ULTRAMagic Interval - Chapter 6
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Reynard was in and out after breakfast, with Jackson looking after Will and Sam. Despite being a wise-guy, Jackson’s smart-alec humor was appreciated, keeping the mood lively. Mary took the opportunity to tell Sam about some of Will’s past adventures with the Liger Brigade (albeit leaving out certain details here and there for obvious reasons). His track record seemed to be a mix of attracting too much attention to himself and getting into trouble. Sam took this as a sign that she needed to join one of the organizations, even if it was just a desk job. Will was a little leery and rightfully so, but she assured him she could handle it.
Following lunch, the four headed over to conference room 1A. Adrien, Buster, and Olivia were walking up and were glad to see that Sam and Will were doing alright. The room was spacious, with a long table in the center, flanked by a series of comfy-looking chairs. Decorative plants lined the wood-paneled walls and a large screen was on the left-hand wall at the far end. Reynard, Faustus, and Mayhem were already there, accompanied by a few other faces.
The man sitting across from Will was Trumna Wintergate. He had silver hair with purple streaks and golden eyes. Will liked him as he was a friendly, yet stoic leader. Close by was an effeminate, yet masculine man with pink hair in a lab coat. This was Bran Lommel, a scientist for M.A.I.G. He was good friends with Will. The last individual was a strange-looking entity who looked like he did not belong in their reality. Will was not sure who this person was.
Trumna cleared his throat once everything was settled. “Alright, it looks like we’re all here. Hello, everyone. I’d imagine you’re all familiar with me, but if not; I am Trumna Wintergate, current head of M.A.I.G. Before we get into this, to all of our guests, there is an envelope for each of you. These contain documentation detailing why you’re here and a keycard granting you special level 0 security clearance. Keep them on you at all times.”
“Obviously you’re not proper M.A.I.G. members, but we may need you to access the secret stuff here and there,” Reynard added.
“And it goes without saying that this is an official U.S. Military base,” Trumna cautioned. “Anything you learn going forward is on a need-to-know basis. Are we clear?” Everyone agreed. “Very good.”
Bran leaned forward in his seat. “For those that don’t know, I’m Bran, one of the scientists working on this case. Also hey, Will.”
“Hey, Bran. Sam, this is the one scientist I told you about…”
She gave him a cheeky look. “Ah yes, the male succubus one.”
Bran snickered a little. “He’s not joking. Male succubi don’t occur naturally, but can come into existence if the mother is a succubus. Case and point being me. My mother was one and my father was a human.”
Sam nodded, a little skeptical. “Oh, well you learn something new everyday. Nice to meet you, Bran.”
“Same… You know, Will, you really should bring Sam down to my quarters for a little private time between the three of us, you know what I’m saying?” It was clear he was bewitching them…
Trumna tapped his bundle of folders on the table loudly. “Bran, let’s stay focused. Also you’re currently on duty.”
He went to open his mouth, but stopped. “Sorry, sir. Later, you two…” Will and Sam were a little embarrassed, with the former scooting in a little.
Reynard shook his head. “Just narrowly avoided another demerit…” he quietly remarked.
“Anyways, next to Bran is ANTIMagic Fractal, our ACF representative,” Trumna continued.
Fractal stood up, looking even more bizarre than before. He was like a humanoid from another dimension. “Greetings, everyone. I am Sirius Fractal, a scientist for The Anomaly Containment Foundation. It is a pleasure to meet all of you.”
“Hold up, ACF?” Buster questioned. “Is that like an SCP kind of thing?”
“I know, right?” Sam replied. “Any info, Boyo?”
“I’ve heard the ACF mentioned before, but that’s it.”
Fractal chuckled. “To answer your question, Mr. Ash, we are indeed an organization dedicated to the containment of anomalous entities, objects, and events. You would not believe how many times that wiki comes close to actually guessing one of our anomalies. Now as for why I’m here, firstly the foundation is very interested in your group, Will. This is for positive reasons, of course.” Will and the others were not sure how to feel about that. “And secondly, the people of interest in this case are under investigation by The ACF. I’ll let Dr. Reynard explain the rest, however.”
