Magestorm: The Awakening

MAGESTORM

THE AWAKENING

By Chris
Fornwalt

1

He walked into the boardroom completely naked, all the female eyes staring at him.  Well, he felt naked, anyway.  But he wasn’t really.  He just wasn’t welcome.  The community was almost exclusively female these days, so they didn’t care for the one man in the midst of
them
.

“Take your seats, everyone.”

He ignored the stares as he always did.  A quick glance to the head of the table showed Cassandra, powerful and beautiful as always.  She flashed a quick, sad smile to him.  She was the one woman in the room that didn’t totally dismiss him as
an outsider, and luckily for
Dha
ne
, she was also the head of the society.

D
h
ane
sat down between t
wo empty chairs, as always.  No
point tempting the witches to try and cast a spell on him, even if that wasn’t technically possible in this room.  The bla
ck table was enchanted, or rumor had it anyway. 

A
bout a thousand years ago, when the society was still new, they created this table to keep everyone honest.  Once you entered a room containing this table, your powers were useless.  For
D
h
ane
, that was a good thing.

The rest of the room was decorated in gold, and there were
passages
leading off in four directions.  One was the main entrance, which had huge wooden double doors.   Once you
came through the main entrance
, there was a war room
off to the right
.  It was seldom used now, but once played a large role in overcoming Algernon
.  To the left was an entrance into the great library.  From the library, you couldn’t see this door at all, as it swung open between bookshelves.

Fin
ally, against the opposite wall
was
a
golden door that nearly blended with the walls.  This led to the private chambers of the society head.  For now, it was Cassandra’s personal living space.  She was only the second head since this building had been built, exactly in the center of
the
town
of
Thauma
;
it was
eight blocks
east
of the vampires, eight blocks
w
est of the werewolves. 
C
ertain symmetry was used on purpose, maximizing their power.

“Shall we begin
,
then?”

Cassandra spoke about the next weeks’ shifts for guarding the lairs.  Werewolves
were
in one, vampires in the other,
both of which
hated everyone and everything.  Because of the threat they
re
presented, the society
took shifts keeping spells on them, preventing their departure from their assigned area
s
.

Each had a four block radius, with their own apartments, stores, etc.  There was also a spell of dread that kept stray humans from wandering into the protected area.  These spells had to be maintained.  Any weakness could lead to an escape, and that was bad news for everybody.

D
h
ane
was exempt from guard duty, however.  None o
f the witches would partner
with him.  At least there was one good thing about being the outcast.

He looked around the
table at the twenty witches who
mostly
hated him. 
He didn’t really know any of them except by reputation.  He was in a room of strangers, except for Cassandra.

She had taken him under her
wing when he was younger.  The son of a witch
and a mage
, he was already blessed with magical abilities, which made him exempt
from the new law of the society: no men.  With that ex
c
eption, Cassandra
had
helped him hone his abilities for the past five years.  She also helped him search for his mother’s identity, but so far there was no luck on that front.
  Everyone knew who his father was.

Having never met the man,
Dhane
could only go by reputation, and that was not a good thing. 
He was the
bastard son of the great wizard,
who was
only referred to as great because of his substantial power.  Algernon was not a good guy, at least not in the end.  That was all anyone remembered, the guy who enslaved the vampires, tried to do the same to werewolves, and treated both like lab experiments.  And then there were the witches.

Apparently, Algernon felt his position gave him rights above all else.  He was known to have performed experiments on some witches, raped others, and tortured the society as a whole.  Absolute power corrupted absolutely.

He
’d
also ensured there was nobody that could challenge his authority and power.  Back then, males typically headed the society, so he had all mages murdered. 
Dhane
still wasn’t sure why he
’d
been left
alive.  The way he understood it, he was allowed to be taken away, raised outside the horrors of
Thauma
.  Even not knowing Algernon,
Dhane
was still guilty by association.

“The next order of business is a petition by the werewolves.  They’ve requested an additional two blocks to expand in.”

Cassandra
carefully
looked over a map of
their current dwellings as Nic
ole, the werewolf liaison, continued
to explain
.

“They
still
h
ave a small amount of room
within their current allocation, but they’re having some sort of internal strife.  I recommend giving it to them.  Better to keep things calm and the wolves civilized.”

“Sounds simple enough,” Cassandra agreed.  “However, I want to meet with
Sebastian
to discuss it. 
Arrange it for later t
onight.”

Nicole nodded and wrote in her notebook.  She was old school, believing in the old ways and following
s
.  As such, she didn’t use a laptop as most of the others did.

“Diane and Elisabeth can be your
guard;
they are on standby for guard duty this week.”

“That won’t be necessary.”

“Madam, nobody visits the lairs alone.  It’s law.  And as I recall, it’s your law.”

The next statement left
Dhane’s
dark brown eyes wide with surprise, and he wasn’t the only one. 
Nothing like the unexpected.

“I’m very aware of the
law, which
is why
Dhane
will accompany me.”

2

The room was dead
quiet as everyone looked his direction.  That had to piss off the witches but good. 
Dhane
looked towards Cassandra and nodded
defiantly
.  For all she had done for him, he would do anything for her
, including go into the werewolf area as her guard
.  His eyes then returned to his notepad and jotted down the planned trip.

As the others finished talking about other unimportant notes,
Dhane’s
heart was pounding.  He had never visited either of the other societies.  He was especially nervous about anything happening while they were there.  If the werewolves attacked, could he really help fight them?  If anything happened to Cassandra, he would be blamed and exiled, or worse.  Suddenly it
felt like a sauna
in th
is
room.

