Crossing Lines

[Vae]

West considered the back of his truck, standing with his work gloved hands on his hips, breathing slightly deeply from the loading. Fire extenguishers. Spare Airs. Pitch fork. Rope. Bale of hay. Winch. Heavy chain. Some of it, he wasn't even sure what it might be needed for -- but seemed handy. One just never knew.

He wiped a hand across his forehead, intercepting a line of sweat, and briefly wondered if he should get a new hat. He certainly wasn't the do-rag sort.

"Today," he began, looking at his Apprentice, "We're going to learn about Bad Things. Hop in."


Vaeltia looked confused as she inventoried the back of the truck, “Bad stuff? Is that why we have the standard adventuring gear? Should I go get a towel?” She wasn’t sweating -- she had just arrived and managed to miss most of the heavy lifting. She felt a little bad about it.

“I thought I was just going to do more work with the horses or something you know, wax on, wax off.” The cali girl in the stetson shrugged, “Whatever you say, boss.”


He bit his lip at the 'boss'; he'd never broken Joshua Morris of the habit, he doubted he would ever stop her.

"There are towels under the front seats... never go anywhere without one."

West turned and smiled.

"Don't Panic."

He continued, not wanting that awkward silence if/when a joke fell flat. "Nah, that's anytime stuff. It's time to go off the beaten path. 'We tread where angels fear to go.'"

His mouth shut suddenly, placing the quote, having said it without thinking, and he turned away and opened the truck door.


“They’re not the yellow ones, right?” she said her mouth twisting slightly. At the quote she smiled, even laughed a little. There weren’t many who actually were able to give a response to the towel comment.

She raised a dirty-blond eyebrow at his sudden cut off of words. “Well that’s what this whole mage thing is sorta about right? Walking where few have walked, driving where few have driven; hell the journey is half the adventure.” She said as she climbed into the passenger seat (after checking for the towels, of course).

She leaned ever so slightly close to him when speaking as she pulled at the seatbelt. “So, curious, how far off the path are we going?Or is this one of those ‘destination unknown’s?”

[Vae]

West was one of the few drivers that still looked behind themselves when backing up, and it was a reflexive, automatic action. Lean over over look left, throw the arm over the back of the next seat to twist around to look right. It was only by the narrowest of margins he didn't accidentally club her across the face with his forearm as she leaned and he looked; too high to hit her, but low enough to forcefully knock the Stetson off of her head.

"Oh, shit. Uh... sorry."

He fumbled around for the hat until he could drop it back on her head. Hopefully she didn't see the dent in the felt.

"Ummm."

West craned his neck around, this time leaving his arm put, substituting action for words.

"You OK?"

The truck lurched into reverse and he rolled it into a lazy half circle, then began driving forward.

"So... yeah. Adventure. Destination unknown."

Life is so strange.

"Sorry," he added again, small spots on his cheeks.


She flinched slightly at the light sound of arm and hat impact, and fumbled in the buckling process. “Missed me, try again.” she said with the slightest hint of laughter as the hat fell completely into her eyes.

“I’m fine.” She said as she pulled the hat off with one hand, “As much as it’s your fault for accidentally hurting the hat,” she said with a finger pointed at the dent before she popped it outward, “I did have a hand in it as well, so I forgive you.”

She replaced the no longer dented stetson carefully back on her head as to not push it into her eyes again. Then she tried the seatbelt again -- thankfully with no interruptions.

“Okay so where are we going? And why are you blushing?”


"Why...?"

West looked over, genuinely confused, laced with surprise.

"Because... because... you... don't hit girls."

He shook his head slightly.

"Even on accident."

Strange, the things that get branded into someone by their culture, one of the signs that the West was also the South.

He turned back to the road, and the flush spread slightly.

"And...," he began, falling into a long pause, "...I don't really want it going around that my Apprentice has a black eye or whatever."

The words tumbled out like a river splashing over rapids, giving the impression there was something else that could have been said.

"So... yeah. We're going out, away. So you can learn about Paradox and the Abyss."

Subject change. West was nothing, if not tactical, and he dropped the Big Words like Fat Man and Little Boy to draw attention.

[Vae]

One eyebrow lifted, it was starting to become one of those instantly common expressions on her. “Not even ones that hit back? Not even ones that hit harder when they hit back?” she gave him The Look, it wasn’t nearly as potent than if she had been properly trained by her mother, but it was good for someone who had to learn from the television.

“But that’s the thing, you know. I’m your apprentice, and I am a talon. I can take a little roughing up, Song...” she stopped talking and looked out the window, letting the silence hang, before he filled it with something.

“Oh.” her tone was off, “Okay.” she swallowed as if trying to push an elephant into a carrying cage made for a cat.

“I bounce.” The statement was out of place, without the context of her brain, but she just let it hang in the air. “And I leaned into the not punch.” She let out another breath. “It wouldn’t have been that bad, sure it would have been a clothesline, but nothing I haven’t had before, nothing I can’t compare to worse.”


