Shards of Power
Prologue
“Professor are you sure you’re right this time? We have been up and down these mountains for the last week and still no sign of this cave,” Dona, professor Cody’s assistant complained from behind him.
Cody looked behind him at his assistant. She was such a lovely sight. Her soft light brown hair, her gentle blue eyes. In her early twenties she had the body of a supermodel and could have easily been one as well. She was a goddess compared to him. He was nearing his fifties and was already getting gray streaks in his brown hair. He was getting old and weak and this would probably be his last funded expedition.
“I’m certain, I looked over that map the locals gave us,” Cody replied, “Don’t worry, we’re still well within the area the Chinese government has allowed.”
“I’m not worried about that,” Dona said barely loud enough to be heard.
“What was that?”
“Nothing.”
Cody continued to go forward. It was hell on his body, but he was determined to succeed this one last time. The board had decided to make him retire early and he wanted to go out with as big a bang as possible. Off in the distance, what he had been searching for came into view. A large mouth to a cave, well off the beaten path they had left miles ago.
“I’ve spotted it!” Cody yelled in celebration.
“Really!?” Dona came running up to beside him, “Are you sure that’s it?”
“You see any other caves in the area?”
“I guess not.”
Forgetting his aches and pains Cody quickly ran to the cave with Donna right behind him. Pulling out his flashlight and turning it on Cody rushed in with little regard to safety. Dona quickly pulled out her flashlight and followed. Shortly inside they began to spot ancient Chinese markings alongside the walls.
“Get the camera out, record everything,” Cody ordered.
Dona quickly complied pulling the camera out of her bag. She went over all markings on the wall. Cody hoped to translate them once he got back to the university. Five minutes in they came to the main chamber, in the center was a table with the artifact Cody was looking for on top of it. A small orb seemingly made out of glass.
“Here it is, the orb of power,” Cody said approaching the table, “Local legend has it that a warlord assembled this out of five crystal shards he cut out of his opponents chests and then combined with the one he had. They say each shard allowed someone to control entire armies if they desired. Even though combining them didn’t give the warlord more power, it knocked out his competition. After he created this orb his second in command, the only one he didn’t use the power on since they were friends, killed him and hid the orb away calling it evil.”
“Pretty gruesome story,” Dona said as she filmed the orb.
“We should take this back to the university and study it.” Cody grabbed the orb and put it in his bag.
“Sir, we promised the Chinese government that we would share any discoveries and let them decide if we could take it back.”
“The Chinese wouldn’t let us take back anything. They just want us to do all the leg work so they can steal whatever we find. We will simply tell them that we found nothing and that this orb is something we bought at a local shop.”
“Sir...”
“Relax, we won’t get caught. Once we can verify this orbs authenticity we will make a public announcement. The Chinese can complain then if they like.”
Cody took a quick look around the cave to make sure he missed nothing and quickly exited. He had found what he was looking for and after he could verify it he would show his discovery to the world. Dona was behind him shortly after taking a few more shots with the video camera.
Cody picked up his bag from the baggage collection areas. Customs had nearly confiscated the orb in China, but at the last minute they decided it wasn’t worth their trouble to check out some cheap trinket from a local shop. It was but a minor hiccup and now he had the orb in America where he could study it more closely with proper lab equipment.
“Meet me back at the university Dona, I’m sure your anxious to go see your family after such a long trip,” Cody said.
“Sir, I would really like to go with you,” Dona pleaded.
“Don’t worry about me, go see your family and friends. Just because I neglect my social life doesn’t mean you should yours.”
Dona reluctantly took her bag and left. Cody checked his bag real quick and made sure the orb was still there. He couldn’t have it disappear on him before he had a chance to study it. Not a breakthrough in archeology like this one.
After taking the bus Cody quickly found himself only a few blocks from the university. As he began to walk towards it he heard a big rip. His bag had torn open and all it’s contents were falling out, with them was the orb. The orb made a sharp clank like it really was made of glass each time it hit the pavement and rolled down the street. It headed directly towards a man in a business suit waiting for a bus. Suddenly Cody’s senses heightened from the adrenaline and he could see and hear everything.
