Blue Nexus #43 - Home of Mages

            The jetpack roared in the distance, beyond the long stretch of grassland. Sandy stayed in her position, trying to keep the aura around her at a minimum. When using her magic properly, that was still a bit of an issue. Using it properly in general was still an issue, though.

            Sandy clenched in the tall strips of grass. She only had one shot at this before the criminal, whose name she didn’t know but was contacted to intercept, could get away and be forced to interrupt Kyle’s desperate attempt to catch up on studying for some midterm exam or something.

            She tried to think about school, or her friends there, or the lacrosse team she would definitely be the captain of with her new strengths. Not to think about everything she’d missed out on in the past month, or everything she almost ruined all by herself. A blood sacrifice in the middle of the school? Girl, what the hell were you thinking?

            The jetpack sputtered but was louder. She held the stone in her hand. It was about the size of a lacrosse ball. Sandy kept her head turned to face south, where the criminal was coming from. With her free hand she began to weave some magic over the stone so she could manipulate it. She may not have understood perfectly how her magic worked, but she knew that it was combat based. And if she used this rock for combat…well everything would just follow through, right?

            Her breathing steadied after she strained her concentration on it. Her focus on the stone was beginning to waver. The light from the magic would increase and the criminal would just veer away and be lost from her. Come on, kid. Concentrate. Con—

            Something very sharp rang in her ears. She felt like they would explode. Her hands began to shake and everything became dark around her. The light at her hands faded away. Sandy punched the ground, grasping the soil tightly in her hands.

            This is Earth. This is real. The darkness is only in your mind! Concentrate!

            The roaring was much louder. Sandy felt her body starting to convulse and the stone was starting to wither in her hand as her hand closed in around it. Her hands were glowing out of control and she felt her magic running through her veins like fire. Another presence arrived. Sandy cast the stone as hard as she could.

            There was no impact sound, and the roar settled over her before continuing north.

            Reality snapped back into place. The whistle of the grass from the jetpack rested in her ears. The night was still dark, but the stars and Moon allowed her to see once again. Her left hand was free of the stone but now had splotches of blood where she gripped just a little too hard. Sandy wavered back, falling down. Her breathing was normal again.

            Her house was the same model as Mira’s, and the two girls always thought their connection started there. When they were young, Mira approached Sandy because of this. They’d been friends ever since. Chasing boys, running from boys. Chasing dreams and running from homework. By the time they hit high school they thought they were over all of that and would start fresh. Middle school changed them both, but they remained true to their homes and themselves. They both knew they wanted to be in athletics, but went in different directions about it.

            Mira lived down the road from Sandy a good way, and often the two would use the middle ground as their exercising area; be it for running or just various sports they could play together. They were much closer to downtown than Kyle or Kip were, and school was always a quick walk for them.

            Sandy approached that same house now. It was worn down, foreclosed, and empty save for some roaches and spiders that no doubt found good fortune there. She went in it once after everything happened with Alucard to find it like this. Her parents moved away to avoid ever having to see the town that was ravaged by their daughter, whom they believed was at large.

            She remembered catching up with them. It wasn’t as painful as she thought it would be.

            “You’re in control now, sweetie?”

            “Yeah. Yeah I think I am. But I did all those terrible things. I hurt my friends, I nearly hurt everyone at school. I couldn’t control myself. I wasn’t…and yet I felt like I could be sometimes?”

            What could they possibly be thinking? To see their daughter with this strange new marking that apparently gave her magical abilities she’d used to hurt people, and to see her standing in front of them at a roadside gas station right before the highway that could take them away from Adelita and East City for good.

            “Then come with us, sweetie. Nobody knew where you were, the police were so busy, we thought…we’d thought the worst.”

            “I can’t go. I have to be here. I have to stay here to make up for what I’ve done. I want to use these powers, but I’m just afraid that I can’t.”

            They’d broken down, unsure of what to do. Sandy didn’t know either. She knew what she wanted, but she wasn’t sure where to start. Her home was gone.

            “You still have friends. Otherwise you—you might not be you right now. Find them. Ask them for what they would do. That’s where you start, sweetie.”

            “Do you know if they can help you? Do you know people li—like you?”
            “I do. I can find them, I can try. But I can’t be with you guys right now. I’ll find you when I have control, I’ll come home. I promise.”

            The house only had four rooms: a bathroom, a master bedroom, a bedroom, and a kitchen. The dining room was just the living space in between, but for the most part they ate out back. The door they had was different from Mira’s since it was glass. Sandy looked through to see the blank space that once was occupied by an old wooden dining room table her father swore they would get rid of one day.

            When she first got back home she saw it waiting by the side of the road to be picked up.

