Teslite: Die Gessellschaft von Thule
We had arrived back home to our apartment in the style only the Home Guard could offer, a jostling metal crate that lept over ever little stone it had the misfortune of touching. Needless to say, Amisi and I were more than grateful for our little "escort" to have come to a more settled end. We bid farewell to our redcoated friends before ascending the staircase to our porchside entrance. I had just put the key into the lock when something fell from above, a flash of brown that landed at our feet with a light thud.
"What in tarn-?!" I cried out stepping back quickly.
Amisi grinned as she bent over the falling object.
"Such a scaredy cat, Nicole. It's just a parcel."
She hefted the small brick sized package in her hand and gave it a little shake.
"Last I remember, postmen don't just drop parcels over our heads!" I snapped.
Amisi cared none for my defensive remark and was more interested in the confounded object. She huffed and gave a defeated sigh.
"Pity," she held it out to me, "it's for you."
I blinked in surprise and took it in hesitant hands.
"Odd, I wasn't expecting anything..."
I rolled it carefully in my hands, noting the lack of any identification aside from the small tag of which was written my name. Something small inside moved back and forth inside, it had some weight to it, but it was not heavy. I glanced around to see who had dropped it to no avail.
"Only one way to find out."
I tentatively untied it, fully prepared to cast it away at a moments notice. Amisi was busily unlocking the door as I tore open the brown paper and got my first look at the strange thing.
It was a small ornately carved box, sparesely decorated with copper fittings. It was a beautiful thing, albeit mysterious.
"What is it?" Amisi asked, eyeing the box with gleaming violet eyes.
"I don't know."
"Come on, open it!" She said giving me a playful shove.
I hesitated for a moment. What if this was some sort of trap? Several other women had been blown into human balloons for no known reason, surely this could be the cause. If it is, is it really wise to open it? I might already have been expanded, would this Geist possessing me protect me?
"Hey! Nicole, no standy sleepy!"
I jumped and elicited a small yelp as she pinched my side. She grinned ear to ear, I responded in kind with a glare of my own.
"This is becoming a bad habit, Amisi."
"Heheh, I hope so."
I grumbled to myself and cast my eyes back to the box.
"Well, here goes nothing."
I thumbed the small latch and slowly lifted the box's lid expecting the horrors of Pandora to whoosh out of it. Thankfully, no such thing occurred.
Inside was a small black Obelisk, etched with golden runes of some long forgotten tongue. It was carefully protected by thin golden fibres, nestled safely in its embrace. Amisi seemed unimpressed, a small pout forming on her face.
"That's it? Boring."
I ran a finger along it's smooth surface. A cold chill ran down my spine and I shuddered. Whatever this thing was, it surely wasn't my favorite artifact (not that I have ever had any).
"What is this?" I asked, turning to my foreign companion.
"It is just a Rhinelander runestone, useless junk."
I stared at it again. A memory of someone explaining a Rhinelander occult group came to mind. They didn't have any purpose in Thames, why would a group like that send a little trinket like that on our doorstep?
"You want my advice," Amisi began, her face becoming more serious, "destroy it."
That came as a surprise, not to mention highly unlike the Amisi I've ever known. As long as I've known her she's had a passion for old things like this, now to suddenly condemn this one to pieces? Was it really that dangerous?
I thought for a moment, choosing my words carefully.
"I think it would be best to donate it to the historical society. They surely would value something like this."
Amisi was silent, but gave in and nodded.
"Perhaps so. Just don't leave it here."
I watched as she headed inside leaving me on the porch alone. This had never happened between us before, nor have I ever seen her this serious about something. It was almost as if...
"Is she an anti-Rhinelander?"
Night came as a welcoming relief, the events of recent have been taxing to say the least. I didn't even bother undressing today, just flopping face first onto the bed. I glanced once more at the Runestone set aside on the nightstand.
Just what is it? If it worried Amisi, should I be worried as well? I mean, it's just a stone! Curses and magic don't exist! It's all make believe, like faeries and unicorns.
Yet, that odd chill still traveled up and down my spine whenever I glanced at it.
With a deflating sigh I smashed my face into the pillow.
"Why can't I just have a normal life?"
Now, I know I'm not one to believe in magic or curses. although I oftentimes do believe that there is some god that takes pleasure in making my life a terrible mess of unexplainable events.
