I left the me I used to be
I wanna see this through
Left the me I used to be
If only you'd see it too
Well I wonder what you've become
You pull me back when I try to run

- 'City', Natalie Imbruglia -

Ars Magna #0
"Pale Green Stars"
by Matthew Cavazos

Cottered, like alot of places, is not the same kinda town you see on television. Cottered is the suburban sister of New South Wales' infamous Pacific City, and 'cause of this it gets alot of the backsplash of whatever hits PC. When that alien encounter happened, within a week, the population of Cottered grew by a quarter.

Every now and then this 'trend', as the local reporters call it, occurs when more and more strange things happen in the big city. The explosion of the tower at heart of the city, the appearance of that science hero hunting robot The Siege Engine, the explosion of the asylum, and those weirdoes that now rule Pacific City, have chased thousands into Cottered. And none of this even remotely has to do with why Paul and Sylvia are moving me out of this overcrowded city.

Well that's not really true.

Paul got tired of representing all these criminal cases for these losers that Champion and Magenta wouldn't have even sneezed at back in the golden days of heroing, and when Alhazard was blown up it released alot more of these criminals and they spread themselves out across Australia. The crappier ones stayed and were taken down by the Siege Engine, Mysteria, Venus Mantrap, or Vapour, and punished at the Mayoress' whim. Paul couldn't take all the violations of their rights by this new 'regime', as he likes to call it, and asked us if we wanted to move.

Or, actually, Sylvia felt that I wasn't old enough to have a say and promptly voted 'yes', but only if their relationship would take the next step.

I felt torn with the idea of Paul marrying Sylvia. It would mean he'd become a permanent fixture in my life, the support I've always needed, a true father to turn to, but that would mean his torment at the hands of Sylvia. Cheating and backstabbing would become that much more stronger as weapons for my mother to use against him. I've heard him say, many times, that if he ever got married divorce would never be an option and I think that's why Sylvia chose him as the one she'd keep around.

Besides that I would have to start in a whole new secondary school in mid-season and I barely have friends as it is in my home town, though I'm sure Liz is tired of having some kid tagging along on her trips to the movies with her friends from PCU. And as for Mikey, he doesn't really count, 'cause he's my cousin and I was practically babysitting him for free for my Aunt Nicky.

Then there are the dreams.

Dreams so real and so terrifying I'm afraid they just might come true. Just recently I've begun to see a young guy, always in the shadows, while I'm doing these impossible things like flying and... and changing. He's there watching over me while I'm fighting for my life against wicked people and ugly monsters that make me wake up whipsering the name Johann over and over between dry sobs.

For some reason I feel this urge to fight harder, fly faster, to finish my enemies before they finish me. In the end of my dreams, if I haven't realized how much like a nightmare they are, I finally get a chance to see myself and how I've changed. I find myself staring into a pool of rainwater, in a small pit in the ground, my reflection is not my own. I see two terrifying red and yellow eyes staring back at me burning with an intensity I've only seen in the eyes of a dragon, my dragon Emerald's eyes, which have become my own.

I have become one with her and together we are sharing a body that is part me and part her.

The dreams become more and more fantastic and frigthening when that man, Johann, and two other entities join him as they stand around me forming this triangle with me in this new body at the center. One of the other points has two young women, a young man, and some kind of haunting presence swirling around their beautiful, blonde, nude bodies. The remaining point of the triangle has seven girls all dressed in a variety outfits ranging from plain clothing to elaborate costumes, some more threatening looking than others.

All three points begin to come towards me and I know I'm not afraid of them. My body flares up with the brightest green flames licking out towards them in warning.

And that's when I wake up, curled up in a big ball underneath my sheets with Emerald on top of them. Her eyes ablaze with a look of alertness, as if she was there with me in my dreams, and tonight was just another of those nights in this new home of ours.

Rolling out of bed I found myself not caring about how Em was going to untangle herself from the bedding but more focussed on finding a box deep in my new walk in closet. I didn't bother pulling the long piece of twine that served in place of the pullchain and went directly to right half of the space and moved a few boxes full of knicknacks from years past.

At first touch I just knew I found what I was looking for and tore through the packing tape and started pulling out books after book. Dust slowly worked its way into my nostrils the urge to sneeze growing by the second. I put my hand over my face to stifle it but pulled it away when I felt the familiar wet sensation of blood on my fingers.

A dizzy spell came over me and the last thing I remember doing was dropping an old umbrella at my side before slumping down towards the hard wooden floor and passing out.