《The Awakened》 Prologue: The Awakening It was a normal day for Mark. As his phone rang telling him that it was time to go to work he barely resisted the urge to just throw the phone to the wall and continue his sleep. He slowly sat up before picking up his phone and turning the alarm off. He was currently living in a small apartment that had a single room that worked as the living room,bedroom and kitchen. At the very least unlike dorms he had his own toilet and his own shower. He started up the water heater before proceeding to the bathroom. After looking in the mirror he noticed the fact that he was suffering from a severe case of bed hair causing him to look like a mix of a guy that was buzzed and a mad scientist preparing to create an unholy abomination. After wetting his hair and fixing it up with his comb he made coffee in a thermos and got dressed. He felt like his work clothes which involved a white top and black pants got more restricting each time he wore it. Not in the sense of getting fat but rather he felt a bigger urge to call his boss and tell his he was quitting before shredding these clothes each time he wore them. Finally being ready to head to work he took his small black bag and placed the thermos in it using it as a cup holder before leaving his room and locking the door. Not that there was something worth stealing in there. He had just gotten used to locking his place before heading out. He was living just 4 miles away from his work so unlike most of the his colleague he used a bike to get to work instead of a bus. Along the way he bought a bagel from the the nearby bakery. He still wasn''t sure about the home country of the cashier working there. He stood six feet tall and had slightly dark skin along with a bushy moustache combined with blonde hair through he never actually said anything other than ''One bagel please.'' to the cashier there so he couldn''t exactly ask him about it. After reaching to his workplace which was a 40 floor building with several corporations renting different floors he got on an elevator and pressed the 32th floor button before leaning back and listening to the elevator whir upwards while wondering how long was left till humanity managed to make doors that just transported you to the floor you wanted to go upon stepping in them. Not that the elevator took too long to reach to the floors but he felt like it people would be happier if they didn''t get stuck inside a cube with people they hadn''t talked to in their entire life or perhaps the problem wasn''t travelling in a cube but it was in not being confident enough to talk to people you meet every day. Things were getting a bit too philosophical at this point so he just stopped thinking about this and waited for the elevator to reach 32th floor. The office itself was mostly empty as only people that started to work in the company last year were expected to arrive at the office at 8 am. With a sigh Mark went to his cubicle and pressed the power button before opening his thermos and starting to eat his bagel. Rest of the people were in a similar state to him. The company had tried to get them to talk to eachother by having a picnic event and a orientation event but in the end most of them were really interested in eachother. A few was prone to socializing but he had kept his distance from them during the event like most of his coworkers. He couldn''t really know what was going through the mind of others but he saw work as a prison which he could only escape by completing the tasks that were given to him as quickly as possible. Taking another bite from his bagel he looked at the computer screen asking for username and password. After entering it the computer started a bunch of programs. Mark never really understood why the computers couldn''t just open up these programs before asking for the password but as a newcomer he was hardly in a position to make complaints or suggestions. Finishing up his bagel he opened his work mail in order to see what he had to do today. Clicking the PDF files to start downloading he went to the company''s kitchen in order to get a company provided donuts before people who took three or four of those instead of one came. Well to be fair he had become one of those people too as after losing the chance to eat donuts several times and having to get one before he could even finish his coffee he had decided that it was within his right to take several donuts. Finishing the first two in the kitchen he started walking towards his desk with a single donut in his hand when one of his coworkers called out to him. "Mark right? I think i remember you from that picnic. Not that we actually talked. I just remember your nametag." said the coworker in question while smiling. The guy in front of him was wearing a white shirt and black pants through that was to be expected considering the company had a rather strict dress code and while those who worked here for a few years got a bit leeway none of the new people could wear something other than a white shirt and black pants without getting fired through his clothes looked like they hadn''t been ironed for a long time and his hair fell on his shoulder. His hair combined with the state of his clothes could cause someone to mistake him for a hippie.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. He dug through his brain trying to remember this guys name but unfortunately he was never good with names and he hadn''t talked to this guy at all so in the end all he could say in response was:"Yeah. They gave us those name tags at the picnic." while trying to not to look awkward. His behavior resulted in the man smiling and continuing:"You don''t have to pretend you remember my name. There were too many people to remember even for those who paid attention. I''m Jason. Nice to meet you again Mark." and then Jason offered his hand. To be honest he wanted to just flee to his cubicle but he couldn''t do it without seeming like a weird guy so he shook the hand that was offered to him before saying:"Sorry about that. Anyway was there anything you wanted to talk to me about?" Jason said:"Well i saw you leaving with just a donut and it is pretty irritating when people take two or three donuts at once. It turns a source of relaxation into a source of stress. Anyway i was hoping for you to sign this petition i am making asking our supervisor to make a written rule about this instead of just relying on unspoken rules since they obviously don''t work." before taking out a sheet from a nearby table. Not having much of a choice at this point and feeling slightly guilty he signed the sheet before walking back to his cubicle while listening to Jason approach another coworker about the donut situation. This guy had way too much free time. He understood that this was a problem but going as far as gathering signatures and risking himself for donuts was too much. Upon reaching his cubicle he sat down and looked at the PDF file the computer had just finished downloading. These computers had gotten archaic and they barely functioned but the company refused to get new computers through after working with this crappy computer for six months he was actually willing to get his salary cut in order to get this computer replaced with one that actually did it''s job. Scrolling down and waiting for a few seconds for each page to render he checked the systems he were supposed to analyze and debug. At college they made the job of data analyst as something where he would deal with complex problems through programming skills but upon starting his job he had found out it involved cleaning behind people who dealt with complex problems by handling the mind numbing parts of the job. By the time lunch break came his brain was so numb that he felt like he wouldn''t notice it if someone stabbed him and he wished someone went ahead and did that to end this torture. He went to the canteen and got himself some soup and bread before seating himself on a table with people from his company. The canteen floor was basically shared by all of the companies and at the tables of people whose jobs were to be ''creative'' heated discussions were going on while on his table everyone focused on his food as if they couldn''t wait to get back to work. After finishing his lunch he washed his hands before returning to his cubicle like most of his coworkers while a few stayed behind to chat while having some snacks. By the time his work was done it had become 9 pm and his brain felt like it could just slide off of his skull but at the very least he was finished for today. Unlike the morning there were many people who were leaving along with him so the elevator was a bit cramped. Luckily there weren''t any female coworkers near him so he didn''t actually need to glue himself to somewhere in order to avoid pressing on a woman. As the elevators doors opened the elevator slowly emptied as everyone either went to get a cab or sat at the bus station while he went to remove the lock of his bicycle from a nearby alley. Parking his bike on an alley turned out to be a mistake that day as he felt a small cold object press onto his back while he was unlocking his bike lock followed by a gruff voice that seemed to belong to someone whose throat was damaged by smoke:"Your money or your life." Mark instictively tried to turn around but the mugger mistook his intentions and fired at him. At that moment time seemed to slow down as he considered his life choices and then he caught a glimpse of what was of the world. He barely understood what he saw and he wondered if he was dying for a second before hearing a scream and feeling something warm splash on his arm. Fully turning around he noticed there was a bullet in the arm of whom he assumed to be the mugger while the gun had fallen to pieces.
