The Lost Land of Ouranos-Nisi
Here is chapter 3, where Chris finds out what he truly is, and has to figure out how to live with it. This is one of those chapters you are really going to love, or really going to hate. If you like it, let me know, and if you hate it, I still want to know. Any input any time is greatly appreciated.
Disclaimer:
If you are offended by relationships between teenage boys, or between a man and a teenage boy, please hit the `back' button on your browser and trouble yourself no further. This chapter contains some heavy kissing between two boys, but not much else in the way of erotic material. Remember, I am trying to build a relationship, and those take time.
This story has been copyrighted under the pseudonym Taylin. A copy has been placed in the Nifty archives for your enjoyment. This story cannot be used to derive monetary gain, nor placed in archives that require payment for access, or printed and distributed in any form that requires payment either directly or indirectly.
This story is fictional, and is solely a product of my imagination. Any similarities to real individuals, living or dead are entirely accidental.
Please send any comments, suggestions, or constructive criticism to: taylin_asterifos@yahoo.com. Any input at all would mean a great deal to me.
Ok, on with the story:
Chapter 3 -- What am I Really?
Knock*, Knock*, Knock*, brought Rodger Southerland out of his contemplative gaze out the window at the darkening sky. He hated it when his secretary pounded on the door instead of buzzing his phone. Why couldn't he have a normal secretary like everyone else? "What is it Mrs. Jennings, when will you learn to use the phone?" Rodger shouted through his door.
"Sorry sir, but Major Kindrik is here to see you sir, and he has a very strange boy with him. He said it was very urgent that he see you." Mrs. Jennings shouted back through the door.
Strange boy? AH! Kindrik sure was fast, he didn't think Kindrik would be able to find a seeker so fast. Most of them were already out in the field, already tracking established leads. "Fine Mrs. Jennings, please let them in."
The door opened, and Mrs. Jennings, a rather plump woman, stepped aside to admit a tall man in standard army uniform. Following behind him was a boy that looked to be around 12 years old. The boy had brownish-orange hair, and brownish-orange eyes. The boy was wearing a black long sleeve button-up shirt, black slacks, and a black leather belt. He also had a thick solid gold collar around his neck. Rodger was never comfortable around a magus, with their strange eyes that always had an orange tint. Rodger also had to remind himself, that with a magus, appearances could be deceiving, VERY deceiving!
The Major walked in and have Rodger a salute and stood at attention. "Captain, may I present Keith gifos-magus, 6th rank."
"At ease Major." With a curt smile, Roger sat up and came around his desk, and shook hands with the Major, but when he offered his hand to the magus, he just stared up at him, his eyes seeming to bore straight into his soul. A shudder went down Rodger's back, and he decided to go back around to his chair and sit at his desk. "Have a seat gentleman. Can I have my secretary get you anything to drink? Water?" The magus's eyes never left Rodger as he took his seat along with the Major on the other side of his desk.
"We're fine, thank you. Sir." The magus might have spoken with the soprano of a boy not yet into puberty, but his tone was dead serious, and spoke with a confidence totally begetting his age.
"Did you enjoy your flight into Ft. Carson from DC, magus? We didn't pull you from anything too important did we?" Rodger asked, having to avert his eyes from the boy's raptor gaze.
"One assignment is as good as the next; it doesn't matter much to me. The Colonel had me in Philadelphia hunting fotiafos, but I was only able to find one, and he was pretty weak." The boy looked annoyed as he recalled his most recent endeavors, almost like they were wasting his time.
"Have you had a chance to review the report I sent you this morning?" The magus shook his head. "Well, it basically showed what our DFDS picked up yesterday, and once again this morning. Yesterday, we had a very large fos spike that lasted nearly 15 minutes, and this morning, a shorter one that lasted about 10 minutes. We can't tell what kind of fos it was, but someone was using large amounts of it. This leads me to believe it was a magus, and a powerful magus at that! The strange thing is, none of my gifos in the area felt anything yesterday, but they felt it this morning, loud and clear!"
Rodger definitely had the magus's attention now. At the news of yesterday's confirmation, the boy almost seemed eager about this assignment, like he was hungry for confrontation with another magus. "Have you successfully captured another magus before Keith? Do you think you will be ok alone?" `Well, he won't be quite alone; Major Kindrik will be acting as his controller'. Rodger looked at the magus's collar and felt some measure of relief. The FSD (Fos Stemming Devise) could prevent a magus from touching the fos with the simple press of a button. Without the FSD, none of this would be possible.
