"If only this had all happened the day before...knowing what I know now, a large portion of the Drum Circle could have come to their aid, but the Drum Circle only meets on Sundays, and this happened Monday. It was all so senseless!! I felt so powerless...so useless...I never want to feel that way again."

Nettle was pacing back and forth in the living room of her apartment in the dark, unable to sleep. The evening's events had taken their toll on her emotions, and she kept reliving what she'd seen-- agonizing over what she could have done differently-- but there seemed to be no answers. She closed her eyes and sank onto the couch as the memories flooded over her once again...

"All the lights are off in the left wing," Nettle called to her co-workers as she emerged from a darkened corridor. Nettle worked at the Utah Museum of Fine Arts on the University of Utah campus, and she especially loved the left wing with its real English manor house and the Sculpture Garden. She'd been a volunteer there since her sophomore year of college, but after graduating, they'd hired her on as an assistant curator.

"Closing time..." Nettle sang as she grabbed her bag from her office at the corner between the Sculpture Garden and the Chinese porcelain collection. She hurried to the employee exit where the other museum workers were waiting. "Here comes the strip-tease!" one of the girls joked, and the rest of the employees began humming the famous song "The Stripper." Nettle smiled mysteriously as she pulled a pair of long, silk pants from her bag and swung them around her head. Hamming it up, she slid her legs into the pants slowly, one leg at a time, pulling them up to her waist underneath her long skirt. Smiling meaningfully at the guys in the crowd, Nettle wriggled her hips, pushing the skirt down her legs and bending at the waist. Laughing, the guys started fanning themselves and whistling. This was standard routine everytime Nettle wore a skirt to work. To do her part to stop pollution and other environmental problems, Nettle rode her bike the 10 blocks to and from work each day-- keeping a pair of pants in her bag to change into so she wouldn't have to worry about getting her skirt caught in the spokes...or showing too much to passing traffic should a stray breeze come along!

Exiting the museum, the employees said their goodbyes as they headed to their cars. Nettle popped the lock and pulled the chain off of her silver 12-speed bike, swung her right leg over the center bar, and put her right arm and head through the long bag-strap, causing the strap to fall diagonally from left shoulder to right hip. Sliding the bag so it rested behind her, Nettle pushed off and began pedaling home. Her apartment was near Liberty Park, and she almost always made a point to ride through the park on her way home. Liberty Park was her haven-- her spiritual grounding-place-- and she thought it was perfect. At the south end was the Tracy Aviary with its large bird collection, and next to that was a pond. Every Sunday afternoon at Liberty Park the Drum Circle met, drumming, singing, dancing, reciting poetry, and sharing spirituality. The park had been a place of peace and beauty...until today.

Nettle rode into the parking lot of the Tracy Aviary and locked her bike on the bike rack. Keeping her bag in its diagonal position and inhaling contentedly, she started off into the trees. There were picnic benches scattered throughout the park, and Nettle glanced casually at the people sitting at them as she passed by. The sun would be setting in about two hours, and there were less people than usual in the park tonight. She walked and reminisced back to eight days ago when she had Awakened in the presence of her coven.

As Nettle came through a thick grouping of trees, she could see a picnic table about 60 feet ahead of her. There was a person hunched over a laptop computer at the table, and a colorful blanket spread on the ground with three people sitting on it-- one holding an accoustic guitar. She stopped and leaned on a tree with one hand, and shaded her eyes with the other as she squinted-- trying to recognize the four people. A smile slowly spread across her face as she recognized them-- she hadn't seen them since she graduated a year ago! They'd all been in the same general education junior-level English class, had hit it off together, and had often hung out to eat lunch between classes. She'd lost track of them after she'd graduated, so she was excited to find them all together like this!

The guy sitting at the lap-top was Alex, a rather notorious hacker who was constantly typing-- even in class, where he'd convinced his professors he was only taking notes! Sitting on the blanket were Quinn, his girlfriend Ajah, and Cruz. Quinn and Ajah were always the life of the party-- playing the guitar, singing and dancing, and although Nettle had never seen them drink, they always had a variety of drugs stashed in their clothes that they were constantly using. Cruz was one of the international students from Mexico, and claimed to practice a form of worship passed down from his Aztec anscestors. He had all sorts of interesting religious items such as miniature statues of Aztec gods, feathers, and leopard-teeth which he always carried with him in a leather pouch at his waist.

Nettle quickly stepped forward-- raising an arm and opening her mouth to call to the group-- when her right foot suddenly caught on a tree-root that seemed to come out of nowhere, and she tripped and fell to one knee. At that moment, there came a crashing, crunching noise from the trees up ahead near the picnic table. Nettle glanced up from her crouch-position on the ground and saw two hulking forms emerging from the trees about 15 feet in front of the group. The first one reminded her of a poster she used to have of Arnold Schwartzenegger as the terminator in "Terminator 2," with half of his face man, and the other half machine. He was huge, and was holding the two biggest guns she had ever seen. The other one very closely resembled Frankenstein's monster-- it was almost 7 feet tall with very long, large arms, walked stiffly, and just looked wrong to her. It had been holding a double-barrel shotgun at its side, but it was now bringing it to bear on the group! Nettle's mouth dropped open in shock, but she couldn't force any sound out.

