Message-ID: <17267eli$9811170435@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Archived-At: <URL:http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/Year98/17267.txt> From: J R D <jrdss@micronet.net> Subject: Change of Power (lots of fiction, romance) [2/14] Newsgroups: alt.sex.stories.moderated,alt.sex.stories Followup-To: alt.sex.stories.d Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" Path: qz!not-for-mail Organization: The Committee To Thwart Spam Approved: <usenet-approval@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Moderator-Contact: Eli the Bearded <story-admin@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Story-Submission: <story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us> X-Original-Message-Id: <v04003a02b2769eb7d246@[206.96.52.91]> Change of Power pt 2 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 2 Laurie and Bronwyn drove up to the college parking lot, not sure what to expect. Jacqui's terror had remained intense for a few minutes, before abating slightly, only to return after a few minutes worse than ever. It then went went away almost entirely, only to come back seconds later. But the last time was different. Where before, the terror was that of someone fearing for her life, it had been replaced by the terror one experiences when, despite being safe, one was at the mercy of powerful forces beyond their control. Like being on a roller coaster. The two pulled up to the entrance, only to be stopped by a man in an orange vest. "I'm sorry, ladies, but the college campus is closed. There's been a large gas spill and we need time to clean it up." Laurie tried to scan the man's mind, but it was shielded. Even his public mind was shielded against her. "Excuse me, sir, I was expecting to meet my daughter here. Would she still be here?" "Nobody here but the clean-up crew. Sorry. Maybe she already went home." "Maybe. Thanks, anyways." As the two women drove away, their concern over Jacqui caused them to fail to notice a man in a lab coat taking inordinate notice of them. Laurie quested out mentally, trying to locate Jacqui, but something was still interfering with their contact. But then, something slammed up between them, like a door being closed. Laurie could still feel that her daughter was, or at least felt personally, safe, but couldn't zero in on her. She turned to Bronwyn, hoping that her friend could sense something she couldn't, but could tell by the look on her face that Bronwyn was having no such luck. The two returned home, terrified for the young girl. ************ Jacqui rode with her arms around the man's neck, her eyes tightly shut, for a while. Then she felt a strange sensation, and everything stopped. The man said, "We're here. You can open your eyes." Jacqui opened one eye, and seeing she was in a room, opened the other. The man set her on her feet. She was in a small, sparsely furnished, economy apartment. The man asked, "Would you care for something to drink? A soda? Herbal tea?" Jacqui started moving towards the door. "Uhm, no, I think I better get home." The man went over to the small fridge, saying, "Your choice, but you'll only be putting your own family at risk." Jacqui stopped cold. "What do you mean?" "That thing that attacked you tonight. It's called a H.I.T. Mark, by the way. It's part of a larger organization. They would not have attacked you without identifying you first. I have no doubt, that, having failed, they are now watching your home, waiting for you to return. You go back, they will attack. They will either kill or take hostage anyone else there in an effort to get to you." "But... why? Why me?" "How do I explain this? My own paradigm explanation probably won't be something you can relate to. Do you know anything about computers?" "A bit." "Well, think of reality as a huge mainframe, where everyone within it has their own terminal. Now most people are like your average computer-phobe. Barely understand enough to function with what they've got. Content to let the computer tell them what to do, and if a problem arises, are totally mystified, and have to wait for help." Jacqui couldn't help but smile. The man was describing her mother in perfect detail. The man continued. "Then you've got a few, like those in the Sisterhood or Brotherhood, who are capable of a bit more. Think of them as professional computer operators. They know more about the program that is reality. They also have access to hidden tools that most people don't. Like the control panels or extension files in a computer. "Then there is a rare, rare group. These people... Think of them as system programmers. They can go in and change the basic programs that run reality. This is my level of magic. This is... your level of magic." "Me? No. You... You must have the wrong person." Jacqui started edging towards the door. The man dug in the refrigerator while saying, "Your magic has been out of control. Things that used to be easy now seem impossible to accomplish, but what you do accomplish has a strength and power that scares even you." Jacqui froze. "How... How did you know?" "One of the drawbacks. A human can only walk one path of power. Now that you're on the upper level, the lesser paths are inaccessible." He came out of the refrigerator with a couple cans of grape soda. He pointed one to her. "Sure I can't offer you one?" Jacqui returned to the center of the room. He met her half way, and gave her the soda. "So what does it mean? Being on this upper level?" "It's called Awakening. It comes from the fact that the lowest level act like they walk through life sleepwalking. First off, all the old rules you understood don't apply anymore. You can heal without shielding. There's no difference between shape shifting and Transforming. For that matter, you could transform yourself to a male