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ATM Rewrite: B2 — 10. A Reality Shock
🕑 Added 2023-07-28 06:52:30 +0000 UTCPoV:
1. Wendy Moore (Our Brunette 'Big' Sis With A Moon Crush!)
2. Sora Moore (Our Fox Girl Has A New, New Problem!)
Google Document (In-line Comments)
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Wendy pulled Zen off to one of the rooms she’d asked to be repurposed for training, including shelves lined with books that the moon prince had brought with him. It felt so long since she’d had this giddy swirl in her belly, and it made her a little guilty to give her new sister a strained laugh and wave, leaving her to handle the Sela business, whoever the Unseelie was.
Sorry, Sis, she internally said, excusing herself with Zen. I do need to train, as fun as it would be to zip around with you. I’m going to be a moon princess! Wait…
Face brightening at the thought, she swiftly recovered on her exit. More like having princess moon powers! There isn’t any rule about starting my own kingdom on the moon, right? No one ‘technically’ owns it. I can make my own moon palace! Yeah! A starry night—
“I’ll join you!”
Faia, no! Bad fox! Go away! she barked in her head, glaring at the grinning boy. Shoo! Ugh…
The younger twin vulpes skipped after them; she didn’t have an excuse to reject him. Although, he did get Zen on strange topics that allowed her to learn more about him from the sidelines. It was acceptable.
Ignoring the cheery fox in tow, she smiled up at Zen, fingers tightening on his arm. He was already talking about mana, throwing her off a bit when she actually focused on whatever topic he was on; not even Theo had shown so much interest in her since he was always worried about his own family. Zen was totally centered on her and her training, though. It was nice.
“…Did you catch that, Wendy?”
“Huh?” She blinked, realizing he’d been talking to her; to be fair, Sora sometimes just talked to herself, so she’d often used that excuse to not listen.
Her mind was spinning while trying to recover and look at anything other than his twinkling white hair, pulled back into a ponytail, or his bright blue, cosmic eyes. It wasn’t her fault! From his handsome face to every other piece of his magical figure, he was too captivating to look at for it to be fair!
She internally cried, trying to think of anything she could say to what she did not hear when a brilliant move smacked her in the face. “Explain it one more time,” she chuckled, trying to smile. “Maybe make it a little easier to understand.”
Faia snickered behind them. “How much easier can you ask someone what they want for lunch? Let me guess, you weren’t listening. Haha!”
Wendy’s face went red. “Right…”
Zen had a casual, cool cadence as he took the lead, lifting a hand to create sparkling, star-like images of various items they’d talked about throughout the previous day.
“I was thinking we could try that pizza you mentioned, or maybe the Asian buffet so we can stuff our faces as much as we want. Doesn’t that sound fun, Faia?”
The fox’s smirk broke into excitement. “I can really eat all I want? Yeah! Let’s go there! When is lunch?”
Breathing out her embarrassment, Wendy calmed her racing heart. “Around noon or one, so two to three hours. Maybe Sora will be back by then. We can go out and explore later. What do you think?” she asked, hoping to maybe show him what a movie was like.
Zen’s mouth drew in as he led the way into the training room. “I think we should really focus on getting your internal mana sense jumpstarted. We’re not having great progress so far.”
“True,” Faia mused. “I can’t believe humans are so mana dense. Get it?”
Wendy groaned, a bit disappointed. “I get it. Alright. Training!”
She dropped down on a cushion as Zen rubbed his hands together with a grin and spread them out, making the room go dark and dot with stars. Faia sank down two cushions to her right, tails wagging as he studied the moon wizard’s expert craftsmanship.
It was like a dream as the moon prince slowly moved around Faia and her, swaying hands spreading colorful nebulae throughout the magical, space-like atmosphere he generated. His voice made it hard to concentrate on the words with the wizardry he spun throughout the room.
“Let’s start at some of the basics of Moon Magic since we’re going that route. There’s actually a very distinct base difference between how my father and I operate. Speaking about specifics, I’m not a wizard but a sorcerer.”
Wendy’s mind blanked. “Uh-huh. So… what’s the difference?”
“Process and accuracy,” Faia explained, bobbing left and right as he pointed at the magic Zen wove. “Wizards must know every detail and thread of what they craft—super annoying and hard to master.”