Name Mark Hilson
Race Human Mage
Attributes Magical Statistics
Physical Arete 3
Strength 2 Spheres
Dextery 2 Correspondence 3
Stamina 2 Entrophy 0
Social Time 0
Presence 2 Life 0
Charisma 2 Matter 0
Manipulation 2 Mind 0
Mental Prime 0
Wits 3 Forces 0
Intellegence 4 Spirit 0
Resolve 3 Time 0
Paradox 0 Quintessence 0
Avatar 1 He was dumbfounded to say the least. He felt like till now he had a problem with his eyes but he hadn''t realized it since everyone else had the same problem. After staring at a wall for what felt like hours while the mugger fled from the scene in a panic while screaming incoherent things he removed the lock from his bicycle and started to bike towards his apartment. There was too much to process at that moment and he couldn''t exactly deal with it at the moment so he numbed himself by just concentrating on pedalling till he reached home. When he did a part of him expected what he had been conditioned to expect his whole life. Someone in trouble or someone breaking into his apartment and searching for some sort of item that had a power required for world conquest but nothing of sort happened. He heard no screams while climbing the stairs and when he unlocked his door the only thing that greeted him was his room that hadn''t changed a single bit since he left it. He entered his apartment and locked the door and he immediately dropped himself on the bed and within seconds he was asleep. He woke up to the alarm clock while feeling a small ache coming from his body due to the fact that he had slept in his work clothes. He looked around his room as if he didn''t recognize where he was before slowly remembering what had occured. It was a weird feeling as for his whole life he had known that a wall was made of cement and bricks while a kitchen counter was made of wood but now he also understood the fact that they were actually made from the same material as everything else in the universe. Not knowing what to do he stuck to his old schedule. First he took off his clothes and threw them on the bed before picking up a second set of work clothes followed by going to the bathroom and combing his hair and finally getting his coffee and leaving his apartment through along the way he did something different. When he stopped to get a bagel he gathered his courage and said:"Hello. Nice to meet you. I am Mark." to the cashier while seeming rather timid. The tall cashier looked over Mark as if he was measuring him and Mark immediately regretted it. He had decided to do something different since he had almost died last night like an extremely small rebellion to his daily schedule. As he thought about fleeing like his life depended on it the cashiers voice interrupted his thoughts:"My name is Haris. Nice to meet you." As expected of a man his size he had a rather deep voice and when the cashier offered his hand Mark felt like shaking hands with this guy could cause his hand to break but due to how awkward it would be to flee at this moment he shook Haris''s hand and as he expected his hand felt like it was being crushed. After the handshake Haris went into the back and after half a minute he came with a large bagel that seemed to have just come out of oven. Mark took the bagel with his left hand and said:"Thanks Haris." while constantly opening his right hand to get rid of it''s numbness. Haris gave him a small nod before going to deal with another customer while Mark got on his bike. It hadn''t gone as badly as he had expected. His hand was still a bit numb from the handshake but at the very least he had gotten a hot large bagel which could be considered a win and he probably didn''t have to shake Haris''s hand once more.unless they shook hands each time they met at wherever he was from. Otherwise he either needed to put some muscle or find a different bakery. Probably the latter considering he already had enough to deal with in his life. As he looked at the landscape he wondered if his current situation was temporary or it was who he was now. For a second he thought a visit to a psychiatrist would help him but it was followed by the reminder that he could neither afford nor make time for such a visit. As he reached his workplace things seemed a bit duller than usual despite his newfound perception. He could perceive what was the material of reality but he was about to do what he did every day but he couldn''t think of something he could do with his newfound ability. Well he had a few thoughts but all of them were childish stuff he couldn''t do like becoming a hero by repelling bullets like he did last night or becoming famous. First of all he wasn''t sure if he could repeat that incident again and if there weren''t famous people doing actual magic or being a superhero there had to be a reason. As he got on the elevator he took a bite from his bagel and noticed it had a bit of cheese in it which was a nice surprise. After reaching his workplace he went to the kitchen and picked up a donut opting out of getting a second one before going to his cubicle. The guy from yesterday hadn''t arrived yet so he didn''t have the risk of getting caught but he would have had felt like a hypocrite if he had taken a second donut right after signing a petition about it. Starting the download of PDF he started eating his breakfast . The download felt like it was slower than usual through it gave him more than enough time to finish his coffee. Once the computer finished the download he looked at the data and he felt like he could actually see which program was connected to which. This made his job much easier as he understood exactly which part needed proofreading and by the time the lunch break was given around seventy percent of the work was finished.Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there. As he went into cafeteria things felt much different than it normally did yet at the same time it was the same. The soup was the same as always. His silent coworkers were the same yet something felt off but considering the fact that just a few hours ago he was considering visiting a psychiatrist he wasn''t about to go chasing after bad feelings. After finishing his soup he returned to his cubicle and by 5 pm he was done. He was free to go home. If things were to stay like this maybe he could consider going to a fitness center. Well he would probably need a raise as well as a bonus in order to get some clothes that were appropriate for a fitness center but the thought in itself was nice. Despite finishing his work he stayed for 3 more hours working overtime in order to gain a few extra dollars before finally leaving the office and getting on the elevator. After the elevator emptied out he walked to for about a hundred meters in order to pick his bike from the nearby park. He had learnt not to park in an alley in order to avoid walking an extra hundred meters through after looking at the park he decided to sit at one of the benches and watch the ducks swim around for a few minutes. He wasn''t in an hurry and he had a near death experience. Getting a hotdog from a travelling shop that was about to close up he sat down and started to watch the lake. It was rather serene and with the moonlight falling on the pool it felt otherworldly. After finishing his hotdog and starting to throw the remaining bread at the ducks a guy with greying black hair and 5''4 height sat next to him. He assumed this guy finished his work recently like him through he looked like he had a far higher position. First of all he was actually wearing an expensive looking suit and he had a rolex that seemed to be real. The belief that this guy had a higher position was the main reason he didn''t just get up and leave. He wasn''t particularly willing to network but he also didn''t want to offend someone who outranked him greatly even if he was working for a different company. After a minute of silence the man finally spoke:"I used to be like you. I worked hard everyday thinking that once i got promoted things would get better but the only difference is the fact that they give you a bigger paycheck. My house is bigger but it wouldn''t matter if it was a studio apartment considering i drop by there only to sleep." As the man''s monologue continued Mark got more and more disinterested and by the time the man was finished he had started to think about the dreams of ducks. The man finally said:"Thanks for listening to me. I guess it was rather boring for you." and Mark didn''t even have the energy or the willingness to make the man feel better. After an awkward silence the man left his side and Mark got on his bike and rode home before changing into his pajamas and laying on the bed and after a few minutes of rolling around he fell asleep. That night he had rather weird dreams and by the morning he felt like he hadn''t slept for the entire night while wondering what kind of nightmare he must have had in order to feel so tired. While he got up and prepared to change his clothes he heard a feminine voice that reminded him to iron his clothes in a language he didn''t know but he understood the message. The normal response would probably be to panic in this case but for reasons he didn''t understand he felt like this voice was here to help him get through life and act as his guide and helper.
Name Mark Hilson
Race Human Mage
Attributes Magical Statistics
Physical Arete 3
Strength 2 Spheres
Dextery 2 Correspondence 3
Stamina 2 Entrophy 0
Social Time 0
Presence 2 Life 0
Charisma 2 Matter Matter
Manipulation 2 Mind 0
Mental Prime 0
Wits 3 Forces 0
Intellegence 4 Spirit 0
Resolve 3 Time 0
Paradox 0 Quintessence 0
Avatar 2 As he was ironing his clothes images from his dream started to come back to him through there wasn''t nearly enough to actually understand what the dream was about. There was the image of a rather short woman with brown hair that was sitting on a chair through the image itself was rather fuzzy. He normally didn''t dwell on dreams but this dream felt important. His newly acquired guide simply responded to his thoughts by saying:"There is no point in worrying about it. Just relax and it will come to you eventually." in a tone that seemed confident yet gentle. At this point he was near certain that he was going insane but in the end he couldn''t seek out help considering even if he managed to receive care it would end up costing him his job and prevent him from getting another job resulting in him starving to death. He had to deal with this in his own terms. Maybe he could give meditation a shot. He could get a book and read it before attempting to meditate since as far as he knew meditation was useful at dealing with mental illnesses through upon getting the feeling of affirmation from his new guide he felt like this wasn''t such a good idea after all or was it a good idea and his guide was pulling reverse psychology on him? Shaking his head in order to get rid of this thought train he started to prepare to head to work since there wasn''t an actual solution to be found in that thought process. After finishing his preparations he locked the door and got on his bicycle before starting to pedal to work. He wished he could use vacation days but his company required him to request a vacation 2 weeks prior unless an emergency was sited and while this situation could be considered an emergency he couldn''t exactly tell his boss about it. Upon reaching the bakery he said:"Good morning Haris." with a small approval feeling coming from his guide that was trying to encourage his current behavior and Haris gave him a small nod before saying:"Good morning." in his deep voice before heading to the back of the bakery and bringing him a large hot bagel like he did yesterday. Mark said:"Thanks Haris." and after a quick reminder from his new guide he added:"The bagel yesterday was delicious." before paying for the bagel. It could have been wind but he felt like he saw Haris''s moustache moved slightly. Leaving the bakery and continuing to pedal towards his work Mark looked at the scenery once more and he wondered how long had it been since he last watched the scenery while pedalling. There wasn''t much of nature to see as he lived in the inner parts of the city but even then there were birds that seemed to be singing and flowers growing from places you would least expect them to be. Last time he looked around like this was probably when he was 10 and he had just figured out how to ride a bike. Thinking about that time he felt a slight nostalgia and wondered if he should call his mom before deciding to call her later which caused him to feel a slight amount of displeasure from his new guide but he ignored it for now. His mom had her own thing going so he couldn''t just randomly call her and hope she wasn''t busy. When he reached his workplace he noticed the fact that despite watching the scenery he had actually arrived slightly earlier than usual which meant he could use an empty elevator through unlike what he had imagined the elevator being empty felt rather lonely and upon reaching the empty office he couldn''t help but feel a bit awkward like he was somewhere he shouldn''t be at. As he felt like this he felt a small nudge in his mind as if reminding him he wasn''t alone. He knew he should be worried about this but he actually felt a bit relaxed as he walked in his cubicle and pressed the power button before going to the kitchen to get his daily donut before getting back to his cubicle and downloading the files he needed to check. While it was downloading he started eating his bagel and that was when his first coworker entered the office. A 5''5 girl with black hair and glasses along with a long black skirt and white shirt. Well to be fair this defined about seventy percent of the woman in the office but he couldn''t think of any other traits that could be used to define her. After looking at her for a second he returned to looking at his computer screen and after the files finished downloading he got to work while trying to prevent his mind from wandering to important questions that had no answers like why wasn''t he panicking about this or if these were a delusion or a dream. Considering the things that happened he could very well be laying on a hospital bed dreaming this reality while doctors prepared him for a surgery that was required to remove the bullet. He sighed as the minutes felt agonizingly slow as more and more people came to the office. In the end after an hour he had to go and wash his face in order to be able to concentrate on his work. He half expected for some illusionary reflection to appear in the mirror of the bathroom but no such thing happened and so he returned to his work continuing to try to focus himself to it. By the time it was lunch break he had reached a degree of uncomfortability that made him want to just go home and hide in his bed. Getting soup as usual and sitting with his coworkers he thought about the things he had to do today. He had to get a book related to meditation and he had to google for aid regarding mental disorders. It would probably be better to do the latter before the former but by the time he could access his laptop it would be too late to purchase a book and he didn''t want to postpone it if possible.Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions. He was pulled out of his thoughts by the clanking noise made by his spoon hitting the metal surface as he realized he had finished his food. He slowly got off of his seat and headed for his cubicle. As he did he started to remember a bit more about his dream like receiving a vision. He remembered being in a large wooden hall with tea in front of him but other than that everything seemed rather vague. He wanted this day to end as soon as possible so that he could deal with this on his terms. That or for some random guy to come up to him and teach him everything he needed to know. He heard his guide''s voice telling him:"Don''t worry about it. I will teach you the stuff you need to know. Just try to get used to things for now." in her usual firm but gentle voice. Why did he think about this voice as his guide. The realization that he hadn''t noticed the fact that he had acted familiar to this voice made him anxious. By now he was certain he was going crazy but what could he do to prevent it? Breathing deeply he tried to not to let panic overtake him. Things were going to be fine. There was no reason for him to suddenly go insane and he recalled reading that people who went insane thought they were getting saner so as long as he continued to regard everything as odd then he was okay. There was no need to panic at the moment. After slightly calming down he continued his work to the best of ability and despite his confusion and anxiety he managed to finish his workload around 7 pm and unlike yesterday for when he stayed late at work he decided to head home early instead and drop by the bookstore. Perhaps he could purchase one of those self guide books that helped people deal with their problems without medical help. Getting on the elevator with just one other person riding it he went to the park and got on his bike before starting to pedal to the nearest bookstore he knew while hoping they were still open. Luckily they were through it was a bit crowded. Nevertheless after browsing for 10 minutes he managed to find a book called ''Meditation for beginners'' and ''Power of positive thinking'' which felt like a good start. After paying for them he wondered which one he should read first before reminding himself to google issues regarding mental health first and starting to pedal to his apartment. After reaching his apartment and taking out his laptop and after googling a bit and finding or at the very least interpreting what he found as him going to work and trying to socialize a bit and going to work would have a positive effect through that could very well just be him self deluding himself due to fear of losing his job and his life. Upon getting slightly relieved he got into his pajamas and started reading the book regarding positive thoughts through after half an hour of reading where the book constantly told him to think positively he ended up falling asleep. When he woke up he was in the room he saw in his dreams with an ornate table in front of him and a brown haired girl sipping tea. The girl was wearing a single piece white top and she was rather tall despite Mark remembering her to be short from the images of the dream. Despite her height and her voice the girl had a rather smooth skin with a chin that seemed to be round. After seeing him open his eyes the brown haired girl said:"I guess yesterday was a bit too traumatic. Let''s start over. My name is #I?¡ì¡ì" through the name sounded like a mix of gibberish and ghost sounds to Mark. Perhaps not noticing Mark''s confusion or perhaps simply ignoring it the girl continued by saying:"I am here to explain to you what is going on and help you grow whilst helping me grow."
