The Magus Chronicles

Authors note: The characters, places, names, and such are not to be used, copied, or such actions without the permission from the author. Any places, names, descriptions of real life people, places, and such is pure coincidental. Much effort has been placed in keeping everything in this series very original as possible. This story contains, scenes of sex, violence, and use of magic. Let it be noted that all characters engaging in sexual activities are of legal age of consent. Thanks for everyone who's taking the time to read my work. Hope you enjoy this chapter.

CH.3

Jack had quite a bit of free time on his hands. When not doing physical therapy, he was making his rounds visiting his random group friends. He wished he was well enough to partake in the LARP gatherings but was happy he could at least watch them. Jessica had got him an awesome new cane that was actually a sword cane. The blade was twenty-two inches of forged Damascus metal with a full tang going through the handle. The sheath was made of dark, blackish-blue-painted wood with navy blue decorative painted designs trimmed with darkened, silvery metal. The handle was of the same wood with faces and swirl designs carved in. The symbol of the handle was a set of bird talons holding a large blue pearl. He watched Jessica shoot an enemy target, and while charging, draw her swords and take down two others with precision strikes to vitals, forcing all three to give up and withdraw from the game. They used real weapons, shields, and armor, but the edges weren't sharpened. Jack missed the action. They walked over and sat down at the far side of the benches that were set up for the noncombatants. Jack looked down at his feet and saw Jessica's sketch pad sticking out of her backpack. Jack looks up and sees that she's already stalking another prey.

Jack pulls out her pad and flips through it. He sees sketches for potential school projects she would like to do. He sees robotic designs that he thought would go well in the robotic fighting television show. He sees some chemical compound formulas that he had no idea what they produced. On another page he sees a cartoon-style portrait of himself in the midst of being worked on. Her art skills were spectacular. If she didn't make it in her chosen field, she could fall back on doing artwork. He closes and replaces the art pad and begins to need to go back and get some rest. The pain had begun to build up past his tolerance point, and he needed to go take his medication. He had his medication, just nothing to wash it down with. He'd decided to wait till he got home to take the pills, as dry swallowing pills tasted nasty, and they went down easier with something to drink.

His apartment was only blocks from the park they were at. He bids his farewell, supports himself on his cane, and begins his walk home. The sun had already begun to set and was making its way down behind the mountain ridge off in the distance. Shadows began to swallow the land, and the cool chill of the day began to turn cold as night began to set in. Jack's breath blew steam out of his mouth as he zipped his jacket up tight. After slipping on his gloves, he pulled his hood over his head to break some of the wind that began to pick up. He hoped that he had remembered to set the thermostat in his apartment.

He'd been hobbling along for a bit when he felt his hairs begin to stick up on his neck. He felt a chill run down his spine as he heard the snarl and hiss of something like he hadn't heard before coming from the shadows. The shadows began to stretch out from the blackness the sound was coming from. He could hear the splats of liquid hitting something solid. He could hear scraping noises following the pattering of what he thought might be steps being taken. He could make out the sounds of something dragging and knocking stuff that was being collided with. The sounds suddenly stopped, and Jack could barely make out the light sounds of something sniffing deeply. A strange, eerie, high-pitched, strained voice speaks out in a horrible voice that had horrible grammar. "Prey we smell. Prey will feed us. To feed us, prey must die!" The voice stops, and a growl begins.

A demon about four and a half feet tall emerges from the shadows, and Jack sees that the dragging noises were caused by the demon's two broken wings that were hanging off its back. The demon is in a copper brown color. Its body looked like it'd been in a fight. It was cut up quite a bit and had blood dripping off its body. Its tail and left arm look to have been cut off recently, as it has a bleeding stub on its left shoulder and is swinging off its backside between its broken wings. Its right eye was missing, and the monster over-exaggerated the movement of its head while looking around with its one remaining eye.

