Day 36 - They gathered

They gathered 

Matthew Ryan Fischer

 

Wyatt was still shaken. A moment or an eternity ago he had been trapped in a prison cell and then suddenly he had been touched by the energy embodiment of the cosmos itself. Magic systems were based on energy – control, creation, transference. More so than any of his contemporaries, energy manipulation came natural to Wyatt – he didn’t need tools or spells or potions. His pride and ego would have told himself he could handle anything the universe might throw at him, but nothing could compare or prepare him for what he had just experienced. Ares called it the slipstream. Pure cosmic energy, the very fabric of reality. Ares landed, dropped Wyatt off and then stepped right back into the chaos. Wyatt wasn’t sure he’d ever be himself again, even as the memories began to fade. He was pretty sure he would feel something strange the rest of his days.

 

 

In a blink, more appeared, but Wyatt was too distressed to notice. Nestor had been in the stream before. Donnie seemed to be taking it well enough.

Nestor hugged his friend.

“I wasn’t sure I would ever see you again.”

“I could say the same about you. Who was your friend?”

“We have a lot to catch up on.”

“And where did he go? He was just here.”

“There are others to gather.”

Then they both noticed Wyatt.

“Who’s he?”

“I don’t know. But he doesn’t look very good.”

“No. He might be having an adverse reaction to the slip stream.”

“Slip what?”

“The ride we just took.”

 

 

Lou looked like he was going to vomit. Alex paced herself and planned ahead. Every scrap of paper held a small amount of magick energy and with every bite she cast a little spell. One of her spells was to protect herself from the pain and problems associated with eating too much paper. She would have told Lou her secret, but she knew he had no special powers and couldn’t cast a spell himself, and she didn’t want to make him feel worse than he was already feeling.

“You sure this is working?” he asked.

Dot Dot Dot, Dash Dash Dash, Dot Dot Dot, thought Alex.

“I can feel it. He sent me a message and I already sent him help.”

“How’s that?”

“Sort of like magick GPS. Wyatt is going to be fine.”

“What about Art?”

“I’m still working on it.”

The truth was Alex hadn’t felt Artemis for the better part of a day. If he was with Wyatt, he wasn’t putting off any energy at all. No aura, no chakra, no nothing. It didn’t necessarily mean anything bad yet, but it sure wasn’t good. Lou had embraced Artemis after Art’s father died, and Lou treated him like his own son. Alex didn’t want to scare him and certainly didn’t want the news, when there was some, to be bad. She bit her lip and silently used the energy from her latest scrap of paper to try and cast another location spell.

 

 

“So when did you learn to control paper?” asked Nestor.

“I wrote myself a note.”

“The paper?”

“The paper. I hated to waste a scrap, but if I hadn’t the Arsonists would have killed me.”

“But how? The legends of writing prophecy, or writing your own future? It was all true?”

“So it would seem.”

“And you still have the power? What else can you do?”

“It’s already starting to fade.”

Wyatt interrupted them. “There’s only so much energy in any particular item. You were able to tap it and use it, but the transference was likely quick. If you only had a scrap of paper, you only had a scrap of magick.”

“Can I ask who you are and why Ares brought you here?”

Wyatt stared at Nestor, studied him.

“Ares saved my life because someone I care about cared enough about me to mount a rescue. But more importantly, you asked who I am?”

“I did.”

“This is highly problematic because you and I know each other and have been working on a problem – The Historian has gone insane.”

Nestor and Donnie looked at each other, then back at Wyatt.

“That sounds like we’ve got a big problem.”

 

 

Wyatt turned to Artemis.

“I think I have an idea. You and I may or may not be trapped in sort of time contradiction created from the conflicts of battling timelines The Historian has been writing in his books. I don’t know when we are or where we are, but somewhere is a woman who loves me and as long as she hasn’t been written out of existence then I think we have a chance.”

“And how do we find out if she still exists.”

“I just have to send her a message.”

 

 

Elsewhere, in another time, in another place, Cassandra woke from a terrible nightmare. Something was wrong and she couldn’t help but think of Wyatt. Slowly she realized that it wasn’t a dream she had been having, but that someone had sent her a very important vision.

She had work to do, and she was going to need help.