Upon returning to the BASEment Akira studied the amulet he had pocketed. He had decided not to tell his friends; at least not until he knew something more about it. Even in the dark it glowed with a calm, reassuring green light that seemed to warm the area about it. No matter how deeply he probed it, meditated upon it or simply shook it to see if anything occurred, nothing did.
All of his mystic powers and ritualist training were useless. Annoyed at himself and frustrated with the stone, he eventually fell asleep.
Time passed and he ‘found’ himself in some sort of large, dark, open space. A strange looking hill in the distance partially framed the rising moon. There was a deep, melodious chant sounding from the shadows. All around was darkness, the moon’s rays failing to intrude upon this grassy knoll. Then the familiar green luminescence appeared and by its light he could make out the features of the hooded figure holding the stone; a woman, elderly and slightly stooped but serene. The stone itself was transformed; longer, sharper, fashioned into a knife and as ‘watched’ the figure plunged the knife into an even deeper, hostile darkness that seemed to flow towards her from the shadows and partially cover her, Akira could just see her pale flesh struggling. The darkness yielded to the tip of the blade, entering deep and turning red as it did so. It kept getting redder and redder as it plunged deeper and brighter until there was a blinding red flash and…
Akira was suddenly awake and in serious danger of drowning. The dark water he was sinking beneath was penetratingly cold and he found himself struggling to swim to the surface in the steep circular chamber he had woken up in. Getting to the surface of the water and taking a deep and much needed intake of air, he realised that he had somehow teleported himself into the well in the cellar. He also realised he was in danger of being pulled under the water by the strong current from the river that flowed beneath the cold and smooth walls of the well.
Only thing for it. He focused on the crystal now installed and resonating in his ‘Crystal Chamber’ and jaunted himself there. Complete with what seemed to be several gallons of cold river water from the well. Soaked to the skin, he left the empty room (apart from the large serene crystal in its centre) vowing to return and clean up the mess in the morning and clambered, cold, wet and frustrated back to his room.
As soon as he opened the door he saw it. The amulet beside his bed was glowing red! This cold, this wet, this miserable; Akira knew he was fully awake. Leaving the stone where it lay, Akira quickly dried himself and then threw on a robe. He then went over to his room’s computer terminal that Adam had instructed him how to use (ok how to log in and use voice search – he was currently a busy man with all the ongoing renovations) and typed in his password “St&ady1” (he still had to type steady1 in first and then remember to go back and change the letters; capital, symbol, number he reminded himself). Thankfully Adam has set him up with a ‘show password’ facility on his screen) and consulted google search. “Red and green, ritual magic.” He spoke quietly but firmly. He already had a good idea of what he was looking for and after a couple of hours study returned to his bed, a little wiser, calmer, drier and somehow excited.
According to Wicca lore, red and green were the colours assigned to the Goddess and her lover. In ancient fertility rites these were combined in blood and leaf sacrifice. A knife of wood so green as to appear black was still used by ritualists today – sometimes called an athamé – also sometimes known as the sgian-dubh or skean dhu and still carried by ‘true’ highlanders everywhere. Akira had no time for such superstitious pantomime but the artefact in front of him obviously held great and ancient power.
He decided that he would wear the pendant secretly about his person until such time as he felt the need to enlist the power of the green, or indeed as the stone steadfastly failed to return to its former colour; the horror of the red. Assuming he ever figured out what it did and how to use it of course.
Then he suddenly realised; the hillside in his ‘dream’. He’d seen that misshapen hill before, admittedly only once, from a different angle and much closer up. It was the Devil’s Steps.
He looked at the pendant which still shone deep blood red and wondered what would happen if it were ever bathed in blood? Did he want to find out?
No matter how hard he tried Akira could not get back to sleep. He was a master of meditation and had even resorted to self-hypnosis in the past to calm his adolescent fantasies. With a smile he recalled waking up in the well and shared with himself the thought that this was the weirdest wet-dream he had ever been presented with. He laughed aloud but it sounded hollow and strange.
