A Jaded Life

“Jonas, Murray, what do you two think about those three? And their tower?” Jack asked his two comrades, uncertain if he should include their other two team members. Usually, he would have asked Sam for her opinion, as he greatly respected the woman’s toughness and incredible brilliance, to say nothing about her other wonderful attributes, but this once, he wasn’t sure if he could trust her to be objective. Both she and Daniel had been drawn in far too quickly for comfort, the lure of lessons in their chosen crafts apparently a siren’s song they just could not resist. And whether that song would lure them into their demise was questionable, Jack certainly wasn’t about to unquestioningly trust those three people whose power was only equalled by their peculiarity.

That was why he had negotiated an agreement that would place Jonas, Murray and himself in close proximity to their tower, allowing them to keep an eye on their two companions and hopefully intervene if the relationship between them and the three weirdos deteriorated. Or turned into something more predatory, though that seemed to be already happening if the interactions between Sam and that Carnelia were any indication. A small voice, somewhere deep within the back of his mind, questioned if his motives were truly as altruistic and borne from worry for his friend and not from something more possessive. If the reason why he didn’t want to have the young, and admittedly powerful, woman be near Sam was because he, himself, wanted to be in that close, maybe even intimate, position with Sam. Only, he couldn’t teach Sam about Alchemy, he barely understood what it was in the first place and even if he knew more, he had long accepted that Sam was smarter than him. Even if it occasionally burned his ego.

“They seem to be… interesting,” Jonas admitted, “I’m not sure what to make of them, they certainly have power in spades but I’m uncertain about the usage of that power. So far, we have seen that they readily built themself a monument, a symbol of their own power and maybe even superiority, though the tower might stem from some other impulse. If that Jade was a guy, I would call the tower a giant phallic symbol and make jokes about the need to compensate but given that she’s not…” he paused, shrugging in uncertainty, “I just don’t know. We’ll have to see what else they do and what they’re willing to teach Sam and Daniel.”

“Indeed,” Murray spoke, his voice stoic as usual, “Their power is unquestionable, something we simply cannot contend with easily. And the only things we have seen thus far are those they want us to see. I doubt they were unaware that their tower would be akin to a beacon, allowing all those in a large area to see it and be drawn. The bright, shining light made sure of it. You might say, they built a shining city upon a hill, even if their city is only composed of one building.”

“You mean to say that they didn’t build that tower for themselves but for other people? To see what is possible and aspire to become something more and take back the world or something along those lines? An example and a beacon to guide the way of those watching, in a fairly literal sense?” Jonas asked, his mind racing at the implications. There was a certain logic to it and it would explain why the walls on the ground floor were apparently the equivalent of a library, allowing Sam and Daniel to recognise important lessons in their respective arcane crafts immediately. In some ways, it fit with their other information, especially if one considered that one of them, most likely Jade, had to hold a legacy, though that didn’t explain why the two daughters had their own inhumane features.

So far, the only people with such features were those who had a legacy, though there was an incredibly remote possibility that Luna, the younger of the two teenagers, was human. Only those silver eyes, alight with an internal glow, spoke of something else but those might come from some ability or trait or something like that. Not necessarily the sign of a legacy.

Carnelia, on the other hand, couldn’t be considered human. The solidly red orbs of her eyes, the strangely leathery skin, visible even from a distance, to say nothing of the sharp claws and wicked teeth, all of those spoke of some form of predator, certainly not of a human.

Jack, hearing that idea, was even more conflicted. On one hand, it was a good thing if these people were only interested in the continued advancement of the people around them by giving them a, literally, shining example of what was possible. On the other hand, it didn’t fit with the behaviour exhibited by Carnelia. Additionally, there was that uncomfortably, squirming sensation sitting deep within his gut, warning him of what might be happening here. It might be nothing, just a figment of his imagination, but his instincts had saved his life before, he wasn’t about to discard them without need.

“We should talk to Weir and Hammond, they might have heard something about those three before this mess started,” Jonas suggested, knowing that Jack was prone to striking out on his own, without concerning himself with the opinions of others. Hopefully, the two legacies would be able to give them some additional information about the people they were dealing with.

It didn’t take long to find Weir. As almost always, the older redhead was working on one of her projects, directing people and using her abilities to bolster their efforts. It was a fascinating process to observe, those receiving the benefit of her tricks had a certain grace and, for lack of a better term, a smoothness to their actions that made it a joy to watch. It also didn’t hurt that they were accomplishing double the work those without the benefits did in the same time while expending less energy. All in all, there was a reason why nobody complained about the slight discomfort that came with allowing somebody to influence their minds and bodies, if only in a coordinating fashion as Weir did.

“Jack, what ails your spirit?” the older woman asked, her voice calm but with a melodic quality that made listening to her a joy. “And where are your other two companions, I doubt you left them behind somewhere.”

“No, they’re getting some additional supplies and talk to Madison in scheduling. We came across… something,” he paused, gathering his thoughts to explain while Weir was waiting patiently, knowing that trying to hurry him up would only backfire. “An opportunity, that’s for sure, but, you know that proverb about a crisis being a mix of danger with an opportunity?” he started to ramble, getting an amused smile from her, “Well, it feels like that, it might be an incredible opportunity or it might be lethal danger and I’m not sure which it is.”

“Maybe you should give me some details. That way, I can give you my opinion and we go from there, what do you think?” Weir asked, the smile getting just a little wider as her amusement became more genuine.

“Well, you’ve seen that glowing eye across the mountain, right?” Jack asked, getting a nod. Everybody had seen the thing, it was nearly impossible to miss. If not for the fairly strict scheduling, more than his own group would have gone there but thankfully, the schedule prohibited some of that.

“We went there, checked it out. And we met Jade,” he explained, getting a look of incomprehension from her, until he recalled the full introduction the woman had given, “Jade Morgana, I think she called herself, or The Pale Lady, you could easily hear the capital letters in that title,” he added, and those words had a remarkable effect on the usually completely composed Weir.

“Oh, dear,” she muttered, barely keeping enough focus to retain the technique used to support the workers, “If it is the Morgana I’m thinking about you are right, danger and opportunity describe it perfectly. Tell me, was she incredibly petite, with pale, blue skin, occasionally glowing eyes and black hair that held countless glimmering motes of multi-coloured light?” she asked, getting nods from all three men.

“Well, damn,” she muttered, ignorant of the wide eyes the soft curse coming from the usually perfectly composed woman drew, “Morgana, as she was known during Road to Purgatory, might have been the most divisive player, Traveller, of us all. Barely a week went by without Pantheon Entertainment showing off some of her actions, even if most of what she did was seen as an example of the freedoms, or rather the lack of limits, we all enjoyed. After all, who is insane enough to dissect people while they are still alive, or experiment with some strange magic on them, only to cause them to explode in a shower of gore? If it was some game where you are sitting behind a screen and press a button to experiment, okay, I could see it. But you need to remember, Road to Purgatory was as immersive as our new real world is,” she paused, looking at the three in turn, “You need to remember that Morgana was perfectly willing to have rivers of warm blood run down her hands as she cut people apart. But you should also remember that she was, by far, the strongest spellcaster amongst the Travellers, with nobody coming close to the magnitude of power she managed to achieve,” she let out a sigh, looking into the distance, “I’ll have to talk with Maggy, she’ll want to know about this.”