So I wasn't tall that surprised to hear something in my room once those words left my lips. I froze and lie completely still, straining to listen.
There!
I could hear it, very faint. Something moving along the carpet.
There it is again!
My brain was screaming to do something, anything! Yet, against my deepest efforts I was frozen in place. My skin began to crawl as something settled onto the edge of the bed, and yet the shuffling continued. There was more than one?!
There was a low chuckle, more akin to a growl as the figure on the bed placed a gloved hand on my leg.
"You are very intuitive Frau Wiley."
Shoot.
I slowly turned to face the stranger, expecting the worst. He was an old man, his face scarred and wrinkled with age. A large white mustache hid his upper lip with its ends curled upwards in a wide W. The moonlight glinted off the Pickelhaube resting atop his head and the strange mechanical arm, which began to hymn gently like a lullaby. His dark blue uniform and gray trousers nearly hid him in the darkness, but here in the moonlight his presence was emphasized tenfold.
"Fraulein Nicole Wiley, if my sources are correct?"
I cleared my throat and eyed him suspiciously, aside from him intruding in our home.
"Y-yes. What do you want with me?"
He huffed in satisfaction and gestured to another figure in the dark. It took me a moment to realize it was another soldier, this one similiarly dressed without a Pickelhaube. The soldier's face was scarred from ear to ear and his ice blue eyes stared sharply into mine.
I didn't like this man, I don't why, but he's definately not the friendly type.
"Sir." The newcomer said, snapping to attention stiffly.
"Jurgen, would you kindly watch the doorway?"
He nodded and set off to his task, leaving the room. The officer, as I realized he was, turned back to me.
"Now then. I do apologize for the intrusion, but it cannot be helped."
"Oh...Okay?"
He glanced at the Obelisk resting on the nightstand and nodded gesturing with his mechanized arm.
"I'm glad to see it arrived safely. Good help is hard to find these days."
"Listen Hans, why are you here?" I interrupted, growing more impatient with his attempts to ease the situation.
He huffed and a faint smile creased his lips.
"Straight to the point, good."
He removed his helmet and neatly set it by his side.
"Frau Wiley, I am Count Eberhard of the Society of Thule. I believe you've heard of us before?"
"Yes, unfortunately." I gave him a defiant grin.
"I see. Well it should come as no surprise that we're here for you."
"And why is that? If you wanted to kill me, why not just do it in my sleep?"
"Oho, no. We're not the one's who are here to kill you."
I was quiet for a moment. Someone is here to kill me?
"What are you talking about?"
He shifted his position and glanced at the doorway before continuing.
"There is a sorcess in this city who means to claim your life. That Runestone is meant to ward off magical powers. Luckily for you, it seems to have worked as you are still breathing."
"Why does this sorceress want me dead?" I asked, skeptical as I was.
"Simple, your possessed by a Patriarch."
I was silent contemplating just what the Hell this man was talking about. How does he know that I'm possessed?
"Your Nile friend, Amisi, knows just as much. Has she not told you?"
Amisi?
Amisi! Was she alright?!
I quickly tried to get out of the bed, but froze at the distinct sound of metal sliding on metal.
"I wouldn't recommend that." He added gesturing to a soldier standing hidden in the corner of the room, a rifle barrel glinting in the moonlight.
"Where is Amisi." I growled trying my best to be intimidating.
"She's safe. To be honest, I am shocked you did not notice sooner."
"Notice what?"
His smile had become a sneer and his eyes narrowed.
"She's a sorceress, the pupil of your intended killer."
"Bull shit, Amisi is my friend! She wouldn't-"
"Is she now? How well do you know her? What village is she from, who are her parents, where did she study?"
"She's just keeps to herself...she's not..."
I mouth closed. This man had a point. I didn't know much of anything about Amisi's past. We've been sharing this apartment for three years, how could I not notice this sooner?
"She's a sorceress, Wiley, and a dangerous one at that... Speaking of which-"
He stood up from the bed and gestured to the hidden soldier. The soldier quickly turned the rifle towards the door.
A loud crash and the door burst apart into little wooden splinters, the body of the soldier who had been watching said door fell in a heap onto the floor. Amisi, in all her beauty, has never looked so fierce. She glared daggers at the old count.
