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From: J R D <jrdss@pobox.alaska.net>
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Subject: {ASSM} Change of Power [11/14]
Date: Fri, 30 Nov 2001 09:10:08 -0500
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Had to get a new email, so I'm reposting my old works under the new 
addy to get it out.

Change of Power pt 11

Now, onto the boring stuff

-------------------------

DISCLAIMERS

-------------------------

This story contains scenes of an erotic and/or controversial nature, 
and is not intended for the perusal of minors.  Further if perusal of 
such material is considered illegal in your area or immoral by your 
religion or personal beliefs, you should likewise bypass this story.

This story remains the property of the author.  Permission is granted 
to download, photocopy, copy and repost so long as any such action 
contains these disclaimers, and no attempt is made to profit from 
this story.

All characters in this story are the creation of the author, and any 
resemblance to real persons, alive or dead, are purely coincidental.

This story may contain aspects of fantastic science or magic.  The 
parameters of what this science/magic can accomplish are completely 
at the discretion of me, the author, and, as such, I make no 
apologies for any rules of "real" physics, chemistry, biology, or 
magic that may be broken within the story.

-------------------------

Now onto the fun stuff

-------------------------

CHANGE OF POWER pt 11

Two hours later, after a serious sit down cry, Laurie came 
downstairs.  Jack was sitting at the table with his school books, but 
as soon as she entered the room he got up, poured a cup of coffee and 
set it before her.

She thanked him, and sipped at her coffee.  He went back to his 
homework, and after a few minutes of silence between them, she asked, 
"How could they do it?"

"Do it?" Jack asked, as if he didn't know what she was talking about.

"The Birth Rites," she started trembling as her barely controlled 
rage started to re-surface.  Then she yelled, "A Damned Compulsion!" 
and threw the coffee mug against the wall, shattering it and 
spreading coffee all over.

Jack set his pencil down, and closed his book.  He took a deep breath 
and said, "I can't defend what your ancestors did-"

"Why would you try?!  The Birth Rites are nothing more than a damned 
collection of compulsions and manipulations.  They compel us to 
transform our children.  They prevent us from having female children. 
They make us want to accept our Transformations into women.  It makes 
everything I thought I knew a lie."

"Not quite.  But it does taint everything.  Now you know why I hate 
manipulation."

Laurie gave an exasperated sigh.  "Look, can you just spare me the 
mystic master mumbo jumbo and explain this to me?"

"To gain an explanation, you must go back in history to before the 
current incarnation of the Sisterhood.  Both the Sisterhood and the 
Brotherhood have existed since long before the Goddess transformed 
your first ancestors.  Practically since the dawn of civilization. 
The two groups were always designed to work together as a team.  To 
be two halves of the same whole.

"But then a demon worshiper got into the Brotherhood, and managed to 
corrupt them from the inside.  He turned them against the Sisterhood 
of the age.  And the Sisterhood as it existed... stopped existing. 
It was then that the Brotherhood lashed out against humanity, and 
attempted to dominate them.  It was then that your ancestors looked 
for aid to protect them, looking first for a Sisterhood that no 
longer existed, then to the Goddess herself.

"But the Goddess's ability to help was limited.  She was the essence 
of feminine power, and her ability to affect men was limited."

"Yes, yes, I know all this.  So the Goddess transformed them into 
women, and gave them the power to fight the Brotherhood.  But none of 
that explains why the original members of the new Sisterhood created 
the Birth Rites and inflicted them on their children."

Jack sighed.  "The original intent of the Goddess was that all male 
children would become women until they learned what becoming a woman 
was all about, but also that all female children would become men 
until learning what being a man was like.  Then either could 
transform back and join either the Brotherhood or the Sisterhood, 
depending on the sex they chose.  The intent was to give a balance of 
the male and female aspects of their psyches.  The aggressive male 
aspects would make the Sisterhood a more effective fighting force, 
and female compassion would moderate the brutality of the 
Brotherhood."

"So what went wrong?"

