The construction supplies caravan was loaded and driving up Mount Rose Highway. Their “Beta” site was decided as a property in South Reno. The visions had galvanized everyone to new heights of creativity. The property had been offered by Angie's dad who was a Realtor. This property was up for sale by a Chinese investment group who had purchased it at foreclosure auction sight unseen. So long as they didn't piss off the neighbors, it would take a week or two for anyone to notice the squatters. Everyone figured that by then the police would have better things to do than worry about squatters in a home nobody lived in.
Police, Fire and Construction lights flashed as traffic cones directed traffic around an unusual scene. Constructions signs flashed “Landslide Ahead” and gawking slowed traffic as it merged into a single lane diversion. As the caravan inched through, the inhabitants of the truck Ken rode in could hardly remember to return their eyes to the road. Brake lights flashed ahead as Chris and Angie obviously partook in their token stare as well.
The remains of many large boulders littered the roadside. Swaths of devastation evidenced their origin and path. Over a dozen 15 to 20 ton rocks looked to have hit the ground to the west of the road and had bounced, shattered and rolled their way hundreds of feet annihilating anything in their path. Ken could see seven vehicles which had lost games of chicken with the rocks. Two of them were completely crushed. Sheets protected the remains inside these cars in which the boulders had crushed occupants from curious eyes. Beyond the road about 30 homes showed damage ranging from a fully collapsed roof to holes in walls.
Ken made a mental note. He could believe in the obvious even if most people passing couldn't. Any child who watches a rock land can tell where it had been thrown from. This was clearly no landslide. 2 tall peaks towered a quarter mile to the west. There was a gully between the road and the mountain range. Something had thrown those boulders and only people's soon-to-change disbelief was preventing them from admitting it now.
Curiosity gnawed at Ken as they drove. He drew a tiny amount of goo to his finger and tried to send it through the window. The window offered little resistance and moving the goo through the window had been barely more difficult than moving it though air. Once on the other side of the vehicle the power should have been buffeted by the winds as the car drove along at 50 MPH; however, as far as the power was concerned the wind didn't much exist. Ken pushed more and more power through the window until he had a baseball sized sphere of the goo outside the car.
As they climbed the foothills through government park land Ken watched the roadside for a rock of similar size to the ones which had been thrown behind them. When he saw one, Ken willed the goo to splat onto the side of the rock and then with a jerk of his hand he tried to have the goo fling the rock away as they passed.
The boulder started and rolled a couple hundred feet downhill.
Disappointment rippled through Ken. While moving a couple thousand pounds of rock that much was impressive, the boulder definietely hadn’t been thrown by that much energy.
Trying again, he gathered a soccer ball amount of energy on the other side of the window. It was far more than anything he'd done so far.
When he saw another rock of the right size, Ken repeated his effort and was rewarded with the stone launching into the forest and snapping a tree in half before careening off another tree and into the forest.
Behind them Sam honked and flashed lights at the cars ahead. Clearly he had seen something.
Ken rolled the window down, stuck his arms out and in the classic “OK” gesture. He then pointed back to himself and then did a thumbs up.
The honking stopped and a few moments later Ken got a text message.
“What happened?” Jared had texted.
“Wanted to see how much goo I would have to use to move a boulder that size.” Ken texted back.
Come to think of it. Ken was feeling something about the power. It was hard to describe though. It was like he had a second bladder that was supposed to be full. Unlike his physical bladder he couldn't tell “where” the 2nd one was, but it felt like when he'd pulled out all that goo he had squeezed it about ½ empty. Unlike a physical bladder he could feel it refilling. It was like the goo was in the air itself and breathing was how Ken absorbed it. Ken shared those thoughts with Jared.
“Goo?” Jared texted, “That's a terrible name. I call it mana.”
“Good name.” Ken replied. “Have you used any mana since you healed yourself?”
“I haven't needed to. Nobody needed healing.” Jared texted.
Ken pondered how to reply as the Caravan turned left onto a road. Mansions loosely lined the roadside like McMansions lined a suburb, however there was nothing middle class about these homes. Huge, beautiful, expensive buildings in natural wood tones relaxed in the woods around them as if they had always been part of the forest. Somehow their presence turned the paved road from a forest intruder into a seeming part of nature. A mix of perfectly landscaped grass and shrubs framed young trees ranging from poplars to pine intended to eventually fill any clearing of the older growth forest construction had caused.
All magickal thoughts fled as he stared at the impressive evidence of wealth as they passed multi-million-dollar home after multi-million-dollar home. After 5 minutes and a couple turns, the houses had stopped looking perfectly designed for the forest and the mansions become more cliché. Some obviously older homes had mature non-native trees nestled into the tall native pines, cedars and firs.
