Bloody weather

So that title can almost be taken literally.

I have always had a problem with sudden changes in the weather. Drastic pressure shifts or temperature changes wreak havok with my nose.

It hit me yesterday on the way home. Here I am doing 60 mph and my nose starts bleeding, just a little at first, but gradually increasing to a good gush. I searched frantically in my car for tissue, but none was to be found. Knowing that tissue was the answer I continued driving at 60, sometimes making it to 65, all the way home. Where I immediately scared my dad half to death when he saw the blood. My mom, being a little more aware of these horrible nose bleeds just handed me some napkins.

It took close to an hour for it to completely stop.

Now I can think of such better uses for blood than for it to be running out of my nose and onto tissue, or down the back of my throat. I mean it could always be doing its job by staying where it's needed. Or if it insists on escaping my body at least it could wait until I am ready to donate blood again, at least the blood bank would have a better place to put it than tissue.

Anyway, I'll say it again. Bloody Weather.

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26

Once again Julius woke before Maureen. He wanted to take her something warm to drink, but didn’t want to make coffee again. He looked through the cabinet that she kept the coffee in and found something called tea. He read the directions. They seemed simple enough. He heated some water, sniffed at the tea until he found one that he thought Maureen would like, and returned to the bedroom with the tea, water, sugar, and the medicine that the elf had given him the night before.

Maureen was just waking up as Julius entered the room. She looked at him, and then noticed what was in his hand.

“Tea?”

“I don’t know about such things, but I hope that this is a decent substitute for coffee.”

Maureen took the mug and the teabag while Julius set the sugar and medicine on the bedside table.

Maureen sniffed the tea. “Hmmm,” she said dreamily. “Orange. My favorite. How did you know?”

“Lucky guess.”

Maureen smiled. She then put the tea into the water to steep.

Julius took the mug from her hands and set it on the table while she waited for the tea to reach full strength.

“What’s on the agenda for today?” Maureen asked.

“You are going to rest, and get better.”

“And you?”

“I still have plenty that I can tell you, so I think that we’re both covered.”

Maureen looked at the tea. “Would you hand the tea back, please? I think that it is ready.”

Julius passed her the mug, and when she nodded the sugar as well.

Maureen sweetened the tea, took a sip, and handed back the sugar. She was about to take another sip when Julius asked for the mug.

“What do you need it for?” she asked as she handed it over.

“An elf came last night, he handed me some medicine to put in your drinks today.”

“You trust him?”

Julius hesitated. “Yes, I trust him.”

“Why the hesitation?”

“He is an elf. There was animosity between our species for so long that we find it hard to trust each other, even when we should.”

Maureen nodded her understanding.

Julius sprinkled the powder into her tea, stirred it in, and handed back the mug.

Maureen sniffed at the tea. Satisfied with the smell, she took a cautious sip. Finally she took a long swallow of the tea. She sighed her contentment and laid back against some pillows she had pulled behind herself.

“So what are you going to start with? Prophecies or communication between realms?”

“I think I’ll leave that up to you.”

“Well, the tea is good, but I’ll have to have breakfast at some point. So you should probably start with the one that is shorter.”

Julius thought for a minute. “I think that we’ll save the prophecies for this afternoon then.”

Julius fell silent in order to collect his thoughts, and make a mental list of what he needed to cover.

“Do you remember what I said about the realms splitting apart? About the different energy levels?”

Maureen nodded.

“Well control of your own energy is the most important part of communication, especially between realms.

Usually if whatever you have to say isn’t urgent traditional methods are still used. Couriers are employed throughout my realm, delivering messages. Most of the time they deliver messages for people who use all their energy just in surviving, but they are also in the employment of those who can communicate by other means as well.

For those who have the energy, and if the message is important enough another form of communication is available. Solely through the mind, from one person to the other.”

“Telepathic?” Maureen interrupted.

“Exactly.

Now, where was I? That’s right, communication through the mind.

Anyway, communication in this manner often takes more effort in concentration than in actual energy, but it is still difficult for those who just barely survive in my realm. It is usually only used by those who have acquired some magical abilities, for they can usually control their energies better and have developed the discipline to focus properly.”

Julius paused for a moment.

“Is it really that difficult?”

“No, it really isn’t. It just seems so. I believe that if more people had the discipline that it would become the most common form of communication. But I think that the mages tend to keep it used very little as well.”

“Explain.”

“Mages, especially human mages, want to keep what they do mystical to the people around them. If the people knew how easy magic truly is they would not give the mages the respect, and business, that they desire.

Anyway… That is communication within the realm. Communication outside of the realm actually is difficult.

To communicate outside of the realm that you currently occupy is not only harder, but can be dangerous.

In order to communicate between the realms you have to alter you energy to get past the energy barrier. Communicating to a lower realm is obviously easier than communicating with a higher one. The other big difference from communicating within the realm is that you usually have to broadcast your location so that whenever the person you are trying to communicate with replies they send the message to the right spot.

That broadcasting of location is what makes communication between the realms dangerous. Usually when communicating in this fashion you tend to focus more on your mind than your body, but also on one area of your mind. You leave yourself extremely vulnerable to attack, both physically and psychically.

Now combine that vulnerability with the fact that you are broadcasting openly your location. Many people have been injured while trying to communicate between the realms, many more have been killed.”

Silence filled the room.

“How can someone be attacked psychically? I understand the physical attack, but not the other.”

Julius took a deep breath, he hadn’t wanted to get into it, but knew that he had to sometime.

“Your realm is not directly beneath mine in energy level. There is one between, and most creatures try to avoid it.”

Maureen was silent as a confused expression crossed her face.

“Between our realms is the realm of the dead.

Sometimes when somebody dies their energy does not go to the place that we cannot see. Sometimes their energy changes, and stays on the world. When that happens they go to the in-between realm. Anguish and pain rule there. Lost souls roam, trying to find out what happened that they ended up there.

These lost souls often attack anything living to try and change their situation. When somebody tries to communicate between the realms they have to shield themselves appropriately otherwise some lost soul may use the mental channel to attack the party on either end.”

“It’s just a mental attack though. How bad can it be?” Maureen asked with a nervous chuckle.

“Bad enough. I have seen people die from those attacks. Whatever they can do to your body they can do to your mind, and worse.

I have seen a person who was communicating be attacked by a creature from the in-between realm. There was nothing that we could do. We could only watch as some evil creature from that realm convinced the victim that he was being tortured to death. Our friend died, and had his body stolen by the creature that had attacked him.”

“What did you do?”

“The only thing that we could.”

Julius fell silent at the memory. His face fell, and he walked to the window. Ashamed, he couldn’t bring himself to face Maureen.

She didn’t know what to say. She felt terrible for making him relive such a horrible memory.

Maureen climbed out of her bed and approached the vampire.

“I know that you did it to honor your friend, and I’m sorry that you couldn’t save him.” She put her arms around the vampire’s shoulders.

She felt a single sob shake Julius’ shoulders.

“I’m sorry… Please, let us leave this room for a while.”

Leaning on each other for support, they left.