Back to the Beginning

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

Note: This thread is ONLY for those posts that contribute to the backward story. All others will be deleted.

There was no help for it. Things always ended this way in his life.

He watched as she flew away, content that the confusion, at least, was cleared up. But in spite of all the frustration she had caused, he had a sick, melancholy feeling in his stomach, knowing he would never see her again.

[stacer]

She hopped on the broom. "I told you this would never work. Our lives are just too different."

"But... we could make it work. No one knows about you but me. And now that I understand what really happened...."

"No. It's too dangerous. Everything that happened today shows that," she said.

She was right, John had to admit. He didn't know a lot about how her talents worked, but she had said it took a lot to cover up all the chaos from the last few days. He was just glad no one got killed.

[Gemm: Rock & Roll Star; Born to Rock]

Baron Von Shucks was right there. They both stared at each other for what seemed to be an hour. Which actually was more like 5 seconds, because she took the initiative and threw all her might into her final charge against him.

John was lying down behind some rubble. Watching as the events took place, and as his love, Rajisa. A bright light expanded from the two as he watched, unable to look any longer, lest he loss his eyesight.

Finally the light subsided and he saw that the Baron was now lying on the ground, holding his stomach. John wasn't too sure what for, but he was certain it wasn't a feeling of pleasure. A few feet from the Baron lay Rajisa. John raced over to her hoping she was alright.

"Rajisa, Rajisa, are you alright?" He took her into his arms and cradled her on his lap.

She opened her eyes slowly and looked up. "John..."

"Rajisa, you're alright. Now, can we leave this place together?"  John waited for her answer. It seemed like the wait took a millennium.

Rajisa got up and walked over to her broom solemly.

[Mistress of Darkness]

Sorry this is late. And thanks for the extension.

The Baron chuckled, and John felt a shiver--like a cold shot of vodka--shoot down his spine.

Raj was breathing hard and John thought she looked just a little scared. He felt impotent and stupid here, crouched behind the one table in the pub not blown to smithereens. He wished fervently that there was something he could do.

Unfortunately, there were only two things he could think of doing. The first was to throw something at the Baron in an attempt to knock him out, or at least off balance enough that Raj could finish him off. The second was to throw himself between them in an attempt to shield his love. He knew better than to try either. Raj didn't like surprises, and her temper could be explosive if she was really pissed off. He'd already been at the receiving end of her rage once before, and that had been enough.

"This is foolish Rajisa," the Baron purred in his deep voice. "You cannot hold out much longer."

"I can stand long enough to see you defeated," she snarled back. Her dark auburn hair (that one's for you Saint) waved in a non-existent breeze.

"Don't forget that it is not just your own life you are placing in peril, but that of your lover."

Raj sniffed derisively, and John felt her scorn cut at his heart painfully. "I will never surrender the relic to you."

"Then I shall pry it from your cold, dead fingers. Or, should I say, pluck it from what little of you will remain." He smiled . . . John wasn't quite sure how to describe the smile, even to himself, but he was suddenly even more afraid of what might happen, especially of what might happened to him--lying here insignificant and unloved.

[JP Dogberry]

John pulled up his car discreetly in the pub's carpark, looking down at the crystal Rajisa had given him. Yes, this was definately the place. The influence here was asupiciously powerful, judging by the strong green glow.

Just as he exited the vehicle, Rajisa flew down, landing her brromstick pefectly on the ground. Right on time. She stared at him, giving no greeting, jumping straight into talk of business.

"Did you complete your part?"

"They're misaligned. I made sure to make the error slight. The Baron won't notice what happened until it's too late. You, the relic..."

"It's safe. Right with me. Not like I have a chance of beating him without it."  She spoke in a monotone with a hint of scorn.

"Look...I'm sorry ok? I know that's not good enough, but there's nothing else I can do. It was a stupid, stupid mistake. But I meant it for the best, Rajisa.  It brought us together.  In fact, I don't regret any of it"

"Let's hope you feel that way whent his is done" She looked at the crystal glowing around her neck, identical to the one John carried. "It's time".

She walked towards the pub. "Stay here it's too dangerous for you."

