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Subject: Change of Power (lots of fiction, romance) [11/14]
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Change of Power pt 11

Now, onto the boring stuff

-------------------------

DISCLAIMERS

-------------------------

This story contains scenes of an erotic and/or controversial nature, and is
not intended for the perusal of minors.  Further if perusal of such
material is considered illegal in your area or immoral by your religion or
personal beliefs, you should likewise bypass this story.

This story remains the property of the author.  Permission is granted to
download, photocopy, copy and repost so long as any such action contains
these disclaimers, and no attempt is made to profit from this story.

All characters in this story are the creation of the author, and any
resemblance to real persons, alive or dead, are purely coincidental.

This story may contain aspects of fantastic science or magic.  The
parameters of what this science/magic can accomplish are completely at the
discretion of me, the author, and, as such, I make no apologies for any
rules of "real" physics, chemistry, biology, or magic that may be broken
within the story.

-------------------------

Now onto the fun stuff

-------------------------

CHANGE OF POWER pt 11

Two hours later, after a serious sit down cry, Laurie came downstairs.
Jack was sitting at the table with his school books, but as soon as she
entered the room he got up, poured a cup of coffee and set it before her.

She thanked him, and sipped at her coffee.  He went back to his homework,
and after a few minutes of silence between them, she asked, "How could they
do it?"

"Do it?" Jack asked, as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

"The Birth Rites," she started trembling as her barely controlled rage
started to re-surface.  Then she yelled, "A Damned Compulsion!" and threw
the coffee mug against the wall, shattering it and spreading coffee all
over.

Jack set his pencil down, and closed his book.  He took a deep breath and
said, "I can't defend what your ancestors did-"

"Why would you try?!  The Birth Rites are nothing more than a damned
collection of compulsions and manipulations.  They compel us to transform
our children.  They prevent us from having female children.  They make us
want to accept our Transformations into women.  It makes everything I
thought I knew a lie."

"Not quite.  But it does taint everything.  Now you know why I hate
manipulation."

Laurie gave an exasperated sigh.  "Look, can you just spare me the mystic
master mumbo jumbo and explain this to me?"

"To gain an explanation, you must go back in history to before the current
incarnation of the Sisterhood.  Both the Sisterhood and the Brotherhood
have existed since long before the Goddess transformed your first
ancestors.  Practically since the dawn of civilization.  The two groups
were always designed to work together as a team.  To be two halves of the
same whole.

"But then a demon worshiper got into the Brotherhood, and managed to
corrupt them from the inside.  He turned them against the Sisterhood of the
age.  And the Sisterhood as it existed... stopped existing.  It was then
that the Brotherhood lashed out against humanity, and attempted to dominate
them.  It was then that your ancestors looked for aid to protect them,
looking first for a Sisterhood that no longer existed, then to the Goddess
herself.

"But the Goddess's ability to help was limited.  She was the essence of
feminine power, and her ability to affect men was limited."

"Yes, yes, I know all this.  So the Goddess transformed them into women,
and gave them the power to fight the Brotherhood.  But none of that
explains why the original members of the new Sisterhood created the Birth
Rites and inflicted them on their children."

Jack sighed.  "The original intent of the Goddess was that all male
children would become women until they learned what becoming a woman was
all about, but also that all female children would become men until
learning what being a man was like.  Then either could transform back and
join either the Brotherhood or the Sisterhood, depending on the sex they
chose.  The intent was to give a balance of the male and female aspects of
their psyches.  The aggressive male aspects would make the Sisterhood a
more effective fighting force, and female compassion would moderate the
brutality of the Brotherhood."

"So what went wrong?"

"Two things.  Fear and arrogance.  Remember that the times back then were
much more brutal than they are today.  The worst that you face today was
what was common back then.  After they fought and decimated the
Brotherhood, they were afraid of ANY of their children joining an
organization capable of what they saw.  They were also arrogant enough to
believe that their new female/male blending would allow them to serve the
roll of both the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood."

"So they created spells to sever the connection to the Dark One's power."

"Oh, no.  You can't do that.  No one can."

"What do you mean?"

"The Dark One is the essence of masculine power.  All people have both male
and female aspects of their psyche, and thus all people have a connection
to both the Dark One and the Goddess.  And thus they could not sever the
connection to the Dark One.  But what they could do was make it so their
children could receive the blessing of magic power only once."

"And that explains why we only have male children.  If we never have female
children, we never run the risk of one of them transforming into a male
with the power of the Dark One and not wanting to transform back.  But why
compel our children to accept their changes?  If they would have no power,
wouldn't they have an incentive not to change back?"

