Ulterior Motives

Magic Fights Back

It didn't take as long to get back to the clearing as Reagan thought it would. But she sensed the energy of the Alter as they approached it. Only this time something was different, there was something off in the air. She couldn't put her finger on it. Oliver seemed to sense it as well. She could see his posture change and stiffen as they got closer. Sophia glanced around aware of the new presence as well, looking for its source.

The alter itself seemed to be reverberating distress. Like a cornered animal, nervous and scared. Balancing between flight and fight mode, influencing the Coven surrounding it. Eyes shifted under hooded cloaks, suspiciously looking from one to the other.

Sophia stopped at the boundary line, tense, a soldier at the front lines looking for the enemy. Reagan suddenly saw a general shift in Sophia's body language, she was taking charge over the disruption. Being a leader suited her very well.

Everyone was on alert. Looking towards Sophia for their orders. No one had entered the Circle but it was clear and apparent someone was here who wasn't welcome. Reagan felt nature shift. The essence of this place shuttered, recoiling against some unknown intent.

There was an energy to the air, similar to the electric buzz that always proceeds a lightning strike nearby only this was stronger and yet mortal. This wasn't energy it was consciousness. There was an embodiment to the raw distress. Reagan had always known there was more to magic than tapping into abilities. Magic had a life of its own. A perceptive knowledge about itself. Choosing and appraising. Magic was decisive and calculating. And someone here had seriously pissed it off.

A barely visible shield forced itself into existence around the clearing so abruptly anyone standing too closely took an immediate step back, pushed roughly away from the alter. The stone effigies now columns of the forcefield.

Reagan understood exactly where they were. She had predicted they were no longer in the western hemisphere when they first blinked here but now she had an entirely deeper meaning. This place was substantially older than she guessed. It looked ancient because it was.

If this wasn't the original alter of Magic than it was a close second. She didn't think this place was the source of magic, she always knew that wasn't realistic. Magic was everything, it went beyond having a source. It wasn't a river that could be tapped into but this place may be the access point for magical beings to gain acceptance. She could imagine the first of their kind being gifted with abilities here on this hallowed ground. An ancient ancestor given the first gift of powers and abilities. 

She never knew this place existed. Or that it was even possible. Their world began and started here. Magic had entrusted her power onto others here, the birthplace of powers. Magic had reached out and endowed the earth's children with her gifts. Reagan was overcome with an ache, ardent and nearly unbearable. She dropped to her knees, eyes cast down unworthy of beholding this sacred place.   

She was the only one, everyone around the circle had stepped back from the alter when it defended itself but Reagan was the only one who had reacted. There was shock and awe but Reagan was the only individual who had the desire to drop to her knees. Oliver and Sophia had a wondrous appreciation and devotion to the site. A deep rapture for the location but neither felt the need to avert their eyes. Reagan rested her weight on her heels and closed her eyes as if in prayer.

She stayed like that. Sophia glanced down at Reagan in surprise but not judgement. She clearly misunderstood, assuming the same thing as Reagan, that it was because Reagan was unworthy. Oliver, however, had a bad feeling, ominous. There was something stirring in his memory. Something he had forgotten. An old story or detail that had been told in stories and passed down until it faded from history. He couldn't quite explain it but he knew he was missing something, something he should know.