"You! By the gods I swear I'll rip you apart if you touch her!" She roared, an arrowhead clenched firmly in her hands.
"We meet again, you've grown much since our last meeting."
Amisi, ignoring her enemy, glanced at me in concern.
"Nicole, are you alright? Get over here."
I froze on the spot. Try as I might, I simply couldn't move.
"Nicole?" She asked, her face softening.
I clenched my fists and stared long and hard at her.
"Amisi... Are you a sorceress?"
Amisi flinched visibly and her arms fell to her sides.
"Nicole now's not the-"
"Tell me, who are you? Why are you hiding your past from me?"
She opened and closer her mouth as if to say something, alas not a sound. Her eyes darted quickly between the Count and myself.
"Nicole I... Believe me I was going to tell you, but..."
The Count raised his mechanized hand.
"Soldat, fire only on my command."
Amisi and I both quickly turned to see the soldier step out of the darkness rifle at the ready. It came as a small surprise to see it was a woman. A pretty woman with her blonde hair tied tightly in a bun.
"Feuer."
"No!"
As the words left his mouth I reached out towards the soldier wishing hopelessly that the effort would prove enough to stop the soldier. I knew that it was a useless gesture.
Silence.
"What the?"
Glancing around, everyone was standing where they had, save for the soldier.
Her eyes widened and she dropped the rifle onto the carpet. The three of us stared at her. Then it happened, just like the girl in the Extraordinary Company's laboratory.
Everyone's jaw dropped , except for our Count, as the woman began to claw desperately at the buttons of her green tunic. I didn't understand what was wrong until I noticed the slight bulging in her midsection growing tight around her uniform. The woman struggled to undo the last three buttons to no avail, her stomach swelled bigger and bigger, her feminine curves gaining more prominence. Her breasts rapidly grew in size like a pair of water balloons and her rear filled her trousers tightly.
"Ngh! C-Count?! Vat do I do?!" She cried, her eyes pleading for help.
He blinked and scratched his chin.
"All according to plan soldat. You should enjoy it for the time being."
She stared at him dumbly as her face turned bright scarlet.
Her belly won the siege on her tunic and the three buttons violently popped off landing harmless onto the carpet. Her belly shot out from the new found freedom and the girl stumbled trying to balance herself. It didn't prove very effective as her limps had began to fill making movement difficult. She fell onto her large ball of a belly and flailed uselessly as her body rounded out.
"Mein gott, please stop!"
Her undershirt was the first to go, shredded apart by the pressure of her growing body. The woman moaned and was trying to hide her blushing face from the gaze of her officer, whom watched uninterested. Her trousers split apart and fell in a heap onto the floor. Her once lithe feminine body was becoming more spherical by the moment.
"I don't want to die!" The woman pleaded tears streaming down her pretty face.
The Count arched an eyebrow.
"Have courage soldat, you won't die here. A soldier will die only the battlefield when I say so."
Her body had become a fleshy blob of curves once it finally came to a stop. The woman was near hysterical at this point and gradually calmed down as she realized it was over. The Count turned to me and pointed a gloved finger.
"See what you have done? You have power over the Geists that this sorcerer wants."
I gazed at the bulbous woman and trembled.
"I-I did that to her?"
"You, no. That was the Patriarch that has possessed you."
"You mean t-to say I can do this to others?"
He nodded and cast a quick glance at his bodyguard, or what remained of her. He calmly knelt beside her and held her chin with his mechanized hand. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying.
"My apologies for the situation soldat, take heed it is for the safety of the Fatherland."
"J-jahwol." she squeaked, fighting the urge to sniffle.
Amisi was quiet throughout the whole ordeal and continued to pierce the Count with a deadly glare.
"Now then," he added standing up, "let's call this a temporary truce, for the safety of both of nations."
"For the safety of our nations?" I asked, quizzical after everything we had just witnessed.
"Yes, we can either work together to stop the destruction of everything we love, or we can kill each other now and let the world suffer." He directed this last part towards Amisi.
Amisi snarled, "I would never help you, you killed Manea."
The old man laughed, or more like a loud bellowing roar.
"Dead?! You fool, she's not dead."
A sly toothy grin spread across his face as his face darkened in some sadistic pleasure.
"Manea is alive, here to kill your friend."