[Slayers] “City of Woe, Book I: Here on the Edge”, Chapter 1 - Cave Diving
Disclaimer: Slayers belongs to Hajime Kanzaka. Stuff borrowed from Dungeons & Dragons belongs to Wizards of the Coast and the game's late creators (rest in peace, guys, and thanks~!). I own the plot and anything else you don’t recognize. Oh, and, Smokey was inspired by LOST. ;)
Author’s Note: This particular plot Gizka has been sitting in my brain for a while. Basically it’s a modern retelling of the Slayers anime. I borrowed a bunch of stuff from the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, such as the cosmology and Psionic abilities. Originally it was to be set in New York City, but, I have never lived there and have only visited once, so I was not entirely confident that I could accurately describe what it's like living there. I do, however, live in Austin, Texas, and have for a little over three years now, which is where the story now takes place. Everything about the city I mention in this story is something I have personally experienced or something I know about it from living here. For instance, Zel’s apartment is in a real complex. Seriously. I have friends who have a place there. :)
Also, I had to mess around with the composition of Zel’s chimera body for this. A friend of mine pointed out that golems are constructs, and thus don’t have DNA. A scientific (as opposed to mythic) chimera is defined as something with *DNA* from two or more different species. And, since this is an adaption of Slayers taking place in our world, I figured that using an Earth Elemental instead might work better ;). Also, I recall reading somewhere that the Blau Demons mentioned as being the other non-human element in Zel’s chimera body in Slayers canon were based mostly off of the Dark Elves, or Drow, of Norse Mythology, so I decided to use them instead as well ;).
Rules for reading: Firstly, this *is* a Lina/Zelgadis fic. This is *also* a ’Ship War free zone. If you ship Lina/Gourry, Lina/Xellos, Zelgadis/Amelia, or anything else that isn’t in this fic, don’t bitch about it. I ‘ship whatever I want to ship and there is nothing you can do to change my mind. Put up with it or get out. Secondly, I do not tolerate flames. Flamers will be IP Banned and reported to staff. Constructive critique is perfectly welcome, however.
That said, I hope those of you who decided to stick around enjoy the story. :)
- darkjediprinces
QUOTE KEY
Narration
“Speech”
Thoughts
Stressed or emphasized
“RAISED VOICE/SHOUTING”
ONOMATOPOEIA
Notes/Messages to characters
“Chanting/Foreign Language”
:Psicrystal communication:
Title: “City of Woe, Book I: Here on the Edge”
Author: darkjediprinces
Fandom: Slayers
Genre: High Fantasy/Urban Fantasy/Drama/Suspense/Romance/Comedy
Rating: R
Warnings: Gore, swearing, possibly some innuendo. ...Wait, "possibly"?! This is SLAYERS, of course there'll be innuendo!
Summary: Three years ago, Zelgadis Graywords, psion and private investigator, was investigating his parents' murders when he got on the bad side of the wrong man, leaving him traumatized and in the body straight out of the mythology books. He thought he was relatively safe when he fled New York City and settled in Austin, Texas. He soon discovers how wrong he was when his past comes back to haunt him and drags a supernaturally-unaware classmate into the whole mess in the process...
Pairings: Lina/Zelgadis, one-sided Amelia/Zelgadis
“City of Woe, Book I: Here on the Edge”
Chapter 1 - Cave Diving
“Open up your eyes
Save yourself from fading away now
Don’t let it go
Open up your eyes
See what you’ve become, don’t sacrifice
It’s truly the heart of everything”
- “The Heart of Everything”, Within Temptation
A blazing September sun beat down on me as I stood in the batter’s cage of a baseball field, waiting patiently for my contact to show. Unfortunately, that patience was beginning to wear thin. I’d been there for close to two hours; my legs had started cramping up, and the simple fact of where I was meant that the air felt even more excruciatingly hot than normal. Had I been a few cities-Hell, even a state-north, temperatures would’ve already started to drop into the mid to low 70’s as fall set in. Alas, I did not live in, say, the panhandle, or Oklahoma for that matter. I was, instead, in central Texas, in the middle of Hill Country, where the seasons of Autumn and Winter might as well not exist.
I thrust my hands into the pockets of the black hoodie I wore and began pacing back and forth behind home base, hoping to loosen up my muscles a bit and trying very hard to ignore the heat building up in my skin. I was only moderately successful in that last part. The hoodie, of course, didn’t help, and neither did the black fingerless gloves on my hands themselves, but both were a necessity. They were also the only such items I owned. Without them… Well, let’s just say that even accidentally brushing up against someone would be cause for alarm on their part. My skin was not normal human skin.