What was happening to him? He had never in his life even eaten meat and yet here he was considering the ancient power of blood sacrifice. Not as some historical phenomena, but as a way of unlocking the secrets of his pendant. His pendant!?! His in what sense? He hadn’t earned it or been given it. Akira realised in disgust that he had in fact stolen it.
True, Lillian had thrown it on the ground, discarded it. But if she had had no intention of picking it up, then why had Akira found it necessary to move so quickly and furtively to acquire it? In fact if she really hadn’t wanted it then he could have just asked for it, couldn’t he?
Akira’s mind went back to one of the hardest lessons he’d learnt at Skomer Vale. One that at the time had left him feeling stupid and ashamed.
He’d been eight and playing in the stream that skirted the edge of one of the farm yards when he had seen something glitter. It turned out to be a ring, the most beautiful thing Akira had ever found and he washed it in the cold water, dried and polished it until it sparkled and then hid it in his pocket. For two days it was his secret, before the temptation to show someone his ‘treasure’ proved too strong and he decided to present it to Angharad as a gift with both pride and delight.
“Oh Chai, bach what have you there? It’s lovely where did you get it?” Akira could see the delight in Angharad’s face and wished he’d taken it straight to her rather than kept it a secret. He told her the whole story of how he’d found it and then told her it was hers, a gift from him.
“Oh Chai,” she said “What have you done? This is stealing; stealing by finding, bach. It’s not yours, not mine and someone’s heart is surely aching for the loss of it. We must get it back to them.”
They’d both burst into tears at that point. He never thought he could cause his adoptive mother so much distress. Recalling it now brought tears to his eyes again and a longing for home. He could return to Skomer and seek advice. His vow of obedience would compel him to do whatever his parents or the elders thought best. But, and it was a big but. But he didn’t want to put them into any fresh danger from whatever it was who’d been ‘enquiring’ as to his whereabouts. And anyway he already knew what they’d say; “It’s stealing; stealing by finding. You have to return it to its rightful owner.”
Akira remembered his first interaction with Lillian. “Hi, I’m Kiki the clown.” Aye, a clown right enough. This time he would have to approach her as a thief, albeit a penitent one. He hoped the outcome would be better than he imagined; It could hardly be worse. He had done something that stained his karma…
Thankfully it wasn’t too late to put matters right. Tired and emotional as he was he couldn’t think straight. Should he act alone or seek the help of the rest of the Balance?
The thought of Mary, Sam, Adam and especially Annie learning of his shame was a salutary one. No he decided, he would act alone and no time like the present, eh?
He dressed and wandered down the corridor. Standing in the Crystal Chamber as he liked to refer to his teleport room, he held the amulet in front of him at arm’s length. He stared into the red glow and thought of Lillian. Exerting every ounce of mystical energy he could summon, he sought out the library and a particular draconian Librarian.
Leaving only the slenderest of psychic threads to bring him back to the chamber, Akira and pendant disappeared…
And reappeared, under water and in total darkness; his lungs filling up with water. As he flailed around unable to find the surface. Despite verything he held on to the pendant as he swam “up” only to realise he was completely disoriented and was actually upside down! He realised his mistake as his lungs gave out and he felt the cold current of the river trying to drag him downstream and way from the well once more. He had only one chance – he teleported back to his Crystal Chamber. For the second time that night he found himself soaked through, lying on the floor, coughing up water, in the midst of a deluge of his own making.
He felt the weight of the amulet dragging him down and could have sworn it was giggling! He looked down and to his surprise it now shone emerald green. Its resonance still felt like laughter however…
What had come over him? He knew he was capable of teleporting about 300 metres each time; double that if he really focused and had time to concentrate. The Library was in London over 80 kilometres away! In addition he had never been there before and he knew he couldn’t teleport blind over any great distance! The last time he’d done a journey that long he’d had to make multiple jaunts using line of sight and access to a map and even then it had taken him a couple of hours!
What had made him think he could jaunt directly to London and to a place he’d never been to before? And in the middle of the night? What had come over him?
