Orb and Prophecy Prophecy Part 10 of about 13
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Orb And Prophecy: Concluding Chapters ("Orb" And "Epilogue") free porn video
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Episode 12: Orb
Hope dawned purple at last on the fourth morning. Patience had paid off:
my magic aura was beginning, faintly, to glow again. Richard and Alise
had been marvelously gracious hosts in our confinement, and I had
apparently learned something valuable about just waiting. It was yet a
few days later before I felt strong enough in the magic to actually use
it. I didn't dare just cancel the magic wards on the street; that would
signal my presence as clearly as an alarm bell, and even if I could hide
myself, I didn't want to subject my new friends to that. So instead I hid
myself with the same sort of invisibility I had used on my last trip into
the city, spoke a guarding spell upon myself, and stepped forth. It
seemed to be holding. I offered the same spell to my hosts, and when
Richard tried it, it seemed also to work for him. Thus they were freed
from their de facto house arrest, and I in my invisibility, and in a
wonderfully refreshing, relaxed sense of safety at last, took off toward
the city center and my destiny there.
Step one was to find and rescue my men. I had concluded earlier that they
must be in the palace, and while no one in the Council could confirm
that, they had come to the same conclusion. Actually, of course, I
couldn't just go charging in there just yet--I needed another kind of
charging. I needed a day or so, as close to the Orb as I could get. This
was different from my last trip in to the city. No juvenile invisibility
games for me this time--I had too much on my mind, and I had too much to
learn.
The city was obviously on the lookout for me, not in a way that ordinary
people could have seen, but I could easily perceive magic on almost every
intersection, which had not been there previously. I was sure it was set
up to find and catch me, or to catch anyone who knew about me. I hoped
Richard and Alise didn't wander into one of the traps. There was nothing
they could say that would increase my risk much, but they would probably
pay a big price for having sheltered me. I appreciated their courage,
knowing that they had been fully aware of all the risks from the start.
What did they have to protect them--magic? They would have said no, they
had their God instead.
My problem now was to spend the day as fruitfully as possible. I was more
observant of the people than before. There was a strange sense about
them, a hush, a caution. Rumors of my arrival were rampant. There were
many people in small groups whispering. I eavesdropped on a few of those
conversations, taking advantage of being cloaked by magic. "Is Marisa in
the city?" was the question. The answers varied, from hope to fear,
depending on what they thought I might do for them--or to them--if I was
there. My own feelings varied the same way, for other reasons.
It was an eerie interlude for me, walking so freely in the midst of such
a perilous place; waiting so passively for tomorrow when my actions could
change the whole course of so many lives. In the end, I was glad when the
sun set and I could feel justified in lying down for my night's rest. The
day had been too easy, too slow. I was aching for action. It wasn't all
that easy to sleep--especially since I had chosen the palace lawn for my
resting spot. I was nearly there.
***
I arose at first light. My purple glow was as strong as I had ever seen
it. This was the day! *Oh God, would you help me?* That brought on the
thought, *Darn it all, now they've got me doing it too!* For it had been
a heartfelt communication toward a God I was beginning to think might
really be there.
The exterior of the palace was a virtual kaleidoscope of magical colors.
It almost felt like I was walking into a nightclub with multi-colored
lights, except it was nearly full daylight already. I repeated the words
of my protection spell upon myself and advanced, cautious for any sign I
was being noticed, or affected by other magic. So far, so good. Again, it
was almost too easy, even when I walked right through the gate and the
door into Moranna's palace.
Here the aura had a more yellow cast to it than anywhere I had seen. Here
I had been altered, in a great hall right in this building. Here I had
begun this strange, marvelous, journey of change. Here my men were
imprisoned. Here, I was quite sure, my enemy was waiting, wondering where
I might be.
It was simply wandering and observing that led me to my army. If my heart
was not broken before, now it surely was. They all seemed physically
intact, at least. But captivity had had its effect on their spirits, it
was plain to see. They were, in fact, quite easy to see: there was no
wall around them, no bars, no prison fence; nothing but a shimmer of
yellow in the air around the too-small section of the courtyard where
they were all gathered, fully exposed to the elements from above, fully
contained by the magic barrier, and clearly beaten in spirit.
