. The normally hyperactive animal quieted down immediately.

Todd right hand grabbed Steph’s leg and lifted it up, so her knee bent and she looked a little like a human flamingo. He pulled his arm back towards where his body would normally be and first his upper arm and then his lower arm faded away until it was just his hand holding Steph’s leg. And then it too faded away, and Steph’s leg followed until she’d once again regained her balance, only her right leg was completely gone.

She looked down at it and frowned. “I can still feel it, but I can’t see it. This is very weird.”

Todd smiled and repeated his action with his left arm and her left leg. Now she was floating in the air, with only her waist up visible. Both his arms returned to existence.

“Alright Steph. I’m going to grab both sides of your torso, and drag you down. I want you to bend your knees, and when you can’t bend them anymore, I want you to sit down. I know you can’t see your legs, but they’ll follow your commands, trust me. Remember to hold your breath.”

He did exactly that. As he pulled her torso down, more and more of her disappeared. First her chest, then her arms with Duke held in them and finally her head until she’d vanished completely.

Once she was gone, Todd turned to Dr. Zorbino. “Alright, Doctor, you’re next.”

Charles shook his head, “Wait, why him?”

Todd rolled his eyes. “Are you going to question every decision I make? Part of following orders is just that, following orders. But fine, I’ll answer you. Dr. Zorbino can heal. If anything in there is going to attack, it will likely do so when we’re still a relatively small group. I want Dr .Zorbino on the other side just in case something does.”

Charles nodded. “Is that likely to happen?”

Todd shook his head. "No. But it doesn't hurt to be careful."

When Charles didn't protest further, Todd followed the same progress exactly with Colin, and soon he too had vanished from sight.

Finally, Todd turned to Charles. “Alright, Charles. You’re next.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Fourteen

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=29971

Todd said, "Alright, relax. You’ve seen me do this to two people so far, so just do what they did and this will all be over soon."

Charles said nothing, as Todd bent his right leg up and then drew it through to the spirit world. He felt nothing change. If his eyes were closed, it would be impossible to notice the difference, but instead he could see one of his legs was gone. It felt like how Phantom Limb Syndrome would feel like, except he actually still had his leg, he just couldn’t see it.

His left leg then followed the same process, and now he felt like he was halfway towards a joke. What do you call a man with no arms and no legs who floats in the ocean? Bob. He felt like a Bob with arms.

Then Todd told him to bend his knees, hold his breath and let himself be pulled to the other side. Charles gulped and did as he was asked.

The strangest thing about the whole progress was when his head crossed over. As he sunk through the air to the other side, every part of him that crossed went numb for a second. Finally he was through.

Charles exhaled, stood up and looked around. He felt like he was stuck in a black and white movie. Everything was a shade of gray. The landscape itself was gray. The ruins that dotted the area were gray. Even the denizens of this place, he saw a few slither through the air and as had been explained that didn’t bother anyone, they too were gray. All different shades, but still all gray.

There was no light and yet he could see. It reminded him of dusk, in terms of what it felt like to his eyes. He squatted down and lay his palm on the ground. There was no dirt or other debris; in fact the plane he was standing on was smooth.

He breathed in. The air felt almost stale, like he had entered a room that had been sealed for the last five years, but where as in a situation like that, there would also be dust that would permeate the air. Here however, the air was clean.

He continued looking around. A structure stood not to far away from where Todd had pulled him through. It looked like it had been a small office building once, perhaps. Parts of the room were just gone, but it had four solid walls with only one entry way. There were no windows, but there were small rectangular shaped holes in the walls that looked sort of like arrow slits.

Not noticing anyone else around, Charles walked towards the doorway. When he was about halfway there, Marcos stepped out of the structure and waved him forward.

“I figured you were going to come through next,” Marcos said, as Charles bridged the gap and stopped standing next to the Transportation moderator. “This will be our base of operations for the moment. I’m hoping we won’t need it, but if we do, it’s a defensible location. Todd and I register to the denizens of this place as fellow Spirit World creatures, because of the way our Gifts are tied to this place. But no one else has that luxury. We’re bringing a large group of outsiders here all at once, and I’m concerned something not so benign will be curious.”