At long last, my client showed up, parking a dark grey Ford pickup along the curb closest to the field and locking it up before heading my way. “Mr. Graywords,” he greeted me, more formally than usual. “You must be boiling in that outfit.”
I fought back an urge to reply snappishly and sighed instead. “This is Austin,” I stated. “The weather is what it is, and I don’t have many options about this.” I tugged at the hood of my sweatshirt. “Can you show me where you saw them?”
Luke Madison, my client, nodded uncertainly. He was in his early 20’s, of average height, and wore his mousy brown hair to his shoulders. I’d first met him in a sociology class at Austin Community College two semesters previous. He was a smart kid, but he was also what people like me called a “straight”: he was not involved in the world of Supernatural. Or, he hadn’t been, until he’d spotted several slimy monsters of some kind in a small cave system two weeks ago.
“C’mon,” he said, beckoning to me. I followed him into a nearby thicket of trees, adjusting the strap of the long duffle bag on my shoulder. The shade provided by the trees was a small relief, and once we found the cave entrance, the cool, damp air within it was even more of a relief. Stupid heat… I’m not used to this kind of punishment…
Luke lifted the flashlight he’d brought with him and flicked it on, shining it ahead of us. “It’s pretty far in,” he told me. “You’re not claustrophobic, are you, Zel?” His tone wasn’t teasing; he sounded genuinely worried. He’d greeted me formally, but now he switched back to the nickname I usually let people call me in class. My full name-Zelgadis Graywords-is a bit of a mouthful.
“Nah,” I responded. “I actually kind of like caves.” To the extent that I was more comfortable surrounded entirely by rock and stone, but I didn’t add that part. I’ve never been much of an outdoorsman-especially considering I was born and raised in New York City-but Luke, on the other hand, spent most of his time outside. He’d been spelunking when he’d come across the monsters he’d told me about.
The cave’s surface was rather slippery, but both of us managed to keep our footing-Luke because of skill and myself because of a preternatural sense of balance. Finally, Luke held out a hand, signaling me to stop. I halted a few feet behind him, tensing slightly.
“Here,” he said quietly. He shone the flashlight in a corner of the chamber, swallowing nervously. The light fell on a shallow pool of water, and floating in that pool were five slimy, tentacled creatures, each about two feet long and sickly pink in colour.
My stomach did a backflip. I had been hoping they weren’t what I had suspected they were when Luke had described them too me. Unfortunately, they were exactly what I had thought they were.
I backed up a bit more and set down the duffle bag, unzipping it and withdrawing a bastard sword, its blade made of sharpened black crystal, from it. “Get back,” I told Luke. “They’re Larval Flayers, and they’ll eat your brain if they get the chance.”
“They’re zombies?”
I gave him a somewhat amused smile. “Not as such. They’re baby Mind Flayers. Mind Flayers, or Illithids, are a subterranean race of telepaths that feed off of grey matter. These guys must’ve escaped from a nearby breeding pool.”
“Breeding pool?” Luke echoed, sounding somewhat sickened. I didn’t blame him.
The Larval Flayers slid out of the pool and started crawling towards me. I drew the sword from its scabbard and waited for the first of them to get within a couple of feet of me. It sprang into the air once it had, launching itself at my head.
Good luck getting through my skull, I thought, before bringing my sword down to slice it cleanly in half. The next one lunged at Luke, who screamed and leapt back, trying to avoid it. Lovely.
The good thing about abilities of the mind is that nothing, not even brain-eating, baby Illithids, can react faster than the speed of thought. Less than a second after the Larval Flayer had leapt at Luke, I had manifested a cylindrical barrier of pure force around him. The Larval Flayer smacked into the barrier, sending a pulse of pale blue light across the barrier’s surface. It slid down the barrier’s surface almost comically, landing on the floor just in time to catch what amounted to a psionic slap-shot-hockey style-into the cave wall. A solid wall of telekinetic force met it a moment later, squashing the creature like an overlarge bug.
“Don’t move!” I shouted at Luke, somewhat short of breath. “I’ve put up a barrier field; you should be safe, but stay there!”
Luke swallowed and nodded. He had seen me work my psionics before. I certainly hadn’t intended him to see me manifesting, but he had anyway. It was part of the reason he’d come straight to me when he’d run into the Larval Flayers. Psions such as myself come in many different flavours, depending on their individual talents. I'm a Kineticist-a specialist at moving kinetic forces, although that’s a somewhat… redundant way of putting it. It’s especially useful in combat… like in today’s encounter.