"I am magus rank 6 captain; there are only 40 magi above me in the whole country. I doubt the little worm you've found here will present any problem, and if he does, well; I have your number, don't I?" Such confidence coming from what looked like a 12 year old boy truly unnerved Rodger.
"Yes, I suppose you will be fine. We have been able to localize the second DFDS signal to somewhere around Woodland Park, but we can't narrow it down any further. My gifos can also confirm fos being channeled in that direction." Rodger could see that he was beginning to bore the magus, so he decided to wrap up the conversation. "Is there anything else you need magus? Would you like me to notify the Woodland Park police of your arrival? Would you like to stay on base tonight, and have a fresh start for the morning?"
"That won't be necessary captain, I need no help from the local PD, and I would prefer to start the assignment from Woodland Park in the morning. May we be excused now?" The magus really DID seem eager for the hunt. Well, that's probably why they made him a seeker.
The boy rose to leave, but Rodger stood up real quick. "Wait. Magus, can I ask you a question? How old are you really?" He asked with a tremor in his tone.
"I will be 49 years old in October sir, good day." With that, the magus turned to leave; Major Kindrik following closely on his heals.
Rodger sat down hard. He knew that people who could touch the fos could live longer, but this was just nuts. How could a man who was 49 years old look like a boy before he hit puberty? His gifos all looked young too, but most looked 16 or 17 when they were in fact 24 or 25. A 49 year old gifos should look about 29 or 30 years old. He had heard that gifos had roughly twice the lifespan of a normal human, but he never believed what the researchers said about a magus's life span. Now he did. It was then Captain Rodger Southerland wondered how powerful the magus really were, especially the rank 7 ones. Was the FSD enough to protect mankind against them? Rodger hoped to god it was.
Chris stared at the boy across from him, still unable to believe he was still there. Taylin was staring off into the sunset again, shadows of clouds playing various shades of pink and orange across his face. Chris reached out with his little index finger and poked him just to see if he was real. Taylin laughed when Chris poked him, and then turned to give him a bright smile.
"I hope we can become fast friends Chris. Nothing in all the world would make me happier." But then Taylin's expression turned serious. "Chris, there are some things I need to explain to you. You need to be strong for me, you need to be patient, and listen closely while I explain it all, can you do that?" Chris nodded eagerly. Taylin took a long, deep breath.
"Ok. I..., we have been looking for you for the past 13 years now, ever since you were born. When you were born, the bios trembled, and everyone sensitive to it knew a very special life had entered this world. We didn't know where you were born, only that you had shaken the bios all over the world with your birth. You see, when a normal fos is born, there might be a small disturbance in the fos, allowing any fos in the area to find them, but most of the time, there are no fos nearby. If there had been a fos nearby when you were born, they would have felt it strongly!"
"As a fos grows, his aging behaves pretty much the same as any human until their 6th year. During the 6th year, the fos's body establishes a very small connection to a particular fos. The fos they connect to depends on the surroundings they have lived around for the first 6 years of their life. If the person lived deep in an urban city, where there is a lot of metal, and things made by intense fire, the fos they connect to will be fotia. If the person lived out in the country, or even in the suburbs, they will most often be gi. Now, if a person lived very close to a body of water, or was around water most of the time, they would link to nero. Lastly, and the most rare, are people who link to aeras. Most of the people who link to aeras, have lived in very high places, or were in the air a lot. By a large percentage, most fos link with gi. If you were a normal fos Chris, you would have linked with gi, but you also had a small chance of linking with aeras, living at the elevation you do."
"Once the link with a specific fos is made, the fos will begin to age at a slower rate, which is the same for all fos, even you Chris. You see, all fos are linked to the bios. It is the fos's link to the bios that slows aging, because the bios is life itself. For a normal fos, aging slows down to half at age 6, and that is the speed they age at for the rest of their life. Do you understand so far Chris?" Taylin asked very seriously. Chris nodded his head slowly, his attention completely focused in on what Taylin was saying.
"So you are saying that people who can touch the fos age slower, and that's why I'm so small for my age?" Chris looked relieved knowing that there was an explanation for his small size. Taylin merely nodded, then continued on with his explanation.