"Minor incentive.  A transformation back would mean loss of magic power,
but there would still be secular power.  And remember, we're talking about
the Dark Ages here.  In many places women were literally chattel.  The
property of their fathers until marriage whereupon they became the property
of their husband.  A man could beat his wife for no more reason than he
felt like it, and the most he'd get for it would be a stern glare.

"They also realized that the Brotherhood could make a comeback.  Since they
wouldn't have girls becoming men becoming women, they needed to make sure
their ranks remained full.  So they compelled all the members of the
Sisterhood to Transform all their children into women, and included
compulsions to accept their femininity once transformed."

"So now we're all a collection of women because we have no choice.  We
never had a choice.  How could the Goddess allow such a thing?"

"I give the Goddess a lot of heat for not doing anything, but the fact is
there isn't a lot she can do."

"Why not?"

Jack considered how best to explain it.  "My Sensei once told me that in
order for a pendulum to swing, it must be able to swing both ways.  In
order for you to be able to truly be able to make choices, you have to be
able to make the wrong choices.  If the Goddess always makes you do what is
right, you lose a major portion of what makes you human, your free will."

"But now I'm not even sure that what I am is what I'm supposed to be.  How
can I be sure that I wasn't supposed to become Larry after learning what it
was to be Laurie?"

Jack shrugged.  "That's an inner question only you can decide."

Laurie thought about it.  "Could you remove the Birth Rites?"

"I can, but I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Please.  As long as those Birth Rites are in place I can't be sure that
any decision I make isn't being influenced by them."

"Alright, if you really want to, but there's a risk.  If I remove the Birth
Rites then the Transformation might be undone as well.  You could wind up
becoming Larry whether you like it or not.  Now I can undo that if you
decide you do like being Laurie, but if you do become Larry, then become
Laurie again, that will destroy your mystic power.  You will lose your
ability to heal, to Transform, to do anything you used to do with your
magic.  You would be nothing more than a normal woman.  So decide
carefully."

Laurie closed her eyes and thought about it.  It would be a big step, but
she had to get rid of her doubts.  Finally,she said, "Do it."

"You sure?"  Laurie nodded.  Jack reached across the table and took her
hands in his.  She felt his power reach out and touch her.  She felt
something inside her start to unravel, and part of her wanted to rebel and
run away, but she fought the urge.  What he was doing felt strange and
somehow even unholy, but Laurie gave a silent prayer to the Goddess for
strength to persevere.

Then she felt it.  Another... presence.  Caring.  Loving.  It gave her the
strength to continue through with it, and the thing inside her just fell
apart like old, cheap fabric.

Jack let go of her hands.  "Done.  That was easier than I expected."

"I think you got some help."

With obvious distaste, he asked, "The Goddess?"

"Yes.  What's the problem?"

"Nothing, really.  I've got some personal issues with the Goddess.  Nothing
for you to worry about."

"You sure?"

"Yeah.  You should probably take some time for yourself to get to know you
without those Birth Rites."

"Good idea."  Laurie went upstairs to her room, and sat down in front of
her mirror.  The face in front of her was the same in that it wasn't
visibly different, but there was a newness to it.  Like she wasn't seeing
it in quite the same way as before.  Then she noticed the difference.
Before there was a... force behind what made her like what she saw in the
mirror.  Now she liked what she saw because it was who she was.  She knew
that, if there was some alternate reality where the Birth Rites had never
been inflicted on her ancestors, she would still be Laurie.  Her time as
Larry was and would always be part of her, but this is who she was.

She grabbed her purse and headed downstairs.  Jack asked, "Where you headed?"

Laurie stammered out, "I...  I'm...  It's...  Oh, hell with it, I'm going
over to Bronwyn's for some fun.  You don't mind?"

Jack laughed.  "Naw.  My sexy "mother" having a sexual relationship with my
sexy girlfriend?  It's a teen fantasy come true."

Laurie got an idea.  "Have you told her yet that you know about her dual
nature?"

"Nope."

"Then why don't you join us?  We can reveal what you know, and have a
three-way.  Unless you have some kind of moral objection to that."

Jack thought about it.  "No.  No moral objections."

"But you don't sound too thrilled about it."

"Oh, don't get me wrong.  I'd love to share some time with you and Bronwyn
in the same bed."

"But?"

Jack sighed.  "My mother and I had a pretty serious falling out a while
back.  Before that she and I used to engage in sexual relations with each
other.  I just got a sudden blast of nostalgia."

Laurie looked into his eyes, and every healer's sense she had told her to
work with him. "Care to talk about it?"

"Probably should, but I think that'd be a little too personal."

Laurie put her hand on his arm.  "This is clearly a big problem with you,
and if you really feel you can't talk then I'm not going to try to make
you.  But you do need some healing.  And I think you should start by
telling Bronwyn that you know about her."

