csyphrett

The front page said Facebook coding has gone bad. Took me a while to get on myself. I notice that L. Marcus has sort of sniped me. I have to think of a new thing to give the world. I will come up with something tonight to add to the world Thanks Sociotard for taking over the GM spot. Tell Log man to take it easy, E CES

I think I am down two picks. I would like to add Space to my secondary domain. Clocks and compasses are mine to command. I would like to pick the Chosen One as my Guardian and Monster. Sometimes to keep things on track, someone is born with a ten line prophecy engraved on their skin. When one line of the prophecy has been finished, it vanishes. And since prophecies are vague to avoid tampering, the Chosen One can be as much a villain as hero trying to work around the conditions given him. CES

I guess that's a good work around. Summoned creatures for a palladium summoner are never amicable. They are always hostile, and they almost always want to kill the summoner. CES

I would like to give this world the Oracle Network. Whenever someone has a problem, they can go to the local Oracle to ask for a solution that might help them. Countries on the face of disaster could get a warning to turn aside. Naturally these oracles are from the local sentient race. CES

I would like to add prophecy under my other subdomain. I guess my god is in charge of basically making sure everything runs like a clock, triggering migrations as the world moves about it sun, and ensuring problems are fixed with a piece of the future being known to person who can do the job. CES

Cantripped is right that a circle is immobile, a focus, needs gestures and incantations. The summoned creatures depending on their ego and intelligence are not loyal and will screw over the summoner depending on their attitude towards him/her. Additionally the summoner has to win three out of five, I guess in hero would be, ego versus ego combats just to get the thing to follow him in the first place. If the character can't win the contest, the creature will wait or try to trick the summoner into leaving the circle so that it may kill the summoner. Destroying the summoner's property and nearby friends and so forth are on the table. Also if the creatures are under control, lesser beings get a chance once a month to break free with modifiers to its ego roll. Greater creatures such as high level demons and such get a chance once every two weeks with ego modifiers and bonuses. Also the behavior of the summoner can automatically trigger the breakout roll battle which will put the summoner back to having to go to the circle for protection if he loses. Not an option if summoner and demon are traveling together. If the creature breaks free, trouble may ensue depending on how it feels about the summoner. CES

Kenny Craven is the Basilisk. His uncovered stare is enough to turn living tissue into stone. He has worked on being a competent hand to hand and weapons user because of the lethalness of his stare is a weapon of last resort. CES

I'm taking the secondary domain of seasons under my wing as the god of time. CES

Someone told me that leaving the Accords would take years. We'll be having another presidential election before we can fully pull out. CES

I would like my primary aspect to be Time. CES

Sure. Deep beneath the Earth is the Echidna, the mother of all monsters. Her desire is for her babies to inherit the earth in their claws and talons. One group of heroes opposes this. They are the Argonauts. These eight commandos have been given the powers of some of the classical monsters to fight against their even more monstrous foes. Go. CES

