Expansion of the New Warlock's Mind

Looking around, I find myself standing in a dark hallway. Fire appears around me in a ring of orbs that light my path. I can feel energy reverberating in the air, but I am unsure of where it is coming from. I keep walking forward until I reach a dead end and the energy is incredibly strong all around me. I look around to try and figure out why the girl had led me down here if there was nowhere for me to go. While I'm looking around trying to figure things out, I notice a book sitting on the ground next to the wall. Considering that I need time to "recharge" after that last display of telekinetic prowess, I decide to sit down and read the book. I just nonchalantly open the book and it falls on a story. I begin reading and the story is actually very interesting.

As I keep reading, I find that it is about a young warlock, a male witch, who is trying to discover his path in life. During the part of the book that I am reading, he has a hunter after him who is faster and stronger than he is and he has to deal with this threat. He is trying to figure out how to overcome this enemy who is killing off warlocks. He stumbles upon a lost library that has tomes in numerous languages from several eras and nations it would seem. He goes through tome after tome searching from something within them that would help him in this trial. This warlock feels a sharp pain which meant that another warlock had been killed. "I curse you and your bloodline!" He said aloud though no one could hear him, but himself... it is then that it hits him. He scours the room in search of his weapon. The young warlock could control his powers with his own powers so incantations were not necessary for him, he knew. The search ends when he finds a scroll that in heavy detail, explains the situation how he should go about protecting himself in this scenario. "Let the overconfidence in the strength of my enemy be their downfall when they face me. I shall curse them to brittle bones and constricted lungs. I shall curse them to feebleness of the mind and hearts that quiver at the challenge. I shall no longer be their prey, but I shall become their predator! Come hunter, let me show you the true power of an Key Alicia Warlock!" The young warlock's eyes turn a dark, stormy grey and he smiles as he sees the reflection in an encased shell. He touches a stick and watches as it begins to wither away. I put down the tome for a while as I ponder the possibility of me being able to manipulate an opponent in a similar manner. I focus my thoughts on such an action...

487 words

To be continued...

As my thoughts focus on the prospect of cursing an enemy, I am unable to truly visualize anyone and then the beautiful stranger startles me and my instincts kick in to weaken her before she can harm me. She clutches at her abdomen before I feel my body lift into the air and slam against the wall. Suddenly, I feel the true extent of such a power as my skin begins to feel hotter and clammier before my nerves become overly sensitive. The combination of the two feelings consumes my thoughts as I search to numb the pain. My vision blurs yet my hearing sharpens then deafens repeatedly. My lungs feel like there is smoke inside of them hindering my breathing. I try to speak out in pain, but nothing is able to escape my lips. The nerves in my back are next to feel a great deal of pain as it is pressed against the wall. I swear this feels like hooks being placed into my back siphoning the energy out of my body. The pain seems to get stronger and stronger before I feel a surge of energy and I move off of the wall and float in the air looking at the woman. My voice is different as I look at her... deeper, less human... less like, "You will be most appealing to me, woman." Oh no... I feel my arm raise to her and lift her into the air. Dark laughter expels the smoke from my lungs and it surrounds her. I push her away with my powers and my arms fold across my chest. She is flung into the two walls without me having to use my hands. Wait... am I truly controlling all of this with my thoughts?? I am legitimately confused by all of this, but I find that I like it... I mean I really like it. The most obvious phenomenon of this situation comes to my attention now though as I look down at the ground... I can fly?! Oh this is nice. I completely ignore the woman that I had slammed into the wall and done so in a manner that I am completely unsure of how I accomplished that. My focus shifts completely to the fact that I can fly. A new problem hits me though... how do I get back down to the ground? I realize that she lifted me into the air and suddenly when this auto-pilot feeling came over me. I figure out how to move horizontally easy enough, but vertical movement is not that easy. I try to pull the scroll to me, but the woman knocks it away from me and pulls it to her.

