《I Could Have Just Walked Away》 1. The Beginning 1. The Beginning So this is where I''ll consider that my story starts. The only problem I have is, where does it go? I remember how it began, how it all started; for me at least. Is that the best starting point to it all? That, that is a much different question. Amazing what goes through your mind when your life could easily end in the next few moments. I was currently in a greenhouse/warehouse just outside the suburbs taking cover behind bags of potting soil. I mentally berated myself for losing focus, now, under fire, bullets, and magic ripping around me, perhaps, it is not the best time to reminisce. Still, as I check my Glock and feel the remaining spare mag on my belt, my mind wanders back to a fateful evening about 5 years previous... I had been what could generously be called a late bloomer. I was a small skinny kid still at 15, voice still high pitched and all the rest. I thought that I was a man. I actually was getting quite worried, everyone I knew from school had already hit a growth spurt at least a year previous. I, however, remained tiny but that turned out to be for the best. It was nearing my 16th birthday when I was coming home from a late movie that my change happened. As everyone clearly knows, magic does not exist. Monsters do not exist. This was soon to be proven untrue to me at least. I had missed the last bus home and to my dismay, that meant I had to walk the rest of the way. Not a big deal really just a few kilometers and it was a nice summer night. Where it got strange was when I was walking past a convenience store and saw a few things rummaging through the dumpster in the parking lot. Nothing too odd I thought, homelessness being what it is. I had barely given them a second glance when I saw a tail! Huh? I looked again more closely and I was certain of it. The one most visible to me had a tail. They seemed to notice me then and one let out a few barking yips. The trio looked over and then disappeared down the alley running in a sort of low crouching manner. I continued on my way, wondering just what I had seen. I must have been mistaken, who knows maybe one of the local homeless had picked up a cosplay tail from somewhere. I hadn''t been able to make out much they had been in the shadows of a burnt out streetlight although they seemed suspiciously short and ran off in a decidedly odd manner. I was still thinking about what I had seen when I got home and got a nice earful from my parents as I was now a good couple of hours late past my curfew. I put it out of my mind as I went to bed now thinking of the week-long grounding I had to deal with. I spent the next week mostly lazing around and doing a double or triple dose of chores as I went through my mandated week-long sentence. I did spend a fair amount of time reading to keep my mind occupied but my thoughts kept drifting back to what I had seen. Even though it was both late and dark that night I was certain that I had seen a legit tail. Also that they seemed to be no more than maybe 1.1 m tall, combined with the yipping, well I had no idea what I had seen. Obviously, I couldn''t talk to anyone about this, the idea of explaining to someone that I had seen some little ''people'' with tails struck me as a good way to getting a well-meaning psych eval. So as my week of grounding ended I made plans to stay at a friend''s that night or at least that''s what I told my folks. I fully intended to go and see what I could see again at that dumpster. As evening rolled around I bid my parents adieu and went over to the convenience store again. I had packed my backpack with the essentials for my stakeout. A couple of bottles of water, a few sandwiches, a flashlight, and an extra sweater made up my kit. I planned to find a good vantage point for the dumpster and then wait. Maybe not an exciting plan but considering I was looking for something that I knew couldn''t exist it seemed like a decent plan to me. I arrived at the store just before they closed at 11 and started looking for a good place to use as my observation point. As I wandered around the area I realized that your average suburban city street may be lacking in sweet places to spy on something unobserved. Just after the clerk of the store locked up and left maybe 15 minutes later I noticed that in the back of the store they had a chain linked fenced in area and that the fence went up to just a few feet below the roof. I scrambled up the fence, well more slowly inched up the fence to the top. I got myself to the top and found it just possible to reach the lip of the roof. I managed to pull myself up and over and rolled myself onto the graveled blacktop of the roof. My plan so far was going great aside from me already being out of breath. I guessed that my physical prowess at the time being a teen that hadn''t climbed anything for years and avoided physical activities for books and video games was not playing in my favor. Catching my breath, I moved over to the opposite edge so I could get a clear look at the dumpster. Then I waited and waited. Good times, I moved a bit back from the edge and opened up my bag. Sandwich time! While I was no kitchen master, I could still whip up some pretty good food when needed. Latchkey kid for the win! Finishing up I heard some noises coming from below. I crept forward as quietly as I could and peeked over at the dumpster. My breath caught in my throat, this time and from this angle, I could clearly see three things rooting around in the dumpster and they all had tails. My mind spun, I had come out here due to a niggling feeling but I had completely expected to find nothing. Deep down inside I had thought that this whole thing would simply be a little adventure, a little quest like the characters in stories would go on except that nothing would happen. Instead... I was looking at 3 short-tailed beings in large hoods going through the dumpster pulling out food scraps, eating some and tossing some in a sack of some sort. My breath which I had been holding rushed out and I leaned forward on the edge dislodging a few small pebbles. As soon as they hit the ground the 3 froze looking around, one looked up at me and yipped. The 3 took off down the alley that they had disappeared down the last time and I sunk down flat to the roof. The ''face'' that had looked up at me was not a person it had looked like a coyote. A bullet pinging of a