I reached them about the same time as another woman, who walked through
the barrier as if it wasn't there. She got there attention even as I was
watching, to announce to them,
"Your friend Marisa seems to be trying to get to the city. Don't think
she has come to help you, though! If she comes to you, know that she has
decided to overthrow the queen and take her place! And do you think it
will go any better for you with her in charge? You know that it takes a
woman to wield power here. Will you join her in becoming a woman? Or will
you be a slave like all the other men here?"
The men didn't know that last line wasn't entirely true. They couldn't
know that the rest of it was also a lie. They had known a self-serving
General Winterhorn, so what she said may have been quite believable.
There was nothing I could do about what they thought, but there was
something I could do to help them. It took just a simple spell, but I had
had to think it through in advance. By it I just spoke an ending to
their magical barrier, with a delayed effect, to take place 24 hours
later. And I spoke a protection spell to keep them from being hurt before
and after that by any of Moranna's women.
*That should do it,* I thought, turning away to leave them unaware that
anything had changed. Then it was time to face the hard part. The Orb.
***
The battle in my heart had already been settled. By this afternoon, I
would be--what? Dead? Enslaved by Moranna? Victorious as a man?
Victorious, and still magical as a woman? Whatever may come, my course
was clear. There was nothing difficult about finding my way to my final
destination, the Orb Chamber. As soon as I had entered the palace
grounds, I had felt it, felt its pull, its seductive power. I could
follow that pull as easily as a beacon in the dark; but somehow the
beacon seemed like the dark itself this time.
The chamber was a large room, incredibly ornate, guarded by dozens of
women. I walked past them. It was going too easily. I approached the
center of the room. My heart was pounding, my palms were sweaty, my eyes
were glued to the glowing ball on a pedestal there in front of me.
Here it was: the strange and eldritch center of power on Alduvia. I
couldn't rush here now. There was something about the Orb that asked for-
-was it worship? I felt the urge, but it was wrong. It was false. Its
promise was false, and what it delivered felt now to me to be twisted. I
was not accustomed to using the word "evil", but it came my mind now.
Enough meditating on the scene--I had work to do. But I was interrupted
by a flurry of activity on the other side of the Orb.
"She's here!" someone cried out. "I know she's here! She's in this room!"
It was Moranna! She sensed me, somehow. I must have triggered something--
what, or how, I don't know, but my protection spell hadn't been enough.
Moranna had laid a trap for me, and incredibly, it had worked. She hadn't
found me and couldn't find me, but she knew where she needed to be. She
stood next to the Orb, ready, waiting, watching for me.
I had to admire her in one sense--I could have taken her out then with my
own magic, but she stood her ground, facing her own fate, whatever it
might be. It was time. I had a plan, now was when I would put it into
effect.
Alwyn had instructed me: build a gate that removes all magic from whoever
walks through it. She had warned me not to use it to strip off the part
of the spell that had given me the understanding of the language. And she
had reminded me I want to prepare to switch back to male clothing when I
switched back to a male body.
I couldn't bring myself to do it. Not right away, anyway. I took a long
look at myself, as much as I could see without a mirror. I felt my hair,
my curves, my satiny clothing. I still liked it. *But that's the spell!*
I insisted to myself. *I won't miss it when it's gone--will I?*
Moranna almost seemed to be looking at me. I didn't know what she had
done to discover me, or whether I could stay hidden for long. I had to
act. Besides, I had already made my decision long ago.
I had practiced the gate spell over and over again before leaving the
village. Now I prepared to speak it aloud. Right next to the Orb it
formed, purple in the air before me. It was to be the tool of my next
transformation. I was almost crying as I approached and stepped through
it.
I hadn't felt my first transformation. This one was different. All the
colors in the room instantly disappeared. My magic was absolutely gone. I
barely had time to notice the other changes, because everyone was looking
at me suddenly. My protection spell was also gone! How could I have
overlooked that? Moranna was just a few feet away from me, on the other
side of the Orb. She was already speaking a spell against me. I reached
out to the Orb. I picked it up. The colors came back! I was a man, and I
had the magic again! It was purple! I was free! It was over! I was the
only magic person in the entire room! Glory be--Moranna was powerless!
Oh, the look of horror on her face! She came at me, I backed away; she
followed, she came through the gate--and astonishingly, she changed, too.
The beautiful woman that she was--was gone. Before my eyes she turned
into an gray-haired, wrinkled, small, frail--man.
And there was a purple glow on him. He noticed it as quickly as I did. We
stood facing each other, me holding the Orb, him looking at me with a
gleam in his eyes.
"So!" he spoke. "You learn my secret. I was changed once, as you were.
