Before Tokyo, my life had been perfectly normal. You remember the terrorist attack on Tokyo, right? It was in the news everywhere. First, we had no idea what had happened, and then the news started dripping in. A bomb had been set off in the subway during rush hour. A biological weapon. And as the death count rose, a large part of the city was quarantined off, and all contact was lost with the people trapped inside. In the end, we were told they had all died of whatever agent had been unleashed via the bomb, part of Tokyo stayed walled off and was declared uninhabitable, and the world moved on for most people.
For most people, yes, but there were those of us whose life changed in the aftermath, even if we never had set foot in Tokyo.
I remember going to sleep that night. It was late October, and it was unseasonably warm. I had a strange dream, a nightmare from which I could not wake up no matter how I tried. And then I finally did wake up, but the nightmare didn't end. I was floating in the air, above my bed. Lightning was shooting out of my eyes, fireballs were flying from my fingertips. And ice… well, trust me, you don't want to know about that.
I slowly got the power that was flowing through me under control, at least enough that I wasn't destroying everything around me. I was terrified, and so was my daughter. We'd only ever seen such a thing in the movies. Jessie, my daughter, wanted to call the hospital, but what were we going to say?
In the end, we decided not to tell anyone. I mean, who can you tell? I was sure that if we would call someone, guys in black suits would put me in an unmarked van, take me away and I'd never be heard from again. So we tidied up the mess, binned what was broken, and took a deep breath. Over the next few days, I learned to channel my magic almost at will. I could make a bolt of lightning jump from one hand to the other, I could light a candle with a flame from my fingertip. It was pretty awesome! I also lost half my weight in the span of a few days, my hair was fuller, my breasts were firmer, and I looked twenty years younger overall. I wasn't complaining about that, as you can surely understand. But I was more than a little freaked out, to be honest.
And then the doorbell rang. A beautiful woman in a very expensive suit pushed right past me as I cautiously opened the door. "Bee problem?" she asked. I had no idea who she was or what she was talking about. She represented a large secret organisation based in London, she said, and they were recruiting. The world was in turmoil, she explained, dark days were coming. They were looking for soldiers and agents. Crusaders. She told me they could offer good terms, a fresh start, a network unlike any other, and a way to harness and use my powers. "You can choose to become an outcast in a world that will never understand or accept what you have become, or you can join others like you. Take a stand against the rising darkness, and journey into the Secret World." She then warned me my newfound powers would attract others, and not all of them would be as accommodating as they were. I would be easy prey on my own. The lady, I never got her name, handed me an envelope. "There are instructions inside. Use it, don't use it, the choice is yours. You won't see me again. I'll trust you'll make the right decision." Then she left.
Inside the envelope was a plane ticket from Dublin airport to London, a brand new passport with my name and photograph, some travel money and an address in London for the headquarters of an organisation called "The Templars". I travelled to London the next day.
I took a cab from the airport, but it only got me to the right neighbourhood, since the road was cordoned off. "This is Ealdwic, lass, good luck to you," the driver said.
The police officers let me through eventually, and I made my way down the street. It was a street like any you'd see in London really, there were shops and a chippy, a post office and a barber. I still had no idea where to go.
There was a Morninglight stall on the street, and I deftly dodged the lady trying to hand me a flyer. That cult was everywhere nowadays, quite a few celebrities had joined too. Truth to be told, I had no idea what they even believed in, just that it was some vague nonsense about "a new world, a new you". Well, I was a new me I supposed, but I had no interest in joining a cult, my life was already becoming wacky enough as it was.
A little bit further on there was a street artist doing a puppet show. There were some onlookers, and I hoped maybe one of them could tell me where to go. So I stopped and waited politely for the show to finish. I started feeling woozy. I should have eaten something on the plane, I thought. And then the world went dark.
A kind woman helped me up. I had fainted, I realised. And I had a vision. Or a memory, or something. But I remember being in Tokyo and experiencing Ground Zero through the eyes of another agent.
The bomb wasn't biological, it was magical in nature. People were infected with something dark, something horrible. Something that made them go insane and grow black tentacles out of their heads. And then the ground opened up, and a creature came out, something dark, powerful and ancient. Something Lovecraftian.
The woman was still talking to me. She told me to go to the Templar's headquarters, and speak to Richard Sonnac. The same name as I had been given in my instructions. She pointed me in the right direction, it was just around the corner.