metal support pillar an arm''s length from my head snapped me out of my reverie. How much seeing those Coyfolk that night changed everything for me still resonated... Ping! Right, focus on the now and not dying, save the day, save the pups then go for a beer and think on how it came to this. I was crouched low behind some pallets of soil and moved to my left. I had never been so glad for smuggling gardeners as when my cover was walls and walls of stacked dirt. I hit the end of the row and peaked around the corner, I could see two of the smugglers still looking at my previous location. The two both had their guns pointed to where I had been, popping off shots every few seconds. Hmm, two to keep me pinned down, so where was the third one then. She was the one I was most worried about, she as far as I could tell was running this little show. She was the one with the connections, she was the one who was selling the pups off after kidnapping them, and worst of all she was the one that had been tossing balls of magic fire at me. Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator. The Beginning So this is where I''ll consider that my story starts. The only problem I have is, where does it go? I remember how it began, how it all started; for me at least. Is that the best starting point to it all? That, that is a much different question. Amazing what goes through your mind when your life could easily end in the next few moments. I was currently in a greenhouse/warehouse just outside the suburbs taking cover behind bags of potting soil. I mentally berated myself for losing focus, now, under fire, bullets, and magic ripping around me, perhaps, it is not the best time to reminisce. Still, as I check my Glock and feel the remaining spare mag on my belt, my mind wanders back to a fateful evening about 5 years previous... I had been what could generously be called a late bloomer. I was a small skinny kid still at 15, voice still high pitched and all the rest. I thought that I was a man. I actually was getting quite worried, everyone I knew from school had already hit a growth spurt at least a year previous. I, however, remained tiny but that turned out to be for the best. It was nearing my 16th birthday when I was coming home from a late movie that my change happened. As everyone clearly knows, magic does not exist. Monsters do not exist. This was soon to be proven untrue to me at least. I had missed the last bus home and to my dismay, that meant I had to walk the rest of the way. Not a big deal really just a few kilometers and it was a nice summer night. Where it got strange was when I was walking past a convenience store and saw a few things rummaging through the dumpster in the parking lot. Nothing too odd I thought, homelessness being what it is. I had barely given them a second glance when I saw a tail! Huh? I looked again more closely and I was certain of it. The one most visible to me had a tail. They seemed to notice me then and one let out a few barking yips. The trio looked over and then disappeared down the alley running in a sort of low crouching manner. I continued on my way, wondering just what I had seen. I must have been mistaken, who knows maybe one of the local homeless had picked up a cosplay tail from somewhere. I hadn''t been able to make out much they had been in the shadows of a burnt out streetlight although they seemed suspiciously short and ran off in a decidedly odd manner. I was still thinking about what I had seen when I got home and got a nice earful from my parents as I was now a good couple of hours late past my curfew. I put it out of my mind as I went to bed now thinking of the week-long grounding I had to deal with. I spent the next week mostly lazing around and doing a double or triple dose of chores as I went through my mandated week-long sentence. I did spend a fair amount of time reading to keep my mind occupied but my thoughts kept drifting back to what I had seen. Even though it was both late and dark that night I was certain that I had seen a legit tail. Also that they seemed to be no more than maybe 1.1 m tall, combined with the yipping, well I had no idea what I had seen. Obviously, I couldn''t talk to anyone about this, the idea of explaining to someone that I had seen some little ''people'' with tails struck me as a good way to getting a well-meaning psych eval. So as my week of grounding ended I made plans to stay at a friend''s that night or at least that''s what I told my folks. I fully intended to go and see what I could see again at that dumpster. As evening rolled around I bid my parents adieu and went over to the convenience store again. I had packed my backpack with the essentials for my stakeout. A couple of bottles of water, a few sandwiches, a flashlight, and an extra sweater made up my kit. I planned to find a good vantage point for the dumpster and then wait. Maybe not an exciting plan but considering I was looking for something that I knew couldn''t exist it seemed like a decent plan to me. I arrived at the store just before they closed at 11 and started looking for a good place to use as my observation point. As I wandered around the area I realized that your average suburban city street may be lacking in sweet places to spy on something unobserved. Just after the clerk of the store locked up and left maybe 15 minutes later I noticed that in the back of the store they had a chain linked fenced in area and that the fence went up to just a few feet below the roof. I scrambled up the fence, well more slowly inched up the fence to the top. I got myself to the top and found it just possible to reach the lip of the roof. I managed to pull myself up and over and rolled myself onto the graveled blacktop of the roof. My plan so far was going great aside from me already being out of breath. I guessed that my physical prowess at the time being a teen that hadn''t climbed anything for years and avoided physical activities for books and video games was not playing in my favor. Catching my breath, I moved over to the opposite edge so I could get a clear look at the dumpster. Then I waited and waited. Good times, I moved a bit back from the edge and opened up my bag. Sandwich time! While I was no kitchen master, I could still whip up some pretty good food when needed. Latchkey kid for the win! Finishing up I heard some noises coming from below. I crept forward as quietly as I could and peeked