Magic has always existed and is now openly acknowledged. 10% of the population is magically sensitive and 5% can actually be taught to cast spells. Only about 1% have the ability to earn a Magic-User 3^rd Class license. In a country of 300 million that means there are potentially 3 million professional practitioners. However, it takes hard work and training to develop that raw talent. There are currently, in the United States, about 1 million licensed practitioners. Of that about 100,000 are rated Magic-User 2^nd Class, with approximately 10,000 Magic-User 1^st Class, and nearly 300 Masters in the entire country.

The multiverse is layered with world stacked upon world. Stretching out along one axis are the Courts of Order and in the opposite direction the Wastes of Chaos. On a second axis are the Empires of Light and in the other direction the Layers of Hell. Along the third axis are the Demesnes of Science where magic is a parlor trick and in the opposite direction Realms of Magic where mechanical devices are laughed about as myth. Through it all the only thing separating each layer of existence is the veil. The veil is as thin as silk and nearly impenetrable unless one has the power and the skill. For those with the ability it can be parted and thus, Elves, Dwarves, Fairies, Ogres, Orcs, Trolls, and all manner of legendary creatures walk the land.

The power of magic is rising. How humanity reacts will chart the course of civilization for the next thousand years. An Age has come to an end, a new Age has arrived and as yet, no one has noticed.

The late afternoon sunlight streamed down into the food-court from the high vaulted glass and steel ceiling of the north Californian mall. In the mall parking lot lights had started to come on providing plenty of illumination as the tall thin teenager in a long black leather duster made his way into the food-court. A few of the shoppers he passed gave him a quizzical look since it was too warm for such a coat. By the time he made it to the center of the food-court the mall security had spotted him and were slowly moving in. This caused a grim expression of maniacal delight to twist his pale features.

Reaching under the duster his hands came out with a pair of pistols and before the first overweight security guard could react he opened fire, at nearly point blank, into the man’s chest. Chaos exploded around the youth as customers either ran or dove to the ground trying to escape the barrage of bullets. The teen laughing now spun in a circle firing at anything that moved not really trying to hit anyone so much as trying to cause panic and chaos.

A short distance away a thin athletic looking woman with black hair dressed casually raced toward the sound of the gunfire drawing a pistol from beneath her designer blazer as she ran. The gun looked very large in her small hands as she ignored the screams of the shoppers and the confusion around her. She carefully lined up her shot and squeezed the trigger twice. At the last second the teen seemed to become aware of her. At the same instant, as her gun barked, the teen crossed his forearms in front of him as if to shield himself from her attack.

There was a distortion in the air around the young man and a pair of concentric rings rippled out from where the bullets slammed into an invisible wall raised by the youth. When he looked at the woman his eyes blazed with a red light.

“Caecus Cordi! How kind of you to accept my invitation!”

There was something odd about the sound of the teen’s voice! It had a raspy quality like nails being dragged across a chalkboard.

“X’lye’ous, if I’m not mistaken?!” Not waiting for a reply the woman continued, “I’ll be taking your token with me when I leave here today.”

“I don’t think so,” the teen replied and then jumped straight up and impossibly seemed to accelerate toward the glass at the top of the dome. As he did he once again crossed his arms only this time above his head. The glass exploded up and out creating an exit for him to fly through.

“Shit!”

The woman holstered her weapon and dropped to one knee.

“Hold it right there!”

The security guard had his side arm out and had it pointed at her although he was so hyped up with adrenalin that the barrel waved around drunkenly. The woman glanced with annoyance at the guard and then slapped the flat of her hand against the cool tiles. Instantly the shadows, from a nearby potted plant, leapt up covering her in darkness and a moment later when the shadow dissolved she was gone. The guard looked around in bewilderment and not seeing a threat moved to the first wounded shopper to see if he could help.

Outside the mall the teen came down in the parking lot, landing with a shockwave that rocked the cars around him and caused several alarms to go off. He didn’t pause to look around instead he holstered his weapons and slammed one fist into the palm of his other hand and shouted.

“X’LYE’OUS!!!”

Fire exploded out from his hands and raced along his body and impossibly, instead of burning, his body grew and changed as the fire got brighter and hotter covering him from head to toe in flames. The transformation last only a few seconds and when it was done he was ten feet tall and didn’t resemble a human in the slightest. His clothes had burned away leaving his bright red skin exposed. From the waist down his legs had transformed now resembling a gorilla’s. His torso and arms were still human, but instead of having fingers five long snakes writhed and hissed from the end of each hand. His head was a bald human’s except that his nose and mouth had pushed out into a snout and he had a large set of fangs growing up from his lower jaw. Out of his forehead a pair of horns grew curling like a rams. His huge phallus was erect with excitement as he scanned the sky behind him looking for the woman who’d chased him into the parking lot. Then the fire that had covered his body raced down his arms coalescing into a large spear before flickering out. The spear was at least fifteen feet long with a three foot leaf shaped blade at one end and a spiked butt-cap at the other.

“Caecus Cordi, you bitch, come out and fight!”

In response, the shadows between a row of cars behind X’lye’ous leapt up and out stepped a woman. This woman’s face was the same as the one from the mall but that’s where the resemblance ended. She was fifteen feet tall and dressed in black, white, and grey plate-mail resembling an English Knight. A pair of black wings swept up from either side of her helmet and broad sword hung from her belt. She held a bow in her hands and without saying a word she drew and let fly an arrow with a grey shaft, white feathers, and a black arrow head.

X’lye’ous somehow sensed the attack and spun around avoiding the arrow. With a bellow that broke the glass in the car to either side X’lye’ous lunged forward driving his spear toward the Knight of Order. The knight twisted slightly to one side and blocked the attack with her bow. Then she lifted her front leg and planted a stomp kick into X’lye’ous’s chest throwing him back and into a car ten feet behind him. Before X’lye’ous could climb out she drew another arrow and shot X’lye’ous in the chest.

“AAarghhh!!”

X’lye’ous’s scream echoed around the parking lot. Shadows flickered out from the arrow, twisting out and down so that they quickly covered his chest in a web of shadows that disrupted X’lye’ous’s power.

“I told you I’d be taking your token” the woman said drawing a long dagger from her belt.

Without warning the knight stumbled forward and to the side from a blow to her back. She turned the stumble into a front roll and came to her feet dropping the dagger and bringing her bow around to target the new threat. She was facing an eight foot tall monster with the lower body of a spider. Instead of a spider’s head a human looking body grew up from its thorax and its two human arms were unnaturally long. The creature’s head looked like a human skull since it was covered in a transparent skin. In each of its human looking hands it carried a single bladed ax.

The pain from the ax blow to her back made her grimace as the knight nocked and drew an arrow. Before she could fire she was hit from above. The force of the strike caused her to drop the bow and drove her to her knees as the weight of a third monster came down on her shoulders. It struck an ineffective blow against her armored head causing the shadow-steel to ring. Then a blow struck her neck where there was a gap between her armored shoulder and the protection offered by her helmet. At the same time she was driven face down onto her belly. In desperation the knight reached out to the shadows and pulled them around herself and her attacker. When the shadows vanished both figures were gone.

X’lye’ous managed to pull the arrow from his chest and stumble to his feet. He looked around and seeing the place where the knight had been he roared into the night. As he did flames flickered around his wound and it closed.

X’lye’ous looked at the grey shaft with its sliver white feathers and black arrowhead. “You’ve not escaped yet, bitch.”

The moon was just above the horizon and shone down into the clearing when the shadows surged into a swirling knot and then vanished leaving a monster on the back of an armored figure. The monster’s legs at the mid-thigh morphed into a pair of birds legs bending backward at the knee joint, its talons were clutching tightly to the shoulders of the figure under it. Its body was that of a handsome man and it had a pair of large black wings growing out of its back. His head and face were handsome with a strong jaw and high cheekbones. Then a third eye blinked from the center of his forehead as he gazed down at the woman. The only clothing he wore was a loincloth that did little to conceal the huge bulge of his manhood. In each of the Chaos Daemon’s hands he held a weapon known as a Kama, traditionally used by Asian farmers as a sickle to harvest rice.

The Kama in its left hand was covered in bright red blood. For a second the daemon looked around in confusion at the change in scenery. This was all the opening the knight needed. Because most of its weight was on her shoulders she pulled her feet up under her and, twisting her head to one side rolling up and over one shoulder trying to catch her attacker’s legs with her own as she moved. The Daemon snapped his wings once and soared up a good ten feet before he landed and spun around to face the knight. She’d surged to her feet and had drawn a curved long sword which she held in her right hand while her left arm hung uselessly at her side.

“Dar-usk’kin, I should have known! Attacking from above and behind is your signature move. But since when do you answer to X’lye’ous?”

As she spoke the knight circled to her right shadows flickering over her wounded neck and arm. The daemon stood up to his full height and Caecus Cordi, Knight of Order, realized that he was now over twelve feet tall.

“You are mistaken Knight, I don’t serve X’lye’ous, he serves me! I know what you’re trying to do! You think to buy time to heal your wound. I was ready for you! You’ll find a poison in your body that your power won’t heal. Your vessel is already dead!”

“Perhaps, but I’ll take you with me!”

At that the knight lunged forward and Dar-usk’kin, Daemon of Chaos, tried to take to the air, but the shadows at his taloned feet wrapped around his legs holding him to the ground. In shock he failed to block and the knight’s blade as she drove it into his ribs. He swung his right hand Kama in response, but the knight had already pulled her sword out and danced back out of range. Dar-usk’kin’s scream of pain shook the trees around the clearing.

“You’ll pay for that! I’ll take your mark and place it on my throne in Chaos and your unending agony will be an example to all who oppose me!”

By this time the shadows holding his feet and worked up to his waist and the Daemon sliced at them with his blades. With each slice the shadows dissipated slightly. Once free Dar-usk’kin looked around for the knight and growled in anger when he failed to spot her.

Then out of a shadow to his right a blade sliced down taking his right hand off at the wrist. As the hand flew clear bright green mist burst from both the arm and the severed hand.

“NNnnooooo?!!”

The green mist quickly spread until it covered Dar-usk’kin from head to toe. When it dissipated it revealed the unmoving body of a man in a business suit. Blood pumped from his severed arm indicating that he was alive but unconscious. The knight thrust her sword point first into the ground and stepped forward, carefully picking up the severed hand. With some difficulty, since she was only able to use one arm, the knight pulled a ring from the first finger and tossed the hand away.

The ring was made of white gold and showed a stylized birds head with its mouth open mid-screech. Where the bird’s eye should have been was a small emerald that still flickered with power. The knight dropped the ring into a pouch at her side and tossed the severed hand away with a grimace.

She reached up with her right hand and felt her injured left shoulder and knew the poison moving in her veins would resist her attempts to heal herself. For a second she thought about leaving the injured mortal, but then she reached down and gripped his wounded arm and shadows flowed down covering the injury for a moment and when they disappeared the bleeding had stopped and both the stump and wound in his side were covered in new flesh.

The knight went to where she’d left her sword and pulled it from the ground and, after wiping it clean, sheathed it. Suddenly she looked to one side and cursed.

A ball of red flame the size of a fist appeared and rapidly started to grow. Not waiting for X’lye’ous to appear she stepped into a shadow and vanished.

The sun had just set when Caecus Cordi stepped out of the shadow cast by a warehouse in Los Angles. If X’lye’ous was tracking her she needed to keep moving. Then she felt blood drip from her left hand to the ground and knew she very little time. He brothers and sisters of Order would offer sanctuary if she could reach them. Normally meetings were set up in advanced and locations were never used twice. She took a moment and focused, the shadows shifted and moved and then took the shape of a Raven. The bird leapt onto her outstretched arm.

“Find my brother Tenebris Lux and tell him I need his help!”

The raven cawed once and soared into the sky vanishing quickly from sight. I need to throw them off my trail, she thought, knowing that if she stayed in her true form her power would blaze out like a beacon to any Daemon or knight in the area. Stealth was her best ally now. The knight placed her hand on her injured shoulder and the shadows again surged forward covering her and when they vanished she stood once more in her human form her left arm drenched with blood.

“We must find you a new vessel.” The voice that spoke came from the woman’s mouth yet its tone and inflection were slightly different and she had a distinct British accent.

“I can’t leave you, Beth! If I do, you’ll die.”

“If you stay in me, we’ll both die. Cordi how many bodies have you worn over the years? Your mission is more important than my life.”

The woman, who’d apparently been having a conversation with herself, moved toward the dark shadows cast by the warehouse wall and disappeared.

The wind in Chicago was cold in early March and Beth shivered. Cordi’s power was fading and as it did she felt exhausted. She also knew that the poison was causing her to run a fever. She had enough power for one more shadow-step and hoped that her trail had been obscured enough to slow down the hunters. This was her fourth step since the warehouse in L.A. The memories Cordi had shared of X’lye’ous were enough to convince Beth that it was only a matter of time before he caught up to her. Beth focused on the knot of power inside of her and glanced at her hand as her palm burned with energy, the Mark suddenly visible. It was a sigil made of dark lines swirling in a twisting pattern that vaguely resembled a Celtic knot.

“Find my replacement; one brave enough to continue the fight! Find my successor; one strong enough to bear the burden! Find my heir; one noble enough not to be corrupted by power!” Then in a whisper with tears running down her cheeks she finished her commands, “Find someone able to love, invoke!”

The sigil on Beth’s palm spun and the shadows around Beth leapt forward and then the place where she’d been was empty. Save only for the pool of blood drying on the ground.

I walked to the corner careful to look both ways. It was after ten p.m. and it was a brisk March evening in Norfolk, Virginia. I was tired in a good way, I thought, as I jogged across the street. Tonight’s class had been fun, if a lot of work. My Sensei was demanding and he’d been pushing me lately. I’ve been practicing Aikido since I was ten and now, at seventeen, he was getting me ready for my black belt test scheduled for this summer after I turned eighteen. Some martial arts allow kids to earn a junior black belt, at my dojo Sensei just made you wait, so I’d been a first kyu for the last three years. In addition to practicing Aikido I was on the high school wrestling team and two hours of wrestling practice followed by dinner and then two hours of Aikido left me physically exhausted. I’d be sleeping well tonight. My schedule also dampened my social life, as my girlfriend Marci liked to remind me, I thought with a slight grimace.

