Young Writers Society

Maahes is familiar with travelling to other worlds, but as far as he knows, there's no one else in the universe quite like him. He's never met anyone else with magic, or powers expressed in the same way his are. So when, by happenstance, he stumbles upon Bo - and a whole family of mages who practice magic not much unlike his own - saying that he's startled is a major understatement. Is Bo key to Maahes unlocking the secrets of his magic, and, by extension, learning more about himself?

He had been having a relatively normal day. He had been exploring a new world, but that wasn't out of the ordinary. The residents of the planet had been incredibly friendly, which had failed to set off any alarms. He had helped them in the past when a Goa'uld had tried to attack their world. Knowing of his love of archeology, they had brought him to the local ruins. There were apparently rumors that people had gone missing in them, but they had been considered nothing more than stories told to children to discourage them from playing around in a potentially dangerous area.

Maahes just hadn't expected the rumors to hold merit.

He had gone into one of the older ruins and found a curious device. Naturally, he had checked it out - he loved history and technology, so this was the perfect combination. He had fiddled with it more than he should have. There had been a brilliant flash of light, and then he had found himself somewhere that wasn't the world he had been on moments before. The geography was all wrong. The planet had been a desert one, while this place was a lush forest by comparison.

He sighed and looked at the small handheld device he had picked up prior to ending up here. He honestly wasn't surprised when he couldn't figure out a clear way to control whatever had happened to him.

He slipped the device into his pocket.

At least I didn't pick up one of those body swapping stones again.

He silently crouched down low behind the cover of a bundle of trees when he heard the soft shuffle of feet against the dry forest floor. He'd been canvassing the area for an hour with no one in sight, but as soon as he saw the figure suddenly appear a small distance away from him in the forest, he was on his guard. With a small movement of his hand he flipped his hood over his head to obscure his face and he peeked through the winding branches to look at the stranger.

From what he could see, it looked like just a normal guy. But he didn't look like the average traveller caught moving through these parts. The fellow had no gear and no provisions, and didn't look even remotely prepared to be this far out in the forest and look as put-together as he did. Which either meant he was exceptional at keeping up self-care or that he was a miracle worker when it came to light packing. Or the more likely conclusion was that he wasn't there alone and he had others - or a camp - near by.

Not wanting to rush in too quickly, he decided to observe quietly to see what the man was up to before acting.

Someone was watching him.

They were doing a good job of it. It had taken him a few minutes to notice, and he still hadn't figured out where they were. That implied he was dealing with someone skilled, but, as he ran through the list of enemies he had made during his time as Leonardo Cartwright, he couldn't think of anyone who would opt to lurk in the trees instead of straight out attacking him.

It could possibly be a native of this world. That then presented the question of who occupied the world, and why they would be watching him from the forest instead of coming out and directly talking to him.

He pushed his sunglasses up into his hair. It was cloudy enough that they would look out of place if he continued to wear them - assuming his mysterious watcher knew what sunglasses were. "I know you're there," he said. He didn't say where there was - better to let them think he had the upper hand.

Bo still wasn't clear as to whether the guy was a threat or not, but honestly, when he told him to come out, he was relieved. He was getting tired of crouching and pretending to be small behind the trees, so he gladly stood up and stretched to his full height and came out from behind the trees.

"Good! 'Cause I knew I was there too!" he said cheerfully as he cracked a crick in his neck. "Sorry if that was uh, kind of creepy. But you know what parents say about talking to strangers. Use caution and all that. Uh, not that I'm... a child. I'm well beyond the range of being ruled by parenthood paranoia but, I digress." He came closer, walking up casually. "You lost or something?"

By a stroke of luck, he happened to be looking in the direction that the man emerged from. He was immediately in awe - and admittedly a little bit terrified - of just how gigantic the man was. The friendly demeanor threw him off more than a little, especially considering that the man had been watching from the trees up until the point he had called attention to it. He knew that he tended to be quite friendly himself, but it was different when someone else in a situation like this was acting so cheerful and welcoming.

"I guess that's a way to describe it," Maahes replied. One hand was out in the open, while the other was already snaking inside of his jacket to grab onto his zat'nik'tel in case things got ugly. "It's kind of a wild story, one that most people probably wouldn't believe."

Bo pursed his lips, watching as the guy’s hand undoubtedly reached for a weapon. He still kept his laid-back attitude and posture despite it.

“I mean, I might be an exception on this but, I’ve seen a lot of strange things so... try me!”

He took a deep breath that he had never really needed. This man couldn't have possibly seen half of the strange things he had seen, and what he was about to tell him - because he just didn't feel like lying right now - was undoubtedly going to be the strangest of all.

"I was exploring a set of sandy old ruins in the middle of a desert," he said, already wishing he had chosen to stay within the limits of the town during his visit to the planet. "They weren't that bizarre. But there was some technology there that stood out to me, and I made the mistake of investigating it. The next thing I know, I'm standing here."

Bo raised his brows, looking at the man, mildly impressed.

"So that's what... magic? Magic brought you here?"

"More like some highly advanced technology," he quickly corrected with a shake of his head. Alteran, probably; they had achieved all sorts of things that he had never been aware of. A teleportation device to another world wouldn't have been all that extraordinary considering some of their other achievements, although there was the interesting lack of Alteran writing to consider. Maybe there was some other race that had reached that same advanced level when it came to technology?

Bo blinked. He didn't really know if Maahes meant something different when he said technology, but he sure made it sound like it was important.

"So it wasn't magic but it was... science?" he asked hesitantly.

He nodded.

Magic didn't really exist. Not in the way that most people on the worlds he visited thought it did. They'd talk about gods and blessings and doing all sorts of incredible feats with the magic at their disposable, but it would also return to something else being at play. Maybe some highly advanced technology from a civilization long ago. Maybe it was all a hoax orchestrated by the leaders of that area. Maybe it was just the way that the world worked, and they didn't have the tools to understand it.

But, whatever it ended up being, the rule was simple: there was nothing magical in the universe, save for beings like himself. And, as he had never once met someone like him, he was possibly the only magical thing in the universe.

Bo raised one brow, and scratched his head from the back of his hood.

"Where in the desert did you say you were from again? Was it by the scarred lands or something? I know some freaky stuff happens out there sometimes."

He fingered the device that had brought him here, trying to determine what the best thing to say was. He was starting to get the horrible idea that this man had absolutely no idea that other worlds were out there. His answer made sense; if their situations were reversed, he would have likely asked a similar question. He might have been overreacting. But the worlds he visited tended to have little interstellar contact, and it would make sense if this one was in the same boat.

Which made his chances of easily getting back to the place he had been visiting close to zero.

"I-I don't think we're thinking of the same place right now," he settled on, giving the device one last tight squeeze before removing his hand from his pocket. "The place I came from was completely covered by a desert."

Bo gave the man a look, squinting his eyes.

"I... I know. That's what a desert is."