As she clung to his body her visions were sharpening. “Walter! He’s nning to kill you… no… EVERYONE! Oh my god! You’re the trigger!”
Thewyer’s professional smile was wearing thin as he watched the young Subus disclosing his plot. His expression turned sour.
Eyes turned in his direction. Lise-Anne stepped forward. “We were told your seer abilities were untrainable.”
Marisa was shaking in Stanley’s arms but she faced the Minister of Security. “I’m untrainable by current seers because they aren’t powerful enough to guide me.” Her eyes turned to Walter who stepped back as the young woman’s eyes red bright white. “I see you for the monster you are, bringer of death, you diseased-”
“ENOUGH!” Walter roared and exploded upwards into his true form. He cast his wings wide and red down at the pitiful beings at his feet. “It’s toote for your whining. The spell is cast and primed. There is nothing you can do to keep young Stanley from fulfilling his true destiny.”
Sigrid was suddenly glowing with an intense white light in her armor. “And what destiny is that, foul creature.”
“The Death of Humanity,” the Dragon said with a wide smile.
Ulysses walked down the short hall towards the gathering, still clinging to the arm of the detective. He looked back at the man and grinned at the stupid look of incredulity on the detective’s face. He loved seeing how lost the man was.
He pulled him next to the wall and they stopped partially hidden behind some bushes. It wasn’t the best cover but nobody seemed to notice them.
Ever since he’d woken screaming in the night two days ago from a nightmare he couldn’t remember, he’d had a burning desire to confront the source of his current misery. Stanley Garin. The name resonated in his head. It drove him forward.
And there he was. The little runt himself.
He was next to Cam. Ulysses couldn’t stop a whimper of fear from escaping his lips when he saw her. His eyes shot to the detective but the man was still too stunned to notice any sound he made. He looked back to the people standing in the clearing. The young woman was falling and the hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Magic was being used. Powerful magic. He saw the Queen’s lips move to cause the grasses below Stanley’s feet to glow faintly. Then the old man grabbed Stanley’s hand and spoke words of another spell. Ulysses had no idea why this excited him so much. Something big was happening and he had no idea what it was except he had the weird sensation that it was exactly what was supposed to happen.
When the young woman screamed, he felt a sudden sharp pain at the base of his skull, like a pin prick or an insect bite. He no longer felt the excitement of a moment ago and he couldn’t understand why he was here at all. He didn’t want to be. The pain at the back of his head got worse and worse and he felt himself getting weaker and weaker. What was happening?
Harmon was lost. He’d stepped through the looking ss and nothing made sense. He was in the subbasement of a skyscraper in Manhatten and he was in a room that looked like a forest clearing. The air was fresh and sweet with the scent of flowers and trees. Insects were flying around and the sky above was… sky. Impossible sky!N?vel(D)rama.Org''s content.
He’d long stopped paying attention to the nutcase who’d brought him here. He was lost to his own thoughts.
Looking at the group of people he spotted Stanley Garin in the midst of them. He saw both of the Vimor women, the security man from VRL, the three people from the hallway outside Stanley Garin’s condo, and others.
Stanley was stripping naked? The young woman was screaming something-
Harmon felt his mind struggling to make sense of what his eyes were looking directly at. What happened to Stanley? What the hell was that? He nced back at Ulysses and screamed as he leapt away tond on his back, watching in horror.
The husk of Ulysses hung from the lips of an old crone who was sucking him dry as she filled out. She spat the remains of the man from her lips and smiled at the detective.
“It’s almost time to make our dramatic entrance,” she cackled. She pointed forward and Harmon couldn’t stop himself from standing and turning to face the group. When the old man transformed into a Dragon Harmon just shook his head as it couldn’t be real. The Valkyrie’s sudden brilliant presence pushed his mind a little further towards madness. The Dragon was saying Stanley was destined to destroy humanity?
“That’s our cue. Let’s join them, shall we?” the old woman said and Harmon found himself offering her his arm to support her as they walked forward.
The others suddenly gasped as they became aware of Baba Yaga walking towards them supported by the arm of a Human.
The Dragon hissed at the old woman but she paid it no attention as she was smiling at the Queen.
“Hello Mab.”
“Hello Witch,” the Queen said coldly.
Baba Yaga looked to Stanley and the young Subus clinging to him. She snorted and winked at the girl.
“Hello boy.”
“Hello Baba.”
The witch looked at the gathered people all staring back in shock and fear and she frowned. “Do you think its polite to expect my Stanley to stand before you in his true state while you hide behind these feeble disguises?”
Mr. Duncan was the first to drop his mor and stood before them in all his vicious glory.
Cam dropped hers and nced to the detective who seemed to be suffering shock after shock to his mind. She grew worried for him.
