Hi! Newbie here, and I just wanted to share this. It started out as a movie idea, but it didn't quite work with just the actors playing the roles, so I changed it and it began to work much better. Mr. Cage will of course take the lead role here, and he will be joined by many other familiar actors. The story will be about this mysterious "acting role" Mr. Cage is called upon to play, that draws him deeper into a plot to start a new empire. Definitely not to be taken too seriously, it'll be an action story with my occasional attempts at humor thrown in. Here we go:
THE LORD OF WAR
Nicolas Cage was walking down the hall, on his way to yet another meeting with a group of producers. This particular group, though, was comprised of a few of his fellow actors, people he had met or worked with. Tommy Lee Jones, a member of this group, had promised him his role would revolutionize the entire world. Then again, that's what they all say. Heh, but it's gotta be something special if the three of them got together to pull me into this... Running his hand through his hair, Nicolas checks his watch on his other hand. Five minutes early. As such, and on account of there being no one else in the hallway at the moment, he began to breakdance, stepping into his favorite toprock groove before whipping his head around as he licked the air. Clearing his throat, he knocked on the plain metal door and turned the handle to walk in.
Samuel L. Jackson looked over his shoulder and smiled as he rose to greet the latest arrival. "Nic, great to see you again!"
"Hey." The two embraced each other in the manner know as the "Man-Hug", and walked back over to the table. "Tommy, Sir Christopher," Nicolas said, acknowledging the other two men seated at the table. Sir Christopher Lee smiled and quietly nodded his hello. Taking the seat offered, Mr. Cage sat down and folded his arms along the edge of the table. "So,"
"So," Samuel L. Jackson tossed back with another smile, "Right about now I bet you're wondering what the three of us could possibly have planned. There's gotta be something, right?"
"Well, I must admit, I am curious, yes."
"It was no flippant remark when we said this role could change the world, Nicholas." Said Sir Christopher. "Believe me, I've been doing this long enough to know."
"Yeah, I think we've all been told our big break's coming up but the film fell short," Tommy Lee Jones put in. "But Nic, there's something different about you, and this role. I don't think there's anyone else who could make it believable."
"Oh, so you've been looking around for a while? This has to be quite the script."
"Indeed, indeed. But now that you're here we'll let the man in charge do the talking."
"Man in charge? I thought this was just you three...?"
"I brought them in to help you feel comfortable," Said a vaguely familiar voice behind Nicolas. He turned in his chair and his eyebrows raised as he found Kevin Bacon walking up, having apparently hidden behind the door. The man wore a smart black pinstripe business suit, and a ruby red tie.
"Kevin? You didn't take that joke about lowering my Bacon Number seriously, did you?"
Mr. Bacon laughed as he continued walking around to the empty chair at the table. "No, but I have wanted to work with you for a while." Chuckling once more as he dropped into the plain chair, Kevin Bacon spoke again. "Look, I'm not gonna give you the third degree, I've just got one question- but you have to be absolutely sure of the answer, alright?"
"Reasonable enough."
"So, Nicolas Cage, the question is... will you take this role and see it through to the end?"
"That's it, that's the big question? I've had to deal with 'bird hair' jokes for years, so this can't be any worse than that. I'm in." Kevin Bacon silently nodded, and motioned to Samuel L Jackson and Tommy Lee Jones, who swiftly stood and held Nicolas' arms down on the table. "Hey, hey what is this? Guys?"
Kevin Bacon came up, pulling out a small ceremonial knife from a pocket. "As the saying goes, blood in, blood out." Quickly Kevin made a cut on Nicolas' forearm, letting the blood well up and collect on the blade. Then Kevin moved around the circular table and unrolled a scroll Sir Christopher handed him; within was a few paragraphs of stylized calligraphy and an empty signature line- here, Kevin Bacon smeared the blood. Then curiously he held out his finger over the stain, swiftly motioning with it as if writing or perhaps just having a spasm, and the action left a signature in a foreign script Nicolas didn't recognize. After blowing on it to dry the blood, Kevin Bacon nodded and rolled it back up, storing it in an inside pocket in his suit. "Take him to the temple for an awakening."
"Wait, Kevin! What temple? What the Hell is going on here?!" Nicolas struggled against Tommy Lee and Samuel L Jackson for a moment, trying to break free. "Let- go-" Stomping on their feet provided a long enough distraction to escape, and he ran after Kevin, who was already walking away. "Okay, Kevin, I would really like to-" Then almost in slow motion, Kevin Bacon turned around when Nicolas was only a few steps away. With a disinterested expression he raised his arm, and Nicolas Cage felt a few things happen. First, he saw, or thought he saw, Kevin's arm blur; second, he heard a small sonic boom and third he felt a breathtaking blow to his nose, snapping his head back and knocking him to the floor.
