Yet Another Hell Dimension– BtVS/Dresden Files
This is a reboot of a previous story with a...
This is a reboot of a previous story with a...
Yet Another Hell Dimension - BtVS / Dresden Files
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Chapter 1.01
Yet Another Hell Dimension– BtVS/Dresden Files
This is a reboot of a previous story with a slightly different premise. Our protagonist, Nicolas Blackwater, didn't escape with only Sammy (Semkhet) and Gwen (Files & Records) in tow. Three other allies came with him to the equally wonderful and upsetting world of the Dresden Files. I won't go into many details of their previous adventure before this one but it might come up in the odd reference or so. Either way; I hope to enjoy this fic a bit better than the old one. Interludes for any character beyond Nicolas will only happen after the first arc.
Chapter 1.01
I'd like to think I'm still a decent person but I can't rid myself of a worrying niggling sensation in the back of my mind. Perhaps I've become too accomplished a liar and I've finally convinced myself of those same lies. Compared to the way I used to be, the way I was before all this nonsense happened to me, a fair case can be made that I've crossed more than one moral event horizon. I choose to believe, though, that each of lines I crossed were necessary.
It's exceedingly difficult to hold on to the morality my parents taught me. I tried, believe me I've tried, but it simply doesn't hold up. Not in a world with vampires around every corner. Not in a place where a demonic led firm of lawyers has a near monopoly on evil. Certainly not when your reality includes ancient warlocks that routinely kidnap teenagers. Things...got hectic.
There are only so many times you can roll the dice on your life and freedom. Only so many attempts at following the template of a good person and how you're supposed to react to screams coming from a dark alley. Sooner or later it doesn't work out anymore. The victim dies before you get there and their obstinate family blames you. The victim turns out to be a shill that turns on you and drags you to a hell dimension. The victim reports you to the fucking police for cutting the head off a shape-shifter and you end up mind wiping several officers.
Annoying doesn't even begin to cover it.
But you keep trying because the alternative is to slip into casual indifference. Or perhaps even worse; you might fall into the notion that trying to do good is a losing strategy. Half my team currently holds that opinion. The rest agree with me that stopping helping people wouldn't spell much good for our future development. How long before we turn out to be the monsters ourselves?
And so we hold on to the Tao of Angel. Help the fucking helpless and try to not die in the process.
So you learn how to keep yourself and your allies safe as you attempt to hold on to your humanity. You learn to climb to the roof looking over the alley to verify what goes on there. You learn to never rush into a complication situation regardless of the pressures put upon you. You make sure you go into encounters with your eyes wide open and ready for the inevitable disappointment the people you save put you through.
People are bastards but we aren't doing this for them. They are a substitute for our mental space, so we can keep looking into the mirror and not despise what we see reflected, and I guess that makes us selfish.
Meh.
We could be so much worse.
A deep baritone voice shook me out of my depressing thoughts, "Upstart, we're waiting for you."
The monstrously over sized panther looked comically out of place at our table. He dwarfed the miniature throne we set up for him and he constantly agitates for a bigger one. I wouldn't mind giving it to him but his ego was already almost unmanageable. His name was Semkhet, The Brightest Night, and he was part of the essence of Ra. His siblings, the other pieces of Ra, were long since dead and we reluctantly offered him succor from the Beast hounding him.
Of course, not before thoroughly magically binding him to our cause. We aren't stupid.
"Oh? I was distracted, would you mind repeating it?"
I could have been pleasant and apologized but that simply wouldn't do. You don't show any signs of weakness around the Spirit of Darkness. We may have neutered his powers but his maliciousness knows no bounds. Currently it mostly comes out as Semkhet eating my food.
My food in specific.
The bastard.
While Semkhet growled his displeasure Megan took over for him, "Do behave, Sammy, and you Nick...you need to focus. We're discussing how to proceed in this strange fucking world."
I smiled at the slightly psychotic girl. She was always a little more volatile than the rest of us. It got just a tad worse after we threatened some demonic shamans into transplanting a mad vampire's eye into her empty eye socket. I mean, it did work, and she got some improved eye sight out of it. It also gave her some mild precognitive powers that didn't do her stability any favors.
I, of course, handled Drusilla's last gift a lot better. Also...I had the same eye color as the mad vampire. No weird heterochromia for me. Note to self; remember not to compare Megan to equally mad cartoon characters. Her displeasure is rarely turned at me but it's best not to take risks with her.
"Uhh, I'm still lost."
The twins, Jacob and James, groaned but thankfully didn't badger me with their palpable disappointment. I'd like to think it's because of the vast reserves of respect they have for me but it likely has to do with the fact that Gwen likes me more than them.
They've seen Gwen do some terrifying shit.
Yeey!
A little note of restrained anger colored Megan's reply, "We, and by that I mean Sammy and myself, just came back from a meeting with the local witches." She looked down at her notes in front of her and continued, "The Ordo Lebes. They shared some of the supernatural scene with us."
I simply nodded and gestured for her to continue.
The anger somewhat drained away from her tone when she spoke again, "They foolishly admitted to their lack of personal power. We can only conclude that they are unfit as potential allies and their survival is merely due to lucky circumstances."
Oh, this is interesting.
Gwendolyn took over, "There's a supposedly powerful Wizard in town that claimed the city. Were it not for him they would have continued living in perpetual fear. We're trying to decide whether or not we reach out to this Wizard."
Should we?
I enjoyed the last few weeks of relative peace. I mean...except for the unexpected trip across dimension but who hasn't been trapped in a hell dimension before? As far as hell dimensions go...I'll take the one with internet any day of the week. This one wasn't so bad and it certainly beats fucking Pylea.
God that place stank.
And no internet!
Before I could ask what the others thought Gwen continued, "The Ordo Lebes also told us about the organization backing the Wizard. This Council is something each of the little witches feared almost as much any other things out there. Either way...if we make contact we must deal with a global organization of magic users."
Jacob piped up, "Could we...take them?"
Megan thankfully slapped that notion down, "Don't be a bloody fool, Jacob. Which part of global didn't you understand?"
The table rapidly degenerated into petty bickering from there and I kept to my inner thoughts again. We all made a strange group together but we undeniably worked extremely well together. I could sell you some shitty story about how adversity bound us tightly together to overcome it. Or how we were a family that watched out for each other. Maybe I could even spin a sorry tale about how this little weird but plucky group of misfits found common ground together.
None of that is true.
There was one single thing that bound us all together. A voluntary Oath of Brotherhood that connected our very souls to each other. It bound us, limited our interactions, and most importantly rid ourselves of worries of betrayal. We couldn't turn on each other. The binding simply wouldn't allow it. Megan, the twins, and myself were the first nucleus of the binding. Gwen and Sammy came in later but were still equally thoroughly bound. We don't like talking about it but it's literally the only reason why we survived.
And continue to not fall to brutal infighting.
"Well?"
Oh no. I wasn't admitting to being distracted again.
"I'm all for reaching out to the Wizard. We need a clearer picture of the world."
This could go terribly wrong. It might also go extremely right. Who knows what this strange world holds. If a single Wizard can hold a major town like Chicago I'm rather confident we could handle anything it throws at us. I'm not bragging here but we've done some incredible things together. As long as we were prepared there was very little that was a sincere threat to us.
Which was my main concern.
We're all Warlocks here. Except for Sammy.
Fuck Sammy.
Anyways...we absolutely cannot be under prepared in any confrontation because we're squishy as fuck. Except for Jacob, he carries the Orbs of Nezzla'Khan, but then again... he's our designated bait. We like dangling him in front of monsters so he kinda got dibs on the powerful artifacts. I'm not sure what the rationale was for giving him my Troll Hammer but it's not as if I can physically carry it anymore. Not without my mystical and shiny red balls of superpower.
Now I just carry my Holy Glove with a gladius and an over sized buckler. Enchanted, of course, but they were no match for my earlier gear. The sheer indignities I suffer on behalf of this team...
Wait, where was I again?