Shaking his head and hobbling wet and sodden back to his room, he undressed and towelled himself dry cursing under his breath about fitting lights in that damned well before again examining the pendant.
Still green; he picked it up and felt a static jolt and instantly found himself standing on grass half naked, inside a marquee he recognised… He was back in the Fantastigorical! Book Exhibition amidst the empty tables and packing crates. Wha..?
“Thank you for agreeing to return my pendant Mister Steadman. I hope you found owning it, even temporarily an experience…” The voice, young and female came out of the dark. As he turned towards the sound and looked, he saw first the glowing fiery-red eyes. Then as they came closer he saw a female shape emerge. Her eyes dampened down and he found himself staring at Lillian. She stared back at him – an uncomfortable experience that felt as though he was an insect being examined under a microscope for the second time in recent days. He tried to speak but a quick wave of her fingers and he found himself struck dumb.
“Ah, so you experienced the Pooka inside the crystal? They’re bringers of good and bad fortune; both helping and hindering their owners.” He tried to move forward but, another wave of her fingers in some sort of intricate pattern and it felt as though he was stuck in quicksand up to his neck…
“So, have you figured out the Pooka’s gift to you yet? No? You will in time. Green is growth so likely it will be an unexpected but useful addition to your existing powers.
As for its hindrance – a temporarily corruption of one of your powers, ah, an attraction to water? That will pass once it’s had its final laugh at your expense. May already have happened, only time will tell. It brought us both here so it must have found your contrition acceptable and true.”
She stretched out her hand and took the pendant. “Oh, remember any visit to the Library must be agreed in advance. We don’t accept casual visitors especially in the middle of the night – our night wardens would have feasted long on the marrow in your bones had you tried, so if you want to arrange a visit, contact the Chief Librarian and ask him for an interview… Anything else would be considered ‘impolite’, even rude.”
Akira couldn’t help notice that when Lillian touched the crystal it momentarily turned red in protest and Lillian showed a flash of anger until it returned to its green state. She attached the necklace around her neck and gestured with her fingers. A wave of energy hit him leaving his throat and legs tingling but finally able to move.
“So you knew..?” She interrupted before he could finish. “That you’d taken my amulet? Of course. It was a test.”
“And I failed!”
“Actually you passed. You returned it didn’t you? I half expected I’d need to have to steal it back. And punish you and your teammates for their audacity of stealing from a dragon. But they were never tempted, admittedly they never knew; and you – you realised you had to return it to its mistress before being forced to do so and quite quickly as well. I’m impressed, especially with the Pooka influencing your decisions… For the record I expected to ‘black ball’ your application to study at the Library. Your decision means I will now remain neutral… Assuming you figure out how to stop Abyss from killing you first of course.
You do understand whilst that creature is actively tracking both you and the MacCarty female you will not be allowed to enter the Library doors? We don’t need a hell beast of its ferocity finding a way passed our barriers and running amok in our halls of learning now do we? Sorry but you need to deal with that threat first before an invitation will be issued for you to enter the hallowed doors…”
She pulled out a card; her Library card? “Goodbye Mr Steadman, we will meet again.” She turned her back on him and stepped into a glowing portal and vanished. As she left, Akira could swear he could hear a small, inhuman scream at the back of his mind emanating from the pendant.
The uncomfortable thought occurred to him then; had he just returned a possession to its owner or a slave to its master?
Bracing himself for a wet arrival in the well he teleported – and bounced back into the BASEment. For a second the water splashing his face made him fear he had again ended up in the well… But it was just the water splashing up from the floor of the Crystal Chamber’s still wet floor caused by his spacial displacement. Grateful, he wandered back to bed with the thoughts still swirling around in his mind that he might have made a bad decision after all?
As he dressed himself again in dry clothes he gave up on sleep and wandered down to the Chamber with mop and bucket in hand. Penitence through manual labour he thought, that’s what I need, as he set to work mopping the chamber floors and drying down the walls.
Superhero Adventures, UK Style 