Ajah let out a cry of surpise, Quinn jumped to his feet and Cruz began pulling items out of his bag. Nettle thought, "Run! Run, you guys!!" and wondered why Cruz would stop to look through his bag at a time like this, and why Alex was still typing-- making no attempt to get out of there. Nettle began fumbling at her bag.

Quinn let out a shout of rage and smashed his guitar over "Terminator's" head. "Terminator" wasn't phased at all, and shot out one of his powerful legs, which connected with Quinn's midsection-- sending him flying backwards to land off to the left of the picnic table. As Quinn landed, "Terminator" pointed both gun barrels at him and began firing. Nettle's hand finally closed over her cell phone, and shaking, she managed to turn it on and push #1 on the speed-dial. She could hear distant screams from other parts of the park as the gunfire rang through the trees. As she held the phone to her ear, she watched in amazement as Quinn seemed to move at super-human speed-- dodging all of the bullets! A pang of hope went through her, and in a brief moment of humor she thought, "I gotta find out what he's on!"

The euphoria was short-lived, however. Ajah, in her concern for Quinn, hadn't been paying attention to the "Frankenstein." Her mouth froze in a grimace as both barrels of the shotgun unloaded into her, sending her sprawling into one of the benches. The creature's face showed no emotion at all at the sight of the blood, flesh, and bone-shards that flew everywhere. As Ajah's blood spattered across Cruz's face, he began chanting and rocking back and forth. Nettle noted incredulously what Cruz had pulled from his sack. Not a gun or knife, but one of his statues, and he was clutching it in both hands. "No, Cruz!" she whispered. "This isn't the time to rely on your gods!" Just then she heard a click as the phone picked up.

"Hello?"

"Veil?? Oh Veil! Oh thank the goddess you were home!" Nettle cried in a shaking voice.

"Nettle? Are you all right?" Veil asked worriedly.

"I'm so scared and I don't know what to do, but I can't just sit here and watch people die! Tell me what to do!!" Nettle practically shrieked.

"OK, Nettle. Calm down right now and tell me what's going on."

Nettle took a couple of deep breaths as more gunfire errupted from the picnic-area.

"Nettle?? Where are you?!"

"I'm at the north-end of Liberty Park. There are two huge, strange men opening fire at a group of people I know, and I have no idea why, or what's going on!" Nettle's voice got higher and more desperate-sounding as she relayed the information to Veil.

"Do you have any idea who they are?" Veil asked.

"Yes. They're friends from college. Alex, Quinn, Ajah, and Cruz. I think Ajah's dead, Veil!"

"No, I meant do you have any idea who the strange men...did you say Alex? Is he a hacker, by chance?"

"Yes, that's right! Do you know him?" More gunfire sounded, and Nettle glanced up to see the bullets whiz harmlessly past Cruz and Alex. "How are they doing that?"

"Nettle, your friends are also Mages. Alex is a Virtual Adept, Quinn and Ajah belong to the Cult of Ecstacy, and Cruz is a Dreamspeaker. They belong to a small cabal that recently pissed-off the Technocracy. Listen to me very carefully: describe the two strange men to me in detail."

Nettle proceded to describe the "Terminator" and "Frankenstein" to Veil, and she heard Veil sigh. "It sounds like we have a Progenitor-creature and someone from Iteration X on our hands. I have no idea why they're working together, but it can't be good. Nettle, whatever you do, keep yourself hidden. You don't have more than the basic knowledge of the spheres I've instructed you in, so there's nothing you can do against those creatures. You'll just end up getting yourself killed if you try. Stay where you are-- I'm coming with as many of the Order as I can get a hold of."

"Please stay on the ph-" Nettle began before she heard the click of the line going dead. She slowly lowered the phone to her lap and dropped her head, a myriad of emotions swirling through her brain.

There was a sudden brittle cracking-noise, and when Nettle raised her eyes, she saw one of the "Terminator's" guns suddenly crack and splinter into many pieces, falling harmlessly from his hand. Alex glanced up from his computer and gave a quick grin before returning to his typing. Cruz suddenly threw the statue he'd been holding at "Frankenstein," and it detonated as "Frankenstein" snapped his arm up and caught it in front of his chest. After the smoke cleared, Nettle saw that "Frankenstein's" right arm was missing up to his elbow, and there were some nasty burns covering his blistered chest. "Would this group be able to defeat the Technocrats?" Nettle wondered hopefully. She suddenly realized that she didn't know where Quinn was, and scanned around quickly for him. Her eyes went wide for a moment, and then glazed over. "Wherever Quinn and Ajah are right now, I hope they're together," she thought in horrified silence as her eyes came to rest on the body slumped against a tree, a bloody pulped stump where Quinn's head once was. He hadn't been fast enough after all. Her mind started wandering distractedly, and she noticed that there were no more screams coming from other people in the park...just the sound of distant sirens.