Name Mark Hilson
Race Human Mage
Attributes Magical Statistics
Physical Arete 3
Strength 2 Spheres
Dextery 2 Correspondence 3
Stamina 2 Entrophy 0
Social Time 0
Presence 2 Life 0
Charisma 2 Matter 0
Manipulation 2 Mind 0
Mental Prime 0
Wits 3 Forces 0
Intellegence 4 Spirit 0
Resolve 3 Time 0
Paradox 0 Quintessence 0
Terminology Guide Correspondence=The field that studies the connection between two seeming seperate things. Entropy= The field that studies fate and chance Forces= The field that studies elemental energies Life= The field that studies life and death.Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original. Matter= The field that studies the principles behind supposedly inanimate objects. ? Mind _ The field that studies exploration of the potentials of consciousness. ? Prime= The field that studiesPrimal Energy within all things. ? Spirit = The field that studies comprehension of Otherworldly forces and inhabitants. ? Time=The field that studies strange workings of chronological forces and perception Quintessence= The raw material of reality used to fuel a mages powers. Paradox= Backlash of reality. Avatar 3 This felt awkward to say the least. Trying to dodge the situation he started to look around but whenever he truly focused on the walls or anything in this room other than the girl he felt like they were blurring which didn''t help his situation. After an odd minute where he tried to recover himself he finally looked at the eyes of the girl who was currently casually sipping her tea. Smiling at him the girl continued:"You are probably a bit confused at the moment. If your questions are related to your powers then i can be of aid on that department through improving them will mostly depend on your effort. If you ask me questions regarding the world then i won''t be able to respond to it. Also as a warning if you displease me too much i will take away your magic until you make amends but that will be for your own good." while sounding like a mother threatening her child with taking away his toys. Mark wasn''t really that attached to hiss current powers mainly because he didn''t even understand how they worked but he felt like at the moment the best course of action was to just nod along and hope everything goes well. The girl seemed to like his response as she took another sip from her tea while continuing to smile and she said:"Don''t worry about things too much. There are two important things for you at the moment. Keeping a stable life and learning about the world itself. Eventually it will be time to progress your understanding to reach ascension through i guess the concept of ascension is too complex for you. Anyway go ahead and drink your tea. We still have a lot of time to talk and drinking tea will help you calm yourself and focus your thoughts. Not having much of a choice Mark followed and drank the tea and after calmly drinking tea for a minute he actually felt himself getting calmer. Despite the constant drinking the tea didn''t seem to run out through that was probably the least of his worries. Spending another minute trying to prioritize the questions and put them into words Mark finally stopped drinking tea and looked at the girl before saying:"This may come off as a bit rude but what are you exactly?" which made the woman frown. For a second Mark felt like he had asked a rude question but the woman simply placed her tea to the table before starting to explain:" Well that is a rather complex questions. Instead let me say this. I know everything you know and i will always support your improvement. Basically i am your most trustworthy ally in the world you have gotten yourself into. If i say anything more your psyche will probably close itself due to not understanding." Naturally Mark wasn''t exactly satisfied with the response but he felt like he wasn''t in the position to question. He wondered why he wasn''t in a position to question things. This person in front of him was a stranger after all yet at the same time his guts told him that this woman was telling the truth at the moment and that she was his ally but more importantly his guts told him he should avoid offending this person at any cost. He normally didn''t move according to his gut but at the same time his gut feeling had never been this strong. As if sensing his discord the woman gestured at the tea and Mark took a sip from it again while the girl said:"Try to not to get too anxious. This is a dream so if you get too anxious you will end up waking up while barely remembering what we talked about. Just drink your tea and ask me the rest of your questions." Talking like this the woman had started to give off the vibe of a businesswoman that was used to dealing with people like him rather than a mother. Again with his choices being either drinking his tea or panicking he continued to sip his tea while considering his next question and after half a minute he asked:"So how do i improve?Are there books related to dealing with things like this?" which made the woman put down her tea and start explaining again:"I am certain there are books like that but at the moment i doubt you have the resources required to reach any of them. For now try to learn how to meditate and improve yourself on that field. That will open more doors for you." By now Mark had prepared the other two questions so he asked the one he found to be more important:"Will there be people coming after me?I mean government or something similar." which caused the girl to simply respond by saying:"I thought i had made it clear that i can''t answer anything regarding the world through i can tell you that those who do not have powers of sort will not be able to perceive the existence of your powers. This does not mean they can''t use sleepers as their agents. Basically what i can tell you is don''t be too showy and i think you will be alright." That was anything but relieving. There could be people coming after him or he might not be on their radar. Was he supposed to prepare to escape? How could he escape from people with superpowers and even if he did what was going to happen?Was he going to live on road kill and live outside of the grid? He would prefer dying over that. As his thoughts start to drift towards worse scenarios they were interrupted by a voice:"Calm down. Nothing has happened yet and if you panic you will lose what little information you have." which actually caused him to slightly calm down.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. After seeing him calm down the woman said:"Well with your constant panicking we lost a lot of time. Since this is a dream you spend way more time in your thoughts than you realize especially when you panic and as you panic our time here together grows shorter so we probably have time for just one more question. Make it count." before smiling at him in an almost teasing manner. He wanted to laugh at this situation and her smile but their time together was decreasing so he decided to ask his final question:"What are these powers exactly?What happened to me." which made the womans teasing smile to grow a bit wider than it should have been possible for a human and the response was simple and short compared to other answers yet extremely disturbing:"You managed to realize that the universe is nothing more than what people believe it is. Now your choices actually matter." before starting to giggle and as everything started to fade away he could hear a voice similar to a cheerful laughter but rather than being creepy it was more like the laughter of a woman whose child had finally managed to get a job. When he woke up his face was covered in sweat and he felt like he hadn''t slept for a single second. Just a second after his awakening he heard the voice of his guide in the back of his head:"Write everything important related to the dream as soon as possible." in a commanding tone and being sleepy he did as he was told pressing the power button of his laptop and as soon as it finished opening he opened notepad before writing ''1)Learn to meditate.'' ''2)Don''t do stuff that might attract attention.'' ''3)People aren''t after you and even if they were you couldn''t defend yourself against them. Don''t get paranoid.'' He paused when he was writing the final thing he had to write down. It sounded crazy yet it felt like it was right. Perhaps he was going insane. He sighed. There was no point to going through that spiral again and if he was going insane then there wasn''t anything he could do other than what he already planned to do. After staring at the screen for a few minutes debating what to write while the dream slowly faded away he finally got what he should write. ''4)You are either a person with powers to bend reality or you are going insane. Either way be bold.'' He then moved the places of first and fourth article before changing the second article to ''Try to avoid attracting attention as long as it doesn''t conflict with first article.'' before pausing for a second trying to remember why he was typing these articles as the dream faded away from his memory. He just remembered that these were important and that he should do these whenever possible. Well perhaps not the first article. He couldn''t exactly accept the fact that he was going insane or that he had powers t bend reality but he felt like being bold could make his life far better. After all due to being bold he had started getting large hot bagels and maybe he could get a girlfriend. Prefably one that didn''t expect gifts. Actually he was certain he needed one that didn''t expect gifts as he could barely afford anything other than his living expenses. Considering it was saturday and his phone wasn''t ringing calling him to work he decided to try to follow article four and tried to turn off the computer before having the computer ask whether he wanted to save the files or not. Deciding to save them he debated what to name it for a minute. A normal person would probably just name it untitled1 or something similar but he tended to obssess over things like this. Finally he named the file ''Dream rules'' before turning off his computer and sitting on his bed in order to start reading his book as to learn how to meditate before starting to wonder if he should get coffee before getting started with this book but after a prompt from his new guide telling him that coffee prevents acquiring a clear mind and he should quit he decided to compromise with her and avoid coffee for now. He then picked up the book and started reading the first chapter.