            She placed her hand on the doorknob and the tiredness kicked in. She was tired of all of it. The Combat magic, the crime-fighting, the nausea, the nightmares. She wanted to go home, but she didn’t have a home. She had a tree off the side of the road and an uncomfortable mattress in a back alley she had to sleep on sometimes if she wasn’t on patrol.

            Neither of which she could sleep at anyway. If she weren’t having a nightmare each time she tried to sleep she was painfully aware of the nightmares she’d created. That blood oath she took with Alucard was still in affect way past the point of extinction. It let her keep her magical abilities but also forced her to retain her memories from that point on.

            The memory of murdering Dr. Luna. Or the one of fighting Brenda and getting her ass whooped up and down the streets while Brenda was trying to save the world. Or the one where she killed two Abberants at her school and had to fight Kyle, who was unable to become Blue Nexus and was trying to stave off his own demonic powers from consuming him. And then all the times Alucard spoke with her.

            His cool voice that rang like steel against her memories now. He was charming and at the same time he was everything that a demon could be. He pitted her against his worst powers, knowing that she wouldn’t hold out for long. He gifted her, gifted her, with the Combat magic to use it for evil and to kill those she once thought she could help.

            And in all that time, the little girl new to the neighborhood just wanted to go home with her friends.

            She took her hand off the doorknob but didn’t turn around. A faint blue glow off the walls indicated who was there now.

            “I’m hoping you caught the guy?” she asked, facing the window still.

            “Came flying right at me,” Kyle, as the Blue Nexus, said. “Said something about a random rock almost ripping his head off and he was forced to come my way. Pretty easy from there.”

            “Sorry about that, then,” Sandy said. “I, uh, I don’t know what happened.”

            “I thought you had control over all of this, Sandy,” Kyle said. “You’ve been doing this for two weeks now and you didn’t want to ask for help?”

            “I already said sorry,” Sandy said, whipping around. “What’d you expect me to call in an intervention? Alucard was me for a good part of a month, Kyle, and you thought I would walk away from it just fine? Some of us don’t get to take a break from our powers and then suddenly find the will to walk back to it.”

            “Alucard messed me up pretty bad too. But I at least had someone help me get training to try and control the Demon powers.”

            “Why are you here?”

            “Because tonight you messed up and while it didn’t do anyone any harm, it could have if this were a different situation. If that’d been a super being flying by ready to destroy all of East City and your throw was the only thing stopping it, he would have kept going.”

            “That’s different, Kyle, and you know it.”

            “It’s not. You need help, Sandy.”         

            “So you’re just going to send me to your interdimensional death place to learn about it?”

            Kyle flinched. “No. I came here to tell you about a place that you once helped me find. They helped me learn about how I could help Brenda, and I bet they can help us right now. But you need to trust me.”

            Sandy raised her arms in desperation. “What choice do I have? Where the hell else am I supposed to go?”

            “Exactly,” Kyle said. He smiled. “I’m going to bring you home.”

            Brenda was fully on board with it all when Kyle pitched it to her. He was glad, though he knew that eventually he would have to get the three of them to Magus Forest. Brenda and Sandy would need to go to speak with the Grand Elder just to see if she could offer them any assistance and Kyle wanted to know what was up with the Demon powers residing within him.

            They decided to go a little before dawn, giving Kyle ample time to get back for school and then promptly fall asleep in all of his classes. The trio met at Sandy’s tree, where Kyle was surprised at first to see she had few belongings, but didn’t bring it up when he realized why. Instead, he just dodged it completely and asked Brenda to create a platform for Sandy so she could fly along with them.

            Kyle led the group, obviously. He tried to keep the speed down so that they wouldn’t make too much noise in the stilled morning sky. People around town could be grumpy already without being woken up early. Once they hit the highway, though, he hit the gas and Brenda followed.

            The fact that she could keep up even while carrying along another person amazed Kyle. He was getting much closer to full strength in the three days since his fight with Sandstorm, but Brenda was just on another level compared to him. They’d always been equals in terms of ability, Kyle knew, but now he was definitely playing catch-up with her.

            They entered a long stretch of nothing but plain until a small forest appeared on the horizon. Kyle pointed at it and the three of them began their descent. He landed just outside where the barrier was that tried to force him out last time, and Brenda and Sandy landed next to him simultaneously.

            His stomach made a small jump. Now that he had magical powers in him the barrier wouldn’t try to force him out, but his worry was with the powers themselves. The powers of a Demon mage were probably not the ones people thought fondly of. The two girls looked at him, Brenda even gesturing at the forest. Kyle suppressed a sigh and walked toward the shadowy woods first.

            Here we go.

