Planar Powers Book 1: The Blustering Gate

Chapter One: The Dragon Speaks

Iris Iridia Mae Was having a boring morning; made better by a wind demon tearing apart her class. Oh, the day started normal enough. Wake up at ass early o'clock in the morning, have coffee before interacting with anybody, call in any unusual activity to her unusual boss, get to college, survive Calculus, call her boss to let her know she was being stalked, survive Chemistry without making an explosion too large, figure out what was stalking her, deal with it, eat lunch, call it in(the stalker, not the lunch), and get to English. It was around halfway through class when the first couple signs of trouble started. First, the door opened, and a rather good looking young man walked in. The professor looked up and smiled.

"Ah! I forgot you would be here. Class, this is-" Iris cringed inside, hoping he didn't say- "Alex. He is only here for a month, so make him feel welcome." Of course it's him. Of all the other agents, her boss could send, she just had to send him. It was always him. He always showed up to annoy her. She knew he knew she could handle herself, but he still insisted on showing up. He moved to sit next to Iris, grinning his stupid grin the whole way. God, he was so infuriating.

"Hello, deary. How are things?"

"You know how they are, otherwise you wouldn't be here. It's only the third time this week. It's not that big of a deal! You both know I can handle myself just fine."

"I do, but she hasn't seen you fight, or fought with you. I've done both. So while I don't see a reason to be here, and have the proof to back it up, she has neither. I don't know why she saw the need to put her only two agents that suffer from battle insanity on the same mission. That's just asking for trouble."

Iris laughed, and poked him with the tip of her dagger, which was hidden in a pocket dimension whose entrance point resided in her sleeve. Alex pulled out a pen, and clicked it three times, and the tip seemed to gleam more metallically then was proper for pencil lead.

"Alex, put that thing away! I thought the boss took it away for what happened last time! How did you get it back?"

"Well, she wasn't looking, so I kinda picked it up."

"I assume you picked it up right outta her pocket?"

"No, actually. Her desk unlocked itself right before my eyes, and

I just had to take it back."

"I don't suppose any of this unlocking happened with a lockpick in your hand? While you jiggled it in the lock?" Alex shrugged innocently, and resumed paying attention to the professor, who was saying something or other about iambic pentameter.

That was when the second thing went wrong. A breeze blew through the room, rustling papers, and dropping the temperature a few degrees. Alex tensed beside her, and Iris smiled. So she would have an excuse to use them after all. The breeze picked up, and Iris flexed her wrists, feeling a reassuring weight drop into her sleeves. She saw Alex twirl the pen nonchalantly, clicking it six times. Iris sent out a small diversion spell. The professor looked up.

"Well, i'm going for a walk. Anyone care to join me?" The entire class raised their hands, except for Alex and Iris. The professor nodded, as if expecting that. The class filed out of the room, and soon Iris was alone with Alex.

She let her daggers slip into her hands with an ease that spoke of doing the very same action countless times before. Alex twirled his pen, and it lengthened into a scythe, black everywhere except for the edge, which was a deep blue. He slung it over his shoulder and laughed.

"Ready, Iris?" Iris grinned and lifted her daggers before her, twirling one and tossing and catching the other. Then the demon appeared, in all it's ugly glory. It was tall, for a wind demon, they usually stood at around five feet tall, but this one was closer to seven. It was broad shouldered, with a ten foot wingspan, and a five foot tail that twisted around the nearest desk. Iris realised what it was doing a split second before it did it.