Untitled Chapter 1: Dillusions of Grandieur
By: Kattan Delincht
kattan_d@hotmail.com
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Woo!!! Yeah!!!
The sky was a empty void of black as summer's humid air went over the concert goers. Though
none of them really payed much attention to it. The band on stage was giving all their energy to the
crowd in the form of fast-paced music with a hardcore rock beat. Near the stage, crazed fans were
clawing at the line of security officers to make sure none of them made it onto the stage. Those that
weren't scrambling over the men were in mosh pits, losing all control of their bodies, slamming into
each other, with the music as a driving force. In the midst of it all, a wolf stood there, bobbing his head
to the rock and roll rhythm. Suddenly, people in front of him started parting, making a way for
someone. A feminine, blue-skinned humanoid type figure emerged. She immediately caught the wolf's
eye as he began to walk towards her. He extended his right arm to reach out to her...
"What the hell happened?"
Chester Kiaka threw the blankets off his bed and stared at the ringing alarm clock. "11:20? Oh,
damn! I'm late!" he said. He quickly grabbed a change of clothes and put on a red T-shirt with a pair of
baggy, dark blue jeans. Grabbing his backpack and his CD player which he held at his hip, he ran out of
the bedroom, through the kitchen and stumbled over a couch in the next room. Getting up, he went
through the door, unto the 3rd floor of a apartment-like building. Scrambling down the fire-escape, he
went to the bicycle rack and removed the chains, freeing his metallic green BMX bicycle. He pedaled
furiously, dodging and weaving through the pedestrians as a large structure grew over the horizon.
Nearly tipping over his bike, he dropped it onto a grassy knoll and proceeded up some marble steps,
through the double-doors into a nearly empty hallway.
"I am sooo.... late."
After running for another minute or two, he grabbed the doorknob and opened the door into
the large auditorium. Everyone turned in their desks to see who came in through the door.
"I take it you are not a fan of worm eating in the morning?" a voice echoed from below the
numerous rows of desks.
"Say what?" A look of confusion came over the young wolf's face.
"Take a seat."
Chester looked around and found a empty seat in one of the rows that was toward the middle,
not too far up front, not to far in the back, a perfect spot to blend in. Chester was your average morph,
he stood about 6 feet tall and had a average build. His fur was mostly dark brown with tan covering the
lower part of his muzzle and continuing down his body to the inner sides of his legs. His tailfur was the
same dark brown as most of the fur on his body which was quite bushy for his species. He yawned as he
continued to listen to the professors' lecture, twirling one of the dark blue braids in his dreadlocked
hair.
"Magic is based on the same principle as science, energy can neither be created, nor destroyed,
only transferred. As most of you should know, the mitochondrion present in each of our bodies creates
adenine triphosphate, or ATP, for use in bodily functions. Looking deeper into the mitochondrion, it
has been proven that there is a symbotic microorganism that works with the mitochondria.
Micromitochondria or a MMC are powered by the heat energy that is created by forming the ATP from
cellular respiration. In turn, MMCs create mana, the base power of magic. These micromolecules can
be diffused out of the skin onto a single point or thing, though most of the time, they diffuse out
randomly. All of you are doing it right now. To focus them onto one area takes some practice, there's
the key. Of course, there's the spell casting part. Most of you know some spells, though they take very
little thought. Here at the Tasis Univerisity of Magic, you'll learn more spells then you know how to
cast and even learn how to merge today's technology with magic. I look forward to sharing my
knowledge to each and everyone of you. That's the end of the lecture for today."
Everyone got up as the mass of students filed out to continue their studies. Chester walked
along the halls and made it back outside to where his bike remained tied to the rack. Kneeling down, he
began to twirl the dial as a shadow came over him, hindering the view of the dial. "Who's..."
"Hey."
Chester recognized the sound as his friend, Gabriel Peck. Looking up, he saw the jet-black
colored feline grinning like a idiot. "Umm.. Hi." he spoke.
"What's up with you today?" Chester asked.
"Just lotsa caffiene. Oh yeah...."
"How many cups of coffee have you had?"
"Umm... 1."
"Gabe....."
"Well, add a zero after that and ya'd be right."
"That's what I like about you! You're the lovable idiot! You get a resounding thumbs-up!" Chester
gave a thumbs-up to the panther.
