"I accepted her offer to become a mage, because I wish to believe she's telling the truth..." Susana began thinking to herself while she followed the time traveler she had just met down the dirt path.
"How I could be a hero, stop those tyrants and create a better future... But to become a mage with a simple magic contraption, and powerful enough to win against them? It still seems to good to be true." She thought to herself more skeptically.
Aurora looked curiously at the scenery while she walked so the silence didn't bother her.
"I'll listen, but I'm going to cut and run if she's been playing with my emotions, and trying to bilk me and my family out of our money with phony magic!" Susana thought, feeling determined but a bit frustrated.
Aurora glanced back. "The initiation will be quick. Some of my teammates are ready to meet you now. There'll also be time to finish your errands!" She cheerfully offered.
"I hope so. Can you slow down time if I need it?" Susana asked, sounding worried.
"I can, no problem! I can also warp us to a phone booth to call my teammates and announce that you'll be visiting."
"You can warp places too?" Susana sounded more surprised. Perhaps this time traveler was the real deal!
"Sure, but I can cut out the need to find and use a phone booth later!"
"You can warp places?"
"Sure, but I can cut out that step eventually." Aurora cheerfully said.
"How's that? Is it through magic?" Susana asked. Warping could replace needing to walk to the phone booth, but what was Aurora implying that the phone booth could be replaced?
"No, through wireless phones, which will arise from advances in technology!"
"A wireless phone? Could you call from anywhere on it?"
"Yes! Technology keeps advancing, and magic should be the same way."
There was a short pause before Susana responded as she tried to imagine phones that could be carried around without any wires.
"That sounds fascinating, but from what I know of the mages, they aren't too keen on that." Susana said with concern.
"Definitely, but the type of mage my teammates and I are, is different. When we meet them, I can give you a demonstration!" Aurora excitedly said. Susana was assured!
"That'd be nice! Could you also show me some of this technology from the future?
"I could after the demonstration is finished. There's so much I could show!" Aurora said while she summoned a magic circle that teleported her and Susana to behind a wooden structure in a park. Just several feet ahead was the phone booth. It was a wooden booth with a rectangular window and a diamond-shaped window on each side. Each of the windows had circular trim in the middle surrounded by trim that formed into curving shapes.
Aurora entered the booth and invited Susana to it. A wooden, 1880's-style payphone was mounted to the wall. Aurora put a coin in the slot on the front of the payphone, dialed a number and set the wired headpiece to her ear. "The ordway isay wasalay wordfishsay." She said. "They see you as a legend." She quietly said to Susana.
"Hey! We're delighted to hear from you again!" The other person picked up on the line.
"I met the legend, and she's interested in the initiation!" Aurora cheerfully said.
"Great! Is she ready now?" The other person on the line said.
"I am! Susana said. She sounded a bit nervous since being called a legend is a lot to live up to!
"We're ready, and we'll be there in a minute!" Aurora added.
"We'll be ready too!" The person on the other line said with even more excitement in her voice.
"I am! We're ready, and we'll be there in a minute!" Aurora said before she ended the call. They stepped out of the phone booth and walked behind the wooden structure they arrived behind. Aurora cast a teleportation circle. She and Susana were surrounded in a lilac-colored light before they teleported away.
Their destination was a two-story red brick building with a gray shingled roof, and light red trim around the windows and the middle of the building.
"Is this the place?" Susana asked. She glanced in each direction. There were hardly any buildings or houses in sight. The building they were in front of was surrounded by small purple shrubs on the side. The nearest other house or building was around 100 feet away.
"Totally!" Aurora said in excitement, and walked towards the front door. Susana followed her, still not knowing what to expect.
"Am I really what she said I am, 'the legend'?" Susana thought. "I'm still a bit at sea over this, but I promised her that I'd go to this shindig. I'd love to see this other technology she talked about, but first, I need to see whether she and her friends are the real deal. Whether they're telling the truth about this other form of magic..." She was still thinking to herself when Aurora tugged at the door handle.
The door was firmly locked so she gave it a few knocks. The door had a narrow horizontal slot on it with a shutter that was placed at about eye-level. The shutter opened to reveal a pair of bright electric blue eyes peeking out the door. "What's the word?" The person asked.
"Itay isay wordfishsay." Aurora confidently said. The person behind the door opened it part way, accepting Aurora's answer.
"Hi!" The person behind the door opened it and greeted her teammate and the guest. She was in her early 20's, had orange hair with blue eyes and a more pale complexion than Aurora, and towered over both of them at 6'4". The height difference between her and Aurora was close to the height difference between Aurora and Susana. The slot on the door wasn't quite eye-level for her; she had to crouch down a bit to look through it.
Her hair was slightly past shoulder-length and curled outwards slightly. Her bangs were short and angular, reaching to her eyebrows, and she wore a gray short-sleeved dress that reached just past her knees, brown strapped boots that covered her legs, and wore fingerless gloves that reached just below her elbows. She wore a white apron over her dress, and over the apron she wore a brown tool belt that had brass buttons and buckles.
Her eyes could give an intimidating glare, but she looked excited. "Hi!" She smiled. She stepped back a few feet to let Aurora and Susana enter the building before closing the door behind them.
She introduced herself as Christina, and led Susana and Aurora into the main lobby of the building. The architecture resembled a contemporary 1880's style with wooden panels along the lower portion of the walls, but there were some decidedly 1980's elements too. Neon lights in different shapes added colorful lighting on the walls.