“But far more precise and strong in the long run,” Zen countered. “Yes, it takes a long time to master since it is all about understanding the base design of the universe. Sorcerers are like painters…”
He crafted a large canvas and started painting the most engaging scene of the moon in a magical forest, projecting it into life around them.
“It’s about emotion—crafting what comes to your heart—rather than knowing every step of the building process. It won’t be anywhere near as firm or grounded, but it is far less demanding.”
“Pretty…” Wendy whispered, looking at him as he presented the illusionary world he’d created around them. “So… I should try to be a sorcerer—moon sorceress?”
Zen wiped away the scene with a flourish, taking them into a beautiful and peaceful flower-spotted glade, glowing under the bright sky. “It’s more fluid than rigid. Do you like the scientific approach or—”
“Artistic because I’m autistic,” she instantly said, adding a forced smile and giggle. “Math and science weren’t my best subjects, but I like drawing, and I even thought about getting into a band at one point… Eh-heh, there was just the small problem that I don’t know how to play an instrument, not to mention my busy schedule—former busy schedule.”
Faia nodded eagerly, speaking as fast as her, which was his normal pace. “Ooh! I tried to learn a few instruments a few decades ago. Played the flute and cello and guitar and conga drums—I like the booms—and the gaku-biwa…”
“I get it,” Wendy grumbled. “You’re talented and old.”
“Ho-ho! Yes, I—uh-oh…” Silence fell over them as Faia’s ears drew back, and he looked at the wall. “That can’t be good.”
“Something wrong?” Zen asked, following his gaze. “Ah. I could rework that star cluster into a constellation.”
Faia shook his head, getting to his feet as he grew unusually quiet, closed his eyes, and held a hand forward. “I can’t feel my brother’s magic—we’re twins, so we’re connected—but it just… vanished.”
“Okay?” Wendy whispered, looking at the frowning moon prince as he spun his hand in a slow circle, creating a twinking lunar orb that bled into focus. “He was with Sora, right? She can make people disappear pretty easily.”
Zen’s orbs twisted with colorful hues that blended together. “I can’t find them either… which would be fine if Sora was concealing them, but Faia losing track of his brother…”
“Would mean he entered another dimensional field or plane,” the vulpes finished, tails falling low. “There was a half pulse he sent me, too. It was interrupted, but it usually means something is wrong.”
Wendy fell from her dreamy clouds back into reality, a shiver tickling her spine as she reflected on being kidnapped by Jenny and turned into a werewolf. They’d just gone over all these potential dangers looming in the shadows, and there was a lot.
Faia fidgetted, looking between them. “What do we do?”
“Wendy?” Zen asked, clearly not accustomed to anything like this from his life of peaceful magical study.
Sora had been there for her almost Wendy’s entire life, stepping up to make her feel loved and wanted when she didn’t feel that at her home. They’d been sisters long before this adoption the Foundation did. Her dad was unconscious, and Eyia was guarding the fort.
Who did that leave, Kari? Yeah, fat chance. Aiden? Too connected to Kari for her to actually trust. Fen? That was funny. No, all she had was Faia, who had stakes with his big brother, and Zen, her magic mentor. She could use The Foundation, as well.
“Okay.” Getting up, Wendy put on her game face and smoothed out her summer dress. “Let’s not panic. C’mon!”
Zen wiped away the scene as she took charge and exited the room, heading for the conference room; the moon prince and fox kept pace.
“Is Devlin and that Vondoom guy still here; I can’t remember his first name?”
“I don’t think he has one,” Faia chuckled. “Oh, yeah, I hear him going to the deck—they’re going to leave!”
“C’mon!” Wendy hissed, breaking into a run to reach them. “Wait!”
They sprinted around the corner, her dress and hair bouncing wildly as the pair came into view, frowning and looking back as two hovering cars waited outside. Faia was the first one there, having sprinted ahead to catch them. By the time Wendy and Zen got there, they were already in a conversation.
“…waiting for Sora and Hinote to get here,” Devlin stated, looking at his cool holographic watch with multiple scheduled events timing down. “I heard her tell your brother she wanted to get her purse, but that was a while ago.”
“No, no, no! You don’t get it,” he cried in a panic. “He’s not here!”
Vondoom’s collected and cold gaze darted to her as she burst through the sliding glass door, chest heaving. “Did something happen to Sora?”
“Maybe, umm—Eyia!” Wendy shouted, figuring the Valkyire would be able to hear her. “Eyia—oh!”