The walk home was only about three quarters of a mile, although if I took a shortcut up the alley by the Stop-N-Shop, I could cut the distance in half. I moved through the parking lot and ducked down the alley beside the store. As I got to the end I saw that the gate in the chain-link fence was closed. I’d expected this and tossed my backpack over it. On the other side of the fence was a small field I’d have to cut across to get to my street. Abruptly, I felt a gust of cold wind from the alley behind me.

“Help, me.”

I turned around at the sound of the woman’s voice. I squinted into the darkness and made out the pale face of a woman sitting on the ground with her back against the wall of the store.

“Ma’am, are you okay?” I moved forward puzzled since I’d just walked right by her and had missed her.

“You aren’t what I was expecting.” Her voice was little more than a whisper and her accent made it hard for me to understand her.

“Are you hurt? I can go into the store and get some help.”

“Come closer let me see you.”

I was more curious than worried. I can take care of myself, and besides the woman didn’t appear to be in any condition to hurt anyone. I moved closer and then dropped to one knee next to her and saw that her shoulder was covered in a dark liquid. She glanced down at the palm of her right hand and then up at me.

“You’re the one! I wish there was time for me to explain, but I need your help.”

“Is that blood? Holy shit, we need to get you to a hospital!”

She reached out with her good hand and clasped mine. I don’t know why, but the intense look in her brown eyes made me swallow, I couldn’t look away.

“I have a question you need to answer as honestly as you can. If you had the chance to save dozens, maybe hundreds, of lives though it cost you your future, would you?”

“I don’t know. What kind of question is that?”

She gripped my hand tightly and I felt some sort of power surge into me forcing me to focus on her eyes.

“Given the chance, would you save life, even if you must take life, even at the cost of your own, would you?!”

For a moment it seemed like the world stood still then I whispered. “Yes, I think so, but how can anyone be sure?”

This seemed to satisfy her because she relaxed back into the wall for a second and looked up at me and grimaced in pain. Then she motioned for me to lean in closer.

The words were so softly spoken I almost didn’t hear them. “I was marked on my hand for the work that needed doing. I choose to mark your brow for the leadership that is needed.”

With that she reached up and before I could stop her, placed her hand on my forehead. Then the world seemed to explode around me. Everything went white and then black this lasted for an eternal-instant and then it was like I was looking at the world through a black and white TV. Fire burned in every vein as a white hot flame seared by forehead. I would have thrown back my head and screamed, but I couldn’t move. A wind seemed to blow from this strange woman into me and my whole body tingled and twitched as the fire turned to a cold that burned just as fiercely. Then it was done and I fell over backward, away from her, to sit on the hard cold ground. My forehead burned where she’d touched it and I couldn’t help the spasms that caused my body to convulse.

As the twitching died away I felt myself blink and then I watched as I lifted a hand and looked at it. It was like I was a passenger in my own body. I stood up and moved to the woman’s side.

“Goodbye, Beth, sleep deeply and well. Your work is done.”

The voice that came out of my mouth was a woman’s voice and if I’d been able to I’d have shouted and looked around. I then watched as my hand reached down and closed this strange woman’s eyes. I abruptly realized that she was dead! I now felt tears running down my cheeks. For a minute I knelt next to her, quiet and unmoving, head bowed, with one hand resting over this woman’s eyes then I pulled my hand away. I watched, unable to control my hand, as I reached down into the pocket of her blazer and pulled out a small bag, covered in strange symbols, and stuffed it into my front jeans pocket.

Then I stood and jogged to the fence. It was only four feet high so I put one hand on it and vaulted over it, just like I normally do, and picked up my backpack and trotted into the field. By the time I gotten to the far end I realized that I was again in control of my body. For a second I thought about turning around and going back to the Stop-N-Shop, but something inside me made me think that would be a bad idea. Instead, I headed for home trying not to think about what had just happened.

I opened my eyes groggily and slapped at the alarm as it buzzed next to my bed. Every bone in my body ached as I rolled over and up into a sitting position. There was enough light streaming in through my curtains for me to stumble to my door. I opened it and could smell the coffee that my dad had already started down in the kitchen. I love the smell of coffee, although I don’t understand how anyone can drink the bitter stuff. I walked across the hallway and was happy to see that the bathroom door was open. If I’d hit snooze a couple of times then my sister would’ve beaten me into the bathroom. She’s only a year younger than me and already took twice as long to get ready. I turned on the light, shut the door, and started brushing my teeth and was a little surprised at how pale my face was this morning. My sandy brown hair was cut short and my naturally tanned face seemed pale. For a second I stared at my forehead suddenly remembering my trip home last night. There was no sign of a mark on my forehead. I must have imagined the whole thing, I tried to rationalize.

I finished brushing and rubbed my chin with one hand. Lately, I’d had to start shaving every morning so today I was pleasantly surprised to find a smooth chin. I started the shower and stepped on the scale. 135 lbs. not to bad I thought since I was wrestling at 132 this year so I only had to cut three pounds before Saturday’s weigh-in. At six foot cutting weight to get under 140 lbs. was normally hard for me so only having to cut three pounds over the next two days was great news. I’d been expecting to have to cut five or six.

By now the shower was warm so I climbed in and started cleaning up. As I did I thought about last night. I must have imagined the whole thing, a woman dying in an alley, my forehead burning yet no mark or scar, and then that weird feeling of not being in control of my body. I mean once I got to my street everything felt normal I got home and found my mom and dad watching TV and my sister sitting at the dining room table working on her calculus home work.

She’d asked for help and after I put my gi in the washer I sat down next to her with a large glass of water. My sister and I often teased each other but we’re actually very close. We had to be since my dad was in the Navy and we’d moved every two years for as long as I could remember. I’d been in 7 schools and was now getting ready to graduate. Christina and I had been through so much together and it had forced us to become close. I’d had calculus last year and AP Calc this year, so helping her wasn’t a problem. Except that I found myself unable to focus and after drifting off for the second time she’d suggested I go to bed.

I finished up and dried off quickly knowing that Christina would want to get in soon. I wrapped a towel around my waist and opened the door just in time to find Christina lifting her hand to knock. My sister Christina is very pretty with long blonde hair and a skin tone several shades lighter than mine. She was also six inches shorter than me and already had plenty of curves for a sixteen year old.

“Are you done?”

“It’s all yours.”

I turned sideways to slide around her and darted into my room. My room drives my mom and dad crazy since there are clothes scattered all over the floor along with plates and cups from snacks. I’ve tried to explain that everything is exactly where I can find it. That doesn’t stop them from forcing me to clean it every Sunday. By now, Thursday morning, it looked like a tornado had spun its way around my room.

I found a rumpled pair of jeans from the floor and a t-shirt from a basket of clean laundry I was supposed to put away two days ago, socks, cross trainers and I was ready to face school. Abruptly, I froze in shock. There was a lump in my jeans pocket. I reached in and pulled out a small black bag with symbols stitched into it with silver thread.

My legs suddenly felt weak and I sat down on the bed. This was the bag I’d watched myself take from the woman in the alley. Reluctantly, I worked at the knot holding the bag closed until the string came loose and I was able to empty the contents of the bag into my hand. The only thing in the bag was a simple yet beautiful ring made of either silver or white gold with a birds head caught mid-screech and an emerald for an eye. As I held the ring I felt a tingling sensation from it and then it was burning my fingers.

“Shit!”

I dropped the ring and moved away looking at my fingers. I had a pair of blisters from where I’d been holding it. How is that possible, I wondered? The ring hadn’t been hot, was I allergic to whatever it was made of? I grabbed a dirty sock and picked up the ring and put it back into the black bag pulled the strings tight and put the bag on my bedside stand. I sat there looking at the evidence that I hadn’t hallucinated last night’s events for a few minutes. What should I do? Who would believe me if I told them? At last decided I needed to go to school. Tonight I’d talk to my parents about what had happened.

I pulled out my backpack and stuffed in clean clothes for wrestling practice this afternoon and then almost as an afterthought books and homework. I rushed down the stairs taking them three at a time and plunked my bag down next to the kitchen table. My mom turned around and smiled at me.

“In a hurry this morning Joel?”

“I’m just starving.” I picked up the cereal box and dumped a bunch of Cheerios into my bowel.

“Aren’t you cutting weight?”

“I’ve only got to lose three pounds by Saturday. I can do that in a day.” I mumbled around a large spoonful of cereal.

“Your sister has ballet after school and will need the car. Can you get a ride home from practice tonight?”

“Sure, Jeff can drop me off.”

By the time I was done eating Christina walked into the kitchen. She was wearing Capri’s and a light blue blouse and looked really pretty, although I’d never tell her that.

“Are you ready to go?”

“Yep,” she said, picking up an apple from the fruit dish on the table.

“Christina, you need more than that!”

“Mom, I don’t have time, see ya.”

I went to the cubby where we kept the car keys and saw that the keys to the Cavalier were missing.

“Looking for these?” Christina held up the car keys.

“Hey, it’s my turn to drive to school! Where did you get those?”

“From your desk, you drove the car home from wrestling practice yesterday and as usual never hung them up.”

“You went into my room without my permission?”

“Obviously, if I hadn’t we’d be spending the next ten minutes looking for the keys.” Christina handed them to me. “Come on its time to go, or we’ll be late.”

On the one hand I was annoyed at the idea that she was going into my room, on the other hand she was right. I’m always losing things. I decided to shut up and followed Christina to the garage. The used Chevy Cavalier wasn’t the coolest car but Dad had bought it for Christina and me to share so I couldn’t complain. The drive to school took ten minutes and since Christina had put on the head phones to her IPod the second she’d jumped into the passenger seat it was filled with silence. After I parked we got out of the car and I tossed her the keys which she promptly dropped.

“Hey, can’t you hand them to me like a normal person?!”

“Learn to catch,” I said with a laugh and jogged up the steps toward school.

I stood in the locker room with a towel wrapped around my waist looking into the mirror. Practice was over and guys were showering up but I was preoccupied. School had been pretty normal. Although, as I thought back a few things had seemed odd. I’d been easily distracted all day, a new color would catch my eye, a vibrant shade of red, or I’d hear a noise and become mesmerized trying to figure it out. Only to discover that it was a fly banging against a window at the far end of the classroom. Then there was wrestling practice.

This had easily been the best practice of my life. I’m a decent wrestler, I’d earned a starting varsity spot as a senior but there was a junior, Brian, who was constantly pushing me. Today I’d been so full of energy that I’d raced through the exercises and drills and when wrestling with Brian he’d suddenly seemed slow and weak and I’d pinned him several times without any trouble. The Coach had been so pleased he’d matched me against several of our best wrestlers in heavier weight classes. I’d beaten them as easily as I’d beaten Brian. After practice coach had pulled me aside and said that I was peaking at the right time and if I won my weight class in the tournament on Saturday I’d have enough points to make state! This meant that our team had a shot at winning a state championship. If we did everyone would remember the team of 1998!

“Joel, stop admiring yourself and let’s get going!” Jeff shouted pulling a t-shirt over his head.

I hustled to my locker and changed into my street clothes.

Jeff had an old Chevy S-10 pickup truck which even though it was older than the Cavalier, I thought, it was cooler or at least manlier. As Jeff pulled out of the school parking lot I spotted a black Suburban parked across the street. The guy sitting in it caught my eye for a second and I felt a chill wash down my back before Jeff turned the truck away. I looked over my shoulder at the SUV which was still parked and I wondered why I was being so jumpy.

The trip to my house was filled with Jeff talking about the upcoming NCAA basketball tournament. Even though he was a wrestler Jeff loved watching basketball. I wasn’t really into the sport so I mostly listened as he talked about who he thought would make it into the tournament. Just before we arrived at my house I felt the hair on my neck stand up again and looked over my shoulder, behind us was a black sedan and there was something about either the car or the man driving it that made me shudder. Then Jeff pulled into my driveway and the sedan continued on. I let out a breath that I hadn’t realized I’d been holding.

“Hey, Joel, I don’t know what you’ve been doing to improve so much, but do you think you could give me some pointers?”

It took me a second to realize that Jeff was talking to me.

“Uhm, . . .yeah, sure.” I grabbed my bag from the floor and slid out the passenger door. “Why don’t we work out at the dojo this Sunday?” Jeff nodded. “See you tomorrow.”

Christina had returned just in time for me to snag the car keys and head over to the dojo for practice. I normally walk, but when my mother had come home from work she’d told me that there’d been a murder down by the Stop-N-Shop and she didn’t want me walking tonight. When she’d explained that they’d found a woman’s body in the alley next to the store with some kind of knife wound in her shoulder I’d felt a chill run over my body. It just wasn’t possible, was it? I knew that I should tell her that I’d been there and explain what had happened. I opened my mouth and for some reason nothing came out. I tried to clear my throat and start over and again I found I couldn’t speak. ‘What the hell is going on?’ I wondered.

Aikido had been a great balm for my troubled mind. I’d driven to the dojo and practice had been exhausting and that had allowed me to postpone thinking about the dead mystery woman or trying to figure out why I’d been unable to talk to my mom about what had happened. Once I got home I got cleaned up and went down stairs planning to talk to my parents about it.

I stopped in the doorway to the living room and saw my parents sitting on the sofa watching TV and hesitated. What should I tell them? I thought I’d met the dead woman from the Stop-N-Shop, and that she’d marked me? There was no sign of a mark and dad would want to know why I hadn’t tried to help her or at least called 911.

Telling them that something or someone had had taken control of my body and forced me away from the woman would make me sound crazy. A wave of exhaustion hit me and I had to reach out and grab the wall for support. For several seconds I focused on breathing and then slowly made my way to my room. I was so tired it was hard to focus. I swatted at the light switch, turning off the lights on my second try, and then I collapsed fully clothed, face first, onto the bed.