The caravan pulled up to one of the older homes. True to Angie's word it was slightly tucked away from the road with a curving wooded driveway offering a sense of privacy.
Angie got out of the Van and walked over to the key-box. The key-box somehow updated passwords every 5 minutes. She called her Dad who used his ultra-high security dongle to give her the newest code. She entered it and pulled out a house key which she used on the front door. Within moments one of the 14 foot tall great doors swung open and Angie was gesturing everyone to begin depositing construction materials.
Everyone hurried to unload. A Fire Pit, Charcoal Barbeque, solar charged battery LED lanterns, 2 generators and tons of tools joined enough concrete, fasteners and wood to build another small home as the vehicles emptied.
Chris tossed his keys to Ken who climbed up into the van's driver seat. Chris and Angie were staying to help get the Beta site situated. When Mark arrived later he was going to give them a ride to their old home to pick up clothes, living supplies and their other cars.
As the empty caravan drove away, texts from Chris and Angie arrived on everyone's phones like a storm of bells.
Furniture. Everybody had forgotten that this house would be completely empty. While it seemed to have a fridge, it didn't have Furniture, Washers and Dryers, or even pots and pans. The house was completely empty in ways nobody had planned for.
Ken couldn't help thinking that the beta team's work was definitely cut out for them over the next couple days.
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It was 9pm, and Ken was exhausted. All day long they had gone from store to staging site and back again, purchasing and delivering from an endlessly growing list of “stuff we need.”
The Caravan was down to two Vehicles, as team after team had split off to prepare and care for their sites. These last two vans and their trailors were full and on their way up to Truckee.
Shit was getting weird. The news was filled with stories of magick, alien invasions, flying people, werewolves, and dragons. There was so much going on that nobody could understand it.
The web was filled with unusual reports. At least 30 countries were actively suppressing invasion or revolt (depending on the story). 13 States had deployed the national guard and declared states of emergency claiming preventative measures; however, there was a lot of evidence that there was active gunfire and fighting in multiple areas. Their lead had other state leaders racing to see who would be number 14. Most news pundits expressed confidence that all 50 states would soon declare, just in case.
Local news was filled with odd stories of people all over the area dying after being shot by poisoned arrows. After the 30th death with no pattern other than a couple reports of very short people less than 2 feet tall with bows and arrows, the Sheriff issued a statement that he was instructing his deputies to respect open carry rights and not arrest for concealed carry without a permit as long as the armed person didn't misuse their weapon.
In the same announcement the Sheriff declared that Washoe County was not going to accept looting and reminded people that anyone they might be tempted to steal from was probably armed.
Being Nevada, a few years earlier the district attorney had taught citizens how to legally shoot a home intruder. Today the District Attorney held a news conference and gave similar instruction regarding how to legally stop a looter. While the advice was to use escalating force to prevent looting and to detain looters until police could arrive, like most western states he was clear that if the situation escalated to a fear for one’s life in protecting their property, use of lethal force was legal. He advised on how to position oneself so that attempts to steal would be clear “threats” and how to declare a citizen’s arrest (which legally authorizes use of reasonable force to detain).
The DA beseeched the Sheriff and Police to take evidence of looting related violence, but to hold off on arresting citizens who claimed to be protecting their property unless they were clearly lying. He promised that all cases would find their time in court. He also advised businesses with video security systems be prepared to give video evidence to police.
Printed signs were already being posted at local stores saying things like “Looters will be arrested or shot... by paying customers.” Mark's assumption of shopping and driving challenges hadn't manifested yet. The denizens of Northern Nevada seemed determined to prove they were made of sterner stuff. A fierce air of pride had people being extra polite and helpful to each other. While incredibly busy selling supplies faster than the vast local warehouses could restock them, the capitalist aggression of local stores was almost a bastion of comfort away from the unknown changes in the world around them.
A TON of people had started posting videos of themselves or someone else doing magick, but network news wasn't quite ready to admit that magick was a reliable thing yet. Popular videos were mostly basic stuff like what Ken was practicing, but every once in a while they gave him a new idea.
Of course, best joke of the day award went to Sam who posted pictures of multiple paranormal prize websites who used to offer money rewards for evidence of magick. They had existed to convince people there was no such thing as magick. Now their pages were replaced with pages saying saying things like “In this reality, there is no prize for magick” or “Challenge retracted because the world has gone completely bonkers.”
The 14 members from this morning's call had blossomed to over 35 adults as well as children and seniors helping stock and joining 5 different houses. Three of the houses were pretty close to each other up in Truckee, and the residents of the area were already organizing an armed community watch. The same convincing which had been difficult this morning was now child's play with all the weird news and social media videos.