Oh yes, preparation!
As Warlocks we need information on our enemies. Our magic is rather well suited to gathering it, our natures have become accustomed to sniffing out tantalizing bits of knowledge, and armed with fore sight we are nearly unstoppable. The alternative however was dying to fucking fledgeling vampires. Some of us didn't learn that lesson in time.
Stupid Sandra.
Fucking vampires.
So I saw no other way to get an adequate picture than by consulting the only equally squishy mage we knew of. Best case scenario; he tells us everything we need to know out of a sense of kinship for his fellow magic users.
HAH, I'm not too confident about that one either.
Alright, second best case scenario; he accepts some of the jewels and gold we've plundered in exchange for answering our questions. That looked a lot more reasonable to me. I firmly pushed down the possibility he might prove to be unhelpful. I didn't like reaching for mind magic, and from what Megan said it's apparently illegal here, but it was an option.
Heh. Illegal magic. Weird fucking world. What are they going to do? Put us in Azkaban?
Gwen spoke up over the others, "Three votes to make contact with the Mad Wizard Dresden. My vote is included in that which means this motion passed. Is there anything else on the table?"
She merely said that as a formality. The formerly soulless Files & Records girl slash construct never forgot details. Her curse simply didn't allow it and my forcing a soul upon her didn't seem to help matters. I quickly push back the anger that comes bubbling up every time I think of her sorry excuse for parents and the heartless way they simply sold her to Wolfram & Hart.
They can't do anything to her now and holding on to grudges is stupid.
Still...who sells their children for a flimsy promotion?
Fucking lawyers do.
Sammy growled lightly and said, "Yes, we must postpone our Entrance in this new town of ours."
A chorus of voices, including mine, immediately agreed. That particular tradition would have to wait. Besides, there was absolutely no-one waiting for us to go through with it. It wouldn't harm our currently non-existent reputation any to forgo it. Of course...the benefit of nobody expecting one of our Entrances means there won't be any resistance once we do perform it. I just smiled at that thought. I could barely recall the last time we did that unimpeded by traps and fortified defenses.
The big cats smugly purred and I knew what was coming. Gwen declared the meeting over and the big cat raced off to the kitchen. I jumped up after him, casually sheered away the friction under his large paws, and sped off ahead of him.
His high pitched squeals of distress haunted me all the way to the kitchen but they only served to make my victory sweeter.
He wasn't stealing my bacon.
Not today.
AN: Please leave some commentary on the story I look forward to your feedback!
This is a reboot of a previous story with a slightly different premise. Our protagonist, Nicolas Blackwater, didn't escape with only Sammy (Semkhet) and Gwen (Files & Records) in tow. Three other allies came with him to the equally wonderful and upsetting world of the Dresden Files. I won't go into many details of their previous adventure before this one but it might come up in the odd reference or so. Either way; I hope to enjoy this fic a bit better than the old one. Interludes for any character beyond Nicolas will only happen after the first arc.
Chapter 1.01
I'd like to think I'm still a decent person but I can't rid myself of a worrying niggling sensation in the back of my mind. Perhaps I've become too accomplished a liar and I've finally convinced myself of those same lies. Compared to the way I used to be, the way I was before all this nonsense happened to me, a fair case can be made that I've crossed more than one moral event horizon. I choose to believe, though, that each of lines I crossed were necessary.
It's exceedingly difficult to hold on to the morality my parents taught me. I tried, believe me I've tried, but it simply doesn't hold up. Not in a world with vampires around every corner. Not in a place where a demonic led firm of lawyers has a near monopoly on evil. Certainly not when your reality includes ancient warlocks that routinely kidnap teenagers. Things...got hectic.
There are only so many times you can roll the dice on your life and freedom. Only so many attempts at following the template of a good person and how you're supposed to react to screams coming from a dark alley. Sooner or later it doesn't work out anymore. The victim dies before you get there and their obstinate family blames you. The victim turns out to be a shill that turns on you and drags you to a hell dimension. The victim reports you to the fucking police for cutting the head off a shape-shifter and you end up mind wiping several officers.
Annoying doesn't even begin to cover it.
But you keep trying because the alternative is to slip into casual indifference. Or perhaps even worse; you might fall into the notion that trying to do good is a losing strategy. Half my team currently holds that opinion. The rest agree with me that stopping helping people wouldn't spell much good for our future development. How long before we turn out to be the monsters ourselves?
And so we hold on to the Tao of Angel. Help the fucking helpless and try to not die in the process.
So you learn how to keep yourself and your allies safe as you attempt to hold on to your humanity. You learn to climb to the roof looking over the alley to verify what goes on there. You learn to never rush into a complication situation regardless of the pressures put upon you. You make sure you go into encounters with your eyes wide open and ready for the inevitable disappointment the people you save put you through.
People are bastards but we aren't doing this for them. They are a substitute for our mental space, so we can keep looking into the mirror and not despise what we see reflected, and I guess that makes us selfish.
Meh.
We could be so much worse.
A deep baritone voice shook me out of my depressing thoughts, "Upstart, we're waiting for you."
The monstrously over sized panther looked comically out of place at our table. He dwarfed the miniature throne we set up for him and he constantly agitates for a bigger one. I wouldn't mind giving it to him but his ego was already almost unmanageable. His name was Semkhet, The Brightest Night, and he was part of the essence of Ra. His siblings, the other pieces of Ra, were long since dead and we reluctantly offered him succor from the Beast hounding him.
Of course, not before thoroughly magically binding him to our cause. We aren't stupid.
"Oh? I was distracted, would you mind repeating it?"
I could have been pleasant and apologized but that simply wouldn't do. You don't show any signs of weakness around the Spirit of Darkness. We may have neutered his powers but his maliciousness knows no bounds. Currently it mostly comes out as Semkhet eating my food.
My food in specific.
The bastard.
While Semkhet growled his displeasure Megan took over for him, "Do behave, Sammy, and you Nick...you need to focus. We're discussing how to proceed in this strange fucking world."
I smiled at the slightly psychotic girl. She was always a little more volatile than the rest of us. It got just a tad worse after we threatened some demonic shamans into transplanting a mad vampire's eye into her empty eye socket. I mean, it did work, and she got some improved eye sight out of it. It also gave her some mild precognitive powers that didn't do her stability any favors.
I, of course, handled Drusilla's last gift a lot better. Also...I had the same eye color as the mad vampire. No weird heterochromia for me. Note to self; remember not to compare Megan to equally mad cartoon characters. Her displeasure is rarely turned at me but it's best not to take risks with her.
"Uhh, I'm still lost."
The twins, Jacob and James, groaned but thankfully didn't badger me with their palpable disappointment. I'd like to think it's because of the vast reserves of respect they have for me but it likely has to do with the fact that Gwen likes me more than them.
They've seen Gwen do some terrifying shit.
Yeey!
A little note of restrained anger colored Megan's reply, "We, and by that I mean Sammy and myself, just came back from a meeting with the local witches." She looked down at her notes in front of her and continued, "The Ordo Lebes. They shared some of the supernatural scene with us."
I simply nodded and gestured for her to continue.
The anger somewhat drained away from her tone when she spoke again, "They foolishly admitted to their lack of personal power. We can only conclude that they are unfit as potential allies and their survival is merely due to lucky circumstances."
Oh, this is interesting.
Gwendolyn took over, "There's a supposedly powerful Wizard in town that claimed the city. Were it not for him they would have continued living in perpetual fear. We're trying to decide whether or not we reach out to this Wizard."
Should we?
I enjoyed the last few weeks of relative peace. I mean...except for the unexpected trip across dimension but who hasn't been trapped in a hell dimension before? As far as hell dimensions go...I'll take the one with internet any day of the week. This one wasn't so bad and it certainly beats fucking Pylea.
God that place stank.
And no internet!
Before I could ask what the others thought Gwen continued, "The Ordo Lebes also told us about the organization backing the Wizard. This Council is something each of the little witches feared almost as much any other things out there. Either way...if we make contact we must deal with a global organization of magic users."
