Stone Cold NV: World of Sin, Book 1

by J. A. X. Mikesell

  Follow the light, they told me.

  A small orb of jade mist formed in front of me and lit up with a faint glow. It floated just above the ground and started to move towards my right. I briefly hesitated before following its lead, noticing that there were some bigger cylindrical objects it was moving around.

  Am I outside? I thought. Why is it this dark? Shouldn't there be a little light from stars? Or the moon? Maybe the leaves on these trees are just blocking it all out. Does Vegas have a forest?

  The orb abruptly stopped at the base of one of the trees, forcing me to stop. I looked around, trying to see if there was anything else around, but didn't see anything.

  “Hello?” I called out, with no response.

  The orb started rising until it was a few feet above my head, then brightened to show that I was in the midst of a cluster of the giant cylindrical objects I had thought were trees.

  Are these spiral staircases? In the middle of nowhere? I thought.

  Moving closer, I began looking closely at one of them and saw that while it looked like a spiral staircase, I wouldn’t be able to climb them unless I used it like a ladder.

  “Hello?” I shouted, “What am I doing here? Who are you?”

  You’ve begun your trial to judge your worthiness of keeping your anima and the title of Master Mentalist. The voices told me. You have chosen to decipher the path of unlocking the magic for a Madgie to Shift, a worthy task. If completed and successful, you will certainly earn the title. Your anima awaits above, she will be there to guide you in your trial. If you fail, she will return to the void to await her true Master Mentalist.

  “This is my trial?” I asked, panicked. “I thought it would have been something simpler.”

  Simple trials are not for a Master to worry about. A true Master must prove they are able to conquer a great task that may benefit them greatly, along with those around them. The voices replied. Now, hurry. Before your time runs out and you lose your anima.

  I looked around at all the tall objects, trying to figure out what they were.

  “Well, are you going to just stand there gawking? Or are you going to do your job and get your butt up here so we can figure this out?” A new voice called down from above.

  My head snapped upward, and I saw a dark bird with long tail feathers sitting in one of the objects, staring down at me.

  “Are you my anima?” I asked.

  “Oh look, we have a genius here.” The bird said, seeming to roll its eyes. “Do you see any other animal types around here? The voices did tell you I was waiting above, did they not?”

  “You know, sarcasm doesn’t really suit you.” I said as I started climbing the object like a ladder. “I’ve obviously never done this before, and I only just learned that there are such things as Masters in life.”

  “I don’t have all day for idle chit chat, Corsanna. Let’s get this done. I want to know if I’m going to be able to stretch my wings and hatch yet, or if I have to go back to the void and sit around for another few hundred years again and nap.”

  “I’m coming, just give me a minute.” I told it irritatedly.

  I finished climbing the ladder and sat down on one of the rungs close to where the bird was sitting, straddling the rung so I could focus more on the bird.

  “You’re a phoenix.” I said surprised. “I thought you guys were extinct.”

  “Technically we are, the free phoenixes died many years ago. Just like the Dodo birds. But there are a few of us left that chose to become an anima for a future Madgie. So we were sent to the void to await their birth and coming into their full powers.” It replied.

  “I see. That must have been a hard decision.” I replied.

  “It’s been a long time, I don’t exactly remember why I did it.” It said. “But let’s get back to the task at hand. What was your trial again? I didn’t hear it all.”

  “Apparently I chose the path of learning to decipher the way for a Madgie to be able to tap into the magic a Shifter uses and allow us to Shift as well.” I told it. “But I’m not sure what we’re doing here, in this weird forest. I was just in a warehouse attempting to figure that out when I must have passed out.”

  “What were you doing when you were trying to figure it out?” The bird asked.

  “Well, I had attempted meditating, and chanting, and doing both together. Then I figured I would need a focusing object and found a raccoon in the warehouse with me that I was going to try to use as the focus object.” I said, thinking of what happened before I appeared in the forest. “I was holding it and feeding it a sandwich, then it scratched me and I must have jumped and scared it off. Then I think I passed out and woke up here.”

  “I see, and do you still think that you need to meditate?” The bird asked.

  “I believe that will be a part of it. But I would still need a focusing object. Either the real animal, or just some of its fur, or maybe something carved like it.” I replied.

  “Ok, do you have the fur or something carved like a raccoon?” It asked.

  “No, I never thought to have a carving of a raccoon with me, and I don’t think it left any hair on me when it jumped off my lap and ran away.” I reasoned out.

  “But you believe that you still need something from the animal, or that looks like it?”

  “Well, yeah. Just meditating didn’t do anything. The chanting only gave me a headache.” I said. “So I’m sure I would need something from the animal or that looks like the animal in order to unlock the secret of the Shift.”

  “So maybe a part of its DNA would work?” The bird asked.

  “Possibly, as long as it came directly from the animal itself then…” My words cut off and I looked around at the tall objects around, and the one I was sitting in.

  “DNA. That’s it!” I exclaimed. “I’m not a Shifter so I don’t have any animal DNA in my blood, I would need to have a little of their DNA in order to Shift.”

