Wrong end of the wand (The life and times of an oncoming trainwreck)

Tessy once had a whole life ahead of her. While she had been visited by various unkindnesses, she still had a brother, who belonged to the priesthood, and a husband, who was really just an accountant for the army’s resources.

She herself had hoped to graduate from the University of Belzac Heart – what she’d become, who knows, but the three of them could collaborate on any number of things related to the Breath of the World. For them, the sky was the limit.

Then the Menace dropped from the stars and, from the North, unleashed a plague.

Her brother went with other priests to contain the situation. Her husband’s “logistics” took on new parameters, and with them, new constraints and responsibilities – and so he marched to the front.

One closed casket entered the grave, while a commiseratory pension was given in the wake of Derren’s passing.

Tessy now owned an empty house with too many rooms, money that meant nothing, and a career that felt hollow and pointless. For too long, she struggled to give herself a reason to continue – to research or beseech spirits? To learn about them? Why? For all their powers, all the talk of how their presence managed the ways of all life, they had buckled and barely held off a singular threat.

So life was placed on hold, and she consigned herself to sitting in a dead house, waiting.

The day finally came when an old, cheerful man was referred to her. He said he “kept tabs” on things that interested him, and declared that he wanted to offer her a hand.

Liev, as he called himself, showed her two things: a jar stuffed with angry light, and a smaller bauble that contained the same energy, though it was dim and near inert.

“We only call something ‘malevolent’ if it’s harmful,” he corrected with a cheery smile, giving the glass pendant a shake for emphasis. “Some associates of mine have taken to calling this ‘Astral energy’. They’ve gone as far as trying to rename the Menace from the Stars, but I wouldn’t go so far as to whitewash that creature.”

“What are you showing me?” Tessy asked, though she could feel her curiosity rising again. An unknown problem, which meant new questions to tackle, to invigorate a mind that was going stale with grief and resentment.

“If we take the Menace out of the equation, Astral energy is dangerous, but not necessarily hostile. Why should we be afraid of it? I think people like you and me, who have open minds, might be able to crack its secrets. But we need to portion it out, get people to look into how it works.

“What I need is your help to slowly divide any Astral energy I bring over to you. You might also be asked to give some of it away to more people we meet along the way.”

Tessy’s searched Liev’s face for falsehood as she hesitantly ventured a conclusion. “This is making me sound like a dealer in illicit goods.”

Liev laughed. “Maybe, but what world-shattering project stepped on toes trying to change things a little around here?”

At the end of the day, Malevolence – or Astral energy, take your pick – was something feared by all. But those jars showed they could be contained - and in them Tessy saw a world where they weren’t beholden to distant, vague forces that blessed with varying whimsy. Astral energy could be something to harness.

So Tessy did her work, and with tutoring from Liev and the notes he brought back, she learned how to make Astral energy twist the world around her, and for a while, she thought she was something greater. Not crazed like a hag or any mutated monster, but a human taking control of the world for their own ends.

That was, until now.

Tessy had heard of the Archhag that had emerged from Fortress Town, bringing a wave of fear with her, but that was either a lie or irrelevant. An Archhag, twisted by Astral energy unleashed by the Menace, would be naught but a finger puppet, a creature of instinct driven to destroy the world around her.

Yet the woman that the University student had called Trudy now stood in the frozen ruin of her attic, a finger dancing as she felt her power bend towards the will of another. Trudy’s free hand pried the glasses from her face, obfuscation now futile.

“Miss, who is Liev, and what are you trying to do with all of that?” She calmly – maybe coldly – asked, eye glancing down at the box Tessy still steadfastly kept a grip on.

His compatriot and confidant bared her teeth. “Making better use of this than anyone else ever will!”

She was closer, and the Astral energy was more familiar with her. With a thought, the power fell back under her sway, and the mass of shattered wood and glass came to life once more in a jagged whirlwind of flotsam and detritus. Tessy directed the floes to pass through the supposed Archhag. The torrent of debris would follow its path, and pour straight on through and cut her in half–

Trudy raised her hand, edge pointed towards the current. Instantly, it split in two, wreckage propelled onwards by fading inertia, rushing past either side of her, while Zelfie yelped and remained lying flat on the ground.

“I met folk who were feeding people to this Malevolence. How can I trust you’re any better?”

“Shut up! You’re an Archhag! You breathe this stuff! You have no leg to stand on here!”

Tessy knew that she had to gamble it all. As long as Liev was out there, he could always bring more Astral energy. He would know what happened here, so all she had to do was solve what she could right here.

She pushed her will into every piece of jewellery in the container, and reminded the disparate corruption that it was once one whole. Glass shattered, and Tessy raised a levitating, roiling sphere of violet ooze above her head, one that nearly dwarfed her in size.