My dreams were fitful and strange. I dreamt of a woman’s face half covered in blood screaming in defiance, then it changed and I saw a clear field where a female warrior in form-fitting plate armor battled a monster with black wings, then it shifted again and again. In each scene the beautiful brunette woman battled one monster after another, sometimes in armor of both familiar and exotic designs and at other times she was clothed in leather and once she simply wore shadows. Then there were the shadows! In every scene, they seemed alive and they responded to her commands becoming weapons that she used with great skill or armor that she used to protect herself.

Sometimes she fought on the streets of strange cities and at other times battled the endless horde of monsters in forests or mountains. Most of the time the brunette fought alone but once in a while she was joined by other warriors who grappled with the bewildering variety of foes. In every dream there was one thing that was constant; the beautiful brunette always protected the defenseless and fought against a horde of chaotic looking creatures.

Then the dream shifted and I was standing alone in the middle of a plateau filled with columns of stone. The stones were made of either black or white marble and alternated with each column. There appeared to be a path between the column’s that wound around to my right and something told me that I should follow the path. As I walked I noticed that there wasn’t really a source of illumination and that each column cast a shadow. I felt oddly content here like this was a safe place unlike the previous dreams. Then I stopped.

I suddenly realized that I was being watched.

“Who are you?” I shouted turning around in a circle. I was greeted by silence. “Come out and let me see you!”

Something told me I needed to continue to the center of the maze of columns if I wanted an answer to my question. So after waiting for a few seconds I turned and continued following the arcing path. As I walked deeper into the maze I lost track of time. It felt like I’d been walking for a long time although in a dream it’s hard to be sure. As I walked I noticed the columns were getting taller. They’d started out just taller than me and now they towered far above my head. Then all at once I found myself in the center of the maze.

I assumed it was the center of the maze because I’d found a large open circular area. In the middle of the open space there were a pair of columns one white and one black about five feet apart at the base. About ten feet up they leaned in toward each other and by the time they’d reached twenty feet they’d begun to twist together spinning around each other forming a single pillar. They continued to climb until I lost sight of the column in the featureless grey sky. Then my eyes were drawn to the shadow at the foot of the twined columns and the stone chair hidden within the shadow.

I moved closer and by the time I was halfway to the throne concealed in shadow I saw that there was someone sitting on it. I froze when I realized that it was a woman.

“Joel Ryan Campbell, I’ve been waiting for you.” The woman said in a powerful female voice that sent shivers up and down my spine.

For several long seconds I didn’t know what to say. Then I blurted out, “Who are you?!”

“I’ve had many names over the years, here, now, in this time and place, I’m known as Caecus Cordi, but Beth used to call me Cordi.”

“You’re the woman from the alley behind the Stop-N-Shop!” For a second the shadows around the woman moved and flickered like they had a life of their own.

“Yes, and no. The woman you saw was Beth, she was my vessel.”

“Your vessel? I don’t understand who, . . . no . . . what are you?”

“I’m a Knight of Order. There aren’t very many of us here in your realm, although I suspect that is about to change. This realm is becoming a new front in the war between Order and Chaos. The Daemon Lords of Chaos have begun a fresh campaign and this realm will soon become a front line, maybe even THE front line, unless we can turn them back now.”

I looked at her and then around the calm still plateau before I glanced back at her. It struck me that it was very peaceful here and that everything was either black, white, or a shade of grey there was no color. Then it also occurred to me that there were thousands and thousands of shadows cast by the pillars under the dim grey light.

“This is obviously a matter of magic, have you talked to the Guild, or if there is trouble, the police?”

“Your human Guild of Magic-Users is unprepared for what’s coming. And it’s my duty to prevent the Daemon Lords form arriving here in force in the first place.”

“If that’s true then why are you talking to me? I don’t understand.”

“Do you know what happened yesterday when Beth passed my mark on to you?”

“No, what mark? I looked in the mirror this morning and there wasn’t a mark!”

“That’s because we are still going through the Joining. Once we are fully merged you will be able to draw upon my power at will and when you do the mark will become a visible warning, anyone who sees it will know that you are a Knight of Order.”

“What do you mean, joining?” I said, and then added, “And what power?”

“Neither the Knights of Order nor the Daemons of Chaos can manifest a physical form in this realm. We need a human body, a vessel, for our spirits and power. When Beth passed on my Mark she passed on both my spirit and power to you. You, Joel Campbell, are now my vessel.”

At this the woman stood up and moved out of the deep shadow into the dim grey light. She was tall over twice my height and I had to admit stunningly beautiful.

“I can’t be your vessel!”

“Why not?”

“Because I’m not a Magic-User,” I said, grasping at straws. “I’m barely able to sense magic and I don’t have enough strength to cast a spell.”

“What makes you think that I need a Magic-User as my vessel? In fact, you’re the first vessel I’ve had who has the ability to sense magic. No, Beth used my power to craft the search and call the standard, and you answered the call. You are my vessel.”

“What does that even mean?!” Just then the dream faded and the annoying sound of my alarm pulled me from my dream.

I clawed my way to consciousness and slapped at my alarm. Unfortunately, I misjudged my strength and accidently sent the alarm clock flying into the wall.

“Ugh, . . .” I groaned as I sat up.

I rubbed my eyes and felt the gritty residue of really heavy sleep. ‘That was a crazy dream,’ I thought. It had felt so real, but it couldn’t have been! I mean come on, a Knight of Order? I’m fairly caught up on current events and if there was some kind of Order-Chaos War being fought here in the United States then the Guild would have announced it. At a minimum one of the cable news networks would have been talking about it. I sat still trying to think. I’d never had a dream where I’d actually talked to someone before and it had been unbelievably clear. Then I had an urge to find the bag I’d pulled out of my jeans pocket yesterday. I went to my nightstand and not seeing it I started looking around. I spent several minutes searching for it and at last I spotted it on the floor partially hidden under my well-worn paperback copy of Michael Moorcock’s “Pawn of Chaos: Tales of the Eternal Champion.” I picked up the bag and was surprised to find it empty. I glanced at the clock and realized I needed to get moving I could look for the ring once I got home from school. I looked down at the rumpled clothes I’d slept in and decided a shower was in order. I crossed to the bathroom only to discover that Christina was already inside.

“Damn!” Okay plan “B” breakfast and then a shower. I went down to the kitchen and finding it empty sat down and started eating.

“Joel Ryan Campbell, did you sleep in your clothes?!”

I looked over my shoulder to see my mother standing in the doorway glaring at me. “Uhmmm, . . . yeah, I guess so. I was just so tired that I forgot to take them off last night.”

“Well you’re not going to go to school looking like that. When you finish eating you’re going to go upstairs and change.”

I looked at her for a second and rather than tell her that I had no intention of going to school in these clothes I decided to just nod. “Yes, ma’am.” I finished eating went back upstairs just as Christina was leaving the bathroom.

“All yours, Joel,” she said, with a laugh.

I had no idea what she did in there in the morning since she showered the night before, I just figured it was one of those female mysteries I was better off not knowing.

I closed the bathroom door and looked into the mirror. I was startled to see that my hair was several shades darker than yesterday and much longer. If it kept growing at this rate I’d need a haircut by the weekend. Then I leaned in to look closer and saw that for the second day in a row I didn’t need to shave and my skin was paler. In fact I now had almost the same complexion as Christina.

“Weird.” I got the shower going and while I waited for it to heat up dumped my clothes into the corner and stepped on the scale.

“Holy crap!”

I was down to 130 lbs and I hadn’t been trying to cut weight at all. In fact I’d just eaten two bowls of cereal, toast, and a banana. What the heck is going on with my metabolism, I wondered. The shower was now warm so I stepped in and started lathering up. After a few minutes of scrubbing I looked down and was surprised by all of the hair in the floor of the stall. I glanced down and saw that all of the hair on my arms and been scrubbed clean. I looked at my legs and realized that they were as smooth as a new born babe!

“What the fuck is going on!?”

I again looked at my arms and saw a small spot on my left forearm with a strip of hair. Carefully I ran my hand over the area only to watch, in dismay, as all of the hair fell out as I brushed it. I turned off the water and got out drying off as quickly as possible. The mirror was covered in condensation. I wiped it clean looked over as much of my body as I could. My skin was now very pale and I had hair on my head and around my crotch but I had no hair on my arms, legs, or armpits. In addition my chest felt a little sore and my nipples were sensitive and looked a little puffy, which was strange.

I wrapped a towel around my waist scooped up my dirty clothes and dashed across the hallway to my room. I realized I was running late and hurriedly got dressed and raced down to the kitchen where Christina was waiting impatiently for me.

“Aren’t you ready yet, princess?” She teased, “God, I thought girls were supposed to take their time getting ready.”

“Bite me.” I went to get the keys only to discover that Christina already had them.

“It’s my turn to drive today, remember?”

“Fine.” With that we headed out to school.

If anything I was even more distracted today than yesterday. It wasn’t just hearing things or becoming fascinated by sights and colors. All day I felt like there was someone looking over my shoulder and whenever I turned around it seemed like I should’ve been able to see my mysterious companion. But there was never anyone there. Then at lunch Cindy Markland, easily the hottest girl in the senior class, had all but asked me out and I’d been so distracted I’d missed it. When she left Jeff hit me on my arm.

“Dude, are you just brain dead today or what?”

“Huh, what are you talking about?”

“You’ve wanted to go out with Cindy since 9^th grade and she comes over and talks to you and you just grunt either yes or no? What the hell is wrong with you man?”

“I don’t know! I’ve just felt out of it today, besides I’m dating Marci.”

Jeff just shook his head and picked up his tray. “Well I hope you’re ready for practice after school or Coach will have your ass!”

I got to the locker room late. I’d had to find Christina and let her know that she could take the car since Jeff was giving me a ride home, again. Coach had made me do laps for being late which was fine since I felt like I had energy to burn. Once practice really got going I just sort of fell into a zone. Everything once again felt so slow and easy. Like everyone else was moving in slow motion and the exercises where easier than ever. I raced up the peg board setting a new record for getting to the top and down again. Rope climbs had been cake and then during one-on-one drills it felt like I was toying with my partner. At the end of practice coach had weighed us and I was down to 125 lbs.

“Joel, son, you need to stop cutting, you could wrestle down another class. But I need you at 132, understood?”

“Yes, sir.” I replied, feeling confused. I hadn’t been trying to cut weight.

The drive home had been filled with Jeff playing heavy metal in celebration of the weekend and getting ready for tomorrow’s tournament. As we got closer to my house I noticed that we’d been passed by a cop car and then a fire-truck. When Jeff pulled onto my street I could see smoke rising and the street was blocked off.

“Hey, just drop me off here. I’ll walk the rest of the way.”

“Are you sure? It looks like there’s been a fire.”

“Yeah, I’ll be fine.”

I grabbed my backpack and as soon as Jeff pulled over I jumped out. I waved good-bye and started walking toward my house. As I did, I once again felt a stirring behind me like someone was looking over my shoulder. I turned around in a full circle looking for whoever it was and didn’t see anyone.

As I got closer to my house I saw more emergency vehicles and then I realized they weren’t just near my house. They were at my house! I broke into a run and only made it two steps before a voice spoke.

“Joel, beware! I sense the power of a Daemon. Slow down and let’s look around.”

I stopped and looked around and again saw no one.

“Cordi is that you?” I whispered, trying to remember the name of the woman from my dream.

“Yes, and whatever is going on up ahead was caused by a Daemon! You need to be very careful. The daemon won’t be able to sense me in you yet because we’re still joining. But we are very vulnerable right now. Don’t rush in and don’t do anything out of the ordinary and if I tell you to do something just do it, okay!?”

“No, it’s not okay. I’m talking to an imaginary friend and my house is on fire! I need to know if my family is okay.”

“Keep your voice down! No one else can hear me. We don’t want people to see you talking to yourself. When I’m joining a new vessel I’m almost totally undetectable. There was no connection between you and Beth so my enemies shouldn’t have been able to find you or your family, but if they have, then, . . . . yes . . . your family is in danger.”

“Okay, I’ll take it slow, but after this we need to talk. I didn’t ask to be your, . . . vessel?! And my family better be okay.”

I moved forward at a brisk walk and in a few seconds, was able to confirm that my house was the source of all the attention. Two fire trucks were spraying water onto the house in an attempt to keep it from spreading to the other houses in the neighborhood.

I stood there, watching the fire, my mind to stunned to understand or to really think about what I should do. Then noticed a fireman, sitting in a sedan with fire department markings, talking on the radio. As I approached him I felt Cordi stir inside of me.

“Joel, be careful, don’t tell him who you are. Say that your name is Jeff and you’re friend Joel lives here.”

I knew the voice was in my head but it was hard not to twitch and turn to look for the woman speaking.

“Excuse me, sir.” I said, trying to get the fireman’s attention.

“What is it son? This is an active fire scene you need to get back.”

“Sir, my friend Joel Campbell lives there,” I said, pointing at my house. “Do you know if he’s okay?”

“It’s too early to know if anyone was in the house. Do you know if Joel or his parents have a cell phone?”

“Sure,” I said, and gave him my mother’s cell phone number.

“Thanks, kid, what did you say your name was?”

“Jeff, . . . Jeff White” I lied.

“Okay, why don’t you head on home Jeff. I appreciate the help.”

After I’d walked up the block I turned on the first side street moving away from my house. “What the hell is going on?” I fought to stay calm.

“I felt the power of a daemon. In fact I know which daemon it was. I just don’t understand how he found us.”

“A daemon? H-How? . . . Where is my family? What’s going on?”

“Look, Joel, I’ll answer all of your questions, but not here on the street. I’ve got a safe house nearby, let’s go there and talk.”

“How will we get there? I don’t have a car, unless you’re saying it’s within walking distance.”

“Give me control of our body for a minute and I’ll see what can be done.”

“Assuming I was good with that, how would I do it?”

“Just relax, easy back, and think of letting someone else steer.”