“Meeting is adjourned then.  Nicole, I’l
l be ready to meet with the werewolves
in about an hour, so please
arrange it
quickly.”

“Yes ma’
am.”

Nicole closed her notebooks and pushed her short black hair behind her ears.  A quick dagger of a glance at
Dhane
reminded him that she didn’t approve of him in the least.  This was his big chance to screw everything up
, and she would be waiting with an ‘I told you so’
.

“
Dhane
, come talk with me while I get ready.”

Cassandra smiled and waved to him as she turned to
wards
her chambers.  The room quickly emptied, the witches returning to their duties or enjoying their night off, and
Dhane
following Cassandra throug
h the door
.

He always found this room odd.  Instead of having something like a private apartment, it was a single, albeit very large, room.  To the right was the bed, against the wall and with a see-through curtain surrounding the
sleeping
area.
  There were nightstands to the side, and a wardrobe against the wall.  It
was
set it off from the rest of the room, but not really.

Beyond that was the bathroom, with a shower in the corner that had pla
in glass doors.  To the left w
as
a living room area,
with
a couple
of
couches,
a
bookshelf,
and
a
coffee
table.  Very basic, with no television, but a small radio that looked like it was the first radio ever invented.

In the back corner
was the kitchen.  Again,
it was
very basic,
but with a bar area that looked
out of place.  Finally, in the very center of the room was a round fire pit, accessible from all sides, and always lit.  Through magic, it never went out, but the degree of heat coming off could be adjusted.

“I hope you don’t mind me volunteering you for this meeting, but I thought you might like to see where we keep the other societies and how they live.”

“Not at all, ma
’
am.”

She gave him a disapproving look as she selected a different outfit from the wardrobe.  He couldn’t help but grin
as he ran his fingers through his short brown hair
.
  It was starting to reach his eyes; he’d need a haircut soon.

“Sorry, Cassandra
, j
ust trying to show respect.”

“You don’t have anything to prove to me.  I trust you completely.
  Eventually, the others will as well.  Just
be
patient, my dear.  Why don’t you get yourself something to drink?”

“Sure.  You want anything?”

She shook her head and slid o
f
f her shoes. 
Dhane
pulled out the only Pepsi in the fridge.  She knew it was his favorite, and there was almost always one waiting for him.
  He turned around and saw her dropping her dress to the floor.

He nearly dropped his drink, but he was frozen as he stared.  She slid off her panties and bra,
and
then grabbed a fresh towel from a drawer in the wardrobe.  He tried to stop staring, concentrating on his feet now, and hurried back to the living room to sit down.  Of course, the couch and chairs all pointed away from the wall, so he sat down to a view of her walking towards the bathroom.

“I just need a quick shower
and
then we can head out.”

He didn’t respond.  He couldn’t.  Fighting the urge to think of her in that way was also out of the question.  She was stunning, with her slightly tan skin, no tan lines, breasts larger than average, and round voluptuous rear end which he watched sway as it walked away from him. 

She turned on the shower and closed the doors.  Finally some noise to break the
silence;
he looked around the room for anything else to focus on.  He ended up back at the shower though, as she let the water flow through her long curly blond hair and down her body, dripping from her nipples as she leaned over to wash her feet.

“
Dhane
,
what do you think?”

“Umm… I… Uh…”

“The werewolves are always polite, as you’ll see.  That makes it hard to deny a request such as this.  However, I’m always suspicious that they’re playing polite to manipulate us.  I want you to be very mindful while we’re there.”

Dhane’s
mind was only one place right now.  But the words stuck and he would pay close attention. 
Maybe even as close as he was to the naked woman in
the room
.
  At least he wouldn’t have this distraction, if he could ever get the image out of his mind.  Then again, did he really want to?

The shower turned off and
Dhane
hurried to the bookshelf, grabbed a random book, and sat back down.  He flipped through pages he didn’t understand, and then realized this was a German spell book.  He didn’t speak German.  This guise would work well.

He glanced up a few times as she dried herself off.  She then wrapped the towel around herself and walked over to the fire to finish drying her hair.  He searched the book for anything legible, like he was looking for the antidote to a poison in his veins.  No luck.

“
Dhane
.”

He looked up at her, into her blue eyes that stared at him with purpose now.

“Did you see a birthmark,
Dhane
?”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“Don’t pretend you weren’t watching me.  You were meant to be.  However, we recently went over the spell of breaking mist.  Did you break through my mist which hid a birthmark, or were you blinded by the naked woman?”

Shit.  His mind raced over every inch of her body, each perfect curve,
and the
glistening
water cradling her…

Damn it!  Snap out of it and concentrate!

“I was afraid of that.  Don’t ever forget, magic is all around.  You can’t trust anyone, as Algernon showed us.  You must always be wary.  Even if you hadn’t spotted the birthmark, you should have sensed the mist I used.
  The enemy will not always be what you expect.
”

“Sorry Cassandra, I guess I was
lost
in… well…
you know.
”

“Yes, well, a woman doesn’t need much magic to get over on a man, and vice versa.  The werewolves will have beautiful women among their ranks, and they may be used to distract you as well.”

“I will pay close attention to everything.  I wouldn’t ever be distracted when it could put you in danger.”

She smiled slyly and her eyes softened.  She walked back to her bed and dropped her towel.  Sure enough, there it was.  It looked like Australia,
the inch wide birthmark on her
rear end.  The same one he watched all the way to the shower.  Damn.

She dressed while he returned the book to the shelf and looked over the others.  Many languages were represented, and he wondered if she could read them all.  After ten minutes, he found one in English and grabbed it.  As soon as he sat down, Cassandra was before him again.

“Ready?”