Non-Canon Flick continues to accidentally seduce Gaia as Jacob
Gaia and Jacob continued their search for the ship that had taken the missing man, Millersby. It wasn’t fast going, considering Jacob had to stop every once in a while to check any dead animals in the area to try to determine if they were still going the right way. A couple of times they ended up getting turned around and had to go back the way they had come. But, although progress was slower, it was still progress.
And through it all, Gaia continued to watch her new companion. He was intriguing, to say the least. He’d come back from the future, and he knew her. Oh, he hadn’t said so, and she wouldn’t push him on that point until he was ready, but Gaia had put that much together. From the way he had reacted, he actually knew her quite well. That in and of itself was interesting, but the fact that he wasn’t afraid of her, that she had seen a version of herself as a good person reflected in his eyes, meant so much more.
She wanted to ask him about who she would become, about what she would become. She wanted to make sure she knew all the right choices to make. Because one thing was for certain, she had made some poor ones in her past. When she allowed her anger to take over, when she lost perspective, things got out of control.
More than anything, she wanted to ask him about Arthur. The thoughts of whether she could have changed anything if she had been there during her brother’s last battle had kept her awake through so many endless nights. She didn’t even know the full truth about how her brother had died. There were so many lies and made up stories that nothing made sense. And anyone who could possibly tell her the actual truth refused to get into it.
Honestly, that had made her angry too. Arthur was her brother, and they were keeping secrets about how he died? It made her want to lash out, but she stopped herself. The only thing getting angry would do was prove them right. And she had already spent more time than she cared to think about coming to terms with the rage that was always boiling away deep inside her. Her time with the Sinclair clan had done so much to help Gaia learn to control herself, but it still wasn’t perfect.
And now, this man was here. This man who knew her, who looked at her and saw a good person, not a monster. There has been absolutely no fear in his eyes when he saw who she was. There had been relief, and maybe more than that. There had been trust. He trusted her. That by itself was enough to make the woman want to bombard him with questions about her future, with questions about how she could become the person he saw when he looked at her.
But no, she couldn’t do that. There was too big of a risk that it would change things, that knowing anything about the future would make that future change. And if there was one thing she knew for certain after looking at Jacob, it was that she didn’t want anything about that future to change. Maybe it wasn’t perfect, maybe she still made plenty of mistakes. Maybe there was still a lot of pain and suffering ahead. In fact, she was certain there would be. But there was also that look in Jacob’s eyes, that expression of trust and relief that Gaia was there. And that was a feeling she would accept any amount of confusion and uncertainty to reach.
Snapped out of her inner musings as Jacob abruptly shook himself after having spent the last several minutes completely motionless while focused on his power, Gaia calmly asked, “Do we continue from here?” She tried to keep her turbulent emotions out of her voice. Now wasn’t the time to distract Jacob with all those thoughts she was having. She didn’t want to tempt him into saying more than he wanted to. Well, okay, maybe part of her did want to. But the larger, more rational part kept control.
Still, she wasn’t sure she completely kept everything out of her voice, judging from the brief, uncertain look the young man sent her. But he just as quickly gave a short nod. “Yeah, there was a dead rat over that way. It saw the ship going over those trees. I guess we just keep heading that way.” He started to hold his hand out to her, then hesitated, a slight blush crossing his face. It was rather adorable. “I mean, if you just want to walk, that’s–”
Before he could withdraw his hand completely, Gaia caught it with her own. It was a warm hand, and softer than she might have expected. “I believe our missing friend could probably use some help sooner rather than later,” she pointed out gently. “We should make this quick. Or as quick as we can.” Of course, she had never actually met this Millersby. But if Jacob saw him as an innocent and a friend, that was enough for her. She certainly wasn’t going to leave him in the clutches of these spacefaring creatures, whoever they were.
