ForevaXena's FanFic . . .

A Single Soldier

by Enoon Erehwon

Disclaimers: The Paradox Spirits of the creative!

1) The characters of Xena, Gabrielle, Joxer, Ephiny, Najara, Mavican, Callisto, Autolycus and any other incidencia contained hereafter remain the intellectual property of Renaissance Pictures, a division of MGM/UA.  Their use in this piece of fiction is not a challenge to their copyright in any way.  This was written without the intention of profit, or gainful employment in any way, shape or form.

2) The terms Awakened, Paradox, Paradox Spirit, Traditions, Technocracy, Nephandi, Maurauder, Celestial Chorus, Akashic Brotherhood, Verbena, Euthanatos, Order Of Hermes, Cult Of Ecstacy, Dreamspeaker, Virtual Adepts, Son Of Ether, Iteration X, New World Order, Void Engineers, Progenitors, Quintessence, The Spheres and any and all other related incidentia remain the intellectual property of White Wolf Games.  Their use in this fiction is not a challenge to their copyrights in any way.  As above -- this was written without the intention of profit or gainful employment (but if you guys like what you see, there is a peaceful way to get a hold of me. . .).

This was written as a way to show my appreciation for both the show and the game that has brought me no small amount of peace and joy.

3) Violence, Mature Themes and Sexual Suggestions abound!  You have been formally warned!

4) If you liked this, or have questions, please feel free to contact me at Enoonerehwon@hotmail.com

5) Time warning: These chapters are going to be coming at drips and drabs.  Please, be patient and I will reward your efforts as best I can.

Chapter One -- And I Watched Her Wave To Me. . . .

“I‘d Give Up Forever To Touch You.
I know That You Can Feel Me Somehow.
You’re The CLosest To Heaven That I’ve Ever Been.
And I Don’t Want To Go Home Right Now.”

Goo Goo Dolls / Iris

The blonde girl was curled in the darker corner of the alley.  Her hair was matted, wild and stringy from neglect.  Eyes that might have been bright green were red rimmed and puffy from the tears that ate tracks in the grime on her face.  Her clothes were stained and tattered from crawling on her hands and knees.  Her limbs shook from exhaustion and hunger as she huddled in the far corner.  Breathing for her was nothing more than wracking sobs.

The goblins were watching her.  Their eyes were red, glowing like coals.  They were no higher than her knee, but what they lacked in stature, they made up in both numbers and ferocity.  Snarling, they licked their green scaly lips, eager for the taste of her blood.  They skittered about, hopping on small piles of garbage, keeping the woman in her corner.  She shuddered once, drawing her frail limbs closer to her.

“P-puh-puh-lease. . . just let me go. . .”  Her voice was a cracked whisper.  The goblins grinned as their claws clicked on the asphalt.  The woman knew they were going to attack again.  With a odd blend of fear and heady acceptance, she knew that this would be the last time.  She barely had the strength to fend them off. 

Listen to me.

“No. . . not another voice. . . just leave me. . . leave me alone. . .”

I can help you.  Just do as I tell you.

The woman shook her head, whimpering as the goblins advanced.  Their teeth flashed like needles in the dark.

What’s your name?  If I were a figment of your imagination, don’t you think I would have used your name by now?

“Guh-Guh-Gah-Gabrielle.”

Well, Gabrielle, there was a hint of gentle humor in these thoughts that was alien and comforting at the same time, I can help you get rid of the goblins, but you will need to do what I tell you.  Agreed?

Gabrielle nodded dully.  One of the goblins reached out, his talon catching a bit of Gabrielle’s grime slick clothing.  She shrieked once, pressing herself into the corner.  The goblins continued to press forward, swinging their limbs experimentally.  The voice came back with a note of deliberate calmness to it, like a teacher giving a very important lesson.

I want you to picture a sword in your hand.  Don’t just pretend to have.  HOLD it in your hand.  See it in your mind’s eye.  What does it look like?

“How the hell is--”

Just do it!

“OK.” Gabrielle frowned as she closed her eyes and tried to push out any other distractions in her mind.  Claws pressed into the weave of her pants, their tiny points pricking her skin like an mildly annoyed cat’s paw.

What does it look like?

“It’s one of those Japanese swords.  The blade is long, though -- maybe two and a half feet long.  It’s-it’s    . . . oh, God. . . the goblin’s on my leg. . . GET IT OFF!  GETITOFF!”

The rebuke was strong, like a mental slap in the face.  Get a grip!  Focus on the sword!  The tsuba, what does it look like?

“The what?”

The cross guard, the thing that protects your hand.  What does it look like?

“I-it looks like a big coin with a tiger chasing a Chinese dragon.  I think it’s made out of brass.”

Go on.  What does the handle look like?

“It’s black, wrapped in some dark gray skin that’s hard and feels like there’s little teeth on it.  There are-- are-- concentrateconcentrateconcentrate-- red diamond shapes where the gray doesn’t cover the whole ha-- handle!”, hot and tiny breaths were being puffed into her nose, “The -- the blade kinda shines like a rainbow in the light.”  Gabrielle’s breathing and voice began to steady as her concentration was diverted by the voice.

Can you feel it in your hand?  The weight?  The tug of the shark skin wrap on you palm?

“Yeah.  I can feel it in my hand.  It‘s very light, it feels almost as if it were nothing.”

Good, now look at it for real.

Gabrielle opened her eye and watched as the sword shimmered into her view.  The blade looked sharp and strong enough to carve through a car door with no effort beyond the flick of a wrist.  The bronze of the cross guard glowed under the cloud filtered afternoon light.  It seemed to weigh no more than a pen.  The blade was balanced for combat, most of the weight was in the grip.  She lifted it up once.  Gabrielle could have sworn she had heard the very sound of air being sliced in half.

I think we all know what to do next.

