Two wheels and a green light

Two wheels and a green light

No one ever says stop

The alternative life style has a bigger meaning in this universe. Here alternative does not mean new age mambo jumbo, it means real alternative. The laws of rational physics do not apply. The reasoning of logic has no place. Here reality is whatever it is declared to be.

The silence is broken by the sound of many motorcycles, some base throbbing slow revs on large machines, others high pitched high speed engines being ridden in low gear; all coming together to wait the signal to expand. Waiting the green light to flood them with extra powers, powers that would take them beyond the mundane and into that world of two wheeled heaven. The riders were all ages, even all shapes and sizes, nonconformity has an expanded definition here. What united them was love of the freedom, that sense of exhilaration that comes from powering up two wheels and being the master of your own destiny. For as long as you are riding, your life, your future, is in your hands. You are alone, the responsibility of work and family can be left aside. All your focus, all your will power, is centered on that mystical union between you and your machine. While riding together they were friends, they did not know each other, they did not mix socially, they would hardly recognize each other if take away the leathers and helmets.

This was the only time and place, in this universe that the social groupings laid aside their trappings of power and met as equals. Even the high wizards, when dressed in leathers and helmets, looked the same as the apprentice sorceresses and so all were equal in the green light, that signal to be free. That indication that all can ride the road, seek their skill set and be cocooned in their own reality. The green light which was the only beacon to allow equality in this place. The normal rigid barriers between the various levels of magical ability were only ever set aside in the two wheeled club. A sort of hell's angels for people with individual powers that would frighten the hell out of our earth bound chapters. Even the choice of machine was no indication of the guild the rider belonged to. While away from the club each persons dress and choice of words were rigidly controlled by the status within their chosen guild, here anything goes, literally anything since these are all people and all species that had control of that inbuilt power we on earth call magic. It was a matter of honor among all the bikers never to use magic to prevent a spill, stopping injuries was OK but skill alone kept them on the bikes.

On this day, on this ride, the leader from the light was a dark skinned, black clad, humane shaped wizard called Arthur, he effortlessly controlled his ultra powerful machine through several twists and turns before settling down to a steady rhythm of control, that effortless automatic application of skill that only comes from experience. Arthur had an ulterior motivation for heading the pack, his priority today was not just escape from the normal world of exerting control over his own environment, while making sure he did not intrude on his neighbors; but today he needed cooperation from a senior wizard, a being who would not normally be allowed to directly communicate with wizard of lower rank. The sheer thrill of having to exert physical control, to having to use reflexes and muscles, to having to anticipate rather then will events; let him forget for a few seconds his objective. He soon got back to the purpose. The stream of bikers pulled into a frequently used resting place, the shields of invisibility were placed around them as a group, only those within the ride could know, or see, or hear, anything said. Arthur sat astride his machine and sent out gentle and soft calls for connection, even in this informal group it would be fatal to issue demand to a higher rank, so gentle calls for collection it was. A senior even within the high rank of wizards, rested beside him, they talked machines and performance then Arthur broached his need for help. He has had a call from another universe where magic was less recognized, even shunned and avoided. He wished to help, to answer the call but inter-universe travel was restricted, only senior wizards or those working for one, had permission to make such journeys. The thoughts flowed between them with easy, instantaneous understanding and agreement was establish, Arthur was give the code of an agent working for the senior high wizard. He used this to transfer himself and his machine to planet Earth, the one in our universe.

Once here he shape shifted to a standard male thirty something appearance. His data for this had been gleaned from TV transmissions of Love Island, which escaped to other universes as beyond the non human controllers imaginative capacity and so they had no filters to cope with it. He had changed his machine to resemble a “Fireblade”, he was expecting experts to look and so had been careful to make every visible detail exactly confirm to the 2021 specification, the street legal but track ready SP; what could not be seen was a different matter. He would never need to refuel this machine. He kept his leathers plain black and the helmet black with a silver streak. His first task was to find the location that had sent out the distress signal he was responding to. He decided to acclimatize himself to this planet by riding there along conventional roads and did not use his hyper transport magic. He did use his power of predetermination to avoid all dangers, and police speed traps. His destination was a remote cottage, set back out of sight from even the tiny country lane which led past it. He rode his bike a short way down the overgrown path and left it there, a close observer; if such a thing existed; would have been puzzled by the fact he did not use any form of stand just got off the machine and it stayed upright. He walked the rest of the way and pushed open the front door. The room was a mess of occult paraphernalia, mystic runes and symbols hung from very possible, and a few impossible, places. Slumped in a corner was a young earth woman, if the Goth makeup was cleaned off, a presentable young woman. As he removed his helmet she gasped and jumped up. “you have come and you are the hansom prince of my dreams” she cried and flung herself into his, rather startled, embrace. He used his arms to gently but firmly hold her away from his body, in his world, in his universe, such physical contact was reserved only for the mating ritual and that was by appointment only. Arthur composed his mind selected Earth English and spoke softly, “ you used a summoning ritual, one known only to a very few, yet you appear to be so young. How did you learn the ritual and why did you use such a powerful, and so energy draining call?” Her reply left him shocked. “My name is Sarah and I found Merlin's staff when I inherited this cottage, it must have sent the call.” He managed to collect his composure, one of Merlin's own staffs on this planet, so far from home? He swallowed his shock and gently asked “where in the cottage was the staff and can you show it to me” Her reply gave him another shock, “ found it in the roof thatch and I was not sure what it was so I put in the cellar, still in there” he just had to ask, “then how do you know it is Merlin's?” Sarah claimed to have found an old note book hand written by her great great grandfather and it told her this used to be Merlin's cottage.

His shock had turned into excitement, the very fact that a summons had been sent from this place was proof enough that great magic resided here, that alone was amazing but if it was true that Merlin himself had used this place, when he visited this particular universe, it was a great discovery, one big enough to get his appointment to High Wizard, settled in an instant. Sarah showed him to the cellar, the artifact that was historically so very important, was just leaning up against a dusty and dirty wall. Arthur summoned his powers and surrounded the staff with protection, he then probed the responses from the ancient artifact. Incredible magic power still flowed within it, it was incredible, beyond understanding but it was the wand of the most powerful wizard of all history, of all creation,in any and every universe, It did belong to Merlin. Arthur wrapped the most important object from any universe in magical protection and startled Sarah by setting it in motion. She almost screamed in shock and amazement as the wand floated up the stairs to the light, where it absorbed energy from the sun and started to glow and radiate green light. Arthur quickly called down shielding magic to prevent the ancient artifact from over heating. He got Sarah to show him the notebook. It was undoubtedly of great historic importance The earlier pages were written in a script not normally found on Earth, as the pages turned, centuries passed and different hands had added to the notes. Excitement built up in Arthur, beyond control even with his thousand years of training, the early pages may have been written by the great high master, the founder of Arthur's own world. He had to get this book and the most revered magical emblem in anyone's history, back to his home planet. Sentiment and such human emotions as gratefulness, did not exist in Arthur's world or his life. He cast a spell to protect Sarah then summoned vast amounts of power and transported the cottage himself, the book and the staff back to his own home planet. Sarah woke it find herself in a garden with no cottage but she did have a powerful motorcycle that never ran out of petrol. All round the world seismologists were puzzled by the strange anomaly, there appeared to have been an earthquake in England a remarkably localized earthquake yet no one in that locality reported seeing to hearing anything.

Arthur got his promotion to High Wizard