Path of the Chosen Pt. 01

"Finally," she said. As I looked at her, I couldn't help but think of the snake. She was exactly like it. Even a person who had no idea about what a snake was would see it for it's beauty and its danger. She was the very allure of destruction. The beauty of the grave. Graceful suffering. Painful pleasure. She was skydiving and roller coasters. And every exciting thing that creeps in the night. "Come child."

Her voice was sweet cream on silken winds. I didn't have control of myself anymore. I didn't even think about it. Mesmerized, I blindly walked towards her, my bare feet silent on the floors, and knelt before her throne. I don't even know why I knelt, but I did.

As I looked up at her, she vanished from the throne and reappeared in front of me, smoke showing her erratic trail. Her hand was suddenly under my chin, raising my head. She was soft and cool to the touch. Of all the angels I could have come across, I couldn't imagine anyone more beautiful. I was twelve years old and absolutely in love. Beyond love. Words had not been imagined to describe what I felt for the being before me. And I was absolutely terrified of her. I saw love and beauty in her eyes, and blood and death on her lips. She whispered my torment a thousand times with every word she never spoke. But her every breath was a guarantee of endless pleasures.

"He's wonderful," blonde said.

"Stand up boy." I looked over to see the knight standing beside her throne. Somehow, they had all come out of nowhere to be here. I stood.

"He's so small," raven said.

"He's perfect," the knight said.

"Look at him."

"I am. Are you saying she chose wrong?"

"What?!" Raven's eyes darted towards the throne.

"She chose him. You're questioning that choice. That means you're questioning her."

"Of course not! I would never!"

"Then he's perfect," the knight said, definitively.

"Oh my," throne said to blonde. She had disappeared without me even noticing. How could I not notice. "How interesting."

"When was the last time you heard them argue like that," blonde asked.

"His very presence sets fire to my own court." She smiled at me. And, between an instant and moment, she vanished inside of that ethereal smoke she was made of, only to appear right in front of me. Her hand caressed my face again as she walked past me. "Aaron, come." I turned and followed her. I could feel the others fall in line behind me.

"What kind of name is Aaron," Raven demanded.

Between one step and the next, the walls of the castle disappeared and suddenly we were in the meadow, then a grand ballroom. Every two or three steps brought us somewhere new. Mountain top, arctic forest, desert jungle. When she stopped, we were in the ruins of what once had been a monumental palace. All that was left though were a few ruined pillars and a broken throne. She sat down upon it. "Do you know who I am? Who they are?"

"No ma'am."

"I'm definitely not 'ma'am'," she smiled at me.

"This is Eris, Goddess of Discord," the knight said.

"Go on," Eris said with a wave of her hand, "introduce yourselves."

The knight drew his sword, "I am Claude Valric, Champion of Chaos." He had removed his helm, but I recognized the armor. This was the knight I had first met when I died.

"That's not the name he'll recognize. Go on, tell him what they really called you," blonde said.

He glanced at her from the side of his eyes with annoyance, "The Black Knight."

Blonde smiled at him. "And I'm Lysande, the Mistress of the Dark Garden. You haven't heard of me at all. I'm not that famous."

"Oh," Claude said, raising an eyebrow. "Don't be modest. Every fairy godmother the boy has ever heard of is based on you."

Raven laughed at the exchange. "Me you've heard of. Morgana Faiye. Although the stories usually call me , Morgan Lefaye." She looked down at me, disapproval still in her eyes. "And you are?"

"No one of any significance, as of yet," Eris answered for me. "Much like you all were before I chose you. But time changes many things. You should explain those things to him, Morgana."

Morgana's eyes narrowed as she began speaking. "Do you remember that feeling you had before you entered the castle?" I nodded my head. "That was God. He was trying to stop you. As a of right now, you are beyond judgment. When you die, you will go to neither heaven nor hell. Look around you boy. This is where you will be spending eternity. Here, on the Chaos Plains."

"So I am dead."

"No, child, not yet," Eris spoke. She waved her hand and a pond appeared between us. When I looked into it, it was like seeing a bird's eye view of the world. "Its stagnating. They all stand still, waiting for the next cellphone or computer. Even with wars and disease and all the dysfunction, they've stopped moving. Completely. They're not even moving backwards. So, I need to get them started again. That's why I've chosen you. Your very presence in the world will be the impetus that makes them move. You will be the spear that forces them to walk."

