bad luck much?

SO i'm on my way to work this morning when I hit a little snag, tread separation. Luckily the tire didn't blow, or the snag might have become a real problem. But it was an annoyance as I was an hour from home, and a full day of work ahead of me. Luckily I was able to get a new tire on my lunch break (Ouch $50) and not worry about tire places being closed once I got off of work.

On the way home I got to thinking about it though. I have had incredibly bad luck lately, mostly with my car but the desktop mini-death was a pain too. I start to list all the things that have happened in the past year and I hope that I am getting a good luck accumulation, because I have had enough bad luck to cancel it out.

Anyway, just so anybody who wonders knows how much bad luck I am talking about here goes:
Oct. 2004: Socorro Hailstorm, my previous car totalled

Nov. 2004: Replacement car gets flat tire, tire has to be replaced

Feb. 2005: Less than a week after switching insurance car gets broke into, luckily I added comprehensive in the new policy

Mar. 2005: Snow so deep that car gets stuck in it for nearly a week, who said we don't get snow in the desert? Battery dies, and had to be replaced

Early Apr: Mud causes the tires to get off-balance and alignment out of whack, expensive to get set right again

Today: Tread separation, resulting in new tire requirement

Now I know to some all of this wouldn't seem so bad, but this is starting to hurt the wallet. Oh well...

Since this is Saturday, and I am on a different computer than the story is on, no post today.

Bye

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Cleaning frenzy

My mother has been in a cleaning frenzy the past few days. I had a bad scare this morning because of it.

I had been scolding myself for forgetting the rebate forms for the hardware I had bought the other day, when I realized that I hadn't seen the forms since my mother started cleaning. I got to work and immediately called my mother, there was a possibility $80 that could have been in the trash.

I lucked out, she had saved the reciepts. But I think I got lucky this time. When mother gets in a cleaning frenzy you never really know what is going to happen.

Anyway, worry subsided and talked about I can post the next part of the story.

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22

Julius handed Maureen the cup of tea. They had eaten lunch, and now had relocated back to the bedroom at Julius’ command. Maureen had propped herself up on pillows, and was almost ready to listen to whatever Julius had to say.

“So why did you insist on explaining the facts of life to me in here, rather than in the living room?”

“Because, you will regain your energy better in here. The bed is better suited to relaxation than that thing that you call a couch.”

“So where will we begin?”

“Well, the beginning is probably good. In this case the beginning is the reality that I know.”

***

You know that I am a vampire, and you know how it was that I came to be. What you don’t know is where I came from, you only know that it wasn’t from your world.

Actually I did come from your world, just another realm of it. I came from one of the many realms that share this fragile planet.

In the beginning there was no separation of the realms. All species coexisted, not necessarily in harmony, but not in constant warfare either.

That all changed sometime in the forgotten past. Something happened that caused the world to change. Some think that the change was triggered by a space rock colliding with the planet, others attribute the change to an ancient war in which a number of mages gathered to cast a single spell. A few may actually know what truly happened, but they do not speak of it.

The changes were subtle at first, so much so that nobody even thought to record them. Then things started to disappear. People, animals, you might wake up in the morning and find that your relatives had disappeared during the night. Sometimes objects would be found missing as well.

Nobody could figure out what was happening. A person here and there could be explained away, but not the number of people that were disappearing. Any conflicts that had existed between species disappeared as well, for a time. They were too concerned with finding the missing to bother with the petty fighting that always existed.

Finally a council of the wisest was assembled. All of the major species were represented, elf, dragon, human, dwarf and the werefolk. For months they debated the problem.

The problem remained unresolved until one day an apprentice mage had difficulty using a simple spell. His master was on the council and was confused as the apprentice had successfully performed the spell multiple times before and had surpassed it in difficulty long before the convening of the council.

The apprentice was asked why he couldn’t perform the spell. He replied that the energy just wasn’t there. Confused, his master decided to investigate the boy’s response. What he found was the answer to the problem.

The mage found that the energy that the boy required for his spell was being drained away. The lower bands of energy were being diverted to someplace new.

The mage was able to follow the path of the energy. He found the missing people, and the missing energy. He also found that those people had no memory of their past existence. He tried to take some of the people back with him, to help them regain what they had lost. He failed.

Every time that any mage tried to bring a person that had been relocated to the new realm they were met with disappointment. They found that a barrier had erected itself on some energy band. Those who had innate energies higher than the barrier had stayed in their own realm while those who had lesser energies had been forced down to the new realm.

The energy barrier didn’t allow for a person with lesser energies to cross to a higher realm. When the mages tried they usually felt the person they were trying to bring caught at the barrier. The few times that they actually succeeded in bringing someone across usually resulted in death for the poor soul who didn’t have the energy needed to sustain himself.

Not long after the discovery of what had happened the energy bands started to stabilize. The energy was no longer being diverted for the creation of the new realm, so the mages could use it again.

When this happened they tried again to bring people across, still to no avail.

A small period of peace settled over the land, then people started to disappear again.

The whole cycle repeated until there were a total of ten energy realms. Each one, except the one with the highest energy, had an upper barrier that none of a lower energy level could climb above. But if you exist in a realm above another it is possible to travel one with a lower energy need than your own.

Finally, after decades of research the mages that remained alive and able found the relationship that determined who had gone where.

The critical factor had been age. Not physical age, but the age of the soul. Immortal and long-lived creatures had generally stayed in what became the third and fourth levels. Initially the mages thought that a magical source of existence had been the critical factor, but then they looked at the non-magical species and found survivors of the separation among them as well.

When they finally discovered the common thread among the non-magic species it was that the soul had reincarnated enough times to force the energy level up. They also found that no new souls were being introduced on the upper levels, only the reincarnated souls of those from lower realms. The souls that achieved enough energy to make the transition to the higher realm.

Everything seemed fine for years after the realms stabilized. Life went on, and many forgot that the other realms even existed.

Then came the prophecies.

