DO THE MATH
This has probably happened to you.
I walked out of the restaurant in a bit of a hurry. Stepping off the curb, I raised my hand to signal the approaching cab. The taxi pulled over. I reached for the door handle, and pulled the door open. Whereupon some guy with a briefcase ran from the curb and jumped into the cab.
I don't take that kind of thing very well.
Rage overtook me, and I began to grow. My skin and hair turned a dark green. Within seconds I had become a powerful, dark and distorted image of myself. While this was occurring I was reaching into the cab, easily extracting the suitably terrified suit. With an enraged growl I tossed him into the rose bush.
I turned and stepped into the cab, leaving the illusion to keep the suit occupied. It would dissolve in about a minute, and he would be able to run home and change his underwear.
Being a Mage wasn't all bad.
I gave the address to the cabby, who deftly typed it into the 'base. A holomap appeared over the grey box, showing the destination in bright yellow, with the best routes marked. I swiped my card through the scanner in the door, and corresponding light display flashed above the holo.
As the cab pulled into traffic, the driver looked into the rearview. "I had you figured for a wizard."
I shrugged. "It's a living."
I was determined that no one would pass. She looked at me with eyes that radiated her determination. So we understood each other. I shrugged. She glared.
I did my best to maintain eye contact as I reached for the flip-phone. I hit button 4, which was programmed for Central. She spoke a soft word in an unknown language. I heard the line ring once, then, nothing. I did a quick double take as my hand closed on air.
I looked back. She raised her arms in what I recognized as the overture to an attack. I began to recite a spell of containment, but before I could utter the fourth syllable, she spoke. One word.
"Change" she said.
Instantly I felt it; I recognized a Wave of Transformation building ahead of me. Acting from trained reflex I drew forth a Class 4 counter-spell from my pocket base. This took little effort, really. I had stocked up that morning, as usual. In my trade it is important to report to work fully locked and loaded. On command a mystic shield came into being. The wave broke against the shield, and dissipated.
As I prepared a Class 5 to back it up, I took a moment to reflect on her technique. Just, 'Change'? A command, unaccompanied by the customary invocation of the appropriate spirit or obligatory supplication. Just "Change'. That simplicity of command suggested a fourth - or - fifth - level sorcerer, at least; one who had the ability to create and store a "smart" spell-base, with keyword access. That must be it.
No matter. My defense held. I folded my arms, implying impassive authority. She responded with a defiant stare.
"Change" she said.
Another wave. But bigger, higher. My magicalc, sending its info directly to my brain through a dedicated implant, estimated the wave's intensity: as much as ten times as strong as the first. I felt the shield beginning to buckle against the onslaught. I whipped out a Class 7 counterspell to back it up. It held. Barely.
My reflection continued, during the moments available. Two spells, with the same keyword? That suggested a greater complexity, perhaps telepathic incantations, invoked at the speed of thought. A natural talent, in addition to advanced sorcery? I could be up against a level 6 adept, at least. But it took years, decades, to reach that level of proficiency. And she looked no older than, perhaps, thirty. But then, a level 6 had access to rejuvenation spells, among other…
I began to notice that I was sweating. I straightened, and maintained my rigid posture. She would not pass.
She stared back. The look had changed, somehow. Her head was high and her posture straight, denoting great confidence. Her lips curled upward slightly, possibly suggesting invitation. I became intensely aware of the charming curves of her body. She leaned forward, just a little, and her robe dropped open at the top. Not much, but enough to reveal a tantalizing glimpse of C-cup cleavage. She smiled. I found myself drifting away, borne on a carpet of rose petals, her scent, her being filling my universe…
I looked away, fast, forcing myself into a semblance of dispassionate calm as I dialed in a class 3 counterspell. She almost had me on that one. This time I was the one who glared, briefly. Not fair! She must be pulling out all the stops. My turn to be defiant. Unfolding a class 10, my most potent counterspell, I resumed my defiantly impassive stance from behind its imposing shield. I met her eyes once more, daring her to try again.
"Change" she said.
It hit like a truck. I felt its impact on the shield and staggered against the force. As it steadied out, I erected a concentric series of level 10 shields within and without. This took all my remaining energy, and I had to fight hard, harder than I could ever remember fighting, to remain steady and unaffected, at least in appearance. As I struggled to remain standing my magicalc dispassionately informed me, in its own way, that the wave's intensity was exactly 100 times that of the first attack. I bent forward, leaned against the doorway, and summoned my remaining reserves. Looking up, I straightened, met her eye, and smiled, with all the confidence I could fake. In a low, steady voice, I spoke. "That the best you can do?"
She looked back at me, expressionless.
And then she laughed.
Laughed!
And in that instant I knew I'd been had.
I could barely stand much less whip up another counterspell. I was going to get hit. And hard.
"Change" she said.
In the instant before it hit, my magicalc estimated the intensity of the fourth wave as being 10,000 times greater than the first. With the force of a freight train the wave, breaking effortlessly through the concentric shields, shattered my remaining defenses and washed them away.
And I changed….
* * *
Possibly I am getting ahead of myself here.
I suppose this started, well, a long, long time ago. But my part in it began a very short time ago, a few days, at most. Well, you see, I am not exactly sure how much time has passed since this... Well, I'm off to a bad start already. I'm not really what you'd call a storyteller, you see.
I'm more of a security guard, actually. The agency I work for hires out to some of the largest corps in the City, generally assuring safety from intrusion by corporate spies, holdup gangs, larcenous magicians, and the occasional gremlin (Yes, they exist; I have the laundry bill to prove it).
It may not be an easy thing to believe, but back on old Terra there once existed people called atheists. As the name suggests, these people believed that there was no God, that everything had occurred by chance. Oh, if only that were so, what a world that would be…
As we all know, quite the opposite is true. There are so blasted many gods and goddesses, not to mention sprites, afrits, demons and angels out there, all pursuing their own incomprehensible ends, that nothing ever gets done. It is as if the entire Universe as we know it suffered from one of those ancient nerve disorders where the body receives so many signals at once, from all directions, that movement of any kind is painfully difficult.
In my Guild, we have a salutation that roughly translates as, 'May the Gods look upon you with favor. In Lieu of that, may they not notice you at all.' Whoever came up with that one really knew the score.
Up to about 11:30 that morning, it had been a fairly ordinary day.
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