She walked in, John sneaking in behind her. She still hadn't overcome her lack of perephreal vision, it seemed. He hid underneath a table as he watched Rajisa move towards the baron. The battle started quickly, bolts of magic flying. In moments, John felt that maybe sneaking in wasn't such a good idea.

Twelve seconds in, both combatants paused to recharge, or something. John still didn't get this magic stuff, but continued to watch, hoping Rajisa would pull through.

[Entsuropi]

John walked out of the door. The house was a mess, no doubt about it.  It was not, however, his house, so he was not that concerned. He just tried to avoid thinking about what he had to do to get this little crystal artifact back from the thieves. Rajisa needed it. He held onto that mentally.

He jumped in the car, and pulled it out of the drive. The pleasant little mowed lawn and lines of flowers seemed contrairy to the contents of the building.  As he drove down the road, slightly over the 30MPH speed limit, he examined the crystal. It was only the slightest hint of green, and when he really looked, the markings that had taken Rajisa so long to meticulously etch into its surface seemed to be slightly damaged. There was a section about halfway up one side where an entire line of text was gone. It was not much, only one line out of 2 dozen, but it could be bad.

He pulled over at a car park for a supermarket. He had a few minutes grace, and this was important. Leaning against the wheel, and working from memory, he made a crude attempt at re-etching the markings onto the crystal. Using the small needle that Rajisa had given him for this purpose, he managed to put many of the missing symbols back. Still, a few were still gone - minor symbols of bonding in the ancient language of Ultima Thule - but they were just that - minor.

Pulling out of the car park, he pushed down on the pedal, hard. Rajisa needed this crystal. He needed Rajisa. The meeting point - the pub in the suburbs outside Manchester - was just down the road.

[JP Dogberry]

John felt a hard knock as the door collapsed to his shoulder. Stepping in, he followed his own intuition, not knowing where the crystal would lie. The magic totems he had not shut down but merely moved slightly. It would be less effective, but also would buy some time, since it wouldn't be noticed. Now he just needed the crystal.

Sneaking into a main room, his stealth failed him. Three burly men were there...the same thieves who had stolen the crystal the night before last.

John didn't want to do this, but he didn't have much choice anymore. Drawing the gun, he hesitated only a moment, and left no chance for parley.

Three shots, and his clip was empty. They were dead.

He had no choice but to kill them, esle they would have raised their shields and he would have been powerless to stop them. Shotting three men in cold blood still didn't sit well with him, however.

He walked over and retrieved the crystal.

[The Holy Saint, Grand High Poobah, Master of Monkeys, Ehlers]

It had been a simple trick really. Now came the difficult one.

And he had to pull it off. If he couldn't do this, then Rajisa was right. They could never be together. Maybe there was only a glimmer of hope anyway, but he had to try.

Pulling the book he had retrieved out, he set it on the dusty stand, not worrying about the centuries old libram. If it had survived this long, a little dust couldn't hurt it. He turned the pages till he reached the description he needed.

Over the course of the next few hours he meticulously copied the designs and scripts from the book onto the floor, stopping frequently to wipe sweat from his brow and to make sure the mix of the carefully gathered components was correct in the dust he used to form the symbols.

At last he was done. Surprised at how exhausted he was, he slumped down for a moment. But he realized that it wasn't just the copying work. It was magic, and it drained him to infuse it even with that potential power.

He pulled himself back up after a moment, and moved to the book at the center of the intricate design and began to read. Immediately he felt the fatigue, but his love for the witch Rajisa pushed him on. He chanted, and the visions began.

He tried to remember what Rajisa had told him about them. That the forces he invoked did not like outsiders and newcomers. the sights he saw now were manifestations fo that, trying to deter him from completing the spell. He shut his mind's eye against them and pushed onward.

After what seemed like an eternity, he felt himself nearing the end. Only a few more lines. It was all becoming clear to him. He could see the house he was looking for, where he had to go. Where the crystal had been hidden, it was nearly in focus.

At that moment he happened to glance down. A large cockcroach was crawling up his foot. He shouted and shook it off, stamping on the offenting bug. disturbing the delicate design on the floor.

"No." he whispered.