I felt apprehensive, yet somehow I felt like I could trust Cordi, so I let out a breath and closed my eyes and tried to relax. After a moment my eyes opened even though I hadn’t opened them. I started to panic but Cordi was there.

“It’s okay Joel, I’ve got it, I won’t hurt you just please try to stay calm.”

I fought down my panic and after a moment I felt my head look left then right. Then I started jogging down the street. There was a van parked at the curb that had caught Cordi’s attention. It was an older van with plenty of rust spots and it was also sitting under the branches of a large oak tree. The tree cast a long shadow over the van and Cordi moved us up next to it. She reached out and placed one of my fingers on the driver’s side window and focused on the plainly visible knob locking the door. For a second the light seemed to distort and a shadow inside the van curled around the knob and then there was a clicking sound as the knob moved up and the door unlocked.

“Wow, that was cool!” I thought, at Cordi.

“Thanks, but be still, I’m trying to focus. This is extremely hard right now since we are not properly merged. There’s also a slight risk of discovery when I use my power, so we need to be quick.”

I had the strange sensation of feeling my mouth move without me controlling it and the even stranger sensation of hearing a woman’s voice. With that Cordi slid us into the driver’s seat and shut the door. She then reached down and cupped the ignition with my hand and I again felt a sort of trickle of energy then my hand turned and the van started up. When Cordi pulled my hand away, for a second, there appeared to be a kind of shadow key in the ignition, but now that the van was running it dissolved.

“Joel, you’ll need to drive. I’m not strong enough to stay in control.”

“Where am I driving?”

“I’ll give you directions.”

Suddenly, I was once again in control of my body. I pulled the van out and headed away from my house trying not to think about my parents and my sister. A little over an hour later I was pulling into the driveway of a secluded farm house, about twenty minutes from Richmond, VA.

“This isn’t Norfolk you know.”

“You’re right, I don’t have a safe house in Norfolk, I like my privacy and this is the closest safe house I have.”

“I’m not complaining but I’ve got a thousand questions and you haven’t been real talkative.”

“I’ve been trying to figure out what happened. Come on let’s go inside and get some food and then I’ll answer as many of your questions as I can.”

I parked the van behind the farm house so it couldn’t be seen from the road and then at Cordi’s direction found a spare key hidden in the barn. As I approached the house Cordi made me stop.

“Joel, I need to take control again for a few seconds.”

“Why?” I asked looking around for possible threats.

“Because the house is warded, I paid a guild Magic-User to ward the house so I’ll need to part the ward. I just need control for a few seconds.”

I closed my eyes and tried to relax. This time I felt it as Cordi took control. Once again my eyes opened without me doing it and I watched as my right hand rose and my fingers twisted into a strange looking gesture. Then Cordi spoke;

“Kaló̱s í̱rthate sto spíti filo”

Even though I expected it, it was still weird to feel my mouth moving without me controlling it and the sound of a woman’s voice coming out of my mouth speaking words I didn’t understand. I also noticed a tingling sensation and my limited ability to sense magic told something had happened.

“The wards are down and will stay down for about five minutes. We need to get inside.”

I suddenly realized that I was back in control so I walked up to the back door of the house and used the key to open the door. Once inside I could tell it had been a long time since anyone had been here. Most of the furniture was covered and there was a layer of dust on everything. Cordi directed me to the kitchen and the pantry, which was stocked with canned goods, and I got to work heating up a can of chicken soup.

“Okay, you said you explain all of this too me, now feels like a pretty good time.”

“There’s a war going on between the Courts of Order and the Wastes of Chaos, it’s known as the ‘Eternal War’ and has been going on since the beginning of time. In fact, the Chaos spawn will argue that it was the Court of Order’s imposition of time upon the Multi-Verse that sparked the first battle. Over the last thousand years the two sides of settled into a balance. It’s when the balance is disrupted that life throughout the multiverse is threatened.”

“Uhmmm . . . who or what are you? Why did . . . uh . . . Beth ‘Mark’ me?”

“My name is Caecus Cordi, I’m the Court of Order’s Knight of Shadows. I was sent here to this realm by the Grand Duchess DePotentia Et’Honestas when she learned that the Daemon Lords where going to begin invading. We aren’t yet sure why they chose this realm but I’ve been ordered to stop them and protect the natives.”

“Why are you in my head? And couldn’t you have contacted the Guild they protect mundane humans, like me, from magical predators?”

“I’m more than just in your head Joel. When you accepted my Mark my spirit, mind, and power began to merge with you. I can’t manifest a physical body here and neither can a daemon.” At this Cordi paused for a moment and then continued. “The other knights, assigned to this realm, and I have discussed contacting the Guild but my brothers and sisters believe that at this point it might do more harm than good. For now we are trying to fight our war with the daemons without drawing too much attention.”

I had to pause for a few seconds and think about what she’d just said. I didn’t think that I’d ‘accepted’ her mark. True, I’d answered Beth’s questions and I could have moved away and left her there to die. Instead, I’d stayed where I was and allowed her to touch me.

“Uhm, okay, you can give me more of the big picture later. Where is my family? And are they okay? You said that you know which daemon was at my house.”

“I felt the echo of X’lye’ous power back at your house. He is a powerful Fire Daemon, I’m sure he is responsible for starting the fire.”

“Why!? Why would some daemon set my house on fire?”

“There are a few reasons. He might have been trying to capture your family, thinking that I was in your mother or sister, and accidently set the house on fire. He could have missed your family and set it on fire as a warning or did it to get me to respond, to draw me out before I’m ready to face him . . . or, he might have done it for fun, X’lye’ous likes to burn things.”

“How do I find my family? Can I call my mom or dad’s cell phones?”

“Not just now. For now we need to be patient. If you’re family is okay we’ll find them tomorrow, if they’ve been captured then we’ll have to figure out how to rescue them.”

“So what do we do tonight?”

“Tonight we start exercising. I’ll show you how to use my power. The more of my power you draw, the faster we’ll finish the joining. If your family has been captured then we’ll need to be as fully joined as possible to rescue them.”

“And I thought tonight would be easy since there isn’t any Aikido on Friday.” I said in a lame attempt to make a joke.

I soon found that my wrestling coach and Aikido Sensei had nothing on Cordi when it came to working. We started with yoga like positions and when I claimed I couldn’t stretch any further and my arms were trembling with fatigue she just said to relax and focus on the knot of energy inside of me. We were working in the dimly lit basement of the safe house and for some reason the shadowy environment felt comfortable. I focused on my center and to my surprise I felt something. Unsure exactly what to do I took a deep calming breath and focused on it. Then I felt a cool sensation from my center flow out and into my body, as this happened I noticed that the shadows in the room seemed to deepen, to take on a texture and a quality like each shadow was unique and held a mystery. Abruptly, my vision shifted and I realized I could see clearly into the shadows and that they had a tendency to reach out to me as if wanting to touch me.

“As I said earlier, in the Courts of Order, I’m the Knight of Shadow. I’m at my most powerful in the shade. I’m weakest, but not helpless, in full bright light or total darkness.”

By now we’d moved from stretching into a series of punching and kicking patterns. I caught on quickly, so she changed things and soon I was learning to summon and dismiss a shadow. Next, she taught me how to control my own shadow so that it flared out into a pair of shadow-claws extending from each hand. I could only hold them for a few seconds but it was an amazing feeling. Cordi, satisfied with how far I’d come in just a few hours had me sit down and meditate.

“Joel, the goal here is to relax and project yourself into the Shadow-Court.”

“What is the shadow court?”

“It’s the place where I met you in your dream. Once you learn to send your spirit there we can move on to more advanced lessons. I can also control the flow of time there, to a degree. We can spend a dozen hours training in the Court while no more than an hour goes by here.”

I sat down and closed my eyes thinking about the core of power inside of me. I then tried to bring up a picture, in my minds-eye, of the place where I’d first talked to Cordi.

“That’s very good Joel, now focus on letting the power flow through your body. Fill every part of your being with my energy from the tips of your fingers to your toes push the energy throughout your body.”

I concentrated on the cool knot of power and slowly started to feel it respond. Then abruptly it slipped away.

“You were focusing too tightly. Concentrate on bringing it up and feeling it, then slowly guide it. Don’t force it, or grip it too tightly, if you use brute force of will on it you’ll just lose control.”

I started over, this time focusing on feeling the power, accepting it, and then very gently I let it wash over me. It felt like there was a tide of liquid power rising and then I realized that it was flowing out from my center, to every limb, in time to the beating of my heart. Then my skin began to tingle as the trickle of power turned into a flood of icy-hot energy that was as bright as the sun, and as dark as the void all at once. The power now moved freely flowing out in every direction, filling my body! Abruptly, I felt my body respond to the power, my skin rippled and shifted, moving without my guidance, under the sweet dusky power raging inside of me, and yet, it felt so good that I didn’t care! I realized in that moment I could sit here forever holding this power and be happy.

‘Oh, my God, this could become very addictive.’ I thought, my mental voice felt distant and unimportant compared to the energy filling me.

I’m not sure how long I sat there, only that by the time I became aware of my physical self again I could feel sweat running down my face, back, and curiously between my pectoral muscles. Even as I sat still, sweating, I practically quivered with energy! Every part of my body tingled, and I wanted to explode into motion I felt so ALIVE!

“You’re ready, now focus on my court.” Cordi advised.

I thought about the grey twilight, the pillars of white and black marble, and the throne sitting in the shadow cast by the twined pillars and closed my eyes. I felt a ripple of movement yet I was sure I hadn’t moved.

“Welcome to my Court, among the Knights of Order this place is known as the Shadow-Court.”

I opened my eyes and sucked in a deep breath in shock. The court looked just like it had in my dream only now it felt more real. Every detail was sharper, clearer, and I could feel the stone under my feet. Then I caught the faint scent of the ocean. Even though my dream had been surprisingly life like, it was still a dream. Now, I somehow knew, that I was here in a different way than before.

“It’s the same, but it feels different than my dream.”

“That’s because when you came here in your dream, your spirit was only partly here. You just sent your spirit-self here using my power and your will. You are here as fully as you can be.”

I looked around for a minute and spotted Cordi sitting on her throne. She stood up and came towards me, easily more than twice my height.

“Uhm, . . . so . . .what do you want me to do?”

“We’ll continue your training. First I need to judge your fighting skills. When I first started working with Beth she had no training. I’ve looked at your memories and you’ve some experience in Tae Kwon Do, and a little Kendo. These skills combined with your Aikido and wrestling give you a good foundation in the fighting arts. After that I plan to teach you how to use shadows to create armor and weapons. That’s about as far as we’ll be able to go today.”

I nodded, “Okay”

“Attack me.”

“But you’re twice my size!”

“Size doesn’t matter to the Knight of Shadow, but if it will help.”

Suddenly she was my size facing me in a gray judo Gi.

“Better?”

I nodded, and gave her a bow and realized that I was now wearing a matching judo Gi. ‘Well I guess it’s appropriate.’ I thought, to myself.

“I agree” Cordi’s voice whispered into my mind.

“Can you hear all of my thoughts?”

“Yes and no, when you’re thinking about me I can generally hear them. There are ways to shield thoughts. I’ll teach them to you later, since some daemons will read thoughts in battle and use this power to anticipate an attack. Ready?”

I soon found that Cordi was a much better fighter than me. She knew every trick, technique, faint, and strike. I lost all track of time as the training continued. She soon had me reaching into a shadow and forging it into a weapon or a shield. Then I learned to step into a shadow and step out clothed in shadow-armor. Then the lessons began anew. Now we focused on fighting while wearing armor. At last I reached a point where I was too exhausted to continue.

“Joel, enough, you have done very well! I don’t think I’ve ever had a better partner. At least not this early in the joining.”

At this point I’d been trying to climb back to my feet from where she’d thrown me. Without having to ask I suddenly knew how to get back to my body. I reached up and brushed my long dark hair out of my eyes and dismissed my armor and felt a relief from its constriction. I was once more standing facing Cordi in a judo gi. She dismissed her armor as well and I could see that I’d at least forced her to work up a sweat. She was stunningly beautiful with her hair plastered to her head and her cheeks flushed from exertion.

“Food, and then sleep are what you need now.”

“What about my family? How will we find them? Are you sure the daemon’s have them?”

“I’ve been thinking about it while we trained. In the morning we’ll start by making a few phone calls. If the daemon’s are holding them they’ll answer one of the phones and then we’ll know. But what’s puzzling me is how they found us. They couldn’t have detected me. Do you remember a black bag with silver runes?”

“I found it the morning after I met you. Why?”

Cordi nodded looking intently at me.

“The bag is unimportant, but what was in it was very dangerous. If someone in your family found that bag and the token it held, then we could have a big problem. That bag imprisoned the token of a daemon called Dar-usk’kin. While inside the bag no other Chaos Daemon could have found Dar-usk’kin, but if the token were taken from the bag they’d sense him right away. If one of your family members put the ring on then Dar-usk’kin would have taken possession of their body. Joel we have to be careful. Dar-usk’kin is a crafty and powerful foe. If he’s free we’re in for a tough fight. In fact, I think we’ll need to find reinforcements before facing X’lye’ous and Dar-usk’kin again.”

“But if this Dar-usk’kin were free wouldn’t it take him a while to bond just like it’s taking us?”

“No, you see Chaos Daemons are very different from Knights of Order. We have to join with our vessels and the joining takes time as mind, body, and spirit are brought into alignment. The Daemons pour their essence into objects. When the object is touched by a human they switch places with the human. The human’s spirit goes into the object and their spirit fills the human. They have access to all of their vessels memories and skills, but they have to keep their token either on them or near them at all times. If the physical connection between vessel and token is severed then they return to the token and the human returns to their native body.”

At this Cordi paused to see if I understood. When I remained silent she continued.

“For Knights it’s a symbiotic relationship. We both benefit from the joining. Once the Joining is complete we will move as one and when we’re fighting it won’t seem like it’s me fighting or you fighting we’ll both be acting and re-acting as one being.”