For just a second, when Jacob looked at her again, Gaia felt that strange feeling in her stomach. He was powerful, that much was for certain. She had met a few Necromancers in the past, but none of them were anything like Jacob. He seemed almost embarrassed by the power he wielded. Not ashamed of it, but completely unaware of just how overwhelming it could be. Gaia had met a young ogre who was incredibly polite and sweet, but had absolutely no idea how to control his strength. He was clumsy and adorable in a way that could be terrifying at times when one thought about how easily he could get out of control. Seeing Jacob in those moments, when it was clear that he was still learning how to control such a massive amount of power, reminded her of that.
And on top of the Necromancy, it was obvious he had other powers as well. Teleporting without using any apparent magic? In a way that seemed like a completely natural gift? That was enough for her to realize he had to be one of these new Hieronymus Bosch Heretics. Their people had already reached out and turned the willing Gaia into one of them as well. But she had barely begun to experiment with the ability to absorb other powers. That, to be honest, was the source of her wandering these days. She was searching for true monsters, creatures who deserved to die so she could become stronger. The men who had given her this power, who had made her a Bosch Heretic, had made it clear that they were setting up an organization, a school where they could recruit young people and train them properly from the start. She wasn’t sure how she felt about that, to be honest. She wasn’t sure how she felt about any of this. She certainly didn’t believe the rising mantra that anything that wasn’t human was evil. She had no idea where that was coming from or who was pushing it so hard. But it worried her. It worried her enough to know that speaking out wouldn’t accomplish anything. She needed to be on the inside of this, needed to try to find the source and challenge it there, not simply argue with the ones who were already brainwashed.
But, of course, that would come later. For now, she simply braced herself as Jacob instantly transported them all the way to the far side of the trees they had seen in the distance. What would’ve been a walk of over an hour was done instantly. And just like before, the man held his free hand out toward the trees and closed his eyes while clearly focusing on his Necromancy once more. He was looking for anything else that could lead them to the next spot.
With less than a wave of his hand, merely a thought, he had transported both of them that entire distance. And then he had gone straight into summoning up ghosts of dead animals, again without using any apparent magic. He made no symbols, chanted no words, nothing. He was a natural Necromancer, and an unbelievably powerful one at that. Between that and the fact that he obviously had other incredibly strong abilities, Gaia was even more intrigued by him than she already had been from the start.
Standing there now, the woman realized belatedly that she was still holding his hand. With a blush of her own, she gently extracted it, trying not to distract him from his concentration. Just in case, she turned and focused on her own power, the one she had gained so much earlier than these Bosch abilities. She could sense any nearby machinery for quite a distance. And yet, there was nothing out here. Nothing aside from the technology Jacob had on his person, technology she was trying to ignore as much as possible. Even if she hadn’t already known he was from the future, the things in his pockets would have revealed that well enough.
There was no technology around here. The ship wasn’t within her range. Though that range was getting longer by the day, it seemed. Her gift had been fairly stagnant for so long, not being used very much with the limited amount of technology there was around her. She relied mostly on her ability to use magic back in her early days. But now, whenever she found herself near actual technology, especially of the sort that those spacefarers used, her power seemed to keep growing. It was as though simply using it for its intended purpose made it grow exponentially. Already, she knew that after only a few interactions with these Starfaring vessels, her gift was several times stronger than it had been.
And why did a part of her want to talk to Jacob about that? Not about the future, not about what her power would eventually become, but about what it was right then. She didn’t want secret knowledge from the man. She wanted to talk to him about what she knew right then. What was that all about? It was obvious that he wouldn’t be able to separate what he knew about her future from what she was telling him. She couldn’t put him through that. She couldn’t force him to make that sort of decision about how much to share when she started asking about the way her power was growing.
“Gaia?” From the sound of Jacob’s voice, it was obvious that this wasn’t the first time he said her name while she was distracted. He was looking at her with an expression of concern. “Are you okay?”
How on Earth was she supposed to answer that? Especially when simply meeting his gaze made her question even more things. He cared about her. He knew her in the future, he trusted her, and he cared about who she was and how she felt. He was worried about her. And yet, not worried about what she might do. That trust, seeing the complete faith in his eyes both when they had first met, and now when he was asking if she was okay, meant more than Gaia could ever articulate.