The Larval Flayers seemed to sense the barrier’s presence and gave up on trying to get to Luke, instead heading in my direction. I skewered the next one to leap at me on the Deep Crystal blade of my sword, flinging it off and into one of the other walls in a smooth stroke. Three down, two to go.
The last two Larval Flayers inched towards me on the ground, deciding not to try jumping at me again. I watched both of them carefully, focusing my mind again for a final strike. I then manifested a giant, Monty Python-esque foot made of invisible force and brought it down on them. The comparison to a giant insect came to mind again as the foot flattened them.
Once I was certain all five were dead, I released the barrier around Luke. I closed my eyes and look a long deep breath, mentally counting to ten before holding it for a moment and then releasing it over the same amount of time: ten seconds in, ten seconds out. It was a calming breathing exercise I did every time I exerted myself or used my powers. It helped my mind get out of combat mode.
“Holy shit,” Luke said, eyes wide. “What did you do to them?”
Oh, right. The foot hadn’t actually been visible. I was not a Shaper, someone who specialized in making things out of ectoplasm. The waves of force I had used against the Larval Flayer that had jumped Luke had likewise been invisible.
“I squished them with the giant foot from Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” I answered with a wry smile on my face. “An invisible giant foot, but a giant foot nonetheless.”
“…Dude… that’s… kind of awesome!” Luke said, grinning.
I smiled, placing my sword back in its duffle bag. “It’s also tiring… give me a minute.” I took a few more deep, twenty-second breaths, brushing a few strands of hair out of my eyes as I lowered my head a bit. To Luke, they probably appeared blue-black. To me, they were wirey and metallic grey-violet. My disguise illusions worked on almost everyone except me, since I was the one who had created them. I took one last twenty-second breath and stood up again. “Okay. Let’s get out of here,” I said.
Luke nodded and followed me out of the cave. “So… those things… they’re the kids of these Mind Flayer things?”
“Yep.”
“So the Mind Flayers put them there?”
“Not… exactly,” I said carefully. “Larval Flayers are sort of… an accident, believe it or not. The Illithid ‘babies’-called Tadpoles-are usually implanted into living humanoids before they get to be more than a few inches long. That’s how the Mind Flayers reproduce. But sometimes the Tadpoles escape from their breeding pools before they’re implanted and run off. By the time the Illithids find them again, they’re too big to implant. Voila, Larval Flayers. We probably came across this group before the local Mind Flayers did.”
“Ew, gross.”
“Very,” I agreed. “A psionic such as myself could’ve summoned them too. I’ll find out.”
Luke took out his keys and unlocked his pickup, shuddering. “Thanks for the help. No way I could’ve dealt with that.”
“Not a problem. If you see anything else weird, let me know, okay?”
Luke nodded. “Sure thing. See you at ACC, yeah?”
I nodded, heading over to the dark blue Suzuki motorcycle parked in front of Luke’s pickup, straddling it and starting it up. “More than likely. Seeya.” Then I sped off towards home.
* * *
Home happened to be an apartment in downtown Austin, relatively close to Lady Bird Lake (formerly known as Town Lake, and actually the part of the Colorado River that runs through the city). The Austin City Lofts were actually a little more like condomidiums than apartments, but it was a place to live nonetheless.
I parked my motorcycle in the garage on the fourth floor, then took the elevator to the ninth level, where my apartment was located, and went inside, throwing my keys down on the shelf right beside the door. I shut the door behind me and locked up, went into my room, and tugged off the silver ring that held up the illusion of disguise I used to appear normal.
I am not, by any definition, normal. Three years ago a power-hungry and crazed Egoist-a Psion who specializes in manipulating the human body-had used his powers on me, turning my body into an amalgam of Drow, Human, and Earth Elemental. Scientifically speaking, I’m a Chimera: a combination of two or more different creatures. It's why I need the illusion ring, and why I keep most of my skin covered.
My reflection in the mirror atop the dresser caught my eye, and I looked away as quickly as I could, to avoid having to see it for longer than was strictly necessary. Then I left my bedroom and sat at my desk, thinking furiously.
I had a number of tasks before me. First, I had to find out how those Larval Flayers had gotten into a cave in southern Austin. Second, I had a whole slew of unexplained supernatural occurrences to investigate as well. Third, I had a meeting in the morning with one of my previous clients. And fourth, and on a completely unrelated train of thought, I had a class in the evening, and a test in that class to boot.