And I won that battle. I took over. Now I will show you that you cannot
do the same."
He spoke, and a purple glow flew at me. I countered, holding the Orb in
front of me as if it were a shield. It held--just barely. He tried again,
and I knew I was in trouble, that holding the Orb meant nothing. I saw
brown hair growing on the back of my hands; I felt an urge to drop to all
fours. What was he trying to make me this time? How could I defend
myself? Panic surged up my throat again.
I got lucky. Backing away in fear, not even thinking about it, I went
through the gate again. That cleared me of what he had just tried on me.
But he spoke, and the gate disappeared from before my eyes. What could I
do? I didn't have his skills, his years of practice. I couldn't win.
Alwyn hadn't won against Moranna, and I had less training than she.
He stopped for a moment. "I'm better than you," he sneered. All I had--
all I had was the Orb in my hands, and the longer I held it, the more
evil and dark it felt to me. Disgust welled up in my soul, overpowering
even my match fear. But at the same time, I recognized something in my
foe--the same evil that was in the Orb. He had spent too much time close
to it. I almost pitied him.
"No, Moranna--or whatever your name is now. No, you're not better than
me. We have a lot in common. I might have been like you--but something--
someone--saved me from that."
I lifted the Orb high overhead. Moranna's old, gray eyes followed it,
mesmerized. I let go, and he watched in horror as it fell, and shattered
into a thousand pieces.
Once again the magic colors in the room faded to nothing, as the magic
died with the Orb. Moranna wailed, "No-o-o!" And he drooped to the floor,
faded away to a crippled, crying, weak, sad, man. The entire roomful of
women stopped and stared, stricken. He writhed a moment and then lay
still.
Silence for a moment--then absolute confusion broke out. The women were
all calling out and screaming and running every direction. I was now--
though I had just barely had time to realize it--much taller and stronger
than they. I fought my way through them and ran out into the courtyard
and out of the palace. It was over. Moranna was defeated. As for myself,
I didn't know what I was. Tired, exhausted, spiritually wrung out, a man
again, and thinking, just probably, that might be okay--though I didn't
have any idea what might happen next time I saw Marcus again.
Part 13: Epilogue
I had been invisible walking into the palace. In a different way I was
invisible walking out. Nobody knew Winterhorn, nobody cared who this
unknown man was, nobody knew I had just defeated their queen and turned
their lives upside down forever. It felt terribly anticlimactic. I had
been spectacular as a General. I had been spectacular as a woman. I was
nothing now.
On the way out, I had stopped by my imprisoned army. They cheered when
the recognized me! But they were still stuck behind a wall that was now
invisible to me, as it had always been to them. "Hold on, men!" I called
out. "You'll be free in a few hours! Head north!" Then I left, wondering
what I was to them now. Whatever it was, it couldn't be the same as
before.
Women were pouring out of the palace grounds behind me. Other magic users
who were already in the streets had discovered something cataclysmic had
happened. Others, non-magic-users, were slower to catch on: they were
just bewildered, so far, by the outcry among the women. In the confusion
that was slowly building, I simply walked through the city, aiming
gradually northward toward the direction of my first safe-house, and
toward the village. For the first time I walked these streets as a normal
person. I only wished I felt as triumphant as I ought. My thoughts turned
to Jakob, who would never be healed now. It should have felt like a
bigger victory, and if I had taken care of Jakob, maybe it would have.
Somehow my feet carried me toward Richard and Alise's house. The longer I
walked, the more I felt at home in my old body again. More and more, it
felt good to be back, to feel the beard on my cheek, to sense my size and
strength. But what would happen when I met my new friends again? Did any
of them know yet what had happened? Would they even let me in? I felt
very unsure of where I stood. But I was lonely, and they were the only
people in town I knew to look up. I walked up to the door and knocked.
"Hi," I said, rather abashedly. "I used to be Marisa." How strange to say
such a thing! They looked at me with questioning, doubting eyes. I stood
there, embarrassed, and spread my hands out as if to say, "Here I am,
this is all of me. Really." They looked at one another, and back at me,
and at one another again. Belief grew in their eyes, and joy crept in
with it. "Marisa! Marisa? Or what is your name now?"
"Yes, it's me. And I have to say, my name sounded a lot more regal in my
old language than in this one." (That still bothered me.) "It's
Winterhorn."