“Thank you, Sirius,” Reynard said as he got up and went over to the display.
The lights dimmed as the screen turned on. Reynard fiddled with the remote for a second before a warning popped up on the screen. It stated that the following information was classified. A slide with a title stating “Operation: Briggs Family” and three images below it appeared. These were designated as “people of interest” and two were images of Bethany and Valentin. The third was of a German man that the group were unfamiliar with, who gave them all chills.
“This operation has actually been going on since the 60s, maybe even the 40s if you count our missions as the German Anomaly Investigation Group. It starts with Bethany Briggs, a poor girl who died in the Salem Witch Trials and was resurrected by that God-awful Death Knell Coven in the year 1800…”
Sam nodded. “Yup, Ellen’s told me about that.”
Reynard went to the next slide. “And she’s been very helpful in regards to us learning about Bethany and the Death Knells. Now let’s jump ahead to 1900, when Abraham Van Helsing and Professor Marcel Germaine encountered Bethany. They were able to banish her for a time, but she eventually came back. Note that this event may have actually led to the founding of The League, one of our greatest allies…”
Jackson audibly groaned. “Why does this stuff always take so long to explain?”
“Well don’t interrupt me and maybe it won’t take so long,” Reynard quipped back, with the others quietly chuckling and giggling. “Moving ahead to 1960, Zoltan Dracul and Amadeus Briggs sealed Bethany under… ‘under’ Mt. Steadyrock after she had a little jaunt where she was doing the poltergeist playbook and terrorizing people all throughout New Hampshire. The crypt isn’t actually under the mountain, rather in a cave on the side of the mountain.” He went to a new slide with a series of photos that unnerved everyone. “Bethany would have stayed asleep, had Valentin Karppinen not shown up a couple of months ago and undid all of the seals, setting her free.”
Will took a breath to try and relax his nerves. “That middle photo is terrifying…”
Reynard laughed. “Ah yes, the one where she decided to fly up to a camera 20 feet in the air and stare into it. Be careful, that one’s haunted.” The group could have sworn they saw Bethany blink.
Olivia also took a breath to ease her anxiety. “It looks like everything we speculated on is true then…”
Reynard nodded and moved on to the next slide. “Obviously we know who Valentin is, but why was unclear until our partner organization, GRENADIER, spotted this unpleasant individual…”
An image of the German man giving a speech popped up in the presentation. He was tall and built, with a foul glint in his eyes and a malicious smile that hinted at all that was bad in the world. The red and white arm band around his left arm said everything the group needed to know.
“...Here we have Sebastian Rainer Friedrich III, shorthand ‘Bastian’ or ‘Despot.’ We’ll call him the latter from here on out.”
Jackson noticed Will glancing towards him and nodded. “Yup, we’re dealing with a nazi son of a bi…”
“Interestingly Despot was never an official member of the German Nazi Party, but he was a notable public figure for them. What we as G.A.I.G. found out later was that he had ties to the Thule society and possibly several other German occult societies. He also managed the Death Knell coven and maintains ties with them to this day. In short, he’s as nasty and bad as they come.”
Adrien leaned forward to speak. “Now Will, if you remember what Valentin said during our last encounter, we believe Despot is orchestrating this whole situation. There also seems to be a lot of tension between the two.”
“Valentin grew up in Europe in the mid 30s, so we’re not sure why he’s working with Despot,” Reynard stated as he turned the lights back on.
“We believe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time” Trumna put in. “Our intel states he joined the Death Knell coven at some point and of course Despot was bound to rear his ugly mug eventually. And when you’re dealing with an authoritarian, it's hard to say no.”
“So what’s with the fixation on Will’s soul then?” Sam inquired.
“ULTRAMagic,” Mayhem answered. “Randalph believes Will has the potential for the trait.” This made Sam’s blood run cold, causing her to remain silent.
