[Note - This story will have an incredibly rapid and not literary exotic start just to get the
ball rolling. I'm actually writing a novel based on this premise, and it takes about 30 pages
to get the ball rolling ... hence an uber condensed version here.]
Shawn sat in the ER just staring off into space. People bustled around him but he didn't
notice anything. His thoughts were about nothing at all. The woman who raised him - his
only family in the world - had just suffered a heart attack, and now she had died.
The non-religious funeral was held four days later at the local funeral home. Shawn didn't
expect anyone to show, for he never knew his grandmother to have had any friends nor
community ties. That was why it surprised him to see literally dozens of solemn-faced
people crowding into the small room to pay their respects. Not just their presence, but
some of the people themselves were surprising -- there was a small group of very young
women in one corner, with long blond hair and dressed in very dark green, gauzy robes.
Several others appeared to be dwarves but with red hair, sitting behind the blond-haired
women.
After the service was over, Shawn went back to the house he grew up in, the one his
grandmother had willed to him. He was emotionally exhausted, and he had absolutely no
desire to start his job search the next Monday. He hadn't told her, but when he moved in
six months earlier to take care of his ailing relative, he had had to quit his job at the
restaurant since he couldn't get an extended leave of absence.
After walking through the door, he turned right, to the living room, and collapsed on the
sofa. Shawn was not pleased at all with his life at the moment. He was a normal guy,
completely gay but he didn't let that define who he was; he was also regrettably single. He
was decently built from years of swimming, but delighting in being a dessert chef had had
its impact on his once-tight torso. He was of middle-height at 5' 8" and weighed in at
160 lbs. He still had a youthful face, clean-shaven, with piercing green eyes, and dark
brown wavy hair that he kept a few inches in length, parted in the middle but brushed
back. He was nothing remarkable and was now jobless and alone.
After sitting on the sofa with his eyes closed for what seemed like an hour, Shawn opened
his eyes to survey his surroundings. In front of him, on the glass coffee table, lay
something that he didn't think had been there before: A book. Shawn reached over to
pick up the book, which looked to be ancient and bound in what may have been leather.
As he grasped it by its spine, a piece of paper dropped out. Shawn picked it up and read
it:
"Shawn, if you are reading this, I am no longer alive. I am so very sorry for not being with
you for what you are about to go through. My goal was to protect you, but I know that I
cannot keep you from your destiny. With my death, your abilities are free, but you will
now be a magnet for those who wish to harm you or to take your powers for themselves.
I am sorry."
As Shawn finished reading, he had no idea what his grandmother meant, and he figured
she must have gone a little senile with her age and coronary problems. It now being late,
Shawn walked up the stairs, stripped, and went to bed.
The next morning, he woke up, turned over so he was on his back, and slowly opened his
eyes. Just beyond the foot of his bed, a man was standing there, looking at Shawn
expectantly.
The next thing that happens is ...