Charles narrowed his eyes. “If you thought this, why didn’t you bring it up in the meeting? Our people are walking into a potentially dangerous situation blind.”

Marcos shrugged slightly. “The likelihood isn’t very high. And I was concerned that if I mentioned my concern, some people would be too worried and would back out. And there’s no time to coddle people right now. We need to get everyone through and stay ahead of the storm, whatever it actually means.”

Charles locked gazes with the other man, but Marcos wouldn’t back down. Finally the Acting Vice Principal nodded slightly. “You may have a point, but I don’t have to like it. I’ll see what I can help with inside.”

He strode past the other man and into the building. Inside, it was all one large room. Dr. Zorbino was busying himself looking through one of the arrow slits, watching for anything that looked at all dangerous. Every so often, he would spot something and call out to Marcos about it, but the other man always responded that what the doctor had seen was a peaceful creature that would leave them alone.

Steph on the other hand, was trying to patch one of the holes in the roof with debris that had been lying around, as well as rope she’d brought with her. Charles gave her a wide berth, partly because he still had small reservations about her being in his life again, but mostly because he didn’t want anything to fall on his head if her rope supports broke.

Instead, he found himself an empty corner, and began walking himself through the stances he’d use if it came down to combat with his flail. He was more comfortable with his sword, but figured that given his knowledge of the Spirit World, the flail might fit better here than a slashing weapon.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw the room start to fill up as Todd brought the rest of the group through. He didn’t pay much attention to what the newcomers were doing, but he did notice the order of their entrances. After starting with Steph, Colin and himself, Todd next brought Cadi in, followed by his two young friends, Sarah and then Paul, followed by Lauren, and then Andrew walked in, with Todd at his side.

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Fifteen

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=30196

Paul stared wide-eyed at the situation he currently found himself in. It was absolutely astonishing how much his life had changed and in such a relatively short time. A year ago, he was a boy as normal as any other, who respected his Father and Mother and studied hard at school. Then, he’d received the letter to bring him to Sohmer’s Academy of the Gifted, where his entire view point on what was possible and what wasn’t irrevocable shifted.

In his relatively short time at the school, he’d learned so much. He was still learning everyday, but he was on his way to being something that he’d only knew about in stories, and even then, Father always told him imagining such possibilities was frivolous. Fine because he was still more or less a child, but something that would need to be discarded in the coming years as he came into his manhood.

While Paul still respected Father as much as he had ever done so, in this his idol was wrong. Well, perhaps wrong was not the right word. Father had lacked all the necessary information after all, and that was why he’d been mistaken. But all, the same, Paul remembered the book he’d found in the library at his old school when he’d been searching for a reference book to complete his homework and instead came across a dog-eared tome that had been filed in the wrong place.

At first, he hadn’t touched the book, any more than to realize what he searched for wasn’t where it was supposed to be. Instead, that first day, he’d left the novel where it was, and found his reference book a few places down. He’d checked the proper book out of the library, but his thoughts and curiosity were on the volume that had been where it shouldn’t be.

He’d put it out of his mind and concentrated on his homework. A wandering mind always wandered away from where it was supposed to be, like a drifter abandoning his responsibilities, Father had always said. A week later, he found himself in the library a second time, and once again, his search for a reference book brought him back to the same section. He had already returned the book he had checked out the week before, and he’d figured that the librarian would then realize the dog-eared volume was in the wrong spot and moved it.

However, when he’d returned there, he’d seen that the reference book had been placed back in the same wrong place as where he’d found it a week ago, and the tome that didn’t fit in with everything else in this section of the library, sat there in its place, almost taunting the world that it could mess with the natural order of things and get away with it to tell the tale.