“Yes, I do.” Gabrielle surged to her feet, swinging the blade and letting her rage come out in a screech  that carried her down the alley.  The goblins, the fear bright in their beady, red eyes scattered like leaves in a wind eddy.  Any goblin unfortunate enough to be cut by the blade dissolved into a puff of oily black smoke.  Gabrielle’s heart raced, now she was on the offensive for the first time in six months, “GEEEEYAAAHHHHH YOU GREY LITTLE BASTARDS!”

She chased them down to the mouth of the alley.  They spilled out into the street where they were caught underfoot and under wheel by people who didn’t seem to see them.  In fact, no one had even responded to Gabrielle’s cries, or even gave her so much as a second look.

Wait!  Don’t go out into the street!

“Why not?”  She took an involuntary step back into the shadows.

I can’t explain it all right now, just listen to me.  In ten minutes, a dark colored sedan will pull up in front.  A man buy the name of Lyle will step out.  Get in the car with him and he’ll take you to where I am.  From there I can explain everything.

“OK -- this is stranger than I’m used to.”  Gabrielle fidgeted with the blade, trying to find a way to hide it before she joined the crowd.  “Thanks for the help, but as long as I have this sw--”

The sword was fading away like a spirit.  Gabrielle closed her eyes and focused her will on making the sword real again.  She shook in frustration as the sword dissolved into nothingness.  She looked behind her, maybe there was a stain or something to prove that the sword existed to cut down the goblins.  Nothing remained as a testimonial to her agony.

“What the-- why-- but--  Oh, God I am going insane...”  She sunk down against the wall, biting her thumbnail as a nervous gesture.

Lyle will be here soon.  I can explain it this way.  You’re not going crazy.  You’re Awakening.

A dark gray car coasted to the alley opening, the windows were tinted blacker than midnight.  Gabrielle looked up, wiping away some of the dirt on her face.  The driver’s side door opened up and a man hopped out.  He was dark haired, blue eyed and attractive in a distant sort of way.  He was dressed in a fine looking suit, with a tiny bulge in the breast.  He stood in front of Gabrielle, smiling with warming compassion.

“Hi, I’m Lyle.  My sister sent me here.  Come on,” he held out his hand, “we have a lot to do today.”

Gabrielle stared at the hand like it was a foreign object.  Her eyes went back up to Lyle’s face, pausing at the bulge in his jacket.

Gun.  The word was clearly in her mind.  She saw Lyle pick it up and check it carefully, sliding the clip home and chambering a bullet.  He placed it in a holster hanging by his arm.  He slipped on a jacket, giving it a tug to better hide the weapon.  Gabrielle saw all of this in her mind as clearly as if she experienced it as a memory.  A sentence went through her mind:  NeedtobuybreadthisafternoonhopeXe canfloatmeacoupleofbucks

“Did you get your bread?”  She asked.

Lyle’s smile expanded into a grin, “Yeah, it’s in the car.”

“Because Xe floated the money to you.”

He nodded, “Well, you’re getting good really fast.  So, now you know that you can trust me.  Care to take a ride?”

Gabrielle stood up, furtively wiping away dirt.  Lyle made a dismissive motion, telling her that he was going to get the car detailed later that afternoon anyways.  He walked back to his car, opening the passenger side door for her.  Gabrielle sniffled once as she sunk into the plush interior.  The windows were all tinted black on the outside, but inside the glass was perfectly transparent.  Lyle stepped in and belted himself in.

“You need to buckle your belt, no sense in having an accident.”  Lyle shifted the car in gear as Gabrielle joined the two parts of the seat belt together with a click.  She looked back into the alley, reveling in the growing sense that peace of coming to her soon.

Gabrielle opened her eyes.  Her vision was of seven years ago, those first few minutes when she had learned that she was one of the Awakened.  She reached back behind her neck, touching bare skin where there was once long sunset blonde hair.  Those months of training under Xena to rein in her powers as a Mage were exhilarating beyond words.  She had discovered more about herself in that time.  Not only about her powers, but about herself.  She frowned, the spark in her emerald green eyes shone brightly. 

Why was I having this vision?  What does this have to do with anything current?  Her mind was unfettered while she meditated.  So why was this memory coming back up?  Stretching out her legs, she leaned forward to touch the pads of her feet with a deep exhalation.  Maybe I should go back under and see where the vision takes me.  Gabrielle folded her legs under her again and let her mind empty of the outside world.

Lyle opened the door cordially, gripping a plastic bag in one hand.  Gabrielle stepped inside looking around every corner for something to jump out at her.  Lyle closed the door with a muffled thud, “I can make you a sandwich, if you’re hungry.”  He walked to the kitchen, setting the bag down on the counter and opening the refrigerator door.  “We have tuna, grape jelly, apple jelly, ham, turkey, mayo, lettuce, three kinds of mustard and barbeque sauce,” he took out the plastic bottle of brown and black speckled sauce, “which belongs in the cupboard, Xena!” his voice raised to a friendly shout, “What would you like?”

Gabrielle jumped at the silence, “Uhh. . . pe-peanut butter and jelly, please.  How did you know I was hungry?  Did- did you read my mind?”

Lyle smiled, “No, I heard your stomach growling as we pulled into the driveway.  Have a seat,” he pointed to the couch, then took a short breath through his nose, “after you’ve showered.  Leave your clothes outside the bathroom.  You’re a little shorter than my sister, so I can have some clothes for you outside the door as well.  There should be a robe for you to put on.  Now go and get cleaned up.  Your food will be ready when you get out.”  He gently guided her down a hall to a plain white door.

“This is a big apartment, must cost you a lot.”  Gabrielle said.

“We make do.”

“Are you like a butler or something?”

“Something like that.  My actual title is custos.  I am a servant to my sister.  It’s a bit complicated, so I will let Xena explain it to you in time.  Now, go shower.”  He carefully pushed her into the bathroom.