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Distraction

SO my ex is visiting me at work again today. Now Since my work is generally slow, it is not a problem as far as the job itself goes, at least not yet. And since the owners haven't complained about him being here yet I figure that they are ok with it too.

The part about him being a distraction is that instead of writing I sit here chatting with him, and don't get as far in the story as I normally would have. So I have to do more writing at night, which often gets late and then I get into a nasty sleep deprivation state.

Anyway, here is the next part of the story. This section starts what I would call part 2, so when I update my web page again the previous chapters will be available under a part 1 link or a complete story link. This will make reading a little easier, but printing will still be easy as well.

Read on.

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21

Julius sat next to the bed. He had been watching over her for over an hour now, and still no sign that she was going to wake up anytime soon.

He wondered if this was Jack’s doing. He doubted it, this wasn’t Jack’s style, but he couldn’t rule it out either.

He leaned over and placed a hand on Kyra’s forehead. She was burning up. He dipped a cloth into some water and placed it atop her forehead.

Deciding that there was nothing else that he could do at the moment he went to he kitchen and cut open another bloodroot. Draining it he wondered if it was possible for it to regenerate the way that they did in his home.

He went into the garage to look for supplies. Eventually he found what he was looking for, some dirt and a pot to put it in. He grabbed the bloodroot that he had cut open and put it in the pot. Finally he added a little bit of water and left the pot in the garage where it was dark.

He returned to the bedroom hoping to see some improvement in Kyra’s condition, but was sorely disappointed. She appeared to even to have shifted position in her sleep. He checked the cloth on her forehead. It was still damp, but too warm to be effective.

Julius removed the cloth and then returned to his vigil at her side.

***

After five hours of unconsciousness Maureen finally started to wake up. Julius wasn’t sure how he could help if at all, so he did nothing.

When she was finally coherent Maureen turned to the vamp. “What happened?”

“I don’t know. I was hoping that you could tell me.”

“I knew that I was exhausted, but I figured that I could work around that. When I stood up I got dizzy. You helped me walk a bit, then I woke up here.”

“Nothing else?”

“No.”

“Close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“Same reason as when you had that nightmare. I need to know if it was outside influence or if it was natural.”

“I think I can tell you which.”

Julius raised his eyebrows. “Really? How do you know?”

“I don’t know, I just do.

This wasn’t outside influence. I think that I just overworked myself. I still don’t feel well at all, but nobody else caused it.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes.”

“Ok. We’ll skip the whole testing to see where it came from part then.”

Silence filled the room. Maureen was ashamed with her own imagined weakness; Julius was having difficulty finding the words to apologize for pushing her too hard.

The phone rang. Both reached for the phone. Julius reached it first and handed it to her.

“Hello?”

“Maureen? Sweetie are you all right?”

“Hi Scott. I’m ok, a little under the weather is all”

“Are you sure? You don’t sound so good.”

“Well you sound great, and yes I’m fine. Or at least I will be after a little bit of rest.”

“Before you get to that rest then, say hello to your daughter. The phones have been down all day and are expected to go out again and she wants to say hi.”

“Hand it to her then.”

Maureen heard the phone changing hands, and even though Scott put his hand over the mouthpiece she could hear him telling Karen that mommy wasn’t feeling good. He told her to keep her excitement under control, and not to talk too long because grandma and grandpa still had to use the phone.

“Hi Mommy.”

“Hi Karen, are you behaving for Grandma and Grandpa?”

“Yeah, I’m being good. But I’m bored now, I can’t go outside even because it rainin.”

“You’ll be home soon enough, and then you’ll wish that you were back there.”

“Daddy says that I need to go. I miss you Mommy.”

“I miss you too. I’ll see you when you get home though. I love you.”

“I love you too mommy. Bye.”

“Bye.”

Maureen didn’t take the phone from her ear until she heard the line disconnect. Then she handed the handset to Julius to hang up.

Still not feeling well Maureen started to move as if to get out of bed.

“What are you doing?” Julius asked with a tinge of alarm in his voice.

“Getting out of bed. You still have a lot to teach me, and I’m not learning anything laying here in bed.”

“No!”

Maureen looked at Julius shocked. “What do you mean, ‘no’?”

“I mean stay put. You need to recover your strength. No training, nothing. Not until I feel confident that you are physically able again.”

“Then what are we to do until then.”

“What I should have been doing from the start. Telling you things that you will need to know.”

“But you have been.”

“No, I have been training you. I have given you no information as to why this is happening, or what will happen after your fight.

I should have been mixing histories and myths in with your training, spreading it out so that this didn’t happen.”

Maureen looked at him. “How much is there to know?”

“Enough.”

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Wallet Pain

Yes my wallet in screaming in pain. I shelled out nearly $300 for comp parts yesterday. I will get some money back after I fill out the rebate forms, but it still hurts, especially on such an old computer.

The age of the desktop is half the reason that I bought the laptop, so to shell out so much now to keep the desktop running is kinda a pain. But I just have the feeling that I should keep it going.

I'm just glad that the story is on my laptop.

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20

Julius was pleased with the cot. It was much better than the chair. He woke up with almost no stiffness.

Maureen was still asleep when he woke up. He went into the kitchen and cut open one of the bloodroots. Draining it into a glass he thought about what they still needed to do. He scraped the remainder of the pulp into the glass.

Sipping the juice he decided that it was about time to wake up Maureen. He looked at the thing she called a coffeepot. She used it every morning and claimed that it helped her to wake up.

He had watched her use it and thought that he could make coffee. He measured the water and the stuff that looked like dirt. Finally he turned on the machine.

He watched as the dark brown liquid filled up the container. It was nearly full when Maureen came into the kitchen.

She looked at the coffee pot in surprise. “You know how to make coffee?”

“No, but I watched you do it. I thought I might as well try.”

The coffeepot hissed as the last bit of steam escaped. Maureen took down a coffee cup from the cupboard and poured herself a cup. She added cream and sugar, tasted the coffee, then added a little more cream and sugar. A second taste convinced her that it was all right.

Julius looked at her expectantly.