It would be a busy day tomorrow.
Author’s Note: This particular plot Gizka has been sitting in my brain for a while. Basically it’s a modern retelling of the Slayers anime. I borrowed a bunch of stuff from the Dungeons & Dragons roleplaying game, such as the cosmology and Psionic abilities. Originally it was to be set in New York City, but, I have never lived there and have only visited once, so I was not entirely confident that I could accurately describe what it's like living there. I do, however, live in Austin, Texas, and have for a little over three years now, which is where the story now takes place. Everything about the city I mention in this story is something I have personally experienced or something I know about it from living here. For instance, Zel’s apartment is in a real complex. Seriously. I have friends who have a place there. :)
Also, I had to mess around with the composition of Zel’s chimera body for this. A friend of mine pointed out that golems are constructs, and thus don’t have DNA. A scientific (as opposed to mythic) chimera is defined as something with *DNA* from two or more different species. And, since this is an adaption of Slayers taking place in our world, I figured that using an Earth Elemental instead might work better ;). Also, I recall reading somewhere that the Blau Demons mentioned as being the other non-human element in Zel’s chimera body in Slayers canon were based mostly off of the Dark Elves, or Drow, of Norse Mythology, so I decided to use them instead as well ;).
Rules for reading: Firstly, this *is* a Lina/Zelgadis fic. This is *also* a ’Ship War free zone. If you ship Lina/Gourry, Lina/Xellos, Zelgadis/Amelia, or anything else that isn’t in this fic, don’t bitch about it. I ‘ship whatever I want to ship and there is nothing you can do to change my mind. Put up with it or get out. Secondly, I do not tolerate flames. Flamers will be IP Banned and reported to staff. Constructive critique is perfectly welcome, however.
That said, I hope those of you who decided to stick around enjoy the story. :)
- darkjediprinces
QUOTE KEY
Narration
“Speech”
Thoughts
Stressed or emphasized
“RAISED VOICE/SHOUTING”
ONOMATOPOEIA
Notes/Messages to characters
“Chanting/Foreign Language”
:Psicrystal communication:
Title: “City of Woe, Book I: Here on the Edge”
Author: darkjediprinces
Fandom: Slayers
Genre: High Fantasy/Urban Fantasy/Drama/Suspense/Romance/Comedy
Rating: R
Warnings: Gore, swearing, possibly some innuendo. ...Wait, "possibly"?! This is SLAYERS, of course there'll be innuendo!
Summary: Three years ago, Zelgadis Graywords, psion and private investigator, was investigating his parents' murders when he got on the bad side of the wrong man, leaving him traumatized and in the body straight out of the mythology books. He thought he was relatively safe when he fled New York City and settled in Austin, Texas. He soon discovers how wrong he was when his past comes back to haunt him and drags a supernaturally-unaware classmate into the whole mess in the process...
Pairings: Lina/Zelgadis, one-sided Amelia/Zelgadis
“City of Woe, Book I: Here on the Edge”
Chapter 1 - Cave Diving
“Open up your eyes
Save yourself from fading away now
Don’t let it go
Open up your eyes
See what you’ve become, don’t sacrifice
It’s truly the heart of everything”
- “The Heart of Everything”, Within Temptation
A blazing September sun beat down on me as I stood in the batter’s cage of a baseball field, waiting patiently for my contact to show. Unfortunately, that patience was beginning to wear thin. I’d been there for close to two hours; my legs had started cramping up, and the simple fact of where I was meant that the air felt even more excruciatingly hot than normal. Had I been a few cities-Hell, even a state-north, temperatures would’ve already started to drop into the mid to low 70’s as fall set in. Alas, I did not live in, say, the panhandle, or Oklahoma for that matter. I was, instead, in central Texas, in the middle of Hill Country, where the seasons of Autumn and Winter might as well not exist.
I thrust my hands into the pockets of the black hoodie I wore and began pacing back and forth behind home base, hoping to loosen up my muscles a bit and trying very hard to ignore the heat building up in my skin. I was only moderately successful in that last part. The hoodie, of course, didn’t help, and neither did the black fingerless gloves on my hands themselves, but both were a necessity. They were also the only such items I owned. Without them… Well, let’s just say that even accidentally brushing up against someone would be cause for alarm on their part. My skin was not normal human skin.