The Four Musketeers 1992- “This is the place?” Henry Harkness waved his hand at the Good Eats diner. He felt a little doubt as he noted that the second o, the e, and the s were out so the sign read Good At. The place sat between two skyscrapers, and it was a miracle the place hadn’t been forced closed for a more expensive building. “The food is good.” Pablo Estevez grinned. “Cassie and Hector feed us well.” “It looks run down to me.” Henry scowled at the eatery. “Julio’s looks better than this.” “Julio’s looks better, but it isn’t.” Pablo pushed the door open with the flat of his hand. “That’s why we meet here every month. I wouldn’t tell Cassie some place is better than hers. She might cut you to pieces.” “Who’s Cassie?” Henry paused inside the door to look around. There was a small lunch crowd, but no one seemed to be looking at him. “I am.” A woman in a red shirt and black skirt smiled at him. Gray laced her dark hair. A leather glove covered one hand. “How’s it going, Pobs?” “Still trying to make the world a better place.” Pablo flashed white teeth at her. “The old men here yet?” “They got the big booth in the back.” Cassie nodded at the rear of the room. “I see you brought your kid.” “Henry, this is Cassie.” Estevez gestured at the waitress. “Cassie, this is my trainee, Henry Harkness.” “Nice to meet you, kid.” Cassie waved at them to take a seat. “I’ll bring menus for you two in a second.” “She’s waiting on all of the tables herself?” Henry looked at the crowd. “What’s with the glove?” “Why don’t you ask her?” Pablo led the way across the room. “I’m sure the explanation is as simple as a heavy burn.” “I’ll pass.” Henry tried to step where the older man stepped, but he kept getting arms and legs in the way. His respect for the waitress went up at the thought she had to negotiate through her customers like he was doing her whole work day. The big booth in the back already had two older men sitting there. Henry didn’t know them, but guessed they were in the line of work he was training to enter. “Dalton, and T. J., this is my intern, Henry.” Pablo waved Henry to a seat on the round booth chair. “Henry, these are the guys you call if something happens to me.” “Nice to meet you, Henry.” T. J. smiled. It was obvious some of his teeth had been fixed at one point. His eyes hid behind shaded glasses so their color was distorted. His hair only had a few strands of gray. “Chances are something will happen to us first.” Dalton’s hair was all white and thin. His face had been shaped by the two furrows on either side of his mouth. His nose had been busted at least once by the look of it. Both men wore business casual. Henry figured they had come in from somewhere outside the city for the meeting. Both looked a little too tan to live in the Big Apple. “You guys meet once a month?,” asked Henry. “Why?” “We like to compare notes.” T. J. waved a hand. “Our operations don’t overlap so much anymore now that I live out west, and Dalton has taken to traveling around. If one of us sees something, he brings it to the meeting in case it’s more serious than it looks.” “A few of our guys like to operate around the world,” said Dalton. He sat so he could look out the window. “We like to make sure we can see the signs first. The Mark doesn’t break things like he used to back during the war.” “You know that’s because of his trial.” T. J. shook his head. “Old history.” “You guys know the Mark?” Henry leaned back with crossed arms. “I thought he was a fake.” “Nah.” Dalton shook his head while looking outside. “He retreated from the world for a while. He’s got some girls taking over for him now, like T. J. took over for me, and Pablo took over for T. J.” “And hopefully like you’ll take over for me when you’re ready.” Pablo smiled. “This is a dangerous business we’re in, Henry. One wrong move can get you killed.” “I have to go.” Dalton shooed T. J. out of the way. “The bladder ain’t what it used to be.” He got to his feet creakily and headed for the rest room area at the front of the restaurant. He vanished around the corner. “Is