“It’s a little strong, but otherwise alright. A little bit less on the coffee grounds and you’ll be fine.”

Julius said nothing, but was pleased.

“So what’s on the agenda for today?” Maureen asked between sips of coffee.

“Magical defense, starting with offense.”

“Ok… Now that’s a confusing sentence.”

“Not really, if you think about it. Remember what I said last night? About using the opposite elements? A good attack, well timed and placed, will cancel out another attack if it is of the opposite element. So… if we work on your offense with various elements, your defense will naturally get stronger. And once we are confident with these techniques we can move onto purely defensive moves.”

Maureen sipped her coffee. The plan made sense. “So what do we start with?”

“Water will be the most difficult for you, so that is what we shall start with. The other elements will be intermingled with the water and fire exercises so that you get a sense of all of them.”

“Well we had better get started before my body reminds me of exactly how exhausted I am. I’m gonna go get dressed, where shall I meet you?”

“Out back.”

Maureen nodded, then left the room. Julius looked at the coffeepot. He hadn’t noticed her getting more coffee, but the pot was more than half gone. He smiled.

***

Maureen collapsed into a lawn chair. Julius had declared a short break, and she needed it.

“And I thought that physical training was tiring,” Maureen said.

“You have been going non-stop for days now. First physical preparations, and now magical. It is no easy task.”

“You seem to be ok.”

“I am more tired than I look. Also I have had thousands of years to develop all of these skills. You have done incredibly well in just a few days time. You have done in just these few days what it took me years to develop, and in some areas you have already surpassed my abilities.”

“I think that you let me win.”

“I cannot afford myself the luxury, and neither can you. Every time that you have beat me it has been legitimate.”

“So then the question is how good are you?”

“Vampires are hunted creatures. If we do not learn to defend ourselves then we die.”

“I thought you said that you couldn’t die.”

“That I did, but I did not say that we couldn’t be killed. Usually if it could kill you it could kill us as well, swords included.”

“So what are you saying?”

“That I have lived thousands of years. I have seen my fair share of battles, and probably more. I do not carry physical scars, but the memories last and help me to learn.”

Maureen didn’t know what to say. She felt like she had inadvertently insulted him. Finally, “I’m sorry for questioning you.”

“Why? You have every right to. If you are trusting in me to train you for a fight to the death, then you have every right to know how good I really am.”

Maureen looked up and smiled at the vamp.

“Shall we get back to work?” Julius asked.

“Five more minutes?”

Julius nodded; he could read the exhaustion on her face. He wondered if he was working her too hard.

While waiting for her to be ready Julius walked around the yard, making sure that practice had not disturbed anything that would pose hazardous later. Once the five minutes were up he went back over to her.

“Ready?”

“No, but if I sit here any longer I’ll stiffen and won’t be of any use.”

Julius looked at her, she really didn’t look in any condition to continue. He was about to say something, but she moved to get up and he decided against it.

Maureen stood up. She was almost immediately dizzy. She put her hand out. Julius caught it, and slid his arm around her waist.

Julius decided that it was time to end practice for the day, even though it was still early.

Suddenly Kyra was limp in his arms and sliding toward the ground. He caught onto her and kept her from falling. He eased her to the ground.

“Kyra… Kyra?” he tried to get her attention, but to no avail.

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Writer's block

I had been having the worst case of writer's b lock this past weeend. I had written some, but it had been forced and I had been displeased with what had come out. Last night I got tired of it. I ended up scrapping what I had worked on yesterday afternoon in favor of completely rewrighting the section. I am much happier now. The new writing has a much better flow than the old had.

I think that I am now over this current block on my thoughts. If all goes well over the next few days I might be able to build up my lead on what is posted. The section that I worked on last night should be up in a few days. Right now my goal is to have enough written so that I am a full week ahead of my posts, just in case I encounter another slow spot.

Anyway, enough of my ramblings. I am currently tossing around the title Torn as the title of this story, I don't know yet.

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19

Malchevio saw the flames. The whole village saw the flames.

The villagers thought that the lightning caused the fire. Malchevio knew better.

Malchevio heard pounding on the door.

“Malchevio, we need every mage that we can get.”

“For what purpose?”

“To bring more rain, to put out the fire.”

“If the gods wanted fire, then we shouldn’t put it out.”

The villagers were silent for a moment. They didn’t want to anger the gods, but they also needed the game that the forest provided. Finally, they decided what they wanted to do.

“Malchevio, we need to put out the fire. Will you help us?”

“I cannot go against the wishes of the gods. I cannot help this night.”

The villagers left without further question. They knew better than to question the decision of any mage. Questioning a mage was inviting trouble.

Malchevio watched as the villagers collected all of the mages that would help. He was glad to see that other mages had chosen to let the fire burn as well. If he had been the only mage to refuse assistance the villagers might have asked questions.

The villagers were lucky. They had more mages in this village than in most others. The number that had chosen to help with the fire would easily get it out. Well… maybe not easily, but it would get put out.

Malchevio retreated to his study. He would have to confront Jack, but that could wait for morning. Meanwhile he had his own business to attend to.

***

Malchevio didn’t even bother to announce himself as he entered the cave. He had had a visit from his bosses that morning, and they had given him a few words for Jack.

He traveled deep into the cave before he found him. Jack was pouting over the still unconscious body of the elf.

“Did you enjoy yourself last night?”

Jack turned and faced Malchevio. His mouth cracked into a smile. He merely nodded.

“Good. It’s good you had fun, because you blew your protections.”

“What do you mean?”

“Are you serious?” Malchevio yelled. “You know exactly what I mean! You left, against orders. Luckily we think that our enemies didn’t notice you, but our side noticed. You blew it Jack!”

“Calm down, Malchevio. It couldn’t be as bad as they told you. I’m still here.”

“Yeah, you’re still here, but now without protection. You have to look out for yourself now. They will not conceal your energy for you, they will not send assistance if you get in trouble. You are on your own.”

“And you? How do you play into the new rules?”

“Information gathering. I can still do that, but nothing more, not even food.”