Jacob piped up, "Could we...take them?"
Megan thankfully slapped that notion down, "Don't be a bloody fool, Jacob. Which part of global didn't you understand?"
The table rapidly degenerated into petty bickering from there and I kept to my inner thoughts again. We all made a strange group together but we undeniably worked extremely well together. I could sell you some shitty story about how adversity bound us tightly together to overcome it. Or how we were a family that watched out for each other. Maybe I could even spin a sorry tale about how this little weird but plucky group of misfits found common ground together.
None of that is true.
There was one single thing that bound us all together. A voluntary Oath of Brotherhood that connected our very souls to each other. It bound us, limited our interactions, and most importantly rid ourselves of worries of betrayal. We couldn't turn on each other. The binding simply wouldn't allow it. Megan, the twins, and myself were the first nucleus of the binding. Gwen and Sammy came in later but were still equally thoroughly bound. We don't like talking about it but it's literally the only reason why we survived.
And continue to not fall to brutal infighting.
"Well?"
Oh no. I wasn't admitting to being distracted again.
"I'm all for reaching out to the Wizard. We need a clearer picture of the world."
This could go terribly wrong. It might also go extremely right. Who knows what this strange world holds. If a single Wizard can hold a major town like Chicago I'm rather confident we could handle anything it throws at us. I'm not bragging here but we've done some incredible things together. As long as we were prepared there was very little that was a sincere threat to us.
Which was my main concern.
We're all Warlocks here. Except for Sammy.
Fuck Sammy.
Anyways...we absolutely cannot be under prepared in any confrontation because we're squishy as fuck. Except for Jacob, he carries the Orbs of Nezzla'Khan, but then again... he's our designated bait. We like dangling him in front of monsters so he kinda got dibs on the powerful artifacts. I'm not sure what the rationale was for giving him my Troll Hammer but it's not as if I can physically carry it anymore. Not without my mystical and shiny red balls of superpower.
Now I just carry my Holy Glove with a gladius and an over sized buckler. Enchanted, of course, but they were no match for my earlier gear. The sheer indignities I suffer on behalf of this team...
Wait, where was I again?
Oh yes, preparation!
As Warlocks we need information on our enemies. Our magic is rather well suited to gathering it, our natures have become accustomed to sniffing out tantalizing bits of knowledge, and armed with fore sight we are nearly unstoppable. The alternative however was dying to fucking fledgeling vampires. Some of us didn't learn that lesson in time.
Stupid Sandra.
Fucking vampires.
So I saw no other way to get an adequate picture than by consulting the only equally squishy mage we knew of. Best case scenario; he tells us everything we need to know out of a sense of kinship for his fellow magic users.
HAH, I'm not too confident about that one either.
Alright, second best case scenario; he accepts some of the jewels and gold we've plundered in exchange for answering our questions. That looked a lot more reasonable to me. I firmly pushed down the possibility he might prove to be unhelpful. I didn't like reaching for mind magic, and from what Megan said it's apparently illegal here, but it was an option.
Heh. Illegal magic. Weird fucking world. What are they going to do? Put us in Azkaban?
Gwen spoke up over the others, "Three votes to make contact with the Mad Wizard Dresden. My vote is included in that which means this motion passed. Is there anything else on the table?"
She merely said that as a formality. The formerly soulless Files & Records girl slash construct never forgot details. Her curse simply didn't allow it and my forcing a soul upon her didn't seem to help matters. I quickly push back the anger that comes bubbling up every time I think of her sorry excuse for parents and the heartless way they simply sold her to Wolfram & Hart.
They can't do anything to her now and holding on to grudges is stupid.
Still...who sells their children for a flimsy promotion?
Fucking lawyers do.
Sammy growled lightly and said, "Yes, we must postpone our Entrance in this new town of ours."
A chorus of voices, including mine, immediately agreed. That particular tradition would have to wait. Besides, there was absolutely no-one waiting for us to go through with it. It wouldn't harm our currently non-existent reputation any to forgo it. Of course...the benefit of nobody expecting one of our Entrances means there won't be any resistance once we do perform it. I just smiled at that thought. I could barely recall the last time we did that unimpeded by traps and fortified defenses.
The big cats smugly purred and I knew what was coming. Gwen declared the meeting over and the big cat raced off to the kitchen. I jumped up after him, casually sheered away the friction under his large paws, and sped off ahead of him.
His high pitched squeals of distress haunted me all the way to the kitchen but they only served to make my victory sweeter.
He wasn't stealing my bacon.
Not today.
AN: Please leave some commentary on the story
I look forward to your feedback!
Last edited:
Having seen the previous incarnation of this story a few days ago I agree that keeping the tone generally lighter would be best.
Last edited:
Chapter 1.02
Chapter 1.02
I was staring at one of our book alters. A shrine dedicated to Knowledge and according to Gwen the only way to properly display the Books. I don't normally spend a lot of time staring at books. Usually I just read them. Even something as awesome as our Books, with their pretty decorations on their outsides, can't hold my attention for long. They were a set of seven thick tomes but there was a twist. Magic was involved in their creation.
And when Magic, capitalized Magic, was involved weird things happen. Unlikely things, exceptionally useful things, but plainly weird things happen. In this case these seven Books contained all the written Knowledge Wolfram & Hart managed to scrape together over their multiple millions of years of existence. They are amazing and I barely let them out of my sight ever since I...uhm...acquired them.
There was a fire, a murderous and annoyingly unstoppable demon, and plenty of scared lawyers that didn't mind temporarily turning on their Senior Partner's. Good times.
I've read the missing books of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, in their original Latin because the Dutch education I enjoyed was excellent, and hogged the awesome power of the Books for days. Gwen may be amazing with wards but she's unwilling to bleed to disable them. The others might have been willing to bleed to get to my private wing but they lacked the expertise to disable them properly. They'd enter with missing limbs is what I'm saying.
Of course, Gwen could have simply talked them through the procedure, but then who would get the Books after I did? And while they all bickered, and Gwen loudly claimed she needed to assimilate the Books, I just kept reading until crippling head aches and hunger forced me out of my stronghold.
But now I can't read the Books.
The whole altar is shaking, has been shaking for weeks now, and I could only guess as to what was happening. The way I saw it there were two main possibilities at play. One of them, incidentally the one that would make my wildest dreams come true, was that the Books were busy acquiring all the Knowledge of this world. The other, and this one I dreaded terribly, was that the Magic powering them can't do its job across dimensions.
The Books may soon just become books.
I should have tried to teleport some food into my room while I had the chance. I was going to be extremely pissed off if the Books might be lost to us and you could bet your ass I'd grill the others on what they'd read.
And it best be more interesting than Livy.
God damn.
Sammy sneaked up on me, presumably with his super weird shadow and darkness powers, and promptly began licking the palm of my hand.
"You washed your hands."
How the fuck am I supposed to respond to that?
This would just have to do, "Yes."
The almost ever present growl in the back of Sammy's throat intensified, "Make me some food."
Food, he says. What he means is sizzle him up some bacon.
I clear my throat, excessively, and say, "I'm sure you meant to politely ask."
The growl only got louder, "Make me some food! You have a responsibility to me! Discharge it, you heathen upstart. I'd sprout arms and opposable thumbs but someone keeps me stuck in this form."
Oh.
Well, when he puts it like that.
Again I needlessly cleared my throat, "I'm still not hearing a polite request."
You've got to be firm with these immortals. They truly have no respect for the average mortal and those with magic that might stick around for a few centuries they see as curiosities. There's no way I'm going to let the haughty bastard think those thoughts about me. Like I'm some sort of interesting day-fly.
Ominously the growl in Sammy's throat disappeared entirely. He started dripping pools of dark liquid all around him and I could see the massive muscles on his frame shifting. What was the big bastard trying to do?
"You'll regret this."
I know I shouldn't have laughed. Or made fun of him. Needless friction in the group is not something I should be causing. But I have this thing against monsters looking down on me. Neutered monsters that can't even hurt me looking down on me?