he still looking for the Pyramid?” Pablo leaned over to whisper. He had his eye on the front where Dalton had gone. “Probably.” T. J. shrugged. “He’s been wanting to put the Murmur down for a long time. That’s probably the only reason he hasn’t retired for good.” “Who’s the Murmur?” Henry felt silly whispering when the person they were talking about wasn’t in the same room with them. “Undead murderer.” Pablo sat back. “He’s the whole reason Dalton took up our line of work.” “I don’t understand.” Henry frowned at his elders. “Dalton used to be a pilot when he was younger.” T. J. sipped at his water. “He crashed his plane and stumbled on the Murmur’s burial ground. He entered to get out of the elements so he could get some time to figure out what to do. He woke the Murmur up somehow. He’s been trying to put him back down ever since.” “Guy’s tough?” Henry hoped he was tough if he couldn’t be beat for however long Dalton had been chasing him. “Hit him with a jet beam once.” Pablo gestured with an index finger to indicate thrust. “He laughed it off.” “You’re kidding.” Henry had seen a jet beam push a car over. He had a rough idea of how much force could be used against a human body. Pablo shook his head. “Everybody, freeze!” Two masked men rushed into the room with pistols pointed at the crowd. “We want your money. Everybody put everything in your pockets on the table in front of you. Otherwise, we’ll have to make an example of you.” Cassie pulled a knife holstered at the small of her back and stabbed the closest one in the ribs. He went down in a spray of blood. The other man swung to bring his hand up to point his pistol at Cassie. One squeeze would pay this skirt back for what she had done to Richie. Then his hand caught fire. He screamed and dropped his pistol. “You picked the wrong day, sport.” Cassie picked up a metal napkin holder and hit him in the face with it. He went down. She put a boot in to keep him there. Dalton came into the room. He grabbed someone’s water glass and poured it on the fire. A couple of others added tea and pepsi to the mix to put the fire out. “Let’s take a look at the other one.” Dalton bent one knee slowly to inspect the stab wound. “Sliced some muscle there, can’t tell if it hit anything major.” “He’ll live if the ambulance gets here soon.” Cassie wiped her knife off and put it back in its sheath. Henry stood. The others had gone back to eating. He frowned at them. He didn’t feel like eating after what had just happened. “Too bad I left the first aid kit at base.” Pablo slid by Henry. He headed for where the two robbers laid on the floor. “I left mine too.” T. J. fell in beside Henry as the two advanced on the small circle around the two robbers. Dalton and Pablo used some things gathered from the kitchen to keep the blood down. The man cried a little as they applied pressure to staunch the red flow. “There’s a lot of blood here.” Henry looked at the people eating again. “Why isn’t everyone getting up and leaving?” “Because they still have to pay for their food.” Cassie shook her head at him. “Let me get the wet floor sign.” She walked off at a slow trot. “Burning the other guy was a great disarmer.” T. J. checked the gun hand of the spokesman for the robbers. “He might not use this hand again.” “I was aiming for his head.” Dalton made a face. “It looks like I need glasses like you.” “You set fire to the guy’s hand?” Henry pushed his dark hair back from his face with a hand. “Wouldn’t it have been easier to just punch him?” “At my age?” Dalton gave him a look. “I’m not trying to break my hand.” “We can wrap it up in some ice in a second.” Pablo gritted his teeth. “If I had a staple gun, we could seal this exterior cut long enough to get him to the hospital.” “We can cauterize it.” Cassie shrugged at the look that earned her. “It’ll seal things up.” “We’ll handle it, Cassie.” T. J. waved her off. “Take care of your customers. Some of them will want to not to pay the bill after this.” “Sure, sure.” Cassie handed Dalton a folded piece of paper. “Good luck, old man.” 20313

