Hiya, this is pretty much just a story that has been on my mind for months, it has no real value for anyone but me, but I wanted to write this down in a spot I could access this from any device, and maybe to get some people to read it, don't really expect anything too great or too many updates, but please do give me feedback should you actually read this story, I could use the feedback, maybe even for different things like my GM style ;)
Shifting Magic Chapter 0: Prologue
The last thing I remember before coming to my senses at the exact spot was standing in the Keep, talking to Kate, Curran and Bran, with the usual pain in the eyes I had for the last couple of days.
Next thing I know, I'm standing in front of all the shapeshifters, Kate Daniels, a woman I find more and more interesting, next to me with an astonished look on her face, and in front of us were a lot of Fomoria, all of them crashed into the ground. Curran was a few feet behind us and he's looking at me like I'm some kind of monster. So it has happened again… Shit… I feel my hair change length and color, from I'd assume long and black to medium long and green. For now I've got control back… whatever HE did was tiresome enough that I got control back, at least for a moment.
I turn to Curran and look at him. His eyes are glowing in the brightest gold I have seen yet, looking at me with a mixture of fear and anger. I try to give him my warning as quick as I can. "Curran, whatever you do in this fight, try to keep everyone FAR away from me. HE doesn't know constraint and he'll try to get most out of this fight as possible. If you don't want your people to get hurt, don't let them come near me." While I'm giving him my warning I can already feel how my hair is changing back to the long and black I seem to have had before regaining control. I see Curran's reluctant nod just as I feel the pull on my consciousness and losing myself to the dark. The last thing I remember is 'my' voice saying "Now, shall we dance", then everything went black.
But something was different this time compared to before. My mind wasn't shut off, I could still think. Without any way to know what's really going on out there, planning for what to do next was pretty useless. The only thing I could do to spend the time is the thing I do so often: reminiscence about how everything I knew changed with the Shift, and my involvement in it…
[Germany, Munich – 2015]
(For the sake of flow everything will be written in English, but for now everything is actually German)
It was a typical late fall, early winter day in Germany, pretty cold, pretty dry, no snow. I live a couple of miles outside the city, in a small town connected by highway and railroad.
It's still dark when I'm getting up for work. After washing and grabbing a quick breakfast I leave the house to get to work. The world around me is silent, no sound in the air as I walked by a barren field, already prepared for the winter. The air feels heavy, it doesn't feel normal... it feels like something is going to happen today, something big. I get to the train station, get on my usual train and take the train going into the town.
While sitting down in the train I notice two young women in rather form-fitting black outfits that stand out to the other people around them. The outfits themselves aren't that weird, I'm involved in the Gothic scene, so it's nothing I haven't seen before, but the outfits didn't really match the time of day and the other people on the train. They wore long slightly ripped skirts clinging tightly to their slim frames, combat boots, a tight tank top and and an assortment of mostly silver accessories. They had a dark and mystic air about them, which is usual for people in the Gothic scene, but not at this time of day.
The train usually is full with people in suits or business clothing, so those two kinda stood out like two sore thumbs. Yet, no one around them seems to notice them aside from me. Seemingly noticing that I look at them, the two also start staring at me with curious and calculating eyes. After a while of them staring back, I get highly uncomfortable and try to look away into the by now full train. From time and time again I try to look at them inconspicuously to see if they're still looking, but as soon as I notice them still looking at me, I look away again. This little game continues until I have to get of the train. At the same time as I get up, the two get up too… okay, this is getting weird…
After I left the train and set a foot on the train station I quickly try to get to work and let the two women behind me. But after I left the train station and as soon as there are less people around me, I start to hear the heavy thuds of the combat boots. Expecting it to be the two, I turn around and expect to see them a couple of feet away from me, trying to get a conversation going or something. What I didn't expect was feeling immense pain as something is stabbed into my gut, and two cold metal needles plunged into my eyes. Instantly going blind and screaming in pain, I try to fall back in panic trying to get away from my attackers, but a firm grip on my arm held me on my feet. By now I can feel the blood running down my face and lower body, but something felt weird.
The objects stuck in me got even colder than before and seemingly started to freeze the leaking blood into sharp crystals on my skin. One of the girls brought my head close to her mouth and said into my ear something like "Welcome to the New World". In my panic I couldn't quite understand her. I could feel the coldness of the objects stuck into me starting to seep into me. Finally getting a bit clearer headed through the cold I try to remove the objects stuck in my eyes. Trying to pull it out with my free hand I found two things about the object: First, the thing was jagged and didn't feel like metal at all like I presumed from the coldness, it was actually ice. Ice that didn't seem to melt. Second, the ice needle was firmly stuck into my eye, not even budging a little when I try to pull on it. By now the coldness in and around me began to get alarmingly cold, so cold that I started to lose my senses.
This was seriously not the way I wanted to die, being stabbed by seemingly magical ice in daylight on the street on my way to work… As my sense started to get more and more numb, I felt something warm in my stomach, close to where the third object, probably another ice needle, was. Warm was maybe the wrong word for it, more like "not cold". Something was there that withstood, ignored or absorbed the coldness going through me. As a last effort I tried to mentally hold onto whatever that feeling was. Then happened the last thing I can remember for a long time.
The feeling expanded through my whole body and built up more and more tension. When the feeling was barely beneath my skin, it felt like it exploded outwards in a rapid explosion of something. Then I couldn't move like I was stuck in a block of ice, and my mind went dark.