“This is the future! We don’t need the Menace, or Spirits, or you! Just us!”

Years of fervent research into controlling this exotic matter led to this. Tessy didn’t need the whisper or corruption of the Menace just as much as she didn’t need the Spirits to guide her. With her two hands, she made the collected Astral power lunge out at Trudy, who still kept her ground.

Trudy, still keeping a hold of the debris in the air, collected it all in front of her to shield herself, but as the corrosion slapped against the wood and glass, it immediately began to burn and melt.

Despite the disappearing cover, Tessy’s opponent still seemed nonplussed and more disappointed than anything.

“I agree with most of that, but as a leading expert on this stuff—”

The last of the debris disintegrated, and Zelfie rolled back and nearly fell down the stairs to avoid the splash of Malevolence as it crashed down on Trudy – it was only Tessy’s enmity against the Archhag that kept the student out of her crosshairs.

The crook herself gave a momentary cry of triumph, and tried to order the violet mass to compact and crush its captive. Though it writhed and struggled, it moved no further. In fact, every spasm felt like an order being countermanded.

“As I was saying…”

Tessy’s eyes widened as the same open hand cut through the Astral energy, making it part for the unconcerned monster. A cupped palm made the ooze surrender to her, and collect into her hand in a far more compact sphere.

Tessy tried to bring it back under her will, but where there was once she could feel the heat of its energy, there was nothing. She had been shut out.

“...I think you’ve done something impressive. But I think it’s a bit too soon to say it’s safe for human consumption. So let monsters like me keep hold of it for now,” Trudy said, hand grasping the twisting energy as it continued to solidify, its surface looking more and more like polished crimson marble.

For an instant, Tessy looked around desperately, trying to recall what had become of all the debris around her, if she could just use the stray, leaking Astral energy to attack – and then remembered Trudy seemed to have been a step ahead of her, letting it be all burned away.

Had she lost?

She thought of Lys and Derren, and the life she had managed to hold together without them. Now, even it was gone. If they caught her, what would Belzac’s rulers do to her?

Was it fear, or spite that made her spin around and look at the edge of the shattered home, now roofless, but still tall?

“Zelfie, she’s going to jump!”

Tessy would have, had the researcher not scrambled up the stairs, Spirit-blessed artifact in hand. One step forward into open air merely made her suddenly pitch backwards as Spiritual force dragged her back onto safe ground. As she slammed onto her shoulder blades with enough force to knock the air of her, Zelfie was already atop her, pinning her down.

While Tessy cursed and thrashed, Trudy jerked at a voice from below.

“You, there! Stay where you are! You’re under arrest!”

Looking down, the woman saw a growing collection of gathering figures. More than a few were covered in armor, and at the centre, just outside the open door was Constance, flanked by a number of University staff, who were all holding artifacts of their own and staring up with grim determination, as if they were preparing for a dire battle.

Trudy blinked, and realized that the orb of shining, evil power next to her probably made things impossible to explain.

There was only one thing to do then.

“Zelfie, could I leave you in charge of the lady?” The Archhag casually called back over her shoulder. “Try and find out what she knows about Liev. I don’t think staying here is good for me.”

The researcher’s head shot up, shocked. Instincts told her to not let the other fugitive go, now that the calm had settled in: this was, after all, another wielder of Malevolence, one that was arguably worse.

But Tessy still refused to give up, while Trudy had, of all things, opted to help. Or was it merely her taking advantage of the situation to gather power?

“You can’t leave! That stuff is dangerous!”

Trudy grinned back, letting the sphere hover around a raised finger. “I’ll make sure to stay safe then. But if you’re intent on it, maybe make finding me your next project. I have my own questions, but I can’t find out if I get caught here.”

“Wait, at least tell me,” Zel asked. “Why do you look like Professor Lissandra?”

Trudy looked down, and watched the professors charge in through the front door. “That’s the second time you’ve confused me with her. Who is she?”

“Stay and find out,” Zelfie challenged, which only made the Archhag laugh and shake her head.

“I guess we’ll both find out later, then?”

The University’s best and brightest made it to the remains of the attic just in time to see the condensed orb in Trudy’s grasp began to glow, innate mastery granted to her showing her what to do in an instant.

“I hope to meet you all again soon, though I guess that’ll always sound like a threat,” Trudy sighed, as the Malevolence shifted. “But I promise that we have bigger problems on our hands, one that we both share. That’s why I’ll be quiet for a while–”

Whether she became invisible, or actually dissipated into thin air, Trudy nonetheless faded from view before their eyes. From then on Belzac Heart would gain a refreshed sense of unease, and news would spread of how the forces of the Menace were on the move again.

On the other hand, Zelfie wouldn’t have to worry about her thesis.