Crystal's foot hit the gun, sending it bouncing into Caleb's shoe as she grabbed the collar of his shirt. "The hell do you mean you're going to need me to go with you?" She pulled him forward so their noses were touching, eyes locked. "First you come in here, you wreck my home-"
"Wrecking your home you did all on your own."
"Wreck. My. Home." She accentuated each remark by shaking him once. "Then you expect me to go galavanting off with you to every corner of the globe, looking to kill not just someone, but my DAD? You've got some screws loose, Copperfield, if you think I'm going anywhere on this planet with you." With that she shoved him backward, leaning down to pick up her gun.
Caleb stumbled a few steps, then caught himself and straightened his shirt collar. "You're correct in a few places. Where you're wrong is a lot more entertaining, however. For instance, it's a good thing you won't go with us anywhere on this planet. We're not staying here. I'm afraid that mark on you is far more important than even chasing Darilian."
Crystal looked up at him from under her lashes as she put her gun away, reaching back to touch the mark that she assumed rested upon her shoulder. "You are seriously diluted. Do you need a psychologist, a psychiatrist? Dr. Jekyll?"
Caleb lit another cigarette - he seemed to do that a lot, and she wondered briefly how he didn't already have emphysema already. "I'm aware of how crazy and ridiculous this all sounds to you, but that mark on your shoulder - I assume that's where it moved to, judging by your movements - is extremely important to the people of Aitarra. If I'm right, and I'm very rarely wrong, then you are Sightblinder's offspring, and we'll need -"
Crystal cut him off with a sharp laugh. "Offspring? Me? The offspring of a dragon? That's rich." She laughed again, gestured upstairs. "You know who my father is. I have a birth certificate with his name under 'Father.' Does he look like a dragon to you? Besides, I'm pretty sure they both knew who put their dirty steeple in her open church."
"Colorful, as always." Caleb took a drag on his cigarette, blowing the smoke in her face as he walked by. "I don't know your lineage, nor do I care. At some point, your blood traces back to the dragon Sightblinder. Still, even that I don't care about. It's the fact that Sightblinder's offspring is said to be the one who is going to protect and save us."
"It's said. Are you seriously talking about prophecy?"
"If that's what you want to call it. It's more of a promise from the dragon itself, really, but prophecy sounds so much better, doesn't it? In fact," Caleb stopped at the top of the stairs, cigarette dangling from his lips. "I rather like the sound of that. Prophecy's Child, Crystal Rayne." He held his hands up, spreading them apart like he were displaying it on a large billboard.
Crystal went red in the face and clenched a fist. "It doesn't matter. You're a paranoid delusional, so you can call me whatever you want. It doesn't make it true."
"You're just going to keep ignoring glowing symbols that do things inexplicable and keep insisting it's all a fabrication of my mind, aren't you?"
"They can be explained. I've seen plenty of magic shows. It's all fancy mirrors, smoke, and lasers."
"You actually believe that?"
"You actually believe a dragon from some other world somehow got its genetics into a person on a world millions of miles away from its own, hundreds to thousands of years later, and that that person - who, by the way, doesn't buy this bullshit for one minute - and that that person is going to save all of you from a fate you don't even know about yet?"
Caleb was silent for a moment, taking a drag on his cigarette. "Fair enough."
"What. Really?"
"Absolutely. I'll tell you what. I'll make you a deal." Crystal narrowed her eyes, tilting her head slightly in suspicion. "No tricks, I promise. All I want you to do is come with me to see something. If you don't believe me after that, we'll leave you alone here and never come back. I'll even subject myself to this Dr. Jekyll you recommended."
Crystal tapped her finger against the handle of the gun at her right hip, considering. "One thing I can't figure out." Caleb raised an eyebrow. "How'd you get the birthmark to move?"
"Simple misdirection. I made you focus on the rune while I pinched the scar and moved it to your shoulder." Caleb traced a mirror rune over the doorway, causing a rainbow sheen like light over a bubble to flicker, then fade.
"Shut up." Crystal followed him out of the doorway, put a hand on his arm. "Really? You can do that with scars?"
Caleb looked over at her, then back where they were walking, gesturing at each person they passed that all was well. "No. Violent and gullible. Not typically two qualities you find in one person. It's either that, or I'm a runic mage from another world that floats in the sky."
Crystal couldn't decide if she wanted to hit him or not. Looking at the nearest intruder, she thought better of it. They stopped in the main entryway. Caleb had his hand on the door. They had removed the doorknob so the door would swing open and closed more easily, even if it didn't latch in place. From what she could see through the hole where the doorknob used to be, lights were flooding the large open field. Enormous crates with warehouse labels slapped on them were floating across the ground, directed by teams of three of the Aitarrans. She couldn't make out more through the small opening. "What are you waiting for, Johnson? Let's get this little 'Prepare to be awed' moment of yours over with so I can lock you up in a mental institution."
Caleb held up a finger. "Johnson?"