  “Good connection. Now what will you do?” The bird asked.

  “I would need to figure out how to get some DNA from it before I could do anything else.” I said slowly. “Unless…”

  I held up my hand and looked at where the raccoon had scratched me, seeing that the wound was still fresh and had a little blood welling up.

  “I think it had licked its paw before it scratched me. So I should have some DNA in my hand right now.” I said excitedly. “But how would I use it?”

  “The only thing I know of DNA is from my last Master. She had lectured a class ages ago on how DNA has some dormant traits that will never activate in the body and therefore removing those dormant strands wouldn’t cause any injuries to the individual.” The bird said, seeming to shrug. “Maybe try something like that.”

  I looked at the strand I was sitting in and studied what I had thought were the rungs of a ladder. At the ends I could see that most of them were fully embedded in the sides, and some were partially embedded or slightly corroded looking.

  “Do you think these are the dormant strands?” I asked, pointing the corroded sections out.

  “Possibly, I never really heard more to that lecture. I had a task I was given and had only come in to bring her news on that when I heard that portion.” The bird said. “Try seeing if you can pull it out or something.”

  I leaned over to the strand next to me so I wouldn’t possibly break the one I was on and fall, then fiddled with one of the corroded sections, trying to pull it out. The most I could do was shift it slightly in one direction or another. Hooking my arms around the side, I put both hands on it this time and tried again. After it shifted in one direction, it hit and got stuck, causing my hands to slide along it. The scratch I got from the raccoon opened up further and some of my blood streaked over the bar.

  “Ouch.” I muttered. “I need to get this cleaned and dried up before I try again. It’s just going to keep slipping.”

  I went to get fully back on the strand that I was sitting on when the corroded bar I had been fiddling with
flashed with my jade green Madgie mist and faded. Showing that it was now fully connected to the sides and no longer a corroded bar. I leaned back over to look closer and saw that there was a small picture of a raccoon indented on it.

  “I think I did it…” I whispered, amazed. “I did it!”

  “Not fully, you may have fit a piece of the puzzle in. But now you need to get that last part on how to access it to Shift.” The bird said.

  “Before this place, I was going to try meditating with the focus object in hand. Now that I have the DNA embedded in my own DNA, maybe that is the focus object and I would still just need to meditate.” I thought out loud. “I’ll need to get down from here before I try that, though. Are you coming?”

  “I’ll meet you down there.” The bird said and flew off.

  I climbed down and met the bird at the bottom, sitting on the ground. I sat down next to it and closed my eyes.

  “Don’t meditate yet. Remember, we were supposed to work on this together.” The bird said. “You might want to include me if you want to get any further.

  “You’re right, I’m sorry. Can I hold you in my lap?” I asked.

  “That will work.” The bird said and hopped into my arms to settle down in my lap, her long tail feathers draped to blanket my legs.

  “Here we go.” I said.

  Cory! A voice called out.

  “I’m working on the trial now! Just give me a minute longer, I’m almost done.” I shouted.

  Cory, wake up! The voice called again.

  The surrounding darkness started to lighten, and the forest of DNA strands began to fade.

  “No, wait! I’m almost done. Please!” I shouted.

  Az

  “Cory! Wake up!” I shouted, shaking her.

  “Oh my god, Az! I'm awake! Stop!” Cory shouted back.

  I helped her sit up and then sat back, looking at her.

  “What the hell is wrong with you? Running off like that was really stupid. You could have died, and I wouldn't have known anything! Why didn't you pick up your phone?” I asked her.

  “I was a little busy.” She replied heatedly. “And I still was when you interrupted me, you maggot infested troll.”

  “We don't have time for this, Cory. We need to go see Pappy. I think I figured out what's going on with the gun.” I told her. “And if I’m right, we need to hurry.”

  “Az, I was about to unlock the secret on how to be able to Shift.” Cory told me.

  “What?” I asked, giving her an incredulous look. “Cory, you can’t. Do you know how many Madgie have tried to unlock that spell? Do you know what happened to them? They went completely insane. Some even lived the rest of their lives just thinking that they were the animal they were trying to Shift into.”

  “I’m not one of those other Madgie Az. I’m a Master Mentalist. I should be able to unlock it with no issues. Or at least a lot fewer issues than all those others had.” Cory said, rolling her eyes. “Besides, I was able to see and speak with my anima while I was asleep.”

  “You did?” I asked incredulously, then shook my head. “Regardless, you need to be careful, Cory. I don’t want you going insane and living the rest of your life thinking you’re some dumb animal.”

  “I’ve got it under control. But thank you for being concerned.” She said in a not so nice tone. “I guess I can just try tonight after we talk to Pappy. By the way, what do you mean you think you’ve figured out what’s going on with the gun?”

  “You know that old journal we were given in that box of news articles?” I asked her, waiting for her to acknowledge the question with a nod before I continued, pulling out the journal and opening it to the new pages to show her. “Well, when I was trying to call you earlier, I sat on the couch and saw it flashing. So I opened it to see what was going on, and there was a new entry with a few pages of things. It was talking about some demon of envy called Araminta, and her husband Leviathan, then gave a potion on how to trap them. See, right here.”