"Also, a normal fos begins to sense gi, fotia, nero, or aeras at around 13 years of age. A normal fos can establish a link with the fos at that age, and draw a small amount of energy from it, but only a small amount, allowing them to do things that are... supernatural, like running really fast, or jumping really high."
"Now, a magus is like a fos, but FAR stronger. When a magus turns 13, he can also establish a connection to a particular fos, but he can pull MUCH more energy through that link. A magus can channel that energy into himself, and then release it in many different ways, or use it on himself. Some magi are more powerful than others. The more you can channel, the more power you have, and the greater your connection is to the fos. The greater your connection is to the fos, the slower you age. Once a magus has made his connection with the fos for the first time, his aging slows considerably. A typical magus will age about 10 times slower than a normal human." Taylin was watching Chris very closely when he said this.
"WHAT? You mean that I'm going to look like I'm 9 for ten more years?" Chris looked a lot more worried now, but Taylin kept speaking.
"For most magus, it is easy for them to see the fos they are connected to very soon after their 13th year of life. Also, on their 13th year, and their first touching of the fos, their hair will change to the color of their fos, which for some, isn't much of a change. For most magi, the fos comes into their vision when they are concentrating on looking at it. For a gifos magus, when he focuses on the earth around him, and blocks everything else out of thought and mind, an orange-brown glow will immerge. From there, all the magus has to do is mentally picture himself touching the light, and fos will flow into him. An experienced magus will be able to control how much fos he channels, and it is VERY important to control that flow, because too much too soon can cause the magus serious damage. Channeling fos is also very exhausting, and if you haven't done it much, the you get tired very quickly." Taylin looked directly at Chris again, deep blue eyes boring into his soul. "For a normal magus, seeing the fos is easy, and with practice and the right focus, the light comes into view without a second thought. But you Chris are special."
"Special, you mean being a magus isn't special? It sounds like something straight out of the Lord of the Rings to me, and there weren't very many wizards in middle earth! Gandalf was like the only one! Except for Saruman. There were more in Harry Potter though, I guess." Chris smiled to himself at the thought of being like Harry Potter.
Taylin laughed out loud again. "Harry Potter, yes, I've read about him. I'm not sure what kind of magic he was using, but its nothing at all like this. There is no waving a magic wand, or saying the magic words. A true magus shapes the fos to his will, making it do what he wants. But don't get me wrong Chris, it still takes a lot of practice and training." Just as soon as Taylin's face brightened, it got serious again.
"This is no game Chris, fos can be dangerous, even lethal for the untrained, especially for you! You are special Chris, more than you can even imagine. Chris, you are like the sun compared to the moon. You have more power than almost any other magus who has walked this earth. You may be even more powerful than...." Taylin's voice trailed off then, and he breafly looked out on the horizon. The sun was below the horizon now, and the stars were shining brightly. "You are like the stars Chris, your light burns so brightly to me. If I focus on you, I'm blinded by your radiance. Your first contact to the fos lit you up like the sun, and now I could find you from light years away. But don't worry Chris, for it is only I that can see your true light, your asteri, the truest, most pure fos in the universe. Every magus has a good amount of a particular fos within himself, and you Chris have asterifos, the foundation of life, the fundamental energy in the universe." Taylin was looking at Chris with a look so sad, and so happy at the same time.
"There is only one other person on this earth that can channel asterifos." Taylin's eyes began to swell, and a single tear left his eye. "I have finally found my twin shining star in the universe, after waiting so long, so SO long. You are finally here." Taylin reached over and hugged Chris, so closely that Chris thought he would suffocate, and not because of lack of air, but because of the waves of raw emotion and energy that poured out of Taylin and into him. Just when Chris thought he would be overwhelmed by the massive amount of energy, Taylin pulled back. "Oh I'm so sorry Chris, I almost lost control." Taylin was wiping his own eyes out now. "I haven't cried for such a very long time. What kind of example am I to you. If the rest of the counsel saw me like this, they would never let me live it down. But they were never alone, never as alone as I was, there were always at lest a few others. But now you are here with me Chris, and I hope you will come with me. Now that I have found you, I never want to loose you again.
Chris was flabbergasted, he didn't know what to say or what to do, or even what to THINK. Taylin was such a nice boy, and his presence alone filled Chris with joy. He could almost feel the connection between them. There were still so many things he didn't understand though, so many questions rasing through his head. Taylin quickly composed himself though, and continued with his explanation.