A large and impressive building decorated with red and white flags stood in a courtyard, and guards in impressive uniforms of red and white were everywhere. I felt nervous as I walked up the stairs, I had no idea what to expect. Magic, visions, I wasn't ready for any of it. Or was I? All my life I had dreamt of something bigger, something better. All my life I had devoured fantasy books, superhero movies, and TV shows about young girls slaying vampires and young men killing demons. I had always known none of that was real, but part of me had always wondered, always hoped that there was more to life. And that if there was, I would be the one to step up, to make a difference, to help people. To be the hero. To be the Chosen One.
"You are NOT the chosen one, nor are you the only one. Never mind why this power has been awakened in you, you are now part of an army, and from now on you will do as you are told. That is the way of the Templars.
You have the ability to manifest anima, your life force, into the physical world. To enhance your strength, your physical attributes. To do magic.
Whatever trinket you hold in your hand is merely a way to direct your powers. We don't do magic wands here. Through your weapon you channel and wield your magic."
I looked at the weapon in my hand. It looked suspiciously like multiple USB cables tied together. The Brigadier shrugged apologetically. "There are a lot of you, we all have to make do."
I was in the training room. Before that, I had spoken to Richard Sonnac. A black man in a well-tailored suit, Richard was eloquent and charismatic. He explained that The Templars were not, as a matter of fact, "The Knights Templar". Not anymore. The organisation was now a non-denominational forward-facing organisation, whatever that meant.
One purpose of the organisations, because there was more than one organisation it seemed, was to keep the existence of the supernatural, the Secret World, hidden from society. The other was to protect society from it.
"We are at war. Might will make right, and it will fall upon us to judge the correct application of might. It falls upon you, as a soldier of the Templars."
It was a rousing speech, but it didn't exactly explain a lot of things to me. I hoped things would become a bit clearer over time.
And now I was in the training room. A huge hall, with a red carpet, a fancy bar, and opera music playing on speakers. Oh, and chained demons on the wall. To practice on, I supposed. It seemed a bit cruel, but what did I know?
It turned out there wasn't much practising to be done either. I had my sad little bunch of USB cables to help me channel my elemental magics.
I tried some other weapons like guns, rifles, swords, and even a hammer, but it didn't feel right to me. I just felt silly wielding a sword or hammer, and guns were not my thing at all. In the end, I ended up with an old musty tome instead. A focus for Blood Magic.
I should probably explain how magic works. As the brigadier had said, we use weapons to channel anima. A gun, in our hands, doesn't shoot real bullets but helps us form magic ones. Some magic can hurt people, others can heal them. Some can do both.
My elemental powers are simple: I can turn my anima into fire, ice or lightning to hurt my enemies. At the start my spells were simple too; I could fling a bolt of lightning, a shard of ice, a tiny fireball.
Blood Magic is more complicated; it uses the power of blood, of life itself. It takes blood from both the caster and the recipient and can be used to heal or to do harm. Because I heal so quickly, the amount of blood taken from me usually doesn't affect me very much, but in large quantities, I could get woozy or even die. Not that dying is a problem to me. I should explain that as well probably.
This is becoming quite the info dump, I am terribly sorry, I'm not a very good writer. As you may have noticed, no one had explained to me what exactly had happened to me, how I had gained my powers, and what they were exactly.
It took me a long time to piece it together, and I can't exactly remember what I learned when, so let me just fill you in now so you won't be as confused as I was:
I gained my powers a few days after the terrorist attack on Tokyo. The one that was magical in nature. Something dark and horrible was unleashed on the world. We call it "the Filth". The Filth seeps into an area and infects it, affecting people and animals, the land itself and sometimes even magical creatures. Once a creature has become infected the Filth slowly drives it insane and they become violent. Victims of the Filth appear with black splotches on their skin and twisting tentacle-like tendrils coming out of their bodies, like in a bad anime. So, pretty bad, all in all.
In response to this Gaia, the earth itself, unleashed a swarm of magical bees to counteract the Filth, to fight it. People ingested these bees, granting them various super-human properties including the use of magic, super quick healing and the ability to run and jump farther than an Olympic athlete. Like as if Steve Rogers and Wanda Maximoff had a baby!
Yes, I swallowed a bee in my sleep, gross huh?
Oh, and then there is immortality. Did I mention I'm immortal? I can't die. Well, that is not completely true. I can die, but then I end up in the spirit world. It looks like our world, only greyer, and hazier, and is inhabited by spirits. If I can find my way back to my body, I can just slip back in so to say. And if I can't, Gaia's bees will whisk my corpse away and I will wake up in a safe place nearby. That doesn't mean I don't feel pain, I do, but I do have an abnormally high tolerance for it.