She tells me that I must learn to control my powers if I plan to use them. "Give me the scroll!" She laughs and tells me to come and get it from her. I cut my eyes at her as she knows that I can't control my powers enough to move that way as I've only moved left and right. She begins to lecture me, "You can't do it, can you? Your mind is far stronger than you can control, isn't it? You have figured out how to access the powers of the Whispering Cloud, but you don't know what you're doing. That's why I haven't killed you. I bet if I hit you with an attack, you'll be able to learn how to do it. The problem is that you'll hurt yourself." She falls silent and I notice energy form in her hand and the winds seem to pick up around her. Since I am in the air, it doesn't affect me as much, but I realize that what she had just said is true. Energy begins to swirl around my hand until a small ball begins to form. A dark smile forms on my face and my happiness at the discovery of a new power allows me to discard the smirk that slides onto her face. She thinks I can't control my powers... let me show her just how strong I truly am! As the ball forms, she hurls hers at me and I try to project it at her, but I realize that I can't control this energy in the same way that I can control my telekinesis or my fire and I roar out in pain as my powers backfires on me and I gash a hole thru my hand. My chest is cut up as well as her attack hits me immediately after. I fall out of the air hitting the ground hard and writhing in added pain from the impact of my crash as well as the two attacks. She walks over and looks at me as I try to recover and she asks me what I did wrong. I bark at her, "I don't know!" She kneels down next to me and I try to focus my thoughts to push her away from me and she chuckles at me. "You're too focused on the pain to deal with the protecting yourself. So I could do whatever I want to you and you can't do anything because you use power without being able to control it." She mounts me and the vortex ball begins to form in her hand again. The darkness in my eyes locks on her as I try to force the pain away. I bell out in pain, "Away!" She is pushed off of me, but as a result, my torso starts bleeding more rapidly and I gasp in pain. My right hand is the one that's damaged from the failed attempt at using the vortex power, so my left hand tries to make sure that I keep pressure on the wounds, but there are too many. Looking at her, she asks me if I have had enough. I remain silent in defiance though the truth is written clearly across my face. I am in so much pain right now. She places her left hand on my torso and the pain slowly subsides as the distant feeling fades away and my eyes bulge at the excruciating pain that was actually being numbed slightly. I feel myself fading to darkness, but she keeps me awake.

The beautiful stranger tells me that I must first truly understand pain so that I can help protect others from it. I had not spoken of that. She speaks into my mind. "I will teach you how to protect your mind from invasion like this, Psyre. I am here to help you even if it hurts like hell. You must understand hell if you wish to battle those from the dark realm." A tingling sensation covers my body as she closes her eyes and I think she is actually using her mind to heal me. She, in a manner that is quickly annoying me, speaks telepathically, "I am actually controlling your mind's locked ability to heal your body by itself. The mind can do wondrous things, Psyre, but you have to be able to control it. Let's take a walk and talk for a bit. There are some things that you need to learn about our coven." My glazed eyes look at her in confusion before they slowly close on their own.

When I reopen my eyes, I am at the beach of the sea near Northern Heights. I am alone, but I feel someone else and she materializes. "Allow me to finally introduce myself properly. I am Carmina, Guardian of this Coven. The Goddess has blessed me with the ability to use the offensive and defensive powers of the mind, but also to communicate. I have yet to fully decipher what the Goddess has planned for you, but your ability to learn so quickly and the amount of power that you seem to possess suggests that you are to play an integral part. First, you are "possessed" by a Seer Spirit. As seers we have the ability to affect the physical world with our minds. As you grow, I will help you develop your powers so that you can utilize them without hurting yourself. Your spirit is unique to say the least. I don't recall an instance where two spirits have melded together to form an "offspring spirit". Still, the spirit is young and as such, he can learn quickly, but cannot fully understand what it is that he has learned with you. You must be careful of sensations that you feel because they are new for him just as they are new for you. When the two of you learn true symbiosis, the spirit will become an amplification of your mind. At that point, you will be able to do incredible things, Psyre.

"You are probably curious about our coven and why you were brought here and subjected to all of this. The Goddess loves peace and tranquility because it is in peace that the mind is at ease and can create wonders that those without mental sight can only dream about. Still, peace cannot be had with the dark ones trying so hard to stifle the light. Apparently, you are to be the Light within the Darkness. You have seen what I am telling you about firsthand and if that portal had've been completed, so many more demons would have been able to enter this realm. We fight against that, but we are small in number and we lack a leader. The Avatar is not permitted to engage in combat unless it is in defense of the Coven's home. You know what it is like to lead people and to organize a group of people for a common goal."