Agent Vincent Terranova has lost his cover and has become a handler for other agents still in the field. He supplies the agent with weapons and information, monitors the operation, performs rescues if the agent has his cover blown. His power to create landslides of lava make him a person of mass destruction. CES

Watched The Return of Xander Cage. When someone is dropping satellites on land targets, a criminal mastermind is the man to put a stop to it. Lots of stunts and gunfights in this one. I liked the five minutes of screen time they gave Ice Cube as one of the Xs, and I liked Adele Woods one of the recruits setting up to snipe bow hunters after a lion. She shot their weapons and then shot one of them in the leg for the offended lion in question. CES

The Alarm has a limited ability to see the future which he uses to warn the others when things are about to go bad. CES

Light the Lamp 1986- Mark Hadron examined the specifications on the prints in front of him. He thought he had the right mapping on the circuitry. Once he had everything the way he wanted it, he could build a lantern. It would run on local psychic energy if he was right. It might be a clean power source if he could build a lantern big enough to act as a battery for a city. It would run on people power which should be great inside a city. If he could get the first step in motion, he could work out how to power lanterns in the country. All it would take is enough psychic energy to be turned into electricity. “What you got there, boy?” Milton Kearn stepped into the shop, adjusting his battered cowboy hat. He looked like he stepped out of some John Wayne movie, with his jeans and shirt with vest worn over it. All he needed was a gun and a lasso to go along with his long mustaches. “You’re only three years older than me.” Mark rolled his eyes. “Don’t you have an exam to study for right now?” “Already took it.” Kearn examined the schematics. “I don’t understand this thing here.” “I devised a way to trap mental energy.” Mark spread the papers out for him to look at so he could point out the flaws. “I’m hoping to turn it into a clean source of energy.” “Never happen.” Milton shook his head. “You could maybe absorb psychic energy as you call it, but it won’t turn into electricity. It’ll sit in this thing until it’s used up, or released back in the environment.” “So this new type of energy is possible, but using it for electricity is not?” Mark sat back in his chair. “I haven’t built a prototype, much less tested things. How would you know that?” “I just know things when I see them.” Kearn stroked the end of his mustache. “You could set one of these up and use it to clear the air, but not much more than that.” “You don’t think I can do anything else with this?” Mark looked at his design. He was sure he was on the edge of a great discovery. He didn’t believe his friend was wrong. He hoped he was. “You could probably kill ghosts with it, boy.” Kearn shrugged. “I don’t know how much call there is for that.” “You’re kidding me.” Mark rubbed his eyes. “What do you mean kill ghosts?” “If Professor Jenkins is right, ghosts are made up of emotion that uses this pseudo energy you are trying to harness as fuel.” Kearn pushed his hat back so he could scratch his head. “If this thing works like you want it, it should stop that from happening.” “That’s great.” Mark stood, stretching his back. “Who would pay for something to do that?” “Anybody who didn’t like ghosts.” Kearn shook his head. “If you could prove they had a ghost problem, and that you could get rid of it, you could write your own ticket and get your dissertation done.” “That’s a crazy way to do things.” Mark paused as he considered the rarity of ghosts that needed to be murdered. “How would I even advertise something like that?” “You have to get this built first.” Kearn waved at the prints. “Dyson can help with some of this. He’s taking that metal working class.” “So we go down and ask Dyson to help us with the basic shape.” Mark began stacking the prints together. “Then we can start building the circuitry to get things done.” “I don’t see the problem with that.” Kearn smiled. “We can ask Harry for parts if we need them.” “He’s still working at that new electronics place, right?” Mark would give his eyeteeth to work in a job where he could snatch parts as he went about his job. “Yeah,” said Kearn. “We’ll have to pay him for the parts. We can’t ask him to give up his job for some harebrained scheme.” “I guess you’re right.” Mark gathered his drawings and his keys. “Let’s go down and talk to Dyson. He’ll be able to give us some idea on how big we can make these lanterns.” “He can probably make a small one as a test.” Kearn straightened his hat. “Then we can scale up into something we can use to get rid of any bad influence in the city.” “No one will pay for that.” Mark waited at the door for his classmate. “It has to be something we can paint as a threat.” “Trust me.” Kearn waved for him to go ahead. “If we can make this crazy lamp work, I know some people across campus who will write us some advertisements and help us out.” “You know people who will do that?” Mark blinked. He had gone from planning an experiment to setting up a business to kill ghosts. He wasn’t sure how that had happened. “Some of the kids.” Kearn smiled. “They need some experience in copy writing and basic layout. They might give us a good advertising if we hurry over and don’t act like jerks.” “That sounds good to me.” Mark put the advertisement idea to the back of his brain. If he needed