"I know this is a lot for you to take in Chris, but I want to explain everything to you. I know your going to find this last part very difficult to accept, but please be strong for me. I'm here now, and no matter where you are, I'll always be connected to you. Ok?" Taylin took a deep breath. "There are 6 types of fos total. I have already told you about gifos, and that its light is orange-brown. Fotiafos is orange-red and nerofos is orange-blue. Aerasfos is different; there is only a very small amount of orange in the light-blue. Some magi can touch the orange light directly. The orange light is the biosfos, the light of life itself. The magi that can touch this, as you can imagine, have a very strong connection to the bios. The magi that can touch the bios are called biosfos. Also, through the biosfos, the boisfos magus can touch all the other fos. A biosfos can also touch any of the 4 fos directly, just as you have."
"On his 13th year, a biosfos can make contact with any of the 4 fos, but it is much more difficult, since it is not his native fos. If the biosfos concentrates on the life around him though, he can then see the orange light alone, and control it directly. Easy for a biosfos, but impossible for almost any other fos. The 4 main fos only have a sloppy, indirect control over it. Also, when a biosfos first touches the bios, his hair will turn completely orange, along with his eyes. Upon his first touch with the bios, the biosfos's aging will slow drastically. A biosfos magus's body will only age 1 year when 100 have passed."
"100 years? What? Are you kidding? That means a boisfos would live 10,000 years! NO WAY!" Chris couldn't believe his ears. Taylin had to be making this up. NO ONE could live 10,000 years!
"Yes, 10,000 years is the average lifespan of a biosfos. There is a heavy burden that comes with having such a long life. You see civilizations rise and fall, any human friends you make in your youth are dust while you have barely changed at all. Believe me, I know. I'm afraid that's not the worst of it Chris. You are not a boisfos magus. You are like me. You are asterifos magus. You can tap into the very essence of the universe. The asteri is what the stars are made of. The stars and the sun. The sun gives life to all. The asteri is the fundamental supplier of life and energy on earth, and yet none can touch it, at least not directly. WE can touch it Chris, you and me. We are the only ones on earth who can. All others touch it indirectly, but we can touch the light itself. The asteri is the alpha and the omega. Our power reigns over all!" When Taylin said that, his eyes were glowing a bright blue, as bright as a blue star, and Chris had to look away. The ground shook, and shook hard. It didn't last but a second though, and Taylin's eyes dimmed quickly.
"Oh my, all of this has gotten me more worked up than I have been in over 1000 years. Control is so important for us Chris, and I know it may sound cheesy to you, but always remember this: With great power comes great responsibility. Never let it consume you. At the same time, don't think you are invincible either, because you are NOT. If enough magi form together, they can block the flow of your fos, and you will be helpless. Never forget that!"
"Ok Chris, there is only a little bit left, and I think we have gotten through the worst of it. When an asterifos magus turns 13, he has the ability to touch the asteri, but it's very hard to find at first, especially during the day. During the day, there is so much asteri that it is almost invisible. I know it doesn't make a lot of sense, and that's probably why none can channel it. Since the sun is so close, there is so much asteri that only someone who has been channeling for a long time could handle it all. There are also many other things you need to learn before you can begin to channel asteri during the day. Luckily, an asterifos can channel any of the other fos as well, and when you come into contact with any one of them, you can establish a link with asteri, but since asteri is your native fos, all others will be more difficult for you to touch. With a lot of time and effort, you will be able to touch them, and once you have an established connection, you can channel it just as easily as asteri."
"Once an asterifos has touched the astari, either directly or indirectly, his aging will slow as well, but even slower than a biosfos. Chris, you have touched asteri, although indirectly, and now it will take you roughly 1,000 years for your body to age 1 year." Another tear left Taylin's eye. "I'm sorry Chris, but for at least 4,000 years, you will remain in the body of a child, and be unable to reproduce. I figured it would be best to tell you now. Please don't hate me Chris. The only comfort I can give you is that I will be there for you. If you ever find yourself alone in the depths of eternity, I will always be there to share it with you." Taylin hugged Chris again, but Chris was still sitting there, half staring at Taylin, half staring at nothing. He couldn't move, wouldn't move.
