chyp: Thanx, you know the drill.
Jordan wandered the busy afternoon streets, open-eyed at how different everything looked from the future he had always known. As he shuffled along the sidewalk, he thought back to the happier time that in many ways was similar to this. He remembered walking around downtown, shopping with his girlfriend. He remembered seeing someone performing a sideshow every now and then, while onlookers stopped to watch. Thinking about those times only made his current situation seem that much more shocking. How could things have transformed so drastically and so quickly? He knew what he had to do, and shook his head at the enormity of the task.
First, he would have to track down a man named Benjamin Keating. To Jordan, this man was possibly the most important person of that time. His mind thought back to the future. After a few moments of mind searching, he finally remembered that Benjamin Keating was a professor of physics at Georgia Institute of Technology, better known as Georgia Tech. The only problem now was to find him amidst so many people. From what he could remember, the two had never even met. He died long before Jordan got a chance to meet him, but he remembered hearing his name every so often. If this man was still alive, Jordan had to find him…and kill him.
He noticed the strange looks passersby gave him; his blood-soaked shirt made him stick out like a sore thumb. He stopped in front of a Starbucks and felt his stomach grumble. His mind was so focused on the task at hand that he forgot that he had to eat! He couldn't remember the last time anything went into his mouth. He turned his pockets out; they were both empty. His spirits dropped momentarily before he spotted a newsstand across the street.
Taking his mind off of his intense hunger and the pain in his shoulder, he darted through the traffic, almost getting hit by a car. Angry drivers honked at him furiously, having had to suddenly slam on their brakes. He gave them apologetic looks, but kept going until he reached the portable convenience store. The owner, an older gruff looking man with a thick mustache, saw Jordan coming and slowly stood up from his stool, already placing the approaching youth as a troublemaker. Jordan reached the run down newsstand; there were definitely none of them in his own time that looked as untechnological as this one.
"Can I help you with something?" the owner asked, carefully eyeing Jordan.
"Um," Jordan said, breathing heavily, "could I please see today's paper?"
"Dollar and a half," the old man told him, shoving a copy into Jordan's hands.
Jordan ignored the man's words and immediately scanned across the front page. As his deep blue eyes locked on the upper right corner of the page, Jordan reached into his back pocket. A wave of panic swept across his face as he realized that his pocket was empty. He went into a state of deep concentration. He closed his eyes, doing some quick mental calculations. His eyes opened very wide; if his calculations were right then…
"Oh no!" he cried out as he dropped the paper and set off down the street, leaving the owner of the newsstand there, waving his fist.
Jordan rushed the streets of downtown Atlanta until he was too tired to take another step. He pounded his fists against a brick wall. If what he saw on the front page of the newspaper was correct, then he might already be too late. He had no choice but to hurry. He took off down the streets; with no money, and with too many people around, he set off painfully on foot towards Georgia Tech.
Sam parked her white Volkswagen Beetle just in front of the power company, Georgia Electric, and calmly but quickly walked inside. She bypassed all of her coworkers and headed straight for her office. Once inside, a brilliant white light surrounded her body and she vanished from the office.
She reappeared in what appeared to be an endless hallway, where everything was immaculately white. She was no longer dressed normally; her clothes had been replaced by a long white robe that dragged freely behind her. She seemed to float, rather than walk, to a large room that revealed itself to her. She hovered over to group of beings who were covered in robes similar to her own, except they were golden and sparkling. They sat across a large panel that appeared to stretch from wall to wall. Sam bowed before the nine of them, acknowledging their power.
They were known as the Superiors. In the hierarchy of good and evil, the Superiors sat at the top of the side of good and watched over everything. They served as the advisors of Guardians. Thousands of years ago, when more primitive people walked the earth, the Superiors were there to help them adapt to their surroundings. They inconspicuously walked among them, disguised as normal humans, and subtly introduced them to various things that would be of great importance. They brought fire to the very first humans, the wheel soon after, the knowledge to fashion tools from stones, and the ability to hunt for food and provide shelter for themselves. From these rudimentary survival skills came the more sophisticated skills. Man would not have survived had it not been for the Superiors.
As humans became more aware of their surroundings, a small group of Superiors decided to introduce basic magic to them, hoping to create a better world for everyone. Instead, some of the humans eventually succumbed to evil, having used their newfound powers selfishly. The Superiors soon took back their magic and separated themselves from the humans to let them fend for themselves, but a few humans managed to keep their magic hidden. Centuries later, the forbidden magic spread through the generations, good and bad, and combined with evolution, creating the first witches, warlocks, demons, and other supernatural beings.
Wars erupted as the good magical forces fought to subdue the evil magical forces. The Superiors soon began to argue over whether or not to destroy all magical beings, which resulted in a great schism between them and left only nine on the side of good. With everything in disarray, the remaining good Superiors decided to help the good humans. They created a race of their own, infusing them with their own magical essence, and called them Guardians because their job was to watch over good witches. Now, every good witch had a Guardian assigned to them, not only to help them grow accustomed to their powers, but to guide them and help them adjust.
"I received your message," she said, looking around. "There must be something extraordinary going on, but where is everyone else?"
"Samantha," the Superior called Alpha said, "we called you here because there is something we need to discuss with you."
"As you know," the second Superior, Beta, continued, "Guardians exist solely to watch over and guide witches, neophyte or not. They are not to mix their personal lives with their professional lives."
"Yes," Sam said, blushing slightly. She bowed a little to hide her face. "What does this have to do with me?"
"We have detected a young witch," Alpha informed her. "He is outside of his time."
"But time travel happens a lot," Sam said. "Is there something special about this particular witch?"
"You must know this," the third Superior, Gamma, explained. "Guardians and witches are not, under any circumstances, to be together. There is very good reason for that. There was no precedent for it the first time it happened. As you know, that union produced one of the most powerful witches in history. For that reason, we banned future Guardians from having relationships with witches. We were afraid that another union would disrupt the cosmic balance. Therefore, any Guardians discovered with witches were to be immediately stripped of their powers; they were to become mortal."
"I know," Sam said. "That's the basic rule. Every Guardian knows it. But what is so important that you called me and me alone?"
"Samantha," a fourth Superior, Delta, said to her, "this witch that we have mentioned is half-witch and half-Guardian. We do not know why he is here, nor do we know how he got here. We do know that it has something to do with you."
"I don't understand," Sam said, looking confused. "What do you mean?"