Paul again put the book out of mind, but it took much more effort this time. It almost felt like he was being pulled by some unseen force towards the book to pick it up, but that of course was impossible. Paul wasn’t exceptionally religious. Father had little use for a God that often didn’t seem to care at all about his subjects. Father had told Paul time and time again that for all intents and purposes, they were alone in the world, and if they didn’t work hard for their own living, there was no being living somewhere in the heavens that was going to come down and save them.

However, that said, Paul believed that God existed, in one form or another, but he’d never heard of anything credible to say that God touched the world in any measurable way. Thus, being forced towards something, being pushed by something unseen was plainly and utterly impossible, and yet, thinking that didn’t make the pull go away. It took much strength of will to leave the book where it was, take the reference book he’d needed and leave the library.

During the next two weeks, Paul felt the pull towards the library and he was sure towards the book itself grew in intensity. It was harder and harder to ignore the feeling, but he managed to get through the first week without too much difficulty. However, when it was time to check out the week’s reference book, he’d balked at returning to the library and instead had asked a classmate to check out the book for him.

The second week however was nearly unbearable. He also knew he couldn’t come up with any viable reason to ask a classmate to take out this week’s book again, and knew he had to buck up, and go to the library himself. On the day in question he had, and as soon as he’d crossed the threshold into the library proper, the pull had been so strong it physically overcame him. He felt his feet march in the direction of the book, and his eyes bulged as he realized he couldn’t stop.

He didn’t cry out, however. What was happening to him was impossible and yet if he made mention of it, it would seem like he was crazy. So he breathed in a deep breath, managed to smooth over his facial features, and let his body take him where he clearly had to go.

He entered the section and sure enough was drawn directly to the book itself. Standing there, staring at it, he forced a breath through his lips and picked it up. The book slid out from between others easily and into his hands. He read the title. Celtic Lore: History of Druids and their Timeless Traditions by Ward Rutherford.

Paul was drawn out of his memory and back to the present as Marcos came running back into the structure from where he’d been scouting. The Transportation Moderator’s face was grave and when he spoke; his voice was loud and hoarse. “Everyone get to a defensible position! Something’s coming and it’s hostile! I don’t think we’ll be able to outrun it. This is as good a place as any to make a stand and see what we’re made of.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Sixteen

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=30207

Sarah let herself be herded into a defensible corner of the structure. There was a full roof over this section, and the walls were solid. Paul followed, keeping close to her. Todd had put up a struggle. He clearly felt that he could be better served on the front lines, but neither Charles nor Marcos would hear of it. He was under their protection, no matter where his Gifts lay, and they wouldn’t let any harm come to him.

Todd gave ground, but it was clear he didn’t want to, and finally accepted to be the last line of defence to protect Sarah and Paul if it came to that, which clearly the adults hoped it wouldn’t. Sarah hoped so too. Not because she didn’t trust her friend’s abilities, but because if it came to that, a lot of people would be hurt or worse and she didn’t want to think of such a possibility.

Colin and Lauren stood in front of Todd. The self-styled Mistress of the Universe had drawn two white painted nightsticks from her pack. She now held them with their long barrels resting on her forearms. The Doctor had a large handgun that had had produced more than one disapproving stare from the other adults, but in the end, no one had said anything.

Sarah’s parents were very anti-gun, but her grandfather had taught her to shoot bottles and the like about four years before. Her parents hadn’t been very happy about that, but they had dealt with it. Regardless, she knew enough to be wary of the weapon and also to respect what one could do in the hands of a skilled marksman. She hoped Dr. Zorbino was one such person, but either way, she was glad to be behind the weapon and not in front of it where it would be easier to catch a stray bullet if it came to that.

Steph and Andrew formed the next row. The Advanced reading Moderator had lain his hatchet down and taken up his quarterstaff. Sarah wasn’t sure why, given that the axe was likely to do more damage and Steph had definitely winced and shaken her head sadly at his choice, but she’d said nothing. She on the other hand had produced two long bladed knives from somewhere on her person. Her dog, Duke had stopped running around and instead stood as menacingly as an animal of his size could and bared his teeth with a growl.