"1,000 years? It just seems so unreal. I don't feel any different. I only started doing this stuff yesterday. I feel just the same." Chris was almost talking incoherently, blabbing more to himself than anything.
"And you won't feel any different either, not unless you are touching asteri, but when you do, you will feel more alive than you have ever felt before, and you will feel like you could do anything, anything at all." Taylin was staring up at the night sky, searching the stars as if he was looking for a specific one.
"Taylin, how old are you? 4000, 5000?" He still couldn't believe Taylin could possibly be that old. He looked like he was barely more than 14, at the MOST. Maby he was making it all up, that's it, he's just making it up!
"I will be 12,657 in January." Taylin said it with a completely blank expression, but Chris could tell that he was pained by it. Pained by eternity.
"But you said 1,000 per year, which would make you look 21 right? You only look like you are 14. I just don't get it." Chris was almost laughing to himself. This was LUDICRIS!
"I said 1,000 on average, for me, its more like 2,000." Taylin didn't sound very happy about it. "For you Chris, we just wont know for a long time, but Chris, that doesn't mean you have to live that long, or even that you will. You are not immortal; you are just very closely linked with the life of the universe. If you never channel, you can be killed just as easily as any other human, but if you touch asteri, you can protect yourself, and with great practice, have it protect you. You can be as vulnerable as you want to be, and as invulnerable as you try to be. I can teach you Chris, if you let me."
Chris could almost feel the pleading in Taylin's eyes. It was then that Chris fell completely and utterly in love with Taylin. Chris could see the love in Taylin's eyes, and a caring so deep that he could not remove his gaze. Looking deep into his eyes, Chris decided right then that it wasn't important how old Taylin was; only that he loved him. Chris jumped into his arms and hugged him back as hard as Taylin had hugged him, and then he drew back from his hold and stared into his eyes.
"Taylin, I just don't know what to say. It's all just too much to take in. Can we just make it simple for now? I mean, I want to learn about asteri and all, but can we just get to know each other first? I mean, I just want to be a boy right now, and I want you to be a boy too. You're so beautiful Taylin... I... I think..." Chris's shoulders dropped. "I don't know what I think." And Chris started crying again. Taylin pulled him close and buried his head in his white shirt.
"Oh Chris, you don't have to feel bad around me about anything. Chris, every second I'm with you, I feel closer to you. It doesn't matter that you're a boy. It wouldn't matter if you were a girl, I would still feel the same way about you. I know we've only just meet, but right now I love you more deeply than I have ever loved anyone in all my life, and believe me, I have lived a very long life. You are my twin shining star Chris, and I couldn't think of a sweeter boy to share eternity with. I look at you, and I want to live the rest of my live with you, until the end of time." Both Chris and Taylin were crying now, and both were trying to work up the nerve to kiss one another.
"Oh god, I LOVE YOU TOO Taylin. I was so scared you would reject me, just like Timmy did. I was afraid that you would think I was a freak, or just some sick twisted gay boy. Just some twisted freak of nature... I thought-" Just then Taylin closed his eyes, reached in and kissed him. As first Chris was too stunned to kiss back, but then he slowly started kissing back, letting Taylin take hold of him.
Chris opened his mouth a little, and Taylin leaned in deeper, holding Chris closer, mingling his tongue in with Chris's. Chris let Taylin lean him back a little, and bury his tongue deep into his mouth. The feelings Chris was having were exploding everywhere in his body simultaneously. Taylin kissed him long and hard, and the backed off slowly, withdrawing his tongue, practically trying to take Chris's along with it. Taylin kept on with the kiss, mouths still touching for longer than he thought possible, then finally pulled back and opened his eyes.
"I... I've never kissed anyone before. I... I don't know what to say. I love you Taylin, thank you soo much!" Chris hugged him again, Just a good, heartfelt hug, and Taylin hugged back.
"No Chris, thank you. You complete me. You fill the gap that has been in my soul for so long, so long that I thought I would be alone forever. I will do anything to protect you Chris, I promise. No one will hurt you." Taylin rocked Chris gently, stroking his smooth back.
They stayed like that for what seemed like hours until Taylin finally pulled back and stood up. Taylin's Shirt was a mess. It was wet from the stains of chris's tears, and Chris's runny nose. He didn't mind though, anything that came from Chris was special. He walked slowly over to the summit, and stared off into the twilight, once again loosing himself in the starscape.