            He passed through the barrier with no problem and Sandy and Brenda did the same. The forest suddenly seemed to expand as it had last time, looking much larger from the inside than out. Deception magic, probably, Kyle figured. He looked around at some of the taller trees and the closed-in areas. Would those guards come at them like they did last time, or would they be able to pass through to the village unharmed? Last time it was only because a regular person came in, and this time that person was a Demon mage.

            “There’s so much latent magic here,” Brenda said. “It’s almost as if I’m breathing it in.”

            “It’s overwhelming,” Sandy said. She looked all around her, gazing at the tall, full trees. Kyle couldn’t hide his smile this time.

            The forest opened up and revealed the village. It seemed that it grew a little bit since the month and a half that Kyle came looking for help for Brenda. The area in the center was larger and there were a few more people walking around rather than staying in their huts. Nobody was using their magic, and most were just chatting or carrying something else around.

            The Grand Elder’s hut was the same, though, with two men posted outside of it. The three mages walked into the village, where the Sun shone down upon them. Some of the villagers stopped and turned to look at the new arrivals before continuing on.

            Kyle approached the hut first, hoping that he would be recognized. The two guards didn’t even bother when he stepped inside, moving the flap away from the doorway. Brenda and Sandy followed just behind him.

            The Grand Elder was facing them. She looked just as aged as last time, but was sitting cross-legged and managed to keep her back completely straight. Her arms were folded on her lap in front of her and she was breathing in rhythm to something. Kyle stepped on something with a crack but it didn’t break her concentration.

            He looked to Brenda and Sandy, who shrugged at him. He shrugged back and sat down in front of the Grand Elder and the girls did the same next to him. The Grand Elder smiled, and slowly opened her eyes. This time they were grey, neutral of any other color.

            “Welcome back, Nexus wielder,” the Grand Elder said. “Now a Demon mage, I feel?”

            “That’s right,” Kyle said. He grimaced.

            “And you, my red dear, must be the one he had my help in saving,” the Grand Elder said, turning to Brenda. Brenda smiled and nodded. “Then that leaves you. Sandra, correct? A Combat mage, very feisty and fun indeed.”

            Sandy’s face turned red and she nodded to the Grand Elder as well. “Yes, uh, Grand Elder. A Combat mage, though I don’t really have a grasp on my power.”

            “Because it isn’t really your power yet,” the Grand Elder said. “You were given this power from someone else and haven’t had the chance to make it yours.”

            Sandy nodded.

            “Are you afraid of it, Sandra?”

            “Not the power. The giver.”

            “The giver is dead, destroyed by your friends. You fear the nightmares, and I understand. When we are all given new power, we’re either afraid of controlling it or afraid to lose it. Most who are evil fall into that second category, but you, Sandra, are good. You have done nothing but good in the days that you have truly used this power. We of the forest feel sympathy for your plight, for you are not alone in it.”

            “How so?” asked Brenda.

            “Alucard, may he rot in his grave, opened up your world once again to an era of magic,” the Grand Elder said. “He was subtle in his ways, but you, Nexus wielder, saw the extent by which he could manipulate. That monster in the far north?”

            Kyle remembered it clear as day. He remembered even more the people whose lives were lost because of that tether Alucard forced between them.

            “When Alucard was destroyed his magic was spread around the world,” the Grand Elder said. “You, Sandra, would not have noticed it because you were already affected. Shindari—correct?—would not feel these affects because of her Shield magic. And you, Nexus wielder, would not feel these effects because you were simply unconscious. Though you are already tainted by another magic.”

            Now it was Kyle’s turn to nod at the Grand Elder. The old woman smiled at him nonetheless.

            “It’s you who should also be with Sandra now, but I understand why you cannot. And you too, Shindari. You are both great protectors of this world and are it’s sworn defenders. Plus, with the rising mages, we will need more eyes capable of sensing those who have awoken this power. But Sandra, you are also a defender of Earth?”

            “Yes, Grand Elder, but lately I’ve can’t seem to shake my, I don’t know what word to use…uh, feelings? Like I just get this overwhelming darkness and I freeze.”

            “Child, that is a natural part of what Alucard did to you. It will pass, and here, we can make it pass even quicker.”

            “Then I want to stay here,” Sandy said firmly. She sat up straight. “I want to live here, to make my home here, so that I can get rid of these stupid nightmares and finally help people to the best of my ability.”

            “We make few warriors here,” the Grand Elder said. “But of the little we have, I can tell you shall be a fine example to them all. Outside you’ll meet one of my helpers, Jean. He can escort you to where you’ll be staying.”

            Sandy stood right up. Kyle, surprised, stood up as well. Sandy hesitated, then leapt into Kyle’s arms for a tight hug.

            “Thank you,” she said. Kyle hugged her back tightly as well, his smile touching hers.