Hah.
So I said before walking away laughing, "That mess isn't going to clean itself, Sammy."
Every so often something jolts me out of the pleasant familiarity I have with Hotel Hyperion. A few years ago we'd worked hard to fix the whole place up. After a good solid six months of cleaning, repairs and multiple paint jobs later and we were rewarded with the sight of a pristine Hyperion. It almost exactly matched the flashbacks I vaguely remember from watching the show in a previous life and that just tickled me right in the right spot.
Sometimes though I forget to take all the beauty around me for granted. Like today I was actually looking at the art, that we had bought or otherwise acquired over the years, and it made me feel all fuzzy inside. As if it was the very first time I saw it after the renovations. I'm sure that meant I was cultured. No matter what Gwen and Megan had to share on the subject.
"Nick, care to join me to visit the 'Mad Wizard Dresden'?" The ever so slightly insane girl said with a cheer and some loosely thrown around air quotes.
Speak of the devil and Megan shall appear. Maybe I'm a little uncharitable there. She's not a complete devil. Don't get me wrong. She scares the fuck out of me and if we weren't so tightly bound by our Oath I wouldn't be comfortable living in the same state as her. Let alone share a building with her. I mean, I don't dislike her, but I don't exactly go looking for opportunities to hang out with her.
I don't really know how to describe what we are to each other. What do you call it when you don't exactly like someone but are intensely pleased they aren't your enemy? And...the thought of her dealing with your enemies make you all warm inside?
We're that.
"Wasn't Jacob gonna go with you?"
She shook her head and replied, "Nah, we don't expect to meet any close combat creepy crawlies and James is layering some entropy curses over Jacob's blessings in town. I look forward to finally getting paid."
I smiled to answer Megan's own twisted grin and prayed none of my nervousness shone through. Crap, and James is stuck extorting the local businesses. Gwen isn't comfortable leaving the house yet, but I can't blame her for that. This just left Sammy and myself.
Great, and now the silence has been stretching.
I smiled slightly wider, "I'd love to join you!"
And not being around Sammy for a while might relieve some frustrations of mine.
Her twisted grin became a touch sharper, "Cool, Sammy's coming too. Bring your weapons."
God damn it.
I took a deep breath and shook off any residual feelings of fear and anger. Megan was already walking away to her stash of weapons and I needed to collect mine. This time I no longer paid any attention to the lovely pieces of art tastefully decorating the hallways of the Hyperion. I was busy envision all the different ways this could go terribly wrong.
I'm not usually this negative but that's mostly because I tend to know what's going to happen. Drusilla, the rather unwilling donor for one of my eyes, was a legit Seer. Since Megan and I shared both of her eyes, with one for each of us, our Talent wasn't as pronounced. I'd never get very concrete flashes of the future.
That only happens with dreams.
But the flashes themselves, throughout the day, give me some warning of things to come. I get vague impressions of colors and shapes. Over the past few years I've managed to figure out most of color combinations but some of the shapes still elude me.
Red is bad most of the time. And sometimes it's not, and it's really really good.
A square with an angry red coloring meant a God wanted me dead, or perhaps wanted to bless me. A red circle is for Wizards trying to murder me, or sometimes they gave me cool magic spells. A red triangle was reserved for Vampires, pretty much always trying to eat me. And so forth. Occasionally red shapes I'm unfamiliar with will scare me but at least I know to prepare for anything.
The other colors are a lot more pleasant and almost never scary.
When I sent some quickly gathered up magic to my ex-vampire eye I felt the vague distortions of a vision carrying a part of me away. One of the benefits of only having one Seeing eye means the other isn't prevented from doing it's job.
I pitied Cordelia for this but when I shared that with her she just thought I was creepy.
There was a reason why we didn't invite her. Or Angel, or Lorne....or anyone else really. I'd made it to my room when the same loose part of me returned and shared the vision with the rest of me. Red circles danced all around me. Too fast to count in the first few moments but after a short while they slowed down. Five circles. Four of them massive and one that was barely larger than my fist.
Curious.
Four powerful Wizards, and one pathetically feeble one, that may want to kill me. Or not. Either way I was warned now and if any powerful Wizards showed up I'd run. Oddly, they never really seem to expect that.
I got my gladius, a shortish pointy sword that totally made me feel like a pseudo-Roman, and a comically oversized buckler. James and Jacob enchanted both of them for me. They twin magic had interesting interactions when they used it simultaneously and I liked the outcome.
The sword was plain, no decorations to speak of, and with a black and brown handle. A powerful entropy curse was set on the edge that poisoned anyone or anything I'd cut with it. The Holy Glove I usually held the sword with was to ensure I never fell prey to the curse myself. Perpetually being cursed with Bad Luck was a scary thing. I've had enemies that abruptly stabbed themselves in the gut by tripping over a molehill.
Yes, that's just as hilarious as it sounds.
The buckler was a shiny silver, with actual silver, and it absorbed kinetic energy. It redirected this energy to the sword which let me hit harder. I loved the combination but if I lost either one they would be worse than useless. I'd rounded up all my shit and met Megan at the parking lot. She'd chosen one of the flashier cars we kept around, Sammy had found his way to the backseat, and I reluctantly sat shotgun.
I felt Sammy staring at my back but no vision's were triggering. Hopefully that meant he wouldn't mess with me. Thankfully my faint hopes were warranted and we made it all the way to the bookstore where Megan assured me Dresden would be and to not worry about the four Wizards too much. Her own precognitive powers were much cooler than mine.
Not that I'd ever tell her that.
We parked just across the street from the shop, Bock's Bookstore, and I quickly weaved together a passable glamour for Sammy. He'd stay behind in the car and if anyone stared, how could they not when we drove a fucking flashy god damned ride, they'd just see a large plushy toy.
I still held out hope that some teenager would break the window in an attempt to pull it out.
Megan lightly tapped me on the back of my head and whispered, "Stop daydreaming, Nick. This is important."
I didn't respond. I just smiled at her.
She walked into the store before me and started talking to the dude behind the cash register. Perhaps that's Bock?
Meh, not that important.
I walk deeper into store that Megan seemed to convinced we'd find Dresden at...until I did find him. I mean, technically it could be some other guy, but he's like thirteen feet tall and carries a massive staff to go with his ludicrous height. I had to subdue a twang of envy at the magnificent leather duster of his.
He was also talking to empty air.
Maybe that was why our first meeting didn't go all that well.
"Am I interrupting something?"
AN: Feedback for the muse-god! Comments for the muse-throne! Or something.
I was staring at one of our book alters. A shrine dedicated to Knowledge and according to Gwen the only way to properly display the Books. I don't normally spend a lot of time staring at books. Usually I just read them. Even something as awesome as our Books, with their pretty decorations on their outsides, can't hold my attention for long. They were a set of seven thick tomes but there was a twist. Magic was involved in their creation.
And when Magic, capitalized Magic, was involved weird things happen. Unlikely things, exceptionally useful things, but plainly weird things happen. In this case these seven Books contained all the written Knowledge Wolfram & Hart managed to scrape together over their multiple millions of years of existence. They are amazing and I barely let them out of my sight ever since I...uhm...acquired them.
There was a fire, a murderous and annoyingly unstoppable demon, and plenty of scared lawyers that didn't mind temporarily turning on their Senior Partner's. Good times.
I've read the missing books of Livy's Ab Urbe Condita, in their original Latin because the Dutch education I enjoyed was excellent, and hogged the awesome power of the Books for days. Gwen may be amazing with wards but she's unwilling to bleed to disable them. The others might have been willing to bleed to get to my private wing but they lacked the expertise to disable them properly. They'd enter with missing limbs is what I'm saying.
Of course, Gwen could have simply talked them through the procedure, but then who would get the Books after I did? And while they all bickered, and Gwen loudly claimed she needed to assimilate the Books, I just kept reading until crippling head aches and hunger forced me out of my stronghold.