I interrupt her, "I'm not a fan of violence. I prefer to think through problems and solve them that way. Also, I help the wealthy and corporations to maneuver real estate and assets in order to increase their wealth and/or their position within a particular market." She nods to me and responds, "I know. That knowledge will serve as the base of your ability to do what we would ask of you and it is still a lucrative business. You are tired of being controlled by your family. You want more out of life. You love excitement... let me show you more of what I am asking. Would you fly with me for a bit?" I look at her and she tells me that if I remove my worrying about not being able to do something and focus on how I can do it, then my mind can control anything else. I look at her quizzically and begin to analyze the obstacle. What would I need to allow my body to move off of the ground and into the sky? I would need to be lighter. How do I make myself lighter? I decide that it wouldn't be the best idea to try and effect the physical makeup of my body considering how the vortex ball went. Wait... she said that she was controlling my mind to heal my body... so my mind has control over my body... so if I want my body to be light like a feather on the wind, I need to... my eyes close as I focus my thoughts on my body being extremely light in weight. Next, I think about my telekinesis and being able to move objects and people with my thoughts, so I decide to try moving myself. I lift off of the ground and hover over the ground for a while before I look up at her with a smile of joyous accomplishment. She nods to me and waves for me to move up to her. I move slowly kind of like I'm riding an escalator or elevator up to her.

With a proud smile on her face, she speaks, "Good job. I think I am beginning to understand the Goddess' intentions for you. You are not meant to be a warrior per say, but more so, you can see obstacles and quickly formulate ways to overcome them. We are going to try and exercise. You will need to keep yourself in the air while we play chess. Here is the rule, every piece must be moved using your mind. Are you ready?" I nod to her and a rather large and ornate chess board. She asks if I wish to go first and I shake my head and tell her that a gentleman lets ladies go first. She giggles and we begin. Now I enjoy chess, but it isn't as fun as normal, when you have to make sure that you don't fall out of the sky while making decisions and moves. She also uses her womanly wiles to try and distract me as well. We also discuss the history of the coven and she teaches me more about the Goddess and her teachings. The exercise forces my mind to divert its attention and energy into several different avenues while trying to strategize against a skilled opponent. The first three games, I find myself having quite a bit of trouble focusing and while I am able to regroup and force a stalemate in the second game after losing the first and then beat her in the third game, this is extremely difficult to accomplish. She asks me next if I would like to learn how to control the Cyclone Cutter and I realize that it is the vortex ball technique and I nod to her. "Prove it." is her reply. I try to figure out how I can prove this and I look down at my right hand that is bandaged. I remove the bandage without looking down at the wound, but instead I focus my sights on her. I feel the flow of psychic energy around me and slowly the energy is drawn to my right hand. I focus my sights on a large rock on the beach below and the energy gathers near the rock and grows from the size of a baseball to a medium-sized orb before it condenses creating the true vortex and the rock is ripped apart. She smiles and I thank her. She hadn't said anything, but I could feel her guiding my thoughts. The proof I assume was my willingness to open my mind to her own. I ask her how she was able to create the vortex orb in her hand and she tells me that it's all a matter of control.

"Psyre, do understand that our offensive strength requires no added motion at all. You are simply manipulate your environment using your mind. The same way that i am doing for you now. This ability is a perfected form of the Mystify technique. You are so entrusted in my mind's care that you feel none of the pain that your body is overcoming while we work on it together. With this ability, you can lower the guard of an adversary as they will view you as an ally or you can even feign weakness to make them overconfident and when they have dropped their guard for that reason, you can strike and overwhelm them. I will help you improve this ability later. Your body is healed, so it is time for you to wake up now."