it, he would do research and then help it out. He didn’t see any possibility of his idea being anything more than something to give free lighting. Kearn talked folksy, but he knew a lot about exotic control systems and how to use them. If Kearn said there was no way to convert the gathered psychic energy to real electricity with what they had, he was inclined to believe his classmate. If anyone could reconfigure the diagrams and circuitry into doing something more than glowing in the dark, that person was Milton Kearn. Mark followed his fellow student across campus to the Arts area. Students worked to put on plays, figured out advertisements, ran the campus radio station. They entered a shop area where the students put together props for their productions when they couldn’t find them at yard sales and online. They found Dyson Baker shaping a rod into something that looked like it had a snake wrapped around a tree. He cooled it in some water, then inspected it with dark eyes. He nodded as he set it on a rack nearby. “It’s the Trouble Twins.” Dyson smiled at his visitors. “You guys going haunted house probing? I made out big the last time.” “How did you do that?” Mark remembered that Dyson had come along with two cheerleaders from another school. “You didn’t.” “Remember all that moaning.” Kearn shook his head. “Thanks for ruining the field trip.” “What.” Mark considered the pieces for a brief second. “You didn’t. Not at the Lovejoy House. I warned you about the curse.” “What curse?” Dyson smiled. “The only curse I got was stopped by Gatorade, if you know what I mean.” “The Lovejoy House Curse is a real thing, Dyson.” Mark shook his head. “People die from it.” “You’re kidding, right?” Dyson looked at the two of them with disbelief. “Anybody who has sex there dies?” “It takes a while.” Kearn pulled out a tin flask. He twisted off the lid and took a sip of the contents. He sealed the can and put it back in his pocket. “You won’t drop dead tomorrow, and we need your metal working skills.” “For what?” Dyson crossed his arms. “First the scare tactic, then the favor. Is that how things work?” “Nope.” Kearn smiled. “Look at this. Show him the prints, boy.” Mark picked a clean table and spread the sheets of paper out. He picked pieces of metal to hold the corners down. He stepped back. “We need this in a cylinder of metal with a cut out for a glass window.” Kearn pointed to a diagram. “We’re going to put some wiring in to create the effect we need.” “It looks like a lamp.” Dyson scratched his chin. “Two by one by three should be all right from what you got down here.” “So you can do it?” Mark frowned. Things seemed better when it was just him working on this idea. Now he had Kearn and Baker in on the act. “Sure.” Dyson nodded. “I have pieces I can use for part of it right now.” “We’re going to have to get the guts ready to go.” Kearn pointed at the circuitry diagram. “We’re going to need a space of a couple of inches to slide things into place between an inner and outer wall.” “Should be a snap.” Dyson smiled. “I’ll set a shim in place to keep things separate until you can plug everything in place.” “How long do you think the casing will take?” Mark didn’t think it would be done sooner than two days. “Give me a day to get everything together, then a day to work on it.” Dyson gestured at the snake stick. “I’ll have to do it after I get done with this caduceus.” “We’re in no hurry.” Kearn waved him off to get back to his work. “We don’t even know if this thing will work.” “It’ll work.” Mark didn’t fight the annoyance in his voice. “Once we put it somewhere to gather up the ambient energy, this thing will light up like a spotlight.” “He’s right.” Kearn nodded. “It’ll do something.” “I can get the shell together for you in a few days, maybe a week.” Dyson smiled. “Then we’ll see how things go.” “We’ll check in with you in a couple of days.” Kearn adjusted his hat. “Stay out of trouble.” “Don’t I always.” Dyson waved at them before reaching for safety goggles on his forehead. He pulled them down over his eyes and picked up the snake sculpture. He started heating it again so he could bang it into the shape he wanted. “He’s as good as dead.” Mark kept his voice low. “The Lovejoy House Curse always kills people who have sex in that house.” “Hopefully it won’t kill him before we get our prototype.” Kearn took another sip from his flask as they walked out of the building. “I’m not going to do it.” “If the lamp works, it might stop the curse.” Mark held the door open so they could step outside. “We might be able to sell that as a positive feature.” “You’re saying that curses work through this ambient energy, and we can stop them cold if the lamp sucks enough of it out of the air to prevent crap from happening.” Kearn rubbed his chin as he thought about the implication. “It could promote self help people trying to use the energy to skip exercise and a good diet.” “Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.” Mark smiled. “But we could keep a lamp around Dyson just in case it can do something. It might stop the curse.” “That sounds reasonable for a just in case type thing.” Kearn nodded. “And it lets us test the effects without letting Dyson know we’re using him as a guinea pig.” “If we can kill a curse, we might have a business as debuggers.” Mark nodded. “We can run anyone cursing people with harm out of business. We could stop the effects as soon as we know they’re activated.” “And it could be a business on its own if get it to launch.” Kearn nodded. “We’ll be rich.” 18762