Name Mark Hilson
Race Human Mage
Attributes Magical Statistics
Physical Arete 3
Strength 2 Spheres
Dextery 2 Correspondence 3
Stamina 2 Entrophy 0
Social Time 0
Presence 2 Life 0
Charisma 2 Matter 0
Manipulation 2 Mind 0
Mental Prime 0
Wits 3 Forces 0
Intellegence 4 Spirit 0
Resolve 3 Time 0
Paradox 0 Quintessence 0
Curse 1 Meditation was far duller than he had expected and the book was written in such a way that it told readers:''If you can''t do this then there is clearly something wrong with you.'' At least that was the vibe he had gotten with the book constantly calling the exercises ''simple'' and ''easy''. It wasn''t easy or simple to stop thinking or worrying about things. There wasn''t an off switch to those things. After spending 2 hours trying to do the exercises the book advised he decided that this book wasn''t for him. He understood the fact that meditation was a hard thing but he hated how the book made him feel. He immediately started getting dressed in order to return the book. He wasn''t the type that normally hurried like this but after sitting around for hours trying to figure out how to meditate he was willing to leave his house for the sake of helping one of his coworkers move out through as he finished getting dressed he wondered what kind of excuse he could offer to get a refund. He didn''t want to be the guy that makes a scene to get a refund and he couldn''t exactly say:''This book makes me feel dumb.'' With a sigh he got into his pajamas again and picked up the meditation book before sitting on the bed with his legs tied to eachother before closing his eyes and starting to take deep breaths while trying to empty his thoughts but just trying to not to think made it hard for him to not to think. He really wanted to give up on this meditation thing altogether but whenever he thought about it he sensed a lot of displeasure from his guide so that idea wasn''t really applicable. Perhaps it was his repeated tries finally giving fruit or perhaps it was due to him getting too sleepy to actually think but he actually managed to empty his mind to a degree after sitting idly for 15 minutes not that it did much. He didn''t suddenly sense thousands particles that were floating around or a large force suddenly flooding into him. To be honest he wasn''t even sure what he had to sense in the first place. After some time he finally opened his eyes and realized he had fallen asleep on his bed. He sighed and sat up on his bed before sighing and closing his eyes again and after constantly repeating ''Don''t think of anything. Focus on the darkness.'' for 10 minutes that felt like hours he finally managed to stop thinking to a certain degree. Considering monks trained themselves for years to truly empty their minds there was no way he could just achieve enlightement. After 10 minutes of meditating he sighed and decided to end it for today. His guide had to be satisfied with this much effort and even if she was dissatisfied he had shown a lot of effort so he shouldn''t have been punished. After thinking these he almost instictively expected a response but no response came so he decided to get dressed and head to the park in order to read his book about positive thoughts. Normally he was a bit of introvert so he preferred reading at home but considering his attempt to meditate felt like it had taken the whole day he didn''t feel like being cooped in the house. After putting on a brown shirt and blue jeans he fixed up his hair and left his house pedalling towards the park while hoping he didn''t run into anyone he knew along the way through halfway his stomach started to grumble reminding him he had skipped breakfast and it was lunch time already. As soon as he reached the park he bought himself a hotdog followed by a second and a third followed by a stomachache caused by eating heavy unhealthy food with an empty stomach. Getting to the nearest bench he sat down and started to slowly rub his stomach while watching the lake waiting for the stomach ache to fade away before starting to read his book. It was as boring as he expected it to be telling random stories about how thinking positively changed his life. After finishing two chapters he closed the book while feeling more negative than usual. By now it had become around 3 pm so for now he decided to head to an internet cafe and play some games to get rid of his stress by playing some random game that didn''t demand a lot of thinking from him. He wished he could just go home to play games but his laptop had gotten old and even the simplest games caused it to start overheating and shut down after 10 minutes have passed. Unfortunately he couldn''t afford a new laptop with his salary and as a principle he wanted to avoid getting a loan. After all regardless of how well he researched by nature loans were designed to rip him off in his opinion. Paying the owner for two hours he sat at the computer and started a random shooter game where he didn''t have to worry about tactics or such just going around shooting aliens. After the game started up and the logo showed he just used the default playername before starting the game. While he was playing the hours flew by and by the time the computer locked itself up due to time being up Mark had felt like only 10 minutes had passed. Leaving the shop he prepared to get on his bike when a female out called out:"Mister mage." which caused cold sweat to run from Mark''s back. Was he in danger? Was this woman going to attack him. Slowly turning around with a pale face he noticed the fact that the woman had curtsied through upon noticing Mark''s face the woman looked at him like he was being extremely weird. The woman was wearing a grey dress that embellished her figure without being revealing. She had long black hair and blue eyes that seemed to allure one into doing whatever the woman asked. She also had a small black bag hanging from the side. If it wasn''t for the fact that Mark was extremely scared he could have thought of this woman talking to him as a miracle. The woman then added:"I am not here to harm you through i doubt i could actually do it regardless of my physical ability. I know the powers of your kind enough to avoid confrontation with you."Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work! He wanted to retort by asking her to explain the power of his kind to him. Despite his urge to retort he didn''t say anything and allowed the woman to continue her speech. The woman said:"There is a...friend of mine in our clan that needs your help. As our clan is the richest among the vampire clans we can acquire artifacts or magical items that you require." which nearly made Mark go ''Uhhhhh'' like his brain was fried and it showed on his face but at that moment the woman was too busy explaining the proposition so she didn''t notice it simply continuing:"As for my friend. Another person from your kind thought he was being irritating and probably found the idea of novelty witches funny so he turned my friend into a frog. So can you help us?" Mark wanted to just decline and run like hell but his avatar ''urged'' him to stay and ask if they had any books related to occult and magic in a rather harsh manner. The woman was now looking at him now so Mark was extremely scared about things going wrong but he managed to say:"I am going to need books regarding occult and magic to understand what happened to your friend." with a constant stammer. The woman seemed to misunderstand his stammer and said:"If you are like this with the little old me you will probably be stunned upon seeing people that truly care about beauty in our clan. Perhaps i could arrange for one of them to accompany you or perhaps i could accompany you myself." before giving him a wink. She then produced a business card from her purse and offered it to Mark. She then said:"Give me a call within two days and i''ll give you the location where the books you might need will be arranged at." which Mark could only respond by nodding and taking the card. When he managed to get back home he wondered just how deep he had sunk in this thing. Well there wasn''t much he could do today so for now he decided to just get in his pajamas and lay down in his bed. After all people said things looked better after getting a good nights sleep. Despite it only being 5 pm he actually fell as soon as he laid on his bed due to mental exhaustion caused by that encounter and when he opened his eyes he was in the same place as he was in his last dream. Everything was exactly the same except a bookshelft was added into the edge of the room. The woman said:"Well i guess i should apologize for the encounter but it was for your own good. If you don''t reach a certain mastery of your powers you might suffer a lot of detrimental effects. If you are unlucky you will end up wishing to die. In any case those guys think of you as a trained mage so they are afraid of you." After a brief pause with sweat running through Mark''s face and the whole dream world shaking he forced himself to drink a cup of tea thinking the tea had calming effects and he actually felt a bit calmer. After finishing 4 cups of tea he could finally think properly through now he wasn''t sure if the tea actually had calming effects or if it was placebo effect. Despite being relatively calm he was still worried about his future so he decided to ask:"So what happens now?Do i read their books and hope i can get strong enough to fight my way out or should i try to actually change this guy back?" which his avatar responded by simply saying:"It is your choice." Then she added:"You are a mage. You have to be bold. You might die while being bold but it is better than dying of old age without accomplishing anything. Anyway considering this was a nap rather than true sleep our time is rather short. Good luck." After hearing those words the world faded around him and he woke up in his bed with sweat covering his face and he started to wonder what to do. Things were getting too real for him to be able to adapt quickly. For now he decided to open his laptop and sent a mail to his boss asking for a vacation for a week in two days citing personal reasons as emergency. Chances were it wouldn''t be accepted but he had to contact that woman in two days and he didn''t expect the woman to understand he had a life to maintain considering the woman seemed to hold him in a really high regard.
