Familiar Adversary - My Quest Into The Unknown

It's Impossible,
But The Impossible
Has Happened.

I've been brought into my own Legacy Universe
and my characters are not happy with me at all.
Follow along as I try to evade Ethan and Michela
as well as the evil Julian Black
and attempt to find my way home again...
before one of the aforementioned catches me.

Part 1 - The Gypsy's Curse

It was a dream. It had to be a dream.

There was no possible way this was happening.

I couldn't really be inside my own Legacy universe - - The one I had created to escape reality. This place was make-believe, fiction. I had made it all up in my head, hadn't I? I pinched myself, but it didn't make the dark, mysterious world fade away. "Ow!" I said. "Well, that didn't work."

How in the heck could I be here then? How could the Legacy be real?

"Maybe I've gone insane and this is my punishment," I said to myself.

"And maybe you should shut up before the enemy finds you."

Kevin Fairchild stood behind me looking all handsome and Marlboro-man-ish. He grabbed my arm and tugged me downward. I gaped at Kevin, baffled by the fact that he seemed more alive and animated here than I had ever seen him in my mind's eye.

I reached my hand out to touch his face and he swatted it away, a scowl painting his features.

"You're real."

"No, duh. Of course, I'm real," Kevin hissed. ‘You're the one who's been severely screwing up things, our lives, everything! We're all still alive - - no thanks to you!"

My eyes widened at his insinuation.

"You're telling me what exactly?" I had a feeling I wasn't going to like what he was about to tell me.

"We recruited a very powerful gypsy. She cast a spell. That's why you're here. We had to stop you from continuing your story."

"So, your solution is to dump me into my own scary dark world? Gee, thanks. Next time, leave me a note or something.

I didn't have long to let the reality of it all sink in. Kevin had stopped paying attention to me, and was leveling a gun at a dark figure coming our way. Inside I was annoyed he wasn't fawning all over me. I mean, after all, I was the real one, the creator. He was pure fiction, wasn't he?

"Get down!" Kevin yelled. His voice was more stern than I remembered. Hollow shots came from his gun. It didn't sound like any silencer I'd ever heard, but then again, I wasn't as familiar with guns as many people have been led to believe.

"Dammit! Listen to me, woman!"

"I'm listening. I'm listening," I said as I ducked my head closer to the moldy grass. "If I get an allergy attack, you're the one who is going to be sorry."

Shots popped again in response to his original gun fire. Kevin fired again. He must have hit someone because a howling cry came out of the dark shadows.

"Got him. Now MOVE!"

Kevin picked me up off the grass and tossed me over his shoulder like a hulking caveman.

"I don't remember you being this rude, or this strong," I said, pounding on his back. Even in my indignation, I still managed to appreciate his cute, tight posterior.

"You don't know me at all, Toni. Never did."

"Okay, there is no need for more rudeness."

Three things happened almost instantaneously. A dark SUV squealed to a halt before us, Kevin threw me inside and then he jumped into the passenger seat.

"Is that her?"

Someone spoke from the driver's seat, but I couldn't see him. He did sound familiar, however.

"Yeah, it's her. Now maybe we'll all have a bit more secrecy in our operations." Kevin glared at me again. Man, he looked almost evil incarnate when he did that.

"Now that you have me here. What do you plan to do with me? Shoot me?"

"I ought to," the driver said. "You've caused more chaos than you even know. The only good part was discovering our father was a psycho-lunatic."

"You're father?" I moved closer rubbing my sore knee, the one I had injured during the toss and throw episode gaining entry into the SUV. I peeked around the bucket seat hoping to get a better look at the driver.

My breath caught in my throat.

"Ethan?"

"Who were you expecting? Zeno the clown boy?"

"No. No," I said. I wasn't expecting anything. When I got up this morning, I definitely couldn't foresee this in my future."

"You've been watching us since day one. Kinda creepy having someone know your every thought. I thought it was time for you to feel the effects of the whole world knowing your every move." Ethan's voice had a dark cadence to it.

I balked at his comment. "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Just wait," Ethan said, mysteriously. "You'll find out soon enough."

It had started raining an hour earlier and I had lost track of exactly how long I had been in the SUV. Neither Ethan nor Kevin spoke much after our initial meeting.

"End of the line," Ethan said, startling me. He jumped out of the black car and the side door of the SUV slid open. It was in that moment I had a completely frontal look at Ethan's entire face. And that face looked extremely pissed off. "Out!"

"Out? Uh, no. Where are we?"

"Out, I said!"

When I didn't immediately climb out of the car, he grabbed me and thrust me onto the muddy, dark road. Okay, there was way too much grabbing and thrusting going on here. And I was beginning to get the impression that Ethan and Kevin didn't like me too much.

"You can't just leave her here," Kevin protested.

"Watch me!" Ethan jumped back into the SUV and slammed the door.

I couldn't help but flinch, or maybe it was a chill zinging down my back. It was pretty wet and rainy and wet tonight. Not to mention dark and scary. The SUV spun around and then disappeared into the night, its tail lights fading away over the horizon.

I hadn't reacted well. I couldn't have. I was still in shock. My own characters had just ditched me in the middle of no where. The moon was the only light for miles and even that wasn't strong enough to light the road.

"Maybe this is just a very realistic nightmare," I said to myself. "Yeah, right," I sobbed. "I have just been left to die by my two most favorite characters in the entire world. This is a new experience I hadn't planned on savoring. Could this day get any worse?"

It was in that moment I heard the blood curdling scream. Of course, there had to be a blood curdling scream. There was always a blood curdling scream just before somebody died.

Next on Familiar Adversary...

Michela gets into the game as she teams up with Ethan... but she has problems of her own to work out that may be to my advantage... that is, if the mud slide hasn't already killed me.