"Two things.  Fear and arrogance.  Remember that the times back then 
were much more brutal than they are today.  The worst that you face 
today was what was common back then.  After they fought and decimated 
the Brotherhood, they were afraid of ANY of their children joining an 
organization capable of what they saw.  They were also arrogant 
enough to believe that their new female/male blending would allow 
them to serve the role of both the Brotherhood and the Sisterhood."

"So they created spells to sever the connection to the Dark One's power."

"Oh, no.  You can't do that.  No one can."

"What do you mean?"

"The Dark One is the essence of masculine power.  All people have 
both male and female aspects of their psyche, and thus all people 
have a connection to both the Dark One and the Goddess.  And thus 
they could not sever the connection to the Dark One.  But what they 
could do was make it so their children could receive the blessing of 
magic power only once."

"And that explains why we only have male children.  If we never have 
female children, we never run the risk of one of them transforming 
into a male with the power of the Dark One and not wanting to 
transform back.  But why compel our children to accept their changes? 
If they would have no power, wouldn't they have an incentive not to 
change back?"

"Minor incentive.  A transformation back would mean loss of magic 
power, but there would still be secular power.  And remember, we're 
talking about the Dark Ages here.  In many places women were 
literally chattel.  The property of their fathers until marriage 
whereupon they became the property of their husband.  A man could 
beat his wife for no more reason than he felt like it, and the most 
he'd get for it would be a stern glare.

"They also realized that the Brotherhood could make a comeback. 
Since they wouldn't have girls becoming men becoming women, they 
needed to make sure their ranks remained full.  So they compelled all 
the members of the Sisterhood to Transform all their children into 
women, and included compulsions to accept their femininity once 
transformed."

"So now we're all a collection of women because we have no choice. 
We never had a choice.  How could the Goddess allow such a thing?"

"I give the Goddess a lot of heat for not doing anything, but the 
fact is there isn't a lot she can do."

"Why not?"

Jack considered how best to explain it.  "My Sensei once told me that 
in order for a pendulum to swing, it must be able to swing both ways. 
In order for you to be able to truly be able to make choices, you 
have to be able to make the wrong choices.  If the Goddess always 
makes you do what is right, you lose a major portion of what makes 
you human, your free will."

"But now I'm not even sure that what I am is what I'm supposed to be. 
How can I be sure that I wasn't supposed to become Larry after 
learning what it was to be Laurie?"

Jack shrugged.  "That's an inner question only you can decide."

Laurie thought about it.  "Could you remove the Birth Rites?"

"I can, but I'm not sure that's a good idea."

"Please.  As long as those Birth Rites are in place I can't be sure 
that any decision I make isn't being influenced by them."

"Alright, if you really want to, but there's a risk.  If I remove the 
Birth Rites then the Transformation might be undone as well.  You 
could wind up becoming Larry whether you like it or not.  Now I can 
undo that if you decide you do like being Laurie, but if you do 
become Larry, then become Laurie again, that will destroy your mystic 
power.  You will lose your ability to heal, to Transform, to do 
anything you used to do with your magic.  You would be nothing more 
than a normal woman.  So decide carefully."

Laurie closed her eyes and thought about it.  It would be a big step, 
but she had to get rid of her doubts.  Finally, she said, "Do it."

"You sure?"  Laurie nodded.  Jack reached across the table and took 
her hands in his.  She felt his power reach out and touch her.  She 
felt something inside her start to unravel, and part of her wanted to 
rebel and run away, but she fought the urge.  What he was doing felt 
strange and somehow even unholy, but Laurie gave a silent prayer to 
the Goddess for strength to persevere.

Then she felt it.  Another... presence.  Caring.  Loving.  It gave 
her the strength to continue through with it, and the thing inside 
her just fell apart like old, cheap fabric.

Jack let go of her hands.  "Done.  That was easier than I expected."

"I think you got some help."

With obvious distaste, he asked, "The Goddess?"

"Yes.  What's the problem?"

"Nothing, really.  I've got some personal issues with the Goddess. 
Nothing for you to worry about."

"You sure?"