Cruz must have had some sort of force-field around him, because "Terminator's" bullets always seemed to miss him. "Frankenstein" recovered from his mishap with the statue and advanced on Cruz. More typing from Alex, and the Progenitor-spawn suddenly seemed to be walking in slow motion-- like he was underwater. "Terminator's" head whipped around and his eyes focused on Alex in hatred as he brought his second gun up. Alex shouted in pain as sparks shot from his keyboard, and "Terminator" took advantage of the botch and blasted the lap-top into shards of flying plastic and metal. One of the bullets made it through and hit Alex square in the chest, knocking him backwards off the bench. He lay on the ground clutching at his shirt, his chest rising up and down quickly as the blood began to stain his hands.

Cruz's head whipped back, and a look of anguish crossed his face as he saw the bodies of his friends laying all around him. Alex down, the Progenitor was now able to move at normal speed again. As Cruz turned to face forward once again, he had just enough time to see "Frankenstein's" shotgun swinging at him as it cracked into the side of his head. Cruz was knocked to his side, and he turned a bloody face up to look at the "Frankenstein" as the butt of the gun came smashing down onto his face. Nettle covered her mouth with her hands as "Terminator" riddled Cruz's body with bullets.

The two creatures were about to descend upon the still-conscious Alex, when blue and red lights began sweeping through the trees, and the sound of sirens filled the air. "Terminator" glanced at "Frankenstein," took his arm, and suddenly they disappeared into thin air. Nettle took the cue and began running towards Alex with all the speed she could generate. She made it to him in a few seconds and fell to his side. Alex's eyes fluttered open slowly.

"Iris?" Alex croaked as he focused on her face.

Nettle's eyes grew moist as she grabbed his hand. "I thought I told you to call me Nettle!" she laughed weakly as she remembered how he used to tease her by calling her "Iris" the way the professors did, because she hadn't legally changed her name to Nettle.

Alex studied her for a second. "You've changed. You know the ways of magick now, don't you." He began to cough up blood.

Nettle smiled gently. "Yes, but I don't know very much. I'm so sorry I couldn't help you, Alex! I'm so sorry! I can't even use Life well enough to do more than look at you and know your life-force is draining away right beneath my hands! She clutched his bloody hands in her own and laid her head on his chest murmuring, "the blood is life...the blood is life," as she concentrated everything she had on stopping the flow.

She didn't know how long she stayed like that, but suddenly she felt a hand grip her shoulder, interrupting her mantra. "Nettle." Veil's voice pierced the void. "Nettle, come. Stand up-- there's nothing more we can do here." Nettle raised her head from Alex's motionless chest, blood and tears streaking her pale face and staining her straw-colored hair. She looked up and saw Veil's pained face looking down at her as it had such a short time ago when Nettle had first Awakened.

Veil helped her to her feet, and two Verbena males quickly picked up Alex's body and began hurrying with it to a nearby van. Nettle glanced up and saw other Verbena clearing the site of the bodies, blanket, and scattered foci.

"Come with me to my car-- the police will be combing the area as soon as we stop bending the light around this place," Veil said hurriedly as she rushed Nettle to the waiting car. A few moments after Nettle had closed her door, both car and van sped off through a clearing and back out onto 900 S.

The rest of the evening was a blur. The Verbena took the bodies into the mountains to a secluded space and commenced with the ceremonial funeral pyres. When the ceremony was over, and the bodies had turned to ash and been sprinkled over Mother Earth, the Verbena left solemnly for their homes.

After picking up Nettle's bike from the aviary parking lot, Veil asked, "Would you like to stay at my place for the night?" Nettle shook her head numbly.

"I need to be alone tonight."

"I understand." The car arrived at Nettle's apartment. "If you need anything, Nettle, please call me."

Nettle raised her head slowly, her eyes burning with an inner fire. "Veil, promise me that will never happen again. Promise me you will teach me how to defend myself and others, and to heal. I will spend all my nights and days learning! Just promise me I won't be useless for much longer!"

"Nettle, you've only been Awakened for a week!" Veil was about to go on, but stopped when she saw the determined, wounded look in Nettle's eyes. She looked at Nettle for a moment and then nodded her head. "We will start training intensly as soon as you're ready."

"Tomorrow." Nettle shot back.

Veil raised her eyebrows and then nodded. "Tomorrow it is."