"Um, h-how," I asked her, bewildered.

"I'm going to empower you, just like I did them," she smiled. "I'm bored, child. And mankind isn't doing anything interesting. You will change that. Go on, children. Give your brother his gifts."

Claude took a seat in a chair that came from nowhere. "I've already gifted you. Invulnerability. No weapon made by man will prosper against you. No sword will pierce you. No spear will slay you. No arrow will stop you. And no need for thanks, little brother."

Lysande knelt to look at me at my own eye level. She smiled. I liked her smile. "Hmmm, what should I give you? Such a handsome boy. And wasn't it for a girl that you played your little game? Hmm. I'll give you a gift, but I'm not letting you open it just yet, okay? But I promise you'll love it." She grabbed my chin, turned my head, and kissed me on the cheek. Then she stepped away to sit on her own magical seat.

I inadvertently rubbed my cheek where she had kissed me. Her slight giggle and the laughter in Eris's eyes told me I was blushing. Morgana turned her disapproving gaze from Lysande to me. "Fine," she said. "Fine. She chose you. Nothing else needs to be said, I suppose. I'll give you...something only wisdom will teach you to use properly. I'll give you this." She waved her hand in the air around us. "The Chaos Plane. I'll allow your spirit to leave your body and come here at will. Even though you're still alive." She smiled at me. "One warning, child. Every gift bears its own curse. Remember that."

They all looked at her shocked, except for Eris. She simply seemed amused. "Well, a mighty gift indeed. I'll have to match it." She turned her gaze to me. "I gift you with power. Power over your world." The bones in my arms started to burn. "Power over man." My head started to ache. "And a body to contain it." I fell to the floor grabbing my head. My arms were on fire, my brain felt like it was about to explode. Every bone and fiber in my body felt like they were being stretched beyond their limits. The pain was beyond what my twelve-year-old mind could comprehend. Even now, years later, I wouldn't wish that pain on any one. Any one. I don't think even the prisoners of Hell have ever experienced such torment. Of course, their torment is eternal, so it's all relative really.

I don't know how long it lasted. A forever moment. At any rate, it felt like eternity. But, unlike Hell, my torment ended. Wearily, I stood back up. Eris smiled at me. "There's no use for you to be here with me anymore. You need to be in the world now. Though, I'll see you soon, I'm sure." Claude walked over behind me. He grabbed me by the nape of my shirt and lifted me up. I was far too tired to struggle. I was barely more than limp in his arms. He tossed me into the water. Instead of getting wet, I was suddenly falling. Falling from the sky. Past the stars. Past the clouds. I fell right down into the depth of my life.

The sun was barely setting when I opened my eyes. I sat up, bolt straight. I was... I was...

I was fine. Better even.

I felt perfect. I looked down at my leg. There was a small trickle of dried blood, but no wound where it came from. I stood up slowly and started patting my body down, making sure everything was there. I looked up at the sky, amazed, and wondered if she was looking down at me.

Assured that I was whole, I started on my way home. None of my friends could be found. They had all safely absconded into the depths of their apartments, waiting for the news that my body had been found. Wondering if I had told on them.

McCoy held up his hand. "Wait. Are you serious?"

I smiled at him. "I know. It sounds insane. But you did agree to set aside your preconceived notions. I promise, it's worth letting me get to the good parts. Hell, you haven't even showed up in my story yet."

He was a happily married man. With a naked woman sitting on his lap. A proud, retired policeman. With a sex slave's tit in one had, and an overly expensive glass of whiskey in the other. I smiled at him. His pants were undone. His cock was sliding in and out of her mouth. She was sexy. His pants were down by his shoes. She held his cock with one hand while fingering herself with the other. He could hear the tightness of her as she sucked his cock. He wasn't even sure how his cock ended up in her mouth. He didn't notice it until just now.

"Trust me, the story gets even more unbelievable. Wait until then to protest."

He didn't protest. He didn't take her mouth off his cock. He let the other slave lift the glass to his lips and he took a sip.