Jack gulped. Malchevio saw that he now saw how serious his recklessness had been.

“Jack, this is bad. As far as we can tell there is still at least a week before our forces will be ready, and maybe longer. She grows stronger every day, and now you will have to divert some of your resources to protect yourself.”

Jack walked away. He was angry with Malchevio, but knew that he was under just as much pressure as Jack was himself.

Malchevio wanted to get away from Jack before the full implications of the message sank in. Luckily he had an excuse.

“I must go. There is a planning meeting that I must attend. You will most likely not see me for many days, depending on what the commanders want done.”

Without giving Jack time to ask questions Malchevio walked out of the cave.

***

Malchevio was relieved. Twice that day he had survived possible near death.

Early that day he had survived the commanders, who had been very angry with him for not preventing Jack’s little adventure.

It had taken much convincing before the commanders agreed that Jack could not be controlled, especially by a human. It had taken more convincing to keep them from deciding to imprison Jack again.

Malchevio knew that imprisoning Jack again would only create more problems. First among them was that they would reveal that Jack had escaped.

The second problem with re-imprisonment was that Jack would most likely escape again, and then would not be found in time to monitor him.

Convinced that Jack was better off where he was, the commanders still had to decide how to punish him. Cutting him off from assistance was the solution that was decided on.

Then Malchevio escaped another possible death. Jack would most likely have killed him if he had not been so stunned.

If Jack had not had such fun the night before, or if he hadn’t been so sure of his protectors he probably would have killed Malchevio. Malchevio still wasn’t certain that his death might not come later, but at least he had escaped it for now.

Summoning his magic, he transported himself to the meeting.

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Stiction

Yes, I am having a hard drive stiction problem. Luckily it is on my desktop, not on my laptop. But either way it is an inconvience. I still have some data that I would like to retrieve, and I'm gonna have to try something else to get at it, and if it doesn't work then that data is perma gone.

Anyway the story is on my laptop right now, so it is safe.

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18

Jack couldn’t take it any longer. The elf still refused to wake up and he was bored.

He waited until nightfall, then bound the elf in case he was actually to wake, and crept out of the cave.

The cool breeze touched his face. He breathed it in deep, and was surprised with himself. This was the first time that he had ever enjoyed just being outside. He immediately vowed to himself that after this ordeal was over he would never allow anybody to force him into such conditions again.

Jack looked at the sky. It was too clear. He summoned some magic, soon enough it would be raining and thundering. He could cause some destruction, and blame it conveniently on the storm. He chuckled; it was a good night for a forest fire. Of course that would create a phoenix, but he considered that a good side effect. A phoenix would be another creature that he could kill later.

He made a quick scan of the area. Satisfied that there were no people, elven, human or vamp, he made for the forest.

Cloaked by the energy of the forest he allowed his own defenses to lessen. He would hunt this night, then he would raise what mayhem he could.

He could hear thunder in the distance. He smiled his magic was working. Soon enough he could have a little fun.

A rabbit moved in front of him, he considered grabbing it for a moment, but decided against it. If he grabbed the rabbit he might not enjoy as much whatever he tried to catch later. The rabbit moved out of sight, not knowing how close it came to having its life ended.

Jack decided that he wanted to taste not only fear, but confusion as well. He started hunting the hunter. A night cat or wolf would make a perfect meal, normally the hunter and not the hunted it would be confused in the last seconds of it’s life, as well as scared.

He felt the first raindrops fall against his cheek. He had better find his meal quickly, for the hunters would know a good storm and take shelter.

A paw fell almost silently about twelve feet to his left. The paw belonged to a hunter. Jack would allow his prey the pleasure of its kill, then he would indulge in the pleasure of his own. His prey moved, and Jack followed.

***

The rain poured down all around Jack. The wolf’s mate howled its loneliness, but didn’t know that it would remain lonely.

The hunt had been good. The wolf hadn’t been aware of Jack’s presence until Jack was upon it. Even better was the fight that the wolf had put up.

Jack looked at a gash on his arm. The pain was pleasurable, but it would need attention soon enough.

He stood up and looked around. This seemed a good a place as any to start his fun. He picked up the corpse of the wolf; it would make a few more good meals. Blood ran down his front where a leg was missing. With his free hand he wiped the blood off, then licked it from his hand.

He pointed at a clump of dried up weeds. A small fire sprang up in them. The fire soon spread to a nearby tree, and soon was immune from the damping powers of the rain.

Jack headed back toward the cave, starting small fires along the way. He heard the cries of the animals trying to flee, and getting caught in another section of flames.

Exiting the forest, he crossed back to the cave. He stored the corpse of the wolf with his other food. Then he returned to the entrance of the cave to watch his handiwork.

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story update

I updated the story on my web page. It is current through today's post and can be found at http://www.geocities.com/phoenixwaller/blogstory.html

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On gay rights

This weekend in Santa Fe we are expecting a hate group that poses as a church to come and protest the acceptance of gays in Santa Fe.

This hate group is going to protest outside churches that are accepting of gays, and then protest outside of city government buildings for the same reason.

I have talked with different people about this, and except for those that are against gay rights most say that it is absolutely disgusting that people would come from another state, and set of ideals, to protest the feelings of another community. Even those who are uncomfortable with gays feel that the actions of this group are wrong.

Here is my opinionated part. I am all for gay rights. There is no reason why they cannot be afforded the same rights as the rest of society. If not marriage then at least legal civil unions, these people are only looking to express their devotion to each other. Why should we deny them that?

Now for the really opinionated part! This applies to anybody who thinks that gays shouldn't exist, and then quotes the bible to prove it.

What I have read of the bible says, in short, that god created everything. God even made Satan, therefore anything that Satan creates still had to have gone through god at some point. Thus, if God made everything, he made Gays too. If he made them he obviously doesn't have a problem with them, otherwise they wouldn't exist in the first place. Simplified what I just said is: If God doesn't want gays then they wouldn't have existed in the first place.

Now, before I get hate mail for the rest of my life... The story continues.