But now I can't read the Books.
The whole altar is shaking, has been shaking for weeks now, and I could only guess as to what was happening. The way I saw it there were two main possibilities at play. One of them, incidentally the one that would make my wildest dreams come true, was that the Books were busy acquiring all the Knowledge of this world. The other, and this one I dreaded terribly, was that the Magic powering them can't do its job across dimensions.
The Books may soon just become books.
I should have tried to teleport some food into my room while I had the chance. I was going to be extremely pissed off if the Books might be lost to us and you could bet your ass I'd grill the others on what they'd read.
And it best be more interesting than Livy.
God damn.
Sammy sneaked up on me, presumably with his super weird shadow and darkness powers, and promptly began licking the palm of my hand.
"You washed your hands."
How the fuck am I supposed to respond to that?
This would just have to do, "Yes."
The almost ever present growl in the back of Sammy's throat intensified, "Make me some food."
Food, he says. What he means is sizzle him up some bacon.
I clear my throat, excessively, and say, "I'm sure you meant to politely ask."
The growl only got louder, "Make me some food! You have a responsibility to me! Discharge it, you heathen upstart. I'd sprout arms and opposable thumbs but someone keeps me stuck in this form."
Oh.
Well, when he puts it like that.
Again I needlessly cleared my throat, "I'm still not hearing a polite request."
You've got to be firm with these immortals. They truly have no respect for the average mortal and those with magic that might stick around for a few centuries they see as curiosities. There's no way I'm going to let the haughty bastard think those thoughts about me. Like I'm some sort of interesting day-fly.
Ominously the growl in Sammy's throat disappeared entirely. He started dripping pools of dark liquid all around him and I could see the massive muscles on his frame shifting. What was the big bastard trying to do?
"You'll regret this."
I know I shouldn't have laughed. Or made fun of him. Needless friction in the group is not something I should be causing. But I have this thing against monsters looking down on me. Neutered monsters that can't even hurt me looking down on me?
Hah.
So I said before walking away laughing, "That mess isn't going to clean itself, Sammy."
Every so often something jolts me out of the pleasant familiarity I have with Hotel Hyperion. A few years ago we'd worked hard to fix the whole place up. After a good solid six months of cleaning, repairs and multiple paint jobs later and we were rewarded with the sight of a pristine Hyperion. It almost exactly matched the flashbacks I vaguely remember from watching the show in a previous life and that just tickled me right in the right spot.
Sometimes though I forget to take all the beauty around me for granted. Like today I was actually looking at the art, that we had bought or otherwise acquired over the years, and it made me feel all fuzzy inside. As if it was the very first time I saw it after the renovations. I'm sure that meant I was cultured. No matter what Gwen and Megan had to share on the subject.
"Nick, care to join me to visit the 'Mad Wizard Dresden'?" The ever so slightly insane girl said with a cheer and some loosely thrown around air quotes.
Speak of the devil and Megan shall appear. Maybe I'm a little uncharitable there. She's not a complete devil. Don't get me wrong. She scares the fuck out of me and if we weren't so tightly bound by our Oath I wouldn't be comfortable living in the same state as her. Let alone share a building with her. I mean, I don't dislike her, but I don't exactly go looking for opportunities to hang out with her.
I don't really know how to describe what we are to each other. What do you call it when you don't exactly like someone but are intensely pleased they aren't your enemy? And...the thought of her dealing with your enemies make you all warm inside?
We're that.
"Wasn't Jacob gonna go with you?"
She shook her head and replied, "Nah, we don't expect to meet any close combat creepy crawlies and James is layering some entropy curses over Jacob's blessings in town. I look forward to finally getting paid."
I smiled to answer Megan's own twisted grin and prayed none of my nervousness shone through. Crap, and James is stuck extorting the local businesses. Gwen isn't comfortable leaving the house yet, but I can't blame her for that. This just left Sammy and myself.
Great, and now the silence has been stretching.
I smiled slightly wider, "I'd love to join you!"
And not being around Sammy for a while might relieve some frustrations of mine.
Her twisted grin became a touch sharper, "Cool, Sammy's coming too. Bring your weapons."
God damn it.
I took a deep breath and shook off any residual feelings of fear and anger. Megan was already walking away to her stash of weapons and I needed to collect mine. This time I no longer paid any attention to the lovely pieces of art tastefully decorating the hallways of the Hyperion. I was busy envision all the different ways this could go terribly wrong.
I'm not usually this negative but that's mostly because I tend to know what's going to happen. Drusilla, the rather unwilling donor for one of my eyes, was a legit Seer. Since Megan and I shared both of her eyes, with one for each of us, our Talent wasn't as pronounced. I'd never get very concrete flashes of the future.
That only happens with dreams.
But the flashes themselves, throughout the day, give me some warning of things to come. I get vague impressions of colors and shapes. Over the past few years I've managed to figure out most of color combinations but some of the shapes still elude me.
Red is bad most of the time. And sometimes it's not, and it's really really good.
A square with an angry red coloring meant a God wanted me dead, or perhaps wanted to bless me. A red circle is for Wizards trying to murder me, or sometimes they gave me cool magic spells. A red triangle was reserved for Vampires, pretty much always trying to eat me. And so forth. Occasionally red shapes I'm unfamiliar with will scare me but at least I know to prepare for anything.
The other colors are a lot more pleasant and almost never scary.
When I sent some quickly gathered up magic to my ex-vampire eye I felt the vague distortions of a vision carrying a part of me away. One of the benefits of only having one Seeing eye means the other isn't prevented from doing it's job.
I pitied Cordelia for this but when I shared that with her she just thought I was creepy.
There was a reason why we didn't invite her. Or Angel, or Lorne....or anyone else really. I'd made it to my room when the same loose part of me returned and shared the vision with the rest of me. Red circles danced all around me. Too fast to count in the first few moments but after a short while they slowed down. Five circles. Four of them massive and one that was barely larger than my fist.
Curious.
Four powerful Wizards, and one pathetically feeble one, that may want to kill me. Or not. Either way I was warned now and if any powerful Wizards showed up I'd run. Oddly, they never really seem to expect that.
I got my gladius, a shortish pointy sword that totally made me feel like a pseudo-Roman, and a comically oversized buckler. James and Jacob enchanted both of them for me. They twin magic had interesting interactions when they used it simultaneously and I liked the outcome.
The sword was plain, no decorations to speak of, and with a black and brown handle. A powerful entropy curse was set on the edge that poisoned anyone or anything I'd cut with it. The Holy Glove I usually held the sword with was to ensure I never fell prey to the curse myself. Perpetually being cursed with Bad Luck was a scary thing. I've had enemies that abruptly stabbed themselves in the gut by tripping over a molehill.
Yes, that's just as hilarious as it sounds.
The buckler was a shiny silver, with actual silver, and it absorbed kinetic energy. It redirected this energy to the sword which let me hit harder. I loved the combination but if I lost either one they would be worse than useless. I'd rounded up all my shit and met Megan at the parking lot. She'd chosen one of the flashier cars we kept around, Sammy had found his way to the backseat, and I reluctantly sat shotgun.
I felt Sammy staring at my back but no vision's were triggering. Hopefully that meant he wouldn't mess with me. Thankfully my faint hopes were warranted and we made it all the way to the bookstore where Megan assured me Dresden would be and to not worry about the four Wizards too much. Her own precognitive powers were much cooler than mine.
Not that I'd ever tell her that.
We parked just across the street from the shop, Bock's Bookstore, and I quickly weaved together a passable glamour for Sammy. He'd stay behind in the car and if anyone stared, how could they not when we drove a fucking flashy god damned ride, they'd just see a large plushy toy.
I still held out hope that some teenager would break the window in an attempt to pull it out.
Megan lightly tapped me on the back of my head and whispered, "Stop daydreaming, Nick. This is important."
I didn't respond. I just smiled at her.
She walked into the store before me and started talking to the dude behind the cash register. Perhaps that's Bock?
