Change is Different Ch. 7

TF Story 2.7

Preparation


The day's seemed to be going by quickly for John. Even more so than the usual long periods of blank thought. The most 'memorable' part of the day, if you could call it that would be the time that he would be in the shop with Drethan. Somehow, he could understand more when Drethan was around him than when he was with anyone else. It was almost as if he had this kind of influence on him. Not bad, perse but just...rejuvenating.

Every day he started with what was quickly becoming a very painful routine. The balance bars in his apartment. Though he had a hard time balancing, eventually he could make it to the other side, despite the amount of times he would fall during the attempt. This thirty minute physical therapy would leave his body sweat soaked and tired. It was amazing how hard just lifting ones body was, let alone move the entire weight a few yards while balancing on those two hands.

At least he was able to do something with his body. The repetitive training that the therapist put him through helped him with his arm dexterity, also keeping him able to do just this one exercise without help. Who would have known that being tired and paining muscles would be preferable to not being able to move at all?

Setting himself in his chair Meagan grasped the handles from behind him and wheeled him to a low sitting table where she could feed him breakfast. It was slow going, only one spoonful at a time. But it gave him time to cool down before his shower.

After his morning workout and hygiene maintenance, it was time for him to work on more of his fine tuning of his dexterous skills, which meant working non stop for eight hours at a costume store, helping to sort costumes by color, size, and type.

Once Meagan left him at workroom in the back of the store, the man named Drethan was giving him instructions on how his day would go. Giving him costumes to hang on the rack.

**********

As John lie there on the ground with the costume slowly overtaking him. Drethan took the time to look back on his scrying pool.

As the image solidified, he saw John's wife. She was as happy as ever, going about her daily life as if nothing was wrong. Drethan smiled, as he looked at the crystal on her necklace. It retained its power well enough. In fact, as Drethan looked closer, it was still at full energy, even though it had been working for over a week!

Drethan turned his attention to some notes and began writing down new ideas to create a larger version of this spell that would act as a field and not just on a single person. But, he would need to test it out on a smaller area first before he implemented it on a larger scale.

Turning to his map of the countryside that he used to help keep track of costume owners whereabouts. He began to study the terrain for a decent sized area that could test the strain of the spell.

After a few minutes he found one such place. About ten miles out of town, well into the mountains that Sunrise City was nestled against. Was a valley, quite large but not large enough for anyone to take notice of if he was doing an experiment there. Now, the next challenge was to work on a delivery system....

**********

Marshall blinked as his sight returned to him. The bright light from the windows of the familiar room burned into the back of his eyes. Flinching he closed his eyes and rubbed them with his hands. This 'sleeping' thing was getting quite disturbing. Falling into a pit of blackness, Drethan said people get used to it. He sure hoped he would too, its really unnerving to say the least, not knowing or feeling anything until the next day. It was as if he was in a void of nothingness. No breath, no thinking, just a feeling of...nothing.

Marshall sat up and rubbed his eyes, it was time to get up and work on whatever his father needed him for that day. As usual, when his eyes finally adjusted to the light, Drethan was standing over him, with a slight smile on his face.

"Good morning, I think its about time I put you to work" Dreathan smiled looking down at him.

Marshall sat up and scratched behind his ears. "What do you need me to do father?" he asked cleaning out a bit of grime that his body had picked up from lying on the floor.

Dreathan strode over to his workbench to retrieve something then came back with a notebook in his hand. "Nothing that you can't do Marshall," he replied, "I just need some research to be done and I cannot be bothered by small meaningless tasks today. Therefore, you can do it."

Marshall bowed his head, "Anything father, all you have to do is tell me father."

Drethan nodded and handed him the notebook, "I assume you know how to read a map?"

Marshall gently took the notebook from Drethans hands and opened it. On it were a set of instructions on the installment of certain runic devices and a map to each location. On the map itself each of the runic stones were to be placed evenly apart in a huge circle. "I understand, where are the stones?"

Drethan went into a closet that he kept locked at all times, with a bit of struggling, he pulled out a large satchel which when shown to Marshall, contained a number of large devices that had many different runes on every side. When Marshall was handed the package it was surprisingly heavy for him.

"You need to follow the instructions on that notebook to get out of the city. Try to avoid people as much as possible."

Marshall nodded and went to his room to begin clothing himself for the journey. Before he was finished Drethan walked into the room. "Yes father?" he asked.

"Before you go Marshall, I think you might need this..." Drethan held out a large dark green cloak with a deep hood that would hide his face from prying eyes. Also held in his other hand was a large carved and straight wooden pole. "Its still cold out there, and where you need to go it gets rocky." Drethan stated, and then shrugged. "Besides, I don't want anyone to see you. They aren't ready just yet."