Jack panics and is frozen in fear. He tells himself mentally that it must be a dream. "Come on, Jack, wake up. This is a dream. This has to be a dream." Jack mutters to himself in a whisper. The demon steps closer and closer in Jack's direction. Jack knew he couldn't run away in his condition. Jack laughed at himself. "Sure, yeah, let's run and fall down two feet away. What to do? What to do?" Jack said, talking to himself. Jack looks down at his cane and tries to get a good footing to try and keep himself from falling without the support of his cane. He draws the blade from the sheath. "Whoever you are, and whatever you did, I don't care. Just go away and leave me be. I don't want to have to fight you." Jack tries to muster courage in his shaking voice.

The demon laughed and then coughed up some blood. It must have some internal bleeding, Jack thought to himself. The demon moved closer towards Jack, and that caused Jack to try and limp himself away from the demon. It was nearly thirty feet from Jack, and suddenly it sprang forward up into the air as it jumped at Jack. The monster was now flying through the air towards Jack. Jack had some options. Fall to the ground sideways, and the demon would possibly overshoot him. The next option was to raise and swing his sword, hopefully finishing off the creature, its claws reaching out for him as it got closer. Jack steps to the side, and he can feel his weight shift. He hears the splash of a puddle, and he loses his balance and begins falling. Jack thinks to himself that if he hit the ground without killing this beast, his life would be over. Mustering all of his strength, he clutches his blade and swings the blade upwards to slice. He feels the blade cutting through the flesh, muscle, and then bone of the demon's neck. Past the bone, the blade frees up and slices out the backside of the neck.

Jack lands on the ground and hits the back of his head on the curb of the raised sidewalk. The pain begins to set in. He hears the clank of metal hitting. Jack, lying in the puddle, sees the monster's corpse lying on the ground some feet away from him and the head lying a little bit further. Darkness begins to set in for Jack's vision as he fades into unconsciousness again. "Not again," Jack says as his visions vanish. Fortunately for Jack, he was found twenty minutes later. A young mother pushing her three-month-old home came across Jack sprawled out on the road. She sees a car coming towards Jack and quickly locks the stroller and drags Jack onto the sidewalk and picks up his cane that was now back together and starts tapping Jack's face, telling him to wake up, which eventually brings him back around. "Ouch!! My head hurts! What happened?" Jack cries out, rubbing the back of his head. Jack's headache is quickly compounded by jolts of agonizing pain in his arm and leg. Jack pulls out his medicine, takes a dose, and asks the lady if she has something to wash the pills down with.

After swallowing some of the water she'd given him, she asks him why he was on the ground. "Did you fall? Do I need to call the medics?" the woman asks. Jack feels his back pocket and feels his wallet. "No, I don't think I was mugged. My wallet is still in my zipped-up pocket. I think a monster..." Jack started to say as he looked around but didn't see the creature he thought he had killed. "Umm, I believe I might have slipped in the puddle.". Jack said, looking at the ground and seeing his shoes and pants were wet. Jack gets to getting ready to head home. "Thank you, ma'am, for assisting me; I might need to get your little one home out of this cold. Good night," Jack says as he bids his goodbye.

As he walked home, he questioned his memory of the monster. Was his mind remembering things correctly? Or was he beginning to have delusional memories? The temperature had dropped greatly, and Jack was shivering by the time he got to the apartment. Jack was soaking in the tub when he began to hear the neighboring apartment next to him begin to have a heated argument. "Ugh, I really need to find a house and get away from all this nonsense." Jack said as he slipped down under the heated water. Things were quiet and normal for Jack for a few months. It was the end of February, and the nicer weather began to arrive.

One day he was out walking, getting his exercise, enjoying the fair weather, and wasn't really paying attention to the time. It was early morning, and he had nothing to do besides stop off and get groceries and visit friends. He grabbed his water bottles and went walking. After a few hours, he eventually found himself out at the edge of town when he felt a pulling sensation to turn down a road called Old Mystic Meadow Woods Loop. He walked for a few hours, often having to stop and rest. He shouldn't be pushing himself this hard, but something was making him keep going as if something was calling him. The road looked old and not well maintained. The road brought him towards the mountains. The woods got thicker, and after a while he came upon a huge, mostly enclosed valley area. Three quarters of the valley area had large hills with thick trees. The roadway became lined with a wall of some tall evergreen trees. He could see something of a view behind the trees.