I looked down trying to understand what she was telling me.

“Enough for now, you need sleep.”

I nodded, “Sleep sounds good.”

With that I pushed my awareness back toward my physical body. I could feel Cordi’s power still running through me and instinctively I began pulling it in, drawing it down, and confining it to my center while thinking about my body sitting cross legged in the basement of Cordi’s safe house. I again felt a shifting sensation and then the Court of Shadow faded away.

I blinked, my eyes felt like they’d been filled with sand, and every part of my body felt stiff and sore. I pushed myself to my feet and slowly made my way up the stairs out of the basement and to the largest of the three bedrooms. As I moved I could tell I was out of it, from exhaustion, both emotional and physical. My whole body felt off, uncoordinated, and awkward but I was too tired to care. The bed had been stripped. After a few minutes of searching I found a set of sheets, blankets, and pillows in the hall closet. I was too drained to make the bed so I grabbed a pillow and a blanket and went to sleep.

Sunlight streaming in through the window brought me slowly back to consciousness. For several minutes, I couldn’t figure out where I was and then it came back to me in a rush. The fire, my family presumed missing, and a Knight of Order sharing my body. As the strangeness of my situation sank in I bolted upright. When I did a whole new set of sensations assault me. My long black hair hung down in front of my face. My clothes felt loose in some places and tight in others, but the most overwhelming sensation was the unnatural feeling of movement on my chest. I couldn’t resist reaching up to feel my chest as I looked down at the protruding mounds of flesh.

My hands seemed wrong, small and delicate, as I squeezed my chest I felt the odd dual sensation of squeezing a woman’s chest and of having my boobs squished. Abruptly panic set in and I ripped at the blanket I’d wrapped around myself and spent a long moment struggling to disentangle my legs. Once free I stumbled to the bathroom and turned on the lights. As I did my pants slide down my slim hips to pool around my ankles.

The woman reflected in the mirror seemed familiar to me. I moved forward with little mincing steps because my feet where still entangled in my pants. She was wearing the t-shirt I’d been wearing yesterday, but it was her face that drew my attention. I reached up and pulled my long hair out of my way realizing that it was now at least shoulder length. My face was no longer mine. The nose was smaller and thinner, the chin came to a delicate point, the cheek bones where high and delicate and my lips were full. I suddenly realized I looked like Cordi’s little sister more than I looked like me. Then it hit me, I looked like a seventeen-year-old version of Beth!

Before I could continue to follow that train of thought my eyes focused on my chest. My nipples pushed out, straining the fabric of my t-shirt, making it impossible to avoid one clear fact. “I’ve got tits!”

I suddenly had to know the full extent of the changes and ripped at my clothes finding it more difficult than it should have been to remove them. At last I stood, naked, looking at my reflection. My skin was creamy pale color and I was now the proud owner of a set of breasts any girl my age would have been proud of! I had a thin waist and hips that flared out creating a feminine hour glass figure. The only places where I now had hair were on my head and a very small area around my tiny penis. I was at once relieved, that I was still a guy, and appalled at the number of changes my body had undergone.

“Cordi! What’s happening to me?!” I shouted, slightly reassured at the sound of my normal voice, incongruous as it was coming from my newly feminized mouth. Abruptly, I saw Cordi leaning against the wall looking at me with a mildly interested look on her face.

“Ah, I see we have made a tremendous amount of progress in just one day. If this keeps up our joining will be complete in less than two days. I think that will be a record! Beth really chose well when she picked you.”

“What do you mean our joining will be complete? What’s happening to me?”

“I thought you understood, my power is flooding your body and changing it. I’m a Knight of Order. My vessel’s body must, as closely as possible, match my body. Normally it takes between weeks to even months to get to this stage. I’ve been channeling as much power into you as I could and you’ve done a great job accepting the power and learning to focus and control your new energies. We will be a very formidable team once we’ve finished the joining!”

“You’re turning me into a GIRL! I don’t want to be a girl! I don’t want to be your twin! You never said this would happen to me.”

“I don’t understand,” Cordi sounded puzzled. “When Beth spoke to you she said that you’d have to give up your life and your future to save lives. This is what she meant. When our joining is complete none of your family or friends will know you. That’s a good thing since it will protect them from retribution.”

“Can we find another vessel? I don’t want to lose my life.” At this the ghostly image of Cordi moved to stand in front of me.

“Joel, yes, we could try, but it will take time. You’re not strong enough to use my power to find a new vessel. By the time you’re strong enough your body will be completely transformed. When I leave you, your body won’t change back, this process is irreversible. Then if we did find another vessel I’d have to join with that person and the process normally takes months. In the meantime if the daemons have your family there is no telling what’s happening to them. Joel, for the sake of your family, at this point, there is no turning back.”

I looked away knowing that she was probably right yet unable to accept the loss of my life and gender. After several minutes of silence I looked over at the image of Cordi and let out a sigh.

“Let’s just find out what happened to my family. After we know what’s happened to them we can figure out what to do about us, . . . er . . . this.” I said gesturing down at my body.

Cordi’s ghostly image looked relieved. “Joel, I have several sets of clothes stashed here. You’re taller than Beth was, at the start of her transformation, although that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ve got several different sets of sizes.”

“Okay, but first I need use the bathroom and then I need to get clean. Oh, and I’d like a little privacy.”

Cordi looked confused but nodded and then vanished.

Getting clean was a learning experience. I dug through the bathroom and discovered several different types of cleaning products that I had no clue how to use. I settled for a bar of soap and a bottle of shampoo. My hair was now as long in front as it was in back so I pulled it back and tied it with an elastic band once I’d dried it. Then I went in search of clothes.

“In the top drawer of the dresser you’ll find bras the next drawer down has panties.” Cordi whispered into my mind trying to be helpful.

“I thought I asked for privacy?”

In response I thought I heard a soft laugh and Cordi’s presence faded. I went to the drawers she’d recommended and pulled up a set of black panties that held what was left of my tiny manhood without trouble. I found a matching bra and after several unsuccessful attempts managed to get it on. Now feeling completely stupid I went to the closet in search of comfortable clothes. I found jeans and a black blouse that wasn’t too girlie and felt a little better now that I had clothes on but very self-conscious since they were girl clothes. I went into the kitchen and sat down at the table.

“Cordi, could you please come out and talk?”

“Of course”

And just like that her spectral image was sitting in the chair across from me.

“Cordi, I need to know if my family is safe.”

“Joel, I know. Please understand, if the situation hadn’t been desperate I’d have never allowed Beth to mark you without you fully knowing what was going to happen and what it all meant.”

“I don’t want to talk about that right now, can we just focus on my family?”

Cordi’s image looked down for a second and then back up at me and nodded. “Yes, of course. Let’s go to the study, I’ve got a computer there. We can access the internet and find out what happened at the fire. Then we can try getting in touch with your family.”

Cordi gave me directions and I soon found myself in front of a new looking computer. The dial-up connection was frustratingly slow but at last I was checking news articles. I quickly found a report on the fire. Apparently one body had been recovered from the fire and the family was missing. I stared at the screen for a long time trying to make the words seem real. Yet no matter how hard I tried I just couldn’t wrap my mental arms around the idea that someone had died in my house during the fire.

“Joel, we don’t know who died in the house or what really happened. I’ve got a few contacts and while we were in the Shadow-Court I sent a message to my brother asking for back up. I think it’s time we see if he answered.”

“I don’t think I’m up for another trip to the Shadow-Court.”

“That’s not necessary. We also use email to communicate.”

With that Cordi directed me to an e-mail account she used to communicate with other Knights who had been assigned to protect this realm. When I tried to open the account I got an alert that it had been closed down for a violation of the terms of agreement.

“Joel, I need to take control of our body for a few minutes.” Cordi said using my mouth to speak out loud in her feminine voice, a voice that now matched my body better than my own voice. I was starting to learn that when she was really serious this was her way of letting me know.

“Okay.” I responded and relaxed.

This time when she took over it was almost like a warm blanket had been wrapped around me. Cordi walked us over to another part of the room where a phone rested on a small table next to an answering machine. She quickly checked for messages and found none. Then she tried several numbers only to get no answer.

“Joel, something is wrong. There is a regional headquarters for North America where Knights will sometimes meet. I’m going to take us there.”

“What about my family?” I asked, the sound of my male voice coming out of my now female mouth was rather odd.

“If the daemons have them they are either dead or are being held as hostages for us to attempt a rescue. Until we contact the daemons or they contact us the clock hasn’t started ticking. Trust me, Joel, I’ve been doing this for a long time. We need to know what’s going on before we can make any moves.”

“So what will we do next?”

“Watch what I do and, more importantly, how I do it. Feel the power and how I use it.”

I nodded, mentally, since she had control of our body.

“I believe we’ve merged to the point where I can start to use some of my more advanced abilities.”

With that she reached out with one hand and the shadow cast by the computer desk leapt up covering our body. A second later the shadow dropped away leaving us wearing a set of black leather clothes that showed our female curves. The technique was the same one she’d taught me in the Court of Shadow when I’d created my armor so I was able to follow what she’d done. Then she reached out to the shadow cast by the open door and it leapt forward covering us in darkness. The light changed to a dim grey then it fell away and we were inside the ruins of a building.

“By the pattern of creation, this cannot be!”

I knew without having to ask that we’d used one shadow to step to another. To a shadow in another part of the country covering the distance in an instant. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to follow what she’d done. More distressing were the emotions I was feeling through my bond to Cordi, it didn’t take a genius to figure out that she hadn’t expected to find this place a smoking ruin.

I could feel Cordi’s sorrow turn into a cold fury as she moved around the ruined warehouse. The fire here had burned most of the building leaving the concrete and metal, charred and twisted, while devouring most of the rest of the building. As we walked through the ruin I caught a glimpse of a huge arch through one of the many holes in the wall.

“Are we in St. Louis?”

“Yes, but that’s not really important right now.”

I felt a tugging on my senses and a tingle. Cordi immediately turned in the direction I’d sensed the magic.

“Joel, what did you feel?” Cordi whispered to me mentally.

“I-I think someone, close by, just used magic. Human magic . . .” I responded making a guess.

“I can sense the daemon fire that was used to destroy this place. Then I felt what you did through our bond.” Cordi nodded as if coming to a decision, “Be ready for anything Joel, don’t speak out loud, but if you sense something let me know.”

We moved cautiously through the ruin toward the source of magic. After several minutes we stepped into a large open area and we both sensed that this was where the battle had truly been fought. The residue of daemonic power, human magic, and another power, that I figured must have been the Knight, were all strongly resonating here.

“No! Tenebris Lux!”

Cordi had spotted a body lying half buried in rubble near the center of the room. In one amazing leap we moved from the far side of the room to land, silently, only a few feet away. Then she was kneeling next to the body. I could tell that it had once been a man, but most of his body was covered in burns or was buried under the debris. Except for one patch of skin over his heart, here the exposed skin was untouched. Well, mostly untouched, there was a small circular patch of skin the size of a silver dollar missing.

“Cordi, what’s going on? What does this mean?”

“It means that my brother, Tenebris Lux’s vessel has been killed, and his mark has been taken. There’s no way that they could have gotten into this building without help. I’m afraid that the daemon’s may have made a deal with human Magic-Users and they are now working together. This explains why he didn’t answer my message.”

Cordi stood up and turned away from the remains of her brother and I got a strange feeling.

“Cordi, above us!”

She reacted instantly, glancing up we saw a strange looking rune that all of a sudden started glowing. As fast as the rune was, Cordi was faster, an early morning shadow leapt forward and suddenly we were on the other side of the room as a bolt of lightning struck the spot where we’d been standing.

“A trap within a trap?! Shall we see who it is that thinks to hunt a Knight of Order?!”

“I’m not sure that’s a good idea. They came prepared for your brother and look what happened to him.”

“They must have taken him by surprise. Instead I’ll turn this trap around on them, if there’s a chance, and if not then we’ll just watch and learn.” For a moment Cordi was silent and I could feel her anger die down to a cold determination before she continued. “Joel, I’m the Knight of Shadow, Order’s finest spy, and if necessary assassin. No one can find me if I’m prepared and don’t wish to be seen!”

With that we moved deeper into the shadows and I felt Cordi do something to twist the shadows around us.

“Did you see what I did Joel? I call it a shadow-cloak, you need to be ready, I’ve only got another hour and then I’ll have to turn control over to you. We are still not fully joined and even if we were, I’m at my best when I’m working together with my vessel.”

“I think so, at least, I think I can keep the shadow-cloak up if I need too.”

“Good, I’m going to pass control to you now. Just keep up the cloak and stay alert, I’ll be ready to take control if something happens.”

With that I felt Cordi pull back and I tried to maintain the Art she’d been effortlessly using to shield us. After a minute it slipped away. With some help from Cordi I got it up again and held it growing more confident in my ability as I settled down to watch and wait.

After about twenty minutes I heard a sound and when I glanced toward it I saw a pair of figures moving through the rubble. In the lead was a tall teenage boy, wearing a black leather jacket and, carrying a sawed off shot gun. Next to him walked an equally tall thin man with black hair going slightly grey at the temples he held a thick staff and I sensed it was more of a tool than a walking stick. As soon as I saw him I figured the guy with the staff must be the Magic-User. I tried to extend my sensitivity and after a minute I thought I could sense an aura of power around him.

I felt Cordi stir inside of me at the arrival of the two strangers.

“Be ready to act quickly Joel.”

“Uh, okay, do you know who they are?”

“I’ve never seen the one with the staff but the younger one looks familiar.”

I watched as the two men moved cautiously to stand over the body of Tenebris. The older man looked up and examined the rune on the above the body. After this he and the younger man started talking in low tones that I couldn’t make out from this distance.

“I wonder what their saying,” I thought.

“There is an art that would allow us to hear them but there’s no time to teach you. And for now it’s better for you to be in control of our body. With you in control the aura of my power is significantly dampened.”