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17

Maureen had set up a cot for Julius to sleep on, but he wasn’t ready to use it yet.

Instead, he decided that he had better set some protections in place. Especially since they were moving onto magic use.

He walked around the perimeter of Maureen’s property. He didn’t sense any problems, but it was better to check.

Once he was sure that there was no interference already present he started his task.

He started by setting the perimeter for the magical wards that was necessary for defense. If anybody came into the ward’s area with intent to harm himself or Kyra they would instantly find themselves the victim of an automatic attack.

Just slightly beyond the defense perimeter he set the alarm wards. These would be the first alert system that somebody was coming. He would be aware if somebody crossed the wards, and he would teach Kyra how to detect as well, but hopefully all but the strongest magicians wouldn’t even know that they were there.

He then set other defenses that could be used if necessary. He doubted that they would be used though. If somebody was able to get through the first two without notice then he and Kyra probably wouldn’t have enough time to set off the others before they were deep in battle.

Satisfied with the alarm system he checked for things that could become hazards when one dealt with magical battles.

He cleared out the dead brush and leaves; things that would burn easily if a fireball hit them. He then cleared the space of small gravel and anything else that might be easily picked up by wind. He didn’t see anything that could cause trouble if frozen and not much could be done about an earth attack.

Work completed he started to head back toward the house. Then a noise from the brush caught his attention. He turned back to face it.

A black clad figure stepped from the shadows. Julius studied the figure for a moment, then walked toward the figure and embraced it in a bear hug.

“Claudius! What are you doing here?”

“Checking up on you.”

“Why?” Julius asked with a smile. “Do the powerful think that I need checking up on?”

“Not at all! Our side just wants to check on her progress. Jack is becoming impatient and their side is being forced to step up preparations. Our biggest concern at this point is how Kyra will perform. We still need her after the battle.”

Julius turned away.

“You haven’t told her yet,” Claudius accused. “You haven’t told her, and she has no idea that this battle is only the beginning.”

Julius turned to face his friend.

“She has a family, she has dreams and ambitions that existed before she ever met me. Now I have to break all of those dreams just so that she can fight in some pointless war? It’s hard enough to look at her and know that there still exists the possibility that Jack could kill her. You want to add to that the repeated possibility of her death just so good or evil can proclaim victory?”

Julius turned away again.

“You knew when you volunteered what you were up against. You knew what she would face, and what would happen if she won.”

“I know…”

“Then why don’t you tell her?”

Julius turned again to face his friend. “What does it matter?” he shouted. “If she loses, she dies, and will not know of the impact to our side. If she wins…”

He quieted. “If she wins, she, along with everybody else, will be caught up in the Great War. The war to decide between good and evil. Would you want to know your importance in that war?”

“No.”

“Then why must she know?”

“Because that’s the way that they want it.”

Defeated, Julius sighed and hung his head.

“Julius, don’t let your feelings for her get in the way of your mission. No matter how careful you are, you cannot protect her. You would only die trying. I know that you loved her once, we all know that, but you must fulfill your mission. The Kyra that you loved died long ago, and you said it yourself, she has a family. I know that you want to protect her, but she would want to protect them. The only way that she can truly do that is by knowing the truth.”

Julius smiled at his friend. “You are right, she does deserve to know what will happen. However, it is still too soon. I shall tell her within a few days, but I need to prepare her more.”

“Fair enough.”

Claudius fell silent for a moment.

“What is it, Claudius? What disturbs your normally peaceful thoughts?”

“One of ours was sent to spy on Jack, an elf named Lieto. Jack captured him. He has put himself into a trance for now, and managed to get out some telepathic messages, but he will surely die.”

“Lieto, I believe that I met him once. Young, but talented. Send my condolences to the family.”

“We already have, but don’t you want to know what information we have on Jack?”

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because if I know I may not train her properly. I may focus on one area instead of thoroughly training her. I cannot allow that.”

Claudius merely nodded his understanding.

“I must go now. Time moves different on the other side, and I feel the sun will soon shine its first rays of the new day.”

“Take care, old friend.”

“You as well.”

Claudius started walking back toward the brush. Just before he reached it he turned. “Oh, and Julius…”

“Yes?”

“You look better than I thought you would. I would have thought you half-starved by now. This will make you look even better.” He then tossed a small bag at Julius. Smiling he turned and disappeared just before he would have entered the brush.

Julius looked at the bag and was greeted with a familiar smell. Opening it he decided that he would have kissed the other vamp if he hadn’t already left.

He re-closed the bag, which held bloodroot and headed back into the house.

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Broken internet

The internet was broken this morning. It was most likely only a regional thing, but an annoyance nonetheless.

Now to explain this rambling for those of you who say that the internet is non-breakable. Occassionally whatever trunk the data goes through in this city/state goes down. When this happens the internet is broken. Data transfer is still possible, because the bandwidth is still there, but no websites can be found. Like I said, mostly an annoyance, but if businesses depended on the internet it could really hurt.

That was the big news for the morning. So it's time to continue the story.

[Untitled]
16

Jack’s frustration was mounting. He hadn’t found as many spiders as he would have liked, so he was going to have to wait for that particular bit of fun. He wasn’t going to settle for sub-standard torture.

Now he had another problem, the elf wouldn’t wake up. He knew that the elf was still alive. He was still breathing and all other outward signs of life were there, but he couldn’t access his mind.

Jack kicked at the elf again. He knew that he should stop, punishing the elf while he couldn’t feel it would only lessen the impact of what he would feel later. He kicked once more, for good measure, then went to the food that Malchevio had dropped off earlier.

Humans don’t know what eating really is, he thought to himself. Their foods are usually horribly prepared, and so full of salt that you usually cannot taste anything else.

Malchevio had finally done a good thing with this food this last time. He had brought raw food, no dried meat, no dried anything. He had brought some spices as well.

Jack had devoured a raw piece of meat immediately after Malchevio left. Finding a small niche in the wall he froze the rock and placed the rest of the meat in the niche. Covering the opening with another rock he was confident that the rest of the food would stay fresh, or at least as fresh as it was brought to him.