Gabrielle opened the medicine cabinet, expecting a goblin to jump out.  Instead, she saw allergy medicine tablets, aspirin, and band-aids.  Nothing out of the ordinary or exotically dangerous.  She threw open the shower curtain, her fist raised to strike anything down.  A bar of soap, a washcloth, a bottle of shampoo and a yellow rubber duck in a corner of a bath tub with a shower head sticking out of the wall.  Something dark was on the other side of the bathroom door, trying to be quiet.  Gabrielle took three steps forward on the sea-green and white tile.  She yanked open the door, pistoning a fist up over her head.

She found herself looking down the barrel of a pistol.  Lyle’s face came into focus as she looked down his arm.  In his blue eyes, there was no spark of compassion.  Only the emptiness of oblivion was present in his gaze.  She dropped her hand to her side, working her dry throat to swallow.

“Gabrielle, you are safe from all outside dangers here.  I can understand that it is hard for you to let your guard down, but you can do it.  I would suggest you try to do that today,” he nudged a neatly folded pile of clothes with his foot, never taking his eyes off of her, “Your clothes will be here.  Have a good shower,” he holstered his pistol in one practiced motion.  Gabrielle closed the door and began to remove her clothing.  She unbuttoned her shirt, then stopped to take a sniff.

I don’t smell that-- ohmigawd . . . I reek, Gabrielle’s nose wrinkled in disgust as she dropped the shirt.  She stripped everything off quickly and kicked the clothes into a corner, I hope he decides to burn them, rather than clean them.  I don’t think there’s enough water and soap to scrub that funk out.  Or enough for me, apparently.  She turned on the water, waiting for it to get hot enough for her.  The warmth cocooned her while the force of the shower worked itself into her muscles, kneading out the tension in her body.  Working up a white lather, Gabrielle brought the washcloth across her body, sliding across her plane-flat stomach.  She reached down and pour herself a generous dollop of shampoo.  Her lips opened in a luxurious grin as her nails worked their way down past the hair to the scalp.  Gabrielle had always liked the feel of hands through her hair.  Her eyes closed, threatening to roll back into her head out of a heavy mixture of fatigue and pleasure.  The soap was rinsed out with another pass under the stream, with shampoo making a mad dash for the eyes.  Gabrielle wiped the flow away with a hand while she stepped out of the shower.  She rubbed the towel over her body, soaking up the beads of water, then rubbing it on her hair with furious strokes.  Wrapping the towel around her body, she opened the door and grabbed the pile of clothes.

A plain pair of  jeans that would come up to just below her breasts and a sweat shirt that she could have worn as a dress were waiting for her.  She looked through the pile again, then shrugged as she slipped into the given clothes.  She rolled the cuff of the pants up and pulled up the sleeves of the sweat shirt.  Giving the pants a slight tug over the sweat shirt, she was able to get her clothes to rest comfortably on her body.  As long as I don’t have to run, I’ll be fine, she thought, then her mind turned back to Lyle.  He had many an opportunity to do something to her, but he hadn’t so far.  She was comfortable with him, as long as he didn’t produce that gun of his. 

Gabrielle opened the door, dropping her old clothes in front of the bathroom door.  Taking a private moment, she wriggled her toes in the dun shaded carpet.  A wide and nervous smile split her mouth.  She hadn’t felt this comfortable or relaxed in a long time.  Carrying herself down the hallway, she peered around the corner into the kitchen.  Lyle was pouring a glass of milk and setting on a modest table in the middle of the room.  He snapped his fingers and turned around to open up the refrigerator.

“I don’t know about you,” he turned around to look at Gabrielle dead in the eye, “but I can’t stand milk unless it’s ice cold.  Come on in and eat.”  Lyle held up a can of ginger ale.  The young woman slunk into the kitchen. taking a chair opposite the tall man.  She held up the sandwich, examining it with a critical eye.  She peeled the slices of bread apart and took a sniff.

“No poisons, no ground up glass, no barbiturates.  A sandwich is one of the few things in this world that I can’t screw up.”  He put on a mock-hurt look, “If I didn’t know better I would swear up and down that you’ve already talked to my sister.”

“Or your inability to cook may be the stuff of legend.”  Another voice, a husky feminine voice came from the living room as the door creaked open.  Gabrielle jumped to her feet.  Something inside of her told her to go see this woman.  She sidestepped into the living room, feeling a raw mixture of curiosity and panic.  This was the person -- who used means that she couldn’t explain -- who saved her from insanity, then gave her a place to relax in, for however brief a time.  Gabrielle’s stomach contracted from nervousness and hunger.

The woman looked up and Gabrielle felt as if she were spot-welded to where she was standing.  She was tall, a full head and shoulders above her.  Her hair was fresh tar black, reaching a little past her shoulder blades.  She was graceful, every movement was calculated and precise when she turned around to close the door.  She held the aura of a woman who could keep her cool in a stress filled moment.  Her face had yet to be revealed to her, it was masked by her hair and shadow as she bent down to tie her shoe.  Gabrielle’s mouth ran sandpaper dry.

“You must be Gabrielle.  Nice to meet you.”  The woman stood up and looked right at Gabrielle.  Her face was beautiful in a distant and cool way.  There was a lurking demeanor of cruelty to her star sapphire chip eyes.  The honey-haired woman gave in to the urge to walk over and hold her savior close.  She felt muscles tense up for a second under the button down shirt, then relaxed and gave into the emotion.  An emotional dam broke within Gabrielle.  Tears came pouring out from her eyes like a deluge.  Gabrielle clutched to the woman close to her.  A pair of hands tilted her head up.  “Calm down.  We have a lot to do today and I need you focused.  Can you do that for me?”

Gabrielle took a hitching breath.  She wiped away her tears with a nervous hand.  Xena reached out to touch Gabrielle’s forehead.  Every emotion  drained from her mind, like water leaving a tub.  She let out a small gasp, “How did you do that?”