Fractal shifted through his folder for a certain paper. “ULTRAMagic is a special trait that allows one to strengthen their soul and learn any type of magic. There’s a guild in The Unlight that specializes in this trait and we believe one of their enemies may have gotten into contact with Despot, directing him to use Bethany as a surrogate for ULTRAMagic. It’s doubtful any of those foul villains could achieve the trait naturally.”
Will was putting two and two together. “So I can achieve this trait, right?”
“Randalph certainly thinks so,” Mayhem replied. “And he’s been around a great deal of them too.”
“Then I should go for it?”
“Well it’s a bit of a task to accomplish, sport,” Faustus pointed out.
“But I could learn any type of magic…”
“Ideally” Fractal answered.
Will started getting excited, his head filling with all sorts of possibilities to no end. Naturally Fractal told him more, especially in regards to The Unlight. There was an energy rising in the air as the others tried to keep Will calm. The only one who was not feeling it was Sam, who excused herself. She claimed she needed to use the bathroom, but in reality the tightest wad of anxiety she had ever felt settled down in her stomach.
Once inside the woman’s restroom, in a particularly empty part of the base, Sam went into a stall. She felt like she was going to vomit as painful memories from a different life flooded back into her mind. Struggling to hold back her tears, she dry heaved a couple of times. Sam then went to the sinks to splash some water on her face. In the mirror was her reflection, but it began to change. It still looked like her, but now it had dark purple hair and a warrior’s disposition. Sam knew who it was… her true self.
“Morrigan?”
“You honestly thought you could bury me that easily? So, are you going to help Boyo out or what?”
“No…”
“No?”
“NO.”
“What do you mean no? He needs your help now more than ever.”
“I’m not going to let what happened to Blood-Wraith happen to him…” Sam growled.
“Excuse me? I think that situation is a little different to this one…”
“Shut up…”
“They’re after Will’s potential…”
“Shut up.”
“He needs ULTRAMagic if he’s going to…”
“SHUT UP!!!” Sam screamed as she punched the mirror, shattering it without so much as a cut on her hand. Morrigan was in the other reflections, shaking her head.
“You’re going to have to tell them you broke that…”
Sam turned around and was startled. “Umuka! This is the women's restroom!”
He was not phased, as he knew she was going to try and change the subject. “Morrigan, Will needs your help. You’re his lover and have invaluable knowledge of ULTRAMagic and The Unlight. You may not have the trait yourself, but you can help keep him safe.”
“I have blood on my hands…” she started to sob. “I aided those nasty people, don’t you get it?”
Umuka looked at her hands. “That fist looks pretty clean to me. Did you really aid the cult? Or were you tricked by them?” Sam collapsed against the wall, fully crying. She cursed incoherently at multiple individuals that Umuka had heard of. Getting down beside her, he placed his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t give up now. You can rectify your past mistakes…”
“And what would you know about it?” She weakly snapped.
“Being Will’s emanation, I’ve done a little research. I even went to The Iron City. Sam, don’t run from your past, it’ll always catch up with you.”
She wiped her tears away. “Like it is now?”
Umuka smiled and sighed. “It’s your time to confront it. All it takes is one foot in front of the other and…”
She chuckled. “Please don’t turn this into a Rankin-Bass special.”
Umuka laughed and helped her up. “Hey, it’s a fantastic message that everyone needs to hear.”
Sam looked in the mirror. Morrigan was nodding encouragingly at her. “I guess you’re right… you know? I took on a human incarnation to leave my days as a general behind.”
“Well hey, take some time to reflect on your past. Just remember that Will needs you now more than ever and you need him.”
“I’ll…I’ll think about it.”
“I believe you in, Morrigan. Good luck” Umuka said as he vanished.
Sam was not going to admit she deliberately broke the mirror, so she made up a lie that she thought she saw Bethany. Returning to the conference room, the meeting had long since ended. Will, Buster, Olivia, Faustus, Mayhem, and Adrien stayed behind to wait for her. Sam went right to Will and gave him a big hug. He was about to ask if she was alright, but that hug said what he needed to know. While it was a relief that she appeared to be fine, everyone could tell something was bugging her. Sam was nowhere near out of the woods yet, but the future was looking bright for her.
