Chapter One - A Human Named Mara
Mara Voss is a woman who would be best described as floating through life. Her list of greatest
accomplishments stops at being described as "pretty good" by her manager at her retail job. She
works in the back as the thought of talking to a stranger without rehearsed responses shakes her
to her core. She does not have friends nor family. She does not talk to people enough for her to
make friends and she has not talked to her family since she moved out at age twenty, or rather she
was kicked out at twenty. Something that she does not talk about even six years after the fact. She
is now twenty-six her lifestyle is one of barely making ends meet to live in a dank shoebox apartment
that might not be entirely legal. She spends her free time reading romance stories or studying up on
some topic. Her favorites things to study are historical events or the Florida ecosystem.
When it all becomes too much to think about Mara would take a walk out in nature. A small trail
through one of the many pine flat woods found in Florida. The forests themselves are not like normal
forests as trees tend to be spread out letting the sun in. The gaps between the trees are filled with
various saw palms and shrubs that grow out of the sandy dirt. The underbrush is thick and needs to be
burned every so often as without the wildlife would be choked out and the ecosystem would die. This is
just one of the many things that Mara thinks about during her walks. She enjoys getting out of the
apartment as she is pretty sure there is some mold somewhere in the apartment though her landlord
denies this. She hates it when people act as if she is stupid which often happens due to her lack of
communication skills. She knows the words she wants to say but finds herself unable to do so when faced
with another person unless she has rehearsed beforehand. Somewhere within the forest a saw palmetto
rustle. The sound of which is unmistakable, deep and loud, not something one would expect from a bush.
Mara stops and looks out from the trail with enthusiastic hopes of catching a glimpse of an animal. The
wind blows causing the pines above to rustle as well and a shiver to go down Mara's spine. The wind
carries the first hints of winter which for a Mid-October Florida evening is early. After a few seconds
she continues whatever rustled the brush was either gone or not coming out. The trail leads to the Gulf
Coast and a small break in the mangroves. When Mara arrived at the end she sat down on a tree that had
fallen in a recent hurricane and looked out. The sun set in Florida painted the sky is all sorts of
pastel colors soft blues turned into soft pinks and golden yellows. The large thunder heads look as if
they were mountains. She listened to the water lazily and softly lap to the shore and a mullet that had
jumped out of the water. She was happy here at peace with her current state. Then the want of more creeps
in, she grew up being told that she would do something great. She was told by parents and teachers that
she was one of the smartest kids they knew if only she had applied herself more. She sighs and gets up
then said out loud to only herself "I might always disappoint them".
On the walk back she noticed an opening which was strange she has been down this trail hundreds of times
and she typically does not miss things. She stops in front of this opening it is more overgrown than the
main trail and somehow darker. The sun is going down and soon it will be night. Not a problem Mara thought,
she brought a flashlight. For whatever reason the only thing her mind at this point was "I need to get down
this path". She tucks her jeans into her socks before going down as she fears ticks. Though the ones who
carry Lyme's disease do not live this south in Florida she still carries the fear of near invisible blood
drinking insects. She is normal in this respect as she is sure everyone hates animals that drink human blood.
With a click her flashlight produces a harsh blueish white light that comes from cheap LED flashlights. She
begins her journey down the trail, the tall grass making walking a bit harder but manageable. The further
she goes down the trail the darker it gets and the wind picks up. The rustling of the pines above sounds
like waves crashing into a shore during a thunderstorm and yet Mara pushes on. A warm feeling rises within her.
* * *
"Keep going" A thought appeared in her head with her voice though she is unsure if it was hers. The sun
dipped below the horizon an event she did not see as the horizon was blocked by the mangroves that densely
populate the coast. Infront of her a borrowing owl swoops where she was shining her light. The owl was a
blur but something that anyone who lived in Southern Florida for a significant amount of time would know.
She picks up her pace determined to find whatever she was sent to find. She does not know how she knows
that there is something for her to find but she knows it with every fiber of her being.