“I will explain everything if you will follow me into this room at the end of the hall.  I assure you that no harm will come to you.”  Xena smiled as she turned Gabrielle around.  The pair walked down the hallway to the door.  It was plain, white with a small brass knob.  There was nothing extraordinary about this door that Gabrielle could discern with her senses.  There was something behind the door that she could feel in the base of her spine.  There was something of great power on the other side of that door.  She looked behind her into the woman’s eyes.

“Go on and open it,” she said gently, “I give you permission to enter my sanctum if that would make you feel better.”  Xena gave the woman a slight nudge.  Gabrielle reached out with a trembling hand and grasped the knob.  It was cool under touch, she realized.  There were no hellfires roaring on the other side of the door.  More than likely, Xena was going to usher her into a guest bedroom and invite her to stay for a few days. . . or this was the door to Xena’s torture room, where Gabrielle would become another victim.  Either way, at least I’m not going to have to worry goblins anymore, she thought grimly as she threw open the door.

The room was empty, save a window covered by folding blinds.  No chairs, no bed, no rack, no iron maiden; Gabrielle felt almost disappointed.  She stepped into the room and was pushed back a couple of steps by the feeling of raw power.  The invisible fires of creation burned hot in here.  Gabrielle walked carefully inside, waiting for something to happen that she couldn’t identify.  The closet was open and empty.  Xena closed the  door behind her and crossed silently in front of Gabrielle to stand next to the window.

“What color is the sky?”

Gabrielle hid a smile, “Blue.”

“Why?”

She shrugged her shoulders, “I fell asleep in science class.  The atmosphere?”

“No,” now it was Xena’s turn to smile enigmatically, “The sky is blue because everyone in the world says it’s blue.  I say it’s green.”  She pulled down the cord, lifting the shade.  The blinds raised up to reveal the sky to be the green of a king’s emeralds, with white clouds drifting carelessly by.  Gabrielle approached the window, reaching out to touch the glass.  She looked back to Xena, then looked at the sky.

“That’s. . . that’s impossible.  The sky is blue.”  Gabrielle turned around.  “How did--”

“I am Awakened.  My will is strong enough to overcome reality itself, for the most part.  If I choose to float, I can as long as I am inside the walls of this sanctum.  Take a look at the sky.”

Gabrielle whirled around, half expecting to see the sky to be orange, red or not even there.  Blue, the crystal blue of a summer day.  Birds fluttered among the trees, seemingly uncaring that for a few minutes, the world was no longer as Gabrielle -- or anyone else in the world -- knew it to be.  She took a step away from the window, keeping a steady gaze on Xena.

“You slipped something in my drink, or in my sandwich.  I have to get out of here!”  Gabrielle turned around and took a step to the door.

A door that was no longer there.  Save for the window, there was no other way in or out.

“Let me explain everything, then, if you want to leave, you can.  At least let me give you the knowledge you need to survive.”  Xena lowered the shades and stepped away from the window.  “Gabrielle, I saved you from the goblins for a reason.  Let me do this.”

Gabrielle stood in the center of the room, “Fifteen minutes.  Then I’m going to jump through that window if I have to.”

“Fifteen minutes and you can choose to walk out the front door.  I can’t afford to replace the glass.  Please,” Xena sat down on the carpet, folding her legs under her.  Gabrielle knelt down, keeping a wary eye on the woman across from her.

“We are alike.  We both have Awakened, become aware of our powers and full potential as mages.  Our wills are strong enough to reshape reality, but within certain limits.  A long time ago, the world was new and unshaped.  There were certain people who had the will to make the world as they saw fit.  We would call them gods.  They came together and decided that reality would be divided into nine distinct parts called Spheres.  Each Sphere would have a master to it, someone who understood that aspect of reality far better than their peers.  Those groups became what we call the Traditions.  It was our job to help guide humanity into an age called the Age Of Ascension, the time when humanity as a whole would know what we knew -- reality is as we make it.

“The Spheres are somewhat self-explanatory, but the Traditions are not so easy.  Please bear with me as I try to simplify this  The Sphere of Time is controlled by the Tradition called the Cult of Ecstasy.  They believe in the use of mind-altering substances and the pursuit of vice to gain deeper understanding.  I think their era of the Sixties has come and gone, but no one bothered to tell them.  If you don’t mind a buzz that won’t go away for weeks, attend one of their gatherings.

“The Sphere of Forces deals with energy, from the electromagnetic spectrum to gravity.  The masters of this Sphere is a group called the Order Of Hermes.  They use the Western occult traditions, things like incantations, numerology, magic squares and ritualistic formulae to work their magick.  Think of Gandolf and the fantasy wizards with the pointy hats.

“The Sphere of Matter is controlled by the Sons Of Ether.  The relics of the Victorian Age, they are best explained by the phrase ‘mad scientist’.  They work their magick in the form of pseudo-science and pretensions about ether.  As individuals, they’re good to have around, but as a group, well. . . you need to exercise a lot of patience.

“The Spirit Sphere is worked by the Dreamspeakers.  They come from the old shamanistic ways and are among the oldest of the Traditions.  Listen to what they have to say, they are wise about the things we rarely see.  They can control spirits and how they can enter and leave this world through something called the Gauntlet.  That is something I am going to have to explain that later on, if I am able.

“Prime is going to take some explaining.  Everything in the universe is made from something called quintessence.  It is what fuels reality, like the way a log fuels a fire.  Without it, not only would our spells and powers fail, but there would be nothing.  The Celestial Chorus claim this Sphere.  They believe in a single deity, whether you decide to call it God, Yahweh, Allah or Jehovah.  They are a relic from the Inquisition -- fanatics and inflexible.  Good to have in a fight, but not good if you’re trying to negotiate a treaty.

