Act One, Scene One: Shards of the Past
I never
Wanted
To become
Someone
Like him
So Secure
Intent to live each day just like the last
I was sure I knew that
This was not for me
And I wanted so much more
But beyond what I could see
Still I swore that I'd
Never be someone like him…
Dream Theater-Octavarium
"Lucas Silvertongue! It's six thirty-five! You're going to be late!"
Lucas groaned and pulled the covers tighter over his head, trying to block out the sound. Just ignore her, he thought, and maybe she'll go away. Maybe she'll…
"LUCAS!"
Luke let out an exasperated sigh and kicked the sheets off. Lazily stretching his limbs he staggered into the bathroom to splash some water on his face. The mirror over the sink revealed a teenage boy with thick, black, curly hair, vibrant blue eyes and a pale complexion. Yawning, he pushed his hair behind his ears and slunk to the closet to find something to wear.
The last day of school was always the toughest: finals were brutal and Luke always seemed to be bidding friends farewell for the summer. Some were going on vacations to Spain, France and Nippon while still others were going out into the workforce, their mandatory education out of the way.
Once again, Luke would be spending the summer alone in the house while his mother worked at Jordan College. Since Dame Hannah's death, Lyra had become the only aleithometer expert in the greater Oxford area and she was constantly being consulted by people of all kinds: generals wanting to know where to attack, old men wanting to know which of their children should receive their inheritance, even minor royalty came asking various questions about the affairs of the government. So for most of the day, Luke was alone.
Well, not totally alone…
Luke kicked a pile of blankets on the bed. "Kameo! Kameo get up before Mum has a bloody conniption."
A black snout peaked out from under the sheets. "Tell her I need five more minutes…" the nose mumbled sleepily.
Luke threw the blankets back revealing a small artic fox curled up in a ball. "Tell her yourself, we're going to be late!"
Kameo groaned and slowly stretched out. Her lithe, limber figure and snowy white fur made her one of the most beautiful daemons in Oxford. She secretly enjoyed the power such beauty came with using and abusing it at every opportunity to get what she, or Luke, wanted. Once Kameo was in a mild state of consciousness, they headed downstairs.
"Morning Mum!" Luke called out. "How did you…" Luke had to cut his sentence short as a book came flying at his head from out of the living room. Luke cautiously peeked around the doorframe to find the house in chaos.
Lyra was tearing the house apart, moving piles of junk and tearing things off walls in a frantic search occasionally muttering phrases like. "Where in blazes…Had it here last night…No, not there…"
"Alright, Mum?" Luke asked his refuge behind the doorframe.
"No, I'm afraid not." Lyra said, standing up and tucking her hair behind her ears. People who had known Mrs. Coulter could instantly tell that Lyra was her daughter. She may have gotten her passionate personality from Lord Asriel, but her beauty clearly came from her mother's side.
"I can't seem to find my aleithometer." She said, moving a pile of magazines. "Any luck Pan?" she called.
Pan stuck his head over a pile of books like a gopher popping out of his hole. "No luck over here. Try the dining room."
"I thought I saw it in the kitchen on the counter." Luke offered helpfully
Lyra looked up suddenly. She made her way over to the counter covered in piles of papers and slid them into a trash bin, revealing the little black bundle.
"Oh, thank you." She said tucking the bundle into her worn, green rucksack. "Now I just need to find my books…"
"On the kitchen table."
"Right. Well, what about my lecture notes?"
"On the nightstand" Luke replied, grabbing his backpack.
"Glasses?"
"On your face, Mum." He said, breaking a few eggs in an iron skillet and heating them up to make an omelet
Lyra reached her hand up to touch the gold rims surrounding her eyes. "Oh…right."
Luke rolled his eyes. Sometimes his mum personified the absent minded professor. If it wasn't the books, it was the lecture notes, or glasses, or Pan…It seemed like her brain was constantly scattered over a hundred different things at once.
"Right, well I'm off." Lyra said moving towards the door. "Oh, and I'm going to have to stay late tonight. Will you be okay for dinner?"
Luke sighed. "I dunno…"
"Don't know." Lyra swiftly corrected. Luke rolled his eyes. Leave it to the grammar police…
Lyra looked at her son sympathetically. "Sorry, Luke, but the Master of Jordan is coming down and I can't afford to miss this." With that she, Pan, and her overflowing rucksack disappeared out the front door.
Luke sighed and threw his omelet in the trash bin. He had suddenly lost his appetite as he imagined the bleak and lonely summer before him. He threw a sandwich and an apple in his backpack before setting out the front door.
"Let's go, Kam. If another boring summer lies ahead of us then we might as well get a jump on it…"
"Laura! You're going to miss the bus!"