“No no, cancel all my afternoon appointments,” A young professional lady said walking by, “I can’t deal with peoples problems today. Reschedule them to the nearest open dates.”
“You’re dead Rick!” A large high school student said chasing down an obviously weaker one, “This time no one will be able to help you.”
A middle aged woman carrying groceries stepped within inches of the orb. She seemed stressed out and oblivious to her surroundings. Things seemed to slow down even further as the orb slowly stopped and started glowing. A large flash of light, the sound of a huge explosion, and everything went dark. He had lost it, possibly the greatest discovery of his career and it was now gone.
“Doctor, this one is coming around,” a young ladies voice came through.
“Ah good, it seems none of them didn’t suffer anything serious,” an voice of an older man was there now.
Cody opened his eyes. He was in a private hospital room. There was a doctor older than him and a very young nurse. Cody had a throbbing headache and felt extreme chest pain. Cody suddenly remembered the orb and began looking around for it in his confused state.
“Whoa, slow down there,” the doctor said, “You’ve been passed out for nearly six hours. You feeling the headache and chest pains?”
“Huh? How did you know?” Cody began to calm down.
“The other five who passed out from the explosion had the same symptoms when they woke up.” the doctor took out his prescription pad, “I’ll give you some pain medication for now, but if the others are any indication you should be fine within an hour or two. I’m holding you all for overnight observation, but as near as we can tell none of you suffered any sort of real harm. So long as nothing comes up overnight you should be fine.”
“What about my stuff?”
“The FBI took it to see if any evidence was on it that could tell them about the explosion. Once they are done with it you should get everything back.”
Cody leaned back and relaxed a little. At least the video camera was still in Dona’s bag. He may had lost the artifact, but he could still study the markings from the cave on the video camera. Without the orb it wasn’t the biggest discovery in the world, but it was something. Considering all the contributions he had made to the university they shouldn’t be too upset. Cody closed his eyes and let himself drift to sleep.
Rick read through his school books. He may have been in an explosion, but he wasn’t going to fall behind in his studies. Unlike that bully Lewis, he understood that his future was getting through college with good grades. Lewis would most likely wind up flipping burgers once his athletic career in college ran out. Rick was bound and determined to wind up better than the bullies so he could laugh in their faces when he had a high paying job.
“Rick, you should be resting not studying,” Ricks mother, Malinda, said entering the room.
Ricks mom was kind of small and weak like he was. They even shared the same brown hair and blue eyes. She was still attractive despite her small body. All his geeky friends made jokes about how they would love to sleep with her. Rick wished she would just let him study, she was always trying to get him to do different activities she considered fun.
“Well, I guess I shouldn’t be telling you what to do,” Malinda suddenly said, “You have been through an explosion after all. You should go ahead and study all you want.”
Rick felt confused. His mother had just pulled a one-eighty. She was always trying to get him away from his studies and doing something else. She rarely ever backed down, and never as quickly as she had just done. Rick shook his head and went back to his books as his mother sat down beside him. She was probably just being kind because of the explosion.
Lewis stared blankly at the wall. He had finally reasoned that somehow the explosion was Rick’s fault. The little twerp had been a thorn in his side since day one. Once they were released from the hospital he would pick up right where they had left off. A nurse came in carrying his dinner.
“Hello there, they told me my patient was cute, but they failed to mention how big and handsom he was. I’m also a sucker for blond hair and blue eyes,” the nurse said as she placed the tray of food next to Lewis, “your aunt is coming in and tomorrow you will be released. Things are starting to look up, so stop frowning so much.”
“She’s not my real aunt, so why don’t you go and screw yourself,” Lewis nearly yelled at her.
Suddenly the nurse’s eyes went blank. She stood back up and left the room. Lewis smiled thinking that she couldn’t handle his attitude. He figured she would leave him alone from that point on. He wasn’t in the hospital to make friends, he just wanted out as soon as possible.
