Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Into the fields of Summer - 57. First Surge 1
Victor and I walked into the kitchen together, I was surprised to find August and Leo cooking together, both were busy making pancakes and waffles. Both guys were laughing as they horses around each other, Leo even had some pancake mix on his face.
I looked at them both amused and confused as to the situation before me. August noticed us and said “hey... mornin’ guys” he giggled a bit. “What’s with that look?”
“Uhhh...” I muttered a drawn out reply.
August then smiled and said “I cook too you know”
I laughed a bit and said “Uh Huh... just didn’t figure you to be that type of guy.”
“Chris... come on taste this! You have too! These are our first batch of pancakes” Leo enthusiastically said as he handed me a plate of pancakes. I took out a small bite and oh my.
“Whoa... shit... this is good!, Victor! Try this!” I nearly shouted, the pancake was sweet and had an amazing fruity taste.
“Yeah... this is more than good” Victor said as he ate some pancake.
“I told you he’s good!” Leo proudly said.
I looked at August and I told him “seriously... August this is great!”
“Thanks guys... don’t worry I’ll make some more... so just eat up!”
A few minutes later the rest of August’s pack walked in all of us and we all took platefuls of pancakes and waffles. It wasn’t lost with the rest of the pack on how good the food was.
After breakfast, the four of us took quick showers and dressed for our trip to Baltimore.
Just before 9am, the four of us were already in August’s SUV and headed towards the city. The drive to Baltimore wasn’t long just barely 45 minutes to the city. During our ride we talked a bit about August’s life in Baltimore, he said he’s been based in Baltimore since he became the Clan Alpha, he used to be based in Upstate New York but he had to move to Baltimore as more packs were easier to access from the area.
Just half past 9, we made it to our first stop, the Walters Art Museum, the museum houses various art works, statues, artifacts, and sculptures from various civilizations around the world, it housed various Egyptian, Asian, Middle Eastern artifacts. Just 30 minutes into our visit in the museum, we were all enamored with several works such as a Buddhist statue from the 10th century and a statue from Mexico in the 2nd century. Leo was in a similar state as me as we were clearly surprised with the amount of artifacts housed in the area.
While the three guys were looking into a Japanese painting from the 16th century, something caught my eye from several feet away. I walked away from the three and went over to a small knife in a glass. The knife had a black handle made of some sort of black mineral, it was the deepest black I’ve ever seen, the blade of knife wasn’t that long, probably 5 inches or so, the blade was thin and very very shiny, the description says it’s a knife from the 3rd century and from Central Europe, though no other details were given. I touched the glass surrounding the artifact and my tattoo immediately reacted to it,
I felt a tingle from my right wrist and I immediately put my left hand around my right wrist. I stifled a small groan as the tingle became more intense.
I tried to control my breathing to calm myself down, it’s a good thing that there weren’t many people around me or else I would have caught attention to myself. After a few more seconds, the tingle stopped and when I looked back at the glass casing, the knife has disappeared! “Shit...” I muttered to myself.
I then raised my right wrist to my eye and saw that a new tattoo has been added under my Maktar tattoo, the new tattoo was small as well and also in light golden color, in elvish it read Tarud, “what the fuck” I whispered to myself.
After a few seconds Victor went over to me and said “what are you looking at? This case is empty”
“It wasn’t just a few seconds ago”
I said to him with an anxious expression.
“What do you mean?” Victor’s forehead was slightly scrunched at that point.
I then raised my wrist to him and he gave it a quick look. He then realized the additional tattoo and said “what the hell happened?”
I shrugged and said “I just touched the glass and my wrist tingled and suddenly I find myself with a new tattoo and the knife inside the glass has disappeared”
“Chris... what the hell is happening?”
“I don’t know ... Victor... this is so confusing, and if I may be honest, I’m starting to freak the hell out”
“Chris... uhm” Victor gave a slight pause and then continued “You have to talk with your grandfather about this, like soon... we don’t have a clue if this is good or bad”
“Yeah... I know... I’ll talk to him tonight”
“Okay... we need answers soon” Victor then paused again and then asked “how are you feeling?”
“I’m fine... I guess”
“Okay just let me know if you feel something wrong okay?”
“Yeah... sure”
We then both went back to where Leo and August were, then after a few more minutes we made our way to our next destination, the American Visionary Art Musuem.
The museum housed various art works by self taught artists and my god, the pieces were all beautiful in their own way... from bedazzled cars to rods of metal twisted into some sort of furniture to large pieces of wood stuck and nailed together to form a cage of some sort. The art pieces were certainly different than the usual works of art we’ve seen.
