Wakeup Call

The black-blue sky expanded in every direction, including below. The eerie dark sun hanging somewhere distant overhead. Yes, Qayin had managed to find his way here once again. It had been a while since he had come here, a splash of color in a land otherwise devoid of it. Gaia's threads scattered the "floor" at his feet, crossing haphazardly. The surface he walked upon was transparent to the ****, invisible to his eyes and, if what Gaia said was true, extending to infinity.

Qayin scratched at his beard, well groomed with a deliberately messy styling to match his naturally riotous hair. He called out in a deep below, aiming for his words to carry, even if he knew the goddess didn't need it. His words carried a multicultural accent that blended elements of Greek, British, Australian, Egyptian, and other, far more subtle influences, culminating in a formal yet relaxed way of speaking. "Lady Gaia, an audience, if it pleases you."

The true divinity appeared before him, stepping out of reality as if she were merely behind a wall. "Been a while, asshole. How's the new arm?"

Qayin felt a twinge of remembered pain from his right arm. Even after the graft, he still swore he could feel the old one. Growth wasn't his specialty, he had a proclivity for Metal and Storms, things of Fire and Earth. True, Growth was of Earth but he hadn't been able to make use of Water since Atlantis. "As good as can be expected from a replacement. I still prefer the old one but this one has grown on me."

"Really? You make a pun of your own dismemberment? Your kids must hate you."

Some did but that wasn't why he'd come here. "I felt your touch on the world again. I take it your last bit of entertainment got boring or died?"

"Boring. Killed his uncle, set that big guild into chaos, then went to fucking sulk and 'tend to his wounds.' Not my fault he couldn't control his power. I have new shows to watch now." Her turn from haughty annoyance to smug contentment was abrupt enough to give Qayin pause.

"Shows, plural? You're growing bolder... I had assumed it was just the boy on the east coast."

"If one is fun, two should be at least twice as fun. Besides, this way, they're more likely to have some kind of impact. You should see the other one, she's cute."

"Cute or not, there are things we must discuss regarding that boy... I fear one of the others may have felt your touch as well."

The inviting smell of hickory smoked bliss filled Mark's mind as he slowly came to consciousness. He sat up groggily and looked towards the sound of frying bacon to find Imara in his kitchen area, using the countertop stove and a frying pan to cook. She wore that same oversized shirt but something was different. Her hips shook rhythmically as she hummed a tune, shirt hem swishing to and fro. Every time it came upwards, a lack of the black booty shorts from the night before was revealed along with a light grey fabric with patterns of a deep green.

Mark just stared in confusion as his still awakening mind processed what he was seeing, ultimately having his face consumed by a growing blush as he realized he was looking at Imara in her panties. Shocked overtook him as he watched her shake her ass to some unknown beat, causing a sudden onset stiffness in his pants. By the time he could properly get his mouth working and looked away from her hypnotic rear, she's actually noticed him."M-m-morning, you, uhh... you're pants, they're..."

A somewhat surprised sound came from the direction of the kitchen, Imara's slightly shaky voice following it. "T-Totally meant to do that. Shirts still on so you didn't get a nose bleed." Her tone was squeaky and uneven, lightly quavering with each word. "Anyways, breakfast! I made breakfast. I... I wanted to say thank you for letting me stay here last night."

Mark had politely looked away while she spoke, looking in her direction but clearly not at her out of embarrassment and an unexpected sense of, perhaps misplaced, chivalry. He nodded along as she thanked him, the automatic response of, "no problem," coming out as the gears of his brain started clunky forcing themselves into motion again.

"...I think I'll go put my shorts back on now," was effectively thrown out by Imara as she raced to the bed, then to the bathroom after grabbing her shorts. The door closed behind her and Mark heard a heavily muffled scream of embarrassment.

He got up to keep an eye on the cooking bacon, still trying to process what he'd just experienced when a notification popped up in front of him.

Just as he was about to object in horror at the implications, a second one appeared over the first.

While the second window did offer a small drop of relief, he did still feel mortified for having seen that when it evidently hadn't been an intentional ploy to tease him. As he was pondering this, he noticed he had yet another notification.

The reminder of the night before send another wave of embarrassment running through him. He flipped the bacon in an attempt to distract himself but it wasn't much of help. It seemed the bacon was the last thing that needed doing for breakfast.

The door to the bathroom opened again and Imara came out, rosy cheeked and flustered. "I feel like such an idiot, I'm sorry. For leaving you with the bacon and, uhh... yea..." She sighed as she reached up, rubbing at her face with her palms. "I don't know why I'm so embarrassed by that. Thanks for finishing up with the breakfast."