"Yeah.  You should probably take some time for yourself to get to 
know you without those Birth Rites."

"Good idea."  Laurie went upstairs to her room, and sat down in front 
of her mirror.  The face in front of her was the same in that it 
wasn't visibly different, but there was a newness to it.  Like she 
wasn't seeing it in quite the same way as before.  Then she noticed 
the difference.  Before there was a... force behind what made her 
like what she saw in the mirror.  Now she liked what she saw because 
it was who she was.  She knew that, if there was some alternate 
reality where the Birth Rites had never been inflicted on her 
ancestors, she would still be Laurie.  Her time as Larry was and 
would always be part of her, but this is who she was.

She grabbed her purse and headed downstairs.  Jack asked, "Where you headed?"

Laurie stammered out, "I...  I'm...  It's...  Oh, hell with it, I'm 
going over to Bronwyn's for some fun.  You don't mind?"

Jack laughed.  "Naw.  My sexy "mother" having a sexual relationship 
with my sexy girlfriend?  It's a teen fantasy come true."

Laurie got an idea.  "Have you told her yet that you know about her 
dual nature?"

"Nope."

"Then why don't you join us?  We can reveal what you know, and have a 
three-way.  Unless you have some kind of moral objection to that."

Jack thought about it.  "No.  No moral objections."

"But you don't sound too thrilled about it."

"Oh, don't get me wrong.  I'd love to share some time with you and 
Bronwyn in the same bed."

"But?"

Jack sighed.  "My mother and I had a pretty serious falling out a 
while back.  Before that she and I used to engage in sexual relations 
with each other.  I just got a sudden blast of nostalgia."

Laurie looked into his eyes, and every healer's sense she had told 
her to work with him. "Care to talk about it?"

"Probably should, but I think that'd be a little too personal."

Laurie put her hand on his arm.  "This is clearly a big problem with 
you, and if you really feel you can't talk then I'm not going to try 
to make you.  But you do need some healing.  And I think you should 
start by telling Bronwyn that you know about her."

"You're just gonna keep pressing that, aren't you?"

"Jack, the secrets between you two aren't healthy for either of you. 
Tell her."

Jack took a deep breath and said, "I'm sorry.  I'm just not ready for this."

"Alright.  I can't say that I'm not a little disappointed."

Laurie started to head to the door, but Jack said, "Wait a second."

"Yes?"

"How'd you like to surprise our little Bronwyn?"

"What have you got in mind?"

"A little teleport to right behind her.  Suppressed so she doesn't 
notice it, of course."

"Sounds like fun."  Laurie winked.

"If we're gonna make this work, you're going to have to get yourself 
under control.  You go in there broadcasting your emotions and she'll 
sense you as soon as you get there."

Laurie quickly went through a couple meditation exercises to get 
herself under control.  "Ready."

Jack took her hand, concentrated and snapped his fingers.  Laurie 
suddenly found herself standing right behind Bronwyn, who was working 
at her computer typing out her latest novel.  Laurie slapped her 
hands over Bronwyn's eyes and said, "Guess who?"

Bronwyn, who was used to getting advanced warning of anyone's 
presence through her mystic senses, nearly jumped out of her skin. 
Patting her chest to get her beating heart under control, Bronwyn 
said, "Damn it, girl, I love you, but don't EVER do that again!  How 
did you manage to do that?"

"Jack teleported me here, suppressing the effects.  A little harmless fun."

"Well, you seem to be a lot better."

"Better than I've ever been in my life, love."

"So what was it you discovered?"

"I can't tell you."  When Bronwyn was about to protest, Laurie said, 
"Love, it's the wrong time.  You saw how I reacted.  You can probably 
expect most of the Sisterhood to react in a similar way.  With the 
current problems with the Brotherhood, can you really say that this 
is the time?"

"I suppose not.  But you will promise to tell me?"

"When I think the time is right.  Now come on.  Let's talk about 
Jacqui, while we get undressed."  Laurie took Bronwyn by the hand and 
led her to the bedroom.