Chris stood up a few minutes later and walked over to Taylin, timidly putting an arm on his shoulder. "So, you're like the most powerful magus in the world? Did I just get kissed by Gandalf? Well, at least you're not old and gray!"
Taylin's alto voice broke into mirth's of helpless laughter. "Oh Chris, that's why I love you so much. You are so full of life; just being around you makes me feel more alive than I have felt in forever! Never loose that sense of humor Chris!" Taylin took Chris's hand, held it up and kissed it. "Am I the most powerful magus? Well, I suppose I am, but as I said earlier, magi can bond together and still overpower me. Alone, I might be able to face several biosfos, and maybe even a lot of normal magus, but it would still be hard. I'm not god Chris. There is something you have to understand. Fos, bios, asteri, we all share it, we all pull from the same source. Some might be more powerful than others, but if you form a group, then you can be much more powerful. I admit, there is much I can do alone, but there is still much that I cannot do. There is much that I still need help with, and need to link with fellow magi in order to accomplish." Taylin ruffled Chris's hair, and then let the white locks flow through his fingers.
"There is much you need to learn as well, and there may not be a lot of time to teach you. They have detected you Chris, I know, because they have sent a seeker to come after you. But don't worry about that right now; we will deal with the seeker together. We just won't have much time after that." Taylin was staring off again, but this time to the south east. His head seemed to move really slowly, eyes distant and faintly glowing. Just as quick, Taylin snapped out of it, his expression grim, and looked back as Chris.
"Hey, what do you say, before we head back over to your house, we try practicing a little bit? Ok?" Taylin's look was half serious, half mischievous. Chris couldn't tell which. "Ok Chris, come stand over here." Taylin gestured over to the rock they had been sitting on. "Ok, get up on this rock, good. Now, close your eyes. Good." Taylin got up on the rock with Chris, faced him, and held his hands. "Ok, now I want you to clear your mind. Focus out the wind, focus out the ground, focus out my touch, focus out everything until there is only emptiness. Is everything black now?" Chris nodded, keeping his eyes closed. "Ok, now I want you to imagine a single point of light, as small as can be, in the darkness. Let that light glow more brightly. Yes Chris, that's it!"
Chris could feel something happening, but he couldn't tell what. It didn't feel the same as it did before. There was a deep stirring in his chest. "Ok Chris, let the glow get brighter now. Let the brightness begin to consume the darkness. Let the rays of its light eat it away and push it back further. GOOD!" Chris felt his chest heave all of a sudden, and in his mind, he saw the light explode outwards and split into millions of smaller pieces of light. It was beautiful. As the light exploded outwards, colors red-shifted and blue-shifted through every color of the rainbow, and Chris could feel a bright glow coming from within himself, almost like he was another star. "Now open your eyes."
Chris opened his eyes, glowing a magnificent bright blue, and stared up at the starry sky in utter disbelief. The stars were brighter than they ever were before, and they were all different colors, just like they had been in his focus vision. Chris could actually see the band of the Milky Way, and stars that he had never seen before. The starlight shined down on him, and he could feel the light they radiated flow into him. Chris's senses were heightened too, and everything around him looked so alive and bright, even though it was nighttime. Chris could swear he could hear and see for miles, and if he wanted to focus on any one sound, he could hear it, or focus his vision, he would see it.
"Great Chris! You are touching asteri. Now you have to control its flow. Let's try to pull more in, but slowly." Chris mentally reached out to the asteri around him, and willed it into him. "Slowly Chris. Pretend that you are completely surrounded by a barrier that no light can enter, except through a tiny hole that you control the size of. Make that hole really small." Chris imagined himself surrounded by a curtain, and then he poked a hole though it, and let some of the light through. "Oh perfect Chris, that's great, your going so good. Now, make that hole a little bit bigger." Chris envisioned the hole getting bigger, big enough to stick his head through, and the light poured in. Chris was knocked back by the sheer amount of light that came through that hole. Taylin had a good hold of Chris though, and didn't let him fall. "WOO, close it fast Chris, close it! CLOSE IT NOW!" Chris snapped the curtain shut, blacking out all the astari he could.