Erik felt very uneasy. The FBI had taken all his personal belongings including his briefcase to check for evidence. Somehow that bitch of a boss would find a way to blame him for the explosion and not being able to finish his work. She had already ruined his marriage through making him work so hard, he had to wonder what was left to take away.
“Doctor, nurse Baker just snapped! She’s in the supply closet making weird sounds and refuses to come out!” a nurse called out from the hallway.
Erik felt that would be him someday if something didn’t happen. He would snap and go all crazy, maybe he could take down his boss and blame it on the insanity. Everyone in the company could testify about the stress he had been placed under. They would probably just stick him in a hospital.
Erik quickly shook the idea off. He never would have the bravery to go crazy. He had to face facts, he was stuck where he was at and nothing would ever change that fact. It was a shame the explosion wasn’t harmful. At least then he could have gotten insurance and could have retired.
“Relax, they say I will be released tomorrow morning,” Tia said into the hospital phone, “Just bring me a change of clothes and I will be back to my regular routine tomorrow. Sadly the FBI took everything that was in my possession so we will have to use the backup files I have until I get my stuff back. I will also have to get myself a temporary phone as well. I gotta go before the doctor catches me again, I’ll talk to you later.”
Tia laid back into her bed. People often wondered why a beautiful red haired, light green eyed girl like her got into psychology. Truth was when she was young she read stories of mind control on the internet. She decided to study psychology to see if she could learn hypnotism and control people like that. Sadly reality was cruel and she learned hypnosis could never achieve results like what she had read. She almost quite studying then and there, but her parents threatened to stop paying for college if she changed her major. So she stuck it through.
Once she had gotten out she learned she actually enjoyed the profession more than she thought she would. She didn’t really care about her patients, but she loved them spilling their guts to her. She loved that she had knew so many dark secrets. She had fantasies of blackmailing her patients to establish control over them and even force them to have sex with her. Male, female, it didn’t matter.
Looking out the door Tia saw a nurse being pushed on a bed. She was strapped down, but she was desperately trying to get her hand to her already dripping pussy. The doctor was preparing some sort of drug in an attempt to calm her down. Tia let her fantasies take hold after they had passed. The doctors drug was really something to make the nurse more pliable and horny. They would bring the nurse back to her room and let her have fun with her. The nurse would try and fight the drug, but ultimately give in and submit to her will.
Tia brought her hand to her pussy and began masturbating. She loved getting off on a good fantasy before falling asleep. Tia closed her eyes and wondered what dark secrets her patients would give in the coming days. One day, she would blackmail them and gain control.
Fay felt relaxed. Whatever drug the doctor had given her really helped with her stress as well as the pains. Her son and sister would be by tomorrow and she would have to go back to her life. It was an easy life by most standards. Since her husbands death, his family sent a large check each month to ensure that she stayed home to raise his kid.
The trouble was they didn’t even care about her, she knew once her son turned eighteen they would cut her off from the checks and leave her to fend for herself. She was trying online college to at least get some job skills, but a middle aged women with no job history didn’t have much of a chance in the market. Fay sighed as a male nurse entered the room.
“Hey no sighing in this hospital,” the nurse said with a smile.
Fay smiled a little as the nurse set down the food. “Thank you.”
“So what’s a pretty redhead like yourself doing in a place like this?”
“There was an explosion, apparently it somehow made me pass out. I heard some noise out there, what happened?”
“Apparently one of the female nurses flipped out. She locked herself in a supply closet and started masturbating with little care as to what else was going on. We finally managed to get the door unlocked and wrestled her down to a bed. Even then she refused to stop masturbating so we had to restrain her and sedate her. They are checking her into a private room until we can get a full psych evaluation on her.”
“That sounds like an internal problem, you sure you should be telling me about it?”
“Relax, a pretty girl like you deserves to get whatever she wants.”
The male nurse smiled and left the room to continued to go on his rounds. Fay smiled and felt good about herself for the first time in a long time. He may have just been doing his job, but it still felt nice to have someone compliment her. Fay closed her eyes and drifted to sleep forgetting about her dinner.