The Frosted Files:Open Eyes

//Chapter 19\\

    It was a week of magical research, renovation, and some very light training, with the help of Karma and Scarlett, the lovebirds. I had begun to redo the Inn, making it suit myself more - I installed a few computers and a local wifi system. It couldn't reach the world wide web, but they could communicate with each other, so it was okay.
    I learned a lot. I learned how to bring up my own magic, first of all. It took a lot of kickstarts, using the amulet, but eventually I could spark my own little flow of energy. Using that, I could shoot my blunderbuss, and Karma showed me how to link the cuff - a silver band that collected kinetic energy - and the gun, as to save energy from myself.
    I also learned some of the most basic things, such as circles. A circle, bound by will, would keep magic from crossing it. The circle would be broken with any physical interruption, however.
    Another thing I learned, which was considered basic magic, was thaumaturgy - what most folk would call voodoo. This was the process of connecting something small to something large, like taking someone's hair and making a doll, with which to kill them. That takes a great deal of power, however, which I'm told I have access to, in my blood, but not enough control or skill to tap into it yet.
    Regardless of what I've learned over this very busy week, I was now out on the other side of town to get pastries for my inner circle at everyone's favorite bakery.
    As I walked out the door, my arms full of pastry boxes and fingers weighed down with bags, I got a little ping from my smart glasses.
    A camera's POV came up, and I saw a wall crash down inside The Compound, some dark shape moving past it.
    The Compound was under attack.
    My people were under attack.
    I practically dropped the pastries, and started running towards the car, my old Volkswagen van, and brought out my nanotech. Luckily, the pastries just got a tad shaken.
    The tech flowed over me as I got into the car, forming the demonic looking black exosuit as I tossed the box of baked goods into the passenger seat, turned the key, and started speeding towards my loved ones.
    I had upgraded my suit design over the week, too. Now, extensions formed under my feet, giving me more bounce and a longer bound length, so I could run faster, further, and jump higher with less damage to my body.
    Unfortunately, these extensions made driving a little harder - I had to set the seat back as far as it would go, leaving me crammed in the seat nevertheless.
    I had also properly embedded the rings into the suit and my hand, so that, should some Summer beast try to take them again, it'd be over my dead body.
    As I raced down side streets, I pulled up the camera view again, and tapped into the sound system in the building.
    "Everybody, get the fuck out of there! Run! Code Crimson, Code Crimson!" I yelled, and knew it'd be set to loop. I grit my teeth, narrowly avoiding an old lady crossing the road. I was coming up to an intersection, and the light had just turned yellow.
    I sped up, gas pedal to the floor.
    The light turned red just as I got below it, but some fucker had other ideas, and had went before his light turned green.
    It happened in slow motion, it felt like. My car, easily going over a hundred, slammed into his, bumper to passenger door. Our two car's momentum coincided, and we skidded into a telephone pole, his car flipping onto its side, due to the differences in weight.
    In my haste to get going, I hadn't buckled up. I'm sure I'd get a stern talking to from Apollo, as he's a stickler for seat belts.
    My windshield didn't stand a chance against my military grade nanotech. I flew through, flying over the shorter car of the light runner, and slammed into the telephone pole. I heard my tech snap as I folded against the pole, the wind getting knocked out as my stomach desperately wished to not be slammed into wood again, and I fell down onto the other guy's car, groaning. It's better my tech than my bones, I guess.
    He had gotten out, mostly fine with a few cuts and scrapes. I rolled off the sideways car, and paused. Me and the guy stared at each other for a moment, and I looked between the cars.
    "Don't call your insurance, but get a tow truck. Bring both cars to the mechanic's on the lake, and put in a call for Tony, per word of Fate Frost."
    The guy started to speak, but I had already turned and begun sprinting down the road, bouncing with my new extensions. They were basically built in kangaroo shoes, which you could buy online, but a lot better, more well made.
    After the adrenaline died down, and I took a moment to stop and think, I'd likely cry over the loss of my van. It was nearly unsalvageable, in this state, the metal body frames twisted and bent, glass shattered. But now wasn't the time for that, so I pushed that thought down for later. Hopefully Tony could work his magic on the vehicles.
    While I was running, I dialed the number of my friendly wizard friend.
    "I'm already on my way, Frost. I'm not sure I can help directly, though."
    "What? Why not?" I huffed.
    "Well, I can't say until I actually get there, but if this is what I think it is, I'm bound to not interfere."
    "Bullshit, wizard."
    "No, no. We'll see, Frost. Good luck, regardless." He hung up.
    So, some big, black, inky monster that looked like a certain parasite featured in a few movies was tearing down my home, and my biggest powerhouse of a friend couldn't help, maybe. Wonderful.