Name Mark Hilson
Race Human Mage
Attributes Magical Statistics
Physical Arete 3
Strength 2 Spheres
Dextery 2 Correspondence 3
Stamina 2 Entrophy 0
Social Time 0
Presence 2 Life 0
Charisma 2 Matter 0
Manipulation 2 Mind 0
Mental Prime 0
Wits 3 Forces 0
Intellegence 4 Spirit 0
Resolve 3 Time 0
Paradox 0 Quintessence 0
Curse 2 With a sigh he checked the time and noticed it was 10 pm. It had become rather late. He thought about his options and after a brief amount of consideration he decided that he needed to organize things in order to not to have a freakout and lose precious time. He opened up his computer and opened a notepad before typing ''1)Admit everything and beg for mercy'' This option was obviously not valid considering as soon as he explained he didn''t have the power to turn her into a frog the woman in question could kill him or decide to turn him into a slave and use him as his pet mage. Well he had decided to check everything after writing them down so he went to the second options. He wrote ''2)Tell her reversing curses is harder than making them so he could need a lot of time to reverse the curse.'' which was a lie but it could gain him some time. On the minus side it would be near impossible to maintain his life while working to reverse the curse. Moving to the third option he wrote ''3)Tell her it is not his area of expertise and he couldn''t be much of a help'' but as soon as he wrote it he felt a wave of displeasure coming from his avatar. So anything that prevented him from reaching the promised books was forbidden. Jumping to the fourth option he wrote ''4)Tell her you are willing to try but you have to keep your casual life in order to stay in hiding so you won''t be able to put a lot of time in it.'' On the plus side that would allow him to keep his daily life but things would get troublesome if she offered to keep him hidden or ask about the organization. The fifth and final option that came to his mind was ''5)Try to find an organization that will keep you safe.'' which also included the chance of finding one that would attempt to kill him. After writing all of his options he turned it into a table with plus and minuses . After a lot of consideration he decided to go with option four. That seemed to have the least amount of cons compared to pluses through he was still afraid of going into the den of an organization he didn''t now. Well he didn''t have to stick to his current choice. He still had a day and a half in order to think about it. Sitting at his bed he considered his situation once more. Why did he have to maintain his daily job?Considering that being referred like this was a sign of his powers were being real. He didn''t want to think of the other possibility which could cause him to be called mage as he already had enough in his plate through even if his powers were real and even if he could use them to make money or support himself that could cause people to notice him. There was also the fact that his job worked as his connection to normalcy and he wasn''t ready to give up on that yet. Through this raised another problem. With such a big decision at the corner he didn''t want to just idle waiting for the time to pass but he also couldn''t spend all that time just thinking about the solution. There was no way he could just find a solution by pondering and he could end up making a bad choice due to forcing himself to think. He wanted to go play some more games in order to empty his mind but unfortunately he didn''t know of a place that was open at this hour and he was a bit afraid to head out to such a place after the encounter he had with that woman. Maybe it would have been better to call that woman right now and tell her his decision. At the very least he wouldn''t be troubled by the decision anymore through as soon as he picked up his phone he realized how ridiculous this was. He was literally saying:''I am not sure my answer is correct and i am worrying about it. I better submit my answer.'' With a sigh he placed his phone down and decided to surf through the internet till he got sleepy again browsing random images and watching random videos and after two hours of surfing he finally felt himself get sleepy and got back into his bed and he woke up at 7 am while having had his sleep plagued by nightmares. Well he only had one day left until he had to call the woman. After washing his face he decided that his decision today may actually cause him to lose his life so he could splurge his money a little so he googled for a open buffet style breakfast place near his apartment and after finding one he got dressed in order to head out. It was 4 miles which was a bit longer than his usual biking distance but he decided hungrier he got more he could eat so he got in his bike and started pedalling. By the time he reached there his stomach was grumbling and he was feeling extremely hungry. Paying the counter for the entry he picked up a plate and due to hunger he started shoving pretty much everything he found in his plate till it looked like a mix of an abomination and Pisa Tower. He chose a two person table before sitting down and starting to eat. After finally calming down his stomach he looked at his table and looked at the plate that looked like a wrecking ball had passed through it followed by a train. Nevertheless he continued to eat it and after he was done he felt satisfied despite the small stomach cramps he was getting. He left the breakfast place and wondered where he should head to next. He always had a lean for going to play games but he knew that if he did he would end up spending his entire day there so instead he went to a bookstore to check out cheap adventure novels before heading to starbucks in order to read the novel in peace and after realizing how exciting the novel actually was he ended up hanging out there till 5 pm in which the novel ended. Finally he headed for the internet cafe and ended up playing age of mythology for the sake of having some nostalgia.The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement. At 9 pm he was done with the games and he headed to a nearby sandwich shop in order to get a late dinner before heading home while feeling blissful. Brushing his teeth and changing his clothes in order to get to bed he went to the bed. He wasn''t going to say he had no regrets but he was satisfied with this much considering how long it had been since he had actually went outside and relaxed instead of just settling at a computer or at home before waiting for the day to pass. In the morning when he woke up he looked around while being a bit groggy not seeming to recognize the place due to having dreamt about his upcoming decision and he finally remembered where he was. He still wanted to follow his previous decision. He had a guide for just a few days but he was already certain that the guide was more trouble than it''s worth. Not that he could change it but still. He went to the park to spend his last few hours actually thinking instead of trying to avoid it. Sitting at the park he looked at the pond before starting to think but within 15 minutes he was bored so he got up and went for a walk around the park. After walking for an hour he decided to finally call the woman. He had thought enough about this decision and anymore thinking at this point would be useless. Taking out his phone and the card before dialing the number a a woman''s voice responded to his call:"Mister Mark?" Well there was no point in freaking out about them just knowing his name. They probably had some sort of power that let them know his name. After a second of silence he finally said:"Yes." which the woman responded by saying:"The library has been prepared for your convenience. Just come to the exit of the park and within 10 minutes there will be a limo there to pick you up. I am looking forward to meeting you in person." which caused Mark to be creeped out to say the least but he felt like he couldn''t run considering they knew where he was at the moment. He slowly walked to the entrance of the park and as he was told there was a limo waiting for him at the entrance with a 6 feet tall man that wore a black tuxedo like a drivers was waiting for him. Mark waved at him rather hesitantly and the driver simply responded by opening the door for the limo and after Mark entered he went to the driver seat. There was champaine in ice inside of the limo and there was a small television in front of him. The fabric felt extremely high class and at that moment he thought they weren''t kidding about being resourceful. The ride itself took around 10 minutes and when the car stopped the person to open the door wasn''t the driver but rather a young blonde woman wearing a red dress. Her face and body looked like it belonged to a movie star and after he got out of the vehicle she curtsied at him and said:"I will be your guide here. Don''t worry regarding your safety. We have guards all over the building. Unless someone that can flatten buildings with a thought comes you should be safe here." before smiling sweetly at him. The building looked more like a fortress than a library and after looking around he noticed that there were several people that looked like soldiers on the top of building and there were security cameras everywhere. He wanted to say what he had decided to say but in such an oppressive enviroment he couldn''t bring himself to speak up and when the woman went inside he slowly followed inside and the inner parts of the fortress was luxurious to say the least. Everything was made of marble and people working inside regardless of gender wore extremely expensive looking clothes and they were all extremely beautiful. The woman next to him said:"Do you want to have dinner before you head to the library to study. Our mistress has prepared a magnificent lunch for you." and due to being so out of his natural enviroment hewas currently too out of it to be able to deny anything which caused him to give a nod and then get dragged to lunch.