"You're just gonna keep pressing that, aren't you?"

"Jack, the secrets between you two aren't healthy for either of you.  Tell
her."

Jack took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry.  I'm just not ready for this."

"Alright.  I can't say that I'm not a little disappointed."

Laurie started to head to the door, but Jack said, "Wait a second."

"Yes?"

"How'd you like to surprise our little Bronwyn?"

"What have you got in mind?"

"A little teleport to right behind her.  Suppressed so she doesn't notice
it, of course."

"Sounds like fun."  Laurie winked.

"If we're gonna make this work, you're going to have to get yourself under
control.  You go in there broadcasting your emotions and she'll sense you
as soon as you get there."

Laurie quickly went through a couple meditation exercises to get herself
under control.  "Ready."

Jack took her hand, concentrated and snapped his fingers.  Laurie suddenly
found herself standing right behind Bronwyn, who was working at her
computer typing out her latest novel.  Laurie slapped her hands over
Bronwyn's eyes and said, "Guess who?"

Bronwyn, who was used to getting advanced warning of anyone's presence
through her mystic senses, nearly jumped out of her skin.  Patting her
chest to get her beating heart under control, Bronwyn said, "Damn it, girl,
I love you, but don't EVER do that again!  How did you manage to do that?"

"Jack teleported me here, suppressing the effects.  A little harmless fun."

"Well, you seem to be a lot better."

"Better than I've ever been in my life, love."

"So what was it you discovered?"

"I can't tell you."  When Bronwyn was about to protest, Laurie said, "Love,
it's the wrong time.  You saw how I reacted.  You can probably expect most
of the Sisterhood to react in a similar way.  With the current problems
with the Brotherhood, can you really say that this is the time?"

"I suppose not.  But you will promise to tell me?"

"When I think the time is right.  Now come on.  Let's talk about Jacqui,
while we get undressed."  Laurie took Bronwyn by the hand and led her to
the bedroom.

************

Excerpt from the journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan, Vol. II

Day 155

I can't believe how long I've let this journal go without writing in it.
But between giving birth, and Marcus, and my lessons, it really isn't a big
surprise.

The good news is my trainers tell me I'm almost ready to leave, almost
finished with my apprenticeship.  The bad news is I really don't feel
ready.  I don't know anywhere near as much as I did before I saved mom's
life and blew my magic powers wide open.  That's what I figured my
Awakening experience was.

But they tell me that this is usual.  The "Hedge Wizards" (the Akashic
Master was right, you can hear the sneer in their voice when they use that
phrase) have so much less to teach, that they can give a much more thorough
training in what they can do.  They tell me that there is only so much
training they can give before I need to go out and get "real world"
experience.

Marcus graduated just a few days after I gave birth to Cheryl.  We're going
to go home together.  They tell me that I can come back any time, but I
can't wait to get home.  The Virtual Adept Master wants to talk to me about
my first mission outside the Realm, but I'm not sure I want to accept.  I
can't wait to see mom and Bronwyn.

************

Bronwyn walked into her publisher's office.  She was supposed to be in
class as Nita right now, but her publisher had called her and said that a
major investor and now part owner of the firm was a big fan and wanted to
meet her.  She had tried to beg off, but the investor was leaving town
tomorrow.  He said it was up to her, but reading between the lines let her
know that this was a big deal.

As soon as she got there, she was ushered into the office.  But when she
entered the office, her senses rebelled.  The room stank of the Dark Power.
Whoever this guy was, he was a Brother.

Her publisher greeted her at the door.  "Bronwyn, may I introduce a new
investor and owner," the man, a good looking man with sandy brown hair,
stood up, and extended his hand, "Mr. Jeremy Lancaster."

Bronwyn tensed up, but managed to place her hand in his.  "Have we met
before?" she asked.

"No.  But I do believe you know my brother, Eric."  Bronwyn couldn't
believe the man's gall.  He was as much as admitting that he was a member
of the Brotherhood.  "Miss Llewellyn, could we go somewhere and talk?  In
private?"

"I'm not sure I've got the time."

"But I'm fairly sure I've got something you want to hear.  About your future."

Bronwyn swallowed and said, "Alright, it looks like I don't have much choice."

Lancaster leaned in and whispered into her ear, "You never really did."

They went outside and walked down the street.  After a while, Bronwyn
asked, "How did you know who I was?  How did you find me?"

Lancaster laughed aloud.  "Are you really that technically inept?  Hidden
cameras invented in the fifties could tell us who you were.  Today there
are digital cameras with high speed modem uplinks.  The fact of the matter
is, within 24 hours of your assault on my brother's (little b, genetic
relation's) base, there wasn't a Brother on the planet who couldn't
identify you on sight."