Laura Parry groaned and tried in vain to block out the sound of her father's voice with her comforter pulled tightly over her head. Ignore him, she thought. He can't keep it up forever and sooner or later…
"LAURA!!!!"
Letting out an exasperated sigh, Laura kicked the covers of her and stood up. Brushing her dark blonde hair out of her eyes, she dove into her closet looking for an outfit to wear.
"LAURA!!!"
"Coming, dad!" she shouted, slipping into a pair of jeans and pulling a sweatshirt over her thin frame. Running down the stairs, she walked in on her father cooking up an omelet.
"Morning." He said eying his daughter's attire. "You do know that it's May, don't you?" he said, commenting on her sweatshirt and jeans.
"Well I didn't exactly have time to pick out a suitable outfit." She said shortly, grabbing a Pop-Tart from the cabinet. "I have to go. Bye Dad!"
"Wait." Laura turned around swiftly to face her father.
"Yes?" she said, tapping her foot in pure annoyance.
"I have to work late tonight, are you going to be alright for dinner?"
"I don't know…I guess…"
"Great. The bus is here." He said dryly turning back to his omelet.
Laura sighed as she walked out the front door and into the warm summer morning. She truly hated her father's job. The vice-presidential position at one of Oxford's most prestigious law firms may pull in six figures, but it seriously put a cramp on Laura's relationship with her father. He would work all day then come home around ten and go right to bed. The only time she ever saw him was on the weekends and even then he was constantly in a surly mood.
Oh well, she thought as she stepped up into the bus. Another boring summer…
"Will you cut that out?" Kameo asked Luke, furiously.
Luke was laying on his bed after school, bouncing a ball off the wall with his left hand and catching it in his right. The dull, repetitive, thud, thud, thud, was annoying the white fox daemon.
"Sorry." Luke mumbled, tossing the ball onto a pile of clothes in the corner. "It's just that…"
"What?" Kameo asked propping herself up on a pillow, looking at her human's troubled expression.
"It's just that I'm so damn BORED!" Luke sighed, standing up and moving to his window and peering out across the street at the university's botanic garden. "Every summer it's the same bloody thing! Mum works all day and I'm stuck here alone doing absolutely nothing!"
"Why don't we go out with some friends?" Kameo suggested helpfully
"Like who? Mike is going to the States to visit his uncle; Kevin is taking cooking lessons in France; even Carla is going bloody tiger hunting in Malaysia! But not me, oh no! The closest thing to an adventure I've ever had is taking the wrong train and winding up on the other side of town!" he flopped down on the bed, causing his daemon to bounce a little. "I just want something, anything, to happen to break this mind numbing monotony…" he sighed, stroking Kameo behind her ears.
"Cheer up, Luke." She said, nuzzling his hand. "Let's take a walk before Mum and Pan get home. You could use the fresh air."
Luke sighed and sprung off his mattress. "Alright." Luke grabbed his coat, his wallet and a watch and headed for the door. As the cool summer air rushed in the now open door, Luke cast a glance back at his empty house.
"What is it?" Kameo asked
"I-I dunno." Luke said. "It…it feels like I'm not coming back here for a while…"
"Don't be ridiculous," his daemon chided. "We're just going for a walk through the garden. We'll be back in half an hour tops."
"Yeah…I guess you're right." They stepped out into the warm summer evening but even as the crossed the street, Luke couldn't shake that feeling. He had a strange premonition that something was about to happen to him.
In less than an hour, he would be proven right…
"GET THE FUEL ROD GUN!" Laura yelled into her Xbox live headset at her teammate in Japan. "HE'S GETTING INTO THE BANSHEE!!! SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD! SHOOT HIM IN THE HEAD! YOU DON'T HAVE TIME TO RELOAD JUST SHOOT HIM IN THE…AAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!" Laura screamed as her player exploded in a bright ball of flame and bright red letters saying BURNINATED! Flashed across the screen (AN: NAME THE GAME!!! QUICK! QUICK!!!)
"IT'S CALLED COVERING FIRE YOU LOSERS!!! I SUGGEST YOU PEONS BRUSH UP ON IT BEFORE YOU DARE SHOW YOUR FACES ON MY SERVER AGAIN!!!" She yelled into her microphone as a stream of Japanese curses flowed out the earpiece.
She threw the headset down in disgust and switched off the TV. Video games always seemed to raise her blood pressure and enhance any bad mood she was presently savoring. Since she didn't want to deal with the mindless rabble of the online community, Laura found herself without a means to entertain herself.
Well dad's not home so we could always poke around his office… A little voice chimed in from Laura's head.
No! Another little voice butted in. Father would not like us browsing through his personal property!
Don't listen to her! The evil voice said again. She's gonna try to lead you down the path of righteousness and purity! Stick with me and I'll lead you down the path that ROCKS!!!!!
There areplenty of other wholesome activities we could do without disturbing father's study! The moral voice replied.