“Yes,” she managed. “Did you find the next trail?”
Jacob, in turn, nodded. “Yeah, and I think we’re starting to get close. The ship seemed like it was heading down. Probably getting ready to land.”
Gaia brought a smile to her face. It wasn’t hard. “Well, in that case, we should pick up the pace.
“We wouldn’t want to make our soon-to-be acquaintances wait much longer.”
*******
A Look At An Anti-Alter But Non-Boscher Heretic Group
Her name was Erika Cannon. At just barely twenty-one years of age, she was still attending university, majoring in accounting. She wasn’t the best student in class, but nor was she the worst. Erika was quite firmly in the middle, though she did work hard to keep herself there. She’d had to work hard her entire life, after finding herself orphaned by the age of nine. Left without parents in a system that was so overburdened and stressed that it was all they could do to make sure she was fed and clothed, Erika had thrown herself into wanting to make a better life. She was good with numbers, adoring math. So that was where she had focused herself. With that effort, she’d managed to get a scholarship to a decent school, where she’d hoped to impress a decent company enough to take on someone without a big family name or decorated history behind her.
And now here she was. Oh sure, it wasn’t the sort of offer she’d expected. She’d never even heard of this place before receiving a series of emails and a couple of calls earlier that week. They were apparently known as Svalinn Consultants. They barely had any internet presence, amounting to little more than a website with their name, an address, email, and a single phone number to call. Their logo was of a round shield with a stylized version of the name scrawled across it. No one Erika had spoken to had heard of this Svalinn group other than a few whispers now and then about how private they were and how few clients they actually took on.
But they had reached out to her, had offered her a paid internship right off the bat. All she had to do was come in and talk to them, see if it would be a good fit for both sides.
So, here she was. Their headquarters was in a moderately-sized city in Illinois, about a two hour drive from her own college. It looked like an average four story building, quite small for a business as successful as they were supposed to be. But then again, if they really only took a handful of clients each year, maybe they didn’t need much space. They could be just as selective about how many employees they took in as they were about how many clients they served.
In that case, however, she couldn’t help but wonder why they’d reached out to her. Sure, she worked hard and was driven. But Svalinn was supposed to take in the elite of the elite. Ninety-nine percent of the people who worked in their field had never even received a cursory email from those people. But Erika had been courted by them. Four emails and two calls over the course of a few days. And they were paying for her trip out here just to meet and decide if she wanted to accept their job offer. If she wanted to accept their offer.
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Something was really strange about all this. And yet, there was no way in hell Erika was going to give up this opportunity. Not without at least checking them out. If something really did turn out to be hinky about it, she’d just leave.
For now, however, she wanted to make sure she impressed her potential future employers. So, the tall (she stood just under six feet) young brunette with dark eyes and matching dark skin had dressed up in her best suit, the only one she’d actually managed to get tailored specifically for her. She had to use a coupon and it still took a fair chunk of the money she had saved up for a new car, but it was worth it. The suit made her feel like she was in charge. It fit her like a glove. Which was an odd phrase, considering she’d never had gloves that actually fit properly. They were always either too big or too small. Usually too small.
Telling herself she was ready for this, Erika glanced around the street as though any of the several people ignoring her on their way past in either direction would have any answers about the mysterious building ahead of her. None were headed that way. None of them even glanced at it. And why would they? It was just an unmarked, completely average-looking office building. Nothing about it stood out. Which, come to think of it, was probably what the people in there intended. If they really were so secretive that their website gave almost zero information about them, of course they wouldn’t plaster their business sign all over the building.
Well, here went nothing. Running multiplication tables in her head to calm her nerves the same way she had ever since she was a little girl, Erika walked across the half-filled parking lot in front of the building and headed straight for the front door. As she approached it, a strange sensation passed over her briefly. It felt like a cold chill running down her spine, but it was gone just as quickly. Was there a breeze or something? Confused, she glanced round. But the air was still. If anything, it was a bit too warm in this nicely-tailored suit.