I look at her as I really am comfortable just as I am. I am learning so much and improving my control over these new abilities, plus she has been teaching me about the Coven, but she releases the illusion and my eyes open. My hand is completely healed as is my torso with no signs of scarring or damage and she tells me that if I want, she can ask the Avatar to teach me how to use my mind for healing. I tell her that for now, I need to improve my control over the abilities that I have now. She tells me that I'm learning so quickly. "It's a gift... so long as I don't allow it to become a curse. Thank you for teaching me that as well, Carmina. I will do it." She looks at me and tells me to be sure about this before I make my decision. I tell her that I am sure. "I don't know if your Goddess is truly responsible for my abilities or not, but I do know that there are dark forces and creatures out there that mean to bring great misfortune about this city that I love so dearly. There are people that I care about as well, so if there are factions that are willing to protect our realm from the Darkness then I will be the Light to guide them. Give me a couple of weeks and I will get situated... PsiCoven Strategic Consulting will be the name that we give to that Light. We will handle business strategic consultant work to ensure a steady income stream until we are able to provide aid to Division 12 or one of the other factions that specialize in these dealings. We will also need some workers to help run the office. She tells me that the Coven all understand and enjoy technology. Nodding to her, I tell her that I will take care of the capital required for this venture and she agrees. She thanks me and I tell her that this is merely the beginning for us.

We turn to leave and when we come to the planks again, she asks me if I need to use them still and I knock them back down into the pit and start walking across. The Wisp power had become passive and I test things out and find that I can hover and fly without any effort. I look at her and she taps her temple to let me know that my mind's scope of control is expanding. I smile as I realize just how much I will be capable of soon enough. I look at the door and she tells me that when I truly believe in the power of my own mind, I will not care about doors or physical barriers as they will mean nothing to me. "For now though..." She tells me to place my hand on a particular circle on the wall and the wall vanishes for me to pass through it. Heading back upstairs, we sit down to have breakfast and the younger girl looks at my eyes closely and walks over to me. I catch the vase that she knocks over and set it back in place gently. She stands in front of me and grasps my head within her hands and smiles. Her eyes turn completely translucent (Vin Diesel from Chronicles of Riddick and Pitch Black) and suddenly, my eyes do the same. The only reason I know this is because everything looks so much different all of a sudden and it is like I can see where I should not see. The initial change is a shock that nearly causes me to panic, but the young girl starts singing to me. She tells me that I must focus my eyes and I try, but this does not work the way it should. She shakes her head at me. "This is not a battle, but true sight. If you are what Carmina thinks you are, then this should not be difficult for you." Her voice is very wispy and she asks me what is in the room that I slept in on the bed right now. My head tilts up and a sharp pain pierces my mind as I find that I can see through walls. My nose starts bleeding and Carmina tells her that my gifts have not developed to that of the young girl's yet. My eyes turn back to normal and she tells me that when my mind is stronger, I will be more comfortable with my sight.

"Until you are, I will teach you the way I learned when I was little." She tells me to position my hands like I'm holding a basketball. A small orb of psychic energy forms between my hands and I smile as the feeling is very peculiar but also very comforting. She tells me to focus my thoughts on where I want to see more than what I want to see. I focus on the bedroom and the psychic vortex shows me the bedroom as if I'm standing there looking around. I notice some clothes on the bed and the young teenage girl giggles at me. "You'll get better with it. You didn't pass out so she wasn't wrong about you. Most people lose consciousness the first time they try that. You just got a nosebleed. If you are going to be a Strategist, you will certainly need the ability of distant sight or as I like to call it, Crystalvision." Carmina snickers and informs me, "She would call it that since her name is Crystal." I tell young Crystal that I like it and I will use that name for the power as well. She smiles and I start bringing the food over to the table telekinetically. Crystal looks at Carmina and smiles happily. Carmina decides to test my control over my telekinesis powers and suddenly I feel a heightened sense with that power as she starts moving objects behind me and I am able to move them back without viewing them. After a few minutes of playing around, my new suit and clothes floats down the stairs and is placed next to me. Crystal is thoroughly impressed. Carmina looks at me in surprise and I disperse food to all of the plates. After I am done serving the food, I inadvertently cause the table and our chairs to rise as well. Carmina notices that I am shaking slightly, so she reaches over and caresses my cheek to draw my eyes to hers in order to relax my mind. Apparently, my excitement about my ability to move things so easily with my mind had caused some sort of adrenaline rush for my mind. "There is still more that I have to be cautious about I see." With my mind relaxed and focused on normal thoughts, we enjoy a delicious meal together.

487 + 3900 = 4387 words
-750 for Curse (honed)
-750 for Crystalvision (honed)
-2500 for Telekinesis (Perfected)

+387 to EXP = 2921
+4387 to Path WC = 27,889 (Checkpoint 1 reached)