“Life is simple.  Everything that live and breathes falls under this Sphere.  The Verbena, descended from the Celtic druids and the Wiccans, control this Sphere.  They are good friends to have, since one doesn’t know when they’re going to need a doctor who can heal a broken bone without a cast.

Correspondence is a Sphere that I do not fully understand, yet, so here it goes.  Everything in the world is really connected at one single point, and that movement is nothing more than shifting our perceptions of that one point.  It’s like taking a whole bunch of transparencies with pictures on them and staking them one on top of the other.  If you stare hard enough and long enough, you can begin to make out some of the pictures.  The Virtual Adepts, who have blended magick with computer science, can take to this Sphere like a duck to water.  Personally, it gives me a headache to think about it.

“The Sphere of Mind is self-explanatory.  With it you can read and send thoughts, create illusions and project your psyche into the astral plane.  The masters of this Sphere are the Akashic Brotherhood, who use the ways of Eastern mysticism to utilize the Sphere.  They are some of the best fighters in the Traditions, blending magick and martial arts into a seamless art they simply call Do.

“The last, and by no means least sphere is the Sphere of Entropy.  It is decay and randomness, be it physical decay or the decay of a civilization.  The Euthanatos, my Tradition, control this sphere.  With it, we can produce order out of chaos, and hopefully, one day guide humanity to Ascension.  We travel about this world, viewing individual souls.  If we feel that the soul has learned what it needed to learn, we set it free by something called the Good Death.  By do--”

Gabrielle scrambled to her feet, “Xena!  That’s murder!  You’re killing innocent people!  You’re -- you’re -- you’re playing God!”

“Gabrielle, I told you I was going to explain everything, and I meant it.  Now, please sit down and let me finish.  Our agreement still stands.  You give me fifteen minutes and I give you a crash course in reality.  If you don’t want this, I let you walk out the door with no harm.  Now, please sit.  I still have much to explain.”  Xena held out her hand, pointing to where Gabrielle was sitting a minute ago.  Gabrielle sat down, but a few feet away from Xena, kneeling on one knee and staying ready to move quickly if she had to.

“OK. . . I told you that an Awakened one’s will was strong enough to change reality.  This is partly true.  There is a stronger force that we must learn to work around.  It is called Paradox.  The only way to explain it is this.  Everyone in the world believes in certain perceptions: the sky is blue, normal people don’t float in the air and the sun will always rise in the east and set in the west.  the force of all these people creates the reality we know, kind of like a lie that everyone believes to be true.  While the Awakened can reorganize reality at a whim, everyone who views this reorganization will simply think ‘That’s impossible’.  Paradox is the will of consensual reality striking back at the Awakened, making sure that reality is as everyone says it is.  Paradox is the antibody to an Awakened virus.  The only way we can work our magicks is through something called coincidental magick.  We work our spells in such a way that no one suspects that it happened.  Let’s say you want to strike something with a lightning bolt.  You could issue one from your fingertips, but that doesn’t happen every day.  Instead, you reorganize the weather pattern to have a thunderstorm roll in and shoot a lightning bolt from a cloud.  Things like that happen in an every day occurrence, so Paradox doesn’t effect you.”

“What about the sky?”

“Well, that’s different.  In this room, I can dictate what is reality and what isn’t.  I told your mind to see green skies and you did.  I told your mind not to see the door over there,” Xena pointed to the door, where it had not been before, “I am good with the Sphere of Mind, but I can sense that you can be better.  My fifteen minutes are almost up, but I have to say this: Gabrielle, you have within you to be great.  You have power that I haven’t seen in years, but you need training.  I can give you that training.  I will charge you nothing, all that I ask is that you pay attention to my lessons.  There are things out there in that world that are worse than your goblins.  You need to learn how to defend yourself.  Please, Gabrielle, for the sake of your sanity and your soul let me be your teacher.”

Gabrielle looked into her cobalt eyes.  Behind them was a silent plea to make up for past injustices that the blonde could not ignore.  She crawled forward, kneeling back on her haunches.

“I accept you as my teacher, Xena.  As a student, I will do my best not to fail you. . . only if you answer one question.”

Xena steeled herself, “What is it?”

“What the hell were those goblin things?”

Xena relaxed, “OK, that I can explain.  Your power is raw and untrained, like a horse that has as of yet to be broken.  What you were going through was something called the Quiet.  It’s when one of us neglects to  . . .” Xena’s words trailed off, “. . . be mindful of the effect our powers have on reality,” Xena saw the questions beginning to scramble to Gabrielle’s lips, “Think of it as a nightmare you have trouble forgetting.  You see shapes in the corner, so your mind, still recovering from the nightmare, gives them a different shape.  A beloved stuffed animal looks a lot different in the dark than in the light.  Does that make sense?”

“In other words,” Gabrielle’s smile was rueful, “my imagination ran in overdrive.”

“Yes, that’s what happened.”

“Could they have killed me?”

“If you believed they could.  That’s why you need a teacher.”

Gabrielle pressed further, “And had I run out into the street with the sword?”

“Paradox would have gotten to you, more than likely pushing you further into a madness that you might not have recovered from.  You would have become a Marauder.  An Awakened person who went insane.  Paradox would not effect you, but you would have been a danger to us and reality.”

Gabrielle leaned away from Xena, “And you would have to take away my power?”

Xena nodded gravely, “And the only way we can do that here is to kill you.”

Gabrielle swallowed, then looked furtively to the door, “So. . . teach. . . now what?  What’s the first lesson?”

Xena stood, holding out her hand to help up Gabrielle.  The younger woman stood up quickly, privately luxuriating in the softness of Xena’s hands, and imagining them caressing her face and shoulders.  She followed her new teacher out of the room back to the kitchen, where there was a pile of dirty dishes almost to the ceiling.  “You’re getting the Cinderella school of magick.  Wash every dish and make it so clean, I can see myself in them.  If you don’t, you’re going to do them all -- even the dishes in the cupboard.  Hop to it student.”