The flood of clouds surged out of the vents, frosting it over and collecting into the blonde, still wearing her pajamas. “Yes, Sister?”
“Uh, did Sora leave, or did you feel anything weird happening?”
Everyone focused on the tall Nordic girl as her unconcerned blue eyes darted to the partially invisible floating vehicles behind them, reflecting the bright Miami sun.
“My sister entered one of the things the humans call cars—but the floating kind, not the ones Sora’s father has that are very loud,” she interjected, pointing to the next suite over. “She got her items and went into one floating car to swap to another floating car in order to gather the Unseelie. She seemed happy and in good spirits.”
Vondoom’s hard eyes darted to Devlin. “We only requested two vehicles.”
“Right,” Eyia nodded, gesturing at the sky with a furrowed brow. “Two came. My sister got in one, then went to another.”
Wendy groaned, realizing they were both talking about two different cars; two cars they hadn’t called had shown up when Sora was on her side of their mega-suite and away from the two men. They didn’t know Sora left already and were waiting for her with the official two cars. Someone had tricked them.
“Shit. So Sora was kidnapped; why would she be happy about that, though?”
The blonde’s calm voice fractured. “Kidnapped? No, she may have been a little unsteady and needed help to move to a new platform, but the elves were very accommodating.”
“Elves?!” Wendy choked.
Vondoom was already playing with his phone, no doubt gathering his resources and putting The Foundation’s intelligence network on high alert. “Was Hinote conscious?”
Eyia slowly shook her head. “He… appeared to be taking a nap. Is Sora in danger? I did not sense bad intentions from them.”
Wendy breathed out a heavy breath to calm her own rising alarm, recalling the conversation she had with Sora about Eyia; apparently, the Valkyrie was very hard on herself when she messed up due to her inexperience when it came to common sense things to the point of being self-destructive.
Moving in to hug the panicking blonde, she showed confidence she didn’t feel. “You don’t need to worry. Sora’s a big girl. You hold down the fort, and we’ll go figure out what’s going on. Alright? Someone needs to be here to be sure this isn’t a trap to get Jin or Sora’s dad, right?”
“Yes, that would be a possible strategy,” Eyia whispered, her brow setting. “I will be sure to remain vigilant!”
“Awesome! Devlin, if they changed cars, then does that mean the other one is a diversion to throw us off? We need to look for the other one they changed to.”
The man nodded absently, playing with his own phone. “It also shows that the fae had inside information that we were transferring Sela and were going to pick her up… Damn.”
“What?!” Faia asked, Eyia getting flustered again at his tone. “Is it my brother—he isn’t…”
“No,” Vondoom grumbled. “Sela’s transport was attacked… by the Occult World Order—A-1765 killed the entire escort…”
Delvin ran his fingers through his hair, face going white. “If it was The Fates, then it has to be the OWO, and that they made such a bold move against someone like Sela… Does that mean they’re gearing up for war and are with the fae?”
Vondoom’s fingers paused over his screen before looking at Devlin’s phone. “That’s what it seems… Eyia, from what I’ve observed, you have a very keen sense of danger. I don’t know why those fae weren’t a danger to Sora and Hinote, but at the very least, it means they were safe on the transport for those particular elves. Something more is happening behind these actions…”
Wendy moved around them to the car. “You guys do all the thinking then. We’ll take this and go after them,” she said, trying to get them moving. “Should Devlin join Faia, Zen, and me to keep everyone updated?”
Vondoom’s narrowed eyes were still on Devlin’s phone. “Yes. Make them aware of the dangers of A-1765, Devlin; if the Occult World Order is on the move, this could be the fae’s retaliation, such as the car diversion. We’re having to make a choice between the Occult World Order and the fae… And Hell is laughing at us.”
“True,” Devlin returned with a low sigh. “I sent for Task Force Lambda-07 to join us; if we’re dealing with planewalkers or reality warpers, then we’ll need their expertise.”
The Senior Director slowly nodded. “The White Rabbits. Yes, they’ll be invaluable if it is A-1765 or fae. Only communicate critical details.”
Wendy got the implication as she got into the back of the cozy flying car, Faia, Devlin, and Zen following. They left Vondoom and Eyia behind, the blonde wishing them luck in battle. It hit Wendy in the gut after Devlin told their literal bear driver the change in plans, and the Ethics Committee big-shot explained the potential threats.