Like?
Um…there's…well
Laura shook her head putting an end to the inner turmoil. She turned her head towards the oak doors that opened into her father's private study. Ever since they had moved to the tiny flat Laura had never been allowed within a nuclear blast radius of the study. In fact it was after her father's annual visits to the Botanic Garden that he would barricade himself within the book covered walls and sulk for the remainder of the day. Laura harbored a powerful curiosity as to what was inside but the threat of discovering something shocking and disturbing about her father had always kept her away. Laura stood up looking at the door, almost as if it were calling her name. Finally boredom overcame her doubts and fears.
Good girl. The evil voice chimed in as she made her way towards the door. Or rather, bad girl…
Luke carelessly skipped a stone across the small pond. He watched it skip once, twice, thrice before submerging on the far shore with a resounding plunk. Luke allowed his eyes to travel up from where the rock landed to a small bench underneath the branches of a low hanging tree. His eyes lingered on the bench for a few seconds. There was something strange about the bench and although he couldn't put his finger on it Luke felt drawn there by some strange and invisible force. A powerful sense of foreboding suddenly overcame him and he had to look away.
"What's wrong?" Kameo asked, feeling her human's fear.
"I-I dunno." He stuttered, swallowing hard. "I know it sounds stupid, but it feels like that bench…I dunno. It's like our fates are tied to that bench…"
"Hmmm…well, you're right about one thing."
"Really? What?"
"That DOES sound really stupid."
Luke tossed a pinecone (Do pine trees grow in England?) at his daemon who barely got out of the way in time. The playful quarrel diverted his mind from the ominous piece of garden furniture long enough for the matter to slip his attention.
Suddenly, Luke heard a soft meow and felt a warm presence rub against his leg. HE glanced down to see a stray tabby cat rubbing against his shin. She was a large cat, about the size of the fox daemon at his other side, with brightly multicolored fur. Her most shocking features were her large, electric blue eyes that glowed with an almost eerie sort of intelligence.
Kameo tentatively sniffed the cat before retreating behind Luke's leg. "Luke, I don't like her!" she said fearfully, "There's something funny about this cat."
"Oh come on, Kam, she's perfectly harmless." Luke said extending a hand to touch the cat. "Aren't you kitty kitty?"
The cat purred softly. Then, without warning, she pounced at Luke, tackling him to the ground with unnatural strength. Before Luke could even cry out she leapt off of him with something gold in her mouth.
"My watch!" Luke cried out in dismay. "That mangy feline got my watch!" The watch had been a birthday present from his mother and to see a scruffy street cat run off with it was too much for Luke to bear.
"Oooh, you picked the WRONG GUY YOU THEIVING RAT!" Luke seethed before scrambling off after it with Kameo fast at his heels
.
Thirty minutes later, Luke and Kameo had chased the cat to a remote part of the garden. The foliage here was older than and not as manicured as the rest of the exhibits. Tall, lean hornbeam trees created a small circular grove shielding the leaf covered ground from most of the sun. A few rays penetrated the branches, illuminating dust particles as they drifted down from the branches.
The cat looked back, the glittering timepiece dangling from its jaws. As Luke hopped a fallen log. He couldn't help but feel like the cat was leading them somewhere. Finally the cat stopped, standing in the middle of the small grove as the boy and his daemon entered the clearing.
"Alright you…" Luke said, bending over while trying to catch his breath. "You give that here or else I'll…"
"Luke." His daemon quipped.
"What?"
"Are you actually threatening a tabby cat?"
Silence
"Alright smartarse! You get it then!" Luke sneered, crossing his arms
"Right! C'mere you silly little bleeder!" Kameo lunged and ran full force at the cat with a murderous look in her eye. NO ONE dragged her and her human across Hell's half acre, dirtying her usually pristine white fur and got away eith it. The cat, for all the world, looked amused at the daemon's fury. As Kameo closed the distance between her and the cat, the cat sat back on his haunches as if he was about to pounce. Finally he sprang forward at the charging fox…
And vanished.
Kameo tripped over herself in surprise, tumbling into a yipping, flailing ball before coming to a rest where the cat had vanished.
"Whe…wha….wh…WHAT THE HELL JUST HAPPENED?!?!?!" Luke managed to spit out, gawking at the patch of air that had been a cat a few moments earlier before running over to aid his flustered partner.
"I dunno…" Kameo said, walking around the spot, sniffing here and there. She walked around to where the cat had jumped when she suddenly jumped back, fur bristling and teeth bared.
"Kam, what is it?" Luke said apprehensively, eyeing his daemon's sudden mood swing.
"I…I…I….oh, just come here and look!" she said fearfully eyeing the spot in the air.
