(A short story. Fantasy this time, for a change.)

Our story begins in a fictionalized Washington D.C. that has no actual resemblance to the real DC. It is only here as a placeholder because the author thought it would make an important thematic background that would immediately catch the attention of the in-universe government.

In this universe, magic is real and covers all the classics, ranging from the Force to random cool projectile throwing.

It's Season 4 of this show. That's right! This story is so convoluted that it is set in a show on TV in another fictional universe and it's currently on Season 4!! It's critically acclaimed there because that's such an ego-boosting thing to say to the author! (So he tells it to himself in a fantasy universe......)

Anyway back to this very special episode! Since it's Season 4, the main story arc of the show is finally coming to its head. It's the WAR season and we all know what that means. Deep philosophical discussions must be had!

An important point to note about magic in this universe is that while it lets you basically alter reality, it also gives you intense feelings of rage and hatred whenever you come into close contact with another "mage." This is because magic is really particles from another dimension invading your body and rewriting your molecular makeup and causes intense psychological and practical problems! It also makes whatever monsters that are in the area attack you. That's right, there are also monsters! And to make things worse, monsters, being purely magical, are immune to any and all "real world" objects and weapons, like guns, or swords, or knives, or bombs.

This is to make the main characters more important! I mean to underscore the threat.......

So basically, if you get magic, you have to avoid all other mages for the rest of your life. Unless.....you get found by the Amriths (angels basically. They're not really angels but they look alot like them cause the author has a very limited imagination) and take you to their facilities to train and condition to become used to magic. However, to do so, you must basically become their slave for a number of years and help manufacture the regular objects that they send back home for lucrative black market prices.

So in the WAR season, what happens is that the main villain, who was introduced somewhere around Season 2, has had enough of the Amriths monopolizing this trade. He wants to take control of the main American facility (the author lives in America) and bring their process back into the hands of humans.

He's amassed a bunch of already-conditioned mages and summons a bunch of monsters to take down the facility, which is coincidentally located in DC. The main characters, who obviously oppose him, can't allow this, so they try to warn the "Prison" but are disbelieved. Consequently, they travel to DC and get caught up in the action. It turns out the "Prison" is actually a prison for extremely powerful monsters that can basically mind control people and other monsters. (This lets you manufacture conflict and bend morals.)

So the villain takes over the prison and accidentally sets the monsters free. The Amriths lock down DC and the battles rage on in what is now a closed setting. Our heroes are stuck there too.

At this point, we have our 4 main characters, Max, Kate, Rory, and Jona- I mean Nate.....including an older man named Mr. Jones, try to live through and survive this horrible ordeal. Unfortunately, soon after the city is locked down, the powerful "Alpha" monster, who can spread mind control through his minions, take control of Max and Kate, leaving Rory, Nate, and Mr. Jones to try to a) save any normal people from the monsters b) live and escape c) try to rescue their friends and d) suffer for the sake of tension.

They camp out at the DC office of the CPA, Counter Paranormal Agency of the government, which is the government branch founded earlier in the 1900s to deal with supernatural events, but quickly lost funding and was relegated to the pile of useless government outfits because no one thought that supernatural events would ever become a main agenda for any government officials ever. Also the amount of supernatural events a year is very small.

A lot of the season is the day to day errands that the heroes run and the people they meet with and encounter, such as a cop, a doctor, a journalist, and a politician who all bring the thoughts and perspectives of refugees to the table, as well as other experiences that only survivors of conflict would know

In the particular episode that the author is thinking about.....

(And I'm going to stop there. I decided to try something new for this article. If you like it, leave a comment. See you guys next week.)