By this time the two men separated. The younger man started walking around the warehouse obviously looking for a clue to the identity of the intruder. While he was doing this the older man began chanting and it was pretty obvious he was resetting the trap.

As the younger man got closer to me I got a little nervous.

“Cordi, what if he spots me?”

“Joel, you’ve got this. He won’t see us under the shadow-cloak, if I take control while he’s searching he might sense the shift. Just be calm and focus on what you’re doing.”

The youth got closer and I got my first good look at him. When I did I felt Cordi stir and a flash of anger.

“That’s the body X’lye’ous is currently possessing! By the Lords of Order I’d like to take his token right now!”

“Wait, I thought you said you didn’t know him! Couldn’t you sense him earlier?”

“Joel, with daemons unless they are actively using their power, it’s hard sense them from a distance. Unlike Knights when they possess someone they don’t change that person’s body, they are beings of Chaos so bringing mind, body, and spirit into alignment is not even relevant. Now, that he’s this close and I can see him clearly I recognize him, that’s the youth who ambushed me. It was X’lye’ous who was wearing his body.”

“Okay, then let’s take him down!”

“I’m not sure, if we fought him right now, that we’d win. In a few days I wouldn’t hesitate but right now, we might lose.”

“What about the human Magic-User?”

“He’s an unknown, and another good reason to watch and wait.”

By this time X’lye’ous was only a few feet away. He was moving very cautiously around the room looking into every corner and every shadow.

“Are you sure he can’t see us?”

“We’re safe, trust me.”

For a long second X’lye’ous paused looking into the shadow that hid us and then he moved on. I let out a breath I hadn’t realized I’d been holding as I watched him move away. By the time X’lye’ous had completed his circuit around the room the Magic-User had completed recharging the spell.

Once again they held a whispered conversation and then turned and headed back the way they’d come.

“Okay, Joel I need to take control. X’lye’ous is far enough away so that he won’t feel the shift and we need to follow them.”

“Fine,” I said, relaxing and felt Cordi push forward into every inch of my skin. “What was that?”

“You’re just becoming more attuned to me and my power, you felt me taking control of our body, that’s all.”

I sensed Cordi do something and then we were standing in a shadow in front of the building across the street from the ruined warehouse watching as X’lye’ous and the Magic-User climbed into a black sedan and pulled away.

“What now?”

“We follow.”

“We don’t have a car.”

Then the shadows shifted and we were standing on a rooftop looking down on the car as it approached. “Who needs a car.” The car turned left and the shadows shifted again. Now we were standing by a tree as the sedan approached the on ramp to a highway. Again and again the world moved around us as we leapt from one shadow to the next tracking the car.

“How are you doing this?” I asked, amazed.

“I’ve got the scent X’lye’ous power now, so tracking him isn’t a problem. I’m able to see into hundreds of shadows at once so it’s just a matter of picking the shadow that will give me the best view when he passes.”

“Will you teach me how to do that?”

“Of course, but for now I need to focus.”

Cordi continued to move us from shadow to shadow until the sedan stopped in front of an office building. The man with the staff, who I assumed was a Magic-User, got out and the sedan pulled away from the curb. For a second, Cordi hesitated, and then she took us to another shadow following the sedan. At last the car pulled into a detached garage slightly behind a secluded house. From where we stood I couldn’t see any other houses.

“Joel, I can sense the power of two daemons in and around that house. I can’t tell if they’re here right now or if they just visited recently.”

The house was a multi-level large farm house with a huge front porch and a detached three car garage. Abruptly, I saw the curtain in one of the second floor windows move and for a second I glimpsed my mother’s face then the curtain closed.

“Cordi! They’ve got my mom! We’ve got to do something.”

Without thinking about it I surged forward and my body responded taking a step toward the house. Abruptly, I froze unable to move. I felt Cordi struggle to try and stop me and I knew that it was a battle I’d win, but she was strong enough to cause us to freeze for a moment.

“Joel, what are you doing? There’s at least one daemon in that house and maybe more. We can’t win a fight against two or more daemons. It won’t do your mom any good for us to rush in there. You will die and I’ll be captured.”

“So we’re just going to watch and do nothing?!”

“No, we’ll do something, but we need to be smart about this, now please give me back control.”

I let out a frustrated sigh and relaxed. As soon as I did I felt Cordi surge forward like I was a suit of clothes and she was stepping into me. My eyes blinked and she lifted my hand looking down at the foot long shadow claws I’d unknowingly summoned. With a thought Cordi dismissed the claws and stepped into the shadow. Again the world changed around me and I was suddenly standing in the living room of the safe house.

“Why are we here?”

“I needed to get us way from the daemon so we can plan out what to do next.”

“They’ve got my mom and probably my sister and father! Let’s go free them!” I said feeling angry and even though I knew it didn’t help. It was just the idea of some monster holding my family, and doing God only knows what to them, caused me to want to weep with frustration.

“Joel, I understand what you’re feeling, in fact I can feel your emotions, but we need more information, a plan, and help. Keep in mind these guys took out my brother, Tenebris Lux. He was the Knight of Order known as ‘Dark-Light’ and no easy target. I want to make the daemons pay as badly as you do, however, we’ve got to do this smart. Or we’ll just end up dead or worse.”

“What’s worse than dead?”

“I can think of several things.”

After that I settled down and suddenly found myself fighting back tears.

“Joel, I need some time to consider the situation and I’d like to contact my mentor and ask her advice. It’s almost noon, why don’t you make some soup and try to relax.”

“I don’t understand. Are you going somewhere?”

“Our spirits are merging and my power is flowing into you, which is good, but the process takes time. I can separate a part of my spirit and send it to my body in the Court of Shadows from there I’ll contact my mentor in Order’s High Court. While I’m gone you’ll still have access to my power, just please, don’t do anything stupid. Eat, rest, and try to relax, in fact you should try taking a bath. I’ll be back in a couple of hours.

“Fine. I give you my word. I’ll wait for you to return before I do anything. But Cordi, . . . … please be quick.”

“Joel, I know this is hard, I promise you I’ll do everything I can to rescue your family.” With that I felt Cordi depart.

It was the strangest sensation. I didn’t realize that I could feel her presence inside my mind until she was gone or how much comforting her presence was. It felt like I was suddenly missing a piece of myself. We’d only been together for a couple of days and already it was like she was an essential part of me. I realized that I was starving and went to see what there was to eat.

I settled on a can of chili and after eating, dumped my dishes along with those from yesterday into the sink. I wandered into the living room and looked at all of the furniture still covered in sheets and thought about spending some time uncovering things and making the house look more lived and then remembered Cordi’s suggestion, that I should try a bath. I’m not normally a bath person but my sister seemed to love them and I was suddenly curious. Why do woman enjoy baths so much?

I walked through the master bedroom into the master bath stripping off clothes as I went. By the time I got to the tub I was down to panties and bra. I got the water running and then stood up to examine myself in the mirror while I waited for the tub to fill. The woman in the mirror could easily pass for late teens or early twenties depending on the clothes and makeup. I noticed that I hadn’t lost any height, although I now had a full set of curves, creamy pale skin, and long black hair that now reached the middle of my back. I slowly removed my bra feeling a sense of relief as my breasts were freed from the garment. I noticed that my nipples were bigger and much pinker than they had been before. The second thing I noticed was that the cold air in the bathroom caused an instant reaction. My skin goose fleshed and my nipples were soon standing at attention like two tiny erections.

I glanced at the tub and saw that it was almost half full. I could get in if I wanted to so without thinking about it I hooked my fingers into the waist band of my panties and pushed them down. When I straightened up I noticed that the tiny penis I’d had this morning was gone. As best as I could tell, having never seen one, I now had woman’s vagina. I was again filled with the urge to cry. This made me angry since I hadn’t cried for years and now my emotions were out of control. To cover up my conflicting feelings I stepped into the tub and slowly sat down.

The water was hot so I had to ease myself into it. I chuckled ruefully as I lowered my butt into the water. Normally the hot water against my scrotum and penis would have caused me to cringe but the lack of external equipment allowed me to sink into the hot water easier than before. Slowly, I immersed myself in the water so that the only thing sticking out was my head and the tips of my nipples as I lay back. The water continued to run and soon it was up to my chin. At this point I sat up and turned the water off and the returned to my soaking position.

I lay back trying not to think about my family or Cordi or the events of the day, and just to enjoy the heat as it soaked into my sore body. I tried a meditation technique I’d been taught years ago. I took all of the things that made me anxious and visualized them, a mental picture of my family, my house burning, and the daemons of Chaos attacking Cordi and one by one I put them into a box. After I’d locked each worry into the box I closed it and sent it to the back of my mind. With my mind now empty of worry I focused on breathing and relaxing. As I lay there in the hot soapy water I became aware of the dark core of power inside of me. I’d felt it before only now as I focused on it I realized that it had spread throughout my body. I could focus on it and fill my body with Cordi’s dusky power and then slowly release it allowing it to return to my center. I practiced summoning and dismissing the power several times and as I did I realized that it took less time and concentration every time I did it. I finally got tired of this and after a bit just settled back to soak.

I’m not sure how long I soaked but when I noticed that my fingers looked like prunes I figured it was time to get out. I stood up and realized I’d forgotten to get a towel. This meant walking across the bathroom to the linen closet leaving a trail of water as I went. With a sigh, I got out and once dry cleaned up the water and then went in search of clothes.

I found the bra’s from this morning and to my dismay I saw that they no longer fit. I’d gone up a cup size during the day. A quick search revealed another drawer with bra’s in my new size. The panties from the panty drawer still fit so now I went looking for comfortable clothes. It didn’t take me long to figure out that each of the three guest bedrooms had closets and dressers full of women’s clothes of different sizes. Most of these were for woman shorter than me. The master bedroom closet ended up being the closet with clothes my size. I looked at several dresses wondering how items so feminine would feel and was actually tempted to try them on.

At last I found some exercise clothes, a comfortable baby blue sweat pants and matching spaghetti strap shirt, and figured these would do. Clothed, I went into the living room and glanced out the window. It was early afternoon so I still had some time before Cordi returned. I pulled off the sheets covering the furniture and plugged in the TV. Mindless channel surfing seemed like a good idea. I soon realized that day time television sucks and went to the guest bedroom where Cordi had set up her computer.

I got on line again, still annoyed with the slow connection and looked at a couple of my favorite websites before getting bored and then out of reflex I checked my e-mail. I my heart skipped a beat when I saw an e-mail from my sister.

Joel,

Help!! Some men broke into our house; they killed Dad, and are holding Mom and me. They said that I could send you an e-mail and that you’d be able to find them. You have something they want and if you come alone they’ll let me and Mom go. Joel, please, just give them whatever it is they want! They KILLED DAD! They will kill Mom and me if you don’t call them and arrange a meeting.

Christina

I sat numbly looking at the computer screen. For several seconds I just couldn’t process what it was saying. Dad was dead. Mom and Christina were in danger and they wanted something from me. It didn’t seem real. These were just words on a page and yet in my gut I knew it must be true. The news had reported finding a body that body must have been my dad. I felt my eyes grow wet and blinked furiously. Men don’t cry, my dad had often told me and I normally did my best to live up to that. I felt like I was barely in control of my emotions so I turned off the computer and walked away.

Think Joel, what could they want?! Well, duh, they wanted Cordi but how could they take her? Cut her mark from my forehead? I’d never even seen the mark. Abruptly, I turned around and went to the bathroom and looked into the mirror. The face of a beautiful brunette with a pointed chin, small delicate nose, and high cheek bones started back. The image was of a girl I’d love to ask to prom, not the image that I wanted to stare back at me from a mirror. I wanted to date her, I didn’t want to be her!

The light was dim and I thought about the shadow-claws I’d made earlier and suddenly the shadows leapt forward coalescing into a set of claws on each hand. I glanced up from my hands to look into the mirror and for the first time I saw the mark. In the middle of my forehead a black rune resembling a Celtic knot had appeared when I used Cordi’s power. I dismissed the claws and filled my body with Cordi’s power, moving closer to the mirror to examine the rune. I touched it and felt a shock like static electricity. I focused on the rune and pressed my fingers into it and felt the power inside of me respond. There was definitely a physical and a mystical link between the mark and Cordi’s power. After a moment, I dismissed the power and watched the rune fade away.

I was marked, suddenly everything seemed very real. I mean turning into a woman, and all the things I’d done with Cordi felt real, but now here all alone looking into the mirror, it all caught up to me. I was looking at a total stranger with a strange mark on her forehead and I already knew how to use the power inside of me to do some amazing things. Mostly, I realized that my life had been forever altered, I was no longer just Joel Ryan Campbell, jock, student, son and brother. I started shaking and slowly slide to the floor wrapping my arms around my legs.

This was all just too much! I should call the Guild, after all I was a normal mundane human and the Guild was supposed to protect people like me from magic and magical predators. Then I thought about Cordi and the dreams I’d shared with her. She was here to protect humans from the daemons and our bond gave me the ability to fight the daemons and save other people.

I’m not sure how long I sat there but it dawned on me that I was being childish. I stood up. Ever since I was a small boy I’d dreamed of doing things to help others. At first, I’d wanted to be a Magic-User, a Special Agent or a Hound of Heaven, to use my powers to stop the evil in the world. Only my talent wasn’t strong enough. I figured that after high school I’d go to college and study criminal justice and then try to get into the FBI.

All of that was just a vague idea not even really a dream, right here right now I was being offered a real chance to help others starting with my family. Slowly my anger turned into a grim determination, the assholes holding my mom and sister were going down and I’d be the one to do it or die trying. I looked back into the mirror. Once more I summoned the shadow-claws and looked at the rune on my forehead. Standing there with my long black hair pulled back, the claws extending from my hands and the mark blazing with dark power on my forehead I realized I looked like a total bad ass. A hot bad ass, but still a bad ass and then I realized I wasn’t alone. Cordi’s presence filled the back of my mind like a hand sliding into a nearly perfectly matched glove.

“Ah, practicing, that’s good.”

“There’s something you need to see.” I said walking toward the computer room.