Ken's dad had decided to stay armed in his apartment. Ken's mother and step-dad had decided to help furnish and stock the Beta site before joining it. He hadn't been able to get ahold of his brother, but he had talked to his sister. She was fine. She didn't believe him about society collapsing, but at Ken's urging said she was going to go stay with some friends in the north.
Traffic was pretty bad. A lot of people were headed toward the gentler climes of California. Ken would have wished them well, but they were currently making his very long day longer with their bad driving.
Ken sighed with relief as he finally pulled the Van off at their exit. For someone used to the open suburban nature of Reno, the old trees of Trucee concealed buildings and gave it an incredibly rural feeling. He drove tiredly, and as they neared their destination he didn't notice a large man dressed in white until he had to jam on his brakes.
The man stood in the middle of the road. His staff and clothes glowed with a white light. Multiple Rings, more necklaces than Ken could count and even his head covering glowed all the colors of the rainbow. His “belt” (a simple tie of white cord) held a weird wand made of leather wrapped copper and a crystal as well as an athame in a black leather sheath; both items also glowed white.
Despite the van's closed windows and loud radio Ken heard the man's impossibly reasonable and smooth voice as his mouth moved. “Ken, can we talk?”
The man in white walked to the side of the road and waited for him. He offered no pressure, no force, just a supreme confidence that Ken would do what he asked. For a moment Ken was tempted to ignore him.
Ken's phone was ringing. Jared was calling.
“That's the Sith Lord from my Vision!” Jared announced when Ken answered.
“Makes sense.” Ken said, “What do you think he wants?”
“I dunno.” Jared said. “Maybe he's going to try to get you to join the Dark Side.”
“Think it's safe?” Ken asked.
“Of course not. That's guy's glowing like a spotlight. He's collecting magick like an addict. He's clearly power hungry. I wouldn't be surprised if he just wanted to suck the magick out of you.” Jared replied.
The guy in white sat down on a lawn in a meditative position and closed his eyes. Somehow his glow intensified as he did so.
“Is he doing magick now?” Jared asked.
“I don't know, but if I'm going to have to fight this guy I'd better learn what I'm up against.” Ken replied.
He pulled the Van over, parked it and got out. While Jared pulled over too, everyone but Ken sat in the cars staring suspiciously at the stranger in white.
Ken walked over carefully. When he got within 10 feet, the man in white opened his eyes and looked at him.
“I don't know how to do this.” He said. His voice echoed earnestness and worry. Empathically he projected peace with so much force that Ken had to fight not to relax.
“Do what?” Ken asked as he steeled himself up to fight rather then be controlled by this guy's psychic abilities.
“I've had visions of this conversation. In half of them we were fighting, and I don't know what I did. I don't want to fight you.” The man said, “We are fighting for the same thing.”
“My visions said we aren't.” Ken replied darkly. “They showed me that you are going to help the tribes conquer Reno.”
“Conquer Reno?” The man asked. He paused for a moment. “I could see why you believe that, but I'm hoping for another option.”
“I will not help you bring death to Reno.” Ken declared.
“I'm trying to save people.” The man replied. “The tribes, the spirits and the land itself are angry. They are looking for blood. We have to get people out of the way of their anger.”
“Are you saying we have to run away?” Ken asked.
“I really think it's the best choice, but my visions showed me that you won't and that if I push you we would start fighting.” The man said, “I don't want to fight. I think we're on the same side.”
“I'm going to stand up to protect the people of Reno. If we are allies, you'll help. If we aren't then leave.” Ken declared as he gathered mana to his hands preparing to fight. This man disturbed him intensely. His presence spoke of kings, ancient gods and deep magicks as well as achingly bright and horrifyingly dark powers fully intertwined with each other.
For a moment the man in white glowed an intense red as his magick responded to anger and frustration washing through him. He quickly gathered control of himself; as he did so the red seemed to absorb down into the earth and up into the sky as if he was connected to both.
“Fine. I'll leave.” He said, “but can I ask one thing?”
“What?” Ken asked holding his power at the ready.
“Please look deeper at the house 3 doors down from where you are staying tonight. The monster you'll find isn't what you think, and if you fight the obvious enemy you will be fighting the victim.”
The man slowly stood up. He spoke in a voice one would use to talk to insane people or dangerous animals. “I'm just leaving. Please don't attack me.”
Ken couldn't help but feel spoken down to. This guy was so freaking arrogant!
The man in white grabbed his staff and held it horizontally in both hands. Incredible power welled forth from the staff and he was quickly enclosed in a globe of Mana.
“Good luck.” The man called to Ken as his magick lifted him up above the trees. Then he quickly accelerated and flew off in the direction of Reno.