The Occult World Order was a collection of the world’s greatest magic users and reality warpers, mostly going about their own business, but powerful and influential enough to make The Foundation mostly turn a blind eye. Sometimes they clashed, but it was worked out between the higher-ups in both organizations.
It was understood that if The Foundation went after one of the OWO sectors, then it would trigger a massive world war, which apparently already happened with the World Wars as a front. If the fae community was working with the Occult World Order, then the team-up could be quite disastrous, especially with three of the OWO’s biggest threats, A-1765, on the move.
‘The Fates’ were powerful reality-warping triplets that required reality anchors to handle, which wasn’t comforting when they were apparently notoriously unreliable. It didn’t help that the OWO and Foundation had usually come to a sort of balancing act as of late, which was why Vondoom was taking it with a grain of salt when dealing with fae, who were tricksters by nature.
All that told Wendy was that they were entering another complex web they had no business being in, but Sora, unfortunately, drew these threats to her by her very nature as a Founder; she was a super-battery and access card to everything in Vulpes territory.
Stopping near the place the elves had snatched Sora, Faia’s nose creased as they opened the windows, leaning out to sniff the air.
“Blah! Pixie dust—a ton of it—like, literally a ton of it! It’s warped space itself—do you see that, Zen?”
Zen shook his head. “Not my expertise. Fae are supposed to be good at hiding things, and it’s almost noon, so… my powers are kind of at their weakest.”
Wendy crawled into the front seat, careful not to touch the bear too much as he looked at them, waiting for further orders. “Great. Can you follow it, Faia?”
“I’m sure he can,” Devlin hummed. “But… I’m pretty sure the crafty elves swapped cars so that we would follow the super-dense smoke trail. We need to find a much more faint and hidden trail.”
“On it!” Faia said, jumping out of the window to flip on top of the car. “Give me a few minutes and drive around, Sir Bear!”
“Grrraaawr…” the big brown animal grunted, spinning the wheel.
They made slow sweeps, and several minutes into their search, the fox found an attack angle. Sora had a rather unique and lovely scent, apparently, and she left a tug against the magical fabric that gave him the ability to follow the wakes. She’d have to talk to Sora about that when they saved her.
Wendy had to do a double-take when a humanoid rabbit appeared on the hood of the car, dressed in old Chinese clothes and what seemed like traditional weapons from the time period—the White Rabbits. Two more rabbits from the mobile task force appeared on the roof, scanning the horizon, which made Faia practically jump out of his fur.
Faia got back in as a fourth spontaneously emerged in the only empty seat left, crossing his legs and playing with a long wooden toothpick in his mouth as he scanned them. They zipped off with Faia’s tentative directions, the fifth and final member of the White Rabbits now sitting on the trunk.
The animalistic task force member inside held his thin Chinese sword in his lap, two fingers lifting to his brow and greeting Devlin. “We were summoned,” he stated in a heavy Chinese accent. “Team Leader, at your service… Might I suggest we stop the vehicle?”
“Why?” Wendy asked, swallowing as the bunny’s big red eyes moved to her. “We have a lead on Sora.”
“Unfortunately, they have a lead on us, as well,” he responded, gesturing out of the window.
“What… no way,” she mumbled, getting closer to find they’d gone in a complete circle. “How did we… get back here?”
Team Leader pulled out his stick and spun it in a short circle. “In the same way that we popped into existence, so too have you spun in circles without realizing it. This is not fae magic but a warping of spatial perception… I’m afraid your fears were spot on in calling for us, Sir Devlin.”
Wendy’s gut tightened as the rabbit leaned forward to connect his long fingers. “Let us reevaluate and think out of the box. Shall we?”
* * *
Glittering rainbows and puffy clouds turned into a comfortable pink armchair as Sora’s mind cleared, and she found herself on one of those gaming dance pads, light flashing in front of her. Beside her was a blue-haired teenage girl in pigtails, spinning in circles, feet a blur as they danced to the song.
“Huh…”
A phenomenal amount of twisting space, curving and spinning back into each other, turned her around in dizzying patterns with the beat and frenzy of the girl’s movements.
“Don’t stop now!” she laughed, bracelets spinning as she twisted her hands in a flourish; the room changed into a twisting cyclone of colors and blocks that bounced with the pop music embraced them. “You were doing so well; keep up the pace, Sora!”