Meh, not that important.
I walk deeper into store that Megan seemed to convinced we'd find Dresden at...until I did find him. I mean, technically it could be some other guy, but he's like thirteen feet tall and carries a massive staff to go with his ludicrous height. I had to subdue a twang of envy at the magnificent leather duster of his.
He was also talking to empty air.
Maybe that was why our first meeting didn't go all that well.
"Am I interrupting something?"
AN: Feedback for the muse-god! Comments for the muse-throne! Or something.
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This is a great improvement over Denying Denarians, but significantly less engaging or amusing than The Next Great Adventure. meh/10.
- Location
- US
Damn it, you just broke the Archive, didn't you!? Either that, or Ivy and the Books are fighting over the knowledge of the world, only her power can't grab demon knowledge (she's optimized to preserve human knowledge).
Huh. So I think I figured out what's going to happen. He's going to hook up with the white council. Also this is taking place during dead beat.
Nah. Just because Ivy knows all human knowledge doesn't mean there can't be other archival spells or objects out there.
OCs Sir Rabby created over the course of "Denying Denarians" (the story Sir Rabby set after the BtVS SI fic, but wrote concurrently) as backstory set in the BtVS verse, but hadn't yet mentioned in the BtVS SI fic, apparently.
- Location
- Elsewhere
The MC and Sammy actually seem very similar in many ways. That's probably why they're such good friends!
Tsundere?
They are most likely characters from the BtVS-verse! If you watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer or Angel then you might recognize some of the names! Or if you are really interested you can go the the Buffy wikia.
I enjoyed reading this fanfic and so far the SI is more relatable then last time!
Keep up the awesomeness!
This Nicholas is an AU of the one who hung out in Sunnydale. This version was able to leave Sunnyhell, but ended up running afoul of Wolfram and Hart. He was forcibly apprenticed to the Demon Wizard from the Council of Thorns, but eventually broke free and worked with Angel's crew. Atleast in the previous version's backstory.
Gwen was WR&H's 'librarian', linked to their archives, Nick rescued her (and 'rescued a mess of magic books/items) from WR&H's LA office while The Beast was rampaging through it. 'Sammy' is the last fragment of the god Ra, The Beast hunted down and slew the rest, He hooked up with Nick to hide from The Beast.
Jacob, James, and Megan are new.
This is a reboot of the Denying Denarians story, Sir Rabby decided he didn't like the path it had taken.
Gwen was WR&H's 'librarian', linked to their archives, Nick rescued her (and 'rescued a mess of magic books/items) from WR&H's LA office while The Beast was rampaging through it. 'Sammy' is the last fragment of the god Ra, The Beast hunted down and slew the rest, He hooked up with Nick to hide from The Beast.
Jacob, James, and Megan are new.
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
His imaginary girlfriend. Duh. Who else would it be?
Chapter 1.03
Chapter 1.03
The big lug of a Wizard turned around with a strange expression plastered all over his face. His eyes flitted left and right before finally settling on me. Now that I got a better look at the man I noticed all the details I missed before. The leather duster was completely dinged up. Scratches that looked like they came from massive claws left enormous rends on it. The intricately carved staff was likewise terribly battered. A prominent scar ran jagged across the left side of his face and I had no doubt he had dozens of others to keep it company.
This dude has clearly been in a brawl or two. Dresden looked over his shoulder, towards nothing in particular, and smiled. Then the man turned to me.
His gruff voice came when he said, "As a matter of fact, you did. Fortunately the nice bookstore lady doesn't mind you cutting in."
Alright. That was just weird. I wasn't sure whether or not to point out he was clearly delusion. On the other hand...let's not antagonize the Wizard whose help I really need. It's probably for the best that we smoothed over that awkward moment as best we could. Even if he was a little nuts. Who here hasn't cracked once or twice?
I smiled widely at the man and nodded, "So, you are the Mad Wizard Dresden then?"
The scarred Wizard snorted before replying, "Sure, why not? What's your name, kid?"
I attempted to smile again and said, "You can call me Nick. We'd like you hire you, Dresden."
Megan chose to appear at the exact time Dresden asked, "And we...would be?"
The leather clad brunette put her hand on my arm and I valiantly resisted a violent flinch. I was still a little twitchy around the girl and I decidedly did not enjoy having her this close to me. Oath or no Oath...some memories are hard to shake off.
"That would be us, Wizard Dresden. We would like a few hours of your time."
The big lug leaned a little bit on his staff before saying, "I'm a little busy now, kids. Maybe some other time."
I felt Megan's hand tighten around my arm but she managed to keep her voice clear of her anger, "Could we make an appointment then, Wizard Dresden? This is fairly urgent."
I didn't mind having to wait. We already spent a few long weeks in this world without having it all crash down around us. We hadn't been attacked by any of the local creepy crawlies. Nobody came around to stop us from attempting to hustle up some business. We could wait a little while as this Dresden character finished up his business. Obviously we shouldn't ask him what that was, Wizards never like that, but I didn't expect him to just brush us off.
"Look, I don't know what you kids think you're getting involved with but you're clearly in over your heads. You really should just stick to your Renaissance Fairs."
What?
Oh, the sword and shield on my back. Or perhaps the way I had modeled my outfit on Constantine. And clearly Megan looked rather out of place with her 'boiled' leather armor. And the knives sticking out everywhere. Or the AK47 on her back that was glamoured to look like a supersoaker.
Still, why was he being so obstinate. I could tell Megan was about to grow more upset, courtesy of her vice grip on my arm, and I cut in before she could.
I smiled a wicked little grin at the massive Wizard, snapped my fingers on my off hand, and metaphysically pulled on the book in his hand. I was originally going to rip his staff from him but thankfully I realized that he may not appreciate that.
"Mr. Dresden, we're new here. We just want to sit you down for a few hours while you answer some of our questions."
The big lug narrowed his eyes at me, extended his staff, and whispered, "Forzare."
The book, some German title or other, flew out of my hand and back toward him. He snapped the book up, rather clumsily I might add, and fixed me with a glare.
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you. You can find my number in the yellow pages. Give me a call in a few days."
I frowned at the man and asked, "In the what now?"
Megan answered me in his stead, "A registry for local businesses. I'm assuming it's under his name."
Hah.
He was like Angel. Advertising his particular brand of business. Did this guy 'help the helpless' too?
"You didn't know what the yellow pages are? Have you been living under a rock, kid?"
"Or, I'm just not an American. As you know...you might tell from my accent, old man."
Megan's vice grip grew ever tighter, "Be polite, Nick."
I just plastered a particularly brittle smile on my face but Megan seemed to accept it. Dresden must have sensed something was going on but I could pay him much mind. Right at the moment an unprompted vision flashed before my eyes. Two incredibly massive red circles flew all around us and left me shivering with anticipation.
"Are you alright, kid? You're looking a little pale there."
I firmly ignored him and told Megan, "We got company. Shit, we've got Hainsley levels of company!"
The leather clad brunette didn't need more than that. She disappeared from my sight and I could only assume she ran outside. I reached over my shoulder to grab my sword and shield, flashed Dresden a smile, and winked just before I ran away. I caught the door just before it swung closed and found myself on the street. I lost track of Megan but I did see two cloaked figured in dark robes approaching the store. I reached inside of my trench coat and breathed a sigh of relief when I found three vials of Mohra blood.
Behind me I felt Dresden gather up his magic. And then he kept gathering his magic. Good fucking god, he's not stopping. I turned back around to him just as he came out of the store and my jaw almost became unhinged. Holy fuck, he's powerful on a scale that was difficult to come to grips with. On my best day I might have reached for half of the power he's so casually emanating now. I made a mental note to put this dude in the same category I had Megan in.
Too scary to mess with.
I shook my mild feelings of inadequacy off in time for Dresden to address the two shadowy mages.
Touches of intense cold colored his voice when Dresden bit out, "What do you want?"
The larger shadowy figure spoke first, "The book."