Name Mark Hilson
Race Human Mage
Attributes Magical Statistics
Physical Arete 3
Strength 2 Spheres
Dextery 2 Correspondence 3
Stamina 2 Entrophy 0
Social Time 0
Presence 2 Life 0
Charisma 2 Matter 0
Manipulation 2 Mind 0
Mental Prime 0
Wits 3 Forces 0
Intellegence 4 Spirit 0
Resolve 3 Time 0
Paradox 0 Quintessence 0
Interlude: Ways of trapping mages. That was perhaps the most disturbing nightof her life. A man whom she had identified as a mage had simply walked up to her before checking her out. The mage looked like he was stuck in the twentieth century with an old looking tuxedo and a straight haircut and the way he checked her out would probably have given her goosebumps if she was still capable of getting goosebumps. Next to her was a friend of hers who was probably the only one she could actually trust in a world where everyone was ready to backstab you in order to rise in influence. Her friend was currently wearing rather casual clothing that includes a white shirt that said:''What''s up?'' and blue jeans and he was only 5''6 tall. Unlike her he didn''t have the ability to sense auras so he probably hadn''t realized what they were against. After checking her out the man said:"Hmm. I like you. From now on you belong to me. I''ll give your superiors a powerful artifact for letting me keep you. For now kneel before me and swear your allegiance to me." with a rather haughty attitude .As she started panicking her friend suddenly pounced on the mage and dug his fangs inside the mages neck .That was the last thing he did before he turned into a frog and released a croaking sound while the mage lost conciousness due to his artery being severed. In order to make sure the mage never woke up again she looked around and after making sure nobody who was a supernatural being was watching she finished the mage off with a simple move despite the horror of onlookers before picking up the frog and putting him in her purse before fleeing the scene as fast as she could. Once she got to her house which was more like a mansion she ignored her butler and rushed to her room before taking out her friend out of her purse and placing him on her desk. She said:"Can you understand me?" but the frog only responded by making a ''Croak'' sound followed by jumping off of the desk and attempting to leave the room. Naturally she couldn''t allow that so she grabbed the frog and after looking around for a bit she decided to place the frog inside the desk''s drawer. She then sat on her bed and started to wonder what she could do in order to get her friend fixed. She knew that vampires didn''t have such powers unless they were from sabbat and those that are from sabbat were too dangerous to deal with. Her only choice was to find another mage who could reverse whatever was done to her friend. Unfortunately she couldn''t utilize her ghouls for this as they couldn''t determine who was a mage unless they saw them use magic and even then they were too unreliable due to their fanatical attitude. If she explained the situation to them they would probably attempt to knock a mage out and drag the mage to the mansion and even if they succeeded the mage would probably be unwilling to cooperate if he didn''t outright go nuts and attempted to wipe them off of the face of earth. Not having much of an option he bought some frog food and spent the nights wandering around hoping to spot a mage despite the rather obvious risk and after two days she finally managed to encounter one. She had seen him enter an internet cafe and due to not wanting to interrupt the person whom she was preparing to ask a favor she waited for hours for the mage to come out and when he did the first thing that drew her attention was how unconfident he had looked. She had expected someone who could throw lightning or turn people into frogs to be more confident. Nevertheless she called out to him with utmost respect and the man actually got scared upon hearing her. He looked like he wanted to run and hide somewhere. Despite that she continued her appeal to the man going as far as offering herself and after seeming hesitant the man finally agreed and took her calling card. Considering she had only seen one mage she had to assume that all mages were perverts but this one seemed to be just a scaredy cat. In order to not to lose the track of the man or have him get hurt before he could help or attempt to run away due to his cowardly nature she ordered a few ghouls to keep watch over him and protect him if it became neccesary while she used all of her resources to gather books that was told to have once belonged to a mage and despite only having 2 days thanks to the amount of ghouls she had along with the connections she had managed to gather 32 books. She wasn''t sure about the authenticity of a few of them but she hoped they were enough to appease the mage. As the morning came she felt sleepiness creep up into her conciousness so she headed to bed while giving instructions to one of her ghouls to wake her up the moment the mage finally called her.This narrative has been purloined without the author''s approval. Report any appearances on Amazon. When she woke up it took a minute to register what was happening. Her secretary gave her the summary of the information they gathered on the mage. This was the problem with ghouls. They were too fanatical and they did things that were not asked of them. As far as she was told this mage worked for a company owned by her clan and overall his life was rather average. She wasn''t sure about how the mages got people to join their ranks through considering this guy was scared of her and that he had an average life it was highly likely for him to be a neonate. For that reason she prepared herself to wait for the recovery of her friend. A neonate mage was probably the safest bet in this case as a powerful mage could see through the lie she had told to the other mage. She ordered for a lavish feast to be prepared in the designated building while she went to put on her best dress through before putting on her dress she looked at herself in the mirror. She didn''t like the idea of using her body but if she actually managed to seduce this mage and kept him close then she would probably not only end up fixing her friend and she could rise through ranks very quickly through this thought brought another one. What if mages had to be initiated and a powerful mage took care of him? That could very well end up with her getting killed due to trying to seduce him and there was always the risk of him being a real mage and just acting cowardly for whatever reason. If she called him an apprentice then things could get messy. She also couldn''t use a ghoul for the job because even if she actually managed to get a hold through a ghoul someone of the same or higher rank could get rid of the ghoul and tell the mage he was tricked. After all while killng people from their own race was forbidden but ghouls weren''t from her race. There was the option of being his benefactor but gifts were easily forgotten while love was impossible to forget. She decided to ask her questions subtly in lunch as she put on the red dress that revealed the back of her waist while still leaving some to imagination. Getting inside her car that had blackened windows inside the garage she told the driver to drive to the location while finishing her make up and intentionally pumping blood through her body in order to look more human and prettier. When she reached the building she had the driver get the car into the garage before making her way to the dining hall. As per her orders there was a lavish feast ready on a large round table. The feasting hall was made of marble with crystal chandeliers lighting the place. When the mage entered the hall she watched him carefully and she became more certain that this guy was a new mage rather than someone who was trained. With a smile on her face she said:"Welcome Mark. I have been eagerly awaiting your call." which the mage responded by giving a small nod while trying to avoid eye contact. It was almost adorable...and too easy. She added:"Considering you accepted my offer i am assuming you are going to be staying here for a while through we can talk business later. For now i hope we can enjoy the food. By the way if there isn''t some grand secret regarding becoming a part of your kind would you mind explaining things to me as i have always admired mages? I am sorry if i am being out of line." which the guy responded by shaking his head left and right repeatedly through he then just paused and she found out that this guy was really bad at making a poker face or stalling for time because he just avoided eye contact and his face made it obvious to everyone that he was trying to come up with something. Deciding to nudge him a little bit she said:"Do you have a master? Like someone who gave you your powers and protects you?" which he immediately responded by shaking his head left and right again. Well things were developing in her favor. It was obvious he didn''t have some world breaking powers at this point and he didn''t have a master so there was no point in worrying. All that was left was to cut his way of running so that he didn''t find excuses::"I see. By the way i researched you a little bit and i have a friend in your company. If you want i can arrange a long vacation for you so that you won''t get fired even if you stay here for a long time in order to study the curse. Also i am willing to wait however long it takes and if you require protection i will gladly provide it" and immediately his face paled up. His prepared excuse was extremely obvious. Now was the time for the final push:"Sorry i guess my businesslike nature got better of me through to be honest i would be really happy if you spend your time here as well. I tend to stay awake at nights and i tend to get lonely without anyone whom i can call my equal around." while sounding rather innocent and the mage immediately started blushing. She could safely say that she had him in her pocket at this point. He probably wouldn''t die for her yet but they would get there as well. Curse 3 The lunch was lavish to say the least. He didn''t know the names of half of the stuff that were placed on the table yet each of them looked extremely expensive and the woman that had called him was wearing an outfit that caused him to almost swallow his tongue. The womans outfit combined with the fact that there were a man and a woman both wearing waiter uniforms waiting around him while seeming to be ready to rush into kitchen to deliver whatever he would ask made it impossible to actually think while the woman acted like it was normal for people to be ready to rush to whatever they may require. As the woman spoke he felt his excuses fall apart one by one and the final comment regarding the nights not only made him but also made him forget about whatever excuses he had in the first place. A part of him screamed at him telling him that if he didn''t find a way to get out of here soon he would end up not being able to leave this for a long time but Mark was too out of it in general to actually care for that voice. The woman said:"Anyway i am actually not that hungry but i will stay here for the sake of keeping you company and then i can show you the important places in the building like the place you will be working at and bathroom. Also i will be showing you my room in case you need my help." before giving him a small wink. As a person who wasn''t a blip in a womans radar Mark was extremely confused as to what to do. A lot of alarm bells were ringing inside his brain telling this was a trap but they were all supressed by the voice of the woman whose name he still hadn''t learnt:"Is there anything i can get you?By the way what is your clothing size?I''ll have my tailor get you clothes that are far more comfortable than the ones you are wearing now." which caused his brain to give a bunch of error messages saying that the RAM was full. The woman then looked at his hands before saying:"Aren''t you going to eat?Perhaps i went a bit too far by preparing these for you. You were probably not that hungry in the first place." which caused him to shake his head and then start eating while moving stiffly like a robot. He decided that what he was currently doing was good because the woman had giggled upon seeing him eat. While he was eating she said:"By the way while you do your research do you want me to accompany you at the library? Since i am not a mage i probably won''t be much of a help but i like the idea of spending time with you through if my presence will disturb you i can wait in my office for you to visit me while you are taking a break." If he didn''t know the fact that shaking his head vigorously would cause food to be splattered everywhere he would be busy doing that as if he was begging her to keep him company. Nevertheless once he finished the food in his mouth he managed to say:"Love i would accompany library your." before blushing and lowering his head. After a minute of awkward silence he finally finished eating and the woman got up before approaching him. She said:"So where do you want to start?I would prefer to leave my office to the last part of tour through so that we can talk a bit there as well." and Mark''s mind went blank for a second before saying:"Library." through the prompt of his avatar before getting up. His hand was then taken by the woman and he was guided to the library through the halls while the woman explained how she did her best to gather books at such a short notice but couldn''t reach as many as she would have liked along the way. As they reached the library he understood what the moment meant. The room was made of wood contrary to the rest of the building and it was around 80 square meters large with shelves leaning to the walls and a large study desk in the middle but only one of the shelves had books in it. She pointed at the door in the opposite side of the place they came in before saying:"That door opens up to your living quarters. There is a bed in there and a bath large enough for several people to get in." and despite the lack of seductive tone in the woman''s voice he couldn''t help but imagine various things that caused him to start blushing. He guided him through the door and the bath was far larger than anything he had seen in a house. It was square shaped and it could easily fit 8 people inside of it. There was also a toilet that looked so elegant he felt like it was decorative. The place was lit up by small chandeliers making it seem like a mix of a modern bathroom and one that is from victorian era. The woman said:"I assume you know how to use a bath. If there is a specific oil you want to use then just drop by my office and i''ll order one of my people to get it for you. The