At long last, my client showed up, parking a dark grey Ford pickup along the curb closest to the field and locking it up before heading my way. “Mr. Graywords,” he greeted me, more formally than usual. “You must be boiling in that outfit.”
I fought back an urge to reply snappishly and sighed instead. “This is Austin,” I stated. “The weather is what it is, and I don’t have many options about this.” I tugged at the hood of my sweatshirt. “Can you show me where you saw them?”
Luke Madison, my client, nodded uncertainly. He was in his early 20’s, of average height, and wore his mousy brown hair to his shoulders. I’d first met him in a sociology class at Austin Community College two semesters previous. He was a smart kid, but he was also what people like me called a “straight”: he was not involved in the world of Supernatural. Or, he hadn’t been, until he’d spotted several slimy monsters of some kind in a small cave system two weeks ago.
“C’mon,” he said, beckoning to me. I followed him into a nearby thicket of trees, adjusting the strap of the long duffle bag on my shoulder. The shade provided by the trees was a small relief, and once we found the cave entrance, the cool, damp air within it was even more of a relief. Stupid heat… I’m not used to this kind of punishment…
Luke lifted the flashlight he’d brought with him and flicked it on, shining it ahead of us. “It’s pretty far in,” he told me. “You’re not claustrophobic, are you, Zel?” His tone wasn’t teasing; he sounded genuinely worried. He’d greeted me formally, but now he switched back to the nickname I usually let people call me in class. My full name-Zelgadis Graywords-is a bit of a mouthful.
“Nah,” I responded. “I actually kind of like caves.” To the extent that I was more comfortable surrounded entirely by rock and stone, but I didn’t add that part. I’ve never been much of an outdoorsman-especially considering I was born and raised in New York City-but Luke, on the other hand, spent most of his time outside. He’d been spelunking when he’d come across the monsters he’d told me about.
The cave’s surface was rather slippery, but both of us managed to keep our footing-Luke because of skill and myself because of a preternatural sense of balance. Finally, Luke held out a hand, signaling me to stop. I halted a few feet behind him, tensing slightly.
“Here,” he said quietly. He shone the flashlight in a corner of the chamber, swallowing nervously. The light fell on a shallow pool of water, and floating in that pool were five slimy, tentacled creatures, each about two feet long and sickly pink in colour.
My stomach did a backflip. I had been hoping they weren’t what I had suspected they were when Luke had described them too me. Unfortunately, they were exactly what I had thought they were.
I backed up a bit more and set down the duffle bag, unzipping it and withdrawing a bastard sword, its blade made of sharpened black crystal, from it. “Get back,” I told Luke. “They’re Larval Flayers, and they’ll eat your brain if they get the chance.”
“They’re zombies?”
I gave him a somewhat amused smile. “Not as such. They’re baby Mind Flayers. Mind Flayers, or Illithids, are a subterranean race of telepaths that feed off of grey matter. These guys must’ve escaped from a nearby breeding pool.”
“Breeding pool?” Luke echoed, sounding somewhat sickened. I didn’t blame him.
The Larval Flayers slid out of the pool and started crawling towards me. I drew the sword from its scabbard and waited for the first of them to get within a couple of feet of me. It sprang into the air once it had, launching itself at my head.
Good luck getting through my skull, I thought, before bringing my sword down to slice it cleanly in half. The next one lunged at Luke, who screamed and leapt back, trying to avoid it. Lovely.
The good thing about abilities of the mind is that nothing, not even brain-eating, baby Illithids, can react faster than the speed of thought. Less than a second after the Larval Flayer had leapt at Luke, I had manifested a cylindrical barrier of pure force around him. The Larval Flayer smacked into the barrier, sending a pulse of pale blue light across the barrier’s surface. It slid down the barrier’s surface almost comically, landing on the floor just in time to catch what amounted to a psionic slap-shot-hockey style-into the cave wall. A solid wall of telekinetic force met it a moment later, squashing the creature like an overlarge bug.
“Don’t move!” I shouted at Luke, somewhat short of breath. “I’ve put up a barrier field; you should be safe, but stay there!”
Luke swallowed and nodded. He had seen me work my psionics before. I certainly hadn’t intended him to see me manifesting, but he had anyway. It was part of the reason he’d come straight to me when he’d run into the Larval Flayers. Psions such as myself come in many different flavours, depending on their individual talents. I'm a Kineticist-a specialist at moving kinetic forces, although that’s a somewhat… redundant way of putting it. It’s especially useful in combat… like in today’s encounter.