My world was different now. Colors were brighter. Sounds were clearer. I couldn't wait to get my hands on some ice cream. I was walking home without a care in the world when I first heard him. Luke was sitting outside on the steps that led to his upstairs apartment. 'If I had only taken three more steps!' I heard him as clear as day. Except, his lips never moved. I couldn't believe it. He never spoke. He was thinking it! I was reading his mind!

It was wonderful, at first. I was hearing all kinds of secret little hidden things. I walked all the way to my home, to my room, in daze. I sat on my couch, listening. I was in a hundred different conversations, in my own world.

My bedroom door flew open. "Aaron, I've called you three times. It's dinner time, now go wash up."

I looked up, surprised to see my mother standing in my doorway. I could barely hear her through the thoughts. All through dinner, I had to focus extra hard when I saw her lips move to figure out if she was talking to me. Trying to go to sleep... nope. I didn't sleep for three days. Straight. And even then, it wasn't because of any mastery on my part. It was pure exhaustion.

A lot of things about my life changed over the next few years. My grades went up, not a hard thing to do when you can listen to not only the teacher's thoughts, but the smart kids thought's too. The number of friends I had drastically dropped. I refused to talk to anyone that had left me bleeding and bitten that day.

"Why aren't you out with your friends,"my mother asked. I gave my excuses. "Maybe you should make some new friends, honey."

The other kids. I was usually so lost in all the thoughts I was hearing that I didn't even pay attention to them. It was slow going, but I was learned to focus my mind. At first it took all my concentration to block out other people. It was at least three months before it was only an afterthought. I had trouble sleeping, thinking, talking. Everything. Still, by the time I entered high school, I was pinpointing which minds I was invading.

Three months later, I wasn't just reading minds, I was leaving things in them. It was delicate work. Depending on what I wanted the person to do. Did I want them to know they were doing it, how often did I want them doing it? Most of it depended on dropping ideas into their subconscious. I would only make them aware of thoughts if I needed something done immediately. And that was hard.

Mom was my first project. It's a immensely damaging thing when you're reading your mom's mind and find out she regrets having you. She loved me, I had no doubts about that. I'd seen it. But she constantly thought about what her life would be like without me. The positive part was that her regret was because she couldn't provide for me. Which led to why she couldn't provide for me. Which led her back to wishing she'd gotten that abortion. I started pushing those thoughts out more and more. Then I started dropping thoughts about going back to school, furthering her career.

The orders had to be in her own words. It had to sound like her own self-talk. Otherwise, when I left her mind, her own thoughts would push my orders to the side. I had to guide her mind down the path I wanted. It taught me a lot of patience. It took me a year and a half to get it down. But once I did...

I won a lot of money playing chess with old guys outside of the book store. They considered me something along the lines of their own street player prodigy, and they were rather proud of me. I wasn't of course. I was just pushing their minds into the choices I wanted them to take, or reading what moves they didn't want me to make. Still, that got me invited to poker games. Eventually, no one wanted to play against me in anything.

I was 16, I had about 100 kids in the school walking by and dropping off 20 bucks into my locker. The principal dropped off $100 a week. And when a teacher would piss me off, I made them donate to my charity as well. My chemistry teacher pissed me off so bad, I made him give me his whole check. Whether I showed up to class or not, teachers would mark me present. Detention slips never got turned in for me. And I was constantly reading my teacher's minds when test time came around. I was smart though. I never scored perfect. I did at first, but that got me too much attention, and had me trying to answer questions I didn't even want people to ask.

I was sitting in Spanish class, a subject I cared nothing about since I had lifted the lexicon out of the teacher's mind on day one, when I started playing with my pencil. As it fell off my desk, I reached for it. It froze in the air, levitating. Defying the laws of gravity, physics, and pure common sense. As I reached for it, it came to me. As it sat it on my desk, I stared at it, amazed.

Sure, I knew Eris had empowered me, but l thought the whole mind reading thing was the extent, and that was almost too much. Now this?

It was like finding a muscle group. I had to work it out. I started moving more and more things. Unbelieving at first, and then playing, and then really giving a damn. Moving multiple things at once. Larger. It got to the point where I had my school books revolving around me like the solar system. Each subject in its proper orbit. When I got really good, I made them rotate, gave them moons, put dust around my history book to make the rings of Saturn. It was really cool, until my mom walked in and I dropped the whole damn thing.

