Shard-Strike Universe created by Au Goose
Written by HarmonyMotion with Au Goose
Edited by Au Goose
Chapter 1
"Today is October 30th, and with a year between us and the Shard-Storm, folks are looking forward to getting back to normal. Though some academics are warning that strange phenomena could increase during this, the most spoooo-oooky time of the year. Mayor Bhasin is urging all parents to be especially vigilant this year if you are taking your children out for trick or treating. Police will be performing extra neighborhood patrols until 3AM and our own Los Angeles heroes, the Golden Guard will be on standby if there's any paranatural threats..."
"Boring. Magic most divine, change to channel nine!" Melody sing-songed.
Her modest flatscreen flickered as she continued to brew her potion in a little black cast iron, stirring the nasty-looking brew with an electric hand mixer. She had it on the lowest setting, doing her best to follow Auntie Eunji's secret recipe. One she'd found in the tome which she had inherited the day the world caught fire.
Before the firestorm...
Auntie Eunji was a crazy old bat. Everyone said so. But family was family, after all. The three Park sisters, Melody, Helen, and Jane, often went to visit Eunji in her decrepit studio. Their crazy maybe-Wiccan maybe-who-knows-what aunt had refused to go anywhere else, repeatedly claiming that 'the leylines were strongest there!'
Eunji had grown more and more erratic the longer she isolated herself. She was always telling stories about witchcraft to the girls when they were children, but what their family thought was merely entertaining fairytales grew more zealous as time went on.
Helen, the oldest, insisted on going, calling it a familial duty. And because she was the eldest, Melody and Jane had to respect her wishes. Their mother approved. Helen would make a good wife and mother someday.
Jane, overachiever that she was, despised having her time wasted on mystical mumbo jumbo. She just wanted to study, do her homework, and practice violin.
But Melody... Melody was truly fascinated by Auntie Eunji's tales. And their Auntie latched onto her like a drowning person gasping for air. Finally, someone in the family who had an interest in things not easily seen!
The family didn't stop visiting, but Jane and Helen soon brought their own activities to entertain themselves at the old study, while Melody hung on Eunji's every word. A period of upheaval was coming, she'd whisper conspiratorially to her only student. Melody had to be ready. Had to study the art of potion brewing, hex recitation, that kind of stuff.
The old lady became more and more frenzied over the years. While the rest of her family became more reluctant to visit, Melody always went without reservation. Her presence brought Auntie Eunji some comfort, she insisted. Her parents grew more nervous, but they wouldn't deny the strange woman that.
Only looking back did Melody piece the whole timeline together.
Auntie Eunji passed away on the very first day of the Shard-Storm. And... it sure seemed like she had known it was coming. They found her body on the floor, lying on its side within a large hexagram inscribed in a circle drawn from chalk. In between her hands was a picture of Melody. Neatly printed on the back of the photo: "My time has passed. Your time is now."
Melody received Auntie's heirloom tome. Helen tried to suppress a snicker, but failed. Jane did not try to suppress it. They also received a few items from their aunt's estate, as per her wishes, but they were simple tokens. A bit of art, a few other belongings that were surprisingly appropriate. Even Jane cried when she received the chair she'd taken to curling up in during their many visits. Eunji had let her be, but she had clearly noticed Jane's fondness for it.
They were each grieving in their own way, and the news was full of fire and monsters and maybe superheroes. Many of their friends called the sudden lightning strikes that were sweeping away the old safe and boring world a hoax. A gigantic, synchronized hoax. Maybe one organized by anonymous members of an internet site.
But by the end of that long, terrifying week, there was no denying it: superpowers were a part of the world now.
But only Melody knew magic had come back too.
Chapter 1 (cont.)
So Melody studied, diligently, every day since she'd received her Aunt's treasure.
It turned out that witching was hard work. Rhyming couplets were the source of a witch's spontaneous power. Being tongue tied or distracted in the heat of the moment usually spelled a witch's doom.
Pages upon pages of common rhymes filled well over a third of the manual. Perhaps that was why the mean girls in school held so much power over others. They always knew just how to twist someone's name or something they said into a brutally mocking caricature.
The more powerful the spell, the more lines required. She committed pages of the stuff to memory, like a multiplication chart. Who knew, in this new and dangerous world, when she might need to call upon it?
A black cat sat on the inside of her windowsill, hissing and clawing at a dead raven on the other side of the glass. There were flies on its rotting corpse.
"Noir, what is it, baby?" Melody walked over to examine. "Oh, gross!"
Noir hissed even louder and ran away as Melody grabbed a disposable wooden chopstick, opened the window, and gingerly pushed the carcass off.
Shuddering in disgust, she threw the stick away and turned on the TV.
"Channel Nine News, Sophia Gomez reporting. Five masked men, dressed in brown military uniforms with red armbands depicting swastikas, entered an all-female school via paranatural portal. As most of our viewers know, women are statistically far more likely to gain powers in the aftermath of a shard-strike. Authorities suspect the crime is gender hate crime related.
Thankfully, Marathon arrived on the scene before any harm was done! The iconic superhero is truly a miracle--not only one of the most powerful beings the world has ever seen, but he is male!
The city's champion suffered minor injuries: a few gunshots to his arms, one to his torso. But after subduing all five of these self-declared Nazis, the bullet wounds were already healing by the time he gave an after-action interview.
This has been Sophia Gomez, reporting live for CNN."
Melody didn't watch the footage, but she only needed her imagination to see Marathon in her mind's eye. Despite being born second generation to Korean-American parents, they were still quite traditional. She imagined bringing home a rugged, lean, white man, face adorned with a scraggly five o'clock shadow, him towering over her by a full foot, and introducing him to her parents.
They would probably freak! Well, it would serve Helen right for demanding that she find a boyfriend and settle down. She could be just as insufferable as their parents about it.
The pleasant daydream quickly brought her back to reality. Melody just could not land a good date! So many of the men were too intimidated by a confident woman. Especially one as beautiful as she.
...And who could turn them into a toad if they got too grabby. Not that she would ever admit it publicly.
Still, she just needed to find a man she was interested in. And with the scheme she was brewing, it would definitely be a good date. A perfect date, even.