Shaking off the feeling, she purposefully marched up to the door and pulled it open. No shyness, no uncertainty, no stammering or lingering anxiously. If this was her best chance to get into a good company, especially one offering as much compensation for an intern as they were, she was going to make a good impression, dammit.
The front lobby was just as unassuming as the outside. There were three cushioned chairs and a small table to one side as a makeshift waiting area, a receptionist behind a desk straight ahead, and a pair of elevators behind her. The whole room was pretty small, especially for the lobby of a major company. It looked more like the entrance to a small doctor’s office.
Still, the woman behind the desk (a pale figure with bright red hair and better-toned biceps than even most of the athletic students back at the university) seemed to be quite busy on the phone, chatting rapidly in a language Erika couldn’t understand. It sounded possibly Italian. The moment she entered, the receptionist held up one hand in a ‘one moment’ gesture while continuing her rapid, incomprehensible speech.
Finally, after another minute of that, she hung up the phone and focused on the young woman in front of her. “Good morning, Ms. Cannon. Sorry, do you prefer Miss? If you just step over here for a minute and sign in, I’ll let Sam know you made it.” She produced a clipboard and held it out for her along with a pen.
“Uh, thanks, and Miss is fine.” While Erika signed her name in the marked spot (she was the only guest to have come in for what looked like the past several weeks going by the listed dates), the receptionist picked up the phone again and hit a single button before talking in yet another language. This one sounded like Hebrew or Arabic. The only part of it Erika could make out was her own full name.
After a brief conversation over the phone, the other woman disconnected and offered another easy smile. “They’re ready for you, dear. Just take the lift on the right and go up to the sixth floor.”
Erika, for her part, had already thanked the woman and was halfway to the elevator when she abruptly stopped and turned back. “Wait, there’s only four…” The desk was empty. No one was sitting there. “… floors? Uhh… hello?” This had to be a weird dream or a mistake. She looked around, expecting to see the receptionist by the door, or maybe doing something with the magazines at the waiting table. But no, there was absolutely no one in sight.
Okay, obviously she had just gone out the front door to do something. Maybe she was getting something out of her car. And she’d probably said sixth floor because she was accustomed to working in a different building. This just wasn’t the only one this company worked out of. That had to be it. Or she was a temp and had been thinking about another company she worked for. Something simple like that.
Shaking that off with the thought that the people upstairs were waiting for her right then and might not appreciate being left hanging, Erika quickly walked to the elevator. She’d just go to the fourth floor and ask if she was in the… wrong… place–there were ten buttons. Two were labeled B and B2, one was labeled G/1 for this floor, and then there were seven more numbered in order, two through eight. Eight numbered above-ground floors… in a building that was only four stories tall.
Some part of Erika wanted to run outside and look at the building from there again. But she knew it would look the same as it had before. Four stories, not eight. She knew that much for certain after standing out there for almost three minutes staring at this place as she worked up the nerve to come in.
Feeling like she was in a daze, the young woman slowly reached out to press six. This was insane. It had to be a joke, a prank of some sort. Some stupid internet ‘comedian’ was about to jump out with a camera to laugh at her.
Instead, the doors closed and the elevator began to ascend. Feeling it rising, Erika resisted the urge to give a confused little laugh. This was all just too much.
After several long moments of feeling the elevator rise higher than it should have, it slowed to a stop before the doors slid open with a pleasant ding. With a rather surreal feeling running through her, the young black woman stepped off and found herself at the corner of an L-shaped hallway. One hall ran straight ahead of her and went on for over a hundred feet, with staggered metal doors on either side. The other stretched out to the right almost as far, with doors only on the left-hand side. One of those latter doors partway down the right-hand hall opened after a second, and a guy who looked like he belonged as a lineman for an NFL team, or possibly as a professional wrestler, stepped through. His suit barely fit him, and he had to duck to come through the doorway. But his smile was quick and endearing. “Erika Cannon! So good to meet you. Glad you found the place, it can be a bit confusing sometimes. Here, have some water.” He passed a bottle that way.