Back to the training. Which as I said, wasn't much. Once I showed the brigadier I could cast some basic spells he sent me right back to Richard Sonnac's office.
"Recently, a small island community on the New England coast dropped off the map. We suspect there are dark forces at play."
I was confused. Was I hired? Did I get the job? Was I an agent now?
Richard did not seem to notice my confusion and kept on talking. He explained that Solomon Island had a long history. In the past, it belonged to the Illuminati. Yes, those Illuminati, I asked. It seemed they were another organisation that was part of The Secret World. The Illuminati and Templars did not get along well, from what I gathered, but there was now a truce between them.
Richard felt it wasn't wise to rely on the Illuminati to clean up their own messes. It was up to me to find out what had happened on the island.
"Let me stress this is not a rescue operation. Our goal is the salvation of all of mankind, not on a case-by-case basis. Leave as soon as you can. Your travel arrangements have already been made at the Ealdwic Underground. I'll be in touch."
And just like that, I was dismissed. Off to Ealdwic Underground, to save mankind or something like that.
The first thing I did once I stood outside again was to call Jessie. During my short time in the training hall, my phone had been taken away and replaced with a new one. This phone was highly encrypted and would get a signal almost anywhere in the world. It was also far better than my old phone, which couldn't even run any apps. I saw they had kindly copied over my music onto it too.
"Hey sweetie, it's mum. I am now a secret agent it seems, I think they hired me!" I felt silly saying it out loud. Can you imagine your mum being hired as a secret agent? "They are sending me on a mission to New England, and I have to leave right away."
"Oh, okay, so you won't be home for dinner? Will you be home tonight? Tomorrow?" Jessie sounded anxious. I should probably explain. Jessie is in her late teens, she's in her final exam year of Secondary School. For most of her life, it had been just the two of us. Jessie suffers from anxiety, she is a high functioning neurodivergent. We live our lives following a strict routine, and I had never not been there at dinnertime, let alone been away for a night.
"I don't know yet, I'm so sorry. There's lasagna in the fridge with instructions on how to heat it, and I will call you when I get to the US, okay?"
After talking a little while longer I hung up and asked a guard for directions. The Underground was right where I came from on my way to Temple Hall, I had walked past it on the way but never noticed it.
Ealdwic Underground Station was closed. I had followed the signs down the stairs, but the platforms were barred by locked metal gates which from the look of things had been there for quite a while. There was no ticket machine, and the ticket booths were boarded up. I was confused.
My first instinct was to call Richard, but when I got my phone out I realised that "Hi, this is your new agent, I can't even work my way out of Ealdwic by myself, what do I do?" would not make a good impression.
I looked around again. There were no other people around, and the magazine that was left on a bench was dusty and dated from years ago. Was this a test? Was I being hazed?
I walked back to the stairs, and just as I did I saw another person walking down them and then disappearing down the second set of stairs. I hadn't gone that way since I was following the signs to the platforms, but now I quickly went down them.
It is hard to explain what was down the stairs. There was a short tunnel, overgrown with lush vines and leaves, leading to a hole in the wall that was glowing with a golden light. Bees were buzzing around it, and it was warm. It was like standing in a forest meadow in the summer sun, all warm and pleasant and lazy. It felt so good. It felt like I had always belonged there, as if I was coming home. I stepped through and set foot into Agartha, the Hollow Earth, for the first time.
The area I was in was huge and glowing with the same warm golden light. In the middle was the biggest tree I had ever seen. I could not see the branches, and when I very cautiously peered down, I could not see the roots either. Branch after branch grew from the tree for as far as the eye could see, each one leading to a portal.
The branch I was standing on was broad and flat, but it had no railings, and I walked very carefully to the station master that was standing a few feet away. Yes, the station master, he had a uniform and cap and everything.
"Welcome to the Hollow Earth, to Agartha. I hope you are not here for the local service, but you seem like more of a world traveller to me."
I wondered what made me look like a world traveller to him. Was it my sensible flat shoes, my navy winter coat? The backpack I usually used for grocery shopping?
"Distance and time bend in here," the station master continued, "why, you can cross the globe in a brisk walk! No one is entirely sure how it works, but I am assured It's entirely safe. You'll need one of these."
I was handed something that looked like a seed; glowing with golden light and warm to the touch. "Consider it your anchor to the Hollow Earth. It can return you here in a flash. Well then, onward to the New England coast," and he pointed in the right direction.
I carefully walked over the branches to the portal he had pointed at and stepped through, nervously wondering what I had gotten myself into.