over at the dumpster. My breath caught in my throat, this time and from this angle, I could clearly see three things rooting around in the dumpster and they all had tails. My mind spun, I had come out here due to a niggling feeling but I had completely expected to find nothing. Deep down inside I had thought that this whole thing would simply be a little adventure, a little quest like the characters in stories would go on except that nothing would happen. Instead... I was looking at 3 short-tailed beings in large hoods going through the dumpster pulling out food scraps, eating some and tossing some in a sack of some sort. My breath which I had been holding rushed out and I leaned forward on the edge dislodging a few small pebbles. As soon as they hit the ground the 3 froze looking around, one looked up at me and yipped. The 3 took off down the alley that they had disappeared down the last time and I sunk down flat to the roof. The ''face'' that had looked up at me was not a person it had looked like a coyote. A bullet pinging of a metal support pillar an arm''s length from my head snapped me out of my reverie. How much seeing those Coyfolk that night changed everything for me still resonated... Ping! Right, focus on the now and not dying, save the day, save the pups then go for a beer and think on how it came to this. I was crouched low behind some pallets of soil and moved to my left. I had never been so glad for smuggling gardeners as when my cover was walls and walls of stacked dirt. I hit the end of the row and peaked around the corner, I could see two of the smugglers still looking at my previous location. The two both had their guns pointed to where I had been, popping off shots every few seconds. Hmm, two to keep me pinned down, so where was the third one then. She was the one I was most worried about, she as far as I could tell was running this little show. She was the one with the connections, she was the one who was selling the pups off after kidnapping them, and worst of all she was the one that had been tossing balls of magic fire at me. 2. Bullets Still Hurt Chapter 2 - Bullets Still Hurt I stopped moving and ducked my head back out of sight, seems that the two gunmen hadn''t seen me peek out. Perfect. Now to find the other one, I first used the easiest methods, I looked around and saw nothing, I listened for anything other than the shots and the sounds of the two moving around presumably to get a better shot at me. They knew I was armed although they were probably not worried given how far off the mark my return fire had been. Oh well, my perfect plan had completely fallen apart and resulted in my rather panicked retreat and near blind firing at them. I had a second now though, time to use what I knew how to. I focused inward, first my heartbeat, loud, fast, and strong. My breath heightened from stress but steady. Then I expanded the sense, this was something I had picked up almost by accident, not quite magic I guess would be the best description. Focusing like this I could expand my senses far past what should be possible. I could still hear the shots coming, the bullets hitting either the metal beams or the concrete walls. I could also hear the steady breath of the two gunmen, they had completely calmed down, I could tell they were not worried in the least. Well, that worried me, a lot, them being so calm meant that the woman was strong, not sure how, but strong. Crap. I steadied myself focusing my intent, starting at the gunmen and sweeping clockwise from them. It took a few seconds but I swept the entire area all the way back to the gunmen and found nothing. My skill was good, this was one of my most useful abilities. Although this warehouse was much too big for me to cover it all, I could still easily cover the area around me. I could sense the gunmen maybe seven or so meters in front of me, a few rows of pallets of soil separating us. I could feel the wall a few meters behind me and the door I had snuck in earlier along it. The warehouse stretched further than my sense to my right and maybe another four meters to my left. Behind the gunmen lay another door which I had so recently escaped from in my botched plan of sneakery. Well if I couldn''t find her then sitting still was probably just waiting to get ambushed. I could see another line of pallets a few meters away. Not very far at all, as long as someone isn''t shooting at you. I steeled myself and took an internal three count and sprinted across the open few meters to the cover opposite. Seems like the two gunmen were so relaxed they didn''t even notice even though I would have been at least a flash in the peripherals of at least one of them. Thankfully whoever had placed this row had left a bit of space between them and the wall. I instantly felt that changing my position was almost certainly advantageous given that the woman, who must be using some kind of spell as camouflage, was now hunting me. I eased behind the pallets slowly working my way forward, I could still hear the shots coming from the gunmen. Strange, but I continue moving along the wall behind the pallets until I''m about level with where they are. I ease my head up and see the two still doing the exact same thing and now that I have a second I notice the blank expressions on their faces. Well, there goes another plan, I had been simply going to shot them without warning but now I can see that they are under some kind of effect. Don''t judge me, shooting someone is not pleasant but when it comes to saving someone or myself I''ll do it. However, these two are obviously under some form of control, magic, hypnosis, some kind of poison, who knows. The world is a big place and I was barely more than a beginner on this side of life. I wouldn''t shoot them unless I knew they were deliberately doing evil, this left me in an even worse position though. I focused inward again reactivating my skill trying to find her. I didn''t know much about her just that the Coyfolk came to me seeking help, they had told me a strange woman had been stealing pups. As the Coyfolk were the first beings I met on this side, I would do everything I could to help them. Using the skill I focused on the area I had vacated, straining and trying to push the ability to the limit. This was completely unneeded as the woman appeared right where I had been and shrieked, "Where is he?" She seemed to stare at the two gunmen who then separated and moved in either direction, I guessed to hunt me down. While she was distracted I lined up my shot and took it. The bullet ripped into her shoulder and she screamed. I could tell she was trying to disappear again but the bullet seemed to be interfering with her ability to do so. She was looking less and less human now by the second, round two to me I gave an internal shout of glee. I was lining up another shot when she spotted me and hurled a bag of soil from one of the pallets in front of her at me. Ack! Sounds like nothing right? I bet no one else has ever had a 22kg bag of potting soil whipped at them like it was a baseball. I dropped down flat as the bag exploded against the wall exactly where I had been standing. Great, she was strong, like super strong plus she had some kind of mind control thing. Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. I loved the Coyfolk, considered the rascally beings my friends, I wouldn''t turn them away when they needed help but this was a bit much. Keeping low I went back towards her rather than away as I hope she expected. I never looked but I could hear the two gunmen heading the opposite way, so I had guessed correctly. I readied myself and turned the corner gun up to find her right in front of me. The surprise on both our faces obvious. We both reacted at the same time, I could feel pressure in my head and see her arms grasping towards me, from less than a meter away I couldn''t miss. I pulled the trigger until my mag was empty. She dropped to the ground bleeding heavily from an actually pretty tight grouping in her chest. I could see the shock on her now completely unhuman face as she transformed back to her base appearance as her life ran out. I heard the two gunmen drop like they had their strings cut whatever mental link they had with her backlashing when she died. I stood over what I now could see to be what I believed to be some kind of dryad and felt relief. I was still alive. I quickly searched through her clothes finding a set of keys and moved on towards the back door. I reloaded replacing my empty mag as I went, better safe than sorry. I checked on the two unconscious goons, they seemed fine but in the interests of safety, well my safety, I took their guns and extra ammo. Not that they had much given their pace of shooting at me. Looking at them closer I could see how dirty they were, chances are that being a dryad''s thrall left little chance for personal hygiene. Given that they had been unwittingly or not trying to kill me, I felt comfortable searching them and relieving between the two of them a couple of hundred dollars and a relatively nice looking watch. The Coyfolk are great but not exactly the wealthiest of peoples, I still had bills to pay. I moved on from the two toward the door at the back of the warehouse, I had been through it briefly before being spotted resulting in the messy firefight I had just experienced. I eased the door open but there was no one inside. I moved in quickly scanning around for anything of use. Nothing popped out immediately but I saw another door going further in. I tried it and found it locked, pulling out the keys I tried a few before finding the correct one. I opened the door to a dark room with an acrid smell. I nearly gagged and fumbled along the wall for a light switch and flipped them on. Against the back wall in cages were maybe a dozen Coyfolk pups, I recognized the smell now, they had been forced to urinate and defecate where they were trapped. I felt an instant anger at their treatment, I rushed forward and most of the pups started whimpering. They were clearly terrified of me until I heard a small voice "Will, Will", which then devolved into yips. I went to the cage and saw a pup I recognized, Ringer, named for the ring of black fur around her neck. The child of one of the local Coyfolk that I knew best. She couldn''t speak English and most Coyfolk would never bother learning it, but her Dad was an Alpha and he could, all she knew was my name. I quickly found the correct key and opened her cage, she jumped into my arms, sobbing against me. I made soft noises to calm her and looked at the other cages. Ringer''s yips must have told the others that I was known or trusted as they crowded the front of their cages. I went down the line opening the cages, coaxing the young pups out. They all crowded me around terrified and I did my best to project calm strength. It took a few minutes but the pups picked up on the aura I was projecting and stayed close but looked less panicked. I moved and they followed, I took them back out through the warehouse taking a different path, keeping their tormentors out of sight. I got them out of the building and headed toward my vehicle. I opened the side door of my minivan and they looked skeptical. I never thought of that, none of the Coyfolk had ever been in a car. I put Ringer in first and the rest seeing this piled in. I moved around to the driver''s side and got in. The group of them looked pathetic, huddled together on the floor of the van surrounded by the various bits and bobs of junk and equipment I used now and again. I had nearly forgotten that I had them as I opened the glove box and pulled out a few packages of beef jerky. I opened them up and pups immediately perked up. I almost laughed seeing their tails going wild and ears flicking. I gave them all a piece and headed back to the city. It wasn''t far but almost instantly all the pups were passed out in a pile and I was driving alone with my thoughts. A good day, days like this where it all worked out made me keep going. 