            She pulled away and kissed him on the cheek before hugging Brenda as well. She jogged out of the tent, nearly pulling away the flap of the hut as she did.

            The Grand Elder looked at Kyle, then flicked her gaze at Brenda. Brenda noticed, and her face turned red as her hair.

            “Oh, um, Grand Elder, if you could excuse me I would like to have a look around the village,” Brenda said.

            “You’re excused, dear,” the Grand Elder said.

            Brenda hurried out of the tent. Kyle sat back down, sitting right across from the Grand Elder. His arm was throbbing, now, but it wasn’t painful.

            “Who gave you this power?” asked the Grand Elder.

            “A man named Jericho in the Nether,” Kyle said. “It was the only way that I could escape with my soul somewhat intact.”

            “That’s not what the tremors of power told me,” the Grand Elder said. “The Nexus keeps it in check, but without it, you went out of control. Even in her own out of control state, Sandra would not be able to match that Demon power inside you. There are few that strong, Nexus wielder, and it’s unnatural that a young mage like you would have so much power.”

            “It came from the Nether,” Kyle said. “Of course it’s unnatural.”

            “No, the problem is that it’s completely natural,” the Grand Elder said. “The Nether is where Demon magic first arose. It leaked into our world through two beings and was used as a device for evil, creating monsters in our world during ancient times long before any would be able to remember. Alucard was not the first to come across this power.”

            “But I have it under control,” Kyle said.

            “It wants to break out,” the Grand Elder said. “If it does, I may have no little choice but to call you my enemy, Nexus wielder. Someone with your abilities is not a protector. They’re the threat we place our barriers against.”

            “Can you help me, then? To keep it locked up?”

            “Much like Sandra’s, these powers were indeed given to you but you’ve wrestled with them far too long for me to do anything that wouldn’t involve just going back to the beginning. I’m afraid that I can only provide some guidance, but nothing to directly influence the magic.”

            “Wonderful.”

            Sandy was long gone by the time Brenda and Kyle met back up outside the Grand Elder’s hut. Kyle was hoping to leave with some sense of reassurance that Sandy would be okay, not necessarily the bad taste of “be a Demon mage and get your ass whooped.” Still, Brenda seemed happy to be there. There was far more magic within the village, she said, and she could sense the six different types quite vibrantly.

            They remained quiet on the way out of the forest. Brenda would often wander away from Kyle to examine a tree here and there or just to soak in the feeling of all the magic. Kyle wondered when, or if, he would ever be able to sense this energy like Brenda could. It looked lovely, though by the same hand if there were to be an explosion of mages he would go on sense-overload and that would be a serious distraction during a test.

            The Sun was starting to rise over the forest when they left, looking like a big orange ball on the plain poking over the horizon. The morning dew was starting to rise, though not before soaking Kyle’s boots and almost freezing his feet.

            “Where are you headed?” asked Kyle.

            Brenda emerged from the forest behind him. She shrugged. “Not sure. Wasn’t given any assignments from someone so I may just go up to the base and—”

            She stopped as Kyle tensed up. “You feel that as well?” Kyle asked.

            “It’s strong…and it’s not alone,” Brenda said.

            Something zipped over the grassland and the two dodged out of the way of four laser beams deflecting off of the barrier. Kyle held his lance in his hand as he came out of his roll.

            In front of him, two large alien-looking creatures stood with large rifles in their hands. They were at least eight feet tall and very muscular. They looked as if they wore some sort of spacesuit-tech, but it was also armor and probably a bit of padding. Their mouths were like snouts, too and they had large eyes.

            “They said we would find you here,” the one on the left said. “Perfect timing, too.”

            “Oh, great, I love it when the bad guys are vague,” Kyle said. “I assume you’re not here for the forest, then?”

            “I was just told to find and kill you, so not really,” the same alien said. He raised his rifle. “So that’s just what I’m gonna do.”

            Kyle held his lance closer, anticipating one or the other shooting at him. Brenda’s hands were already red and she was braced with her magic, too.

            “Hey, you two!” someone shouted above. The four of them looked up. A young man on a small hovering square, which also looked alien, pointed down at them all. “You leave them alone, they’re all mine!”

            Oh, great, now this guy thinks he can take the two of us by himself, Kyle thought. He smiled. Bring it.

            The boy jumped off the platform, soaring into the air, and landed gracefully between Kyle and Brenda. He unsheathed the two scimitars on his back faster then Kyle could see and had one in a reverse grip instinctively.

            “I’ll handle these guys, and hopefully one of them can tell me just how the hell I wound up three thousand years in the past,” he said.  

Next time: The boy from the future squares off against these rogues from his time, and Kyle is forced into this mystery of figuring out how to get him home, and who sent him back, in "Blue Nexus #44 - The Future, Man!"