Charles and Marcos flanked the open door and had the front rank. After a discussion over which Sarah couldn’t hear what, Charles had discarded the flail and had his sword in his hands, the bare steel shining through the dim light that this place had despite there being no source of it she could see. Marcos had taken his shirt completely off and stood naked from the waist up. Sarah had blushed when she’d seen him do it, and even now her cheeks were coloured with a light pink hue.

Tattoos covered the Transportation Moderator’s back, which she had expected. However, there were a multitude of scars also crisscrossing his exposed skin. She wondered, and not for the first time in the last few minutes, what kind of lifestyle he’d led to lead to that sort of collection. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know, but figured at before the end of this journey, assuming they survived the day, she would learn much about the other nine people here, whether she wanted to or not.

Sarah looked around again and realized she couldn’t see Cadi anywhere. She thought back and remembered her speaking to Charles in low tones after Marcos came running in with the warning. Then Sarah had been herded to the corner and when she’d turned around again, Cadi was gone. Where did she go? Was it possible she could turn invisible? A year ago, she of course would have scoffed at such a suggestion, but finding out about the Gifted had changed all the rules.

In any case she hoped the Manipulation Moderator was alright, but Sarah couldn’t focus on finding her. A moment or two after Marcos had rushed in she’d heard a faint crash in the distance. As they’d set up, the sound had closed the gap slowly, getting louder and louder. Now that it was close enough, whatever it was, Sarah could hear other sounds accompanying the crashes. The sound of something wet or slimy hitting the ground, as well as something that sounded halfway between a hiss and a growl. It was close.

A hand brushed hers and without seeing whose it was, she clasped it into hers. The sounds stopped. She could hear her heart beat. Once, twice, three times, and nothing showed itself. She wondered if maybe it had retreated, but knew she would have heard it do so if it had.

No one moved. Hands tightened on weapons and faces had a mix of stone cold determination and worry etched into them. She tightened her grip on the hand. She felt her heart beat again.

When it came there was no warning. Two large appendages fell onto the far wall – where there was no ceiling, out of nowhere. Each dripped something that looked like slime, and she could now see where the second sound she had heard came from. Each arm, she supposed they were arms were about the width around of an old birch tree. The end of each arm curled down, gripping the top of the wall, and pulled its body towards them.

When its head burst into their light, she gasped and knew she wasn’t the only one. It was a large spherical creature. By large she meant perhaps forty feet across. It had two eyes that boiled with a mix of hate and surprisingly fear. Sarah could vaguely see it had more than just these two arms, but she couldn’t see if it had a body, or if this was the body. Its mouth was open and it bellowed at them. Sarah’s nails found the skin of the other hand, but any sounds of surprise and pain were covered by the shriek of the monster.

Charles raised the sword over his head and Marcos activated two of his tattoos. Both men rushed into battle.

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Seventeen

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=30209

Charles flowed into battle, his sword leading the way, but every one of his movements was smooth and fluid, like a deadly dance. He had obviously devoted a significant part of his life to training with the weapon. As he charged forward, another arm, or perhaps they were tentacles moved into the picture at a speed that such a large creature shouldn’t be able to move at.

The appendage swept directly for Charles’ midsection, and yet the AVP was able to weave his body in such a way as to not get hit, and still score two cuts along the tentacle as he was doing so.

Every time Charles’ sword connected, the creature bellowed, but to Sarah it sounded more like rage than pain. She had no idea what this thing was, but she doubted it could be killed without hitting its head and doing damage there.

On the other side of things, Marcos wasn’t idle either. He dove over an arm that was heading for him and then curled into a somersault before surging back up to keep going. When he was perhaps ten feet away from where the creature’s body was, he leaped forward, seemingly directly into the creature’s maw.

Sarah watched in rapt wonder as at the last moment Marcos’ body seemed to turn into a roughly man-sized cylinder of fire that ripped through the creature and then turned back into Marcos ten feet past the monstrosity. This time, when the thing bellowed, there was more pain and less fury in its sound.

