Building a magic system on threat of destruction

The clouds hung overhead ominously. No rain fell, but the clouds were darkening and lighting flashed across the dark sky. When Jack stepped out into the open air, Jeler yelped and flinched away. Jack looked at the cat man in confusion before noticing that Jeler's fur was standing on end. Jack rushed over to Jeler quickly and touched his arm. An intense shock ran through the two of them and Jeler yowled in pain. Jack flinched away shaking his hand.

Jeler's fur remained on end but seemed to be drawn to Jack. It almost seemed to Jack as though they were charged with an incredible amount of static electricity. He touched his body against the metal handle of the door nearby and was shocked again. He didn't seem to be able to feel the shock as much as Jeler did, but it was clearly present. Jack stepped back into the house and Jeler's fur flattened back down.

"What was that?" Jeler yelled, looking around wildly.

Jack peeked his head out of the door, and the static returned, Jeler's fur standing on end once again. Jeler flinched back again, batting at his fur desperately. Jack ducked back inside and the static disappeared. "Jeler...come back inside real quick."

Jeler walked back into the house, looking nervous. Jack quickly called out for Reph and Dirge. Reph came down from upstairs. "Hey Jack, welcome back. What did you need?"

Jack waved a hand in greeting before getting down to business. "Can you step outside with Jeler for a moment?"

The bore-bot shrugged, not seeming to notice Jeler's nervousness. He stepped outside and seemed to notice the storm clouds overhead. "Wow, that's a huge storm." He turned to Jeler, "Has Riniox tied things down yet? We might need to board up the windows." He stopped asking questions as Jeler stepped nervously out the door. Nothing happened when Jeler drew closer to Reph, no sign of the static electricity. The bore-bot looked at him with concern. "Are you okay, Jeler?"

Jeler carefully looked at his fur, and didn't seem to notice any static electricity. "I think so?" He looked at Jack questioningly.

Jack nodded, and waved them back in. "Thanks Reph."

Reph nodded, slightly confused. "What was that about?"

Jack stepped out of the door, and could feel his body charge slightly. Reph's brow furrowed and he leaned in close. Jeler backed up slightly, but his fur began standing up slightly despite the distance. "I seem to be experiencing some...static electricity?"

Reph began muttering to himself, hovering around Jack intently without touching him. Jeler called out, "be careful! Touching him hurts like crazy." Reph nodded in response, then immediately touched Jack.

The shock didn't seem to bother him as much as it had hurt Jeler, but Reph still flinched away, surprised at the force of the shock. "Wow! That was intense." He studied Jack carefully, noting that the charge came back instantly. "Has this happened before?"

Jack shook his head. "No? Though I've never really been in a storm in this body." Something about his statement bothered him. "Do you guys get lots of storms?"

Jeler shrugged, Reph had gone back to muttering and looking at Jack. "We get smaller storms on and off, but bigger storms are pretty rare," Jeler said matter-of-factly.

Reph touched Jack again, not pulling away this time as the shock ran between them. The shock surprised Jack, who hadn't been expecting it. "Ah! Stop that!" he chided.

Reph nodded to himself. "The charge comes back instantly. It's not higher or lower now that I'm touching you..." He didn't seem to acknowledge Jack's annoyance. "I don't feel any charge either..."

Jack rolled his eyes, deciding to let Reph finish thinking. Clearly there was no getting through to the bore-bot while he was experimenting. Jack waited as Reph poked and prodded him a few more times, even looking curiously as Reph removed a part from Jack's mechanical body. Eventually, Reph pushed Jack inside, his hand still on him. Reph paused in the doorway, still outside, as Jack left the cloud cover. Once inside, he turned to Jack. "Jack...what is that storm?"

Jeler looked confused, but Jack grew very still. That was a very pointed question, one Jack didn't think he had given any hints about. "...Why do you ask, Reph?"

Reph locked eyes with Jack, his expression full of curiosity. "The static, it's not a natural phenomenon. I've never heard of bore-bots who experience quite what we are seeing here. Not persistently anyway." He put both hands on Jack, looking at him with intensity. "Your body is reacting like it's about to be struck by lightning, except it's constant. If I didn't know any better, I'd say the storm is aiming the lightning at you as long as you're outside."

