July 11, 2008
Like it or not, I’m a shaman, and being such, I’m no stranger to nightmares. Add to that the guilt I carry for what I did to my men, and I’ve had some rough dreams in my day. This morning’s dream, however, was more than I cared to see. It seemed to portend the death of the X-Men, with me left to shoulder the blame. There was nothing I wanted more than to forget it all, but as a talented author once wrote,
A Thing, Once Dreamed, Can Never be Undreamed.
I didn’t waste any time getting dressed and out of my lab. I needed to clear my head and figured a run would be my best bet. But after that didn’t work, I decided to give in and try my hand at deciphering my dream with some out-of-practice shamaning. What I got was a vision more disturbing than my original dream.
It was Him. He shouldn’t have been there. Couldn’t have been there. But there He was. In my vision. Unbanished. The Adversary. Promising eternal pain and suffering for me, but only after I watched Him destroy all I held dear.
Unfortunately, one of the new students, Sooraya Qadir, happened upon me. The whispers of her soul woke me from my vision, and He didn’t seem to take kindly to the interruption. It seemed He left me a little token to remind of the agony to come because I noticed my spirit sense picking up on every little emotion while Sooraya and I discussed
The Names of God.
When Sooraya and I parted ways, I headed to the mansion, intent on hiding away in my lab, but when I entered I ran into a
Fey Spirit. Or at least a girl who looked like a fairy. It was Megan Guinn, another new student, whose physical mutation was weighing heavily upon her heart…and thus weighed heavily on my mind.
By the time I finished talking to Megan, I thought my head was going to split, but the Fates weren’t finished with me. Before I could duck into the elevator, I encountered Rogue. And her boiling rage was all but
Out of Sight, Out of Mind.
At the end of Rogue’s discussion, it finally sank in that this could all just be a harbinger of the Adversary.
For the next couple of hours I hid in my lab, happy to be left alone, even if I was still picking up stray emotions here and there.
Eventually, when I was sure most everyone had left, I peeked out of my cave, hoping to sweat away my hypersensitivity in the gym. Instead I met Cessily Kincaid, who was lost in
Spirit Dancing before she noticed me and her emotions went on a rollercoaster. In the end, there was no working out, just me scurrying back to the solitude of my lab.
Following my encounter with Cessily, I once again retired to my lab, only to be visited by Sage. She was wondering if I had finished her Bast-proof keyboard. Which is kind of odd now that I think about it, because
Kittens Can't Type to begin with.
After Sage left I thought I might finally get the peace and quiet I had been longing for all day. I’ve never been so happy to be wrong. But then, Ororo Monroe does have that effect. During our visit, she said a lot of things I really needed to hear, whether I realized it at the time or not. Most importantly, she reminded me that I don’t have to try
Weathering the Storm on my own.
However, in the true spirit of the day, the joy of Ororo’s visit proved short lived when the security system was mysteriously shut down, leaving us trapped in the basement until Jubilee showed up with her own brand of
Sizzling Salvation.
For a few hours after that, I retired to my lab to…rest for a spell…before seeing to the freshly broken elevator. While surveying the damage, Wicked happened down caught in a fug of
Spirit Angst over her meeting with a demon at a carnival.
Upon hearing that Wicked had run into a Soul Collector the same day the Adversary had promised to rain death and destruction upon my friends and me, I decided it was
Easier to Run than wait around for Him to fulfill his promise. With much passion and rage, built up from her own terrible day, Jubilee talked me out of doing anything stupid.
Following my chat with Jubilee I snuck off to Devyl’s Cove to reflect upon the day. While there I met up with Alison Blair. Evidently we were both drawn by how
The Spirit Moves across the ripples of a lake.
My night ended…or rather didn’t end, with me tinkering in my lab until I fell asleep sometime around 5:00 a.m. on my stool with my head and arms splayed across my work table. Contrary to popular belief, that’s not the best (or safest) of sleeping positions.