3. Memories of My Introduction 3. Memories of My Introduction As I drove back to the city I was once again drawn back in my memories to the time when this had all began. I remember clearly that first night seeing the face that looked like a coyote staring at me before taking off down the alley. Now, of course, I knew that person, that Coyfolk had become my friend and later the Alpha of his pack. Thankfully I had now saved his daughter Ringer, I glanced back at the sleeping huddle of pups and smiled. Five years ago give or take I recall being on that roof and my dismay as the three beings ran from my sight. I had sat in shock as I realized what I had seen, that they were real. I sat there most of the night trying to wrap my head around it with very limited success. As the sky began to brighten in the east I got up and found myself stiff from sitting in the chill overnight. I managed to get back down from the roof without injury, which looking back at my skills at the time was more amazing than anything else I had done. Given that I was supposed to be at my friend''s place instead of spending a night on a store roof, I went to a local 24hr diner and got a coffee. I then proceeded to sit there for a few more hours mentally going over what had happened while fending off a friendly waitress who always called me ''Hun''. I had no idea what to do now, I knew for certain that what I saw was real yet I was also equally sure that publicly declaring what I had seen to be true would result in a nice relaxing stay in a certain kind of clinic with lots of gentle music and a distinct lack of sharp objects. My parents were as square as could be, I loved them dearly but outside the box thinkers, they were not. My friends would just think I was pulling some elaborate gag and eventually ignore me. A thought struck me, maybe one of those weird crystal/mystic shops would have something. I paid for my drink and caught a bus downtown. Arriving downtown I had walked for a bit and went into a shop grandly called ''The Home of True Magic'', un huh. I did not believe that in the slightest. I had gone to the desk and found a slightly flakey looking man wearing purple lensed glasses manning the till. With more than a little reluctance, I had asked: "Do you have anything on local legends of magical beings?" The man had looked over replying "Sure, lots of stuff about local legends and beliefs, so you looking to find Bigfoot?" with a smile. "No, I''m looking for something about maybe werewolves but with coyotes instead" I had replied. At this, the man had looked up at me sharply "Like werewolf coyotes you say?" "Yeah," noticing his sudden interest I had continued "maybe things about a meter tall, or just over with bushy coyote tails." "Why the interest?" the man had asked me. "Well, you wouldn''t believe me if I told you" I had replied with a grin, given that I had thought he was a flake I wasn''t too worried about what he thought of me. The man had paused and appeared to be lost in thought for a moment before looking at me more closely "Are you sure you want to know, just hope you are aware that some knowledge can change everything". Taken aback by his sudden seriousness, I had taken a second preparing my reply "I need to know, this is something that I need to know". From what I had clearly seen I needed any knowledge I could get. The man looked at me squarely and called out "Lena, come and take the desk, I''m going to need a bit". A woman had appeared from the back looking equally as flakey as the man. She smiled gently at me and had said: "Don''t worry, this will clear up a lot for you". I had nodded nervously as I followed the man over to a small table in a corner of the shop. He sat down lightly and asked, "So, my name is Carveor, tell me exactly what happened that you need to know this". Slowly nodding my head in assent I sat down in the other chair and rather embarrasseldy told Carveor what I had seen. I finished up my face red from telling him. Saying it out loud made it seem even crazier than I had thought. This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it. Carveor watched me while I spoke and as I finished up said: "Are you sure you want to know?". I quickly signaled my assent, looking at him now expectantly. Carveor sighed and pulled a small pink stone from his pocket and handed it to me. He then said: "Okay, just repeat this, I hold that this knowledge shall not be spread to the uninitiated". I did as he asked and felt a strange buzz flow through me from the stone. I dropped it to the table in surprise. Carveor laughed "That happens more often than not, now you are bound to hold this knowledge". My face must have shown my shock and worry as he continued "Not everyone can make a bond like this but I still caution you from doing anything similar until you have much more knowledge. Let''s see where to begin, what you have seen are Coyfolk, there are a few packs of them living in and around the city. Mostly they avoid people and live off scavenging mostly harmless to humans." He abruptly started laughing "You should see your face! Hahahahaha!" I realized my jaw was hanging open in shock and quickly closed it, over the next couple of hours Carveor explained a great many things to me. Starting with the Coyfolk and how lucky I had been to come to this shop being one of only a few in the city that actually could explain and answer my questions. Most importantly telling me that before hitting adulthood anyone could become ''opened'' as he called it. This being the state of having had some guidance before adulthood to open your true potential. After hitting adulthood you could still become initiated but becoming opened had to happen before puberty finished more or less. According to him nearing the age of 16, I was on the very edge of not being able to become opened. I guess my shrimpy stature was paying off in the end. I immediately jumped on the chance and asked to be opened, dreams of being some kind of Merlin had danced through my mind. Carveor had seen the look on my face and had let me know that indeed he could help me but that it most likely meant very little. Just being opened did almost nothing, it just allowed potential, it didn''t ensure crazy powers or anything of the sort. It was much like with anything else, nearly everyone had the chance to become a doctor or a lawyer but most people didn''t, doing so meant years and years of study and hard work plus a ton of money. Carveor told me that most opened people could do a few things here and there but hardly anyone dedicated themselves full on to developing their potential. Especially now that the world had become so developed, hundreds of years ago anyone who was opened could do much more than they could now. Why push yourself to develop a flame talent to light a fire when you could just turn on the stove? The conversation had raised as many questions as answers but I pushed for how to become opened. Carveor was all for making me wait but I insisted on having it done immediately, what if I aged out and missed my chance? Looking at me Carveor had seen my determination and said he would do it. He told me he would have to put his fingers on my temples. I had agreed with minor thoughts of ''stranger