“How the hell is this going to make me work magick?”  Gabrielle’s head swiveled from the pile back to Xena.  Gabrielle took a half-step back when she watched Xena’s eyes grow ice cold.  She felt a wave of power ripple from her body like a blast of heat.

“One -- I am your teacher.  You will not address me in that tone and you will do what I tell you because I know better, that‘s why.  Challenges to my authority will be dealt with harshly after this one incident.  Two -- discipline is the hallmark of a mage.  I had to clear a field of stones, you get to clear a sink of dishes.  You have thirty minutes.  Get to work, student.”

Gabrielle opened her eyes again, this time a tear leaked from one to roll down her cheek and hang on her chin before dropping onto the woven tatami, or mat.  She wiped away the tears quickly with the sleeve of her white wrap around shirt.  She remembered that particular lesson, only because it took her two tries to get the dishes as clean as Xena had wanted them.  I cursed her that day using words that my dad would use if he hit his thumb with a hammer, but she gave me the discipline I needed to survive as a mage.  I just wish I had the chance to say that I was sorry, she wiped another threatening tear as she stretched out again.  Gabrielle knew that delving into the Akashic record -- the shared memories of every member of the  Brotherhood past and present -- was a gamble.  You didn’t go where you wanted to go, it took you where you needed to go.  Why she was going here was a mystery to her.  Xena was a part of her past and Gabrielle needed to look forward.  Something tugged at the back of her mind.  She was meditating on her relation with Xena, starting at the beginning.  The record will show me the answer, she thought to herself as she let her eyes grow heavy.  As her breathing returned to a slow, lazy drag, Gabrielle felt her mind fall back into her memories.

“I don’t want to do it, Xena.  You’re a fine teacher.  Let me stay with you,”  Gabrielle reached out to take Xena’s hand as her voice plunged to a whisper, “Xena, I love you.”  She rushed into her body, clutching to her closely, like a child hoping to delay the inevitable separation from their parent on the first day of school.  Xena smiled and held the shaking woman to her.  In the two years that Xena had been teaching Gabrielle the nature and use of magick, she had grown to be a successful student. 

“Gabrielle, I love you too, more than anything else in this world, but your dharma is with the Akashic Brotherhood, not with the Euthanatos.  Your skill with the Mind Sphere is greater than mine could ever be.  To keep you would be a crime against fate.  You have a great purpose in you and I have to make the sacrifice for the good of Ascension.  Please, Gabby, don’t make this any harder than it has to be.”  Xena squeezed her once, then stood back.  Gabrielle was beautiful, not only for the outer beauty that nature had given her, but for the inner beauty and strength that Xena privately treasured.  She wanted to keep Gabrielle for herself, but that would serve nothing.  The principle of  tamas was clear -- things fall apart and change.  Her current relationship with Gabrielle was going to be destroyed.  Everything would eventually succumb to entropy.  What mattered was that Xena would recover from this and move on.  In the logical part of her mind, she knew that she would see Gabrielle again.  Mages were not a dime a dozen and she was leaving her beloved in the hands of her former mentor.  Her heart reminded her that the next time she saw Gabrielle, she would not be the same.  She would be forever different, perhaps she would have been taught the centuries-old distrust between the Euthanatos and Akashics.  I have to trust, for if I can’t trust either Lao Ma or Gabrielle, then I have no business associating with either of them, Xena reminded herself of that as she set her face to an impassive mask.  “Let’s go inside.  I don’t want to keep the sifu waiting.”

Gabrielle turned around and opened the door, keeping silent as she watched the rows of students executing kung-fu moves with a near mechanical precision.  In the front was a higher ranking student, dressed in the traditional suit of a kung-fu practitioner -- black jacket and pants, a red sash around his waist and shoeless.  Marching between the rows was a Chinese looking woman, dressed in a similar style to the student leading the exercises, but she wore a black sash.  She would stop and adjust a fist, or nudge a foot aside.  She was young looking, but she carried herself with a grace and poise that only centuries of existence could bestow upon a person.  She locked eyes with Xena.  Xena bowed at the waist, a show of deference that Gabrielle had never seen from her.  Lao Ma returned the bow with a nod of her own.  She lifted a hand to point to the office in the far corner.  Xena bowed again as she led Gabrielle to the corner office. 

The room was simple.  A desk, two chairs and the only piece of decoration in the room was a long sword with a green tassel hanging on the end.  Gabrielle sat down in one chair, while Xena was hovering about protectively.  Gabrielle craned her head up to look into Xena’s blue eyes, “If this woman you’re handing me of to is so good, then why haven’t you taken a seat?”  She asked smugly.  Xena shot her a warning glance before standing still.

“You need this, Gabrielle.  End of discussion.”  Xena’s voice tried to smooth out the rough edges of emotion.

“You’re just trying to get rid of me.”

Xena slumped into the other chair, “What can I say to convince you that this is your own good?”

“Nothing.  I would rather be chased by those goblins.”

“Gabrielle, you’re being imm--”  Xena shot to her feet when the office door opened.  Lao Ma walked to her desk and sat down behind her desk.  She smiled at the two women.

“So, Xena, you’ve brought me a student?”  Lao Ma folded her hands on top of the desk, “Has she Awakened?”

“She’s learned a little, but her path goes to the Akashic Brotherhood.”  Xena said, leaning forward.

“Hi,” Gabrielle slid her chair forward, “I’m the person whose life you’re deciding over, might I have a choice?”

Lao Ma smiled and leaned back in her chair, “Certainly.  In fact, Xena would you excuse us?”

Xena stood up and bowed without saying a word.  Gabrielle watched her teacher step out into the gray fog laced morning.  The look on her face was disconcerting to Gabrielle.  It was almost as if Xena had awakened one morning to find out that her whole life was a dream.  The blonde turned back around to face Lao Ma, her own feelings were darker than Xena’s.  No one made Xena miserable while Gabrielle had the power to change it.