The rumor is JC will be running for gov of Utah. Good luck there, brother CES

Boria Kuryikin has penetrated the Red Banner as a weapon supplier known as the West Wind. She has earned a reputation for vindictiveness if crossed. She has also crossed swords with the Hanged Man as he has dropped weapons to criminals outside of Hudson City to brew chaos. CES

The Chime positions people in time. At the chime, the time is... whatever removes any obstacle to her operation. CES

Harry Winston is Sharper. He nominally acts as an investigator for the local DA. Sometimes he has to act in Viper's interest and get rid of a witness, or evidence. No one has connected him to his psi-blade using alter ego, but it is only a matter of time before he will have to give up his cover and become a full fledged villain. CES

Watched Guardians of the Galaxy 2. I recommend it because Rocket Raccoon can't help himself. So you got up and looked in the mirror and said what name can I take that will strike fear in the heart of my enemies. I am.... TASERFACE. CES

Cassie's Knife 1976- Cassie Troy sat down on a stoop. Her face hurt. Tears dripped down her cheeks. Her dark hair fell to her neck in straight lines. She had taken a hit from a fist that had blotted out her vision long enough for the goons to take her friend, Hector. She wasn’t quite sure what she should do. “You okay?” A man in a rumpled raincoat sat down beside her. He produced a cigar and lit it. He puffed on the foul smelling thing with a face of contentment. “Boyfriend leave you?” “These guys grabbed him.” Cassie looked at the stranger. “I didn’t have a chance to do anything before they blindsided me.” “Going to call the police?” The stranger puffed on his cigar as he looked at her. One eyebrow seemed higher than the other to emphasize his harmlessness. “They wouldn’t believe me.” Cassie wiped her face with the back of her hand. She frowned at the stranger. She usually had feelings about people. The only thing she got from this guy was he was only interested in her if she went along with his program. But he didn’t actually care if she went along. She was a cog he was fitting into his machine and nothing more. “You don’t really care, do you?” “I have a responsibility to help people help themselves.” The stranger looked up at the sky, holding his cigar. “It doesn’t seem like much, but I can’t do anything until somebody decides they need the help.” “I need the help.” Cassie got to her feet. “What can you do for me? Can you help save Hector?” “I can show you where they took him.” The stranger got to his feet. “After that, it’s up to you what you want to do.” “You’re kidding.” Cassie glared at this pain. “You can show me, but you can’t help me with anything else.” “I’m just a nobody.” The man stuck his cigar in his mouth. He hunched down in his tan coat. “And nobodies don’t get involved if they don’t have to.” “Is that how you justify things?” Cassie grabbed his arm. She reeled from the impression of age and experience. Places and people flashed through her mind. She sat down as her brain stopped working for a moment. “What are you?” “I’m a nobody who thinks you can be a somebody.” He held out a hand. “You want to help your friend, don’t you? I’m going to get you there. You’re going to have to do the hard work after that.” “Seriously?” Cassie pulled on his hand to get back to her feet. “You can’t do anything beyond that?” “It’s not my place, Cassie.” The stranger waved for her to follow him. “You guys don’t need much help any way. You’re heroes when you need to be. It’s in your blood.” “That doesn’t make me feel better.” Cassie spotted a glint on the sidewalk as she walked behind the man in the coat. She knew she could trust him up to a point, but her talent moved in different directions whenever she looked at him. She examined the glint, and realized it belonged to a knife that had fallen on the sidewalk. She picked it up and tucked it in her belt. The man in the coat led her down several alleys and across streets until he paused at a church. The building seemed to be in a dead zone. No one had worshiped there in a long time, and was likely not to with the dark aura it gave off. Even normals would cross to the other side of the street to get away from that thing. Cassie spotted the car that had grabbed her friend. It had been pulled off the street and on to the sidewalk next to a side entrance. Whatever was going on was going to happen in the back of the building. She looked at the front door. It opened for her hand if she wanted to use it. She decided that was the way to go. The man in the raincoat had vanished while her attention was on the building. She shook her head. He wasn’t going to help her. It wasn’t his job. Cassie entered the church. The pews would never have another crowd to fill them as far as she could see. She made her way to the back of the room. What she wanted was down in the main body of the church. She had to hurry if she wanted to make a difference. Hector didn’t have a lot of time. Cassie headed downstairs, listening to chanting in the air. She saw something forming in the future. She didn’t like the looks of things. She closed her eyes. She had to