The Larval Flayers seemed to sense the barrier’s presence and gave up on trying to get to Luke, instead heading in my direction. I skewered the next one to leap at me on the Deep Crystal blade of my sword, flinging it off and into one of the other walls in a smooth stroke. Three down, two to go.
The last two Larval Flayers inched towards me on the ground, deciding not to try jumping at me again. I watched both of them carefully, focusing my mind again for a final strike. I then manifested a giant, Monty Python-esque foot made of invisible force and brought it down on them. The comparison to a giant insect came to mind again as the foot flattened them.
Once I was certain all five were dead, I released the barrier around Luke. I closed my eyes and look a long deep breath, mentally counting to ten before holding it for a moment and then releasing it over the same amount of time: ten seconds in, ten seconds out. It was a calming breathing exercise I did every time I exerted myself or used my powers. It helped my mind get out of combat mode.
“Holy shit,” Luke said, eyes wide. “What did you do to them?”
Oh, right. The foot hadn’t actually been visible. I was not a Shaper, someone who specialized in making things out of ectoplasm. The waves of force I had used against the Larval Flayer that had jumped Luke had likewise been invisible.
“I squished them with the giant foot from Monty Python’s Flying Circus,” I answered with a wry smile on my face. “An invisible giant foot, but a giant foot nonetheless.”
“…Dude… that’s… kind of awesome!” Luke said, grinning.
I smiled, placing my sword back in its duffle bag. “It’s also tiring… give me a minute.” I took a few more deep, twenty-second breaths, brushing a few strands of hair out of my eyes as I lowered my head a bit. To Luke, they probably appeared blue-black. To me, they were wirey and metallic grey-violet. My disguise illusions worked on almost everyone except me, since I was the one who had created them. I took one last twenty-second breath and stood up again. “Okay. Let’s get out of here,” I said.
Luke nodded and followed me out of the cave. “So… those things… they’re the kids of these Mind Flayer things?”
“Yep.”
“So the Mind Flayers put them there?”
“Not… exactly,” I said carefully. “Larval Flayers are sort of… an accident, believe it or not. The Illithid ‘babies’-called Tadpoles-are usually implanted into living humanoids before they get to be more than a few inches long. That’s how the Mind Flayers reproduce. But sometimes the Tadpoles escape from their breeding pools before they’re implanted and run off. By the time the Illithids find them again, they’re too big to implant. Voila, Larval Flayers. We probably came across this group before the local Mind Flayers did.”
“Ew, gross.”
“Very,” I agreed. “A psionic such as myself could’ve summoned them too. I’ll find out.”
Luke took out his keys and unlocked his pickup, shuddering. “Thanks for the help. No way I could’ve dealt with that.”
“Not a problem. If you see anything else weird, let me know, okay?”
Luke nodded. “Sure thing. See you at ACC, yeah?”
I nodded, heading over to the dark blue Suzuki motorcycle parked in front of Luke’s pickup, straddling it and starting it up. “More than likely. Seeya.” Then I sped off towards home.
* * *
Home happened to be an apartment in downtown Austin, relatively close to Lady Bird Lake (formerly known as Town Lake, and actually the part of the Colorado River that runs through the city). The Austin City Lofts were actually a little more like condomidiums than apartments, but it was a place to live nonetheless.
I parked my motorcycle in the garage on the fourth floor, then took the elevator to the ninth level, where my apartment was located, and went inside, throwing my keys down on the shelf right beside the door. I shut the door behind me and locked up, went into my room, and tugged off the silver ring that held up the illusion of disguise I used to appear normal.
I am not, by any definition, normal. Three years ago a power-hungry and crazed Egoist-a Psion who specializes in manipulating the human body-had used his powers on me, turning my body into an amalgam of Drow, Human, and Earth Elemental. Scientifically speaking, I’m a Chimera: a combination of two or more different creatures. It's why I need the illusion ring, and why I keep most of my skin covered.
My reflection in the mirror atop the dresser caught my eye, and I looked away as quickly as I could, to avoid having to see it for longer than was strictly necessary. Then I left my bedroom and sat at my desk, thinking furiously.
I had a number of tasks before me. First, I had to find out how those Larval Flayers had gotten into a cave in southern Austin. Second, I had a whole slew of unexplained supernatural occurrences to investigate as well. Third, I had a meeting in the morning with one of my previous clients. And fourth, and on a completely unrelated train of thought, I had a class in the evening, and a test in that class to boot.
It would be a busy day tomorrow.