“You feel that this is a betrayal.”  Lao Ma’s pronouncement came out of the blue.

Gabrielle was stunned by her own response, “Yes.  She’s pawning me off to you like some sort of used bicycle.”

“Has Xena told you about my history with her?”

Gabrielle shook her head. 

“When I met Xena, she was being courted by a mage named Ethan Loy.  Ethan was working to bring Xena to the barrabi with some others--”

“Barrabi?”

“There are some mages who succumb to the temptations of those who would uncreate reality and re-shape it in their own design.  Ethan Loy was one of those mages.  They form a group called the Nephandi.  Tradition mages that join their ranks are called the barrabi -- betrayers.  Anyway, Xena was listening to the lies that Ethan was spinning and she was beginning to make the preparations to join them.  Her friends and her brother captured her.  Under the cover of night, they brought her to me.  For a year, I worked to undo the lies he had spun through her soul.

“When she came away from my training, she was better for it.  Not only in that she was reminded of her allegiances, but she remembered her purpose in life.  She said that she owed me her life.  I told her that the only way she could repay the debt would be to end the cycle of temptation.”

“So, I’m here only to cover a debt?”

“No.  Xena’s soul has a dark stain on it from her previous incarnations.  She did tell you about the principle of reincarnation?”

Gabrielle nodded, gripping her chair arms tightly. 

“Xena’s soul has been fighting for untold millennium, but very little has changed in her view.  She always loses the ones closest to her.  After a few times, that begins to wear on her.  Ethan tried to tell her that if she joined his cause, the misery would stop.  I had to remind her that only she could break the cycle on her own.  That is why she is bringing me to you.  She loves you and wants you protected.”

“So. . . she’s bringing me here to train to be a fighter?”  Gabrielle’s voice was tiny.

“Your destiny was to be one of the Akashic Brotherhood.  She brought you to me so you wouldn‘t have to make her mistakes over again.  She loves you enough to give a promising student over to a rival Tradition.”

Gabrielle looked back out the window.  Xena was talking on her cell phone, running her free hand through her coal hair.  “She loves me that much?”

Lao Ma smiled, “Shouldn’t that be obvious?”

“-- interrupted you, student?”

Gabrielle blinked in shock of being brought out of her state and into reality.  She opened her eyes to look into a pair of almond brown eyes looking unhesitantly into her.  The eyes of her teacher, Lao Ma. 

“No, Master.  I have been going through the Akashic Record and recollecting about Xena,” Gabrielle stretched one final time, then curled her legs under her again in a more relaxed pose, “I miss her.”

Lao Ma placed a gentle hand on Gabrielle’s trembling shoulder.  Peace and serenity flowed from her like water from a warm spring.  She knew what her best student was going through, because she had gone through it thousands of times before.  The younger mage was trying to make peace with her ghosts, but they refused to rest at times.  There were times where the gentleness of Gabrielle’s soul was soothing.  This was not one of those times.

“Then the Record has agreed with my choice to give you this task.  Before I tell you what it is, I must tell you that this will risk more than your life.  Your soul will be in danger.  If you decline, then I will accept your choice.”  The placid face rippled slightly.  Gabrielle took this minor observance and tucked it away.

“I will do it.  If I can help in anyway, I will.  What is my task?”

Lao Ma paused, as if considering what she was going to say, “I want you to find and bring back Xena.”

Gabrielle was stunned.  “Master?  I don’t want to question your choice, but wouldn’t someone else, like someone from the Scales Of The Dragon sect be a more logical choice?  I am a Orange Robe.  I’m not a fighter.”

“If I send a Scale member, then Xena will come back dead, if at all.  We can’t save her soul if it’s speeding towards the Great Wheel.  It’s either you or the Euthanatos -- a choice, literally, of life or death.  Again, if you do not wish to do this, then I will leave you alone.”

Gabrielle looked up to the sky, as if the answer would be written in the clouds.  “I have to do this.  I owe Xena my life several times over and this is the only chance I have to begin to repay the debt.  Answer me this: the only reason I am being sent to do this is because of our shared history?”

Lao Ma nodded with solemnity.  Gabrielle thought that she should be insulted, or feel that she was being used, but she knew that Lao Ma had debated the point of sending her best student into the belly of the beast for some time before approaching her.

“Then, can I have some allies in this effort?”

“Of course.  If you tried to do this by yourself, then you would be inviting disaster.”  Lao Ma smiled and rose to her feet.  Gabrielle stood up and bowed as her teacher walked away.  She brushed the grass off of her black silk pants, then sighed.  She knew Xena.  By now, she would have allies of her own and would be attacking anything that stood in her path.  It was her goal that was a mystery.  She hoped that the clues would fall into place before the final confrontation.  Facing Xena would be hard, but facing her without any idea of what was motivating her would be suicidal.

Gabrielle stood in front of the astral portal.  In the Horizon Realm that her fellow mages created, the portal was made to look like a bridge over a babbling river.  Walking across it would take her back to her apartment.  She always was hesitant in coming back to the mundane world.  In this realm, she could perform miracles with no worries of Paradox or quintessence.  On the earth, she had to measure every action and every erg of primal energy like a miser.  There was a downside to staying in these separate worlds.  Staying here and adapting to the flow of reality here would mean that she would have a harder time adjusting to the way of the real world.  She stopped half way across the bridge.  Gabrielle took a deep breath -- a nervous habit since she would never have to worry about suffocation in the Astral Plane -- before taking that final step through the gate.