"Vacuum punch," Keving Bacon explained. "A strike so fast a vacuum of air is launched forwards, detonating in a concussive blast." Kevin turned back to the door and continued to talk as Nicolas lost consciousness. "Won't dirty my hands with a new initiate..."
~oOo~
"Open your eyes, Nicolas."
His nose and sinuses aching, Nicolas Cage realized he was awake and did so. He was in a dark room with candles around the edges, with Sir Christopher Lee kneeling beside him wearing a dark robe with a deep hood that obscured his face. Then he realized he was only clothed in a loincloth. "Would you mind telling me where I am?"
"You are in the High Temple of the Toravekhi, Nicolas. Quite an impressive place with the lights on."
"I'm sure it is. What's all this stuff?" Nicolas said, referring to the glowing red circle and letters he was in the middle of. And why am I in a loincloth? The characters looked almost familiar to him, and then he remembered the signature he'd briefly seen on the scroll was written with them.
"It is a topha circle, Nicolas. We need it to draw in the necessary energies."
"To do what, summon the devil and a legion of demons? Listen, I don't do this cult stuff, Sir Christopher, and I don't know what kind of sick joke this is but there will be legal action once I get out of here." Sir Christopher merely sighed and shook his head.
The candles flickered in the silence for a moment before Sir Christopher spoke in a whisper. "This will give you power, Nicolas, and neither I nor anyone else can decide how you will use it. Now please be still for the next few moments..." Putting his palm to the ground, Sir Christopher said a few words Nicolas couldn't understand. The circle and characters glowed brighter, their light playing over Nicolas' skin. It stayed there after the glow went back down, and it heated up, Nicolas finding himself breathing shallower and faster as a buzz entered his mind. The heat began to tingle and intensify, and the buzz grew and evened out into a droning note- and then all of a sudden he flashed, the tingle bursting away and left him feeling almost like he'd been given a new sense. Then, upon further inspection, he had. He could feel Sir Christopher's presence, and when he reached out to it with his new sense a steady, somber note with a deep warmth filled his hearing, like it was being played loudly on surround sound in the temple. The wonder and awe of it was almost too much for Nicolas to take in, that something like this had actually happened.
"It is called topha. The conscious mind has a resistance to it, and so in most cases it must be forcibly awakened by an outside source. It is wonderful and terrible and capable of many different things, Nicolas. It is breath, and blood; it is fire and wind." With a wave of his hand, Sir Christopher extinguished the candles. There was darkness, and then lights eased up from the topha circle in a path to a doorway that was slightly cracked open. "They are waiting for you. Go on, reach out to feel for their topha..." Nicolas did as was suggested, and a few distinct notes began resonating. There was no harmony, but they were pleasing; there was a light note of a casual grace that gently wavered, a rich throaty note and two nimbler more liquid notes, like flowing gold or silver. They seemed to grow a little louder in response to his probing. Nicolas stood, and he felt a robe placed on his shoulders, and he drew it around him. He'd felt exposed in more ways than one since the ceremony.
The walk was short, and upon opening the door he was greeted with applause and light.
Blood on a contract? Making a deal with the devil? It will be interesting to see where this story goes! You write well, the story is compelling so far, 'The lord OF War' is an intriguing title I guess we will find out what it means.
At the mo I am holding out judgement as to whether it is going to be a let's take the piss out of Nic Cage story (forgive me, after so many years in Nic world you become quite derfensive with all the Nic myths and hate around!) and I guess i find it hard to read about my fave actor being hurt (as oposed to a character he plays).
I hope you enjoy the forum as a whole, please do come and introduce yourself and join in with the topics a bit, it may assist in getting responses to your fan fic!
Blinking, Nicolas took a quick look around. It seemed he indeed was in a temple, albeit currently in an entry hall. It was of white marble, with tall columns and simple benches placed along the walls, and wooden double doors on either side of the hall. Man, Sir Christopher wasn't kidding. This actually is a nice place.
"Welcome to the family, Nic!" His attention being drawn back down, Nic saw he was being addressed by none other than Will Smith. There were others standing behind him: Nic recognized Daniel Radcliffe and Kristen Stewart, as well as another young man from the Potter movies who he couldn't name at the moment. Will looked over his shoulder and gestured to the newcomer. "Say hello, guys." They all waved, and Nicolas nodded back. "We'll be back in a minute," Will said, turning back to Nicolas. "I know I sure as Hell didn't want to stay in a loincloth for very long either." Approaching Will led Nicolas through one of the double doors into a long hallway, and opened a wooden door just a few steps down for him. "The clothes you had on are in there; I'll just go on ahead back out."