and back again without losing your power. The only limits you have are your experience, skill and level of spiritual awakening." Jacqui felt a pang of emotion. For most of the time, since being transformed unwillingly from Jack to Jacqui, she had desired nothing more than to go back to being a man. Even now, when she accepted being and actually wanted to remain a girl, this man telling her she could have both struck a chord in her. "So what're the drawbacks?" "Well, there's the one path rule I mentioned before. But I'd have to say the biggest drawback is Paradox." "Paradox? What's that?" "To continue the computer analogy, think of it as the ultimate Conflict Catcher program. The Sisterhood that you used to be a part of uses stuff built into the system to accomplish what they want. You're changing the system software. In order to prevent a crash, there's Paradox." "What does it do?" "Reality, the system software if you will, is the combined belief of what all people in reality think is possible. When you do something that most people think of as impossible, you build up a bit of Paradox within you. Too much Paradox, or you mess up too badly when trying to reprogram reality and things start going wrong." "Like what?" "Well, I know one man whose left hand is gone, replaced entirely by flame when he messed up in controlling the Forces Sphere." "Forces Sphere?" "There are 9 defined Spheres of Influence used by a Mage in controlling reality. In alphabetical order, they are Correspondence, the Sphere that deals with space and spatial relations; Entropy, the sphere of chaos and breakdown; Forces; the Sphere of force and energy, everything from sound through light and even gravity can be controlled with this sphere; Life, the sphere of biological control; Matter, control of physical stuff; Mind, control of mental stuff; Prime, control of the basic essence of magic; Spirit, control both of spirits, and of the spiritual reality that lays alongside our own; and finally Time, control and perception of time itself." Jacqui thought about what he was saying. "This Paradox you mention. Is there anyway to avoid it?" "Yes. There are two basic types of magical effects. Those that blatantly defy the rules of what can be done, called Vulgar magic. And magic that just causes the unlikely to occur, called coincidental magic. If you use the latter, you really have to screw up before Paradox gets involved." "Like what? What's the difference?" "To give you an example, let's say a man pulls a gun out and shoots at you. If you were to stop the bullet in mid-air, or cause the man to suddenly explode in flames before he could pull the trigger, those would be vulgar. But if you were to make the gun jam or throw his aim off, or even reduce the effect of the bullet by making it pass through your body missing all the vital organs, that would be coincidence." Jacqui thought about it and said, "But none of this explains why that, what did you call it, H.I.T. Mark wanted to kill me." "Killing you was what it would've done if it had no other choice. It's first mission was to capture you." "But why?" "Another one of those drawbacks. You see, at our level, there is a war going on. A war for the fate of the human soul. There are four factions. The largest faction is a group called the Technocracy. Their goal is to make all of reality predictable, controllable, and definable, so as to make it utterly safe for all of its inhabitants." "Doesn't sound like too bad a goal." "There's one problem with it though. The single most unpredictable, uncontrollable, indefinable thing in reality is the human soul." "But you can't destroy the human soul." "Can't you? Tell me, do you know of anyone who just goes through life, waking up at exactly the same time, eats breakfast at exactly the same time, goes to work at exactly the same time, does the same half-assed job every day, comes home, complains to their significant other, then goes to sleep, only to wake up and repeat the process all over again? All without doing thing one to change it?!" Jacqui considered what the man was saying. Although her mother, Bronwyn, and the entire Sisterhood weren't like that, she knew far too many who were. "This sounds like something out of the X-Files." "It should. Most of the stories in that show, at least the ones along the "shadow government" story arc, are based on real events." "You're kidding." "Nope." "So what about the other factions in this war? What about you?" "I am a member of a loosely knit coalition of Mages called, collectively, the Traditions. We represent, I guess you could call it, the old ways. Wizards who follow the old formulaic magics. Witches with their life magics. And ironically, also modern technomancers who want technology and information to be free and unrestricted, instead of controlled by an elite few. We want things to be a little freer and more individually controlled." "And the other two factions?" "The other two, thankfully, minor factions are the Marauders and the Nephandi. The Marauders are... nuts. Literally insane. They want a return to the days of unrestrained magic and chaos. They'd like nothing better than to have anyone capable of anything, anytime, anywhere." "I guess they have the most problems with Paradox." "Actually, the exact opposite. There is something about their insanity which makes them immune to Paradox. They are some of the most dangerous opponents you will ever face." "And the Nephandi?" "The less said about them the better. Where the Marauders are the madness of pure chaos, the Nephandi are the madness of pure evil. Their souls have literally been ripped apart, purged of anything good, and put back together again by forces so evil, that to look upon them is to risk madness." "So now I'm a part of this war whether I like it or not?" "Pretty much. You could