He spoke with a faintly buzzing tone of voice. His words slithered out of him, much like one of the Pylean priests, and I instantly disliked him. The fact that Death Magic was swirling all around him and his companion only strengthened that feeling. The same type of magic surrounded his partner as well but to a far lesser extent.
Now I was in a pickle. Megan was around somewhere, probably lining up a shot with her nearly invisible gun, and she wasn't the type to just run away from a confrontation. Not before dishing out some violence to cover our retreat. Of course... I didn't think abandoning the Wizard that just agreed to answer some of our burning question was going to endear him to us.
While I mulled that over Dresden and the tall shadowy figure traded witty retorts until Dresden seemingly put an end to it.
"Bite me, get your own book, Kemmlerite."
So at least Dresden knows who he's facing. That was good to know.
Again the man's creepy voice came, "I have nothing but disdain for the madman, Kemmler." He continued after a heart beat of silence, "Have a care what insults you offer. This need not involve you at all, Dresden. Or the child next to you."
I spoke up just before Dresden managed to, "Between the three of you...only one doesn't positively reek of death magic."
Dresden flashed a grin at me, "As much as I appreciate being your ally of choice via elimination, kid, you really should hurry on along now."
Huh, perhaps that did sound a little dickish.
The cloaked figure lightly chuckled and said, "Ah, to be young and ignorant once more. I'm feeling patient today. If Dresden hands me the book this need not devolve into open conflict."
Dresden replied, "Nah, O dark master of evil bathrobes. I'm still not giving you my copy of the book."
This time the other, shorted but equally robed in shadows, figure said, "Please, give him the book."
Well this was certainly odd. Creepy people in dark billowing robes generally made me think of ill tempered potion masters. Cantankerous, more than a little bit dickish, and highly unpleasant to be around. I didn't expect this other character, a women from the sound of it, to politely ask.
The taller shadowy man snarled, "Kumori. Mind your tongue."
"There is no cost in being polite." She turned away from the taller man and focused on Dresden, "The knowledge in der Erlking is about to become dangerous, Dresden. You need not give us the book. Simply destroy it here. That will be sufficient. I ask it of you, please."
What's the catch here? Why is she being so accommodating? Would Dresden go for it?
It appeared he wouldn't. Instead the giant of a Wizard started reminiscing. He spoke of some party hosted by a Bianca, and the presence of these two in front of us, to which they responded. I understood very little of it but I tried to memorize as many details as I could. This might be of use someday.
Besides; it's always best to let mages monologue.
Finally it boiled down to Dresden once again telling them off, "Bite my ass, Robey."
"Just as well," 'Robey' as we were apparently calling him now continued, "I have wanted to see for myself what has the Wardens so nervous about you."
And then Robey, and Kumori, both started gather up their own magic. All the hairs on my neck, and back, rose up in protest. The two were preposterously strong and within moments I had amend that to stronger than Dresden.
God damn it!
Did I land in a world with only super mages? I suddenly felt less at ease with being stuck in this particular hell dimension. Robey raised his right hand and snarled loudly, "Dorosh!"
I couldn't see the attack coming but I felt the magic surging my way. Dresden had responded quickly and shimmered a blue shield all around. I, on the other hand, charged up as much power as I could and twisted it into the structure necessary for a teleportation.
I wasn't going to stick around to fight these monstrously powerful Wizards. Not before figuring out why they all seem to ludicrously strong. The attack from Robey crashed into the shield, which collapsed shortly after impact, but it held long enough from me to grab on to Dresden's arm. A bright white light expanded and surrounded us near instantly after which it contracted and took us flying through something.
I swear I could see flashes of fantastical creatures and landscapes in the split second we were dragged across the something but I didn't pay it much mind. I wasn't very used to dragging people with me and I was half worried Dresden's ridiculous magic might impede the trip.
It didn't.
If anything it might have actually made it smoother. Usually I felt battered from even a short hop. I needed to consider this thoroughly. Either way we didn't land into a tangled heap on top of our Hyperion Hotel. We both crashed on our knees and scrambled hastily back up.
Dresden frantically looked around him before finally settling his gaze on me.
"Did you just beam us up?"
I just said, "Yup." Making sure to pop the p as much as possible.
"That's...kinda cool, kid."
I smiled widely at him, "Thanks. Megan's probably going to circle back for our car after they leave. Any chance you'd share why those insanely powerful Necromancers are after you?"
"Do I have to?"
"Do you think they'd leave me be?"
Dresden actually huffed but relented, "I guess that's a fair point. Well, they obviously want the book. I'm not sure why, yet. And, since like you said, they are Necromancers I plan on doing exactly the opposite of what they want."
I nodded while pretending to be thoughtful. Instead, all that was going through my mind was that the powerful Wizard in front of me owes me now. I smiled widely as I took that in, which he mistook for support of his statement, and I almost wanted to pat myself on the back for that.
But then Dresden spoke again, "So...I'm ninety nine percent sure I've never seen this building before. Anything you'd care to share, Nick?"
AN: Please leave a comment! Always looking for feedback
The big lug of a Wizard turned around with a strange expression plastered all over his face. His eyes flitted left and right before finally settling on me. Now that I got a better look at the man I noticed all the details I missed before. The leather duster was completely dinged up. Scratches that looked like they came from massive claws left enormous rends on it. The intricately carved staff was likewise terribly battered. A prominent scar ran jagged across the left side of his face and I had no doubt he had dozens of others to keep it company.
This dude has clearly been in a brawl or two. Dresden looked over his shoulder, towards nothing in particular, and smiled. Then the man turned to me.
His gruff voice came when he said, "As a matter of fact, you did. Fortunately the nice bookstore lady doesn't mind you cutting in."
Alright. That was just weird. I wasn't sure whether or not to point out he was clearly delusion. On the other hand...let's not antagonize the Wizard whose help I really need. It's probably for the best that we smoothed over that awkward moment as best we could. Even if he was a little nuts. Who here hasn't cracked once or twice?
I smiled widely at the man and nodded, "So, you are the Mad Wizard Dresden then?"
The scarred Wizard snorted before replying, "Sure, why not? What's your name, kid?"
I attempted to smile again and said, "You can call me Nick. We'd like you hire you, Dresden."
Megan chose to appear at the exact time Dresden asked, "And we...would be?"
The leather clad brunette put her hand on my arm and I valiantly resisted a violent flinch. I was still a little twitchy around the girl and I decidedly did not enjoy having her this close to me. Oath or no Oath...some memories are hard to shake off.
"That would be us, Wizard Dresden. We would like a few hours of your time."
The big lug leaned a little bit on his staff before saying, "I'm a little busy now, kids. Maybe some other time."
I felt Megan's hand tighten around my arm but she managed to keep her voice clear of her anger, "Could we make an appointment then, Wizard Dresden? This is fairly urgent."
I didn't mind having to wait. We already spent a few long weeks in this world without having it all crash down around us. We hadn't been attacked by any of the local creepy crawlies. Nobody came around to stop us from attempting to hustle up some business. We could wait a little while as this Dresden character finished up his business. Obviously we shouldn't ask him what that was, Wizards never like that, but I didn't expect him to just brush us off.
"Look, I don't know what you kids think you're getting involved with but you're clearly in over your heads. You really should just stick to your Renaissance Fairs."
What?
Oh, the sword and shield on my back. Or perhaps the way I had modeled my outfit on Constantine. And clearly Megan looked rather out of place with her 'boiled' leather armor. And the knives sticking out everywhere. Or the AK47 on her back that was glamoured to look like a supersoaker.
Still, why was he being so obstinate. I could tell Megan was about to grow more upset, courtesy of her vice grip on my arm, and I cut in before she could.
I smiled a wicked little grin at the massive Wizard, snapped my fingers on my off hand, and metaphysically pulled on the book in his hand. I was originally going to rip his staff from him but thankfully I realized that he may not appreciate that.
"Mr. Dresden, we're new here. We just want to sit you down for a few hours while you answer some of our questions."