The full moon had just come up and its silvery light illuminated the back of house. I was a little surprised by how bright the moon was tonight and how easy it was to see the house from where I stood in a shadow cast by a large oak tree. This was the house where my mom and sister were being held and I felt a flush of anger as I looked at it. The bastards who’d killed my dad were in there, now it was payback time!

I was dressed in black leather pants with steel toed fighting boots that came up to my knees. I wore a black shirt and a long black leather duster. When I’d looked at my reflection in the mirror before we’d left the safe house I was struck by how much I resembled Kate Beckinsale from Underworld. I was nervous yet confident and even though I was angry it was now a cold anger.

After I’d shown Cordi the e-mail she’d been sympathetic and explained that we’d rescue my family tonight. She’d talked to her mentor who’d told her that she would contact another Knight assigned to our realm. She expected him to arrive at our safe house in a few hours. So in the meantime Cordi suggested another practice session in the Court of Shadows. This time when I stepped out from between the columns and faced Cordi I felt a determined focus fill me. It was the same determination I felt when I stepped onto the matt for a tournament. Cordi felt my mood and matched it with a grim determination of her own. I lost track of time as we practiced and nearly drove the shadow blade I’d been using into Cordi when she suddenly froze.

“Joel, I can feel another knight approaching. It’s time to return to your realm.”

I made the shadow armor and blade vanish and then with a slight effort of will returned to my body. I’d been sitting cross legged in the basement training area and was already dressed for the upcoming fight. I climbed to my feet and as I did I realized that I felt great! I was full of energy and felt like I could bench press a car. Before I opened the door to let the Knight in I felt Cordi stir.

“Hang on for a second, Joel.”

I then sensed Cordi do something and I realized I was looking at the front door from a shadow cast by the street light. I hadn’t physically moved in fact I was still in the house. Cordi had somehow used her power to see through a shadow behind the visitor.

“Caecus Cordi, didn’t anyone teach you that it’s impolite to leave a guest standing at your door while you spy on him?”

I felt Cordi smile and a spark of recognition. I knew it would be okay to open the door. Standing there facing me was a man somewhere between twenty five and thirty years old. I immediately thought he was Japanese but realized that my assumption was based on watching too many movies. He could be of Chinese or Korean descent, for all I knew, and I was a bit surprised that he was as tall as me. I felt Cordi surge forward and relaxed so she could take control.

“Ferrum Pugnus, it’s been a while” Cordi said motioning the man inside. “Please come in and be welcome.”

The man stepped past us and I noticed he was carrying a large soft leather case that sort of reminded me of a rifle case. Once inside Cordi shut the door and turned to face the man and I felt our heart speed up. In one smooth motion he stepped in close and wrapped his free arm around our waist and kissed us. I was too stunned to react and then I felt Cordi respond by kissing him back.

“Cordi, what the hell!” I thought at her.

Before I could take control of our body the knight stepped back and looked us up and down. Even though I was still sputtering from the kiss I could feel Cordi’s amusement.

“Settle down Joel, Pugnus and I have worked together many times over the years.”

“Settle down?! You just made me kiss a guy! Ugh, I need to wash my mouth out.”

“You didn’t kiss a guy, I did, Pugnus and I have, in other realms, and other times, been lovers. He is a handsome man, don’t you think?”

“What?! No! . . . I mean . . . I don’t know if he’s handsome . . . He’s a guy! And we are not going to do it with him! I’ve never even done it with a girl and you want me to do it with a guy?”

“Oh, settle down. No, we’re not going to do “IT” with him right now. We’ve got business. And I won’t rush you I know this transformation has been hard for you and I’ve been pushing you. Once your family is safe and we’ve recovered Tenebris’s Mark we can talk about this.

Our internal dialog happened in the space of a heartbeat although, as I looked at Pugnus, I could tell he knew Cordi and I’d been talking.

“The Grand Duchess DePotentia Et’Honestas, directed me to come here and assist you. She also said that your vessel had been killed in battle and your mark passed on to a new vessel.”

“Yes, I was ambushed by three daemons working together. Beth was slain but not before she passed on my mark.”

“I’m sorry, I’ve lost vessels and I know how hard it is. When did all of this happen and have you tracked the daemons responsible?”

“It was just three days ago, and yes, however, there’s more you need to know.”

“Three days?! It looks like you’ve almost fully joined with your new vessel! She must have been very similar to you in body and spirit for you to have done so much so quickly!”

When he said this I squirmed around a bit, “What does he mean come so far so quickly?”

“Sshh . . . we can talk about it later.” Cordi thought at me.

“Why don’t we sit down and I’ll explain what happened. However, the bottom line is that we’ve two mortals to rescue and Tenebris Lux’s mark to retrieve before it can be taken to the Wastes.”

For the next hour Cordi explained what had happened and she and Pugnus put together a plan. I asked why we weren’t involving the Guild and was told it was better for now to keep the Guild out of this since we didn’t know what their involvement might be. Besides, Cordi reminded me, we were still under orders to try to keep the war hidden from the natives of this realm.

“What about the Magic-User working with the daemon?” I asked.

“Joel, the plan we’ve made is sound, if the human interferes he will be dealt with.”

I would have grunted, if I’d been in control of our voice, so instead I gave Cordi a mental shrug. “If you say so.”

“Pugnus, I’m going to rest before we have to leave. Perhaps you could allow your partner and mine to talk? Joel is still very new at this and he probably has questions.”

The knight gave Cordi a startled look and then nodded.

“Certainly I could use a rest before tonight’s contest.”

Pugnus went still and then blinked. As this happened I felt Cordi relax and suddenly I was once again in control of our body.

“My name is Katsu, it is an honor to meet you.” His voice held a slight Japanese accent.

“Hi, I’m Joel.” I said and winced at the sound of my voice. I no longer sounded like myself. Instead, my voice was much higher pitched and had a different quality to it. It didn’t sound like Cordi’s, then I realized, I sounded just like Christina.

“Please excuse me, isn’t Joel a western name for a boy?”

“Well, yes, and up until three days ago, I was a normal American boy.” I said a little defensively.

At this Katsu looked a little surprised. “I didn’t know that a knight could claim someone of the opposite gender.” He paused, his eyes taking on a distant look and even though it was a brief pause, one that most people wouldn’t have even noticed, I realized he was conversing with his knight. “Ah, I must apologize. I knew that a vessel will change, physically, until it is as perfect a reflection of the knight. I just didn’t know that a knight could choose a new vessel of the opposite gender.”

I felt uncomfortable talking about this so to cover my discomfort I stood up. “Would you like something to eat? We’ve only got canned goods, but it’s better than nothing.”

Katsu nodded and stood up. “Yes, I’ve been traveling for the last couple of hours so something to eat would be welcome.”

The rumble of an approaching motorcycle brought me to the present. I used the technique Cordi had shown me and looked out of a shadow at the road running past the house. A single motorcycle raced by headed toward the farm house and I knew it was starting. Without waiting for Cordi I tried to reach into a shadow within the house and once again felt the ward that was protecting the house.

“Whoever put that ward up is very skilled with Spirit Magic.” Cordi whispered inside my head.

As she made this comment I saw Pugnus/Katsu come to a stop in front of the house. He got off the bike and pulled a pair of Katanas from the rifle case strapped to the side of his bike. The knight wasted no time drawing the weapons and moving forward. There was a flash of light as the protective ward flared and the knight slashed forward with his right hand blade. It struck the shield magically generated by the ward and cut through it like a knife through butter. Pugnus (I assumed he was in control at the moment) leapt from the ground to the porch and kicked in the front door.

As soon as the door shattered a body flew forward through the wreckage knocking Pugnus back. Both bodies hit the ground and rolled apart surging to their feet. For a second I got a good look at the same youth I’d seen earlier who Cordi had identified as X’lye’ous.

“Joel, it’s time to move. I need control.”

Cordi’s whispered thought reminded me of the plan and I relaxed so that she could take over. I felt her move a hand up rubbing my eyes and then I was seeing inside the house. There were shadows in almost every room and I saw an older man with a staff moving toward the shattered door. Then my vision shifted and in the hallway of the second floor a slightly overweight woman in her mid-thirties stood restlessly in front of a door.

“Hey, how is it we can now see into the house? It was warded,” I thought at Cordi.

“Pugnus’s attack took down the ward, now shush, I need to focus!”

Cordi reached for the room behind the woman and there was no response, “That’s odd,” I thought.

“Not if they’ve taken steps to remove all shadows. They have either left the room in total darkness or set up bright light from all directions to flood the room.”

As I watched, I saw the woman look up suddenly and then glance around. She could somehow feel us as we spied on her!

“She can feel me because she’s a daemon. I think that’s the daemon I didn’t recognize with the human-spider body. He’s the weakest of the three. Try to relax Joel and just move with me.”

The shadows leapt up and I was suddenly standing behind the daemon. I blurred forward and a sword made of shadow formed in my right hand as I moved. The blade struck perfectly punching through the woman’s back with the tip appearing between her breasts as Cordi completed the thrust.

“Arrghh!!”

The daemon’s cry shook the building and there was no way those fighting outside couldn’t have heard it. Cordi pulled the blade out and spun it in a horizontal cut aimed at the woman’s neck. Impossibly she managed to duck and kicked out blindly behind her. Cordi smoothly blocked the kick with her left hand and then chopped down viciously with her right cutting the daemon’s leg off at the knee. The woman fell forward, her second scream of pain was even louder than the first, and then she rolled over on to her back to look up at us.

“Bitch, you haven’t won yet!”

“Maybe not, but I’ve got you!”

The woman flung out a hand and from her wrist a rope of sticky webbing shot forward. Cordi was faster, the shadows moved, and suddenly we were standing behind the woman watching as the bolt of webbing shot through the space where we’d stood an instant earlier. Cordi abruptly focused on the gold stud earring in the woman’s right ear. We leaned forward and grabbed the earring with our free hand and with a quick twist jerked it from the woman’s ear. As soon as we tore the earing free the woman went into convulsions that lasted several seconds before she went still.

“What the hell just happened?” I silently thought at Cordi.

“I took the daemon’s token. Once the token is taken the daemon is forced to leave the body its’ stolen and it returns to its token.”

“What will happen to her?”

“Unfortunately, she’ll remember, everything. The Daemon used the same physical brain that belongs to this woman. So even though the memories will be vague and disjointed they’re still there. In some ways, it would be better to let her die.”

“Cordi, we can’t do that.” I said out loud

“I know.”

With that Cordi reached down and covered the stump of woman’s leg and I sensed the flow of her power. When she took her hand away the bleeding had stopped and new skin covered the stump. Next Cordi pressed our palm into the wound on the woman’s chest and again I felt a familiar surge of power. At this the woman seemed to relax passing out. When Cordi pulled her hand away the wound on her chest was nothing more than a scar.

“That’s as much as I can do for her.”

“Then let’s go rescue my mom and sister!”

Cordi stood up and we moved to the door. For a moment, I thought Cordi would try to pick the lock and then we moved, blurring forward with a front stomp kick that smashed in the door. As soon as the door gave way we dove over the threshold into a smooth front roll that took us several feet into the room. We came to our feet in the light of the doorway and everything around us was dark. Obviously, they’d gone with the no light option attempting to keep Cordi out. Now, however, there was plenty of light streaming in from the doorway. I noticed that there were two beds and a woman shackled to each bed. I spotted my mother to my right blinking furiously at me as I stood in the illumination provided by the hallway.

I realized that with the light behind us they wouldn’t be able to see our face and even if they could they wouldn’t have recognized me. Without thinking I pushed forward taking control of our voice.

“You don’t know who I am, but I’ve talked to Joel, and I’m here to rescue you. Can you walk?”

“You know Joel?” My mom asked.

“Yes, and please don’t be afraid. I’m a friend.”

I stepped forward and grabbed the chain connecting my mom’s ankle to the bed and with a flick of my right hand, the shadow-claws I’d been practicing with materialized and sheered through the chain like a knife through butter. I turned to my sister who looked frightened and had pushed back away from me putting her back to the wall.

“Don’t be afraid Christina I’m here to rescue you.” I quickly repeated the same process with Christina, severing her shackle with a quick cut from my claws.

“Alright, are you ready to get out of here?” I asked drawing on Cordi’s power and as I did I felt Cordi start to guide me in my first shadow-step. Suddenly, there was a ripple of energy and it felt like a blanket had been thrown over the house.

“Give me control!” Cordi silently, ordered.

I instantly relaxed and felt Cordi try a quick shadow-step focusing on the safe house and nothing happened. She then tried to see what was going on outside, but the ward that had been activated prevented this as well.

“Ladies, it’s time to go, give me your hands.”

My mother reached out instantly, but Christina was still hesitant. Cordi quickly took Christina’s arm and pulled both of them to their feet and then the shadows moved and we were standing in the front entry to the house. Through the shattered door we could see a battle going on as Pugnus fought both the mysterious human with the staff and a monster! I assumed that the monster was X’lye’ous in Chaos form. Both Pugnus and X’lye’ous had changed since last I’d seen them. Pugnus was now the image of a Samurai warrior standing twelve feet tall with a pair of Katanas that burned with an intense blue light in each hand. I saw, in that moment with a crystal clarity, the image of X’lye’ous burned forever into my mind. He was naked, his skin from the waist up was a bright red, while from the waist down he looked like a gorilla, with the exception of the large human looking penis. He was bald, and his nose and mouth had pushed out into a snout with a large set of fangs pushing up from his lower jaw. Out of his forehead a pair of horns grew curling like a rams. His fingers resembled snakes and in his hand he held a long spear.

Pugnus had his hands full every time he seemed to gain an advantage over X’lye’ous the human would send a blast of energy at him, distracting him, causing him to block it, and giving an opening for X’lye’ous. Sooner or later either an attack from the human or daemon would break through his defense.

“We should help him!”

“Stay here!” Cordi said, glancing back at my mom and sister.