Uncovering the niche he was greeted with a gust of cold air. At least that still worked, he thought.

He eyed the meat for a long time before finally grabbing an apple. The meat was scarce, and it would have to last.

Jack bit into the apple, and grimaced. Sour.

He walked toward the entrance to the cavern. He couldn’t go all the way, but he could go far enough to allow the sunlight to fall upon him.

He was used to the dark of the cave, the sunlight burned his eyes at first. He couldn’t wait for the time that he could escape from this place. If he could be assured of winning if he attacked immediately he would do it, but the thought of an army as well as her kept him in check.

The boredom was almost unbearable. At times like this he almost longed for the imprisonment that he had sought so hard an escape from. At least there he could show his power, and use it.

Jack went into the back room.

He looked down at the elf and resisted the urge to kick him again. He would wake up in time, his body would force him awake to deal with its needs. When that happened Jack would be ready.

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who knows

and who cares, I can't come up with a title for the post every day. Heck I can't even come up with a decent title for a story, so why should I waste brain power to come up with a tite for a simple post.

I really don't have much to talk about right now, So I'll just continue with the story.

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15

Maureen was glad for the timing of dinner. For the first time in days she would be able to watch the news. She set her plate down on the coffee table, and turned on the television.

About halfway through the news she realized exactly how out of touch she had been. A criminal case that she had followed almost obsessively the week before had been all but solved and the suspect had plead guilty that morning.

Working on her dinner, she barely noticed when the weatherman started talking about a major weather event in another state. It was when the town where her husband and daughter were was mentioned that she started to actually listen to the weatherman.

“…Travel is being discouraged in the area. If you have loved ones out there it is better to stay away until this storm is out of the area, and the roads are cleaned up. Once more, travel is being discouraged. The storm has made for dangerous driving conditions, and many roads have become completely impassable.”

Julius walked into the room. Seeing that Maureen had stopped eating he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“We’re going to have more time to practice before my family returns than I thought.”

“What do you mean?”

“Roads are closed near where Scott and Karen are staying. I’m just surprised that I haven’t heard from them yet.”

“Would you have heard the bell-phone outside?”

“No, but the voice mail should have…”

“Kyra?”

“I haven’t checked the voice mail in days. They might have been calling and calling and I would have never known about it.”

Maureen stood up and went to the phone. Sure enough there were a number of voice mails waiting for her. Luckily only a few were important, and Scott had only tried to call that morning.

Maureen dialed Scott’s parents house. Scott’s mother answered.

“Maureen, it’s good that you called. Scott was starting to get worried.”

“Sorry, Agnes. I forgot to check the voicemail.”

“Don’t we all sometimes. Well, here’s Scott.” Maureen waited through the shuffling noises of the phone changing hands.

“Hi Honey.”

“Hi Scott. How’s the weather.”

Scott chuckled. “A tad wet. Karen was asking earlier what could make the angels so sad.”

“Your mother fed her the angels crying explanation for rain, huh?”

“You know it.”

“Well, she probably wouldn’t understand the scientific explanation yet anyway. So how bad is it?”

“Well, I already called my boss.”

“That bad?”

“Most of the roads are either flooded or in need of repair, and the waters haven’t even crested yet. Luckily most of the town is higher than the waters are expected to get, but the roads have to go downhill sometime.”

“So how long do you expect to be delayed?”

“Well, the waters aren’t expected to crest for another few days. Then we’ll still have to wait for road cleanup, and they’re expecting to have to make some repairs to the bridge. So probably another week.”

“How’s Karen taking it?”

“Grandma’s Angel? She’s taking it just fine for now, check back in a few more days.”

“Will the phones work in a few days?”

“That’s hard to say. They went out upriver, but for now they work here.”

“Keep dry.”

“I plan to.”

“Can I talk to Karen before I go?”

“She’s napping right now.”

“Oh, don’t disturb her then. I gotta go. I need to return a call to my mother. Be safe, and call me if anything changes.”

“Only if it changes for the worst. If I can get out of here sooner I look forward to surprising you with an early homecoming.”

“Well, I look forward to that too. Love you.”

“Love you too. Be safe and we’ll see you when we get home.”

“Bye.”

Maureen hung up the phone. She dialed her mother before she forgot, but got the answering machine. She left a short message, and then went back to the living room to finish her dinner.

“Is everything ok?” Julius asked as she reentered the room.

“Yep, they’re just dealing with an excess of water.”

“Why didn’t they leave before the water came?”

“When Scott visits his parents they tend not to watch the news, so they probably didn’t know about it until it was too late.”

Julius was silent. He sipped at the blood in his glass.

Maureen soon finished her plate. She took it to the kitchen, but as she started the water to rinse it in the sink the water did something unexpected. The water made a ninety-degree turn, went in a circle around her, then returned to the sink to rinse the plate.

Maureen turned off the water once she was satisfied with the rinse. Then she turned to Julius. Raising one eyebrow was enough to express her question to him.

“Yes, fire is only the start. You must be able to control the other elements as well. Tomorrow we start on water.”

“Tomorrow? I thought that you would want to start on it immediately.”

“Water will not be as easy for you as fire was. Since it is the opposite of your natural element it will be more difficult for you than air or earth, and much more difficult than fire. So we need to get you working with water, but now you need to rest.”

“I thought that we were going to continue working with fire tonight.”

“We can, if you feel comfortable with it. But only a continuation to build your skills.”

“What about nullifying other types of attacks?”

“We need to get you comfortable with the other elements before we can be truly effective with that. I can teach you some things, but the most effective nullifications are those that utilize the opposite element.”

Maureen was almost glad that there were going to be no new lessons for the night. She went back to the living room and flopped onto the couch.

Julius watched on from the archway. She was coming along, he thought, but would she be ready when the time came. Could he ever prepare her enough for what she was up against?

