I always believed being able to see into the astral plane was a blessing, when you can literally see into someone’s soul you have a powerful tool for achieving your goals. Now though, I realize it can also be a curse.
Oh spirits, I never should have looked at her aura. Those images have haunted my sleep ever since.
There was this cute yet nondescript girl in my Theory of Magic class. She was the type who seemed quiet and mousy on the surface, but you knew that she could be a real fireball if you convinced her to set aside her innocent facade.
I’d been watching her for a while, planning my approach. During that time I saw her with some — interesting — people. The type that any sane person tries to avoid. And on top of that, I’m pretty sure she was packing heat, both magically and physically.
This five-nothing coed looked completely harmless, her baggy clothing worked well at concealing her modest breasts and other features. You wouldn’t be surprised to see her discreetly carrying a taser for safety in the city sprawl. What you wouldn’t expect is for her to be openly wearing a holster with the type of pistol you’d see in an action movie.
Despite my interest, I put approaching her on hold. I kept watching her though, up until she disappeared after the incident. A lot of people disappeared that day, hardly surprising considering half the city and our local baseball team were obliterated. I’d written her off as one of the countless casualties and class felt meaningless without her there. Honestly, she was the primary reason I attended a class so far below my level.
But she came back!
Towards the end of the term I arrived in class one day to find her seated in her normal chair. She’d changed her hair, but otherwise looked more or less the same. Previously she wore her shoulder length dirty blonde hair loose or in a small ponytail. Certainly not stylish, but tasteful. Now it was more wild with her bangs hiding her face. It was still attractive, but in a dazed and confused sort of way.
I immediately knew she hadn’t survived unscathed. My lips curled into a smile at the thought that winning her over might require nothing more than playing the role of a knight offering aid. I immediately moved to welcome her back, but barely made it more than a couple of steps before I froze.
My smile instantly faded as I looked directly at her, behind her hair I saw the dull gleam of metal. She had gotten chromed up. It wasn’t something tasteful either, it was a blatantly obvious cyber eye. While a mage could make do with a limited amount of high quality enhancements, something like this was a huge mistake.
I couldn’t help it, I had to see the damage she’d done to her soul. I looked directly at her aura and promptly collapsed.
As soon as I opened myself to the astral plane, sweat beaded on my forehead. Flickering flames roughly formed the shape of her body, bright oranges and reds dancing before my eyes. Blinding flashes of white surged from within the inferno that was her soul, leaving dark shadows lingering behind.
Only they weren’t shadows. They were human looking figures trying to escape the fire. You could feel their pain and terror as they were devoured one by one. The figures kept appearing only to be continually dissolved by the flames.
Tearing my eyes from the nightmare before me, led me toward her face. Her cyber eye was a colorless void, like staring into a hole in which not even light could escape. The nothingness of her eye was slowly encroaching on the flames, leaving deathly looking tendrils of emptiness surrounded by purplish scars.
The worst part of all, the part which brought me to my knees, was when my gaze found hers. When the blindingly bright silver flame that was her living eye met my own, I instantly knew she could see through me, into my very core.
The last thing I remember before darkness overtook me was that as our eyes locked the devouring flames of her soul seemed to smile.
This was inspired by the Boston Lockdown Campaign for the Shadowrun RPG and takes place in a world with both advanced technology and magic.
This is the second entry in my “Fragments” series. The first can be found on medium here and I have plans for part three, but its a lot more complicated than either of the first two so I don’t know if or when it will actually be written.
Thanks for reading!