The whole world suddenly turned black, and an exhausted, similar-sounding yet mature woman spoke behind them, making the teen trip on her face. “I leave you for five minutes, Tamil, and you’re causing a racket.”
“Tamila, I can explain!” she cried.
Turning around, she saw what appeared to be the same teenage girl, only in her late twenties or early thirties. Arms crossed, she glared at her younger sister. “You wanted to test how far her magic could compare to our reality warping. No explanation needed.”
“We were having fun doing it,” she defended. “Right, Sora? You loved that song!”
Rubbing her forehead, Sora’s gaze drifted from the total blackness to Hinote, lips parting in wonder. “Are you… splitting the universe around us to leave us in an isolated void? You drugged me with pixie dust. Rude.”
Tamil jumped back into a chair, spinning around in a circle with a giggle. “It’s not all bad. The fae separatists were setting us up for the fall, so we had to get our stories straight by kidnapping you—uh…”
Mouth dropping open and looking away, she forced a smile. “Okay, I know that doesn’t sound great, but it was harmless, and why not return the favor to the fae? We have the Lemegeton pointing fingers at the fae, the fae pointing fingers at us. And what did we do? We kidnapped you!”
Tamila rubbed her forehead with a groaning chuckle. “Excellent framing, as always, Tamil.”
Sora felt somewhat used to this happening at this point, which was kind of concerning to her since it really hadn’t even been a month since she’d turned into a vulpes. Smiling, she spun her magic, generating a chair to sit in from her living room and making Tamil clap excitedly.
“Ooh! Did you see, Tamila—did you see? She created—”
“…Matter from the void, meaning it isn’t a void, and we are far less refined in our craft. Yes, I have eyes, Little Sister.”
Tamila sat, spontaneously before her in a crash of universal waves that felt like a ten-ton weight falling onto a sheet of glass; they were very powerful but not delicate in the least, and it definitely wasn’t magic they were using.
Adjusting her fancy and colorful dress that mostly matched her little sister, Tamila offered her a smile as Tamil scooted forward through the void on her rolly chair.
“We represent the OWO. It’s a pleasure to… Ugh.”
“Pfft!” Sora couldn’t help herself, her chest shaking with laughter; there was really something special seeing a grown woman make such a cute sound. “OwO? Who was the genius that named it that?”
Tamil mirrored her humor, snickering and looking off to the side with a proud grin. “I actually made the little reality twist that made that trend. Oh-wooo!” she cried, throwing her arms in the air.
Reality crashed around them again like an iceberg hitting a ship, and the teen was wearing a cute wolf outfit. “Rawr! Good Kari impression? I made all sorts of fun things trend. UwU,” she grinned, tail wagging and holding up her paws with a big-eyed stare.
Tamila reached over and pulled her sister’s wolf hoodie over her eyes, making her spin into a deadly spiral to slam against a brick wall that appeared in another burst of what Sora now recognized as a psionic burst.
“Tam—awwwoooo—oof! Waaah—not funny, Tamila…”
A cute huff came from above them as a small child dropped out of the sky to land between them, giving the pouting older-looking woman a glare. “I come back and find you bullying Tamil again. Haaa. What a disaster…”
Sora didn’t really know what was going on here, but it certainly was entertaining; the discussion Vondoom and Diane had on reality warpers popped back into her head. “Uh. Hi! So, you three must be some, umm… Some kind of anomaly… something? Wait, is that rude?”
“A-1765!” Tamil chimed, suddenly right back in her swirly chair and sporting a black eye from her wall crash, but no amount of pain seemed to cut her smile short. “I think it’s willlly mean that they call us the ‘Cruel Sisters.’ We’re not always mean! Look at me, for example! Awooo—ack!” She bit her tongue and huffed, shooting a dirty look at her older sister, who seemed to have numbed her tongue. “Well, blah, not all of us.”
Tamila returned the stare. “You are so immature.”
“You could just lie and tell me you love me,” Tamil sniffed, apparently looking for pity points by her side-long stare at her.
The youngest sister, rubbed between her eyes at the double irony of the two, no doubt, and Sora settled in, let it all just slide into place.
“Okay. Fill me in. What’s your complaint and side to things? It seems everyone has one to tell me.”
The little girl summoned a flaming lawn chair and jumped onto it, creating a mini sun over them to sunbathe. “Want some sunscreen? This could take a bit.”
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