  “Hey snot for brains, I can't read childlike gibberish, remember? And how does that help us with the gun?” She asked as I put the book away.

  “It specifically mentioned something about a shooting object and just made it sound like it was about the gun we’re looking for.” I replied. “But if it’s right, I think some of those news articles that we found were from previous times of her being released from whatever prison she’s held in. I don’t know how she keeps getting released though, it didn’t say anything specific about that. But being a demon, I think we have a lot more than just the gun to worry about. Sure, the gun will be an issue with some deaths. But her and her husband are going to be an issue with even more deaths.”

  “I guess so, we should definitely have Pappy look at it and see what he says.” She said, standing up and getting her purse and phone. “I bet he’d probably know more about those news articles too. He might be able to get the council records to see if they’re accurate and what all happened with those deaths. Also, I’m sure that my unlocking the spell on how to Shift will be a very big accomplishment that the council will want to know about.”

  “You still need to be careful, Cory.” I told her.

  “I know, I will be.” She replied. “I promise.”

  Pappy

  “Sir, we’ve just got the most recent report from the ME’s office.” Jory said, stopping in front of me. “I’m not entirely certain what to make of it, though. It’s got a lot of oddities.”

  “What do you mean by oddities?” I asked him, extending my hand for the folder. “They’re all dead, but is the manner of death odd?”

  “No sir, just some of the things that are in the report from the autopsies.” Jory replied. “It’s probably best if you see for yourself.”

  I opened the folder, looking at the first few pages, then flipped through them all a few at a time before looking up.

  “It’s green?” I asked, “How the hell could it be green? Some fungus or something? Is the city contaminated?”

  “No sir, there are some bodies there that died of natural causes. They all have the normal red blood.” Jory said. “It seems that those eighty bodies of people that nobody would expect to act the way they were before they died are the ones that have the green blood.”

  I looked back at the reports, comparing the different causes of death. Trying to find some connection that we could use to locate Levi, but nothing popped out in my search.

  “I suppose death by being run over wouldn’t be connected very well to deaths by drowning in a bowl of soup. How do all the deaths connect though? They have to be connected to Levi in some way. It can’t be a coincidence that they all die in the same odd nature that led to their deaths, only within the last week, and to have him pop up at the same time.” I said thoughtfully, more to myself than to anyone else. “Is this all there is?”

  “Yes sir, they haven’t said anything else about the deaths aside from what’s in the report.”

  “Alright, well if that’s all there is for now, I need to head to the hotel. Seems my grandchildren might have found something about the gun we originally came here to find.” I sighed. “Call me if anything new shows up on where to locate Levi.”

  “Yes, sir!” Jory said.

  Leaving the precinct, I head to Caesar’s Palace, bypassing the desk and just going straight to the elevators. I got on and pressed the button for the penthouse and waited for the elevator to rise. When it finally stopped and opened the doors, I got off and went to the door, pulling out a card key and swiping it to open the door and walked in.

  “Cory, Az.” I called out. “Are you here?”

  Receiving no answer, I went to the small kitchen area and removed the used coffee filter, added a new one with fresh grounds and started a pot. Then went and sat on the couch to wait.

  Might as well have some of these peppermints while I wait. It’s been too long a day. Far too long, and far too gruesome. Pulling out a bag of candies, I popped one in my mouth, savoring the taste and cl
osing my eyes.

  Tineva/Az

  “Why is it taking so long?” Tineva yelled into the bowl of silver liquid. “It has never taken this long for them to be released. The last time even just one of them was released, it only took them a week to get the amount they needed to be released from the void.”

  “Look lady, the world today is far different than it was then. You do realize that it’s been about fifty years, right?” Aveline’s voice came back, annoyed. “These mortals like their advances in technology and communication and all that jazz. Killing five people at the same time these days is the equivalent of killing fifty people at that time. They band together and can communicate issues a lot faster now than they could then.”

  “I don’t need a history lesson, guardian cast off.” Tineva yelled.

  “No, you need a lesson in proper manners, wench.” Aveline answered snidely. “Just because I’m bound to you, does not mean you can be derogatory to my kind. I have a family that I will be a guardian for as soon as I get rid of you and your stupid bond.”

  “Do you realize who I am?” Tineva screamed.

  “Yeah, yeah. You were a queen of high rank throughout the entire world. You could command obedience by a simple look in someone's direction. People never questioned you.” Aveline replied in a bored tone. “Well, that was centuries ago. You want to know what you would be these days? A sniveling whelp of a child trapped in a grown woman's body. I bet you wouldn’t even be a Master now. In your day, people became a Master over the smallest spell they invented. ‘Oh look at me, I created a spell to keep the cold out of the castle windows and now I have a fire chameleon as my anima.’”

  “Those castles needed someone to figure out how to keep the temperature at a modicum of comfort.” Tineva defended herself. “My poor little Quincy. I wish he was with me.”