"Training is different. Of course you're a Talon," West replied, sounding surprised. If the line was ambiguous, it didn't seem to bother him. Right and wrong were just that: right and wrong.

Then again, he'd always had Kai to help with the hand-to-hand training, and there had never been that many female Arrows. His brows knit together as he wondered how they'd gotten onto this topic. He wanted to respond to her last words, but didn't. He'd learned long ago that having the last word -- or even restating himself -- was overrated. That, and it wasn't entirely a conversation he wanted to pursue.

"So tell me about Paradox."

The words had a slight edge to them, a firmness that was several degrees away from his "Army voice", but signalled he was ready to move on.


‘End of Discussion!’ It just hangs in the air don’t it? She turned and looked out the window, and at the passing scenery, feeling almost reprimanded.

“Paradox, something that is absurd or self-contradicting. In the situation of magic: what happens when the world and ‘reality’ tells you that what you’re doing doesn’t work or exists, and the snap of punishment for whatever you’re doing.” She said before breathing a hot breath on the window to fog it.

“It’s like reality’s punch in the face.” she said as she began to wipe off part of the breath-fog, thereby making quickly disappearing pictures on the window. “Right?”


"More like The Abyss'," West answered.

The truck continued to bounce and jostle as they continued off-road, skirting the property line of West's home and heading deeper into the undeveloped flora.

"Paradox is the inherent conflict between the Lie and the Supernal realities, but it's also... a channel, or conduit, that The Abyss seeps through. The Supernal bridge that is formed when power flows from your Tower into the Lie... The Abyss can bleed through. So we use Mana to shield that conduit. Some Mages visualize it as an... easing. Like spraying WD40 on something to let it slide past easier. I think of it more as a protective shield, like insulation on a water pipe. It's one of the big things we use Mana for -- and so it's important for you, as an Obrimos, to understand."

He paused, and looked over.

"Have you ever invoked a Paradox?"

[Vae]

“Oh. um.... I don’t think so, There have been a few times where I felt mana being stripped away from my pattern though... if that means anything.” she said turning away from the window for a moment.

There had been that time when Rose was taken that she just threw fire, mana had been pulled then. It wasn’t painful per say, just forceful. She hadn’t known that it did that, it even felt a little weird, like something cold had touched her pattern.


"This is probably different...," West mused.

He was half surprised, half not, that she'd invoked a Paradox... unless...

"Unless... have you ever cast something flashy, and felt like something bad was going to happen? Like... burst out? Unless you held it in?"

He thought back, to when he'd shown her the Celestial Fire, and other times.

"Have you ever noticed my nosebleeds?"

He'd forgotten how much ground there was to cover, figuratively. Figures her foster cabal would leave the hard stuff for him.


She turned fully away from the window. “Of course I notice your nosebleeds, if you remember I’ve pointed them out at times.” she said almost offended that he would think that she didn’t notice. She was his student and that meant that she absorbed what he said and did.

“And I’ve cast a few ‘flashy’ things, I threw fire at a car of gangers.” Vaeltia shrugged, “But nothing bad happened, except for that feeling of mana being stripped away.”

Her brow furrowed for a moment, “Why? Are your nosebleeds like the bruises that would show up around Song’s neck?”


There was more to his question, of when his nose bled, and if she'd ever made the association, but he simply let her speak and nodded as the conversation moved past that point.

"Probably," he answered.

"We can use ourselves to contain the Paradox, like a filter. We can keep some, or all of it, from seeping out into the world -- but... it hurts us. It's different for everyone, and depends on how much you hold. However it manifests, you have to deal with it. A Healing spell won't wipe it away."

He shook his head slightly, just thinking of the future -- and how she was an Obrimos. Probably the Path most at odds with the Fallen.

"How's your pain tolerance?"


“Moderate at least, the last time I got to really test it I ended up with a concussion from falling.” she said, “Course, I was also completely awake...well conscious when I got that scar on my back.” If that meant anything, “And I don’t tear up after getting clotheslined.”

[Vae]

The truck bounced more as they were continued completely off-road, and he slowed to a stop in the middle of a field with tall grass. His house and barn were still visible, small, like toys, behind them. It was further than necessary, but... one never knew. West scanned the surrounding horizon, satisfied that they were isolated.

"OK," he answered. There was just a hint of an undertone, of speculation, as if he'd said We'll See instead.

He put the truck in 'Park' and shut off the engine.

"Nervous?"


Vaeltia rolled her eyes at her Master, before her expression changed.

“A little. I’m not sure what will happen. But that’s part of the fun right? Not knowing if you’re going to fly or fall.” She said quietly as she ran her fingers over the red beads of the rosary she had tied to her hip. “I’m not sure what to expect.”


"Yep," West nodded as he opened his door and slid out. "I'd be worried if you weren't."

He moved around to the back of the truck, and started juggling the bed contents to begin carrying, nodding for Vaeltia to help.

"I'm not sure what to expect, either. The Abyss... isn't really something you can... expect."