Marshall took the cloak and pole gently. The cloak was thick and heavy, practically perfect for cold weather. It also was large enough to wrap himself in and go to sleep if he needed. Looking at the map he asked Drethan, "This is going to take longer than just a day."

Drethan nodded, "I'm sure you're up to the task."

Marshall smiled, "Thanks father, I'll get to work on it right away."

It only took a few more minutes for Marshall to get packed for the trip that would finally take him out of this home of his. He had always wondered about what it looked like outside. Making sure the cloak was on and securing his backpack he left his room and made for the side door of Drethans workshop.

"Marshall," a worried voice came from the workbench. Marshall turned to see Drethan with his brow in wrinkles, "Be careful, there are dangerous animals in the forest and I would not like to see my creation get hurt."

Marshall nodded, "Dont worry father, I will be alright." Taking one last look around, he steeled himself for the first step out of the room. Taking a silent breath, he gripped the handle, and stepped out into the dark alley beyond.

**********

From the looks of the map, Marshall had a long way to go before he got out of the city. Keeping to the alleys and back streets he was able to cross most of that distance in a fairly short amount of time.

He was amazed at what he beheld as 'the outside world'. Tall structures like the one he was in before, each seeming to have specific purposes. He remembered when Drethan taught him how humans bartered and traded for items they needed. His shop was in one such marketplace called a 'Strip-Mall' he believed.  All the different colors and signs, kept his eyes darting from one window to the next as he stuck to the shadows. All these things, all these experiences! It was too good to be true, he would have to come back and look more closely at these shops when it wasn't so bright out.

As he came to another road, he noticed a figure, standing across from him. Keeping to the shadows, he stared at this figure. From the looks of her, it was a human female.  Because Drethan said he looked like a human male. This one was quite different, more slender and curves than the bulky build of Drethan.

Marshall continued to stare for a long while, noticing tiny changs in her posture. She seemed to shake a bit and he could hear mumbling from the other side of the road. The voice grew a bit louder and then the female raised her arm and smashed something small into the ground and quickly walked away out of his sight. Drethan told him that humans were dangerous and to be avoided at all costs. But that one didn't seem at all dangerous, in fact, she seemed almost weak. Besides, Drethan was nice to him, and he was human...wasn't he? Marshall continued to ponder on that thought, Drethan hadn't ever called himself human.

Shaking his head, he turned his mind back to the task of getting out of the city and helping Drethan with his assignment. Making sure no one was around, he sprinted across the black, hot pavement and scurried around back into the shadows. As he was about to turn to head into the forest on the other side of the trees beyond a field about a few hundred yards ahead, something shiny caught his eye. Looking over at the concrete sidewalk, a pendant was lying open on the ground.

The shininess attracted him so carefully to make sure no human was around, he scurried out picked up the object and slunk back into the shadows. Holding it up to his eyes, he saw that the outside of this pendant was made out of silver. At the end of the silver chain he was holding, there was an open locket that held pictures on the inside. As Marshall examined them more closely, the two halves of the oval were supposed to attach together to protect the pictures on the inside. On the inside were two smiling humans. One was of the female he had just seen, and the other one, was most likely a male. Both were smiling.

Marshall had been told by Drethan that humans often take life mates to have offspring. But why...if this person was that female's mate would she throw away something this important? Marshall decided to keep the locket and tried to close it, but the locking mechanism wouldn't engage. Upon closer examination, it seemed that the hook in which kept the two pieces together was shattered. Shrugging it off, Marshall placed it in his backpack and crept his way out of the city.


Marshall finally couldn't hear the noise of the city and at last he finally started to breath easy. He was out of the city, and now came the task of placing the stones at the designated areas.

As he made his way deeper into the mountains, the trees started to grow together, causing him to weave in and out, avoiding the brush and trunks. Everything seemed quiet and yet there was a hidden noise inside the forest. Small birds chirping, rustles of leaves, a small breeze shaking the leaves above his head. It felt...natural to him.

After about an hours grueling hike he made his way into a valley that was surrounded on all sides by mountains. Looking at the map and the markers that Drethan had placed, Marshall had arrived in the first spot that he needed to place one of the stones.

Setting down his pack, Marshall reached into it and pulled out one of the stones. Looking at it, the stone could move to make the different runes arrange in multiple ways. Following the instructions from the notes, he shifted the stone and then set it down onto the ground. Next he took out a compact shovel from his backpack and dug furiously into the ground.

It took him a while to get to the depth requested by the notes. Afterwards he placed the stone in the hole and then covered it up again with the fresh dirt.

Looking at the map, his next destination was the top of one of the mountain peaks. Sighing, Marshall looked up at the steep slopes, it looked like it was going to be a long climb to the top.