The floor shook and he fell tot he ground as flashing lights exploded in his mind. Lights of every color he'd ever seen, and many he never had. A boom shook his skull and he found himself draped awkwardly, painfully over the stand where he had placed the codex, the stand had been knocked over, either by his movements or by the force of the failed spell. He looked for the book for a moment, but finding a scattering of ash on the stand, he realized it was lost.

"No," he said again in despair. Not for the lost book, or the failed spell, but because he knew Rajisa was right. He could never be with her.

***

Missing the spell's completion caused complications, but it was not a total loss. He had seen enough to figure parts of it out. He knew what the house looked like, and the general surroundings. After some searching and asking some less savory types on the street, he managed to find the house.

He stood there now, wondering if he should knock or just bust his way in.

[Mistress of Darkness]

John hummed happily to himself as he fixed dinner for Rajisa and himself. Tonight was the night. A romantic candlelit dinner was just what Rajisa needed after the stress she'd been under.

He heard the key in the lock and looked toward the front door from the kitchen through the open space between cabinet and counter.

"John?" Rajisa looked at him in some confusion.

"Surprise," he smiled. "Dinner's almost ready."

"Well, thank you," she said with surpise and not a little relief. "That's really kind of you. After all that running around I was dreading trying to find something to eat."

"I brought all the ingredients, since you had mentioned you hadn't had a chance to shop. I also picked up a few staples." He pointed to the Kraft boxes and Campbell cans that were stacked neatly on the counter.

"Thanks John, that was very thoughtful."

Thoughtful . . . was good, John hoped.

"Oh, your friend came by to pick that stone you borrowed."

Rajisa froze and turned slowly to look at him. "What?"

Now, I've done it, he thought.

"John, please tell me you didn't give him the artifact with the ruins carved in them, that was sitting on my nightstand!" By then end of the sentence her pleading had become a shout.

John just looked at her.

"John do you have any idea of what you've done?" Tears of frustration moistened her eyes.

"I didn't know . . .," he stammered.

"Yes, I know you don't know. You don't have a clue. That's what I've been trying to tell you. Without that artifact. . . ."

"I'll get it back," he interuptted.

"You'd better, or we're both dead."

[JP Dogberry]

Walking down the street, John kept nervously looking left and right.

Calm down, he thought to himself, but it was no use. He's seen too much weird stuff recently. Now - now was a time for normality. Regardless of everything, he just wanted a nice dinner with Rajisa.

One by one, he visted the various shops, collecting the required ingredients. Nope, no one trying to kill him at the moment

He manged to get back to his car and back to the house withoout a single supernatural occurance. All going well, Murphy's Law not in effect. Just a few more hours.

He needed this to go well. After almost killing both of them the third time yesterday, if this dinner didn't go smoothly, he knew it was over.

A knock at the door. Answering it, he found a balding middle aged man. He wore an amulet around his neck, in the shape of a coin, arcane symbols on it.

John couldn't read them, but knew that the symbols could mean either good or evil, depending on which way they were placed. He also had learnt that gut feeling was a better way to tell. According to Rajisa, a gut feeling was nothing more than the body's natural sensitivity to magic.

Anyway, as he tried to figure the pattern out, he was distracted by the man speaking.

"John, isn't it? Allow me to introduce myself, my name is Shucks. Mr. Victor Shucks.  Did Rajisa mention me?"

"Can't say I remember the name.. Mr. Shucks..."

"Hmm.. She can be a bit hesitant to tell mundanes everything they need to know. Listen, the stone she borrowed from me. The situation across the other side of town has deterorated..."

"How so? Is ther anything I can do to help?"

"Unfortunately none. You know of the Baron, yes?"

"I have encountered him in fact. He almost killed me!."

"A most dangerous man. Listen, after Rajisa was weakned by him, it has become necessary to put in some extra power. So the artifact, the stone, I need it back."

"Well, I don't know much about this stuff still, but if you say so.."

John passed over the artifact after searching his house for it.  He completely failed to notice the Baron shedding his disguise as the door shut on him.

The baron pulled out a cellphone, called.

"Smith? I have something you and your boys must look after. I will give it to you, but you must now finish your part of the agreement."

[Entsuropi]

Rajisa sat on the broomstick, looking down at the manor house. It was an old one, rectangular and with the roman style columns so popular with the mundane nobility. Carefully tended green gardens spread out from it, shaped into precise geometic shapes. It reminded her vaguely of a diagram she had seen in the Collective.