The four of us spent more than an hour in the museum, to be quite honest we wanted to stay a bit longer but we were also getting hungry. And hunger always wins.
August drove us into Little Italy, an Italian-American enclave in Baltimore, the neighborhood housed various Italian restaurants and shops. August led us to a small Italian restaurant and we four were immediately seated. The food was more than great! Goodness the pasta and the meat were more than just mouth watering, they were mind blowing! The pasta, pizza, and the bread were all very very delicious, at some point Leo almost moaned in delight.
“My... we have to eat there again” Leo said as we left the restaurant.
“I agree with you!” I said.
“Don’t worry, I’ll make sure to bring you guys back here” August said.
Then we drove to Fell’s point and went around the neighborhood to check the shops in the area, Leo and I bought souvenirs as well.
Just after 5pm we started our drive back to August’s place. The drive back was more quiet as we were all still too full to keep a decent conversation.
Back at August’s place we all grabbed our stuff and put it into Victor’s car.
August and the four others escorted us to the parking area. August gave Leo a kiss and a very long hug as they said goodbye to each other.
“Thanks for having us” Victor said to the pack.
“Don’t mention it, you always host me anyway” August said with a smile as he gave my boyfriend a hug.
“You guys take care” I said.
“You too” August replied.
After a few more hugs, we all waved goodbye. Leo was slightly teary eyed as we left.
Leo was clearly sad as we drove off the property.
“Don’t worry Leo... you’ll see him again soon” I said to my best friend looking back at him through the rear view mirror.
“I know... it’s just I really miss him, like I miss him already!” Leo grunted.
“When will he drop by again anyway?” I asked.
“By Friday, I think”
“See... that’s just a few more days away, don’t worry I bet he misses you just as much”
“Oh... I hope he does!” Leo said.
Halfway through our drive we dropped by a small diner for dinner.
Then we were back on the road.
Just a few minutes after 10, Victor was already dropping us off in our neighborhood. I gave Victor a goodnight kiss and then I was off to the house.
“Dad... I’m home” I called out as I entered the house.
“In here kiddo!” Dad called out from the living room.
I walk in to dad watching some show from netflix. I gave my dad a hug as I greeted him.
“I hope you had a great trip despite the bumpy start” he said, referring to the issues we had with the rogues, I already called dad to talk about it last night and he was already updated by the vampire government and state government about it as well.
“It was great actually... we had fun... and yeah... those blood army folks are more than trouble, tsk, they’re really hell bent in taking down both the Vampire and Werewolf Governments”
“We have to be more careful... things are changing, and these changes are not always good” dad said.
“Yeah, I agree...” I replied.
We both talked some more for almost half an hour and then we went to bed.
After freshening up for the night, I laid on my bed waiting for sleep to take me.
As I dozed off, I find myself back in the tower, now back in the ground level. I looked around and nothing has really changed in the tower, things remain always where I last saw them, I then called out to Patri and Yal, I had some questions that needed some answers.
“How are you?” Patri said as he hugged me.
“I’m fine... I guess” concern showing through my eyes.
“Huh? What do you mean?” Patri said as he caught on with my worry.
“Well we ran into some trouble with the blood army yesterday”
“What happened?” Yal asked.
“Well... we were at August’s place and then 4 vampires and 2 werewolves attacked us, it was a bit of a mess, actually, it was a lot of mess, these rogues are dangerous and are out to get the Vampire and Werewolf Governments”
“Shit... are you all okay?” Yal said.
“Yeah we’re all fine”
“I’m glad you’re alright”
“Yeah... all the trainings we’ve had certainly helped, it’s just that this is all getting all complicated and rather dangerous”
“It’s good to hear that you’re fine... though I’m pretty sure you’re just getting started with discovering your true potential, and regarding the danger, well, I’m more than sure you’ll be able to handle yourself” Patri proudly said.
“Hmm... about that” I tried to avoid his gaze as I said that.
“What’s the matter?”
“Well... something else happened last night”
“Huh... what do you mean?”
I then raised my wrist to Patri. He gave me a quizzical look and then
I said “take a look...”
Patri held my wrist and inspected it, Patri’s eyes grew large as he saw the tattoos “where did you get this?” He said in with clear surprise in his voice.
“What’s this about?” Yal said from behind.
“Yal... come here... take a look!”
Patri said to Yal.
Yal walked over quickly and took a quick look on my wrist. He examined it and with the right angle and lighting he saw the light golden tattoo. Upon seeing the symbols he said “My my... how?” He said in complete confusion and surprise.
“Can you tell me what this is about?” I asked them both.
“Chris... “ Patri said but avoided my eyes.
“What... what is it Patri?” I asked, clearly concerned and confused. This did not sound good, clearly something caught their attention.