    I ran the rest of the two miles in six minutes flat, trying to keep my breathing steady the whole time. I saw a cloud of dust rise as a section of outer wall was knocked down. A large crowd of my coworkers, ehem, goons were all standing outside, a bit back. Most had rifles and body armour, ready to fight, but some were still in pajamas and clutched a pistol, which they likely kept beneath their pillows. They were dressed for human warfare, which wouldn't help much here.
    "Go! Get away from here!" I yelled, and started towards my home.
    A hand yanked me back, putting an absolute stop to my movement.
    "Now, now, son, let us handle this."
    I turned and saw an older man with black and silver hair dressed in white and silver. He had a heavy gray cloak over top of his white formalwear, and I could see the glint of chainmail at his neck. He held a long khopesh, one of those Egyptian swords, that glowed with a dull white energy. Beside him stood a kid in dark brown clothes, similarly dressed to the older man, but without the cloak. He had a pistol in one hand, and plenty of jewelry - rings on every finger, several chains around his neck, and cuffs on his bare arms.
    "And just who are you?"
    The older man reached into his cloak and pulled out an FBI-like badge, declaring himself a member of MIASS.
    "What the fuck does MIASS want with me?"
    The older man gave me a bewildered look, and the younger fella chuckled a little. Another cloud of dust rose from the Compound.
    "On behalf of the council, we have been sent to deal with this beast." He pulled his cloak aside to reveal his arm, showing the swirling black tattoo depicting a man chained to a rock, with a bird flapping its wings. The kid, who was probably closer to twenty, did the same, showing an ever changing maze.
    "We ask that you stand aside, and let us professionals take care of this beast."
    Without waiting, he started forward.
    "Daedalus, keep it busy. I'll hit it from behind."
    The kid nodded, and rushed forward, raising his gun. I was about to shout that bullets wouldn't work, but when he pulled the trigger, he yelled something in Greek, I think, and a roar of force left the little handgun. It hit the door, which flew off the hinges, and the two went in.
    I pulled up the camera feed, and watched them go through the building.
    If these two wanted to take this thing out, by all means, I'll let them.
    But first, while they sought after the inky beast, I had to find my inner circle.
    A quick scan through the crowd revealed Vlad, near the front. I went over, and he nodded in greeting.
    "Vlad, where's Apollo? Bar? Zane?"
    Vlad looked around. "Not here, I think. Maybe store. Some troops stuck inside, not out"
    Alarms went off in my head.
    "Not out?"
    "No. Think hall collapsed, maybe. Beast crash, break." He looked grim.
    Fuck.
    I looked back at the building.
    "Vlad, take the gang out to that large park down the road, have them stay out of the way and out of trouble. I'll go in and get everyone else."
    Vlad nodded and turned, yelling in Russian to the gang. They began to filter out, and I ran towards the Compound.
    As I searched through rooms, I watched the two magical government people find the beast. The man with the sword said something I couldn't make out, and disappeared from view. I saw a little shimmer where he was, however, as if the image of the camera was wrinkled, and I watched it move behind the beast. The kid shot blast after blast of kinetic force at it, which barely even got its attention.
    The kid kept firing the magical shots at it, each blast being dispersed by the beast's inky black coating. Maybe it was a kind of mucus, like a frog?
    I saw the old man undo his magical invisibility, and leap up and onto the beast, jumping at least ten feet in an arc. He slashed down with his sword, which was stopped by the beast's coating. It threw him off, and turned to the kid, roaring a subsonic roar similar to the chloro-fiend's, but a lot louder. The kid wavered, nearly falling over, and took a swipe to the side of the head. The kid flew into the wall, falling limp to the ground. Fuck.
    The older man stared, eyes wide, and I saw a few strands of his hair begin to float up. He yelled in rage, so loud that I heard it through however many walls were between me and them, and a few sparks jumped from strand to strand. A bolt of lightning crashed through every floor of the building, slamming into the beast, searing away some of the black mucus. Underneath was a large furry creature, with some red crystals embedded in it's back. It howeld, and the old man raised his sword, the continuous bolt leaping to it, and he slammed it into the beast's back. As soon as it hit, the lightning arced to the red crystals and seemingly dispersed.
    I pulled my attention away from the show, and carried on trying to find the trapped troops. Rounding a corner, I found the collapsed hall Vlad had mentioned, full of too much debris to move in a reasonable amount of time. I could hear them, though - I picked out twelve distinct voices, with the aid of my tech's sound distinguishing abilities (sometimes I need to be able to tell the differences in bullets), and looked around. The debris was piled up to the ceiling, so no chance of going through.