"Baby, I'm proud of how hard you work, but clean this room up. I won't have my little genius living like a pig." She set forty dollars on my dresser. "I'm going out tonight with Jacob, are you going to be okay by yourself."

"Aren't I always," I smiled at her. I liked Jacob. He wasn't trying to be a father to me, it was too late for that, but he didn't mind being the man in my life. He was like a manhood consultant. Plus, he really cared about my mom. I was dropping thoughts into both their minds about him moving in once his lease was up.

Besides, Jacob couldn't be a father-figure to me. I had Claude for that.

It was a year after I had perfected my mind reading that I discovered my spirit flight. I had accidentally slipped the leash one night while I was asleep and ended up in the Chaos Plains. Claude was the first to stumble onto me. We talked, he offered to teach me the points of knighthood.

So, every few nights, I would scooch on up to the Chaos Plains. I learned to fight bare-fisted, sword fight, how to ride, how to care for a stead, use an ax, a mace, a shield, throw a dagger. I learned even more surprising subjects. I learned poetry, dancing, public speaking. Claude was a true knight, even if he did fight for chaos. When Lysande came by, she thought my education was imbalanced. She taught me how to dance properly, how sing, write real poetry. Morgana, determined to prove them both as useless, taught me psychology, politics, economics, government. I was getting an entire second education, one I actually had to study since I couldn't seem to read their minds.

The problem came when the wind blew Eris our way. "And what are we studying today," she asked.

I was only 14 at the time. And I had never seen the wrong side of Eris's temper. I didn't even know she had a bad side. So I didn't understand why everyone had gotten so tense. "Oh, Lysande was about to start teaching me astrology," I answered.

"Dear one," she said as she caressed my face. In less than an instant, that gentle caress became a vice on my neck. Her voice never changed its tone as she strangled the life from me. She lifted me from my feet and dangled me in the air by my throat. "You are meant to be my entertainment in the mortal realm. If you spend all your time up here, who's entertaining me?"

When she let go, I fell to the ground. "I-I only come at night," I gasped out.

Her eyes narrowed as she looked at all of us. "Yes, at night, every night. Don't you understand? Even your presence in world throws it into chaos. But you're not there. You're here. So, from now on you won't have free reign of that little talent until you've reached the age of majority. You may visit the planes once every two weeks. That's it. I won't have you forcing me to watch commercials so you all can study." She dropped me to sand. Her voice softened, "Now, get on with your astrology lesson."

Honestly, Claude was more like a big brother. Lysande and Morgana were my older sisters. I never thought to test Eris's restrictions on my spirit travel. That would have been far too foolish for me to even dare. I had learned my lesson.

By the summer of my 18^th year on this earth, Mom was engaged to Jacob, I had graduated from high school, and I was a social pariah for anyone my age who knew me. The kids called me BLA, Bad Luck Aaron. Anytime someone seemed to fuck with me or someone else around me, karma always seemed to get back with them. Sooner rather than later. Honestly, I was surpised anyone had put the connection together.

Billy, yeah, that Billy, had become something of a bully. I started forcing him to donate his proceeds to me, and at the same time, piss his pants every time a teacher called on him. When he gave one of the chess geeks a super wedgie, I made him shit himself in the middle of the hallway. Bruce Williams, the varsity quarterback, decided to fuck with a special ed kid. It costed him his ticket to the state championship. He did set a record though. For the most interceptions thrown in a single game. A record he broke the very next week.

Every time I pass by the stadium on my way to Mom's place, I still smile at the memory. The games were fun to watch.

It was during that summer between high school and college, that Lysande's gift kicked in. I had long ago discovered what "Mistress of the Dark Garden" meant. Lysande made living plants. Living, man-eating plants. She took me once to see her favorite.

"It's my masterpiece," she said. We never got closer than 50 yards to the thing. "Do you smell that? Isn't that fragrance so relaxing. If you walked over there and sat down, you'd see how soft the bark was. And those flowers, those pale pink petals. They only grow around the fruit. See how low they are? You could reach up and pluck one. They would be the sweetest thing you ever ate."