Astral travel was instantaneous.  Gabrielle was strolling into the kitchen of her studio apartment without skipping a step when the rest of her body came across the gateway.  No one else was in her apartment to view her sudden appearance, so Paradox was non-existent in the area she set up as her own sanctum -- just like Xena had taught her.  She opened her refrigerator door to pluck out a bottle of water to drink before heading off to teach her self-defense class.  She twisted the cap off the bottle and took a large swallow.  As she tilted her head back, her eyes were caught by a photo that was stuck to the freezer door by a magnet.  It was a picture of Xena and Gabrielle, with the blonde sitting between the legs of her lanky teacher, leaning her head back.  Xena’s arms were wrapped lovingly around her.  A perfect embrace caught in the still chemistry of eternity. 

Gabrielle snuggled in closer against Xena.  Today was one of those blessed ‘free days’ -- time not spend sharpening her skills in either combat or mysticism.  Although their relationship had taken a turn from teacher and student to a pair of lovers over the course of the years.  Now it was the autumn.  The trees were changing their leafy clothes from the verdant green of summer to the sleepy browns and gold of the late year.

Of course, this day wasn’t completely free.  Xena had managed to sneak in a lesson when Gabrielle wasn’t looking.  “I want you to control people’s perceptions about what we’re doing,” she whispered into her ear.

Gabrielle smirked, “I didn’t know you were the exhibitionist in the relationship.  Not that I am complaining or anything.”  She turned to look up into Xena’s blue eyes.

“No,” Xena shot her student a mock frown, “I want you to set of an illusion so people will see us as they want us to be seen, and I want you to be able to carry on a conversation with me.  Let’s see how that discipline is coming along.”

Gabrielle extended a finger to tap Xena on the nose, “If I’m bad, I’m going to get spanked right?”

“O.K. -- when we get home, I am going to have the Spice Channel scrambled.  The correct answer was: if you are good, you get a kiss from me.  If you’re bad, it’s Pauly Shore on every channel.”

Gabrielle muttered something about cruel and unusual punishment as she closed her eyes.  She let her awareness about the area expand, touching every mind within a certain distance.  As she did that, with a push of her will, she felt her mind dividing into two separate modes of consciousness.  One was still touching minds and shaping their own perceptions; the other was opening Gabrielle’s eyes and looking out across the hilly field as a jogger passed by.

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“The rote is set and in motion, but I don’t think it will stay active for long.  I don’t have the quintessence to maintain for an area any larger than a city block.”

“Let me give you some of mine.”  Xena leaned close, letting her lips brush Gabrielle’s.  The blonde leaned into it, stretching her neck up slightly to touch her beloved better.  There was a spark of power that struck Gabrielle like a lightning bolt out of the blue.  Something in her soul cried out in joy as the warm rush flowed into her body, then spread out into the ether.  Gabrielle surrendered herself to the power of creation that Xena was giving her freely.  The mind that was experiencing the kiss swam as the quintessence sharpened her own body’s pattern, making everything about her more real.  The mind that was continuing the spell pushed the boundaries of illusion further than she could have anticipated.  Every mind that even thought about coming in this direction was touched and given a chance to see what they really wanted.

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“Excuse me?”  The voice broke Gabrielle’s kissing-mind, but the illusion-making mind was still on the task.  Gabrielle broke away from Xena’s lips to see who had the nerve to interrupt her. 

The man was crouched beside them, holding an expensive looking camera in his hands.  There was nothing about him that seemed to set off Gabrielle’s danger sense.  She looked at Xena out of the corner of her eye.  Her face remained calm and pleasant.  No sign of the hard look that she had before she would train Gabrielle in all methods of hand to hand combat.  The petite blonde relaxed a little bit, but still kept her guard up.

“Can we help you?”  Xena asked.

“Yeah, I’m a student photographer and I was wondering if I could take the picture of you two ladies together for my class.”

Gabrielle’s hand tensed.  Did my spell fail?  I would have felt that, wouldn’t I?  Oh, God, what if he’s Awakened, too?  She fought to keep her wits about her.

Xena smiled, “Sure, if you can get a picture of us together for our own sakes.”

“Sure!  Give your address when I’m done.  Let me back up a bit here,” he waddled backwards a few paces, “and just look natural.  Hold it. . .”  He pressed the button twice, then walked forward to kneel right in front of the pair, “OK -- this is your shot.  So smile big or make a funny face or whatever.”

Gabrielle relaxed and gave her brightest smile.   Xena held her closer as she rested her head on her lover’s shoulder.  There were a pair of clicks and the photographer lowered his camera, “OK, that’s all I needed.  Where can I send the photos?”

Gabrielle gave the number of a mailbox she had rented.  The man thanked them profusely and promised the photos in a few weeks.  As he stood up slowly to walk away, Gabrielle craned her head back to whisper in her ear.

“Why did he us?  Was he Awakened?”

Xena kissed the woman’s lobe, “Nope, you set the parameters of the spell.  You told everyone’s mind to see what they wanted to see.  Maybe he wanted to see true love.”

Gabrielle leaned against the counter as she felt the last strings of memory whisk away.  She set the bottle aside with a shaking hand.  She was supposed to have better control over herself than this.  Her emotions were getting the best of her lately.  She looked at the magnetic calendar on her refrigerator side.  Her suspicion was confirmed.  It was almost one year to the day that Xena had disappeared to the barrabi.  That idea was chilling, from what she had been able to glean from Xena and some of the other Euthanatoi -- Xena was their best fighter.  She had even invited to a group within the Euthanatos called the Knights Of Rhadamanthus.  They took up the fights that even other mages deemed to difficult.  They were the best of the best and Xena was better than all of them.

“But it’s always the higher the climb, the farther the fall, isn’t it, Xena?  How far did you fall?  Did you fall or were you pushed or--”  She choked off her own words, she didn’t want to say what her mind had whispered to her in the darkest part of the night.  She secretly feared that it was true:  Xena didn’t fall by accident, she wasn’t pushed by a rival.  She simply peered into the abyss, saw some comfort in it, then jumped willingly.

To Be Continued . . .

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