    There was a door to the right of it, however, where the debris was only knee high. Pushing through the door, I tried to figure out where I was, but decided against trying to find a building map.
    Instead, I just turned towards the wall to the left of the door, which hopefully bordered another room that had an accessible door, and ran.
    Pulling my arms up to cover my head, I crashed through the wall, falling as the drywall broke. I got up and rushed to the door, which looked like it may be free to the hall.
    I opened the door, and was nearly crushed by debris.
    As the avalanche of broken wood and tile and such flowed into the room, however, the door was uncovered, and a few of my troops saw. They started making their way in, so I turned and started back out, to hopefully meet Adrian when he got here. They followed me out, and we got everyone out relatively unharmed.
    Running was tiring, so I took a moment to catch my breath, and that's when the wizard decided to tap me on the shoulder from behind. Just about jumping out of my suit, socks, and skin, I turned to face the floating, white haired wizard.
    "Hello, Fate."
    "Adrian."
    "I cannot help with this. Not directly, at least."
    "Well, how can you help indirectly?" I crossed my arms.
    "I have a few ideas, if you'd allow it."
    "Such as?"
    Adrian set a hand on my shoulder, and I felt Power flow into me, through him. It was warm, bright, like stepping outside into sunshine after a cold day inside.
    "I can lend a bit of magic, should you need it, which I think you will."
    I nodded along, shifting back and forth. With magic, I could maybe try to take down the beast, maybe with-
    "Not so fast, Frost. Before you go, I want to see who I'm giving my little bit of magic to, even if it is temporary."
    "Huh? I'm right here, wizard, what more-"
    Against my own will, I began to float up, so that I was eye level with Adrian.
    Perfect level for a Soul Stare, it turns out.
    The wizard's eyes were surprisingly pretty, mostly white with hints of gold, in the sunlight. They weren't solid white, like some monster, but instead the irises were white, or maybe a very light gray.
    Regardless, when it happened, it felt better than any Stare I had had before.
    I didn't fall into Adrian's soul. Instead, I gently floated down, light surrounding me in every direction.
    I landed softly, my boots - which looked freshly cleaned - echoing against what felt like stone.
    The light dimmed, and details began to show.
    I was in a bedroom, a decently sized bedroom. In one corner was a twin sized bed, with a grayscale bed set with strange patterns. The dark wood of the frame looked expensive, just from a quick glance.
    A poster on the wall beside the bed showed a movie that had come out roughly ten years ago.
    The corner of the room to the right of the bed held a desk with a PC, the monitor off, the tower standing clean and tall. The desk was made of the same dark wood as the bedframe. A few cool paper weights and nicknacks sat on the desk, where they wouldn't be in the way.
    Turning further, I saw a dresser (of the same wood), an open closet door that I couldn't see into, a bookshelf (also made of the dark wood) filled with books of all length, and a very large pet bed.
    Dust gently floated through the air, getting caught in the sunlight coming in from the two windows.
    I looked around again, trying to find something of importance, but couldn't. Instead, I sat on the bed, opting to rest for a moment.
    Man, this gentle sunlight was tiring. Maybe I should take a nap.
    I pulled my feet up onto the bed, finding myself now in pajamas, plain white, and layed on the bed.
    Just as my head hit the pillow, the door was nearly thrown off its hinges. I jumped up, my regular clothes on, and saw the locks on the door, saw one that had been torn off and hung loosely on the door.
    The sunlight looked harsher now, highlighting the sharp edges of furniture. It was a little darker in the room, and the pounding at the door kept going.
    "BOY! OPEN THE DAMNED DOOR, BOY!" yelled a voice that sounded somewhat familiar, and somewhat drunk. I couldn't place it, however, not here or now.
    I looked around for something to defend myself with, and one of the locks, a simple chain lock, broke.
    The pet bed caught my attention, for no exact reason.
    The shadows upon it shivered, and began moving, solidifying.
    I took a step back, and the shadows rose into the third dimension. As the shape of it took form, another lock on the door broke; that left one lock left.
    The shadow fully solidified, and turned to look at the door. It stood on four legs, each as long as the bedroom door, with more joints than a human, and in different positions than most animals, with the first bending back, and the second bending forward. The feet disappeared into misty shadow, but I imagine, if need be, there would be claws. The body of the shadow beast, long and thin but obviously strong, ended in a tail, which itself split into two tails. They were as long as the legs, if not longer. All in all, it looked feline in nature, just on the wrong end of some scale, somewhere.
    The shadow cat's head looked from the door to me, and it had bright white eyes, solid and pure. It had three eyes, it seemed, two in the regular places, and one sideways on the forehead area.
    Hello, Fate Frost. I am Tenebris, from Shadowmoor. Please, follow me through the closet, lest you wish to face Him.