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Reynard was in and out after breakfast, with Jackson looking after Will and Sam. Despite being a wise-guy, Jackson’s smart-alec humor was appreciated, keeping the mood lively. Mary took the opportunity to tell Sam about some of Will’s past adventures with the Liger Brigade (albeit leaving out certain details here and there for obvious reasons). His track record seemed to be a mix of attracting too much attention to himself and getting into trouble. Sam took this as a sign that she needed to join one of the organizations, even if it was just a desk job. Will was a little leery and rightfully so, but she assured him she could handle it.
Following lunch, the four headed over to conference room 1A. Adrien, Buster, and Olivia were walking up and were glad to see that Sam and Will were doing alright. The room was spacious, with a long table in the center, flanked by a series of comfy-looking chairs. Decorative plants lined the wood-paneled walls and a large screen was on the left-hand wall at the far end. Reynard, Faustus, and Mayhem were already there, accompanied by a few other faces.
The man sitting across from Will was Trumna Wintergate. He had silver hair with purple streaks and golden eyes. Will liked him as he was a friendly, yet stoic leader. Close by was an effeminate, yet masculine man with pink hair in a lab coat. This was Bran Lommel, a scientist for M.A.I.G. He was good friends with Will. The last individual was a strange-looking entity who looked like he did not belong in their reality. Will was not sure who this person was.
Trumna cleared his throat once everything was settled. “Alright, it looks like we’re all here. Hello, everyone. I’d imagine you’re all familiar with me, but if not; I am Trumna Wintergate, current head of M.A.I.G. Before we get into this, to all of our guests, there is an envelope for each of you. These contain documentation detailing why you’re here and a keycard granting you special level 0 security clearance. Keep them on you at all times.”
“Obviously you’re not proper M.A.I.G. members, but we may need you to access the secret stuff here and there,” Reynard added.
“And it goes without saying that this is an official U.S. Military base,” Trumna cautioned. “Anything you learn going forward is on a need-to-know basis. Are we clear?” Everyone agreed. “Very good.”
Bran leaned forward in his seat. “For those that don’t know, I’m Bran, one of the scientists working on this case. Also hey, Will.”
“Hey, Bran. Sam, this is the one scientist I told you about…”
She gave him a cheeky look. “Ah yes, the male succubus one.”
Bran snickered a little. “He’s not joking. Male succubi don’t occur naturally, but can come into existence if the mother is a succubus. Case and point being me. My mother was one and my father was a human.”
Sam nodded, a little skeptical. “Oh, well you learn something new everyday. Nice to meet you, Bran.”
“Same… You know, Will, you really should bring Sam down to my quarters for a little private time between the three of us, you know what I’m saying?” It was clear he was bewitching them…
Trumna tapped his bundle of folders on the table loudly. “Bran, let’s stay focused. Also you’re currently on duty.”
He went to open his mouth, but stopped. “Sorry, sir. Later, you two…” Will and Sam were a little embarrassed, with the former scooting in a little.
Reynard shook his head. “Just narrowly avoided another demerit…” he quietly remarked.
“Anyways, next to Bran is ANTIMagic Fractal, our ACF representative,” Trumna continued.
Fractal stood up, looking even more bizarre than before. He was like a humanoid from another dimension. “Greetings, everyone. I am Sirius Fractal, a scientist for The Anomaly Containment Foundation. It is a pleasure to meet all of you.”
“Hold up, ACF?” Buster questioned. “Is that like an SCP kind of thing?”
“I know, right?” Sam replied. “Any info, Boyo?”
“I’ve heard the ACF mentioned before, but that’s it.”
Fractal chuckled. “To answer your question, Mr. Ash, we are indeed an organization dedicated to the containment of anomalous entities, objects, and events. You would not believe how many times that wiki comes close to actually guessing one of our anomalies. Now as for why I’m here, firstly the foundation is very interested in your group, Will. This is for positive reasons, of course.” Will and the others were not sure how to feel about that. “And secondly, the people of interest in this case are under investigation by The ACF. I’ll let Dr. Reynard explain the rest, however.”