“Chris... these are symbols regarding the first two royal houses”
“Huh? What do you mean?” What royal houses is my grandfather taking about?
“It’s been too long since I last saw these symbols, these are ancient ...” Patri said. “These houses ruled the Elven people thousands of years ago”
“I don’t get you... what royal houses?” I asked.
“My house... our house... the House of Haldruin is the fourth house, we’ve ruled the elven people since 414AD, I am the 5th ruler from this house, before us there were other ruling houses, the first was Maktar, the second was Tarud...” Patri explained.
“So... what does this have to do with me?” ‘Royal Houses? What’s next?’
I thought.
“I don’t know...” Patri said. Then he looked over to Yal as if to ask if he knew something my grandfather didn’t.
Yal just looked as clueless as the rest of us. “I seriously don’t know what’s happening, why the symbols of the ancient houses though?”
“Seems like we have another thing to add to the list of things we have to investigate” Patri remarked. “This will need a thorough investigation by our experts, this will take awhile”
I gave a loud sigh in clear frustration about what was happening. “I’m so sorry you guys... this is just getting more confusing by the day”
“Chris... don’t let this weigh you down, we may not know what’s happening, but nothing bad has happened right?” Yal said. Then he added “though of course we have to be more cautious now”
“Be more cautious ... words I’ve been hearing more often lately”
I remarked.
As I tried to calm myself down,
I suddenly felt warm. “Patri...”
“Yes Chris?”
“I feel... I feel different” I said as I hunched lower to grab my body with both my hands as if I was feeling cold or something.
“What’s the matter? Are you alright?” Patri said with more concern now.
The warmth surrounded my body and I started to feel hot and flashes of pain in my arms. My arms felt like they were being slowly sliced by a knife. “Argh!” I shouted as the pain took over my body. My arms throbbed in pain.
“Chris! Chris!” Patri yelled over as he went closer to me.
“Your highness look!” Yal said as he pointed to my arms. My arms had streaks of silver spreading across them, it was as if veins of bright white light were spreading through my arms.
I grunted in pain and was able to mutter “what... what’s happening to me?”
“Yal... he’s having a kumhakta” Patri said.
“Kumhakta? No ones had one for more than a thousand years!” Yal said.
“I know... I know” Patri said. Then he looked at me and then at Yal and he said to Yal “We have to contain this, so you still remember how to perform a Hakta?”
“We’ve been taught how it works in theory, but no chance to perform it, there hasn’t been a case like this for a long long time” Yal replied to my grandfather.
“I know... I only know it in theory as well” Patri replied. “We have to do it soon”
“Yes your highness, take the lead” Yal responded.
I could only hug myself closer as the pain consumed me. I tried to shout in pain but I was in too much pain to even move my lips.
The pain was excruciating, after my arms, the hot searing pain started spreading from my chest and down through my legs as well. I shook in agony, my cried of pain echoing throughout the tower.
I was now shaking and wailing on the floor as Patri and Yal prepared themselves to help me with my condition.
Patri and Yal stood above me as I was now laying on the floor in a fetal position. They raised their hands above me and spoke in elvish, the air felt hot and heavy around me, their chanting continued as I saw wisps of silver strands of energy leave my body and flow into theirs.
The pain slowly but surely started to dissipate, as their chanting continued, their voices started to strain as if they were getting exhausted.
The pain completely disappeared a few minutes later and their chanting stopped. Patri and Yal looked flushed and beads of sweat dripping from their foreheads.
“Are you alright?” Patri asked me as he helped me stand.
“Yeah... I feel better” I said as I noticed Yal breathing heavily beside me. “Are you guys alright? You guys look exhausted” I commented, both seemed to be breathing heavier than usual.
“Yeah... we’ll be fine” Patri replied.
“What happened?” I asked.
“You had a Kumhakta” Patri said.
“A Kum... what?” All these Elvish words without a direct English translation, sigh.
“A Kumhakta, basically a power surge”
“Power surge?” I asked still confused.
Yal huffed a bit as he tried to catch his breath. Yal continued from where Patri left off and answered “A power surge... it means magical energy built up so much in your body that your body was ripping itself apart to release the energy”
“We had to perform a power diffusion or Hakta on you” Patri added.
“I don’t get it” I said. My face clearly showed confusion if not alarm at that point.
“It means you’re not using your powers enough, you have to use more magic or learn how to diffuse the magic building up inside you” Patri said to me as he gripped on both my shoulders and squeezed them a bit, he was now looking at me eye to eye.
“What am I suppose to do now?”
“We’ll have to teach you how to release the magic within you...”
“Okay... how do I do that?”
“Okay... come over here” Patri said to me.
