You haven't truly lived until you've pushed open the swinging doors of a roadside bar and heard the music stop as everyone stares at your shadowed figure. That Carly Rae Jepsen cover band will never forget what happened that night, when you walked into the back room and forced a drug dealer you knew—a guy you knew from middle school with blond dreadlocks and a penchant for mysticism—to either reveal the location of the "knight" or hand over two fingers. He chose the former. Lucky you.
You've made a lot of enemies that night, but this is a war—and your side is losing. And your gamble has paid off: As the icy wind dies down and snowflakes fall to the cold ground, you see your quarry clearly for the first time.
It's a man in white arctic camouflage, his face hidden by goggles and a fur-lined balaclava. Despite his modern assault rifle and the chunky tablet on his hip, he's mounted on a tall black horse. He's thrust what looks like a steel spear into the snow. It whips back and forth in the cold wind. Yet somehow flies surround you in thick black clouds, buzzing so loudly you can hear them.
You know you should focus on the moment, but your thoughts turn to everything you've learned since your First Change. About the enemy. About Gaia, the living earth. You weren't always what you are now…
And as a child, I had no idea. I was an SCA nerd! I swung a plastic sword and read books on "meditating the Celtic way." The First Change was a horrible surprise.
And I thought I was a demon or worse. When my parents kicked me out, I ended up on the streets, but there I learned to buy and sell, and to stay one step ahead of the police.
But I knew about war. As a child, I focused on becoming a leader, hoping I could be something more than a pawn.
But I secretly knew that I would change one day, and I learned to survive in the wild. These trials cut through weakness and feeling, preparing me for war.
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