John, John, what would she do with him? As much as she, well, loved him, being around him was like being around a lightning conductor. He was a puppy, so eager to help he ended up being a danger. And yet, she could not quite bring herself to seperate from him, not yet.

Movement. A Bentley, black, moving along the (carefully neat) driveway. She hoped that John was paying attention down there. She raised her hands, always a fun thing to do on a broomstick, and slowly began to gather energies. She didn't want to alert them after all.

John, having managed to do this right, at least, triggered the holding spell. The bentley stopped. A part of her mind whispered that such a brick of a car looked better while stopped. She then released her spell, another holding spell, but one that targetted the hearts of the men inside the car. Not a spell that was encouraged by the Collective - mundane doctors didn't like entire cars full of heart attack victims - but if it got the job done, she was happy. There was a brief lurch as her magic drained energy from the surrounding area, including the broomstick, and then it was done. She swooped down, landing next to the car with a soft scatter of gravel. She had to be fast - the people inside the manor house would not be slow in reacting to her appearance. Reaching for the car door, she noticed at the last second the small symbol on the door handle. Jerking her hand away, she glared at the shocking spell.

Trust these men to put that on their door. She reached down, and pulled a dagger from her left boot. She slashed it up, then down, and then uttered a few sylables. Finally, she scraped the dagger along the doors symbol. There was a quiet hiss, and the symbol faded. At that moment, there was crunching gravel behind her. Spinning around, she raised the dagger, only to realise it was John.

"Silly idiot! Get back to the trees! Now!"

Without waiting to see his reaction, she opened the car door and reached inside. Leaning over the body of the man, she looked at the machine-spirit. It sat in the middle back seat, between two corpses, staring into air in front of it. Grabbing its hand, she attempted to jerk it out. As she had a lack of success, John spoke.
"Perhaps if you removed the body first?"
"I told you to leave!" She angrily replied. Then she pulled the corpse out. John, apparently as unable to take orders as always, pulled it away a bit, but didn't leave. Hissing in frustration, Rajisa grabbed the machine-spirit and pulled it out of the car. Once it crossed the door, it seemed to wake up. Looking at her, it frowned.
"Are you mundane?"
"No," Replied Rajisa, "I am not. I am Collective."
"Collective..." Sighed the machine-spirit. "Release me?" It asked, staring around at the grounds and gravel.

Rajisa raised the dagger and slashed it across the machine spirits face. It blinked slowly as it faded out of view. She turned around to see John with his arm raised.
"You stabbed it!" He nearly shouted.
"I released it." She said, matter of factly. Climbing onto her broom, she turned to him. "I shall see you at the house, after I calm down some. I need to think things over, and you need to stay out of trouble."

As she zoomed into the sky, she did not pause to wonder why the manors residents did not act or interfere, or see the shapes following John as he creeped, by way of most of the twigs he could find, out of the grounds.

[Mistress of Darkness]

John sighed. The tightness in Rajisa's face indicated that she still hadn't forgiven him for the fiasco earlier that morning.

It wasn't as if he'd almost gotten them killed on purpose. Having grown up "mundane" the things of Rajisa's world did not come instinctually to him, and it was only after he'd acted that the correct approach would come to him. It would be easier if he'd had the time for his brain to catch up with the situation, but everything happened so quickly lately it was hard to keep up. But Rajisa expected, no needed, him to be quicker on his feet.

It had been the second instance of his near-fatal mundane bungling since he had learned of Rajisa's gifts a week ago. She had instructed him to stay out of the way, but he could not let her face danger alone. How could he prove to her that their relationship could work if he remained on the sidelines? Surely, that wasn't what she wanted.

Rajisa returned from the sales counter with two coffees and dropped John's in front of him, not meeting his eyes. "We can't stay too long, we'll need to get into position well before the transport arrives."

John nodded mutely, and tried to look dependable. He was relived she was still willing to let him help. This would be his chance to make up for earlier.

"You remember how to trigger the holding spell?" she asked him suddenly.

"Uh . . . yeah. Of course," he replied after a startled moment. "It's . . .,"

"Not here," she hissed, cutting him off.