danger'' on my mind. Carveor had stepped behind me and put his fingers on my temples and it seemed like he was doing nothing but being weird until after a really uncomfortable minute I felt a pressure building up behind my eyes. It started to become painful and I started to squirm, Lena had come over by this time and calmed me. Tears were forming in my eyes but she had told me to hold on for a bit longer. Then with a sudden popping feeling in my mind, it was done, the pressure instantly faded away. I had felt dizzy but like I could feel something a little more on the edge of my senses. The couple had advised me to get some sleep as this tended to not be a physically tiring experience but it was definitely mentally tiring. I had gone home elated but unsure what it really meant for my life. That was the first true day of the rest of my life as I viewed it. From that day on, my life had changed in almost all aspects. A sharp yip from behind me drew me back from my thoughts. I glanced behind me again to the pile of pups to see one kicking a leg in the air. Smiling I turned back to the road. I was almost at my destination, a larger public park with small patches of forest in it. Fleetfoot was the Alpha I was friends with and I was heading to where his pack had their den. I pulled into the parking lot closest to the den and got out looking around, I didn''t see anyone but that didn''t mean I wasn''t watched. I gave it a minute for whoever was watching to recognize me. A pair of adult Coyfolk came out from the trees. "Will, what, you, need?" one of the two asked. I knew this one named Springer. "Springer, I brought the pups home," I told him, Springer looked confused, he could only speak a little so I waved him forward instead. Springer came forward and followed me back to the van. Springer only came a few steps before I could see his nose twitch and he let out a quick howl. Springer ran past me to the van, I quickly opened the door and turned back to see most of Fleetfoot''s pack coming at a run. The adult Coyfolk took over caring for the pups and carried them off into the night. A few minutes later Fleetfoot arrived, "Will, thank you for returning the young". I looked down at my friend "Anytime, you know I am a friend of the Coyfolk. There were many pups can you see them returned to their packs?" Fleetfoot replied grinning toothily "Of course, for us the pack and clan are everything, the pups will be returned". He then excused himself saying we could talk later, now he had duties with the pack. I nodded wearily as he quickly disappeared back into the trees. I went home and finally cracked myself a well-deserved beer. I was trying to relax after a wild night but in the back of my head, I was thinking already of who the dryad had been selling the pups to and why. For this moment, however, the biggest question was whether I made it to my bed or simply fell asleep on my couch. 4. A Day in the Life 4. A Day in the Life I woke up slowly and moving even more slowly due to the wonderful crick in my neck. Ahhhh, seems I had not so wisely decided to pass out on the couch with its neck wrenching shortness. When my journey began I had been much shorter, scrawnier and unhealthier all around really this couch would have been fine. Now it was too short was never the best option for me to pass out on. Finding out that the world was a much, much bigger place had changed a lot of my views on fitness and health surprisingly. I got up and tossed the few empties from the night before into the recycling bin, did the morning routine, my mouth tasting foul from not brushing last night. Then my day truly began, much the same as most days without work did now. First I pulled out my yoga mat and started going through the poses. Slowly working my muscles and keeping my mind focused on the form and keeping my thoughts clear. I started yoga actually at the suggestion of Carveor, it had been maybe ten days or so after I had been opened when I had stormed into The Home of True Magic in all my not quite 16-year-old glory. Thinking back I''m still amazed at the patience Carveor and Lena had had when dealing with me. I had stomped up to the desk full of righteous indignation and seeing Carveor behind the counter shouted: "It doesn''t work, you must not have opened me properly!" "Oh, do tell," Carveor said with an infuriatingly calm smile. "Look!" I pointed my hand palm forward and shouted "Fireball!" Nothing happened, I looked at Carveor angrily, "I''ve been practicing every day and it''s been ten days and nothing! It must be broken!" Carveor started laughing, Lena by this point had come out from the back and was doing her best to hold back a laugh, "Oh, so you want to be able to do this?" She held out her hand and a grapefruit sized ball of fire appeared above her palm. "Well, obviously," I sarcastically replied. "I''ve been practicing non-stop, at least 50 hours and I''ve got nothing!" By this point neither Lena nor Carveor could contain themselves, they both broke out into open laughter. "You do remember that I told you that gaining true power required similar effort to becoming a doctor, right?" Carveor said. "Yes," I sullenly had replied, "but, this is just a fireball, should be easy!" The pair looked at each other and Carveor indicated that Lena should answer this. "Well, Will, you have just been opened and what would make you think that a fireball would be easy?" "In all the games..." I started and then looked at the ground as my mind suddenly came to the conclusion that any of the video games I was basing my knowledge off of were almost certainly wrong. I had had the idea that I would simply grind a skill and become a master of it in a week. "Will," Lena said softly, "The fireball that I showed you, that takes years to master, and I''m from a family of opened, this was not the first magic I learned. In terms, you might find to be more clear, let''s see that fireball would be about the equivalent of having gone to university, more or less." I must have visibly deflated as Carveor said "Don''t worry, we see this happen sometimes with the newly opened. Have you tried telling anyone about all of this yet?" I shook my head in a negative. Carveor went on "You should try, see the effect of the binding, that binding I used with the stone is another example of what could be considered university level magic, well in terms of time commitment and effort anyway." I was