A moment after that, Charles’ sword burst into flame and soon his hits were producing similar noises as he too cut through the creature with the element of fire.

However, Sarah noticed with a frown that while the creature was taking hits, it wasn’t weakening. She also knew that while Marcos and Charles were able to dodge the blows coming at them now, they wouldn’t be able to last forever at this pace. Gifted or not, they were each only human, and no matter how in shape someone is, eventually they’ll get tired and dodge slower, or dive later, and end up in a world of hurt.

She also realized she wasn’t the only person to notice this. Steph had turned to her brother and was talking to him in low tones. She wasn’t whispering though, and when Sarah used what she’d been learning in Observation, just for hearing instead of sight, she was able to easily hear what was being said, even through the noise of the battle.

“Andrew, they need you in there. Charlie and Marcos are hurting it, but they won’t be able to kill it, not alone anyway. You can though, Andrew. I know you can,” Steph said.

Sarah’s eyes widened. Steph thought Andrew could kill the beast? What the heck was wrong with her? The man was here because of his Gift for Aura Sight. He was no warrior.

Andrew shook his head vehemently. “I can’t Steph. I took an oath. You don’t know what you’re asking. Every time I let that part of me out, people got hurt.”

Steph narrowed her eyes. “I know that, you dolt! I’m your sister. I was there, as was Tracey when you swore that oath. What happened was terrible, and at the time, the oath was what was needed, but this is different. You swore that oath so that you wouldn’t hurt anyone else. This is different. Inaction will get people hurt here. If you do nothing, that thing is going to harm or kill us all. We can’t possibly outrun something that big, and our two best fighters are only grazing it. It’s time to grow up, big brother. You’re a good man, Andrew. I know that deep inside me. Before, you never used it for the right reasons, but this is different.”

He sighed. “How can I be a good man given what I’ve done? Given who I’ve harmed and whose lives I’ve damaged. Through all of that though, I’ve kept my word. Always. Now you’re asking me to break that. Break that one last part of me that’s always been pure and good.”

Sarah gasped and turned her attention to the battle as Charles misjudged the movement of one of the tentacles and it struck him in the torso and flung him away. The Acting Vice Principal sailed through the air, and landed on the ground hard. Somehow however, he didn’t let go of his sword. He was slow to get up, but no sooner than he was back on his feet was he once again charging into battle.

Steph grabbed her brother’s shoulders and shook him. “You idiot, Andrew. You’re not a bad person anymore; in fact you never were one. You just didn’t know how to control your Gift and we were all so young. It’s different now. We’ve all made mistakes and yet we all stand here today, for better or for worse. We all dealt with what happened differently, Andrew, you know that. For me it was drugs, for Tracey it was depression and you… you’ve managed to cope through your religion. I know Buddhists are pacifists, Andrew, but their religion was not based on this situation. That monster is going to rip us all apart. Are you going to be a coward? Or are you going to embrace what you were born for and finally live as a full person and not one divided inside against himself?”

Andrew sighed heavily. “You’re right. I don’t want you to be, but damn it, you’re right, Steph. Pass me my axe. Charles has been looking after me for so long, it’s time to return the favour.”

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Eighteen

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=30216

Marcos dove at the creature, but not quite as quickly as he had at the beginning of the fight. The monster though, showed no signs of fatigue and clubbed the Transportation moderator out of the air with a tentacle. Marcos was able to still right himself before he hit the ground hard as Charles had, but it clearly took energy out of him to do so, energy he couldn’t afford to spend.

This wasn’t a one time deal either. Charles and Marcos were clearly slowing down and taking hits. Each time the monster batted one away, it would pull itself forward. Maybe only inches, but any distance no matter how small was one step closer to being swallowed by its gaping maw.

Sarah watched as Andrew accepted the axe from his sister and she hoped that if he was going to do anything, he would do so now, before it was too late.

Andrew’s eyes glowed red, but unlike when he was reading auras, this was a much angrier red. He stepped forward and rippled. That was the best description she could give. It seemed like reality fled away from him in waves. What was left in its place was him, only he seemed larger somehow.