************

Excerpt from the journal of Miss Jacqui Donovan, Vol. II

Day 155

I can't believe how long I've let this journal go without writing in 
it.  But between giving birth, and Marcus, and my lessons, it really 
isn't a big surprise.

The good news is my trainers tell me I'm almost ready to leave, 
almost finished with my apprenticeship.  The bad news is I really 
don't feel ready.  I don't know anywhere near as much as I did before 
I saved mom's life and blew my magic powers wide open.  That's what I 
figured my Awakening experience was.

But they tell me that this is usual.  The "Hedge Wizards" (the 
Akashic Master was right, you can hear the sneer in their voice when 
they use that phrase) have so much less to teach, that they can give 
a much more thorough training in what they can do.  They tell me that 
there is only so much training they can give before I need to go out 
and get "real world" experience.

Marcus graduated just a few days after I gave birth to Cheryl.  We're 
going to go home together.  They tell me that I can come back any 
time, but I can't wait to get home.  The Virtual Adept Master wants 
to talk to me about my first mission outside the Realm, but I'm not 
sure I want to accept.  I can't wait to see mom and Bronwyn.

************

Bronwyn walked into her publisher's office.  She was supposed to be 
in class as Nita right now, but her publisher had called her and said 
that a major investor and now part owner of the firm was a big fan 
and wanted to meet her.  She had tried to beg off, but the investor 
was leaving town tomorrow.  He said it was up to her, but reading 
between the lines let her know that this was a big deal.

As soon as she got there, she was ushered into the office.  But when 
she entered the office, her senses rebelled.  The room stank of the 
Dark Power.  Whoever this guy was, he was a Brother.

Her publisher greeted her at the door.  "Bronwyn, may I introduce a 
new investor and owner," the man, a good looking man with sandy brown 
hair, stood up, and extended his hand, "Mr. Jeremy Lancaster."

Bronwyn tensed up, but managed to place her hand in his.  "Have we 
met before?" she asked.

"No.  But I do believe you know my brother, Eric."  Bronwyn couldn't 
believe the man's gall.  He was as much as admitting that he was a 
member of the Brotherhood.  "Miss Llewellyn, could we go somewhere 
and talk?  In private?"

"I'm not sure I've got the time."

"But I'm fairly sure I've got something you want to hear.  About your future."

Bronwyn swallowed and said, "Alright, it looks like I don't have much choice."

Lancaster leaned in and whispered into her ear, "You never really did."

They went outside and walked down the street.  After a while, Bronwyn 
asked, "How did you know who I was?  How did you find me?"

Lancaster laughed aloud.  "Are you really that technically inept? 
Hidden cameras invented in the fifties could tell us who you were. 
Today there are digital cameras with high speed modem uplinks.  The 
fact of the matter is, within 24 hours of your assault on my 
brother's (little b, genetic relation's) base, there wasn't a Brother 
on the planet who couldn't identify you on sight."

"So now what?  You take me somewhere and torture me until I give up 
the Sisterhood?"

Lancaster stopped and leaned against a car.  "My brother really was 
an ass, wasn't he?  Most of the Brotherhood are not psychotic 
sadists, Miss Llewellyn.  Or may I call you Bronwyn?"  Bronwyn 
shrugged.  "You see, back when the Sisterhood worked for the 
Brotherhood-"

"We never did!"

"Your predecessors did.  The Sisterhood that existed before the 
Goddess started transforming men.  Anyways, when the Sisterhood 
worked for the Brotherhood, information gathering was your province. 
When that Sisterhood turned on us by attempting to manipulate us into 
slaves, we destroyed them.  Then the Goddess created you.  But rather 
than accepting your rightful place as our servants, you, too, 
attacked us.  And thus began the schism that still separates us 
today."

"Is there a point to this?"

"The point is that it is time for you to accept your rightful place 
as our servants."  Lancaster pulled a business card out of his 
pocket.  "In one week, you and the top ten members of the Sisterhood 
will meet us at this address, and surrender."