Pushing through the trees and looking past the evergreen trees, the enclosed valley had some large, strange trees within the three hill slopes mixed in with the American beech trees, black oaks, Kentucky coffee, pines, oaks, and fir trees that he saw and could recognize from memory. These strange trees were taller than pine trees, but they were thick and shaped like oak trees atop the shaft of the trunk that went up thirty feet. The dark brown tree trunks had white birch tree-like streaks throughout the trunks, bark, and limbs of the trees, kind of like tiger stripes. The leaves were dark green with dark purple edges. The grass was a bright, rich green color. The trees had various glowing beans of various colors growing in these weird pods. The ground had moss-covered boulders, various plants, and strange mushrooms scattered all over the area.

Looking down at the base of one of the trees, he sees a patch of strange pearl white with blue-tipped flowers. He snaps some pictures of them as he sees many other patches near other trees. There was a lot of something that he could feel around him. Jack could feel an energy charge in the air. Jack came to an intersection in the road. To his left a road cut off towards the hills, and the road he was on continued down and curved off to the right a ways down. The sensation was pulling him down the cobblestone road to the left. He sees two eighteen-foot-tall monument signs made of stone and concrete that were greatly overgrown and had a lot of grime that stood on each side of the road. There was some sort of image under the growth and grime, but he couldn't tell what it was.

Looking up, he sees the road sign. The road sign said the road was called Kings Meadow Road. He felt a pull to go down the old, overgrown cobblestone road. He looked at the time, and he'd been walking for two and a half hours so far. He hadn't seen any neighboring properties or houses. No vehicles seem to come down these roads as well. To the side of the road, there's an old, faded for sale sign that was slightly hidden. The company was still around because Jack saw their commercials on television while in the hospital. He followed the path to a two-and-a-half-story stone Victorian-era-looking structure that had an iron portcullis that was closed but had partly opened double wood and iron doors behind it. Several large trees had fallen against the building, blocking the view to anywhere else on either side. Jack got a vibe he was being watched but couldn't see anyone.

Through the branches of one tree, Jack sees a knight-looking statue made of a dark coal and silver metal of some sort. Almost all of it was covered with growth and grime from being in the weather. It stood about nine feet tall and looked very menacing. In the center of the chestplate, an empty socket could be seen. To the side, under one hand, was a large sword with runes carved along the blade. On the other hand, a large shield. Above the doorway frame, a sign stated the name Preamwood estate. Jack feels something calling for him from inside. Reading the name Preamwood caused Jack to get a feeling of déjà vu, like he'd heard the name before. "Where had I heard that name? It's like it is right on the tip of my tongue." Jack said, trying to remember. To the side of the portcullis, another locked ten-foot-tall door.

Jack wished he could see more but is unable to at the moment. He starts to walk back home and calls the real estate broker while he walks. He gets the numbers off the mailbox and the sign. The broker finally answered, and when he was asked about the property, he pulled up the files. I was shocked to find that it was listed as being forty-two thousand eight hundred and ninety-seven acres of zoned, forested agricultural land listed for three million sixteen thousand and two hundred and thirty dollars. Jack tells him that there must be a mistake of some sort because there's no way that much land could go for so cheap. The voice on the other side agreed but said that it is under a legally binding contract at that price. They said that there was also three million in fees and applicable taxes to add in. Jack tells him he would be by in the morning to start the process.

The person on the phone asked. "Don't you want to view the property before buying? I'd be kind of interested in seeing the property for the first time myself." The agent stated. Jack said he wanted it regardless of the state of the house. He said he could build a new house if need be. Jack looks up the average cost of property and is shocked at how cheap he is getting the property. Jacked looked up other property costs, and after averaging the cost of an acre, he was paying pennies compared to what others were costing, as other lands were costing around five to seven thousand dollars per acre. "I'd be a damn fool to pass up such a sweet offer. I wonder why it hasn't been bought before now." Jack said as he walked home. The agent said that was a good question and didn't know the answer. But he'd definitely have to look into it. Jack hung up and focused on getting back to town. "This is going to be a long walk." Jack said.