ignore the potential for disaster. She had to get in there and save Hector. The future was telling her that it was reaching an end for her if she didn’t do something in a hurry. She slipped into the room. Hector had been chained down to a table. He pulled against the chains, but his slim body didn’t have a chance against steel. They were going to kill him to make their circle work to call their patron to Earth. How did she stop them? She could stop everything if she could kill the leader. If she could do that before he killed Hector, she ruined his chances to call his patron. Then she had to worry about getting away before the men in the room tried to take revenge. Her talent flared as she searched for options. It showed her paths that she could take to get what she wanted. She smiled. She could do this. Who needed a nobody anyway? Cassie walked around the room, knife in hand. She stepped inside the circle, appearing out of a shadow almost silently. The cultists pointed at her, but didn’t stop their chanting. The leader intoned the words of command to summon the dreaded being that would grant them power over their fellow humans. She intoned the words, reading the future to get the pronunciation. He looked at her, eyes going wide. He pulled back the white sword in his hands to do the deed. The girl flung her knife at the closest cultist with as much force as she could muster before he could bring the sword down. The man went down with the knife in his chest. A cloud started forming above the circle. The cultists chanted more to open the rip in the air. Cassie chanted as she pulled the knife from the cultist’s chest. Her talent had guided her throw. This was one man who was not going to get up and harm anybody else for a monster’s favor. The cloud opened as she went to the table. Hector was not going to be given to this thing emerging out of the cloud. She saw the head cultist laughing. She saw him dead sometime in the future. She smiled at him. He stopped his chanting at that. “Cassie.” The stranger in the coat stepped into the room. “What are you doing?” “You?” The voices from the thing in the cloud gave Cassie a headache. “You!” “Me,” said the man in the coat. “Me too.” Cassie stabbed the thing in one of its eyes, shattering it with the knife. She struck again and again before black bodily fluids washed over her hand and knife. She dropped to the floor with the pain. Her hand felt like it was on fire. “Oh, Cassie.” The man in the coat walked forward. He dropped the stub of a cigar that was in his hand. “You shouldn’t have done that.” “I’ll kill you, human scum.” The thing in the cloud extended tentacles to grab Cassie. It would do things to this female to teach it to never interfere with its betters. It would be the first human of millions to satisfy its thirst for revenge. “I don’t think so.” The stranger extended a hand. He twisted his wrist. The cloud snapped closed, slicing through the tentacles. The air in the room lightened instantly. “You didn’t need me to do that.” Cassie examined her hand. It was withered and missing part of its skin. She would never be able to use it for anything again. “You called me.” The stranger looked around. The cultists fled from him, heading for the doors. “That was a stupid thing to do, Cassie.” “You think?” Cassie gritted her teeth to keep from screaming. The future of her surroundings poured through her mind. She closed her eyes against the visions, but that wasn’t working. “Let me look at your hand.” He held his own hand out to take hers. “I can do that much for you.” She gave him her hand with a lot of pain. She didn’t open her eyes. She felt a chill seep into her flesh. She sighed. The chill washed the pain away. Cassie opened her eyes. Her hand looked bad, but not as bad as it had when the acid blood had washed over it. She flexed her fingers. They looked more like talons now, but they worked. “It’s not perfect.” The stranger stood up. He handed her the knife she had used. The blade glowed in the ambient light drifting through windows high up in the walls. “But it’s better than what it should be.” “They’ll try again.” Cassie clutched her hand to her stomach. She couldn’t find the strength to stand on her own. She needed a second to catch her breath. “Doesn’t matter.” The stranger waved his hand. The locks on the chains came loose so the links fell to the floor. “That one guy is holding the sword of the King. Eventually the two always get together. That’s his destiny. So sometime in the near future, the King will arrive to take his sword back. That usually puts a stop to any problem when that happens.” “The King?” Cassie got to her feet. She felt better. Her hand ached but it was bearable for the moment. “You’ll know him when you see him.” The man in the raincoat handed her the knife. “Let’s get your friend out of here. Someone else can worry about the man you killed.” “That thing knew you.” Cassie stuck the knife in her belt. She hefted Hector over her shoulder. He was heavier than he looked. “You want to talk about it?” “No.” The man in the raincoat lit another cigar as he led the way from the scene. 16855

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