We three walked to a more open space in the tower. Patri and Yal taught me how to feel the magic deep inside me. As I learned how to be more in tune with the magic inside me, I noticed that it was as if a bottomless ocean of swirling mass of energy. “It feels weird... I can feel it, the energy, it’s ... it’s amazing... it’s swirling all around inside me”
I said to both of them.
“Good ... good... okay... now try to slowly pull out some of that energy, and slowly... yes... that’s it... okay... slowly ... slowly... yes... release it feel as if you’re slowly breathing out your energy around you” Patri said.
As I released the energy around me, the air felt heavy... slowly but surely the air not only felt heavier but warmer as well.
“Shit... that’s a lot of energy”
Yal remarked.
“You felt it earlier didn’t you?” Patri said to Yal. Then he continued “the energy we diffused from earlier was barely a fraction of his magical potential, he doesn’t draw energy from his surroundings, he’s producing it by himself”
“Barely a fraction?” Yal asked my grandfather in disbelief as I concentrated in releasing more energy from my body.
“Yes... barely a fraction”
“Barely a fraction and I already started feeling sick with the amount of power that passed through my body” Yal answered.
“I felt light headed too” Patri said to Yal. Then he instructed Yal “Yal... use your magic... reach out to him, try to tap to his magical pool, feel it and tell me what you feel”
Yal closed his eyes and I felt a light wind enclose my body, it was as if someone was trying to lightly touch me. Yal’s energy met mine and he let out a yelp and a small gasp. “How... how on earth?” Yal exclaimed to my grandfather.
“I know... I’ve never seen anything like it” Patri said to Yal.
I stopped my diffusion and looked at my grandfather and Yal. I asked them “what are you talking about?”
“Chris... what can you say about the energy you feel inside you?”
Patri asked me.
“I feel like I have an ocean of swirling mass ... I can’t articulate it properly... no words can describe it”
“Yes... no words indeed”
“What do you mean by this Patri?”
“For a normal elf, they’d feel they have a bucket or two of energy in them, for a copper level elf, maybe several more buckets, for a bronze... maybe a small pool of it... are you getting what I’m trying to say?” Patri said.
“Uhm... that I’m silver level?” I said in hesitation.
Patri bellowed in laughter as I said that. “Silver?! Silver?! My boy... you put the Silvers, Golds, and Platinums to shame!!!” He loudly said.
“Huh?” I looked at both of them in confusion.
“More than Platinum?” I asked.
“Yes! It takes a Platinum to know he’s been surpassed” Patri said as he pointed to himself indicating that he was a platinum.
“What... you mean I’m more powerful than you?” I said in disbelief. This can’t be right, I can’t be more powerful than the King! It’s simply impossible.
“You put my powers to shame boy! I’ve never felt so weak when I allowed your energy to flow through me, what we diffused from you was barely a percent of your potential, that one percent was split between Yal and me and that was already enough to get us both light headed, anything more and we would have started to vomit and get sick.”
“Uhm... this can’t be...”
“Well... it’s the truth boy.”
“What now?” I asked.
“We have to train you! You barely using your magic is a waste... and if you fail to diffuse it or use it, you’ll be having another Kumhakta soon.”
“So I’m gonna have a Kumhakta again?”
“Yes... If you don’t release it every now and then” Yal answered as if to warn me that another Kumhakta is not ideal, a notion I truly agree with.
“Patri... this can’t be... I’m just me... I’m just Chris... I can’t have this much power” I said sadly, I couldn’t wrap my head around this idea, they must have gotten this wrong. I was in total disbelief, I can’t possibly be that powerful, yeah I can use water magic, launch an energy ball or two and maybe use a little bit of fire, but that’s just it, I can’t do anything more.
“Patri... I can barely use my magic, I haven’t mastered any... I can’t be that powerful” I said.
“Chris... grandson... you’re confusing your current ability to manipulate the elements with that of your raw power, with the right training and proper practice, you’ll make the silver level magic you’ve been able to perform to shame, you’ll make all the things you’ve done so far seem like child’s play.”
“Fuck...” I muttered as I started to understand the gravity of this all.
“Yes... fuck indeed!” Patri said as he smiled in disbelief. Patri just shook his hade side to side as if surprised with what he has to deal with now.
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Stories posted in this category are works of fiction. Names, places, characters, events, and incidents are created by the authors' imaginations or are used fictitiously. Any resemblances to actual persons (living or dead), organizations, companies, events, or locales are entirely coincidental.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
Note: While authors are asked to place warnings on their stories for some moderated content, everyone has different thresholds, and it is your responsibility as a reader to avoid stories or stop reading if something bothers you.
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