"What is that pattern on the floor?!" Susana asked in shock. The floor was carpet with colorful, garish geometric patterns on it. Stars, circles, triangles and squiggles. This was far unlike any floral or simple wavy wallpaper patterns that she saw, but only on walls! The few times she went to some particularly upscale buildings for events, the floors had pattens on them, but they were hardwood floors and the patterns were delicate, curving patterns.
"Oh! This is based on a style from the 1980's!" Christina cheerfully said. "Another of our teammates designed this pattern and designed this couch!" She pointed to a couch that had a curving wooden frame, but had brightly-colored red, blue and checkerboard cushions.
"How do you know this?" Susana asked.
"I brought some photos of 80's aesthetics I liked when I time traveled." Aurora said with a chuckle. "That teammate already used bright colors and patterns in her works, but she was happy to see that this style eventually caught on."
"Hmm... I saw some colorful sculptures at the art fair I went to this year and I reckon that style is similar to that furniture." Susana said, curiously looking back at the furniture. "What's that stuff over there?" She asked, looking at a mechanical cabinet that was partially-built.
"That's an arcade machine! They're like those mechanical games at the saloons, but fancier and light up!" Christina said.
She left the room to tell her other teammates who were there about the guest. After they introduced themselves, Susana introduced herself. "I'm Susana, and I'd like to join the Magical Renegades because there's a lot I reckon I could do to help others far beyond what I do now, and to make history." She confidently said.
Christina nodded in acknowledgement. "That teammate isn't here yet, but we'd all be looking forward to you even if you and her might not see eye to eye with art." She said.
Another of the Magical Renegades members entered the lobby from another room. He was a man of around 30 years old with a medium tanned complexion with scruffy purple hair with a slight beard. He was wearing a light blue button-down shirt with a dark blue vest, top hat, and dress pants. His eyes were obscured by the goggles he was wearing. He was seated on a couch near a wall, but stood up, showing that he was taller than Susana and Aurora, though several inches shorter than Christina.
"You're the legend in-person! Delighted to meet you. When you're ready, we can start the initiation." He said with a smile, and offered to shake Susana's hand. She accepted the offer.
"I'm Susana." She introduced herself. "I'm almost ready, but I have a few questions. How does this work?"
"I'm Avogadro." The man in the top hat introduced himself. "During the initiation, you create a magical alter-ego for yourself. You're still human, but your alter-ego is a mage, who everyone will see as being separate from your human self." He explained.
"Hmm... That sounds safer than becoming a witch." Susana pondered. "But is there a catch?"
"You will rely on a magical device that has a power source to transform you into your mage alter-ego. If you lose it, it's knocked out of your hands in a fight, or it malfunctions, or runs out of power, you're powerless." He warned.
Susana looked concerned, but she was willing to accept this risk. "Nothing about the risk of losing my soul?" She asked.
"Nope. Carefully guard your magical device, maintain it, and conserve its power, and you should be fine!" Christina said. "We'll teach you how to maintain it!"
Susana thought about it for a few more moments, but felt more assured. "Alright, I'm ready to begin." She said, nodding. Aurora and the other Renegades cheered.
The group went to another room. Avogadro and Christina stood a few feet behind Susana, while Aurora stood a few feet in front of her. Aurora brought out another pocketwatch from her other pocket. "I'll show you how this works, and then we can start the initiation!" She said, holding the pocketwatch out in front of Susana.
The lights dimmed for a dramatic effect. Susana looked up and saw a set of 5 spotlights which may have been salvaged from old theater equipment. They were attached to a support structure from the ceiling, and connected to an elaborate contraption of wires, levers and dials.
"Most people have the capacity for magic to become classical mages, but it usually isn't sparked. Initiation through any means can spark it. You have that capability all along, or you don't, but anyone can become a witch or warlock, or become one of us." Avogadro explained to her.
The pocketwatch was in a similar style to the first one Aurora previously showed to Susana, but the neck of it was light blue, and on the front lid, it had a symbol of a gold star with a pair of wings.
One spotlight shone directly on Aurora. She clicked the button the top of her pocketwatch, which revealed that inside of the pocketwatch didn't have a clock, but in the middle of it was a round window which showed some of the gears inside and a large oval-shaped crystal that had a rim with gear teeth on it. The crystal glowed brightly and light surrounded the pocketwatch as Aurora said an incantation.
Colorful streams of magical energy radiated from the floor and around Aurora as her outfit was magically changing!
Susana was amazed, but perplexed over Aurora's fashion sense, which didn't resemble anything she had seen before. Aurora's jacket had three diagonal stripes running along the sides and back of the jacket; the top stripe was dark purple, the middle was a brighter blue, and the bottom strip was a vibrant light green. Gray frills lined the bottom edge of the jacket, which was worn over a white dress with a skirt that was split down the middle.
Aurora twirled to show off the colorful underside of the skirt that billowed when she twirled; it had a purple, blue and green gradient and shimmered. Under her skirt, she were knee-length parachute pants and white tights, and wore white boots with black straps. She had a reddish-gray belt around her waist, with a holster and a few pouches on the side.
Her magic weapon floated down towards her, and she caught it in one of her hands. It took the form of a silver ray gun with brass accents. It had a glowing power meter on both sides of the barrel. On both sides near the handle were a star-shaped power gauge that framed in gold, and the inside of the gauges glowed a bright yellow. The handle was a metallic blue and silver. She put her weapon in the holster, and twirled again before dramatically posing!
/
"Awesome, isn't it? You'll get an awesome mage alter-ego from your initiation too!" "Your weapon is called Quasar Sniper Pistol Star. You'll need to invoke it in the first step! After it's complete, you'll be one of us, one of the Magical Renegades!"
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