3 May 2012
"Ok. Calm down. Please." I had to settle the situation before the boy lost control of his (obviously way-too-powerful) powers. "Just remember who you are." The boy bellowed back. "I know who I am! I am the one true spirit! All others who give up the Spirit Planes to mingle and share power with the petty humans become corrupted; while I have remained pure and whole inside this host!" I almost expected an evil laugh to follow this, but I tried to suppress my sarcastic side to try and reason with the boy inside. "Ok, I don't know who the hitchhiker is, but you need to regain control of yourself, Samuel." I decided to take a firm, parental tone to calm the boy down. "I don't want you losing control and blowing this mountain to pieces while I'm still on it. Take control. Now!" The last part certainly had an effect. The blue completely receded and Samuel fell back, absolutely unconscious.
Great. Now I had to drag the sleeping body of Sammy the Demon Mage all the way back to camp, along a winding mountain track, which was probably infested with mobs of bandits, other pods of wyrms and webs of giant spiders (that's the name for a group of the aforementioned arachnids). And it was getting dark. And I would have to be "saved" by some other smug hunter from my clan as there would be a search party sent out... that was it! Make my general location known to my clan and they'd think I was in some sort of danger and they'd come with the intention of rescuing me, and then I'd spring on them that there was a possessed teen mage waiting in the wings and he needed our help! Brilliant! All I needed to do was to signal the clan and they'd come looking for me. So I used the signal that my First had set up (he didn't want to have to train another Second) and sat back and waited.
And waited. And waited some more. For three hours I sat on the path with the burbling boy (he was not a light sleeper) and I was able to admire my surroundings. From my vantage point up on the ridge, I was able to see what I had previously ignored: a glorious valley flanked by two impressive mountain walls, carpeted by deep evergreen forests. The valley floor was wide and, again, forested, but a river meandered its way across my field of vision and through the forest and through bright fields of its own. I sighed as I let the brilliance of nature wash over me like a soothing balm, taking all the stresses of the day away, to be replaced with a contentment that was rarely found in the history of all time. A glorious winter sunset only added to that feeling. I was happy to let it hang for a moment, and for much more than a moment, but then... "Lily! Are you alright?"
A Possessed Mage, And A Plan • Opuss № I