"Yup, and yup. Don't feel too bad about it. You folks are the definitely the first to find it this time around, so pats on the back for you."
She started to walk about as if doing a college lecture.
"You see, the Temple hasn't been shut for all these hundreds of years. It first opened up in 1606, stayed open for a few months, then went back to sleep again. Then it came up again in 1809, then 1910, and so on. As you can imagine, there haven't been many people physically able to get to the temple in those days. So the people who got there, and got the powers, they've been a silent minority, but proud enough to start up their own little subculture of magic makers. Witches, wizards, superheroes, you could call them a lot of things, but these days we call ourselves the Lightlives."
And a Strange Figure Emerges."I never thought of that. We're open to suggestions."
Natalie levitated, reclining in thin air, while Karina surreptitiously made her way over to the crystal.
"So, everybody," said Natalie, "You're in the temple, you've got your powers, you're in the club. What do you want to know?"
And a Strange Figure Emerges.Elizabeth pulled out the knife and pointed it at the woman "Powers? You mean we all got poers by touching this crystal? I see that you can fly and that John can transform into an adorable puppy and this guy here-" Elizabeth nodded towards Terry "-Transformed into a monster. So I guess it's true but how do we others whose powers has not yet become apparent manifest ours? "
"Those are a good bonus, but that's not all there is to it."
In the background, Karina put her hands on the crystal.
"The Heart of Desire is meant for giving people the one thing they want the most, though it does give some stuff on the side. Say you wanted to take care of animals. The Heart would let you heal animals, protect them, take them to a safe place to live. If you really like animals, it might even let you talk to animals or turn into them! The magic powers are usually geared to what you want. But it's very possible to teach a Lightlife completely new tricks."
"WOOHOO!" cried Karina, as she backflipped over the others wearing an emerald green explorer outfit, topped with green goggles and a greenish-brown fedora.
"As for how you turn them on, all it takes is some concentration and an idea of what you can do."
edited 6th Mar '12 12:48:58 PM by LizardOfAus
And a Strange Figure Emerges.Natalie made an odd face. "...that may have had something to do with it, yeah."
She turned to Yuki. "You made a mention about our similar colour scheme. Most desires can be fitted into certain types, with their own special colour. These days, we cram most of them into four far-reaching groups. There's people who got powers out of Love for others, like me," She pointed to the Wizard, "there's some who want Entertainment in any shape or form for the rest of their lives," she pointed to Margarita, "some folks look for a New Purpose, to be better than they are or break out of some imposed 'destiny'..." she halfheartedly pointed to Terry, "...and then, there are those that fall under Revenge."
edited 6th Mar '12 12:59:20 PM by LizardOfAus
And a Strange Figure Emerges."Hmm... I think I understand..." Elizabeth said and suddenly a blue light extended about one meter from the knife, practically making it seem like a sword of light with a very short handle "So this is the power to destroy the threats to my masters." The light dispersed and Elizabeth lowered the knife before raising her free hand and a disk consisting of the same solid light with a radius of one meter appeared at the palm, thus forming a shield. "And this is the power to protect."
edited 6th Mar '12 1:02:56 PM by Clawthewolf
"It's not too hard. Your friend seems to be getting the hang of it." Natalie got to her feet again. "Just think: when you were touching the Heart of Desire, and it showed you all that stuff about your life, you knew then, didn't you? You knew what you wanted to be, what you always wanted to do. Well, now you can do that. No trouble. ...'Course, if you find out you want to do something now but can't, don't worry. We'll send somebody over to teach you."
And a Strange Figure Emerges."Oh, all sorts, really. Helping folks from behind the scenes, making minor historical events, and sometimes playing merry hell with people's lives. All being done on a confidential basis, mind you: can't have the whole world wigging out on account of little old us. There have been problems, as you can probably guess; the words Salem and Roswell spring to mind. But relatively lately, Lightlives have been learning to hide in plain sight, disguising their magic as mere mortal talent."
And a Strange Figure Emerges.Despite the new woman appearing, John still stuck to being a form of a puppy. After she changed into a costume like Yuki and Elizabeth, he assumed there would be no point, as Natalie would probably guess he wasn't just some dog with the vest on him and his strange yet extremely cute appearance.
Listening to what Natalie said, John thought about a few things. The dates she mentioned were that one the letter. Also, officer said something about liking animals would allow a person to turn into one. The boy was fond of animals but he didn't think that was the reason he turned into a puppy. He also seemed like a New Purpose, his wish was to be something more likable.
But these thoughts were interrupted by something cool that Elizabeth did. "Woah, that's awesome I wish I could do something like that! Create the lightsaber again!"
edited 6th Mar '12 3:45:52 PM by JustaUsername
Some people say I'm lazy. It's hard to disagree.Natalie looked at Wizard with the kind of cock-eyed glance that said 'I know this kind of guy backwards'.
"I know how tempting it is to jump over the rooftops shooting fireworks. Really, I do. But the reason the temple only ever opens now and then is because, on a worldwide scale, the human race ain't ready. Can you imagine what would happen if a whole load of Lightlives went public, blowing shit up and marching on Washington? People would go nuts. They'd do protest rallies and try to attack us with everything they've got. They'd think we were all planet splitting monsters, and a threat to society, and a bad influence on the kids and all that junk, and you know what? They'd be half right. There are some pretty dangerous power-crazy criminals out there, causing havoc and abusing their gift. The rest of us are responsible for easing them down, and for keeping the rest of the world safe and sound and snug."
She pointed at everybody. "That goes for all of you. I'm not asking you to not use your powers at all. I'm not asking you to do what you got magic to do, so long as you don't do much else. I'm not even asking you to put your life on the line keeping the bitches and bastards underground. But for the sake of any human being you'll every know, you have to keep this a secret."
And a Strange Figure Emerges.

"So, we are not the first to reach this temple..." says Margarita. She knew she should feel a little upset at that... but caring about being the first to an archaeological find was started to get harder and harder by the moment.