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Hello

Morning all,

On the advice of my aunt I did a word count on my story so far, as of this morning I was at just under 13, 000 words. Now my word document is only at about 30 pages, and I was feeling that I wouldn't be able to make enough pages to make a book size story, but now I don't feel quite as bad. Still a little concerned about length, but not so much so.

Anyway, I am getting tired of calling this this untitled. I would like to have a real name for it, but I can't really come up with anything. I keep coming up with things that involve fate, examples include:

Hand of fate
Twist of fate
Push of fate

etc. unfortunately I really don't like any of those. If anybody has any good ideas, or even really likes one of my lame ideas please lemme know. I really would like to throw a title on this thing.

Anyway, for now That's all I have. Let's continue the story:

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14

She awoke with a start. Looking around she realized that she was still in her living room. She must have fallen asleep.

Julius was staring at her. “You ok?”

“Yeah, just a bad dream.”

He walked around her and laid his hand on her shoulder. “Close your eyes.”

She looked up at him. “I would really prefer not to.”

“It’s ok, it’ll only take me a moment to get the information that I need. Then you’ll be able to open your eyes again.”
Uncomfortably, she closed her eyes.

Julius’ touch was gentle on her shoulder. She could tell that he cared about her well-being. Soon enough he removed his hand and told her that it was ok to open her eyes.

“So what was that about?”

“I had to find out if the dream was implanted, or if it was natural.”

“Well?”

“Just a plain old bad dream, no outside influence.”

“That’s good. Now, why did you let me fall asleep?”

“You needed it. I have worked you hard these past few days.”

“Yes, but you have said many times that we had little time. The more prepared I am the better my chances of succeeding.”

“True, but it does no good if by the time for battle I have worked you so hard that you have no energy left for the fight itself.”

“Well, if you’re worried about physical exhaustion then let’s work on some of the other things that you need to train me on.”

Julius moved back in front of her. He paced back and forth in front of her. Then, apparently having made up his mind, he stopped and faced her.

Suddenly she had a fireball flying at her. Crossing her hands in front of her face, she readied herself for it to hit her.

When it never hit, she cautiously opened her eyes. Julius was staring at her. “More likely than not your battle will be in this form, rather than the physical type that we have been practicing. Jack has an absolutely huge store of magical energy, and so do you. He is also more comfortable using magic; even tough he is no slouch with weapons either. I started with physical forms first in order to get you into the mindset of a warrior, but it seems that you are ready to move on to more useful forms of combat.”

Julius took a candle down from a bookshelf and set it upon the coffee table. “Remember that I told you that fire was your strength?”

Maureen nodded.

“Light the candle.”

Maureen almost stood up to grab some matches before she realized what it was that he wanted. Settling back onto the couch, she looked at the candle, then at Julius.

“I know what you want me to do, but I don’t know how.”

“It’s different for everybody, so I cannot tell you how. Just try.”

Maureen returned her attention to the candle. She focused on the wick.

How am I supposed to light this, she thought. Heat, heat would force the wick to ignite. What was heat? Heat is energy.

She refocused on the candle. She envisioned energy centered in the wick. She kept adding more and more energy to the place where she was imagining. Soon she had problems even imagining more energy being added, the energy already there was heating up from the compression.

The wick burst into flame.

She almost lost her concentration, then she saw that the fire hadn’t yet stabilized on the wick. Once she saw that the fire had a hold of the wick she lessened gradually her concentration.

“Good. Now hold out your hand.”

“Why?”

“You need to create the fire without a physical surface for it to attach to. You need to learn how to make fireballs.

Do the same thing that you did to create the flame on the wick, and apply it to the air in your hand.”

Maureen had reservations about creating fireballs, but not knowing what she was up against, she decided to try it. Doing the same thing that she had done to create the fire for the candle, except this time without the wick. She was hardly surprised this time when the air in her hand exploded into flame.

“Good. Now without letting that flame go out, create another one in your other hand.”

Maureen kept her concentration, but just had to ask, “You really expect me to be able to do that?”

“You’re keeping the one going and talking to me… Most beginners wouldn’t be able to do even that.”

Maureen smiled, then decided to try and see what she really could do. She managed to keep the first fireball formed as she formed the second, but before Julius could say anything he had one of the fireballs flying toward him.

It was weak, and he was able to easily nullify it, but he was pleased with Kyra’s initiative. Kyra, however, seemed disappointed with her inability to even challenge him.

“You did very well, and it was a surprise that you even able to keep it going while it was coming at me.”

“Yes, but you didn’t even have to try to stop it.”

“Practice will make it stronger, and control will make you stronger.”

“Well then, how are we supposed to practice this?”

“Same way that we practice everything else. By getting out there and doing it, but if you are serious about practicing I had better teach you methods of nullifying magical attacks.”

Maureen’s stomach grumbled. “How about we don’t start a new lesson on an empty stomach, eh?”

Julius looked at her, then agreed. He still had something to say, however.

“Kyra, you are getting stronger every day. Now we need to make sure that your abilities don’t overwhelm you. Let’s lay of the physical training for a day or two, or at least the weaponry. We should build up your other abilities, and then try to combine them in a few days.”

“Julius… Getting worried that I’ll hurt you?” Maureen asked with humor in her voice.

“No, but I do worry that you could hurt yourself.”

“I didn’t think that could happen while you’re around.”

“I try to keep you safe, but I can only protect you so much from yourself. Now, let’s see to that food you were mentioning.”

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Monday

That's really all that I have to say about today, it's monday.

Been craving stuffed grape leaves lately, will probably make them later this week if I can find the lamb.

Updated the story through my web site, for easier reading.
http://www.geocities.com/phoenixwaller/blogstory.html

Anyway, really nothing happening right now. SO I will continue with the story.

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13

“Pull your blows, Kyra.”

Maureen stopped. “Excuse me?”

“Pull your blows. We know that your aim is good, so now we need to work on your control.”

“How is pulling my blows going to help my control?”

“If you can maneuver for a blow and can then keep yourself from landing it, you will be able to choose any depth of blow that you want in actual battle. Also, I want to move from these blunted weapons to real ones, including blades. If you cannot pull your blows we will not be able to achieve the level of practice that you need.

