War

I begin a slow and calm glance around my surroundings. My body refuses to obey my orders, and so the only muscle I can freely move is my head. Unlike the last time I was brought to a new dimension, the place I'm standing in now isn't dark at all. If anything, it's too damn bright.

Elder lights of all colors swirl around my body, causing a slight headache. Above me, there is a fierce battle raging between supernatural forces. With my limited vision and muscle control, I manage to make out tiny dots as the collide with one another, and the vast destruction it causes. War cries echo around this world, serving as a constant reminder of this battle.

I glance down to inspect myself, just to make sure nothing has happened. Luckily, my body appears to be in normal state. Except for my limited abilities to move, everything else seems to be intact.

And then, something shook. A fierce burst of golden brilliance, so bright, so raw, soars along the entirety of this dimension, destroying the countless little dots. The **** of the attack managed to shake me back some, despite my distance from the battle.

I gaze forward at the godless war raging on before me. My emotions are conflicted, to say the least. War is largely a disastrous affair which has no winner, everything know that. But what are the stakes of a war fought between transdimensional being who hold the power to manipulate reality at their whim?

Suddenly, amidst the endless chaos and raging battle, a woman steps forward. With a quick glance, I make out a second woman, as well as a large hole on the ground. Deep. That much is obvious. Lights pour in and our of it, creating a noise so loud it threatens to eclipse the sound of the battle raging overhead.

Did I just move?

I refrain from letting out a startled gasp as I inspect my body once again. I am no longer myself, instead it seems I am inhabiting the body of the woman from earlier. She — or I — step forward once again.

It's a uncanny sensation – being in someone else's body. I can feel, no, taste her memories. Her regrets. Her ideas. Her lack of care for this mindless battle. I can taste it all. All that matters to her – Us – is the hole on the ground and the lights that come from it.

As she – we – near it though, the other woman raises a hand, stopping us dead. "That's far enough," her voice rang with an undeniable power. The skies appear to shake from her words alone.

"I warned you to stay away, Delia. Or — I'm sorry — what was the name you were going by, now? Maria, was it? Did you really think that dyeing your hair and changing your name would fool me?"

What's going on here? Who's Delia? Who's Maria? Before I can mentally gather myself, my mouth began to open and words begin to pour out uncontrollably.

"I should say the same to you, Priscilla — I mean — 'Elizabeth Hubbard'," My arms suddenly cross and a slight smirk comes across my face. With this new symbiotic relationship, I can tell whoever Priscilla is now, she had once been a friend to my host._ _"Listen, I know I'm not the only one whose magic's starting to run dry. But if you step aside, I'm willing to forgive everything. I can fix this, for both of us."

Priscilla eyes me – us – skeptically. "And what if you're wrong, Delia? We were warned what this could do. What the consequences — "

For some reason, my host feels a jolt of anger so powerful that she has **** but to interrupt Priscilla. _" — Are you really trusting the words of a demon over me? Where was Al'Azar when you were burning at a stake? When you were begging those sham _Gods to save you, who stepped in to save you?" She – We – spat with an indescribable rage.

There's that name again. It would seem that these people know the same demon I've been tasked with hunting down. The only problem is... I'm not entirely sure they want him dead.

Priscilla looks as though she's about to say something to me, but stops. It's almost as if she feels guilty for even standing in our way in the first place. And then, she smiles.

Suddenly, something sharp strikes the back of my shoulder, causing me to stumble forward and collapse to the ground. I push down the urge to yell, and turn to examine my aching shoulder. Fuck. I hiss upon noticing the blood trailing down my shoulder and the charred flesh. The person I am inhabiting ignores the pain though. As I scan her thoughts, all I feel is a desire for ****.

My head tilts to reveal a third woman, covered from head to toe in a dark cloak. Her hand crackles with an otherworldly energy as she marches besides Priscilla. She watches my attempt to feebly stand, but says nothing. Priscilla then kneels besides me.

"Powerful, isn't she? I had hoped to introduce you to the members of my new coven under more polite circumstances, but **** times..." Priscilla steps back to dramatically reveal an enitr cadre of cloaked individuals, all of them eager to shock, incinerate, or obliterate me at a moment's notice. She then kneels back down again._ _"You are right though, I wouldn't be here today if it weren't for you. So allow me to return the favor: leave this place and never return. Or my coven will kill you."

My host, Delia, begins to speak, her voice hoarse from pain and anger. "That's always been your problem, Priscilla. You've never been able to do the dirty work yourself."

You know, I'm not sure if I can actually die in a dream – or a memory – but I'm not too eager to find out. Delia has no interest in surrendering though, and I'm quickly made aware of that fact when I feel lightning begin to charge through her — and my — fingertips.

A powerful blast of pure blue energy, enough to level a small city, escapes my palm and dashes towards Priscilla, striking her in the eye and leaving a bloody mess in the sand as she collapses. I can tell she's still alive(barely), but dazed and critically wounded.

The cloaked assistants attempt to make short work of me, but even in my weakened state, I am too powerful for them. No longer caught unaware, I manage to nullify or evade their attacks and return fire with my own, definitively proving that I am the superior lightcaster.

Just as my body begins to gets accustomed with this ethereal energy, I feel my soul being pushed from the body I'm inhabiting, and the memories that come with it.

As I ascend from the bloodied sands, my mind races with questions. And yet, I had no answer. The only thing I know for certain, was that I was not using or borrowing Delia's energy to fight. The power was all mine.

I jump up from my bed in a sweat. I glance out of the small windos near Jake's bed, revealing a world without sunlight. It's not even morning yet. Before I can fall back to sleep, I find a missed call from Monica earlier.

What was she doing up this late?

Instead of calling her again or sending a message, I switch my phone off and shut my eyes.

Classes begin early tomorrow. She can wait.

(AN: And with that, the first 'arc' of the story is over, and we can get started on the real experiences of college. Just a disclaimer, I plan to have the story set around 10 or so major plots, called arcs. Each arc will have its own mystery, or even a villain. Each arc will follow about 20 or 30 chapters, and will end only when the characters have either achieved their goals, or failed. I will also have many chapters not part of a specific arc, just to flesh out the world or write a chapter not based around a mystery. Filler, if you may. Chapter 1 - 13 do not count as an arc, hence the quotation marks. The first arc will began in chapter 14.)