"So.. what're we doing tonight? We'll go kick it at the lodge. Find some nice... you know what I'm
talkin' about!" Gabe said with a different, but still goofy grin on his face.
"I thought you had a girlfriend."
"Oh, yeah. I'll bring her along."
"Got nothing better to do. Ten-ish sound good?" Chester queried.
"See ya there! Haha!" Gabe laughed, he walked away from his friend with a spring in his step, tail
swishing from side, more so than usual.
"Now to the task at hand." He focused on inputting in his combination on the lock. Pulling on the
black lock did not release it. "Stupid piece of crap!" he yelled, kicking the bike rack.


Hours later, not to far from the campus of the university, wave after wave of people were pushing
into the gates of snowy Delphi Mountain, the only 'club' within 100 miles of the campus grounds. Inside
one of the larger wooden buildings, a party was going on. As Chester entered through the door, the
room was filled with the sounds of music, aided by a DJ at the turntable. Looking around for a friendly
face in the crowd, he saw Cecille, Gabe's girlfriend, sitting on a leather couch.
"Sup?" He asked.
The tan furred lioness ran her fingers through the sides of her straight, brown hair and replied, "W
waiting for my idiot to come. You?"
"He asked me here."
"So, what's new?" she asked.
"Well, I..." Chester paused a moment, adjusting the strap on his backpack, thinking about his
response. "Woke up late for my first magic class."
"Ah... Intro to Metamagics? Took that last year. The teacher is just, odd. Watch out for him. He
doesn't really take to kindly to goof-offs." Cecille warned as Gabriel came toward them wearing a pair
of cutoff jean shorts and a overshirt with a hawaiian motif print. "Speak of the devil."
"It's friday! Time to get your dance on! Aw yeah," he said, grabbing Cecille's arm. "Let's go!"
"Umm... no. Look, I'm gonna go wander and do some stuff, ok? I've got enough homework and I
need to have some quiet." The anthro wolf, looked around and headed outside. Getting on a nearby lift,
he rode it up the mountain. Getting off the lift, he looked around the stop and where there should have
been at least one person standing on patrol, there was no one. He shrugged and hiked up a few yards
and sat on the snow, not really minding the cold. Grabbing a notebook and pen, he began to scribble
down some letters and numbers, attempting to make sense of the notes he took and the task of writing
a report for a class.
Snap...
Chester's ears sprang up the sound as he stopped what he was doing. He shrugged and wen't back
to work.
Click...
His ears were burning at the noise, no one was in sight, his mind was going a mile a minute as to
the origin of the sound.
Snap.... Click...
He dropped what he was doing and stood up. "Hello? What's going on?"
Click... Click... Click... Snap...
Chester froze. Recognized the sound, he slowly squatted down and began to reach into his
backpack. He pulled out a handgun which had a chrome silver color to it. He stopped and looked
around.
Ping...
The bullet flew into the snow surrounding Chester creating a small hole. He froze. "Who's shooting
me? Wait, why am I thinking that!" he thought. His legs began to move away from where he was
sitting, running toward the nearest cover which was a small snowboarding jump about 30 yards down.
Diving behind the wooden jump, his heart was racing and was breathing heavily. When he peeked up
above, he was greeted by another round missing his head by a few centimeters. Ducking back down, the
bullet slid down and fell onto his head. He examined it and recognized it. ".50 Caliber? This guy ain't
fooling around." He threw it onto the snow and looked at the pistol in his own hand. Holding it with
two hands, fingers on the grip and trigger guard, he peeked up above and was able to just make out a
figure. "Ok... move to that tree over there on 1... 2...." He bolted out from behind and began to shoot
wildly in the direction of the assassin to create some suppressor fire. It worked. Hiding behind a large
evergreen tree, he peeked out once more. He could see the person more clearly now. He or she was
carrying some sort of weapon. He went behind the tree as another volley of shots were fired. Taking
another peak, he saw that the person whom was shooting at him was carrying. He couldn't believe his
eyes. His attacker was carrying and holding a large rifle that was normally attached to a tripod. "Even if
I get to see 'em, he'd probably kick my ass. He's gotta be huge to carry THAT big of a rifle and be
getting the accuracy he's got." Taking a deep breath, he moved out into the open and emptied his clip
at the person. All but a few made their mark. He still wasn't going down. The person stopped, and put
down the weapon. Chester took the time to grab another magazine from his jean pocket, ejected the
current clip and replaced it.