"Winterhorn! Yes, yes, I believe you!" Alise said. "Of course, we knew
you were at least partially successful. We could tell--you'll see in a
moment. Come in! Come in!"
I entered the familiar house feeling much like a stranger again. I was
hardly prepared to see Marcus there. But there he was. He hadn't heard
the conversation at the door--so I had to introduce myself again to the
man who had been my best friend, my (so unbelievably now) hoped-for love.
Those feelings of romantic longing were gone. He was a friend to me now--
a great friend, a wonderful friend. And that was enough. I clasped him in
a bear-hug. I could tell it worried him at first--how could he know what
was on my heart?
"Moranna is finished" I said. That was what they had really been waiting
to hear, and Marcus and the couple erupted in a loud whoop of joy.
"Praise be to God!" they all shouted.
A door flew open at the other end of the room, and in rushed Jakob.
"Moranna lost!" his dad shouted. It took me a moment to notice Jakob's
hands--they were healed! He was fully human again! But how? The old magic
hadn't faded away like that at my army's barrier. His hands shouldn't
have just healed themselves. Marcus saw my confusion and explained.
"Marisa--I mean Winterhorn--you're not the only one here now that has had
some magic power. I know exactly when you picked up that Orb--because I
turned purple myself then! No, I wasn't near the palace, I was on the
outskirts of the city, but somehow it landed the power on me as if I was
right there. And right away I used the power to heal Jakob. Don't ask me
why I brought him with me, but somehow we decided at the last minute we
wanted to be together, and we wanted to be as close as we could be."
Jakob had figured out by now who I was. It was obviously a little strange
to him, and he was on the bashful side, but his dad persuaded him to come
give me a handshake--man to man. It only lasted a moment before it
developed into a huge embrace.
***
Night was falling on the next day after. The celebrations in the village
were winding down. Alwyn, Marcus, and I sat in her kitchen, just the
three of us alone. We had just left a gathering with the Council, where I
told them all the entire, detailed story of the battle at the Orb.
Someone had brought word to confirm that Moranna was dead. She had come
to justice, dead by her own lust for power. Now it was just the three of
us again.
"What happens now?" I wondered aloud. "What happens when the rest of the
world discovers this island?"
"It depends on what kind of spells Moranna put around the harbor," said
Alwyn. "It could continue just the same for quite some time. In fact, it
might be that you could leave now and never remember having been here."
"Not on your life! This is home now. I've never had friends like you
before, and I'm not leaving. You can give away the clothes in my old
room, by the way, Alwyn. They're not mine anymore--that's not me anymore.
They just don't--" I gave a wink at both of them--"they just don't hold
the fascination they used to. And they certainly don't fit anymore!"
"So, do you like the way you are again?" Marcus asked.
"Oh, yes!" I said emphatically. "Nothing against women, but that's not
what I was made to be. I kind of regret getting older again all the
sudden, though, I have to admit."
Marcus answered, "It makes you look like you've had some life experience,
at least. You know, there isn't anybody on this island that has any
experience running a country--nobody but you."
"Not so fast, now!" I responded. But inside I was already thinking over
what was going to be necessary, starting even tomorrow, to establish a
new sense of order on the island. Moranna's death had left a vacuum that
someone would need to fill. Someone would need to protect the former
magic users until they could be brought to proper justice. My mind was
racing over ways my army could help, if we could establish some trust in
the city. How to do that? I didn't know an answer just then, I couldn't
help but follow that track in my brain. I knew that whatever happened,
Marcus would be right in the thick of it, a trusted partner and friend, a
courageous man, an obvious leader. Alwyn would have to be there too,
bringing her immense wisdom to bear. And if I were to help lead, this
time it wouldn't be for my own power or ego.
In some ways now back where I had started from, I had nevertheless most
definitely changed. "What do you think?" I asked my two trusted friends.
"Did I have to become a woman to be a better man?"
"What do _you_ think?" answered Alwyn. "Did Marcus have to go through
that? Did it work for Moranna?"
"There you go again, Alwyn, answering a question with another question!"
She laughed at that. We all did. We laughed long and hard. Finally we
settled down to a contented, comfortable silence, yet that question of
mine was still on my mind. I thought about all I had experienced, about
the members of the Council, about their strength and courage. Then I
said, "You know, I think I just might want to know more about this God of
yours."
Emely
- 04.12.2020
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Orb and Prophecy Prophecy Part 11 of about 13
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The Sidereus Prophecy Epilogue
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