Chapter Three: The News

The news seems to have caught wind of the fact that two meteorites crashed in very close proximity and they are now searching the area but as the craters were flooded all they had to show for it was the oddly shaped plants growing in a perfect circle beside the first crater. Though the people on the news team didn’t know. The news lady was standing beside the craters one morning. While the cameraman was recording live. “I’m coming to you live from the crash site where two meteorites crashed very close to each other…” as she began narrating to the camera Cory and Νεκρα were walking around the forest in the background of the video. Νεκρα noticed first and pulled Cory out of the sight of the camera. “I think this world is on to us. Do you have enough mana to fight the people of this world?”

“I barely have enough mana to expand the little plot of land I saturated. And I still have to save some for myself to maintain my human form. How about you?”

“Um… I could conjure up some marbles that are poisonous if we’re really careful with them and these people are particularly foolish, I could poison them a few at a time.”

“how few?”

“… Uh… Two or three”

“that doesn’t sound like nearly enough… wait what’s happening.” As the two were having their little conversation out of view and earshot of the camera, a group of strange alien worshipers showed up and started saying weird stuff about it being a sign of life from beyond the earth. As the news team started growing gradually more and more uncomfortable eventually everyone from the news backed up far enough away that they could still see the craters but not have to deal with the fanatics. “perhaps some of these fools could prove useful.”

“wait, master. I’ve heard from a friend at work that certain fanatics can be dangerous and that there are ways to make use of such fools without approaching them.”

“meaning?” Νεκρα pulled out her phone. “look Master there are women who gather large followings of mindless fools who will defend them while receiving less than nothing in return.”

“Interesting how would I go about creating such a following?”

“Here, I saved the better one for you.” Νεκρα gives Cory a phone. “are these necessary?”

“they are akin to sending stones in the old world, but they also have access to all this world’s knowledge”

“if this is so knowledgeable why am I wasting my time in an institution that helps little to nothing?”

“I asked such as well. Jeffrey said that much of the information is fraudulent so it’s best to do research and find the truth for oneself because not every source is as accurate as they should be.”

“Jeffy?”

“No Jeffrey, but that’s not Important right now you see-”

“wait something’s happening” as the two conversed the fanatics were looking very intently at the craters and theorizing about the plants near the craters one of the fanatics accidentally cut himself on one of the sharper plants. Much to his and the surprise of the other fanatics the plant began growing faster when he shed blood on it. The other fanatics began shouting and saying that their theories were right and began cutting themselves on purpose on the plants to see them grow. Much to the horror of the news and the two discussing how best to utilize fanatics. Eventually the little one-foot radius circle of plants that grew sprouts up into a one-foot radius wall of alien-looking plants with thorns pedals and fruits all strange and eerie. Causing the news reporter to hang her head and admit to something. “I never thought these words would come out of my mouth on live T.V. but those alien crazed fanatics might be right about this one.”

The fanatics began bandaging themselves up shortly after confirming what they had thought purely on belief. And once everyone who had injured themselves for the sake of the plants was fixed up to some degree they began picking the fruits and eating them in the hopes that they could plant the seeds in their own back yard and cultivate a little alien life themselves. As they were doing so the news team was calling the police. Cory and Νεκρα quietly saw themselves out. Cory brought her back to Martha’s house where Cory introduced her to Jeffy only to find that Jeffy was Jeffrey. “so… how do you two know each other?” Jeffy asked with a fake smile barely covering his irritation.

“She is my master I always do as she commands!”

“Νεκρα is my childhood friend she’s been like this since forever”

“And I’m guessing she also doesn’t have a place to stay?” Jeffy asked.

“Right you are,” Cory said. Jeffy sighed with an exasperated expression. “would you be willing to share the guest room with her?”

““Yes”” they both said in unison. Jeffy looked at them both as if to question why they were the way that they were. And then turned to leave but not before saying one more thing. “By the way, mom was so impressed by how much you can eat she put a TV and a desktop in the guest room to make you feel more at home… she said you can stay as long as you like,” he said last part through gritted teeth.

“right then. Tell her 'thank you' for us.” Cory seemed to be thoroughly enjoying herself. When they turned the TV on they saw that the news was now reporting on the fanatics that have either been quarantined for eating the strange fruit or have fallen ill due to food poisoning. The police had marked off the area of the crash specifically the circle of plants that now stand about eight feet high (about 2½m). as the news played in the background Νεκρα taught Cory about the internet and how you don’t even need to show your face as long as you have a good voice and you act the way they expect you to. Cory asked what would happen if she showed herself as she is during those kinds of videos and Νεκρα replied that because there are those who wear costumes while talking to their mindless hoard of followers it is possible to appear as you are as long as you’re mostly humanoid in the video. “how much mana do you have about?” Cory asked amid the explanation.

“enough for a lesser create magical Item. You?”

“just enough to create another self-sustaining mana plot of land”

“about how big?”

“I think it will encompass most of the house”

“nice… try to keep it in such a way that it doesn’t affect nature quite yet.”

“it’s a bit late for that but I’ll take that into consideration. What item were you thinking of making?”

“I was thinking either a [disguise self] glasses or a [telepathy] earring set”

“I guess with the glasses you could save the mana you’re using to disguise yourself for when next you need it, but with the earrings, we can always stay in touch without having to worry we’ll be overheard by someone who isn’t privy to what we know.”

“and we can use the phones as a disguise, so people don’t try to interrupt us while we’re conversing over the earrings”

“Ok, I’ll make the earrings you make the glasses, and I’ll lower the AOE of my mana-producing plot of land to compensate.”

“I’m sorry my incompetence has led you to waste the mana you stored up on me again.”

“pay it no mind. Soon enough we’ll be self-sufficient and well on our way to finding who we came for… what is she doing” on the news in front of the eyes of both of the aliens. Martha was being interviewed and she was telling them about how she met two girls at the impact craters, one day apart, the day the meteorites landed while on her way to school and is currently telling the news team about all the things they said and did. “well… people just might believe her now”

“ah, if we act normal enough they’ll just think she’s another fanatic and leave us alone” Νεκρα released her disguise spell while donning the [disguise self] glasses. They each took an earring and wore them on opposite ears ‘no one will suspect a thing.’

‘of course Master’

‘Be ready to cast disguise self at a moment’s notice in case you manage to drop your glasses’

‘right…’

once the two had finished setting up their new mana regenerating plot of land and getting their stories straight they began sharing the knowledge they’d acquired with each other. On the news in the background, they could hear Martha being asked for proof condemning the two she was talking about and when she couldn’t produce it she was being whispered about by the few normal people who came to see the spectacle from afar while the fanatics were on the edge of their proverbial seat essentially asking to meet the girls. Neither Martha, the police, nor the News anchor was too keen on leading a party of fanatics to Martha’s little mansion by the lake. As the two girls were setting up accounts to bait alien fanatics into giving them all of their money and support