"I figure letting bacon burn is some form of crime against food. As for that whole... scenario, we can consider it forgotten if that helps at all." He offered this olive branch in the hopes of alleviating her embarrassment but Imara just shook her head.

"No, no, I'll be alright... Having it be an accident is throwing me off, I guess? I'll get over it. Let's eat." She was clearly eager to move past the incident and Mark didn't blame her, getting everything plated before sitting on his couch.

He thought about things as he ate, what he'd do and what he had planned. His day would be busy after work was done, not to discount whatever his new duties would be in the aquatic side of Reef. If all went to plan, he would be rather exhausted by the end of the day. Before, that would have deterred him. Now, there was something to look forward to in his life.

"I'm going to check out the mall today, after the raid if I can. Use that horn we found as an excuse maybe? Seems like it could be pretty valuable." Mark reached into his inventory, pulling out the medium length of horn. It was curved, the furthest point maybe three inches above a line from tip to base, and had a ridged texture. That same weightless pressure filled his mind as he held the Horn of H., like his hand touched against the sense of someone looking over his shoulder. Utterly incongruous and foreign but real all the same.

"Can't hurt. People there love weird shit. Might be a little hard to explain where you found it without revealing anything."

"He probably wouldn't believe me if I told him... think that could be an advantage?"

"You mean just brazenly tell the truth expecting him to think it's bullshit? It could work but I don't know if you could pull that off. You aren't exactly a good liar, my guy."

Mark opened his mouth to protest, then shut it again as he realized she was right. "Point taken. I'm mostly trying to kill two birds with one stone here. I'm also working under the assumption that whatever this thing is, it's at least somewhat powerful."

"What makes you say that? Seem like a normal horn to me."

"Because I can feel something coming from it when I touch it and Observe didn't work." On a whim, he tried again, only to be met with the same issue. He really needed to power level that skill but his Mana supply was lacking.

"Feel it how? I assume you don't mean touching it." Her plate of food was slowly disappearing, taking bites while Mark spoke.

He took a moment to collect his thoughts on the matter before saying anything, wanting to assure his words reflected what he felt. "It's... like when you can feel someone following you. Instead of some tingle at the back of my neck, it's localized to my hand like a weight. It also feels... hollow, somehow."

Imara, with a curious expression, reached out and touched the horn before nodding in understanding. "I guess that is one way to explain that feeling. What you feel there is Mana. In your blood, it's weird on it's own. It takes on different feelings, depending on your magic. Could be your brain trying to understand something completely new now that you've touched Mana. I got a way lesser version of that feeling when i got my armband."

Mark nodded thoughtfully before putting the horn away. He'd have time to think on this throughout the day anyways. "I'll need to get going soon. You can stay if you want, just be careful. One of my neighbors drops by randomly to chat. Sweet old lady."

"Beware of the elderly, understood captain," she said as she flashed him a smile, both of their plates clearing around the same time.

Mark cleaned up the dishes and, with a bit more tidying up, got together his clothes for work. He changed onto them and headed out to deal with the day, taking to his developing ritual of jogging to work. Along the way, he even managed to observe a few people, keeping a bit of Mana in reserve but otherwise being quite lax with the amount. He'd dumped all his remaining Mana into the Windrunner's Charm the night before, nearly filling the item. With just a bit this morning, he topped it up and had a fifty Mana battery to power his magic. He'd have to add this to the list of habits to work on.

The jog was pleasant, the air cool enough to enjoy on a jog. It even bordered on cold. He wouldn't want to stand around out here for long but moving as he was, he felt much better about it. With the Reef building coming up, he slowed to a walk to let his heart rate come down. This gave him a chance to spot Tara waiting for him at the front door of the building, cardigan sweater bring layered with a windbreaker as she waited.

"Good, you're here, I can get out of the cold." The two went inside and Tara immediately pulled the pair onto the Reef Grave Zone. "Much nicer in here than on the other side... Now then, I've been instructed to see to your basic instruction on standard skills for our company."

Mark looked at her quizzically, shedding his coat. "I've been through orientation already, what more do I need to learn?"

"First aid for one. Every employee with even a minor ability in magic is instructed in standard first aid and the tools associated. Our work is dangerous, the more people who can help mitigate the conversion of casualties into fatalities the better. Beyond that, you'll have a few other things to learn but I suspect those will come rather easy to an aeropotent with a keen mind. Come, let us begin."

With that, she stole him away, deeper into the Grave Zone of the building he used to work in. All for the sake of training.

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