While picking up her pace as the warmth in her chest grows with each step. Her foot suddenly catches on
a root or vine sending her crashing to the ground. The ground is still warm from the day. The first thing
she feels is the sand that was now all over her, even inside her mouth. The horrific crunch of sand in her
mouth was enough to make her realize that this was stupid and everything is stupid and now she has sand all
over her and now she is going to cry. Alone in a dark sandy forest that if she died in there would be no
tears shed. That is what she thought of as a subtle green current caught her eye. She follows it with her
eyes, and they land on book half buried in the sand just off the trail. It's unlike anything she has seen
before light green, almost lime fog or light coming from a book with a black leather cover. She crawls over
and digs it up with her bare hands, sand sticking all over hands especially between her fingers causing her
great discomfort.
"Good" another thought rings out in her mind and faded away this time the thought was definitely not hers.
It was a deep rough voice but without direction as if the wind spoke it. She holds the book in her hands
slowly brushing the sand off the cover made of a leather she has never felt before. Immediately she felt a
strange pulse from the book. The book is large and thick, something that cannot be read while holding. Just
from the outside she can tell that the book is old as the pages have yellowed. There was no title on the
cover nor the spine. She opens the book to the first page and finds it dense with writing all by hand. Notes
fill the margins many sentences underlined. The second thing she noticed was that there was three languages
English, Spanish, and a language with characters she does not recognize. Her excitement was rising in her
quickly, the sadness and frustration that she had felt just moments ago was brushed aside. The contents that
she can read suggest that this book holds spells and studies on magic. Notes on rituals and warnings on what
can go wrong with various spells. She doubts that anything in the book would actually work but she is
interested in what it means for the historical records. Then she thought of green current and some of her
doubts faded.
When she returns home it is still the same mold smelling room with a tv, small kitchen, and a couch that
pulls out to be a bed. She places the book on the counter and heads directly to the shower to finally be
rid of the sand that haunted her since her fall. After the shower she flops onto the couch not bothering
to pull out the bed and falls asleep exhausted from the day.
* * *
That night while she sleeps her dreams stirred up strange images of death and destruction. A crowd of
medieval peasants all before a man in dark robes a green current running between his fingers. He wears
a human skull as a mask, his eyes dark and crazed with a slight green glow in the middle of his eyes.
Should he stand in a dark room his eyes will appear as two green glowing dots. He then raises his hand,
and green lighting erupts from his hands hitting the peasants. When the lighting subsides, there is just
dust where people once stood and in the middle of it all was Mara. The man glares at her with intensity.
"You" he said though his voice did not come from him but all around. "You are the next in line"
"What?" Mara questioned herself, not knowing if it was the dream that was making her calm or something
else. "What do you mean by that?"
"Have your people lost the knowledge of the arcane and supernatural?" he asked before continuing, "The
powers beyond the human means? The abilities to forgo death, to rule over others, destroy armies with
a flick of a wrist?"
Mara unsure of how to respond opens her mouth then closes then opens "Who are you?" she asked genuinely.
The man starts to approach her watching her carefully.
"I would have expected someone stronger to be next in line." He said disappointment evident in his voice.
"Well, I do not even know what I am 'next in line' for how you can expect me —" she is cut off as the
man presses his hand to the top of her head. "Hey, get the fuck off me creep" she yelled swatting his
hands away. "I do not want nothing to do with any of this" she told the man.
"You will see in time young one, learn my name, power, and fall. Though I feel it within you. Vel Oscura
you'll be stronger than us all." He said before laughing a haunting laugh that stayed with Mara as she
woke up sweating in bed. She quickly wrote what she saw down in a notebook she kept on her coffee table.
After a few deep breaths she looked around her apartment, everything looked normal. Must have been a bad
dream she thought before laying back down in her bed to go to sleep not noticing the green current from
the book ever so faintly flowing near her fingertips.