“Confusing…” Erika found herself echoing, her own voice a bit high-pitched even to her ears even as she absently drank some of the water. “There’s eight floors. There’s eight floors but… but…”
“Yes, yes, we’ll get to that,” the man promised with a shake of his head that sent his long hair (it was braided and yet appeared to fall all the way to the middle of his back) bouncing. “First, introductions. My name is Sam. There’s more to it, but you can just call me Sam for now. Do you have a preferred name?”
“Um, just… Erika is fine.” Still feeling dazed by all this, she managed a weak, “Is this real?”
The man offered another smile. “Hold onto that question. You’re gonna have it a few more times before we’re done.” With that, he pivoted and began to walk down the hall. “But if you want to start getting answers, real ones, they’re this way!”
Well, what else was she going to do? Shaking off her confusion, at least as much as she could, Erika quickly followed the man. He passed the door he had come out of, continuing down the hall. On the way, he asked, “Apologies for getting personal, I know this is going to be a hard question. But how much do you know about what happened to your parents, Erika?”
Well that was unexpected. Tripping over her own feet a bit in surprise, she blurted an uncertain, “My parents? They died in a car accident when I was nine. It was a hit and run with a drunk driver. They never found him.”
Stopping outside a door about three-quarters of the way down the hall, Sam looked over his shoulder at her, expression unreadable. “Is that what they said?” He made a noncommittal noise before pushing the door open to step through. “Let’s see about that.”
Now even more confused and freaked out, the young woman glanced back the way they had come. She was seriously considering running back to the impossible elevator to get out of here. But this whole thing had to be some weird and not very amusing test, didn’t it? Obviously, they weren’t on the sixth floor in a building that only had four of them. The elevator had simply taken her to the fourth floor and slowed down to make it seem like they were traveling further or something. That had to be it. Even if she couldn’t possibly think of what sort of hiring test this could be.
In the end, she took a deep breath and followed through the door. She couldn’t contain her curiosity. And when she stepped into the next room, it got even worse. They were in what looked like a large gymnasium mixed with a dojo. Training equipment such as exercise balls, dumbbells, jump ropes, and more were littered all over the place, along with various weapons lining the walls. Actual weapons, like swords and spears, but also guns.
And there, in the middle of the room, as if she wasn’t baffled enough, was an enormous, impossible figure. It looked like an elephant standing on two legs, a humanoid elephant. Towering just over ten feet tall, with army camo clothes over gray skin, the massive figure was chained down. There were at least six heavy chains bolted into the floor and wrapped around the creature. Chains that were glowing.
Stopping short as a noise of disbelief escaped her, the girl stared with wide, terrified and lost eyes. She almost fell over backwards before the man who had brought her here caught her by the arm. “Sorry, sorry, I know it’s a shock. We have to give your system a hard, unexpected shake. It’s the only way to break the Bystander Effect, even with the potion you just drank.”
“Potion–you… you drugged me,” Erika managed, unable to tear her eyes away from the massive figure who was now glaring at her. “That’s why–that’s why–”
“That’s not why you’re seeing it,” Sam informed her. “Well, it is, but it’s why you’re seeing the truth and not some magical lie. Listen, Erika, I know this is a lot. I know. Part of the recruitment process is seeing how you deal with the shock, but I’m here to help guide you through it. Or you can walk away. No hard feelings, we’ll let you forget about all this. But before you decide, I need you to look at this thing.” He turned to take in the sight of the large creature with her. “I know it’s hard. I know. But look there. That thing, that monster, he is the reason your parents are dead, Erika. He’s the one who killed them while he was on one of his rampages. And they’re not the only ones who died because of him.”