"Magic Johnson. Basketball ... You know what, forget it." Crystal shoved past him and kicked the door, sending it slamming into the side of the house.
There was nothing. Nothing more than large boxes floating in the air and being pushed by teams of three. Those bright balls of light sat on the grass all around the clearing, illuminating the scene as bright as day. The smell of rain permeated the air. Crystal looked around, looking for some awe inspiring moment. The most she could discern was the fact the boxes and the others disappeared from view. Only the people came back out.
"This is it? This is your big convincing moment?" Crystal took out her cell phone from her pocket, shaking her head as she pressed the unlock button. But the phone didn't turn on. Frustrated, she shoved it back where it had been. "You drained my cell phone. Clever, but a deal is a deal."
Caleb stood beside her, drawing on a piece of paper with a stick of her lipstick. "Run out of Magic references to call me?"
"No, I can call you plenty more, Magic Mountain. You just haven't earned them all."
Finished, Caleb stepped forward into the clearing. Crystal followed reluctantly, looking over her shoulder at the house where the land line was. She really needed to get the call started. Caleb cleared his throat, to get her to turn back toward him. He turned to face the field, crouching down slightly. "It's a lot less dramatic when you're not," he paused to jump a little, shooting the crumpled up paper like a basketball. "Looking." He finished as runes began to light from the base of the field, unwinding and whisping away in the gentle breeze. The first ones started slowly, but like a field of dominoes, picked up speed until it was a veritable waterfall of runes glowing and unraveling.
An enormous, sleek black ship began to appear before her eyes, the curtain hiding it sloughing away from its hull. The lights in the clearing lit it up from underneath, causing the whale of a ship to shimmer in all its glory. It hovered like some kind of space age giant, a silently turning conveyor belt jutting from the aft. The large boxes were being loaded onto the belt; at the top, another team of three maneuvered them into place.
Crystal, wide-eyed, walked slowly toward the monstrosity. She crouched at its hull, leaning down and throwing a hand left and right underneath it. There was nothing holding it up. Nothing that she could see, anyway. Caleb came walking calmly up behind her, one hand in his trench coat, per the usual. The other was free, holding an unlit cigarette. "This is the largest skyship in Aitarra, and I would dare to say on Earth, as well. Fully fitted to comfortably hold a crew of 30, with plenty of food, soft couches, and every form of entertainment you could think of. If there's one thing you Earthlings do better, it's that. She's also the first Starship, with linked paneling, filter runes for the oxygen encased when we take off. Of course, there's all sorts of other runes. It took us a good year to transcribe the necessary ones. We've also fit her with clerical magic, auxiliary thrusters for increased speed, and an enhanced positioning system.
Crystal. Meet the Prism. First Class Aitarran Starship."
Crystal stood slowly, looking up the things gleaming plates. She looked down the full length of it, left and right, before meeting Caleb's eyes. "Kind of small for a team of 30."
Caleb was taken aback at her calm demeanor, then patted a series of runes transcribed in the shape of a door. "On the inside, it's approximately three of your fooseball fields stacked on top of each other."
"Football."
"Whatever. Spacial distortion runes see to the available space."
"Alright, but it's still not that impressive. Smoke and mirrors, Siegfried. Smoke and mirrors."
"Frustrating little," with a sigh, he motioned for one of the crew to come over and whispered something in his ear. When the girl nodded, he put a hand on Crystal's shoulder to keep her in place. The girl disappeared into the back of the ship, the conveyor rolling inside. The back slid closed soundlessly, white light appearing as the seam simply vanished. Then the Prism shot vertically skyward, dwindling into nothing even as they watched. No wind touseled her hair or moved Caleb's coat. It was just simply gone. Caleb leaned against a large crate with the words "R.J. Reynolds" stenciled on it, lighting the cigarette he'd been holding with that strange finger snap.
A few moments later, the ship shot back down just as quickly, stopping short of the ground without any more wind than there was before. As the back opened and the conveyor belt slid back out, Caleb came back up to her side, where she was standing stark still and ashen white. Reaching up, Caleb touched a rune at the base of the rectangular set of runes. A small stair case slid down as the runes flared and the area inside the markings simply vanished.
Once he'd climbed inside, Caleb turned. "We've got some preparations to make still. Put in your requests with any of the Magi around. They'll see to it that it's done. I assume you have some packing of your own to do?"
Crystal just stared up at him, forgetting herself for a moment. This couldn't be happening. Her world had just been flipped upside down, turned inside out, and jettisoned into the pit of the sun itself. Everything she knew, or thought she knew, was turning out to be false.
"Yeah." She muttered lamely. Suddenly, her world seemed very small.
Post Merge: April 30, 2016, 03:39:01 PM
For anyone reading along, the next chapter involves a brief discussion of Caleb's history, the rediscovery of runes, his part in it, and a brief though more in depth explanation and demonstration. Hope you're still enjoying it! Don't be afraid to comment! (and yes, I've seen the re-use of words and everything, but it's what I've talked about. First drafts to be edited later.
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