The Parts We Play

I Am The Mask You Wear

Gage paced in the darkness of his bedroom, quietly simmering. Another rehearsal, another few hours watching that thing playing Raoul charm everyone.

Cara, in particular, he seemed to have all wrapped up in a neat bow around his little finger. If someone had told him Krel was using some sort of technology or alien pheromones to get in her head, Gage would have believed them.

The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. What right did he have to come to their world, to twist the minds of humans like his own personal playthings, to trick innocent people?

Every bit of logic Gage possessed told him that any species that evolved and grew up on another planet would think so differently from a human it couldn't even be comprehended- their morality, their justice, their mercy, they wouldn't just be different. They may not even exist. Aliens might not even have such concepts. No appeal could be made to Krel, because logic, reason- his mind did not work by the same parameters, so his logic didn't either.

That made him dangerous. But Krel was the king of a planet. There was nothing Gage could do; he wielded no power to protect Earth- to protect humanity from aliens, from magic, from any of it.

'Oh, if only you could,' a voice breathed from the dark around him. 'If only you could borrow the strength you need, just enough to fight fire with fire...'

Gage blinked, then frowned as he parsed the fact the presence was not his own internal monologue. "Who are you?"

'Someone who can grant you power,' it murmured, in his ears, in the great gloom about him. 'Just enough to drive back the forces of magic and monster from your world.'

Gage narrowed his eyes at the shadows. "And... what do you get out of it?"

'What would keep me from replacing that paranormal foothold, hm?' the being guessed. 'What would keep me from becoming the menace you want to protect everyone from?'

"... exactly," Gage said warily.

The being hummed, laughter resonating through the room. 'Caution is healthy, boy. I do not want to bring the powers of my plane into your world; quite the opposite. I want the magic on your plane for use on mine. Your home is cleansed of oddity and paranormal power; I gain influence and strength in mine. We both gain everything we want.'

"What is it you ask of me, then?" Gage prompted, not promising anything.

'I will grant you the power to fight back against these forces that move upon your world,' the being said. 'And leadership over the forces I have already swayed in this town. Once you have gathered the major players in the paranormals here, once you can absorb their power and give it to me, you may give up the connection to me at any point, when you feel you have made your world safe. I get the power. You get the security.'

Gage considered this silently, gaze still searching the near-tangible blackness.

"... deal," he finally said. "How do I-"

Instantly, a searing heat blazed in his chest, sending waves of fire through him, and a strange sensation curled its way through his mind.

He gasped in pain and shuddered, hand flying to his chest, even as he felt a new strength- an ethereal sense of power.

Gage gave a shuddering exhale, that fire lingering in his head. He could sense the being wasn't in the room- but it was with him now, in that corner of his mind.

He found himself smiling, stunned, as fiery flickers danced between his fingers. "The curtain falls," he whispered. "His reign will end."