theoretically maintain a neutral position in the war, but that takes a certain amount of skill and finesse. It's not an easy road to travel. The Technocracy will think of you as a wild card to either be countered or used for their benefit. The Nephandi will destroy you or recruit you. Of course, they'll try to do that no matter what faction you join. The Marauders won't care one way or the other." "And the Traditions?" "The opinions run the gamut. Some feel that neutral Orphans are just cowards too afraid to get into the war. Others feel that they should just be left alone. But no matter what stance they take, being neutral means not having the support of being part of the factions." "So I've been drafted?" "Kind of. You ready to go?" "Go where?" "Regardless of what stance you take in the war, you will need a certain minimum level of skills. I currently reside in a place not even on this planet where Paradox doesn't hold sway. There we serve two functions. One is to be an active militant arm for the traditions, the other is to be an active training ground for the newly Awakened. It's easier to train a person when you can cast reality altering magics without fear of reality kicking you in your teeth." "But... what about my mom? What about the Sisterhood?" "What about them?" "I can't just leave them. Particularly with what you've told me. I have to warn them." "That would be bad. Did you ever see that movie, "Men In Black"?" Jacqui nodded. "Well, it was a good comedy, but a bad representation of the real Men in Black. But there was one part of it that I did agree with. The character K, played by Tommy Lee Jones looks to J after he's used blatantly overpowered technology and says, 'There's always a death ray, or an intergalactic plague, or something threatening to wipe out life as we know it on this planet. The only way these people can get on with their happy lives is if they do. not. know about it.' I know the Sisterhood. You tell them about this and they'll try try do something about it. And they'll fail." "Is the Technocracy really that powerful?" "Individually, no. The Sisterhood could probably take on a small group, easily. But the Technocracy is not a small group. The Technocracy ignores the lesser paths because they're just not worth expending the energy to eliminate. But if your Sisterhood makes themselves a viable threat, they'll get stomped like a bug." "I don't think they'll find it that easy." "Really? The Technocracy may define all their magic in terms of technology, but anything you have read in any science fiction novel, except for the most fantastic, they can do. You use a mind-reading spell, they use a telepathic scanner. You use mind control, they use advanced brain-washing. You use the Transformation spell, they use a 'genetic realignment virus.' And if they ever find out that the women of the Sisterhood lose their powers if they become men, one genetic virus later, phhht, no more Sisterhood. One less lesser path to worry about." "You keep calling them that. Why 'lesser path?'" "I suppose it is a little arrogant. But believe me, it's one of the less derogatory terms. Most of my peers refer to them as Hedge Wizards, and you will hear the sneer in most of their voices when they say it. But it's a reflection of power levels and abilities. One of our level, trained, has the power of four or five of those of your previous group." "Previous group?" "I suppose technically you're still on their rosters as one of them, but you no longer wield the power of the Goddess. You wield a power completely of your own. Short of its utter decimation, it can't be taken from you. And in case you haven't figured it out yet, your power will not suffer one bit from killing. Whether your conscience will is another matter entirely. Now are you ready to go?" "But... my mom?" "Look, I can't make you come with me. Well, I could, but I'm not going to. But I've told you your options. You contact your mother, call her on the phone, even contact her telepathically, and you might as well sign the death warrant. Now, as long as your mother doesn't try anything stupid, she'll probably be safe." "Probably? You mean they might do something anyways?" The man shrugged. "Anything's possible." Jacqui was quickly growing frantic. It seemed she had an option of doing nothing and putting her mom at risk, or doing something and ensuring her death. Then she said, "You. You could protect her, watch over her." "Could, but why would I want to?" "Please." The man got up and walked towards the fridge. "I'm a busy man, Miss Donovan. I don't have time to cater to every apprentice's worries." "But what if it were your mom?" The man froze and tensed up. With obvious tension in his voice, he said, "I'd like to think I'd protect her anyways, but far too much of me wants to say I'd leave her to her fate, no matter how bad it is." Jacqui could hear the pain in his voice and every healer's urge she had wanted to help him, but didn't know how. Finally, the man relaxed, sighed, and said, "Alright, I'll do it." He then turned to Jacqui, and said, "But I do it on my terms. MY way." "But what is your way?" "Close your eyes and open your mind." Jacqui did as she was told, and felt mental probes scanning her mind. After he was finished, Jacqui heard a strangely familiar voice say, "Okay, done." When Jacqui opened her eyes, she saw a face she had not seen in a very, very long time. ---------- All comments, suggestions, etc. may be sent to me at jrdss@micronet.net -- +----------------' Story submission `-+-' Moderator contact `--------------+ | <story-submit@qz.little-neck.ny.us> | <story-admin@qz.little-neck.ny.us> | | Archive site +----------------------+--------------------+ Newsgroup FAQ | <http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/>----<http://www.qz.to/erotica/assm/faq.html>