Now, before we lose any more time, fight.”

***

“Julius, look down.”

Looking down he saw what she wanted. He thought that he had scored the blow, but he realized that if they had blades they would have killed each other. The blunted end of her staff was just brushing his clothing, so lightly that he had not even felt it.

She had been winning or producing a draw on every bout for two days. He felt that it was time to move onto more advanced weapons.

“Stay here, Kyra.”

Julius went inside of the house and immediately to his things. He pulled out what he was looking for. The blades were old, and had drawn blood before. Made by the best sword smiths of the day, these blades were some of the most highly sought after in Julius’ world.

Walking back outside with the swords her saw her eyeing them.

“Are you sure that I am ready for blades, Julius?”

“If not now, then never.”

Maureen took the sword carefully. Pulling it from the scabbard, she eyed the edge carefully. Pulling a single strand or hair, she allowed it to fall onto the blade. It barely fell upon the blade before it became two pieces.

Julius watched her reaction. “Don’t land any blows.”

“Listen to your own advice.”

“Fight.”

***

Maureen allowed the water to wash over her. The heat felt good on her sore muscles. Squeezing some soap onto her sponge she washed away the sweat and dirt of battle.

Maureen shut her eyes.

She opened them again when she heard knocking on the door.

“Kyra?”

“I’m almost out Julius.”

Silence marked his reply. It was then that she realized the water had become cool.

The water heater in the house had a fairly large tank, so she must have lost a good deal of time.

She turned off the water and pulled a towel around her. She walked into the hall. Julius was not there, she thought that he must be in the living room.

She saw him before she even got entirely into the room.

“Sorry about that, Julius, I must have lost track of ti…”

Crossing in front of the vampire she could see that he was dead. The beautiful swords were protruding from his chest. Blood ran in an evil smile where his throat had been slit.

A hand fell onto her shoulder. Turning she saw the bodies of her husband and daughter hanging from the ceiling. Blood dripped from their toes.

“Now it’s just you and me.”

Turning once more, she saw where somebody should be. The spot, however, was filled only with a vague shadow.

“You have nobody left, nobody to help you. Now it’s just you and me.”

Maureen screamed.

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Nerves

My stomach was a mess last night. After the scare at work, and the effects of that on my stomach, we had burritos for dinner, and anybody who knows me knows that chili can mess me up sometimes. Last night the chili was very hot too.

Another side effect of what happened yesterday was that I was just not in the mindset to write, which mainly means that I am not as far ahead in the story as I had been. Yes, I had been writing ahead so that if I hit a writers block I would have some days to catch the story again before making the readers wait. Not that this is actually a concern to todays post.

Anyway, I've rambled enough for right now. So here is the next part of the story.

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12

Jack was pleased with his work on Julius. He would only be happier if he could have really killed him. He wished that he could intimidate that girl as well, but that would mean forfeiture of the fight, and he would much rather kill her than intimidate her.

He looked at a figure lying on the floor. An elf had traveled into the cave in search of mushrooms. For now he was unconscious, but when he woke up again he would wish that he was dead.

Jack walked into another chamber in search of spiders, venomous spiders. If he collected enough he would have a nice show later. Elves were resistant to spider venom, but it was extremely painful to them.

Jack intended to keep his toy for as long as it would live. He didn’t know how long he would have to wait before he could get another one. It also wouldn’t be safe to acquire another toy too soon. The other side might get suspicious if too many innocents disappeared.

He heard a slight groan from the rear chamber. Good, he thought, just in time. Moving back toward his captive, he started to force his way into the elf’s mind. He would have ever so much more fun if he could find out the greatest fear of the young elf; the spiders would just have to wait for a while.

Though young, the elf had been well trained. He was resisting quite well Jack’s initial attempts to invade his mind. Unfortunately for the elf, Jack was just beginning to pry.

The sounds of the elf’s screaming soon filled the cavern.

Soon Jack had the information that he wanted, but was also disappointed in the elf’s inability to keep conscious. But, he did know that spiders were the right way to go, and he didn’t even have to be picky about them anymore.

Back on the hunt for spiders, Jack thought about what else he would do to his toy.

***

Malchevio heard the screams of the elf before he even entered the cavern. Jack would be in a good mood; hopefully that mood would remain good after he had delivered the message. And, if it didn’t, at least Jack had somebody else to take it out on.

The screaming of the elf stopped. Malchevio stopped in response; Jack would no longer be in a good mood if his plaything died. Cruel laughter emanating from the cavern eased Malchevio’s concerns.

He came upon Jack staring at the wall.

“What are you doing?”

“Catching spiders.”

“Elf, huh?”

“Scared of spiders, too”

“Double fun.”

Jack looked at Malchevio, he was playing up the torture of the elf. He had bad news. “Spit it out, rat. If you have bad news let me hear it, then leave so that I can continue my fun.”

“We still don’t know how long until our forces are prepared. It’ll be at least another two weeks.”

“Tell me again why I must wait for the readiness of others.”

“The other side needs her, and they will do everything to defend her. If you attack and are forces aren’t ready to counter the forces that they will send to protect her, they will wipe you out. Even you can’t withstand an army and her.”

Jack was silent, no matter how he hated to admit it, Malchevio was right. She wouldn’t be a problem, but she was powerful. If he had to fight a small army at the same time his chances of winning decreased dramatically.

“She wouldn’t be nice enough to attack me, would she?”

“Afraid not, Jack. Julius is training her, he is going to take every second that we give him to get her in the best condition that he can. He wouldn’t let her attack you.”

“Damn that vamp.”

“Isn’t he already?”

“You humans and your myths… Leave me now.”

Malchevio walked out of the cavern, much relieved.

“Malchevio.”

He stopped, and turned back toward back toward the cavern.

“If I have to be here for as long as you think, you better bring me some better food. And make sure you bring some amusements as well.”

Malchevio was nearly shaking with relief. The elf must be better amusement that he had initially thought, Jack had nearly been pleasant.

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