"So now what?  You take me somewhere and torture me until I give up the
Sisterhood?"

Lancaster stopped and leaned against a car.  "My brother really was an ass,
wasn't he?  Most of the Brotherhood are not psychotic sadists, Miss
Llewellyn.  Or may I call you Bronwyn?"  Bronwyn shrugged.  "You see, back
when the Sisterhood worked for the Brotherhood-"

"We never did!"

"Your predecessors did.  The Sisterhood that existed before the Goddess
started transforming men.  Anyways, when the Sisterhood worked for the
Brotherhood, information gathering was your province.  When that Sisterhood
turned on us by attempting to manipulate us into slaves, we destroyed them.
Then the Goddess created you.  But rather than accepting your rightful
place as our servants, you, too, attacked us.  And thus began the schism
that still separates us today."

"Is there a point to this?"

"The point is that it is time for you to accept your rightful place as our
servants."  Lancaster pulled a business card out of his pocket.  "In one
week, you and the top ten members of the Sisterhood will meet us at this
address, and surrender."

He extended the card to Bronwyn, but she made no move to take it.  "You
must be insane.  Whatever makes you think I'd do this?  No matter what you
do to me, another will take my place."

Lancaster smiled.  "And what makes you think you're the only one at risk?"

"What do you mean?"

"You see where the Sisterhood has remained hopelessly mired in the past, we
of the Brotherhood have taken advantage of mankind's ever increasing
dominance of the universe through technology.  We have united the Dark
Power with technology to give us a severe advantage over the Sisterhood."

Lancaster reached into his jacket and pulled out a box.  Bronwyn flinched
away from it, but he said, "Oh, relax."  He pressed a button on the box,
and it expanded into a Polaroid.  "It's just a camera."  He handed it to
Bronwyn.  "Here, take my picture."

Bronwyn reluctantly took the camera.  It didn't bite or shock her or any
thing like that, so she tentatively pointed it at Lancaster and depressed
the activation button.  It flashed and ejected a picture like a normal
camera, but the real difference was in the picture after it developed.
Lancaster was surrounded by a black aura.

Lancaster then reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture.  Handing
it to Bronwyn, she saw that it was a picture of her entering Laurie's home,
except she had a white aura.  She could see a brief flash of Laurie through
the door, and she, too, had a white aura.

"You see, this camera detects the presence of magic potential within the
subject.  After you and the other three Sisters left our base, some
Brothers were posted to watch you.  Every time you met someone, a picture
was taken.  If they showed as a Sister, we tagged and watched them.  And so
forth.  We now have a list of over seventeen hundred members of the
Sisterhood.  How many Brothers do you know of?  Since your little whelp
transformed all the ones you knew, I believe your list would be... me."

"You're bluffing.  There's no way you could've gotten close enough to use
that camera without us detecting the presence of the Dark Power within you."

"That would be true if this were the only type of camera we had with this
capability.  We have other cameras with telephoto lenses that can be used
at far greater distances than you can detect our power at."

"We will fight you.  I could destroy you and your connection to the Dark
One right now."

"Oh, undoubtedly.  In terms of power I rank only in the sixtieth
percentile.  Absolutely no match for you.  But do you have any idea why I
am the High Priest of the Brotherhood?"

"Inherited the post from your brother?"

"Nothing so sentimental.  In the Brotherhood, the top five contenders are
selected then pitted against each other in a year long battle till one has
proven himself the clear superior of the others."

"And you proved yourself over the other four?"

"No.  I wasn't even in the running as one of the five.  But after the five
were selected after you managed to destroy Eric, I managed to send all five
to the hospital within four months, all while masterminding the plot to
root out your membership.  I'm devious, and I'm smart.  So you could
destroy me, but if you did that, agents of mine would set lose the virus
that my brother developed and plunge the world into the Dark Ages once
more."

"We destroyed that virus!"

"No, you destroyed the computer upon which it resided.  But my agents tell
me that, for whatever reason, you have been taking a computer class.  Tell
me, Bronwyn, what's the first rule of working with a computer?"

Bronwyn thought about it.  All during the class there was one thing that
kept being repeated over and over.  "Always make a back-up."

"Very good, Bronwyn.  There was no way for you to really destroy that
virus.  Oh, you could've set us back a few months, maybe even a year or two
in re-engineering it, but none of you have the technical knowledge to
really have destroyed it.

"So, you see, you really have no choice.  You surrender or humanity pays
the price."  Lancaster took the card and handed it to Bronwyn.  This time
she grudgingly took it.  "See you in a week."

As Lancaster walked away, whistling arrogantly, Bronwyn thought that there
was still one wild card she could possibly play, a wild card she called
Jack.


----------

All comments, suggestions, etc. may be sent to me at jrdss@micronet.net



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