"Yikes, that was close Chris. NEVER open a hole that big again. Not until you're ready. Right now, it's only safe for you to channel small amounts of asteri, ok?" Chris nodded again, almost shaking. "Hey, its ok, you're doing well!" Taylin hugged Chris close. "Keep that curtain closed Chris. It's alright to look at the asteri, but don't draw any in until we are ready, just remember how to let it in slowly. Ok, now its time to do something with all that asteri you let in, Ok?" Chris nodded again. He could feel the energy of asterifos inside him, swirling, and whirling.
"Ok, this is where it gets tricky Chris, and the hardest part is believing you can do it, but you can, and I'm going to help guide you. In the end though, you will be doing it yourself. Alright, I want you to close your eyes. Good. Now I want you to picture your room. Picture yourself in your room right now, looking around it, and seeing all your pictures on the wall, all your models, and all your toys. Picture your bed, just as you left it, and your desk, with whatever was on it this morning. Try to make sure you get every detail right. I'm going to help you picture everything in your room, ok. I'll make sure you don't leave anything out. In order for this to work, you need to remember everything, ok?" Chris nodded his head.
Chris did everything Taylin said, pictured his room as best he could, and tried to remember every single detail. "Ok, good! Now, imagine yourself in that room, block out everything you feel here on this rock, remember how it feels in your room. You are in your room, ok? Now focus on the asteri inside you, and PUT yourself in that room! DO IT!" Light flared across his vision, through his eyelids, and his body tingled form head to toe. Then he felt nothing.
"Open your eyes Chris, go on, and open them!" Chris opened his eyes. He was standing in his room. He was in his room! HE WAS IN HIS ROOM!!! Holy shit! "HOLY SHIT! IM IN MY ROOM!" Chris jumped around and bounced on his bead and started clapping really hard. Taylin was standing there smiling at him, sucking in Chris's flamboyance.
Taylin moved over to sit in Chris's desk chair. "How do you feel Chris?" He asked, almost unable to hide his own joy at seeing Chris so happy.
"I feel GREAT! But the asteri inside me is gone now, at least I think it is. I'm still touching it though, I think." Chris looked around his room. "Everything looks a million times brighter, and I feel so great!" Chris jumped up and down in the air again. "Its so incredible Taylin, you were right, I feel so much better when I'm touching asteri." Chris ran over and jumped in Taylin's lap, making the chair spin round and round.
"I'm so happy for you Chris, but now you have to let go ok?" Taylin looked very serious again. "Never touch asteri for too long ok, else it will consume you. Be strong, and let go. Now, close your eyes." Chris stopped bouncing in Taylin's lap, and sat there. Chris then closed his eyes. "Ok, now remember the stars again; remember all the lights and colors. Now, reduce all the lights into one again, and then make that one light dimmer and dimmer, until it fades away into the blackness."
Chris collapsed the little galaxy in his head back to a single point, and dimmed the light until it was gone. When Chris opened his eyes again, his room looked normal again, if not for the bit of running and jumping around he did. Just then Chris noticed how awfully TIRED he was. He couldn't remember being this tired in his whole LIFE! Chris stifled a yawn, and Taylin raised him up off his lap.
"I don't think you are going to be doing any more channeling tonight, my little shining star, but there is still a couple more things we need to take care up before we turn in for the night, ok?" With that, Chris looked at him for a second, and then realization hit him.
"Oh my god, your right. My mom! She is probably worried to death about me. What are we going to do?" Chris sounded panicky all over again. Almost as if answering his thoughts, Chris heard foot steps coming up the stairs, and not after long, a knocking at the door.
"Chris? Is that you honey? When did you get home? I've been worried sick. Can I come in?" Chris's mom sounded even more panicky than Chris.
Chris looked over to Taylin helplessly. "What should I do?" He whispered. Taylin motioned for him to open the door. Chris went to open the door, and mom came in and picked Chris up and hugged him close.
"Oh honey, I was so worried about you. Timmy and Mr. Dennings are downstairs right-" Mother got cut off as Timmy ran through the door. As soon as Timmy saw Chris, he went over to give him a hug when mother put him down.
"Chris, your ok! Where the heck have you been all night?" It was then that both Timmy and mother noticed Taylin, still sitting comfortably in Chris's desk chair. "Chris, who is that?" Timmy was looking at Taylin very strangely, but mother had a very haunted expression when she saw him. Mother cleaned up her look very quickly though, and replaced it with a smile.
"Is this a new friend of yours honey?" Chris's mom waited patiently for Chris to explain.