    The cat's voice was thick and smooth, like melted chocolate. I didn't know what Shadowmoor was, or who 'He' was, but the shadow beast moved to go through the closet. Instead of going around me, it simply walked, my body phasing through that of the cat with no other feeling.
    As the cat left, the last lock broke, and the actor of Alex Alenwall, the main character of the movie on the poster by the bed, came in. His face was flushed red, his clothes were disheveled, and he held a nearly empty bottle of a very strong vodka in one hand.
    "BOY! GET YOUR ASS BACK DOWN IN THE D- BASEMENT!"
    He swiped a drunk hand at me, trying to grab, and I dodged away, running towards the closet.
    As soon as I stepped into the closet, my first time in one in quite a while, I fell, as there was simply no floor. As I fell, I hit something, and my momentum slowed.
    Good choice, Fate. Allow me to deliver you somewhere safe, so that, when Adrian is done, you may return back. He may take a moment longer, as he, too, is a Weaver.
    So we floated in pitch blackness for a while. Maybe it was an hour, maybe a week, I couldn't tell. We didn't talk, instead just existing.
    And finally, I opened my eyes and found myself back outside the Compound.
    Adrian looked phased, to say the least. He had floated up and away from me, and as he came to, his shadow seemed to shake, before returning to the normal Adrian shape.
    "Well, okay then," he said, looking down to me as he returned to his regular floating height.
    "Why do you have Alex Alenwall inside you?"
    "Ah- you got that one. Well, um. He has a legal name, y'know."
    "Right, right. Willis somet
    The dots connected. "Ohhh. Oh, damn. Adrian, your father was an actor?"
    "Mmhm. Carry on, shall we?"
    I thought back to what I experienced. "Adrian, were you abused?"
    "That was years ago, it's over."
    So, he was. Noted. Maybe a few of my coworkers could visit mister Willis so'Wyllt, someday.
    "And what about the endless abyss?"
    "I, well. I died. That's a story for another time, though, Fate. You're needed."
    As he said that, I noticed the little camera feed in my glasses. The kid with all the jewelry was barely standing, and the older man was. Well. Dead. He was on the ground, his body crushed in, blood splattered in every direction.
    The kid shot a blast of fire at the beast, which was mostly brushed off.
    The beast bounded over, and the kid met a similar fate as his mentor.
    "Fuck."
    I ran off, towards the Compound again.
    The beast had made its way downstairs, into the basement. The Pit had a cover over it, solid, clear plastic that people could walk on.
    As I got down the stairs, the beast let out another roar and turned towards me. The chain rings on my prosthetic felt a whole lot heavier.
    "Welcome to Arbitrium, buddy. I hope you know how to catch, because I plan on throwing hands."
    It roared again and charged towards me.
    Great. My body still hurt from all the fights of the past few days, but this was my home, and it needed protecting.
    As the beast approached, I dodged off to the side, and landed a quick jab. My hand sunk into the inky mucus, which had the viscosity of glue.
    The beast turned, and I was pulled along with it, taking me off my feet.
    It grabbed me, and yanked me off of it. Claws dug into my shoulder from where it grabbed me, and I felt blood get drawn.
    A brief trip through the air, after it threw me, and I was back on the ground, just a tad dizzier.
    I got up, and narrowly avoided a hit that left a spider web of cracks on the concrete below me.
    I had a bit of magic, from Adrian, but from what I saw, this thing just grounds magic like it's nothing. That, paired with the physical damage reducing mucus, made this thing a pain in the ass to fight.
    It swung again, and I brought up the shield. I was still pushed back a couple yards, but at least I didn't get my skull cracked open like a walnut.
    Hey, boss.
    Destiny's voice caught me off guard, and I took a glancing hit to the same shoulder that had been grabbed. The pain flared, and I went down.
    Yes, Destiny?
    An image was pulled up on my sight, on the exosuit's display.
    The camera was obviously damaged, as the video feed was grainy and flickered in and out.
    Apollo, Bar, Ezra, and a few others were stuck in a room, the doors blocked by debris.
    In my stunned state, I didn't have the reaction time to fully dodge another hit, so I brought the shield up, and I got driven into the wall more.
    This damned thing had me pinned.
    My people were stuck.
    And this hurt.
    I looked over to the two fallen MIASS people, professionals, a wizard and a witch, by the looks. Adrian had explained that if magic came from tools, you were considered a witch, versus magical blood making you a wizard. Warlock was a term for magic acquired from bonds, and the term used was determined by whichever was more prominent.
    I guess that made me a witch, right now.
    The beast roared, and slammed a hand into me, holding me against the wall.
    Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck fuck, fuck, fuck.