“Thank you, Sirius,” Reynard said as he got up and went over to the display.
The lights dimmed as the screen turned on. Reynard fiddled with the remote for a second before a warning popped up on the screen. It stated that the following information was classified. A slide with a title stating “Operation: Briggs Family” and three images below it appeared. These were designated as “people of interest” and two were images of Bethany and Valentin. The third was of a German man that the group were unfamiliar with, who gave them all chills.
“This operation has actually been going on since the 60s, maybe even the 40s if you count our missions as the German Anomaly Investigation Group. It starts with Bethany Briggs, a poor girl who died in the Salem Witch Trials and was resurrected by that God-awful Death Knell Coven in the year 1800…”
Sam nodded. “Yup, Ellen’s told me about that.”
Reynard went to the next slide. “And she’s been very helpful in regards to us learning about Bethany and the Death Knells. Now let’s jump ahead to 1900, when Abraham Van Helsing and Professor Marcel Germaine encountered Bethany. They were able to banish her for a time, but she eventually came back. Note that this event may have actually led to the founding of The League, one of our greatest allies…”
Jackson audibly groaned. “Why does this stuff always take so long to explain?”
“Well don’t interrupt me and maybe it won’t take so long,” Reynard quipped back, with the others quietly chuckling and giggling. “Moving ahead to 1960, Zoltan Dracul and Amadeus Briggs sealed Bethany under… ‘under’ Mt. Steadyrock after she had a little jaunt where she was doing the poltergeist playbook and terrorizing people all throughout New Hampshire. The crypt isn’t actually under the mountain, rather in a cave on the side of the mountain.” He went to a new slide with a series of photos that unnerved everyone. “Bethany would have stayed asleep, had Valentin Karppinen not shown up a couple of months ago and undid all of the seals, setting her free.”
Will took a breath to try and relax his nerves. “That middle photo is terrifying…”
Reynard laughed. “Ah yes, the one where she decided to fly up to a camera 20 feet in the air and stare into it. Be careful, that one’s haunted.” The group could have sworn they saw Bethany blink.
Olivia also took a breath to ease her anxiety. “It looks like everything we speculated on is true then…”
Reynard nodded and moved on to the next slide. “Obviously we know who Valentin is, but why was unclear until our partner organization, GRENADIER, spotted this unpleasant individual…”
An image of the German man giving a speech popped up in the presentation. He was tall and built, with a foul glint in his eyes and a malicious smile that hinted at all that was bad in the world. The red and white arm band around his left arm said everything the group needed to know.
“...Here we have Sebastian Rainer Friedrich III, shorthand ‘Bastian’ or ‘Despot.’ We’ll call him the latter from here on out.”
Jackson noticed Will glancing towards him and nodded. “Yup, we’re dealing with a nazi son of a bi…”
“Interestingly Despot was never an official member of the German Nazi Party, but he was a notable public figure for them. What we as G.A.I.G. found out later was that he had ties to the Thule society and possibly several other German occult societies. He also managed the Death Knell coven and maintains ties with them to this day. In short, he’s as nasty and bad as they come.”
Adrien leaned forward to speak. “Now Will, if you remember what Valentin said during our last encounter, we believe Despot is orchestrating this whole situation. There also seems to be a lot of tension between the two.”
“Valentin grew up in Europe in the mid 30s, so we’re not sure why he’s working with Despot,” Reynard stated as he turned the lights back on.
“We believe he was in the wrong place at the wrong time” Trumna put in. “Our intel states he joined the Death Knell coven at some point and of course Despot was bound to rear his ugly mug eventually. And when you’re dealing with an authoritarian, it's hard to say no.”
“So what’s with the fixation on Will’s soul then?” Sam inquired.
“ULTRAMagic,” Mayhem answered. “Randalph believes Will has the potential for the trait.” This made Sam’s blood run cold, causing her to remain silent.
Fractal shifted through his folder for a certain paper. “ULTRAMagic is a special trait that allows one to strengthen their soul and learn any type of magic. There’s a guild in The Unlight that specializes in this trait and we believe one of their enemies may have gotten into contact with Despot, directing him to use Bethany as a surrogate for ULTRAMagic. It’s doubtful any of those foul villains could achieve the trait naturally.”