"Yea mom, this is Taylin. I met him up on top Soldier Mountain. Taylin likes climbing mountains too. I guess it was just coincidence that we met up there, right Taylin?" Chris looked to Taylin with a puppy dog face.
Taylin merely nodded, then shrugged. "Sure, coincidence."
"Anyways, if it weren't for Taylin, I don't know what I would have done. I was so mad, and Taylin helped calm me down." By then, Timmy's dad had made it up the stairs and into Chris's room.
"Well, I'm glad to see you ok Chris, we were really worried about you when you ran out like that." Mr. Dennings said with true concern.
"You see Chris, I told you that you had friends, and you were just too stubborn to listen. Your not alone, it looks like there are still people here who care for you. You see, everything is going to be ok." Taylin gave Chris a big wink, and Chris got a warm fuzzy feeling inside. Just then, Chris felt like everything was going to be alright in his life.
Trees, houses, and cars speeded across Keith's vision as he watched out the window of the car Captain Southerland had lent them. Major Kindrik was driving them up to Woodland Park for the night. As Keith watched the trees go by, he let out a long sigh. It really pissed him off that he had to sit in this car and wait to be hauled up to his query. It was almost insulting, demeaning! They had no right to treat a rank 6 magus like this. Keith could only dream of what he would do to Colonel Davidson and the rest if his collar was removed, but now he was helping to leach other magus so that he would no longer be a `threat' to modern society. He had personally put the leach on at least 200 fos and 20 magus. Now they were sending him up to do it again.
Keith knew it was a necessary evil. Magus shouldn't be allowed to run around unchecked, think about all the damage they would cause! Unaided, Keith knew he could crack the earth wide enough to swallow a large house. Keith had even heard that a rank 7 aerasfos magus could cause a level 5 tornado, and he knew that a rank 7 fotiafos magus had enough power to cause a small nuclear explosion. The magi were like walking bombs, and they had to be contained. Keith knew that. Still, wouldn't it be nice to open up a chasm to swallow up the pentagon? With enough rank 7 gifos magus linked together, they could do it, but what would the point of that be really?
The houses continued speeding by, and soon they were out of Colorado Springs and headed up the mountains to Woodland Park. It wouldn't be long now, maybe a half hour. The Major would probably rent them a hotel room for the evening and insist that Keith wait until morning to start the hunt. Keith would have to obey of course, because the major held the switch to Keith's fos. Keith guessed he was lucky, being a seeker. Until he reached rank 2, they wouldn't even let him touch the fos without supervision. The leach was always buckled down tight on a new magus; they needed to learn who was truly in control. Once the Magus was `trained', they would ease off the restraint a bit, but not much. They would be allowed to touch the fos, but they still wouldn't be allowed to channel without supervision. No one was allowed to channel without supervision, except for a seeker. But Keith had paid the price for his small amount of freedom. Seekers were required to go through extensive conditioning before they were allowed to channel unsupervised. Keith did not even want to think back to the 10 years he had spent underground, completely cut off from gifos, being drilled on constantly by so called specialists in the field. By the time they were done with him, he would do whatever they asked, whenever they asked. Keith looked down at his feet in shame; he had been so weak then, so helpless.
Keith shook his head, burying those thoughts deeply once again. He was a seeker now, and a trusted' member of the US military. A trusted weapon' of the US military more like, a tool that they could turn on and off at will. He didn't know whether to be thankful, or hate the thick gold collar around his neck, but he sure would like to get his hands on its inventor. 35 years of captivity, so long he couldn't even remember being a normal boy anymore.
It didn't matter; Keith had a job to do. Tomorrow, he would show that puny magus wannabe what a real magus could do. It wouldn't even be a contest, whoever that magus was. He would likely just be a scared 13 year old, without a clue as to what he was doing, and the DFDS signal was probably just his first touching of the fos. They could have just have sent up 10 gifos to capture him, but the government took no chances.
The seeker would do his job quickly and efficiently, just as he always had.
Well, if you read this far, that hopefully means you liked it. I hope I didn't bore you too badly with my loooong explanation of the magic system. I had a really tough choice to make, and I think, if the reader (and Chris!) understands this now, the rest of the story will make more sense as it's presented.
Please let me know what you think, and BTW, if you can think of any cool spells you want to see done, or if you have any questions about the magic system I am using, please email me at taylin_asterifos@yahoo.com
Thank you again,
Taylin