"Alright." Walking in to the room, Nic saw it looked to be a choir room, with robes hung up on a rod and several stray sheets of staff paper strewn about the place; and on a bench were his boxers, pants, shirt, and jacket. He quickly pulled them on, eagerly anticipating the talk soon to come. After looking around for a bit he found his socks a shoes, and put them on as well. Just moments later he was back in the entrance hall, with Will Smith standing up, Kristen Stewart and Daniel Radcliffe seated on a bench behind him and the other young man on a bench next to the door.
"Tom Felton," He quietly introduced himself.
"Nice to meet you." Nicolas said as he sat beside him.
"So," Will began, "I'm guessing we're all familiar with each other here?"
"I've never met Miley Cyrus," Daniel Radcliffe said, pointing to Tom. The latter did not appreciate it.
"Alright, alright. Now, Nic, since you've had your awakening, we're just going to talk for a little bit about topha before heading out. First thoughts?"
"It's... a unique feeling. There's obviously not much to compare it to, but I'd say it's almost like hearing... with my skin."
Will nodded, and looked back to Kristen Stewart. "'Kay, Kristen how about you?"
"Well, after I got over just- the sheer shock of having all this opened up to me, I thought it was very elegant. Definitely makes concerts more awesome."
"Ditto on the music," Daniel picked up. "For me it was surprising, or still is really. I kind of see it like electricity, how it can be used for all these millions of different things."
"Right on the money," Will agreed, nodding to Daniel. "And speaking of money, I heard we're saving a straight up redonkulous amount on the special effects budget; Michal Bay would be jealous. And, going with the variety of uses, there are a few different classifications of topha, based on this quality it has known as resonance. To skip all the fancy explanation crap, I'll just do it like this." Holding his hand out at waist height to focus, Will extended the range of his resonance, so that Nicolas and the others could sense it. It produced the rich tone Nicolas recognized from right after the awakening, at first, then it slid upwards into a higher register, and then a bit higher still. "You catch that?"
"Yeah, you... raised the frequency of your resonance. It was like a baritone singer going into their upper register."
"Mm-hmm. So there are five 'voices', a.k.a. resonance ranges. Everybody naturally sits in one, and everybody can move around to the others with some practice. But since topha is and always has been associated with 'magic', the voices aren't called baritone or tenor or anything like that- they're classified as elements. The lowest, surprise, is earth. After that, water, and in the middle you have wind. A lot of people naturally sit there, and it's easier for them to screw with their resonance. Y'know, instead of going, say, a few ranges up from earth, they don't have to work as hard to raise their resonance into the next range, which is fire. And then the next range up from that is the 'energy' voice."
Nicolas sat thinking over the information for a moment, when a question came up. "So, going on that, would someone with a resonance in the 'earth' range be stronger at that level than at a 'fire' level?"
"Yeah, that's generally how it goes," Answered Will.
"And it works the opposite way, too." Kristen added. "Personally, my resonance is naturally pretty high in the fire range, so it's difficult for me for lower it and work in a water voice."
From his side, Tom Felton spoke up. "It's really not as complicated as it may be starting to sound, but it does take some work to master. If you've been at it for years your natural range doesn't matter so much and you can basically do whatever with your topha, like Sir Christopher."
"Sir Christopher?" Asked Nic in surprise.
"You can't just grab someone off the street to do an awakening," Will said. "Ol' Saruman's one of the best."
"Huh..." So I wonder if this means Sam and Tommy are around the same level... and Kevin, too. "A couple questions- one, even if this topha is kept a secret, it would have to have some kind of cult following. This kind of thing can't just come from nowhere; why haven't I heard of it before?"
"Would you have believed this was real a couple days ago?" Asked Will. "The main reason it's been going under the radar is a lot of people don't want to believe, nobody wants the monster under the bed to be real, y'know? The last topha user in the spotlight was Mr. Crowley-" Here Will paused to air guitar for a moment, "Himself, and before that it goes back to the Renaissance before you can find one. The Toravekhi have done a good job keeping a low profile and covering their tracks."
"And sometimes it's the attention that might come with it," Daniel continued. "I could come out of the closet- not that way, Tom you git- as a topha practitioner but then think about where I'd be." It took a moment for Nicolas to get it, then a grin slowly spread across his face. "I'd be going to so many birthday parties I wouldn't have time for acting."
"So, the next thing I was wondering about is my resonance. You guys could feel it, right?" There was a general nod of consent to Nic's question.
"You definitely have something to work with," Will said. "It seemed somewhere in the wind voice." Will looked around at the group for a moment before continuing. "Everyone ready to do a little bit of training now?" With a murmur of consent, they all stood and walked towards the doors across the hall from Tom and Nic.
Here goes nothing... meet with the producers and get initiated into a cult... yes sir, just another average day.
