The Life Of A Franz Ferdinand Reference

11

My crappy snowboard was long gone, and all that was left was snow and rocks everywhere. It was slippery and I couldn't tell where I was going. Well, that and also that I was sliding down a mountain at around 40 MPH with no signs of stopping. Alex just happened to suddenly crash into me and send us all plummeting off a cliff. Fun.

Wait.

FIRE LANDING!

I felt my hands heat up. Sometimes I'm glad I can set things on fire whenever I want to. I could create some kind of fire jetpack right now. I sent two streams of fire into the ground, leaving me levitating around 40 feet up. I could have made a franz ferdinand pun if I wanted to.

I quickly descended into a snowbank next to what looked like a cave system in the mountain. Not another cave! Alex and Nick weren't exactly lucky with landing. Alex landed in the snowbank face first. Nick landed somewhere in a tree. I could make a Ulysses pun here. But I won't. Nick then dropped out of the tree and stumbled over to Alex and I.

"Wanna go in there?" Alex asked, shaking snow off.

"Why not?"

The cave was dark and gloomy, but someone obviously lived there if I was able to start a fire. I could only do that when there's fire in a certain distance from me.

I heard footsteps from the back of the cave. Out of nowhere, a beautiful snow leopard appeared, coming towards me almost majestically.

"Why are you here?" She called.

"We kinda dropped off a cliff." I laughed awkwardly.

"That's just sad. My name's Aehlocai, Delirian magic master."

"I'm Glasgow. My friends here are Alex and Nick. Band members."

"How did you get to the mountain?" Aehlocai asked.

"Rowan brought us here. I don't know if you'd know her..."

"I know her. Delirian rebel and proud member of team science. Aren't you freezing?!"

"Not really. I could start a fire if I wanted to."

"Nice. I have a fire pit in the back." Aehlocai flicked her tail at an ashy pit in the ground.

I shot fire at it quickly. The cave lit up, exposing various rooms.

"You have powers. I didn't expect that." Aehlocai looked up at me, her dazzling blue eyes sparkling in the firelight.

"Yeah. I do." I pulled out my phone and texted Rowan.

//GLASIE//: hey we kinda failed and now we're in a cave

//ROWAN//: wait... Aehlo's cave?!

//GLASIE//: yeah

//ROWAN//: I'll be there soon. I'll drive the jeep up.

"Are you sure your friend is okay?" Aehlocai asked, walking over to Nick.

//GLASIE//: should I tell her?

//ALEX//: yeah I guess idk man

//GLASIE//: this is a life decision lex u can't just

"Yeah. He's fine." Alex smiled sarcastically and glanced over at me. I looked down again and tried not to want to violently attack Alex for being an idiot. Rowan didn't know what to do about Nick, and I bet Aehlocai did. But Alex blew it when he said I should tell.

It was getting dark out, and Rowan still wasn't here to give us a ride back to everyone else back somewhere in the city. I was sitting on the ground watching Aehlocai collect supplies for some sort of magic stuff that I had no clue about. Nick was sitting next to me. Alex was hanging upside down off a wooden bench, playing Geometry Dash... Because there was nothing else to do anyway.

"Have you ever heard of Cassiopeia?" Aehlocai asked me.

"Like the constellation?"

"No, like the messenger!"

"I haven't heard of her."

"You remind me of her. Can I tell you a story?"

Cassiopeia was only 10 years old when she was recruited as messenger. It was early. They had to save her. She and her best friend, Frasier, were swept into a dust cloud in the 1930s Dust Bowl. Cassiopeia wasn't like most girls of her time. She didn't enjoy wearing dresses and looking pretty. She was all about adventure. Frasier went on to be messenger, because he was older, and Cassiopeia tagged along. Ugh, misogyny. Frasier mysteriously died a few years later, and Cassiopeia became messenger. Some say she used dark magic too much and ended up cursed to be 10 years old forever. When the sudden break in messengers happened in the mid 2000s, the Delirian headquarters started getting mysterious messages from somewhere in their building. Cassiopeia is among us, but no one knows where.

"So when I was chosen... Was it to find Cassiopeia?!"

"Not really. Ace and Ryan are trying to take over. Officials had to choose you fast. You discovered your powers just days before you made it into Deliria. And that's also why your friends are here. They had to open the wormhole very accurately to get only you in... But it became relevant that you needed your friends. We all thought that bringing them in would be a good thing... Ace and Ryan got harsh fast. They are dedicated to killing you and your friends off one by one... For revenge. Revenge on the day you found your powers. I know it all backfired. They do too. They've used magic and science combined to try to stop you... And I'm glad they didn't."

"How do you know this?!" I asked, slightly panicked about all Aehlocai knew.

"I use magic. Dark magic. I hack technology. I hack into memories, dreams, and anything and everything hackable. I learned from a scientist and used dark magic to manipulate her ways."

I looked at Alex. He looked back.

We had to leave.