**********

Drethan stared deeply into a crystal. Marshall had activated the first runic marker that he would use to manipulate a field around the valley. At the rate he was going, it would take him the better part of two more day's to place the last three markers and then make it back. By then, he should have the field up and active and ready to experiment with.

A bell rang behind his head, telling him that another customer had entered the shop. Drethan smiled to himself as his plan was going well for the moment and he would soon be able to impliment the field in a larger area within the year if things went as planned.

As he crossed into the storefront, Patrick stood at the desk, idly waiting and examining some of the newer costume of Drethan's collection.

"Ah Patrick," Drethan said, "I assume you're here about the costume I repaired?"

Patrick jumped a bit, as all customers do, somehow Drethan had the ability to sneak up on people, when he wasn't even trying to. "Y-yes, I am, the game is in  two days and we need  the mascot so we can prep for it."

Drethan nodded, "I have it all repaired, let me get it for you..." Trapsing back into the storeroom, he removed the costume from the rack and handed it back to Patrick. "I hope it fits properly now. Let me know after the game, alright?"

Patrick nodded, "Sure will." And he turned to leave the store.

**********

Marshall sighed as he finished covering up the third stone after setting its runes. It was well into the night and the stars had come out to line the sky. Feeling exhausted Marshall had made himself a small bed with the leaves and brush and covered himself in the cloak. Though there were too many wonderful things for him to experience out here in the outside world. The smell of it was so...clean and unpolluted. Marshall looked up into the sky from his spot and saw the many bright lights in the sky. Wondering how many there were, and how such an amazing sight it was to behold.

He looked down to the pendant he was fingering. The two faces smiling back at him. Should he return the locket? He thought, wondering about the two people in the picture. It still wasn't clear to him exactly how two people could be so happy here in the pendant and yet the female would be so angry as  to throw away an obviously treasured gift.

Soon his exhaustion from the day's climb got to him and his eyes droop as he falls asleep.


The next morning Marshall woke again to the bright light of a sun rising above the horizon. Amazingly, his rest was quite calm to the normal enveloping darkness that he had experienced before. Shrugging off the thought he shifted and stretched his body. It had gotten knots in it from the hard floor and cold environment around him.

Packing his belongings and taking out a bit of the food he had packed, Marshall began his trek towards the last mountain peak where he was to place the final rune. The feel of the forest in the morning was much more different than it was in the afternoon or night. In the morning it was a bustle of activity. Many noises being made by the animals in the trees just waking up and ready to go out and find food.

Marshall smiled as again it felt so...welcoming to him. It gave him serenity beyond what he thought his mind was capable of.


After many hours of hiking through the rocky terrain up towards the top of the mountain he came to the exact place he was to install the node. Hopefully, after he was done, he would return back home to his father, who would be pleased of him.

**********

Drethan's new theory was working. The nodes helped enhance  the effectiveness of the field! He could manipulate the subtle energy that the runes were drawing from and use it to help power a minor spell over much greater distances!

Drethan leaned back down to take notes at what he had done and again began to manipulate the energies to see what sorts of things he could do with it.

Just then, the crystal on Drethan's table started glowing again. Picking it up he sighed. "Again, don't these people know that the field that protects them is failing? They can't just use it without thoughts to the contrary if they don't forget what happens."

Quickly, Drethan altered the spell a bit to concentrate on that area until the problem went away. Keeping the field going this long was going to be tricky, with all the new costumes sold at Halloween which was only a few months ago. He wouldn't have long until the field failed, unless he could find a way to remove the strain on it having to work almost twenty four seven.

An idea formed in his head, which would be perfect for his situation. The only problem would be to make sure all the costume owners knew about it. Though...Drethan tapped the notebook he had...He did have Marshall, and he was more than capable of getting the word out to everyone if he was careful. He didn't want Marshall harmed but if he didn't come up with an answer, at least a temporary one, he would regret it soon.

To him, the answer was obvious. Sitting down at the table, he began to manipulate the spell that he had used on John's wife Meagan that he had cast onto the runes themselves. Within the hour he had a suitable spell working.

He sighed going through the list of all the variables in his head of how this would work. Finally fixing any errors he had, the final spell was complete and transmitted to the runic stones in the ground.

Smiling to himself, he couldn't wait to see if it worked. For if it did, it would allow all costume owners free range among the large valley. And as long as they stayed in the field, no normal human that didn't own a costume would know they were there, and if perchance a human did come across the valley, they would not be able to enter by any means.

It was a safe zone for all those costume owners, at least until he was able to adapt the new spell to that of a large city and many leagues beyond. His smile widened as he saw the immense possibilities of an area such as this. It would be interesting to see how costume owners interacted  in this..."Haven".