Will was putting two and two together. “So I can achieve this trait, right?”
“Randalph certainly thinks so,” Mayhem replied. “And he’s been around a great deal of them too.”
“Then I should go for it?”
“Well it’s a bit of a task to accomplish, sport,” Faustus pointed out.
“But I could learn any type of magic…”
“Ideally” Fractal answered.
Will started getting excited, his head filling with all sorts of possibilities to no end. Naturally Fractal told him more, especially in regards to The Unlight. There was an energy rising in the air as the others tried to keep Will calm. The only one who was not feeling it was Sam, who excused herself. She claimed she needed to use the bathroom, but in reality the tightest wad of anxiety she had ever felt settled down in her stomach.
Once inside the woman’s restroom, in a particularly empty part of the base, Sam went into a stall. She felt like she was going to vomit as painful memories from a different life flooded back into her mind. Struggling to hold back her tears, she dry heaved a couple of times. Sam then went to the sinks to splash some water on her face. In the mirror was her reflection, but it began to change. It still looked like her, but now it had dark purple hair and a warrior’s disposition. Sam knew who it was… her true self.
“Morrigan?”
“You honestly thought you could bury me that easily? So, are you going to help Boyo out or what?”
“No…”
“No?”
“NO.”
“What do you mean no? He needs your help now more than ever.”
“I’m not going to let what happened to Blood-Wraith happen to him…” Sam growled.
“Excuse me? I think that situation is a little different to this one…”
“Shut up…”
“They’re after Will’s potential…”
“Shut up.”
“He needs ULTRAMagic if he’s going to…”
“SHUT UP!!!” Sam screamed as she punched the mirror, shattering it without so much as a cut on her hand. Morrigan was in the other reflections, shaking her head.
“You’re going to have to tell them you broke that…”
Sam turned around and was startled. “Umuka! This is the women's restroom!”
He was not phased, as he knew she was going to try and change the subject. “Morrigan, Will needs your help. You’re his lover and have invaluable knowledge of ULTRAMagic and The Unlight. You may not have the trait yourself, but you can help keep him safe.”
“I have blood on my hands…” she started to sob. “I aided those nasty people, don’t you get it?”
Umuka looked at her hands. “That fist looks pretty clean to me. Did you really aid the cult? Or were you tricked by them?” Sam collapsed against the wall, fully crying. She cursed incoherently at multiple individuals that Umuka had heard of. Getting down beside her, he placed his hand on her shoulder. “Don’t give up now. You can rectify your past mistakes…”
“And what would you know about it?” She weakly snapped.
“Being Will’s emanation, I’ve done a little research. I even went to The Iron City. Sam, don’t run from your past, it’ll always catch up with you.”
She wiped her tears away. “Like it is now?”
Umuka smiled and sighed. “It’s your time to confront it. All it takes is one foot in front of the other and…”
She chuckled. “Please don’t turn this into a Rankin-Bass special.”
Umuka laughed and helped her up. “Hey, it’s a fantastic message that everyone needs to hear.”
Sam looked in the mirror. Morrigan was nodding encouragingly at her. “I guess you’re right… you know? I took on a human incarnation to leave my days as a general behind.”
“Well hey, take some time to reflect on your past. Just remember that Will needs you now more than ever and you need him.”
“I’ll…I’ll think about it.”
“I believe you in, Morrigan. Good luck” Umuka said as he vanished.
Sam was not going to admit she deliberately broke the mirror, so she made up a lie that she thought she saw Bethany. Returning to the conference room, the meeting had long since ended. Will, Buster, Olivia, Faustus, Mayhem, and Adrien stayed behind to wait for her. Sam went right to Will and gave him a big hug. He was about to ask if she was alright, but that hug said what he needed to know. While it was a relief that she appeared to be fine, everyone could tell something was bugging her. Sam was nowhere near out of the woods yet, but the future was looking bright for her.
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