kind of reeling at this point, these two flakey looking people were capable of high level magic? I could hardly believe it, anyone else would have been able to hear the sound of my preconceptions of wizards hit the floor. Maybe my sitting in my room for the last ten days saying fireball had not been the best use of my time. Maybe I should have instead asked how to improve. Huh. "So," I said, "How exactly should I go about learning something like that?" "Funny you should ask," Carveor replied with a smirk. "Well, I''ll give you some hints anyway. First to try to improve or gain any skill requires focus." Now we were getting somewhere I had nodded enthusiastically and waved him to continue. What followed was another couple of hour long quasi-lecture on magic. Similar to when Carveor had introduced me to this side of life, except this time both him and Lena had focused on some basics tenets required for any kind of growth of my new potential. The basic ideas I had left with a few hours later were that I should take up yoga, apparently, the body and breath control I would learn would help with focus. I had also learned that day that being opened meant I could learn to do just about anything given enough time and effort, but any dreams of being my own pyrotechnic show would have to wait years. "Most people when they first start focus on creating light," Lena explained. "It''s a fairly easy thing to do, well in comparison to others but tends to be one of the first things kids in opened families learn when they get access to their potential," Lena had continued. Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site. My well mature 16 year old self had nodded sagely, "Of course, light! Why didn''t I think to start with that." Carveor laughed again, "So do you want some advice on where to start?" I nodded again and Carveor began, "First get to a place where you can clear your mind, hence the yoga and meditation if it helps you. Then once you have cleared your mind, focus on one of your hands, doesn''t matter which and think of every heartbeat, every pulse carrying something extra and collecting it in your palm, when you can do that come back." I snorted in displeasure, "That''s it? Hahahaaha," mock laughter issued from me. "I''ll have that done in a day, maybe two, oh and how will I know when I''ve got it down?" I asked. This was going to be easy, no problem. The couple sighed, then Carveor spoke again "Okay, Will the new Merlin! We''ll see you in a day or two and trust me, if you make it happen you will know." I had waved goodbye and walked out sure that I would be back in a day, little did I know that I wouldn''t be back for much longer. The yoga had definitely helped, it had taken me two weeks of trying without any focus before I gave up and signed up for a yoga class at the community hall. This had also led to first part-time job to pay for it, my parents had quickly balked at paying for something so esoteric to them. This had, in turn, led to a meditation class that a couple of the people in the yoga class went to. At this point, it had already been a few months and I hadn''t had success but I could properly clear my mind and focus like nothing else. My parents actually began to approve as my grades went way up, a little more focus goes a long way in high school, besides the added bonus of the better and faster I dealt with everything else the sooner I could try to get this light thing to work. It continued on like this for another month when one night meditating in my room, I felt it. I lost it immediately but I had felt it! A similar feeling to the pressure from when I had been opened, not to the same extent but it was something. I had never really lost hope as I had personally seen Lena conjure a ball of flame above her hand and now I had felt it! It was like a turbocharger for my efforts. I was on my way. I came back to myself and the present as I completed my hour or so of yoga. My neck and back feeling a lot more human than they had after waking up on the couch. I then sat down crosslegged and meditated, still to this day after all these years I continue the same process. Focus on bringing something from the rest of my body and coalescing it in my palm. I had eventually achieved the light skill/spell about six months after first trying and first being opened. This same process is the basis for developing a lot of new skills so I trained at it always. After meditating, I had to clean my tools. I was not a powerful opened. I had a few good skills but normally anytime I had to face anything unknown I brought my Glock. I know it seems cliche but even odd things like a dryad or a goblin will go down if you shoot them enough. Therefore I always made sure it would work and after using it last night I had to clean it properly. I wasn''t worried about the dryad''s body from the warehouse, they tended to return to the earth (i.e. rot) in record time. I looked at the clock on my kitchen wall and realized I was going to be late for work if I didn''t hurry. I locked up the Glock and headed out, I worked at an inner city community outreach center for a few hours a day. Hence my need to relieve the dryad''s thralls of their money, the center had good people and programs but not good funding, which for me meant little pay but I made out okay-ish. I liked it though and helped out extra if they needed it, today was quiet. After the excitement of the previous day that felt fine for me. As work ended I concluded that Carveor would want to know what had happened. Turns out he and Lena both were relatively powerful and well known, and whenever something odd went on in the area they were the ones that kept things calm. It was early evening when I pulled up in front of the surprisingly well named The Home of True Magic, the name might be correct but I still thought it was a stupid name for a store. I went in found Carveor sitting at the counter reading some book on crystals. I looked pointedly at the book and he said with no shame, "I have to read these or at least skim them, most of them are useless to an opened but some people find meaning in this sort of thing and I try to help them out." I nodded tersely and gave him a quick report on what had happened last night. He followed along as I told how Fleetfoot had asked for my help and I had used some of Ringer''s fur to track her out to the warehouse/greenhouse complex. Then I told him what I had found