He extended the card to Bronwyn, but she made no move to take it. 
"You must be insane.  Whatever makes you think I'd do this?  No 
matter what you do to me, another will take my place."

Lancaster smiled.  "And what makes you think you're the only one at risk?"

"What do you mean?"

"You see where the Sisterhood has remained hopelessly mired in the 
past, we of the Brotherhood have taken advantage of mankind's ever 
increasing dominance of the universe through technology.  We have 
united the Dark Power with technology to give us a severe advantage 
over the Sisterhood."

Lancaster reached into his jacket and pulled out a box.  Bronwyn 
flinched away from it, but he said, "Oh, relax."  He pressed a button 
on the box, and it expanded into a Polaroid.  "It's just a camera." 
He handed it to Bronwyn.  "Here, take my picture."

Bronwyn reluctantly took the camera.  It didn't bite or shock her or 
any thing like that, so she tentatively pointed it at Lancaster and 
depressed the activation button.  It flashed and ejected a picture 
like a normal camera, but the real difference was in the picture 
after it developed.  Lancaster was surrounded by a black aura.

Lancaster then reached into his pocket and pulled out a picture. 
Handing it to Bronwyn, she saw that it was a picture of her entering 
Laurie's home, except she had a white aura.  She could see a brief 
flash of Laurie through the door, and she, too, had a white aura.

"You see, this camera detects the presence of magic potential within 
the subject.  After you and the other three Sisters left our base, 
some Brothers were posted to watch you.  Every time you met someone, 
a picture was taken.  If they showed as a Sister, we tagged and 
watched them.  And so forth.  We now have a list of over seventeen 
hundred members of the Sisterhood.  How many Brothers do you know of? 
Since your little whelp transformed all the ones you knew, I believe 
your list would be... me."

"You're bluffing.  There's no way you could've gotten close enough to 
use that camera without us detecting the presence of the Dark Power 
within you."

"That would be true if this were the only type of camera we had with 
this capability.  We have other cameras with telephoto lenses that 
can be used at far greater distances than you can detect our power 
at."

"We will fight you.  I could destroy you and your connection to the 
Dark One right now."

"Oh, undoubtedly.  In terms of power I rank only in the sixtieth 
percentile.  Absolutely no match for you.  But do you have any idea 
why I am the High Priest of the Brotherhood?"

"Inherited the post from your brother?"

"Nothing so sentimental.  In the Brotherhood, the top five contenders 
are selected then pitted against each other in a year long battle 
till one has proven himself the clear superior of the others."

"And you proved yourself over the other four?"

"No.  I wasn't even in the running as one of the five.  But after the 
five were selected after you managed to destroy Eric, I managed to 
send all five to the hospital within four months, all while 
masterminding the plot to root out your membership.  I'm devious, and 
I'm smart.  So you could destroy me, but if you did that, agents of 
mine would set lose the virus that my brother developed and plunge 
the world into the Dark Ages once more."

"We destroyed that virus!"

"No, you destroyed the computer upon which it resided.  But my agents 
tell me that, for whatever reason, you have been taking a computer 
class.  Tell me, Bronwyn, what's the first rule of working with a 
computer?"

Bronwyn thought about it.  All during the class there was one thing 
that kept being repeated over and over.  "Always make a back-up."

"Very good, Bronwyn.  There was no way for you to really destroy that 
virus.  Oh, you could've set us back a few months, maybe even a year 
or two in re-engineering it, but none of you have the technical 
knowledge to really have destroyed it.

"So, you see, you really have no choice.  You surrender or humanity 
pays the price."  Lancaster took the card and handed it to Bronwyn. 
This time she grudgingly took it.  "See you in a week."

As Lancaster walked away, whistling arrogantly, Bronwyn thought that 
there was still one wild card she could possibly play, a wild card 
she called Jack.
-- 
"This is reality, not T.V.  Can't you tell the difference?"
"Sure.  I just like T.V. better."

J R D
jrdss@pobox.alaska.net

-- 
Pursuant to the Berne Convention, this work is copyright with all rights
reserved by its author unless explicitly indicated.
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