Road Mage: Chapter Two

[Koldun he/him]

Chapter 2

You might be wondering why I speak in both the present tense and past tense. That is for a simple reason. Currently, I’m reliving the events that both they and I went through, in an attempt to feel nostalgic. Some of you, the ones less wise in the ways of Rage magic, may be wondering how I’m doing this. Simply told, I’m driving, and looking through a mirror. If that sounds boring, you’ll be glad to know it’s a magic mirror. Well, not actually. It’s a mirror, and I’m using it magically. An old friend of mine wrote a thing called the History of Rage. I included an excerpt about both potholes and how the powers came about in the last chapter. Oh yeah, I’m writing a book too. He inspired me, I guess. He gave me express permission to use these excerpts, as long as I mention him by name. So I will. Later on in the book, of course, as I have a memoir/story/recollection of my legendary exploits to write. I should, of course. Speak of my powers. To do that, you’ll need to understand something. Here’s my friend No-Name Unknowny, to explain it.

Powers are, and always have been, based on the situation that brought them into being. As rage is a core aspect of getting your powers, many times, the things that led one to such a rage are the same things one obtains mastery over with their powers. Such as the aforementioned pothole, with its Enraging of the subject giving the subject the ability to manipulate it, and in their case, being able to transform them into a portal to a dimension of predatory intelligent slime, the rage was what brought the power on, and the power is based on what led to the rage. This leads to people who get cut off on a highway to wish that a piece of road would detach from the ground and smash the driver who slighted them, and if they’re enraged enough, more often than not, that’s what happens. People who are greatly annoyed at traffic lights usually get the ability to manipulate the light they emit, those wish to take a tire iron to the headlights of an annoying driver may gain enhanced strength that allows them to completely obliterate the car of the person they’re not particularly pleased with, and, in a very famous case, someone who needed gas and was almost run over while waving a sign that said, “Need fuel,” by an obnoxious driver who swerved off the road into them, was able to not only transfer the gas from their car to his own from a distance, but they were also able to drain the driver, who, as it turned out, was a Mage, of his power, taking it for his own. That man, who I’ve come to befriend, is the infamous Road Mage, who...

And the rest is my life story summarized in a few criminally short sentences, which I will tell you myself, in a much longer, rambling format. Yes, indeed, I once ran out of gas on the road. I wasn’t a Mage at the time, so I was driving at my car’s top speed, as at the time, I was a cowardly weakling normal human, who was scared of the Roadlands so much that he spent all of his fuel and had to hold up a marker scrawled sign on the side of the road, and was then almost run over by some moron who pretended to turn onto the road to help me, then drove at full speed towards me. I barely leaped out of the way, smashing my head on the dirt, and I looked up to see him flipping me off. Well, it’s safe to say that made me angry, and the next thing I knew, I felt as if my insides were on fire, and I swear I saw smoke coming out my mouth as I exhaled. I remember raising my hand, focusing on where I thought his fuel tank was, and I remember moving it, transferring it to my tank. His car came to a full stop, obviously, and next thing I knew, he was running at me, holding a STOP sign. He probably got his powers while getting a ticket for running one of those. I remember him raising it to me, and next thing I knew, my heart stopped beating.

I was dying, which while a terrifying experience, did nothing to quell my rage. Honestly speaking, I’ve had anger issues my whole life, and while I’d been working on them, this was too much. This made me furious, even more furious than during my Enraging, and that was something that hardly ever happened to nice, normal Mages. This was how I realized that I was far from nice, and even further from normal. I remember my blood boiling, not moving as it was supposed to, and I remember seeing the Rage within me, a roaring blue flame. And then, I saw his. It was a bright red flowing flame, and it was cascading in a stream towards the stop sign, where it was then focused through it on my heart.  It was right there, his Rage, flowing into my heart. So, I did what I’m sure no one had done before. I siphoned it, just like with the fuel. I remember seeing that red energy flowing with my own and I remember willing it to let go of my heart, and then, I felt it beat again. I remember reaching out a hand, and the stop sign falling into my hand. And I remember bashing it, repeatedly, into the man, until he, like the sign, asked me to stop. I may have cracked a few ribs, but he’d heal. I, fortunately for him, chose not to stop his cells from multiplying. That, right there, is the rather violent story of how I became the first Mage to have two powers. Later on, I’d be the first to have three, then four, then five. Soon enough, I’d have them all. But those are boring stories. What’s interesting is what I did after I got them. I became a hero. Well, no. First I crashed a bunch of cars. Then...I just lived in my car. I only really became the hero after everything else seemed too boring for comparison. I kind of just, came across some bandits, beat them up a bit, stole their stuff, and then kept doing that to other bandits. Apparently, assault and battery plus robbery is alright when you do it to people who do the same on a daily basis. Especially if you do it while they’re in the middle of doing the deed to some poor schmuck who had the misfortune of having to travel, and was too timid to become a Mage. I guess that’s why I took on the name Cross Guardian, which, by the way, is in no way supposed to be religious. I just found a good pun that included a synonym for being angry and started calling myself that. So I’m not actually a vigilante priest who wants to clean up the Roadlands and preaches about the mighty Lord above whenever he fights bandits. And I don’t fight with a cross! I swear, you try to make a sword out windshield wipers and you’re branded for life...And on that topic, where did the whole, all who he defeats have bible verses placed on them with a hot branding iron come from? Where did that even come from? I mean, it’s not like....oh. The fuel can smiley face incident. Hm. Well then, let’s continue on with the story. That chapter ending went on for way too long.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

I'm actually really liking this. This chapter is a lot better than the first one, I'll tell you that. And it's quite funny as well.

My only critique is that it's only a couple of huge paragraphs. You could probably split each of those into 3-5 smaller paragraphs.

[Koldun he/him]

Alright, thank for the compliment. As for chapter one, what do you think can be improved with it? I want the entire novel to be good, not just every second chapter.

[StrikerEZ he/him]

I think the biggest problem with the first chapter was that it just felt too sporadic. And the magic explanation was weird. This chapter wasn't as sporadic, but you could clean it up a little.

[Koldun he/him]

I did make an alternate start to the first chapter, which I posted in its thread. But I will of course go through all of my chapters and edit them. Thanks for the feedback!

Edited June 5, 2017 by Koldun

[StrikerEZ he/him]

24 minutes ago, Koldun said:

I did make an alternate start to the first chapter, which I posted in its thread. But I will of course go through all of my chapters and edit them. Thanks for the feedback!

You're welcome! 

[Lindel he/him]

I like this a lot better than the first chapter as well, you definitely have me intrigued now! Great humor, and very good voice. Nice work!