Jack nodded, that made a lot of sense to him. If that storm was a ducol, and he was sure it was, then it could somehow interact with the white void. It could see Jack somehow and was focusing in on him for some reason. If it could see into the white void...then maybe it knew what had happened to Deis? Was it angry?

Jack's mind was racing, but Reph seemed to mistake his silence for confusion and kept talking. "Even when I was touching you, I didn't gain any charge. The same amount of electricity was contained in your body almost instantly after shocking me. Is there something in your body that attracts it? Or is this storm special somehow?" He weighed his hands theatrically as if the two options had physical weight. "I'm betting it's the storm itself. And since it's you we're talking about, I thought that you would either know something about it or could do something about it."

Jack looked at him. "There's just some weird problem and you assume I know something about it?"

Reph shrugged. "You're at the center of just about every mess that happens around here. You have a knack for finding yourself in inconvenient spots."

Jack was almost offended but he had to admit that Reph was right. It wasn't Jack's fault, these things just kept happening because of the position Deis had put him in. He looked at Reph. "I think that the storm cloud is a living thing. A ducol."

Reph pondered this. "You asked us about something called a ducol. I couldn't find out anything about it."

Jeler looked surprised. "The storm is a person?" He glanced out the window nervously. "And it wants to hit you with lightning?"

Reph shook his head. "If it wanted to hurt Jack, it could have hit him with lightning by now. I think that the static is similar to attention. Like how we use eyes to see something, there is weight behind staring at something. When someone stares at you, sometimes you can tell, right? Well, the way this angry cloud seems to stare is a bit more obvious."

Jack nodded, seeing the connection Reph was making. "So it's staring at me. But why do you say it's angry?"

"Because it's a storm?" Reph shrugged. "I could be wrong I suppose, but if I was a cloud, storming would be my way of showing anger."

Jack thought about that. It wasn't technically storming...it was more like building up to storm? "Maybe it's not sure how to feel. Like it's ready to be angry, but is holding off for some reason."

Jeler looked between the two of them. The hypotheticals seemed to be a bit beyond him, but he nodded at this. "It's like when Riniox knows we've done something wrong but wants us to acknowledge our mistakes. She just stands over us, angry as a wildfire, but doesn't punish us outright. It's a scare tactic."

"Does that work?" Jack asked.

"Every single time."

"Let's take a step back," Reph said. "We are making a lot of assumptions here."

"But it all feels right," Jack said.

Reph shook his head dismissively. "Doesn't mean anything. I've felt right about tons of things, only for them to literally explode in my face. You said it's a ducol Jack, how sure are you?"

"Ninety-five percent?"

Reph nodded, "Almost entirely sure then. Did you do anything to upset it that you know of?"

"...Very possibly."

"Are you willing to elaborate?"

Jack shook his head. "I can't really talk about it right now. But...I think it was observing me before I came back."

"Before you came back? Like an hour ago? Before we shut you off?"

Jack shook his head. "In the sun, where the High Deity is. I think it was...watching me somehow."

Reph and Jeler both looked shocked. Jeler burst out. "How? I've never even heard of something like that?"

Reph's look of shock turned to one of concern. "A being that can peer into the domain of the High Deity..." He started pacing back and forth. "It isn't focusing on you while you're in the house. That's good. Maybe it has to follow certain rules, like physics. If it can't see you in the house, then we should keep you in here for now. No going back to the sun unless...can the High Deity help you, Jack?"

It was Jack's turn to look concerned. "I...don't think so. If anything, he would probably hand me over to it or something."

Reph nodded, "No can do then. Stay here, I'll try to figure something out." Reph turned and jogged to the basement, calling out for Dirge and Glimm.

Jeler turned to Jack. "How do you piss off a cloud?"

Jack laughed, but the sound was forced. "I'll tell you another time." He glanced out the window again, the sky was dark and ominous. "What could it want?"

Jeler shrugged. "Dunno. I hope it gets bored and leaves soon though."