Sigrid allowed her armor and weapons to fade but kept her eyes on the Dragon who was moving uneasily, his eyes never leaving the witch. The hate in them was clear to see but she could tell he was plotting his next move. She would be ready for it.
The Council Ministers were less willing to drop their mors and Baba flicked a hand towards them in annoyance, ripping their disguises away.
Isaac’s buff body was reced with a skinny, scale covered one with a fish head. Stanley blinked in surprise.
Lise-Anne stood before them or rather hovered in ce on delicate translucent wings. Her fairy body was only six inches tall and she looked like a young girl. With a frustrated pout she allowed her body to expand in size until she was standing before them appearing as a 4′ tall child… with wings.
The tall man in sses was reced by a small man dressed entirely in brown. He was smaller in stature than Lise-Anne’s expanded child.
Rand’s change was minimal. He was a dwarven warrior and the only real change was the appearance of his leather battle armor and the two axes strapped to his back. He snorted at the witch.
Moaning in fear, Michelle tried to hide herself but in the circr clearing there was nowhere for her to go. Her transformation was the greatest. She was Humanoid from the tip of her scalp to her lower abdomen where her spider body began. While her Humanoid parts were covered in pale, almost white skin, the rest was covered in ck chitin armor. While the rest of her facial features were distinctly Human, her eyes wererge and ck with two additional, smaller eyes at her temples.
“Is there a need for such cruelty?” Queen Mab said to Baba Yaga.
The witch fixed her old eyes on the frowning Queen. “Cruel you say? Well, the Fae are experts in that aren’t they! Attempting to mind rape the girl. Raping the mind of my Stanley!” she finished with a yell and the ground rumbled with her anger.
“So why didn’t you protectyour Stanley?” Queen Mab asked sweetly, ignoring the other woman’s rage.
The witch snorted and fixed her eye on the Queen. “Though we like to pretend otherwise, andarefar more aware than these children, we aren’t omniscient, are we Mab. Besides, the boy learned a valuable lesson on the true nature of the Fae from that experience. As you know.”
“What about Mr. Zhou’s cruelty! He’s cursed Stanley!” Marisa cried out.
The Dragon hissed at the young Subus but Sigrid stood between them with a spear of blindingly white light suddenly in her hand.
The witch looked to Sigrid. “Put away your toys, woman. The Wyrm isn’t about to risk his death. He covets time more than any treasure to risk losing the rest of it.”
“Baba Yaga, please. Let me treat the Human,” Cam said, unable to take seeing the detective’s distress any longer.
The witch nced at the twitching Human and nodded with an annoyed frown to the Subus who slipped up to lead the man off to the side.
Cam turned him away from the others and held his eyes with hers as she caressed his temples to sooth him into a receptive state. Then she kissed him, overwhelming his mind with bliss to nk his short-term memories or at least fog them. She felt him rx further until she lowered him to the ground to rest his head in herp. His mind was calm and resting. With luck he’d put this down to a bad hallucination. Cam ran her fingers through his hair and he smiled in his sleep.
Baba walked up to Stanley, picked up his shirt and handed it to him. She gave his face a pat. It was the gentlest she’d ever touched him and he smiled at her as he tied the arms of his shirt around his waist to wear it like an apron.
“What did Walter do to me?” Stanley asked quietly.
The witch turned to the Dragon and frowned at the crick in her neck she got from looking up at him. She pointed at the ground before her and the huge head was dragged down to thud against the dirt. He struggled for a bit then held still with fear in his eyes as he realized he reallywasoutssed by the old woman standing before him.
“Tell me Wyrm of this masterful curse you’ve linked to the boy,” Baba said contemptuously.
The Dragon’s eyes red with hate once more. “You made it possible! Your heinous crime of killing a Dragon to harvest the switching abilities for your pet.”
Baba Yagaughed in his face and the rage built in the Dragon’s eyes.
“Stupid Wyrm! I didn’t kill your kin for the ability. It was chained in a pit of its own filth, wings savagely cut from its back by its Human captors.” She nced at Stanley’s face to ensure he heard yet another atrocity the Humans were guilty of. She turned her attention back to the Dragon. “Can you imagine its misery? It wanted to die but its chains prevented even this escape. I bargained with it. Its form altering ability for the perception of an eternity of bliss before it expired. It most gratefully epted.”
Stanley felt himself rx as once more he heard that his Baba was capable ofpassion and the ring he wore wasn’t the product of murder.
Walter was confused but still enraged. “The Humans must still die!”
“Why does he keep saying that? What has he done to me?” Stanley asked.
“I believe the Wyrm would like you to use the ring once more tounch the cursed spell.” Baba said and saw the excitement re in the Dragon’s eyes. “Stanley, don’t touch the ring,” she said and he nodded with wide eyes. Baba looked at his hand and smiled. “A rather elegant Sympathetic Magic spell. I expected nothing less.”