Luke walked around to where his daemon stood. As he slowly followed her gaze from the ground up, he noticed with a start that in one particular spot the foliage was totally different from the surrounding area. The brilliant green grass seemed to grow in one spot only and was only visible from the angle he was looking at it from. The trees in the background were different as well. Tall oak and cedar trees replaced the hornbeams and cast longer shadows over the ground, contrasting sharply from the patches of sunlight that appeared only a few feet before. Even the smell was different. Luke couldn't quite place it, but the air smelled…dirty; like the air after a fire had burned for a long time.
"What d'ya think it is, Luke?" Kameo asked fearfully pawing the air spot.
"I dunno, Kam, it's like it's…." They were both thinking the same thought but neither dared to mention it. It was just too absurd.
"A whole different world..." a voice said.
Luke and Kameo spun around to find the owner of the voice but there was no one there. It was as if the voice came from thin air. Forgetting about the watch, Luke and Kameo shared a glance fearful glance before tentitivily crossing the threshold into the unknown garden that lay before them.
In the park, under a tree, was a cozy bench made of wood. Instead of the usual Midsummer's occupants, a young man with dark brown hair dressed in silk short-sleeved shirt and long black pants took their place. He looked up from the thick leather book he was reading to check his wristwatch for the fifth time that hour. His head snapped up as he heard leaves rustling behind him. A large multi-colored cat padded up from behind a bush with a watch dangling from her mouth. The young man chuckled and stowed his book in his leather rucksack.
"You're late." he said simply, speaking in an icy French accent.
When he turned to face the cat again, she was gone and a beautiful teenage girl stood in her place.
The girl spat the watch out of her mouth and twisted the chain around her fingers. "He fell behind." she replied in a similar accent. "I had to double back just so I wouldn't lose him." Throwing him the watch
"So he found the window?" he said eyeing the timepeice before slipping it inot his pocket
"Yes." she replied. The young man breathed a sigh of releif, visibly relaxing. The girl bit her lip and looked away.
"We both know you want to say something, Delila. Let's here it." the young man said, turning to .
"You're risking a lot you know!" she finally said, fear creeping into her voice. "If they find out what you are doing they'll..."
The young man whipped his sunglasses off and locked eyes with her. She gasped: no matter how many times she saw them, they still seemed unnatural. Eyes weren't supposed to be that color...
"Then you had better make sure they don't find out." he said simply. With that, he drew a intricate obsidian blade from his pocket and pricked his finger with it causing a drop of blood to fall to the ground. The blood spread rapdly on the ground, blackening as it expanded far beyond the quantity of one drop. The patch of black imploded and began to draw everything into it.
The young man turned back. "You coming?" he asked before stepping into the portal and vanishing. The girl looked nervously around before joining him. seconds later the portal vanished, leaving no trace that it had ever been there.
.
Laura had finally jimmied the lock to her father's study open after nearly half an hour of work. She tried all lock picking techniques known to man, hairpin, credit card, chisel and hammer, nail file and staple remover before going for the slightly unorthodox coat hanger and chewing gum. The oak doors finally groaned open, revealing the handsome oak-furnished study. A desk sat in front of an open window with a perfect view of the Oxford skyline housing a collection of official looking documents. Shelves upon shelves of books lined the walls, creating multicolored wallpaper consisting of the different colors of the spines.
While all of this may have been impressive to a doctor or a lawyer, Laura found it quite boring. She was about to head out the door and watch Monty Python's Flying Circus re-runs when she collided with the book case. The massive oak monolith of literature rocked back and forth, nudged by the sudden jolt it had received. Laura flung her hands up to stop it but it was too late. At least three hundred books came crashing down on her head. Laura sat up and looked around. The once pristine study was now a disaster area of fallen books.
"Damit!" Laura swore. Panicking, she grabbed handfuls of books and started shoving them back on the shelf haphazardly.
Thirty minutes later Laura had replaced almost all of the scattered books. As Laura picked the last one up, something made her take it off the shelf again. She held it up to her ear and shook it. A faint rattling sound came from within.
"Books don't rattle…" she mused to no one in particular. Upon further investigation, she discovered a small keyhole on the cover. Smirking to herself, she popped another piece of gum in her mouth and took a coat off of its hanger.
Five minutes later, the book safe snapped open. Laura pulled the cover back to reveal the contents that her father had worked so hard to keep secret from her. Inside the box were thirty two shards of metal and a charred wooden knife handle…
AN: FINALS ARE OVER! I'M BACK BITCHES!!! K got to get the disclaimers out of the way
The game is Halo
The book is HDM
The song is Dream Theater
Kameo is from Kameo Elements of Power (Not a very good game...)
The path that rocks is the Emperor's New Groove
And of course Monty Python is Monty Python
I own NONE OF THEM!!!
And now for something completely different….
It's…review time! R&R and I'll see U next time!