Jack had walked back into town, and as he walked, he saw a tattered, homeless, and strangely dressed woman with three bone-like horns coming through her dark silver hair under her large hood; her arms and hands had scales, and claws peeked from her long, loose sleeves. She carried a large book with her as she was watching the ground as she was coming towards him. He chuckles to himself, thinking that her cosplay looked awesome. He locks eyes with her as she looks up, and Jack feels time stop again. He sees her eyes flash pink like Jessica's and Kendra's had done, and a pink and red butterfly flutters from her to him. He felt the same sensation as before in his chest. He had no idea why this was happening. Time started again as she gasped and quickly pulled a scarf up over her face with her free hand while darting quickly into the alley before her.

He gets to the alley and finds nothing. The alley was a dead end with no exits. "Is my mind playing tricks on me again?" Jack said as he looked around, finding nothing to say where the woman had gone. The alley was covered, so she couldn't go up. He turned to leave and looked down and saw a ruined circle to the side of the alleyway. A bag of trash made it almost non-noticeable. He feels an energy coming from it, and as he's getting down on a knee, the runes disappear. Jack continues with what he was originally doing. Jack wasn't paying attention to where he was going and bumped into a man accidentally. He turned to apologize, and as soon as he locked eyes with the man, it was as though time stood still.

He saw before him five young females chained with their arms above their heads to a cement wall. Their clothes are shredded, barely giving them little to hardly any modesty. They looked like they could be anywhere between fifteen and twenty-five years old. The view rotates around, and he sees a female laid spread out and dead on a table. There's blood and body fluids everywhere on the table and the floor. The poor female looked horrendous as she'd been cut into, limbs torn off only to be restitched, and is at the point of death. Her torso had several long strands of stitches.

She had some convulsions and died. He watched as another person waved their hands over the corpse, and gray particles started appearing around the hands and body. A minute passes, and the female convulses again and becomes reanimated. Her eyes are now glossed over with a gray film. Her face was expressionless and lifeless. She's unlocked from the confines, and the view watches the now undead female walk to join a group of three other undead people. The view rotates, and another person that appeared female by the shape of the body in a hooded robe is seen briefly as the view stopped on the three young women again. Jack sees a hand stretched out towards the ladies, and they start glowing and breaking down into particles. The particles consolidated into three lime green and purple gemstones. Jack was seeing the memories of this man. He didn't know how, but he could tell.

Jack suddenly finds himself back in the present. He excuses himself and quickly moves on. His stomach is sickened by what he saw. He looks back at the man and sees that he's watching him. Jack apologized for running into him and excused himself quickly. Jack ducked into an alley and caught his breath. He was on the verge of vomiting at the scene he'd seen. "What the hell was that I just saw? That was some messed-up stuff," Jack says to himself before peeking out of the alley. The man had finally turned away and moved on towards a car parked on the side of the road. The car looked to be high-end and sporty. Jack sees a female's hand stick out the window, flicking a cigarette butt away. He saw the arm and hand change from a pale skin color to a reddish color, and her fingers changed from fingernails to claws. On her wrist was a gold and black bracelet. "Master Alatar I got word from our main forces in Turkey that they've located the first pillar. We'll be needed there as soon as they uncover it." A female voice loudly. "Vur'Kozaras, what did I say about using that name and title in public? Do you have the next candidates selected?" the man called Alatar said as he got into the car. Jack sees the car's license plate and quickly snaps a picture and types everything down that he could remember about the guy.

Pulling out his wallet and the business card for the detective, he quickly calls him up. "Detective, this is Jack Thompson, from the abduction of those two women. Yeah, that one. Wait, there have been others? Wow, thirty-eight? Well, back to why I'm calling; it's linked to the missing, I believe. Can you meet up with me where I am currently? Alright, thanks." Jack says as he gives the detective his location. Fifteen minutes later the detective pulls up, and Jack greets him. Jack leaned on the hood as he went over what happened and what Jack heard. While the detective is listening to Jack, he can't help but sense something is off with Jack. He couldn't sense anything coming from Jack. He'd done a background on Jack and felt sorry for the kid with the loss of his family and injuries. He could see that Jack was suffering from the pain he was experiencing but was sticking through it to help him with the investigation. "So the car was here?" The detective asked, walking over to where the car had been. He sees the subtle movement of the detective rubbing his large ring again. The detective moves around studying the area and writes in his notepad.