Adventures of John: And So Begins the War

Chapter 3: Strange Revelations

For the next few days nothing happened. I spent the weekend watching out for more events, but it seemed as if there was no more strangeness forthcoming. Saturday went by with the only special event being a candlelight vigil for my friend Lazarus, though that was a fairly emotional event. Sunday and Monday had absolutely nothing interesting happening. Yet those things continued to whisper in everyone's ear, what I had no idea.

Then after an equally uneventful Tuesday I woke up in the middle of the night. Back in Arendelle I had just been playing with the children, so I was a bit peeved that I was back in our world. My frustration didn't last long however, as I sensed a dark energy in the air. Something was happening, something bad. Quickly throwing on some clothes I walked outside, walking barefoot out into the street. As I walked I heard the sounds of shouting. I rushed toward the noise and saw two men arguing, one of them with dozens of the Chaos entities swirling around his head, the other with Order entities surrounding him. The first man was raging, spittle flying from his mouth, while the second man spoke calmly and reasonably, yet with anger still very present in his tone. The man under the influence of Chaos pulled out a gun and I ran forward, attempting to grab the gun from his hands.

Unfortunately he was much more muscular than I was without my magic, so he easily tossed me to the side. He shook his head in confusion as the Chaos creatures fled from my presence. The other man also shook his head, looking around in shock.

"How did I get here?" the second man asked.

"What happened?" the first one questioned. Looking down at his hands, he saw the gun and dropped it in shock. "Where did that come from?"

"You should probably get out of here," I told them, picking myself back up. "Go back home, both of you. Forget this night ever happened. Trust me, you will be a lot happier if you do. And take that stupid gun and throw it away." With that I walked away, leaving the two men staring after me in confusion. As I walked, I thought about what I had just witnessed. People were being manipulated by these forces, their thoughts and actions twisted by these entities. I had been able to stop this one, but things like this would be happening all over the world, and I couldn't be everywhere. I had to find a way to end this.

. . . . .

I would soon find that things were a lot worse than I thought. This morning I was walking from my car to school when I sensed something. Looking behind me I thought I saw something moving in the massive desert lot on the other side of the rode from my school. As I looked, I saw a massive dust storm spring up, an immense form hidden within. It sprang at me, a massive reptilian-bull creature, fanged mouth open wide to swallow me whole, and I instinctively struck out. Using a technique I developed after an unfortunate incident with a mind-controlled Superman, I created an invisible barrier at the second it hit, redirecting the force of its attack back on itself. The creature went flying, crashing hard into the ground. I conjured a blade and threw it at the beast, turning it to dust.

Looking around, I realized that no one seemed to have noticed the giant beast that was just rampaging through the parking lot. Also, the cars that should have been crushed by its passage were completely unscathed. But how was that possible? More importantly, how did I just use magic? I tried to use telekinesis on one of the cars, and while I could feel the energy, nothing happened. I conjured a flame and sent it shooting at one of the cars, only for it to pass harmlessly through. As I sent the flame I noticed that it was somewhat transparent, as if it wasn't completely there. What is the meaning of this? I wondered. I noticed then that people were beginning to glance in my direction. They didn't seem to have seen the magical flames, but they definitely noticed my exaggerated movements. I quickly walked to the school, wondering what had just happened.

In first period I took the first chance I had to meditate. Usually I meditate when I want to enter the state of consciousness required for traveling through the realms without the use of sleep, but at that moment I had more urgent matters. As I meditated I concentrated not on the realms themselves, but on their connection to our world. What I witnessed was terrifying. The barriers between the human world and the magical worlds were slowly being torn down by millions of the tiny creatures of Order and Chaos. At this moment I realized they weren't actually creatures, but representations of the effects of Order and Chaos that apparently only I was able to see. I could see the trillions of threads of mystical energy keeping the barriers in place slowly being torn away by the things. The war between Order and Chaos is literally ripping our world apart.

Our world is kept separate from the magical worlds for a reason. The creature I fought was something stuck halfway between our realm and the magical realms. In the state it was in it wouldn't have been able to harm anyone not magically gifted, but that is just the beginning. As the damage continues and the barriers grow weaker, those things that get caught in-between will get stronger, and soon they will be able to harm ordinary humans. If the barriers were to break down completely, our world and the magical realms would be one and the same. Metropolitan cities would suddenly find themselves in the middle of mystical forests or demonic wastelands. It would make the damage and chaos of World War Magic look like a Vegas magic show, and this time there is no Doctor around, no convenient magically-powered alien engine, no helpful Celestial beings from the dawn of time to help us turn back time and change it all. This is on us now.

All of you who are reading this, be careful. If any of you have a magical affinity or possess the ability to perceive these creatures, do whatever you can to help the ordinary people who cannot. This has become more dangerous than ever. I do not blame you if you chose to take a side in this conflict, either for Order or Chaos. It can be hard to stand up to such insurmountable odds. But I will still fight. There is no more good and evil here. There is no Dark Lord or demonic legion or Lich King to fight. There is no order of holy knights to join, no wise wizard to give us advice. Now it is up to each of us and our own conscience to choose how we will spend this dire time. Do we join a side? Do we sit back and hope that in all the devastation we are ignored? I will do neither. This world needs heroes now more than ever, in whatever shape they come in, and I don't plan on letting it down. I guess we'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if my words are put to the test.