Laden, he began walking.

"Tell me about The Abyss."


She followed him around the truck “Dark, creepy, scary. It’s what separates the supernal realms from the fallen world. Not fun things happen there, some would say in correlates to the Christian realm of ‘Hel’. From a gamer perspective, it’s where the elder ‘gods’ came from, devourers. It’s essentially a flow of death and judgement, except so much worse than that...Aren’t I the Apprentice, shouldn’t you be telling me these things, not asking the questions?” she asked as as she pulled some of the ‘standard adventuring gear’ into her arms and followed behind him.


"Should I?"

He answered the question with a question, and a question regarding asking questions. For West, it was high humor.

"Count off two hundred yards," he added, beginning a mental count himself as they moved from the truck.

"The Abyss would probably be best summarized as entropy... it's nature to unmake warps what is natural -- and this unnatural consequence can be seen as 'evil'," West mused. "To be more practical about it, yes, it's dark, creepy and scary, and it will attack you. You're an Obrimos, and have more Vulgar effects than most other Paths, so you need to learn how to deal with that. Deal as in, learn what it feels like to use yourself as a sponge to mop up when the Abyss seeps through, and learn what happens when you can't."

"So... questions?"

[Vae]

The Obrimos smirked, There are times....

She, and the Hat followed, the mental count working through her head. She nodded along with his words. “Can it kill me?” It was the ‘learn what happens when you can’t’ part that was making her curious, although if this was one of those possibly death-inducing parts of being a mage, it might be more than a bit fear inducing.

“And how much is this going to hurt? I mean I’m assuming it’s gonna hurt, seeing as you asked about pain tollerance.”


"Yes. It can," West answered.

For a few steps, just the swish-swishing of the tall grass against his jeans could be heard.

"And worse. It can... warp... your mind, or it can spill out into the world, usually with really bad, destructive results." He paused. "Which could kill others."

He didn't say it like it had happened to him, but he had seen it. Mages who lost control and others who had paid the price. A bitter pill for anyone who fought to protect.

"And it hurts as much as you can take, and then it spills out. Some Mages can't contain all of a Paradox, but they can weaken what manages to get past them. It's really hard to say, it's different. When, how, what's at stake. So it's better to understand it, so you can make those choices, instead of having it surprise you. Or being afraid of it. I've seen Mages so scared of a Paradox they won't cast what they should."

West sighed.

"Some of us believe that every Paradox feeds The Abyss, widens it. That it's a Sin against Wisdom. Especially Guardians."


Vaeltia looked at him, “So it can kill me, it could kill you, it could kill everything....but we’re still gonna tempt it?” she asked. “I can understand why there are people who are afraid of that, I haven’t met that many people who can look at a situation where they could die and still walk into it.”

She shrugged, “Maybe it’s a pride thing.”

“What happens if I faint from it, or if I’m about to die? Right now, I can’t say that I could look death in the face and not give a care.” she said as she stopped walking. “I think that’s two hundred yards, I don’t think I could handle myself if I died in the middle of a practice run. I’d rather my death be a meaningful one.”

[Vae]

"You're not gonna die today."

That was about as reassuring as West ever got.

He stopped, and began setting down everything he was carrying except the shovel. Methodically, he began stabbing it into the ground with the aid of his foot, making shallow cuts in a circle. The divots, he flipped into a pile, and it became apparent he was clearing a circle of grass to expose the ground underneath.

"It's probably going to hurt, though. Maybe scare you."

He spoke between the motions, resting his hand on the upright shovel like a walking stick when he was done.

"You ready?"


It actually did help, reassurance, that small knowledge that it didn’t matter how messed up she got, he’d still be there to make sure that she didn’t die. “Pain and fear I’ve dealt with.” she said, in a hollow voice, “Believe me.”

There were things she hadn’t told him, and things she didn’t know if she ever would.

She looked at the brown patch, “Okay, now I’m lost, but sure, ready.” Vaeltia looked over at her master, What now?


West glanced at his Apprentice, getting another puzzle piece in a big puzzle. Maybe someday he'd see the picture, but he wasn't one to ask questions. He had his own dirty laundry, and never cared for anyone asking after it. Unfortunately, most of what he thought of as respecting someone's privacy, others thought of as insensitivity.

"OK. So. Paradox. It builds. If you cast Vulgar spells over and over, it gets bigger and worse. Like, not taking out the trash. Pretty soon it's going to spill over. In metaphysical terms, you open a conduit, and every time you call down more Vulgar spells, it uses the same conduit and widens it, so more and more of the Abyss can seep through. It takes an hour or two for the conduit to dissipate."

He took the shovel and tapped the raw earth with a soft scraping sound as the tip speared it.

"You're going to throw Fire here, over and over, so you can feel it."

Part of Army training was throwing a live grenade. No matter how long you stared at the concrete bunker, no one could get past the What Ifs.

West moved out of the circle of dirt, and put his hand on her shoulder. "It's going to be OK. You ready?"

To be Continued