At each step the rippling continued and with each step he grew in size. At first the change was slow, but the closer and closer he got to the creature, the more quickly the rate increased. It wasn’t only him that was growing either. The axe in his hands had started off as a hatchet. Like something to split firewood which was useful tool on a trek like this, but of limited use in battle.

It began as a simple tool with a steel edge and a wooden handle, but as Andrew expanded, so did it. The handle seemed to shimmer as reality rippled around him, and then solidified as metal with a leather grip near the base. The blade became two, one of each side of the halt, and then each changed and grew until he was holding a huge double bladed battle axe.

Sarah blinked and turned her attention away from the weapon, which it clearly was now and gasped as she took in the new Andrew. He was impossibly tall and muscled. If the creature was sixty feet across its spherical body, and then a little more off the ground due to how it’s tentacles were pulling it along, it stood only taller than Andrew by a couple of feet.

His eyes were blazing a burning red as he gripped his axe menacingly and addressed the monster. His voice boomed through the spirit world, and minor denizens fled in its wake. “The time for games is done. You’ve hurt two of my friends and threatened others. No more. This ends now creature. Prepare to meet your maker.”

He strode forwards and Charles and Marcos scrambled out of the way, the Acting Vice Principal especially looking up towards his best friend in confused disbelief. They both settled next to Steph to watch the battle. Both were breathing hard, and neither had escaped entirely unscathed. Cuts and bruises marked each man. Charles’ left arm hung uselessly at his side, but to his credit he didn’t cry out only grimaced in pain. Marcos was limping, his right leg looking worse for wear where he’d been clubbed by a tentacle. Sarah knew that Dr. Zorbino was in for a long night.

The creature surged forwards to meet the advancing giant, and swung at him with two tentacles. Andrew swung his eyes and cut the left one cleanly in two. The creature bellowed in pain and Sarah felt the fear in it spike. The other appendage found its mark and coiled around Andrew’s left arm, but he man didn’t let that hinder him. In fact, he flexed his muscled, grabbed on to the tentacle holding him and pulled the monster towards him.

With one hand he hacked away at appendages and with the other, he pulled the monster closer and closer to him. Slime and black ichor oozed out of every sliced tentacle and the creature shrieked and flailed, trying to get away, but Andrew wouldn’t let go.

Sarah realized something. This wasn’t a battle. It was a slaughter. Faced with smaller foes, the creature was terrifying. Facing something its own size and it was terrified.

With every swing, Andrew’s eyes blazed brighter and brighter and he swung the axe faster and faster. With every swing, the monster lost more and more appendages, each one landing with a crash on the ground and twitching a few times before coming to a rest.

Andrew’s axe sliced through the last tentacle, the one he was using to haul the creature forwards and it uncoiled and fell off his arm. The creature’s eyes were only filled with fear now. All it wanted to do was to get away but it knew the time for that had come and gone.

It tried to roll backwards. Andrew flexed his knees, squeezed both of his hands on the haft of his battle axe and swung the weapon high above his head. He sprang into the air, showing dexterity that something of his size and weight should not have.

As he flew towards the creature, he swung the axe down. He pierced the top of the monster, right between the eyes and in one smooth stroke, cut it in two. Gore and ichor splashed over him in waves. The creature’s body split in two and the life in its eyes flickered and died.

Sarah turned looked over to see Lauren staring at Andrew with a look of admiration, thanks and something else. Sarah knew what that something else was and she smiled. She didn’t think Andrew would struggle, but either way, Lauren was going to make him hers.

[ForgottenCode]

Chapter Nineteen

http://forums.leasti...showtopic=30226

Charles opened his mouth to yell something towards Andrew, who was still standing over the dead monster, but Steph clamped her hand around his mouth and cut off any sound. His eyes bulged and he stared at her accusingly but she just shook her head and whispered, “It’s not over yet.”