"Right, sorry." He looked down at the table, and tried to remember the exact words to trigger the holding spell Rajisa had set up that morning. Suddenly afraid he would forget it in the heat of the moment, John began reciting the incantation to himself.

His lips continued to move in silent recitation as he followed Rajisa out of the coffee shop several minutes later. His eyes looked at the ground as he concentrated on the incantation and its strange words and precise inflections. He saw Rajisa, or rather, he saw her red sneakers, step down to the street, and began jogging across. John followed more slowly, his mind spinning.

"John!!" he heard Rajisa shriek at the same time as he heard tires squealing to his right. His eyes snapped up and he turned toward the squealing tires. It was a red sports car, and John had just enough time to think that he recognized the driver from somewhere before something slammed into him, sending him skidding across the pavement.

He came to and heard the sounds of Rajisa's scolds. He wished she could be a little more forgiving, or at least wait to scold him until he was standing and could take the verbal abuse like a man.

"Get up, get up," she commanded. "Do you want to cause a scene?"

John hurried to get up, wincing as his right shoulder and hip protested. He put a hand to his face and saw blood on his fingers.

Rajisa handed him a silk handkerchief from her pocket, reassured the woman offering to call emergency on her cellphone, and pulled him down the sidewalk. "What were you doing?" she demanded after they had left the curious a few blocks behind them. "John, you have to pay attention, always, especially when we're in the middle of an assignment this big. Stand in the middle of the street, looking at your shoes like that and you are going to get us both killed."

"How did you do that?" he asked. "You must have been across the street by the time you noticed the car, and I was only halfway across."

"A speed spell. It was the only thing I could think of to get you out of the way in time. You were just staring at the car," she reprimanded.

"I, well, thanks."

"Don't mention it. We've really got to hurry now. Can you make it to the manor on your own? We’re very close to the manor right now, but I need to go back to my apartment for my broom. It'll be faster with just one."

"Sure," John said, trying not to let his disappointment show. He'd never flown before, and he'd been looking forward to travelling with Rajisa, his arms around her waist.

"Don't look so disappointed. Trust me, men find broom travel very unpleasant."

[JP Dogberry]

Rajisa pushed the baron out of the car, makign him hit the ground hard, before reversing and driving over him a few dozen times. Parking, John got out of the car, and started kicking him.

"Ow! Hey! That blimmin' hurts!"

"Take that, brother! This is for our Father! Try coming back to life after this!"

Rajisa stepped forward.

"Sorry to break the forth wall on you all, but that's pretty dang cliched of an ending/beginning right there. Can't you do any better? Besides, we already know he comes back to life."

John spoke up. "Fine then. He pulled out a remote control, hit rewind, moving back to the car incident.

Rajisa kicked the baron out of the car.

"So, Sis, will I get to learn these cool magic powers?"

"See? That's much better. We've hinted that we love each other all along, only to learn that it was a sibling love! Nice twist!"

"Yeah, well, we still need to make this actually begin. I mean, those lazy bums have all but abandoned actually WRITING this story. Maybe we should finish writing ourselves."

"Hmm. Unless I magically force JP to double post, that's not going to happen, sicne surely the end would need to be the beginning, and so the post would need to start with us meeting and explain everything."

"Not necessarily.  I mean, a lot of stories stasrt in the middle of the action. All we need to do is some exposition explaining how we got this far."

"Right, how about this?"

Rajisa thought back to when they first met. It had been at a convention, hanging at the Penny Arcade Stall. Only when the Cardboard Tube Samurai appeared and started busting heads did they realise that they live in the same town. Had it not been for Rajisa, John would have died. Had it not been for John, Rajisa wouldn't have had to use her powers in public, thus catching the Baron's attention, and needing to both kill him and undo everything that happened so far.

John looked upwards.

"Not bad, but it's kidna contradictary to the story as a whole. But then again, everyone else contradicted each other anyway."

Then, a Giant Pikachu appeared, used thundershock, and everyone died. Only then, did they realise everythign in the future that had already been written about, was in fact their lives flashing before their eyes in reverse.

***

"Pikachu! Return!"

The baron gripped the pokeball at his side, and started a chilling, epic laugh, as the ruined world stood before him.