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The Call (1) : An unknown number calls you. Maybe you pick it up, maybe you don’t, but the message is the same–someone on the other line is warning you about something. They seem to have details that give credence to whatever they’re warning you about, but there’s something particularly unbelievable about it all–because, they sound like you. And they know things only you would know. And then, the line drops, and you’re left alone. If you try to call the number back, it’s been disconnected. If it was a prank, it was a good one. But, maybe there was something more to it.
The years had been kind to Lucis, something he was grateful for every day. His life was hardly glamorous, but he was content. He had good students, willing students, and was able to pass on what he knew to them with little trouble. He was a full Professor now and not an Assistant, which was remarkable all things considered. And overall he’d kept busy with his life.
However, some things had fallen to the wayside. Things that felt less…necessary in one form or another. Like the magics and things that he knew were around Destiny City – that he’d been part of, once. With how full life was, however, he hadn’t had time to really commit to delving further into things like he’d initially planned. And now…
Now it’s been two years, or thereabouts, since he last had anything to do with. Well. That. Enough so that he had genuinely began to think that perhaps it was just an episode spread out over a few months, that perhaps something had been influencing him. And so he tucked those thoughts away, even as a part of him was concerned, nagging.
Getting ready for Halloween as one does, he didn’t think anything of it when an unknown number called his cell phone. His martial arts students all had his phone number just in case of an emergency, and so it was quite possible it could’ve been any of them. Putting down the groceries he’d just come in with, he unlocked his phone, simply stating, “Hello?”
“You’ve been quite busy, haven’t you, Mr. Whitlock?”
He paused, a confused expression on his face. This voice sounded familiar, and yet…he couldn’t place it. “Yes I have been, is there something I can help you with…?”
There’s a chuckle on the other end of the line before, “I’m not the one who needs help. You are.”
If anything were to set him on edge, it would be that. “Excuse me?”
“You heard me, your hearing isn’t gone yet,” the other voice laughed, a light tenor that was hauntingly familiar. But where had he heard it before…? “If you don’t shape up here soon, there will be more at stake than just your wonder, Kom El Shoqafa.”
His body went stiff, hearing that. What were the odds that he’d be thinking of this just before this call? And who was that on the other end of the line?
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Quit messing around and just spit out whatever you’re going to say.”
“I hardly need to, I think this warning is plenty. I do wonder how your wonder is doing, having been left alone all this time. I wonder if something might have happened, someone might have tried to take it…oh, there are so many things that could happen while you’ve been pretending everything is normal.”
“If you’re going to tell me anything, spit. It. Out. Quit playing games with me.”
The person on the other end of the line chuckled – and that was when it hit him who he was hearing. Or at least an idea. “That’s what you thought this all was, isn’t it? Well, it’s time to play once again before everything is gone.”
Before he could protest, the line disconnected – and no amount of trying to call back worked.
Had he just spoken to himself, or had something merely found a way to mimic his voice? No…that couldn’t be it. If that was it, then they wouldn’t know…
Either way, it was time for him to get back in the saddle and go find out indeed if anything had happened to the wonder he’d been tasked with maintaining, reaching for and feeling a rush as the side of Destiny City (and the larger world) he'd denied rushed back into him, power and all. He was more than a little overdue on upkeep, after all.