With that we bound forward and when our feet hit the ground I felt a rush of energy from within us and the shadows around us responded leaping forward covering us at Cordi’s command. Then the world changed! It appeared much as it does in the Realm of Shadows, stark blacks contrasting with impossible whites and thousands of shades of gray filling the spectrum in between without a drop of color. Then everything started getting smaller.

X’lye’ous turned toward us in slow motion and spun his spear around so that it was pointing at us. Fire blasted from the spear in slow-motion and as I felt the shadows finish their work we crossed our arms. The fire hit a shadow-shield appeared just in front of us leaving us untouched. Cordi and I didn’t hesitate moving as one we brought our arms down pointing the matching shadow-pistols at X’lye’ous and started firing. I knew without looking that we were now dressed in black leather from head to toe and that a duster had grown around us taking on power and magical properties. The bullets seemed to fly slowly toward X’lye’ous and to me they looked like they were made of shadows.

X’lye’ous reacted by spinning his spear in a quick circle generating a shield of fire that the shadow-rounds impacted with a thunderous report. Even as this happened Pugnus jumped forward cutting down at X’lye’ous with one of his blades. Unable to spin around fast enough to block Pugnus, X’lye’ous screamed as Pugnus blade cut into his shoulder and sliced down at an angle toward his mid-section.

“Arrggghhhh!!!”

Just then I sensed an attack from my right and brought my arms up again to shield as the human attacked. His attack startled Cordi because it wasn’t physical instead it struck directly at our spiritual connection bypassing our shadow-shield.

“Nnooooo”

I felt her mental shriek and then her voice went silent. I responded by bringing my shadow-guns around on target and unleashing a barrage of shadow-rounds at the human. As I did he made a gesture of warding and my shadow-rounds smashed into some type of mystical barrier. However, I sensed something strange and opened my mind fully to my human sensitivity to magic. I realized that his shield consisted of hundreds of spirits. Each spirit pushed itself in front of one of my rounds blocking it and as this happened the spirit vanished. At the rate I was firing it would only be a second or two until his spirit shield failed. In the back of my mind I wondered why I hadn’t run out of ammo, but I dismissed the thought as unimportant at the moment.

As focused as I was I still caught a flash of movement and trusting my instincts I pitched myself to one side turning the move into a classic Aikido side roll coming to my feet with my guns trained on the new threat. The monster standing where I’d been a moment before was the creation of some twisted imagination. Its legs at the mid-thigh had morphed into a pair of bird’s legs bending backward at the knee joint, its talons digging into the ground. Its body was that of a man with a black pair of large bird’s wings sprouting from its back. When it turned its head to look at me I saw the face of a handsome man with a strong jaw and high cheekbones and a third eye in the center of his forehead.

“And so we resume our battle Caecus Cordi, only this time I will be taking your mark!”

“Fuck you!” I shouted and was only slightly surprised that my voice sounded just like Cordi’s thundered as loudly as it had earlier.

I instantly started shooting him with my left hand gun while shooting at the human with my right hand gun. Since my attention and aim was primarily focused on the winged monster most of my rounds fired at the human went wide, but they seemed to keep him busy for the moment. The winged monster moved like a blur using a pair of Kama’s to block my shots and then crossing them to send a burst of green energy at me.

I wasn’t sure what would happen if I tried to block the energy so I twisted to one side narrowly avoiding it. I used my momentum to spin in a full circle intending to bring my guns on line again, and as I did I saw Pugnus move behind the monster preparing to attack. The human saw this as well and unleashed a new attack from his staff. A whirlwind of sparkling energy shot from the staff in a cone that lifted Pugnus from his feet and threw him back into the side of the house. For a moment my breath caught and then Pugnus climbed to his feet.

“So, Magic-User, you wish to play with a Knight of Order! Know that I am Sir Ferrum Pugnus, and you will die this day upon my blades!”

At this the human laughed and as he did he floated into the air. “Know you, O Knight of Order, that I am no Magic-User! I am the Master Sorcerer Silas O’Duibhir and I doubt very much that you will be the end of me.”

At this my attention was diverted by an arcing Kama, which I ducked, only to catch a backhand strike from the monster on my leather covered forearm. We spun apart and facing each other just beyond easy striking distance.

“You may have Caecus Cordi’s power but you don’t move like her! Silas must have been telling the truth when he said he could separate a Knight from her vessel! I’m going to enjoy killing you and taking Caecus Cordi’s mark!”

“I don’t think so!” I said, circling around to my left.

“Give it up, Joel, and I’ll make this as painless as I can.”

“How do you know my name?”

“I know your name because I’ve taken your sister! I’ve got her body and memories! Didn’t Caecus Cordi tell you what would happen if someone found my token and decided to try it on?”

“Christina?” I asked in shock.

“Yes, Christina is in here. Who do you think set your house on fire? Who do you think killed your dad?” As he talked he circled looking for an opening.

“I don’t believe it! You aren’t my sister! She’s in the house with my mother right now!”

“Oh, is that what you think? Go ahead and take a look I’ll give you a second.”

I couldn’t resist and looked over my shoulder at the entrance. Lying there, with her body draped over the threshold, was my mom. She looked almost peaceful except for the huge pool of blood below her slit throat. I turned back just in time to duck a swipe from the birdman’s Kama.

“You’ve failed Joel! Your mother and father are both dead and I’ve taken your sister as my vessel. We’ve separated you from your protector Sir Caecus Cordi. If you give up now I may let you live.”

As the birdman talked he continued to attack and for the next several seconds I focused on ducking, blocking, and dodging each strike. As I did I felt alone and helpless, who was I to battle this monster from beyond the human realm? There was no way I could defeat an immortal monster from beyond the human realm. I felt a tide of despair rising inside of me. What could one person do against a monster created from the raw energies of chaos?

Yet, I refused to give up. Everything I’d learned in the martial arts and from my dad told me that the surest way to defeat was to quit! I ground my teeth and blocked the next slashing attack from bird-monster’s kamas. I kept moving dodging more than blocking, not even trying to go on the offensive, just trying to survive the current attack. Then when I thought I was about to die it happened. I felt a warm comforting presence inside of me. In that instant I knew it was Cordi and even if I couldn’t talk to her, her presence provided me with an emotional boost. I also suddenly knew the creature’s name.

“FUCK YOU! I’ll never surrender to you, Dar-usk’kin!”

The daemon paused in its attack and I went on the offensive firing a salvo of rounds and then driving a spinning back kick into its chest. The force of my kick threw it back even if it didn’t really hurt it.

“How do you know my name?! Bah, that Sorcerer’s magic was over rated! I’ll still take your mark!”

Just as he started to move forward he paused. I sensed someone coming up beside me and spared a quick glance to my right. Pugnus was moving to stand next to me. His armor was battered but he looked more than ready to continue to fight.

“We will have to settle this another day Sir Caecus Cordi!”

With that a green mist poured out of his body quickly surrounding him. I started firing into the mist at once and kept at it until it dissipated. There was no sign of Dar-usk’kin, he was gone.

I glanced around the battle field quickly. X’lye’ous body was lying several feet away obviously dead and his hand had been removed.

“What just happened?” I asked Pugnus.

“I got the upper hand on the human and he parted the veil and stepped beyond this world. Once he fled I turned to help you and that’s when Dar-usk’kin retreated.”

“Shouldn’t we go after him?”

“I’m game if you are. Lead the way after all you’ve always been the better tracker.”

“I, ah . . . I don’t know how.”

At this Pugnus looked at me closely. Moving over to stand in front of me he looked directly into my eyes.

“You are wounded, not in body, but in spirit I think it best if you rest for now. There will be another chance to take Dar-usk’kin’s token and perhaps it would be best to anonymously notify the Guild that they have a Sorcerer on the loose here in St. Louis.”

I sat cross legged in the basement of the safe house wearing the comfortable sweat pants and t-shirt I’d found in one of the many dressers filled with clothes. As I sat there I focused on the knot of power inside of me and tried to relax my mind and body. It was harder than usual because of all the things that had happened last night.

After we decided we weren’t going to chase Dar-usk’kin or the Sorcerer we’d returned to normal human size. Then with me following behind Pugnus climbed the steps leading into the farm house. There in the doorway was the unmoving body of my mother. I looked down at her lifeless body trying to understand my emotions. Then my knees gave out and I sank to the ground next to her. Tears streamed unashamedly down my cheeks, I sat unmoving, unable to reach out and touch her. As if the act of touching her would make her death much more real. After a couple of minutes Pugnus came up behind me and put a hand on my shoulder.

“I’m sorry Joel. This never should have happened. Dar-usk’kin must have taken possession of your sister and pretended to be her. When a daemon takes a human they can sometimes hide so deeply inside the human that we can’t sense them, until they use their power. Most of the time it doesn’t matter, because a daemon doesn’t have the self-discipline to go for more than a few hours without using their power, Dar-usk’kin appears to be one of the few daemons with the self-discipline to have done this. He was probably hoping to get you alone and ambush you. When you joined the battle here he figured the odds were good enough and attacked. Or seeing the battle he just couldn’t hold back any longer, it’s hard to know for sure.”

I nodded, remembering Cordi’s words from earlier, not trusting myself to speak I took several deep calming breaths. Finally, I wiped my face and looked up.

“What about the woman up stairs? What will happen to her?”

“I’ll place an anonymous call to the Guild. They’ll send out a team and since she was injured with magic, and is a mundane human, they’ll do their best to help her.”

When I nodded Pugnus squeezed my shoulder, again. I stayed where I was looking at my mom, and thinking about how all of this seemed impossible. So much had happened in just a few days. Pugnus entered the house and searched it. It seemed like almost no time had passed before Pugnus was back carrying an enchanted chest. He sat it down on the front lawn and I got up and followed. I felt hollow inside, yet I couldn’t take just sitting there looking at my mother’s body any longer. Pugnus chanted something and then opened the chest. He reached in and held up a piece of skin with Tenebris Lux’s mark burned into it. The mark was silvery in color and closely resembled mine. Pugnus handed it to me and told me that since Tenebris Lux was Cordi’s brother it would be best if I found a new vessel for him.

At this point I produced the earing Cordi and I’d taken from the woman in the hallway and asked him what I should do with it. Pugnus told me that taking a daemon’s token was a badge of honor and that once I’d figured out how to contact Cordi she’d tell me what to do. He did offer a black bag with silver runes, that resembled the one Cordi had used earlier, and said it would be best to keep the token in a spell protected bag.

“Do you think you can shadow-step back to Cordi’s safe house or do you need my help?”

“I think so,” I said. I focused on the technique Cordi had been teaching me. I’d seen her use it several times now and felt confident even if this was the first time I’d tried it on my own. When the shadows responded to me I found myself in the living room of the safe house.

At that point the sun was starting to come up so I stumbled into the bedroom and threw myself down onto the still unmade bed. I’d thought that it would be impossible to sleep but I was out almost as soon as my head hit a pillow.

I slept for twelve hours straight and when I woke up I felt stiff and sore. I reached out to Cordi and there was no response. Then I remembered that both my mother and father were gone and my sister was possessed by a daemon. I wrapped myself around my pillow for the first time since I’d been a small boy allowed myself to cry. Finally, when no more tears would come, I sat up. The need to pee was a demand I couldn’t escape and it forced me out of bed. It was still strange to sit down and the different female parts reminded me of how much I’d changed of how much I’d lost. When I looked into the mirror the face that stared back at me was still beautiful and I realized that Cordi’s face was even prettier when she’d been crying. As I stared into the mirror looking for some hint of my own face I caught a whiff of my body odor.

“Ugh, I stink” I said out loud and was surprised at how feminine my voice was and by how much I sounded like Cordi.

I stripped out of the grimy clothes I’d been wearing and got into the shower. The feeling of soap on soft slick female skin was still new and felt surprisingly good. Once clean and dry I went in search of clothes and that’s when inspiration hit me. If Cordi couldn’t talk to me maybe I could reach out and talk to her. I dug through her dressers until I found sweats and a t-shirt that fit. I decided to skip the bra in the interest of comfort and headed down to the basement training room.

Now sitting in the training room I was going to try to project myself into the Shadow Court. It took three tries but at last I found myself standing among the columns. I took my time following the spiral path that led to the center of the Court. I wasn’t sure if I was confident that I’d find Cordi or if it was the fact that walking through the columns was comforting, but for the first time since I’d watched my house burn, I felt at peace.

When I got to the twined pillars I looked for Cordi on the throne beneath them and for a second I thought it was empty despair welled up at the back of my throat and my knees went weak. How could I fight the daemons of chaos without Cordi? Then I caught the hint of movement and she stepped out of the shadows. For a second we stood facing each other eye to eye and I realized that either she was smaller or I’d grown.

“Both actually,” Cordi said with a smile.

“What do you mean?”

“Joel, when the Sorcerer cast his spell my spirit was severed. Part stayed with you and part returned here. If we’d been fully bonded I doubt his spell would have worked, as I said, during the joining we’re vulnerable.”

“Okay, but I don’t understand what you meant by me growing and you getting smaller.”

“Only that you’re full joined to the part of my spirit that stayed with you and that by losing part of myself I’m weaker and smaller.”

“How do we fix this?” I said gesturing to her and me.

“Quite easily, if you’re still willing to be my partner?”

For a minute I hesitated. My mother and father were dead and my sister was a meat puppet for some daemon. I’d lost everything. Yet, even as I thought it, I realized that I missed Cordi and couldn’t imagine living without her. I also wanted to free my sister and the idea of stopping the daemons of chaos from wreaking havoc on my world filled me with a sense of purpose.

I opened my arms offering a hug, “Now and forever, if you’ll have me.”

Cordi’s brilliant white smile was so bright it almost hurt my eyes as she stepped into my arms and when we hugged each other there was a tingling sensation that turned into an icy-hot fire that blazed within me, and then I was sitting once again cross-legged in the basement training room of the safe house.

“Welcome home Caecus Cordi!” I said out loud and noticed that my voice was now a perfect match for Cordi’s.

“It’s good to be whole again! So, Joel Ryan Campbell, are you ready to get to work?”