The big lug narrowed his eyes at me, extended his staff, and whispered, "Forzare."
The book, some German title or other, flew out of my hand and back toward him. He snapped the book up, rather clumsily I might add, and fixed me with a glare.
"Fine, but don't say I didn't warn you. You can find my number in the yellow pages. Give me a call in a few days."
I frowned at the man and asked, "In the what now?"
Megan answered me in his stead, "A registry for local businesses. I'm assuming it's under his name."
Hah.
He was like Angel. Advertising his particular brand of business. Did this guy 'help the helpless' too?
"You didn't know what the yellow pages are? Have you been living under a rock, kid?"
"Or, I'm just not an American. As you know...you might tell from my accent, old man."
Megan's vice grip grew ever tighter, "Be polite, Nick."
I just plastered a particularly brittle smile on my face but Megan seemed to accept it. Dresden must have sensed something was going on but I could pay him much mind. Right at the moment an unprompted vision flashed before my eyes. Two incredibly massive red circles flew all around us and left me shivering with anticipation.
"Are you alright, kid? You're looking a little pale there."
I firmly ignored him and told Megan, "We got company. Shit, we've got Hainsley levels of company!"
The leather clad brunette didn't need more than that. She disappeared from my sight and I could only assume she ran outside. I reached over my shoulder to grab my sword and shield, flashed Dresden a smile, and winked just before I ran away. I caught the door just before it swung closed and found myself on the street. I lost track of Megan but I did see two cloaked figured in dark robes approaching the store. I reached inside of my trench coat and breathed a sigh of relief when I found three vials of Mohra blood.
Behind me I felt Dresden gather up his magic. And then he kept gathering his magic. Good fucking god, he's not stopping. I turned back around to him just as he came out of the store and my jaw almost became unhinged. Holy fuck, he's powerful on a scale that was difficult to come to grips with. On my best day I might have reached for half of the power he's so casually emanating now. I made a mental note to put this dude in the same category I had Megan in.
Too scary to mess with.
I shook my mild feelings of inadequacy off in time for Dresden to address the two shadowy mages.
Touches of intense cold colored his voice when Dresden bit out, "What do you want?"
The larger shadowy figure spoke first, "The book."
He spoke with a faintly buzzing tone of voice. His words slithered out of him, much like one of the Pylean priests, and I instantly disliked him. The fact that Death Magic was swirling all around him and his companion only strengthened that feeling. The same type of magic surrounded his partner as well but to a far lesser extent.
Now I was in a pickle. Megan was around somewhere, probably lining up a shot with her nearly invisible gun, and she wasn't the type to just run away from a confrontation. Not before dishing out some violence to cover our retreat. Of course... I didn't think abandoning the Wizard that just agreed to answer some of our burning question was going to endear him to us.
While I mulled that over Dresden and the tall shadowy figure traded witty retorts until Dresden seemingly put an end to it.
"Bite me, get your own book, Kemmlerite."
So at least Dresden knows who he's facing. That was good to know.
Again the man's creepy voice came, "I have nothing but disdain for the madman, Kemmler." He continued after a heart beat of silence, "Have a care what insults you offer. This need not involve you at all, Dresden. Or the child next to you."
I spoke up just before Dresden managed to, "Between the three of you...only one doesn't positively reek of death magic."
Dresden flashed a grin at me, "As much as I appreciate being your ally of choice via elimination, kid, you really should hurry on along now."
Huh, perhaps that did sound a little dickish.
The cloaked figure lightly chuckled and said, "Ah, to be young and ignorant once more. I'm feeling patient today. If Dresden hands me the book this need not devolve into open conflict."
Dresden replied, "Nah, O dark master of evil bathrobes. I'm still not giving you my copy of the book."
This time the other, shorted but equally robed in shadows, figure said, "Please, give him the book."
Well this was certainly odd. Creepy people in dark billowing robes generally made me think of ill tempered potion masters. Cantankerous, more than a little bit dickish, and highly unpleasant to be around. I didn't expect this other character, a women from the sound of it, to politely ask.
The taller shadowy man snarled, "Kumori. Mind your tongue."
"There is no cost in being polite." She turned away from the taller man and focused on Dresden, "The knowledge in der Erlking is about to become dangerous, Dresden. You need not give us the book. Simply destroy it here. That will be sufficient. I ask it of you, please."
What's the catch here? Why is she being so accommodating? Would Dresden go for it?
It appeared he wouldn't. Instead the giant of a Wizard started reminiscing. He spoke of some party hosted by a Bianca, and the presence of these two in front of us, to which they responded. I understood very little of it but I tried to memorize as many details as I could. This might be of use someday.
Besides; it's always best to let mages monologue.
Finally it boiled down to Dresden once again telling them off, "Bite my ass, Robey."
"Just as well," 'Robey' as we were apparently calling him now continued, "I have wanted to see for myself what has the Wardens so nervous about you."
And then Robey, and Kumori, both started gather up their own magic. All the hairs on my neck, and back, rose up in protest. The two were preposterously strong and within moments I had amend that to stronger than Dresden.
God damn it!
Did I land in a world with only super mages? I suddenly felt less at ease with being stuck in this particular hell dimension. Robey raised his right hand and snarled loudly, "Dorosh!"
I couldn't see the attack coming but I felt the magic surging my way. Dresden had responded quickly and shimmered a blue shield all around. I, on the other hand, charged up as much power as I could and twisted it into the structure necessary for a teleportation.
I wasn't going to stick around to fight these monstrously powerful Wizards. Not before figuring out why they all seem to ludicrously strong. The attack from Robey crashed into the shield, which collapsed shortly after impact, but it held long enough from me to grab on to Dresden's arm. A bright white light expanded and surrounded us near instantly after which it contracted and took us flying through something.
I swear I could see flashes of fantastical creatures and landscapes in the split second we were dragged across the something but I didn't pay it much mind. I wasn't very used to dragging people with me and I was half worried Dresden's ridiculous magic might impede the trip.
It didn't.
If anything it might have actually made it smoother. Usually I felt battered from even a short hop. I needed to consider this thoroughly. Either way we didn't land into a tangled heap on top of our Hyperion Hotel. We both crashed on our knees and scrambled hastily back up.
Dresden frantically looked around him before finally settling his gaze on me.
"Did you just beam us up?"
I just said, "Yup." Making sure to pop the p as much as possible.
"That's...kinda cool, kid."
I smiled widely at him, "Thanks. Megan's probably going to circle back for our car after they leave. Any chance you'd share why those insanely powerful Necromancers are after you?"
"Do I have to?"
"Do you think they'd leave me be?"
Dresden actually huffed but relented, "I guess that's a fair point. Well, they obviously want the book. I'm not sure why, yet. And, since like you said, they are Necromancers I plan on doing exactly the opposite of what they want."
I nodded while pretending to be thoughtful. Instead, all that was going through my mind was that the powerful Wizard in front of me owes me now. I smiled widely as I took that in, which he mistook for support of his statement, and I almost wanted to pat myself on the back for that.
But then Dresden spoke again, "So...I'm ninety nine percent sure I've never seen this building before. Anything you'd care to share, Nick?"
AN: Please leave a comment! Always looking for feedback
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Interesting. I suspect Dresden is rapidly changing his first assessment of Nick. I wonder if he is thinking of asking for the teleportation spell.
- Location
- US
Wouldn't do any good even if he did. Magic in Dresden is kind of like Nasuverse magic, it takes specialized talents and a lot of finesse to get what you want. Dresden has a talent for fire and force, and no finesse at all. So even if he gave him the spell it would be useless to him for at least another century.
I do not think he is that bad. A few months to a year of fiddling with the spell would likely allow him to use it with some kind of prepared thaumaturgical anchors
esotericist
A Weary Hand
- Location
- Lacey, WA
And with it being Dresden, they would naturally have the metaphysical analog to giant flags reading "TAMPER WITH ME AND CATCH A WIZARD", yet given his natural talent for subtlety Dresden would have no idea.