From there, Sam told her everything. He told her about the Bystander Effect, and how it hid monsters from humanity and made them forget anything magical they saw. He told her that his organization, Svalinn Consultants, were one of several groups who fought to protect humanity from the monsters. They were able to use the blood of the creatures to give humans their abilities (though each human could only bond with a single creature) and permanently erase the Bystander Effect from them.
The elephant monster was known as a Pachdergle. He had been in a drunken rage as he stampeded through the intersection where her parents had been in their car, completely demolishing it. Now he was here, bellowing in fury as he yanked at the magical chains holding him down.
Ignoring that, Sam focused on the young woman in front of him. “Like I said, you can walk away from this, no hard feelings. Go back to your ordinary life and be an accountant or whatever you want. I’m sure you’ll be great at it. Or,” he produced what looked like an old style western revolver and held it out to her, “you can stop that thing from hurting anyone else ever again, and start helping to make sure some other little girl like you doesn’t lose her parents.”
Erika hesitated for several long seconds, staring at the creature who was essentially frothing at the mouth and snarling at her. This was the reason she didn’t have her mom and dad anymore. This was the drunk driver they never found. This was the reason she’s been an orphan since she was nine years old.
Taking the pistol, she stared down at it, then raised the thing and pointed at the monster who had destroyed her life. A single pull of the trigger filled the room with a deafening boom and made the gun jerk so hard it was nearly torn from her grasp before the elephant man collapsed. Sam was smiling as he put his hand on her back. “Excellent work. You can keep the gun. But now, let’s go see what sort of monster you’d like to be bonded to. We have some excellent options, and–”
The same door they had come through a moment earlier opened then, as a slender-yet-voluptuous young woman with reddish-blonde hair came through. She sood only an inch over five feet, and wore a black long-sleeved shirt with red buttons and matching red trim, an open red leather jacket, dark pants and boots, and a black choker around her neck with the word ‘Trust’ emblazoned on it in gold writing.
“I shouldn’t be interrupting right now,” the newcomer announced. “I know it’s rude, and you don’t want to leave me alone with the new recruit while you check on the people upstairs.”
“Oh don’t be silly,” Sam retorted. “I’ll be right back.” To Erika, he added, “You’ll be fine here for a moment.” He was gone, passing through the door before either woman could respond.
“What–” Erika started. That was as far as she got before the newcomer produced what looked like a small metal rod. A touch of the rod against her arm sent a pulse through the girl, and she jolted back a couple steps. Her head tilted one way, then the other, before abruptly jerking upward with a gasp which morphed into a groan. “Ohhh did you have to do that?” Her voice had changed completely, sounding like a mix of resigned and annoyed. “I put a lot of effort into that backstory. Even altered my own memory just in case they checked. Do you know how hard it was to find a Pachdergle who really did smash up some poor couple and then write a surviving child into their lives? And this form.” She gestured up and down over herself. “Isn’t it just such a good disguise?”
“It’s an ugly one and you should be ashamed,” Cassandra of Troy instinctively lied in order to pass along the opposite feeling.
“Oh you don’t have to do that,” ‘Erika’ informed her. “That curse of yours doesn’t work on me. But I do want to know why you barged in here to spoil my game. Why, he didn’t even question why it was so easy for an accounting student to shoot a giant elephant-monster two minutes after being introduced to the concept. This was going to be so much fun!”
“Well, I could do that,” Cassandra noted, “but first I’d need to know what you prefer to be called. After all, the list of names you’ve used isn’t exactly short. Do you prefer Erika now, or maybe Oliver Brockett, the name you used while tricking the Crossroads Committee into making you one of them? No, wait, you allowed that identity to die. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if you intentionally made Fossor see you as a target with a few well-placed whispers. Actually, speaking of the Crossroads Committee, when they almost recruited you again as the real you to replace yourself before going with Hecate instead, how hard was it not to fall over laughing? Hells, I could use so many different identities you’ve adopted over the years.
“But you know, I think I’ll just go with your real name, Anansi.”