zg_shadows | Another Mage piece!

He clicked the lighting on, throwing the room into a white glare. Blinking to clear his vision, he looked around at the familiar sights, though it’d been a while since he’d last been here.

“I’d intended this be far longer, but events have forced my hand” he thought

As he strode across the room towards the waiting bank of computers, the dust beneath his feet stirred at his passage In the distorted glare of the halogen lights his image was reflected in the monitor’s, presenting a twisted mockery of reality.

“Ironic” he thought “how even a distorted reflection tells the truth sometimes”

As he approached, sensors he had placed long ago detected his presence and the computers flared into life once again. On their screens flickered lines of text, too fast to read normally but the man stood quietly and absorbed the knowledge they displayed through his cortical sub-processor. As the screens delivered the last of their text, a brief flicker of annoyance showed on his features. Moving closer, he pressed his hands to a smooth metal panel that sat underneath the bank of monitors. With a soft click that seemed far louder in the stillness that enveloped the room, a keyboard popped out, its markings glowing a faint red.

He started to type, his fingers running rapidly across the keyboard with a faint clicking noise. Again the screens sprang into life, but this time the text was moving more slowly, forming complex patterns that reminded him of ASCI art he used to spend hours building up. The computers began to hum, their first noise since being activated, and the lights dimmed with a rhythmic pulsing.

He could taste a coppery tang in his mouth and knew that the energies he was shaping were reaching dangerous levels

“Just a few moments more baby”, he said in a soft whisper

Suddenly, everything went still and quiet, and the screens displayed a single line of blinking text

“CODE COMPILED SUCCESSFUL”

With a smile, the man turned around and in the centre of the room, laid a small pulsing crystal. He picked it up and slid it into his pocket; it was warm to his touch and felt a soft vibration as it resonated to his touch. He knew he had to hurry, this had to be with the recipient as soon as possible. As he walked out the room, he shut down the lights throwing the room into an enveloping darkness.

Alex sat down in Bier’s, a cool pint of beer in his hand and he smiled. Today had been quite productive, a supplier had managed to source the most perfect chunk of crystal for his experiment into his Sensorium. He had hoped to have been further ahead by now, but he got sidelined by a little job for the Register. Still, it was worthwhile, a couple of thousand for letting some poor saps shoot at him. It was so delightful to savour their expressions of helplessness as he walked towards them slowly.

“One day, I’d like to capture the other side of that experience from one of them” Alex thought, sipping his pint carefully and looked around.

It was another side effect of curse he’d been told, that he could gaze into the spirit world as easily as he could perceive the ‘real’ world. He felt thankful for that power as it let him see worlds that were normally closed to him and experience so much more. It also let him help others too, whilst he was well aware that his nature leant more to personal experience and achieving ascension through his own means, he sometimes wished to experience the feelings that came with helping another.

He remembered events earlier in the week, where the others were convinced that they must find and destroy the vampires. Alex struggled to understand why they’d been so upset with him calling down the Banes. Yes, they were spiritual reflections of many bad things, but surely using evil against evil to achieve good was worthwhile? The others might choose to stand in the harsh glare of moral goodness, he could achieve so much more in the soft greyness between. He kept himself from falling to the nature that his curse gave him by keeping that one moral rule, Do not violate another without their consent. Of course, he wasn’t stupid either; you can give your consent through actions rather than words. If someone chose to attack him, well that was their choice and they had to be prepared to suffer the consequences.

Still, he could feel the soft whispering of the Banes at the edge of his mind, he idly wondered what new experiences he could have if he did what they want. A thought rose to the surface of his mind

“Don’t do it, you must not draw that kind of attention to yourself”

Alex shuddered and took a deep draft from his beer; that thought hadn’t been his and for a moment he felt like he knew whose voice it was. Definitely familiar though, but he just couldn’t place it. He shrugged, given all that had happened to him, he wouldn’t be surprised if the Hermetics had left a few little surprises at the back of his mind, he’d get checked one of these days but it didn’t seem really important. Right now, all he wanted to do is finish the crystal Sensorium. Sitting back into the comfortable chairs, he continued to drink his beer.