Least he’s out of ammo.
The figure rose it’s hands above ahead and put both hands together. In a small flash of light, a
orange orb began to form.
Uh-oh…
The orb suddenly burst into flames as it shot toward Chester at blinding speed. The wolf felt the
searing heat get more intense as it just missed him, singeing some of his tailfur. The assailant created
another fireball and flung it toward him, it missed again, creating a small crater of snow. Running his
hardest, he dove forward and fired 3 shots, this time, trails of blue light followed the projectiles. Each
and every shot connected with the figure dropped down onto the ground. Filled with slight curiosity, he
cautiously made his way up to where his attacker was firing from. When he made it to the top, he
looked down to see a unconscious, long-haired tigress wearing a black leather jacket with a pair of dark
blue jeans which were tattered at the knees exposing some of the orange fur.
"Guess I can't leave you here, even if you tried to kill me," he said to himself. Bending down, he
picked her up and carried her to the lift in his arms. When the lift stopped in front of them, it opened.
No one here. They must have heard the gunshots.
Chester shrugged and placed the tigress down onto one of the seats. He sat on the opposite side,
eyes focused on her and her alone. When the lift finally made it back to the base of the mountain, he
went over and carried her out to find the area just as he left it, people were still scurrying about talking
about this and that. He sighed and went to the first aid building which was right near where he got off.
Slowly moving through the automatic doors and into the brightly lit room, the wolf looked around and
carried her into one of the rooms behind the reception desk. Looking around, he recognized the room
all too well. He himself was here many a time when he tried to go snowboarding down the mountain.
He laid her down on the cushioned table and went back into the main room to get the attention of a
worker. He waved down a nurse just coming into the building, he told her of the girl and left as the
nurse attended to her. Walking back out into the night, he was pleased with himself.
My good deed for the... night.
Standing with a look of pride, he began walking back to where the party was being held. As he
began to get closer, it seemed to move farther away. Sighing, he yawned and stretched his arms and
looked around.
Woah.
The world seemed to spin around him going faster and faster until he collapsed onto the snow. He
laid there motionless.


Chester got up and looked around and found himself in his dorm room in his bed. He looked to the
left and saw Cecille looking at him with a look of relief.
"What... what..." He scratched his head in amazement.
"Me and Gabe found you on the mountain top. It looked like you were going into hypothermia or
something. I tried to cast a warming spell, but I ended up engulfing a bench in flames. So, I took you
back to your place," she explained.
"Umm... problem, I wasn't on the mountain top. I was on my way back to the party."
"Well, I don't know what party you were going to but you were on the mountain top."
The wolf sighed and let himself fall back to the bed. "I still don't remember... What were you two
doing up there anyway?"
"Ski Patrol found you first. I guess that kinda contradicts what I said earlier... Anyway, I overheard
it from the walkie-talkie that was on one of the security people."
"Wait, you stole a walkie-talkie?" He asked.
"No! It was on a cop person and it was loud enough to hear."
"Oh... Umm... can I ask you a question?"
Cecille turned and looked at him. "What's up?"
"I don't mean anything... but, for the three and a half months I've known you and Gabe... What do
you see in him? I mean... he goes following the first vixen he looks at and you don't do anything."
Cecille sat on the bed with him. "You wanna know? He's basically my attaché."
"Really?"
"Plus he makes me laugh when he's not so... Gabriel... ya know?"
"Yep. Though his side of the story is quite interesting."
"Oh really?" She gave a interested look and crossed her arms. "Do tell."
"Well, basically every time you and him have met and I've haven't been there... he usually says the
night ends up... long story short... He says that he got... ehrm..."
"He's never made it that far," she said with a leonine smile. "There's been some kissing but that's it.
Interesting that he's never told me this. I'll have to talk to him about that."
"Ah... well, I won't go into the details."
"Thank you for doing so. Well, I've got to go study so I'll be leaving." She began to get off the bed
when Chester grabbed her arm.
"Hey... One last thing."
She turned to look him in the face and tilted her head. "Hmm?"
"Have you ever had a dream... that was just, so weird... you see things that don't even exist in real life?"
"If you mean finding the perfect guy, then... yes."
"Forget it. Just... forget it. I'll see you in a bit. "He laid back down and pulled the covers up to his eck and fell asleep.