same thing is valid for anything else you might ask for whether it be required for removing the curse or not." before leading him to his bedroom. The bed was large to say the least as it seemed to be made for three people and while he was busy staring at it the woman said:"Run your hand through it." and as soon as he did he noticed the fact that this fabric was the softest he had ever touched. The room itself was pure white with several counters through the room didn''t have anything else other than counters,lighting and a bed. As if sensing what he was about to say the woman said:"I wanted to leave the customization of the room to you since i don''t know much about your hobbies."This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Finally she guided her out of the room and said:"The only place left for us to go is my office." before starting to guide him towards her office. Along the way she said:"By the way even if i seem busy don''t worry about disturbing me. I''ll manage to make some time for you." which caused Mark to blush and feel slightly special. As they reached her office Mark noticed the office looked just like one that belonged to a file room clerk with phones everywhere and file cabinets. After showing him the office the woman did something he didn''t expect. She said:"Okay this is the end of our tour. Tell me your final decision regarding me accompanying you while you study to understand how to remove the curse. I''ll bring my friend who was cursed tomorrow." and Mark was left confused. After the talk they had in the hall he was certain that some things were implied through he wasn''t confident enough to actually ask about them so he made his way to the library and started to check out the books in hopes of distracting himself. Books had titles similar to ''Prime magic'' ''Life Magic'' ''Druidic Tools'' He looked through the books till he finally managed to find a book that had ''Introduction'' in it''s title. Picking up the book called ''Introduction to spheres'' he sat on the desk and opened the book. Unfortunately after a few pages he came to realize that the book only served to outline the powers of specialists rather than actually teach them. Basically it taught him what he couldn''t do with his powers and explained which powers included . Well it would have been too easy if he just found a book that would teach him everything he needed to know. For now he continued to read the book as there was no harm in knowing his limits. After an hour of reading a man that seemed to be in his fifties who was wearing a black outfit one would see in butlers brought him a plate full of biscuits and tea before leaving Mark to read his book. After 3 hours passed he decided he couldn''t concentrate anymore and went to the womans office in order to ask for a computer. After opening the door he noticed she was busy listening to what someone on the phone while writing down some notes through upon noticing him she said something in a language he didn''t understand before closing the phone and saying:"Sorry for the mess. Was something not to your satisfaction?" while smiling at him through he felt like he was interrupting something important. He said:"Well i wanted to ask if i could have a computer? My room didn''t have one and i need a break from studying."while sounding slightly ashamed. The woman responded by saying:"Certainly. I''ll get you the highest caliber laptop within an hour. Anything else i can do to help you?" He was about to say no but then he got a mental nudge from his avatar and after a brief amount of hesitation he said:"Also could you get someone to teach me how to meditate....It is related to solving this problem." which the woman responded by saying:"I''ll make a call right away." before starting to dial a number in one of the phones. Deciding to leave her to make the calls Mark headed back to the library and after browsing the books once more in hopes of finding a book he could understand he finally gave up as he didn''t even know his own specialization deciding to wait for the laptop to be brought while eating his biscuits. After waiting for half an hour finally a woman brought a laptop and placed it to his desk before saying:"I hope this works for you." and leaving him. Well now all that was left was to surf the web till he was sleepy enough to go to sleep and hopefully ask for advise to the person that caused him to get into this mess in the first place. After playing games till he got sleepy he finally headed to his room and crawled on his new bed while mumbling:"I really need some advise at the moment so please appear and have useful advise instead of vague ones." before closing his eyes and soon he was asleep. When he came to he was a bit afraid to open his eyes as he really hoped it wasn''t morning and he actually smiled upon seeing his avatar before saying:"Okay. I have some questions that need answering." actually being calm this time.
Name Mark Hilson
Race Human Mage
Attributes Magical Statistics
Physical Arete 3
Strength 2 Spheres
Dextery 2 Correspondence 3
Stamina 2 Entrophy 0
Social Time 0
Presence 2 Life 0
Charisma 2 Matter 0
Manipulation 2 Mind 0
Mental Prime 0
Wits 3 Forces 0
Intellegence 4 Spirit 0
Resolve 3 Time 0
Paradox 0 Quintessence 0
Curse 4 His avatar was currently drinking tea as she always did. It felt like what happened didn''t really matter to her. After finishing her tea she said:"Well i guess i should tell you a few things first. First of all you aren''t in as much danger as you might think since once you start mastering your powers you will be able to create artifacts that are impossible for those that aren''t mages to create. As such killing you or harming you would be like killng the chicken that lays golden eggs. In any case since we are on limited time again so i am going to be brief. Your sphere is called Correspondence. It is too complex to explain it in here but it basically deals with connections between places whether it be programs or teleportation. Also as a final advise don''t spend so much time on the computer. Those things are anti magic and chances are if a place is full of technology your magic will fail. Anyway if you have any other questions ask away." What little confidence he had gained through receiving such treatment was lost in an instant and he returned to feeling inferior. Okay he had another question. But what was it. He couldn''t really gather his thoughts after being treated like this and while he tried to remember his question the woman smiled and said:"Drink your tea. It will help you calm down. Also there are a few other things in our agenda. The main thing is that i will give you a test. It will be more as practice so i don''t expect you to pass it. If you do then you will gain ability to learn more powerful spells and if you can''t then there is the next time." Well now there was a test coming up. It was starting to feel like one of those teenager shows where someone was dropped to the lap of a beautiful girl and now he had to find a way to help the girl while preparing for the test. Except all of those guys had monstrous abs and a charming smile that could turn guys into bisexuals. Well he had his abilities but they were pretty much useless at the moment not to mention the fact that he was told they could kill him or worse if he ended up misusing them. Drinking his tea to calm himself down he said:"Just to be clear. Is this a temporary situation or will my whole life be full of ending up in weird places." His avatar seemed to be deep in thought for a second before saying:"Not neccesarily but every choice you make has a bigger impact than it had before you were human since you have awakened. As you get stronger your choices will make bigger ripples as well. Just a simple attempt to protect someone can result in changing the tides of a war. Also as you get stronger you will make a bigger blip in pretty much everywhere. At a certain point even normal humans will be able to tell you are different and that you have power through those stuff will happen much later." Well one had to appreciate when someone spoke so well that it was hard to notice they didn''t give a definitive answer. At least that would have been the case if the topic of discussion wasn''t his life through he doubted he could get more knowledge from her. Drinking his tea he said:"Well i guess i couldn''t exactly expect a definite answer. Is there any chance you can help me pick up the right books in order to improve myself?" which the woman said:"Not really but there is no harm in reading extra books. Anyway todays lesson is that your choices matter far more than they did in the past so think about them before you make them. Otherwise you will end up in far more precarious situations. Anyway i guess we should end it here. I wish you luck." Unlike the other two times instead of the space disappearing a door appeared seemingly out of nowhere on his right side and he said:"Thanks i guess." before walking to the door and opened it revealing nothing but darkness through after looking back he decided to enter the darkness and when he woke up he was laying on his new bed with his benefactor sitting on a white chair reading a book. When she noticed he woke up she said:"Sorry for not being able to pay a lot of attention to you. I was trying to organize the shipment of more books and later on i had to bring back my friend here so that you can study him." He looked at her silently for a few seconds. He wanted to ask what had happened to all those implications but in the end he just nodded and said:"I see. Thanks for your help." which caused the woman to frown slightly before getting up and sitting on the bed. She then said:"Anyway for a while i am all yours. Is there anything i can help you with?" and while the image of himself suddenly kissing her appeared on his head he simply shook his head and said:"I am okay. Thanks for the offer through." which caused her to nod and leave the room. As she opened the door she said:"I''ll have the meditation instructor meet you here in an hour." Well considering everything that happened the woman was probably just trying to get close to him since she thought this was what he wanted so not kissing her or trying to be with her was the right thing to do. At least that was what he told himself in order to feel a little better about missing his chance at actually being together with a beautiful woman. Was it too late to get to the corridor and to grab her before kissing her? Hesitantly getting off of the bed he slowly went towards the door before changing his mind. It was obvious she actually didn''t want it. There was no way for a woman to want to kiss a guy they barely knew....What he wanted was morally wrong. But at the same time he normally never had a chance to be with a beautiful woman as they were always out of his league. After standing in front of the door for 5 minutes trying to decide whether to obey his lust or not he finally decided to obey his lust. What he wanted was certainly wrong but he couldn''t exactly think straight through after he opened the door and started to walk towards her office he paused again. He was outright taking advantage of a woman trying to save her friend. This was a bad idea. Thinking that he went back into his room and sat on the bed in order to wait for the instructor.The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement. After being certain of his decision he started to think of puppies in order to calm himself down and after spending a few minutes repeating ''Think of puppies'' in his mind he managed to calm down and he went to the library to get himself a book to read while waiting for his instructor to arrive only to notice breakfast sitting on the table. It wasn''t too extravagant with a few warm bread slices. A few types of things to rub on them like honey. A cup of coffee and omlette. After starting to eat he realized how hungry he was and he quickly finished the food before him before picking up the book related to Correspondence and went to his room once more. He didn''t have to wait for long as his meditation instructor came in and the way she looked made him instantly think:''This is not fair.'' As the meditation instructor had brown wavy hair and a really attractive figure and she was wearing white clothes that seemed to be a bit too tight for her. The woman smiled at him and said:"I am here to teach you how to meditate. If you have any troubles feel free to ask me about them and Mark responded with a simple nod. After an hour that went aganozingly slow the instructor said:"Well let''s give a break. I''ll come visit you in two hours. Try to relax while you are waiting for me." Well that could have gone much worse. Sitting on the bed reading his book his benefactor came in once again and said:"I wanted to ask you how the meditation session went. If this instructor wasn''t right for you i can arrange for another." and while dodging eye contact he affirmed that it went well without actually being aware of what he was doing. He had to resist the urge to ask this woman for anything physical through it became much harder to do so when his benefactor sat next to him while brushing her legs to his. He slowly turned his head to look at the womans eyes and he said:"So can i kiss you?" while sounding extremely unconfident and after receiving confirmation through a small nod he pressed his lips on hers. Then everything was a blur for the next hour and he felt exhausted after it was over while his benefactor seemed to be as energetic as before through instead of trying to get him to go on she just pulled him to her embrace and cuddled with him for the next half an hour. She then got dressed and sat on the bed before saying:"I am not going to lie to you. If you hadn''t been a mage i probably wouldn''t have been interested in you but if you want to share my bed in the future i will be happy to oblige." before planting a final kiss on his lips. She then moved to the door and said:"I know you are new to this business so i won''t be expecting you to solve the curse quickly. I am willing to give you as long as you need." After getting dressed and having the instructor come back he could barely focus on the lesson. His mind was buzzing with thoughts through he had already made his choice when he called her. Rest of the things were nothing but illusions of choice as he had never been in a position to return to his job or refuse the advances of his benefactor and currently he couldn''t refuse anything that was asked of him by his benefactor through this life wasn''t too bad. His food was prepared. He had access to a good computer and a growing library. He also got to share his bed with a beautiful woman who seemed to be prepared to provide him with whatever he wanted even if her motive wasn''t love.