Charles peeled her hand off his mouth and replied, “What do you mean? The monster’s dead. We’re safe. I can’t believe Andrew has held this sort of thing away from me for so long. I’d always thought I knew the extent of his Gifts, but boy was I ever wrong.”

Steph shook her head again. “You don’t understand. I don’t have much time, so I’ll be brief. Save any of your questions until the crisis is over.”

Charles opened his mouth but Steph just steamrolled on and didn’t give him a chance to interrupt. “There’s a reason Andrew swore an oath never to do this again. There’s a reason he’s become a pacifist. You don’t know about any of this, it all happened after you were… taken.” At that word, tears started to form in her eyes. She grimaced and wiped them away before continuing.

“When Andrew shifts like this, a rage like nothing you’ve ever seen wells up in him, growing in effect as he grows inside. He can point himself at an initial target, but after that his rage takes over and conscious thought flies out the window. Any minute now, he’s going to look for more foes. We might get lucky and he might find other denizens first, but sooner or later, he’ll run out.”

Charles stared at her with wide eyes. “What are you saying? He’s some kind of berserker?”

She nodded. “Yes exactly. And before you say it, I had no choice. The creature was going to dispose of you and Marcos and then kill the rest of us. In the years since his oath, his self control in all things has improved immensely. I’m hoping he’ll be able to break himself free of the rage himself, but if he can’t, or I suppose, no matter what, we should try and help him ourselves.”

Charles stared at his best friend in the distance, not fully believing all of this had been hidden from him. Just when you thought you know someone… But now wasn’t the time for idle thoughts. He fixed his gaze on the back of Andrew’s head and established a telepathic connection.

He’d spoken telepathically with Andrew many times before and knew what the inside of the other man’s skull felt like. What he encountered now though was something completely different – almost alien. At first, all he could sense was an angry red hate, everywhere he looked. The same color that shone out of Andrew’s eyes when he’d entered the battle.

However, once he delved deeper, he found himself telepathically staring at a depiction of Andrew himself, wearing the blue bomber jacket he so enjoyed, only bands of the same red held the other man in place. There were six such bands. One binding each leg and arm, as well as one around the torso and one around the eyes.

Charles took a deep breath and tried to probe the mind of Andrew’s depiction without his mind. He wasn’t sure if such a thing were possible, but he had to try. He knew that in a physical battle, none of them stood a chance. Fortunately though, each of them had their own other specialties, and this was his.

He’d trained himself with his sword and flail for self defence and while he was good at it, he wouldn’t be half as accomplished if he didn’t use his telepathy to partially determine his opponents’ moves before they happened, to make dodging them possible. Once a person found out they were Gifted and went through the training that the school provided, they completely integrated their Gifts into their lives.

He wasn’t sure if the depiction in Andrew’s mind was really him trapped in there, or it was just a picture, but he probed with his thoughts anyway. It was tough going. There was something there, but it was like it was in a fog cloud. Everything was vague and unfocused. After a few moments of trying he thought he was able to find what he was looking for, but when he tried to connect to it, he felt a sharp pain in his own mind and he lost the connection with Andrew completely.

As he blinked his eyes to clear his head, he saw that Andrew was turning around. The giant hefted his axe in one hand and without a word began to stalk towards them.

Steph yelled out to him. “Andrew! You’re strong enough to break free. You can do this Andrew. Please!”

Her words seemed to have no effect.

She tried again. “I know you don’t want to hurt us Andrew. You’re the most peaceful, trusting soul I know. And I know you’re still in there somewhere. Please, big brother, find the will to break free!”

Again, her words washed over him and nothing changed.

Andrew was getting closer. He raised his axe. Someone screamed. Charles thought it might be Sarah, but it could have easily been himself.

He drew his sword and Marcos floated into the air next to him. He wasn’t sure what good they could possibly do, but he wasn’t about to stand back and let those die that he had sworn to protect.

Andrew’s axe began the long decent towards them. Lauren stepped by Charles and before he could grab her to bring her back behind him, she strode directly into the weapon’s path.