there and my battle with the dryad. As I was just getting past that I heard a loud voice from the back, "William!" I ducked my head and tried to make myself small as Lena stormed out of the back. "A dryad! What were you thinking!" And my day had been going so well... 5. Get A Strip Torn Off 5. Get A Strip Torn Off I spent most of the next 20 minutes being berated by Lena, while not related she had taken me under her wing and treated me like family. Or in this case like a naughty child. I was one of only maybe a handful of opened in the area, not from an already established family and Lena had taken it upon herself to fill both a parental and supervisor type role in my life. It had its ups and downs, Lena thought that I should never be doing anything even remotely dangerous. I had always had somewhat different opinions on what dangerous included. Being yelled at by Lena while not an everyday occurrence was not an unusual one. Since I had known nothing about life as an opened Lena and Carveor had been my main source of information, at the beginning at least. I had still been trying to achieve my yoga born stillness of mind when I had formally met Fleetfoot. The first two years of my life as an opened, I lived an odd mix of normal high school life and spending every other free moment trying to become more. Sneaking out as many nights as I had felt like I could get away with, running down to the same convenience store lot and trying to see the Coyfolk again. It had taken me a few months to gain a semblance of trust. I would see them once in a while and the one, my now friend Fleetfoot had become more comfortable with me. After seeing them a few times I tried to approach them and when they ran I had shouted: "Wait!" Fleetfoot had stopped and turned, looking back curiously. I learned later that once you are opened and had started to develop a sense of being opened a lot of the nonhuman sentient species could tell. Luckily by this point, my efforts had gotten me a glimmer of this and Fleetfoot had been able to tell. "Human, what do you want?'' The voice was slightly odd, I guess their voices boxes not quite designed for human speech. I was beside myself with joy. "Just to talk, learn, share a sandwich? '' I tried hopefully. Fleetfoot yipped at the other two with him and they took up posts a little further away watching all directions. Fleetfoot had strolled up and said. "Sandwich?" I hurriedly had dug a ham and cheese sandwich out of my bag and given it to him as he neared. He had grinned, which had been relatively frightening as it showed off his impressive teeth and wolfed (or Coyoted?) the sandwich down. I watched and then said, "Hi, I''m Will, nice to meet you." Fleetfoot had laughed and introduced himself. This became the start of a great friendship, we had started to meet about once a week during which we would talk. I learned a lot, a lot about the Coyfolk, apparently unknown to me, human opened rarely if ever talked to Coyfolk. On the other hand, Fleetfoot used our time together to learn English, he had spoken some before but felt it would be useful for the pack if he could speak clearly. Also, Fleetfoot had done all he could to learn about the human side of the city. Coyfolk before had never really understood why or how the streetlights and such functioned. This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings. I learned about his pack and the other packs around the area, eventually, I had become trusted enough to meet them. This had been nearly a year after being opened and I was super excited. On Fleetfoots recommendation I had brought some gifts, showing up and being led to a pack gathering had been nerve racking but ended up being one of the best things I could have ever done. It was a huge sign of trust when I had been introduced, the current Alpha had not been especially happy having a human come but the pack shaman had convinced him. This was to be the second time I had a binding place on me. The old shaman had done something much similar to what Carveor had done the year before, placed a binding holding the Coyfolks secrets to myself. I had done it willingly as Fleetfoot had become a good friend by this point. Once I had been bound the Alpha had relaxed and you could feel the tension drain out of the gathering. It didn''t take long for the atmosphere to turn silly as the younger pups started playing and running around. I had opened my bag and was instantly surrounded by the pups as the smells of the still warm pressed sandwichs drifted out. Fleetfoot knowing what I had brought came and maintained a semblance of order as I began handing out the wrapped sandwichs. Some might say I earned my introduction but bribed the pack into liking me. Well, let''s just say that Coyfolk have a weakness for grilled ham and cheese, not my fault... I came back to Lena moving to stand directly in front of me, noticing that I had gone glazed-eyed while dreaming of the past. She was upset but I did what I did and I would do it again. The Coyfolk were my friends and that would not change. I explained this to the couple and Lena''s expression had changed somewhat, she didn''t seem sure whether to be mad at me or proud of me. Lena and Carveor were familiar with them but didn''t know them. I explained that I had to help, the Coyfolk being non-human didn''t have a lot of options for problems that came up involving either people. The couple both had a worried look when I told them that the pups were being sold and traded. The batch I had rescued were not the only ones that had gone missing over the last few months, but I hadn''t known about it until a few pups including Ringer from Fleetfoot''s pack had been taken. Carveor said, "Will, this is actually a fairly serious manner then," he looked over at Lena, "We are going to have to get involved." Lena sighed and nodded. I looked confused what was the big deal. Seeing the look on my face, "This sort of thing has happened before for a few reasons all of which are bad" Carveor explained. "We''ll get back to you in a few days we have some people to talk to." I exited the store deciding to head home and get some extra sleep, still feeling a little mentally worn from the last few days. I spent the remainder of the evening thinking. Why were Carveor and Lena concerned? Why hadn''t they given me any more explanations or information? And what exactly did it mean that they were going to get involved?