Name Mark Hilson
Race Human Mage
Attributes Magical Statistics
Physical Arete 3
Strength 2 Spheres
Dextery 2 Correspondence 3
Stamina 2 Entrophy 0
Social Time 0
Presence 2 Life 0
Charisma 2 Matter 0
Manipulation 2 Mind 0
Mental Prime 0
Wits 3 Forces 0
Intellegence 4 Spirit 0
Resolve 3 Time 0
Paradox 0 Quintessence 0
Learning 1 The morning after was rather uneventful. At least he assumed it was morning. It was impossible to tell due to lack of windows. Looking at his right he saw his benefactor and despite his hopes she was currently wearing pajamas through after looking around the room a bit he came to see a plesant surprise. A wardrobe had been placed in his room. He slowly got off of his bed as to not to wake the woman and opened the wardrobe and saw the clothes inside through they were high class for his taste and not just ''a bit''. Afterwards through he looked back at the bed and since his worries were starting to disappear he finally came to realize he had agreed to become lovers with a woman he didn''t know a single thing about. His first instinct was to poke her and ask her question but he held back. There was no hurry after all so he instead picked up a blue outfit that seemed to be made of silk along with blue pants before heading to the bathroom and turning the water on before getting out of his clothes and getting inside the bath. As soon as he did however he almost jumped to ceiling as he felt a bump under his butt and he realized this bath was actually a hot tub. Slowly sitting down he started to wait for the water to fill up through before he could turn the water off it turned off on it''s own. Deciding it had a sensor of sort he relaxed in the hot water a bit while trying to think of questions he had to ask but each time he tried images that were unrelated to his question invaded his mind and after a few minutes he decided to just improvise through he was left unable to do so as after a few minutes of soaking a figure entered the bathroom and went inside the bath along with him. Instictively he looked at the ceiling before saying:"Good morning." which got a small laugh from the woman. He then said:"So...ummm.....Well" trying to draw up sentences in his mind through swimming next to him and seating herself there didn''t help him much and the way she leant on his body worked as the final drop making his mind go blank. The fact that he wasn''t drooling at that moment was a miracle in itself and after a minute of silence she finally spoke:"Do you want me to wash your back." which caused a semblace of conciousness come back to him allowing him to give a small nod and even after his back was washed he couldn''t say anything other than a muted ''Thanks'' She stared at him for a bit after that and then said:"Is there something you want to tell me?I promise i won''t be offended regardless of what you ask of me." through it was obvious they were in a different mindset at that moment. Still one shouldn''t underestimate a beautiful woman''s encouragement as Mark finally managed to say:"Well...I don''t know your name....or anything about you...and i" through before he could say anything else her lips were pressing his. After the kiss she said:"My name is Phoebe and i manage workforce for a living. My favorite color is blue and the only guy i am currently sleeping with and the only guy i consider to be my lover is you. Is there anything else you wanted to know?" which he responded by shaking his head left and right. Phoebe smiled at him as response and smiled before saying:"Well i was certain you were going to ask for something different. I guess perverseness is an individual trait rather than a trait of all mages." Phoebe then pressed herself on his arm before saying:"By the way if you feel like it you can take me on dates as well through you will have to let me choose clothes for you. No offense but blue is currently out of season and it is a color that hides your body so people might think you are a bit weak. You also might want to add yoga to your schedule considering i want a muscular lover." If this was with a woman that was a bit less beautiful than Phoebe then it would feel like it was forced but with a woman like her Mark didn''t feel the need to question anything just being glad that such a beautiful woman was acting like her lover. He gave a small nod to the woman before pressing his lips on hers. After the kiss Phoebe said:"Well i need to start working so i am going to get cleaned up and get out but feel free to drop by my office when you have free time." before giving him a small wink. Phoebe then quickly washed herself while Mark simply watched before giving him a second wink and leaving the bathroom with a towel tied around her body. Mark stayed for a few minutes in the bathroom trying to calm himself and once he calmed down he wondered about what the woman had said regarding perverseness. As far as he understood from the information he was given mages were elites in this world so it made sense for them to have perverted tendencies but he couldn''t help but imagine someone attempting to do perverted things to his new lover. Not that he could do anything to protect her at the moment and unfortunately most of his motivation worked like hayfire so even if he studied extremely hard to improve himself he was certain he would give up after a week top.This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. Cleaning himself and getting dressed he thought about todays schedule. Well he had to discuss when his meditation instructor would arrive and he also decided to take up on that offer regarding yoga through would it be appropriate if he went to disturb her right after they seperated. In the end he decided against it and instead picked up the book with Correspondence title and started to read it whilst wondering how many hours of waiting would be appropriate. After an hour of reading he had a very basic grasp on what Correspondence did and he was bored out of his mind so he decided to go to Phoebe''s office and placed the book down before making his way to Phoebe''s office. After opening the door and finding her dealing with phones once more he decided to sit down and wait for her conversation to end. While waiting she looked at Phoebe''s dress and noticed that she was currently wearing a brown dress that revealed half of her cleavage. After finishing noting down something she closed the phone before looking at Mark and saying:"Did you need anything?" He barely held back from kissing her thinking that if he did that he would end up acting too clingy. He said:"Well i wanted to talk about when my meditation was going to happen and if it was possible for me to start yoga as well." Phoebe said:"Certainly. I''ll make the calls." before leaning over her desk and pressing her lips on Mark''s. At first Mark was a bit surprised but then he responded to the kiss by parting his lips and as soon as the kiss ended he felt like it ended too quickly. He then decided to leave her to her work and left the office through before he closed the door Phoebe said:"I''ll mail you the arrangement." Mark responded with a quick nod and closed the door through he couldn''t wait for the night to come or at the very least what he assumed to be night. In a fortress like building it was hard to tell what time it was outside. Going to the library he picked up the book once more and started reading. To be honest he didn''t really care for the schedule so he didn''t feel the need to check the time and after an hour his instructor arrived or at least whom he assumed to be his teacher arrived. He was rather old with a bald head and wrinkled body. He was wearing one of those toga-like clothes he saw on TV. The man smiled at him and said:"So you are the one i am supposed to teach meditation to right?" Well in all fairness it would be illogical to say the least for someone that was his lover to have him get instructed by a beautiful girl. He gave a nod to the man and he said:"Okay then. Let''s proceed to your bedroom. I imagine it will be far more comfortable." After an hour of trying to learn to medtiate the man left his side and he wondered if this was doing any good. Was it even possible to learn magic without an actual teacher? Certainly there had to be someone who was self taught but perhaps the self taught people were extremely limited and they didn''t have the abilities the feared mages had. As he sat in his bed thinking about these Phoebe entered the room and sat next to him. She then said:"Well i managed to make some free time and so i am yours for an hour. Is there anything you want to do?" She was wearing the same dress she wore back when she was at her office and since he still hadn''t gotten used to her beauty his brain short circuited at open ended questions like this. Saying what he actually wanted in this moment was a bad idea. That was clear considering how she talked about other mages. After what felt like a moment to Mark but was a few minutes in reality he finally said:"How about a small date?" which caused Phoebe to giggle and say:"We don''t have enough time for a date and you aren''t as hard to read as you think." before pressing her lips on his and the next hour was a pleasurable blur for Mark through he felt extremely tired afterwards. Nevertheless it was worth it. While she got dressed Phoebe said:"By the way about the date. I guess i can make some time for it tomorrow. Think about what you want to do and tell it to me tomorrow." before smiling at him and leaving Mark to catch his breath. After getting dressed it was time for lunch or at the very least his stomach told him it was time for lunch so he slowly made his way to the library and as he expected there was a plate there with a chicken leg and there was coke next to it. After eating it he thought if he was going to have at least one hour breaks it was around time his yoga instructor came. He wasn''t sure about doing yoga but there was no harm in it and he couldn''t exactly idle around all day long after being used to working all day long. He decided to continue reading his book and as he did he wondered just how much was he capable of. He didn''t want to hurt himself by accident but he couldn''t help his curiosity so after a brief hesitation he decided to try and actually use so he closed his eyes and tried the only thing that had physical manifestation that his sphere could do.