Kemamonit Returns, Page 2

  Chapter one

  I stared at the middle aged bespectacled man sitting across from me, he had an exasperated expression on his face, he was holding a large yellow legal pad in one hand and a fountain pen in the other.

  "So you want to change the books plot for the movie... it was a bestseller," he said incredulously.

  "I have procured the books rights, I have the authors permission to do what I want with it," I said forcefully.

  "Mitchell agreed?" he had a look of amazement on his face.

  "Call her up if you want," I pointed to an antique looking phone sitting on the table between us.

  "No... that's all right, the lawyers will sort that out."

  "And you want a colored actress for the lead... how is that going to work."

  "Dark skinned actress," I said feeling my eyes narrow.

  "But... um... the book... it... um... takes place during the civil war... what about the slavery stuff?"

  "That's why we move it to the future," I felt like I was talking to a small child.

  "Ya... the future... so the confederate army becomes this alliance of rebels."

  "Yes and the North becomes the Empire."

  "And everyone flies around in rockets and fights with..." he looked at his notes," swords made of light."

  "Spaceships, not rockets."

  "Ok... well maybe we should leave the plot for now... this Ford guy you want for the lead... I got Gable lined up guaranteed... why go for an unknown actor?"

  "You'll see," I said smugly.

  "And the female lead... Dorothy Dandridge... she's way to young... she's pretty good though... unlike the rest of this shit," he said under his breath.

  "Careful Mr Selznick... we wouldn't want Mr. Hearst finding out about your little secret... right?"

  Selznick stared at me his eyes black with hate.

  "You'll destroy my career, or maybe that's what you want... this is crap, no-one's gonna watch this... spaceships? That's for little kids... hey why stop there, we could film a comic book... like Popeye... ya that'll fly," Selznick laughed derisively.

  I stared at him for a moment about to say something, then thought better of it.

  "You'll do it Mr Selznick, and be well paid for it... besides you can just blame everything on me, the meddling investor, isn't that what all producers do when their picture flops?"

  "You won't be able to show it in the south," he said, changing the subject.

  "Their loss."

  "Do you have a sound stage yet?"

  "I had one built, it's state of the art, you might not be familiar with some of the new equipment in it so I got you an adviser, he can help with the direction too," I looked down at my own notes," a Mr Bay... he'll meet you on the set, and don't worry about Miss Dandridge I have some special makeup to make her look older."

  "It'll take a few weeks to get the script written... it'll cost, these writers they're all arteest's, you gotta give em a big check to turn them back into hacks."

  "That won't be a problem."

  Selznick stood up as he put his notes and pen into a leather satchel.

  "If that's all Miss Smith," he said, I could see he was struggling keep a professional demeanor.

  "Yes for now, I'll be in touch... oh and one more thing, make sure Miss Dandridge get's some sun, she looks kinda pale... and I want her hair longer and curly."

  Selznick's expression changed, like he had just had a small epiphany. I saw his lips quiver slightly like he was trying to repress a sinister grin, then he turned and left.

  I wondered what he was thinking.

  I was not normally interested in making films, I loved watching them, sometimes three or four a week. It wasn't until I had come across a what was supposed to be a great film that the thought occurred to me.

  The film had had a great premise, a young woman struggling against adversity in the midst of a great war, however the bizarre and disturbing depiction of slavery as well as dark skinned people had made it completely unwatchable.

  I had been so disappointed in the film, it had such a promising plot, complete with a roguish leading man, It caused me to think about making a watchable version of it.

  When I started to research the film making process It took me very little time to realize that the people making films tended to be very easy to coerce.

  They all had deep dark secrets that they were terrified would come to light, as well as being obsessed with hedonistic pleasures.

  It took me almost no time to arrange the production of the film, I just gave all the people I needed either their hearts desire or through sorcery found out their secrets and threatened them with exposure.

  Mr Selznick need not worry about his career, the finished product would only be seen by me.

  I heard a knock on the door behind me, I was currently located in an office situated in a large building in downtown Los Angeles, the year was nineteen thirty seven.

  The door behind me was a gateway back to the place I normally lived, the City of Magic.

  "Who is it?" I yelled.

  "Is it safe to come through?" I heard a muffled reply.

  "Ya... I'm alone."

  The door swung open and a young blonde haired woman burst through, her cheeks were red with excitement.

  "You have to come quick, Harry found something," she blurted out.

  "Calm down Gwenny, what did he find?"

  Gwen was a young apprentice sorcerer, she was currently being trained by my own former apprentice Shelley, she had a good aptitude for magic but was quite naive in the ways of the world.

  "It's hard to explain... you got to see it."

  "Where is it?"

  "In the quarters of an ancient sorceress, it's about a mile from the city center."

  "What's the sorceress's name?"

  "Semiramis."

  I felt a small chill go down my spine, I had done some research on her a few months ago, I had not found out much only that she did not appear to be a very nice person.

  I walked over to the exterior door of my office and locked it, then turned and followed Gwen through the back door to the City of Magic. We emerged into a small room made with limestone blocks, there was a large wooden table against one wall the top was covered in levers and dials.

  The room was a spell which enabled the user to create a door to any place in time and space, I did not normally use it, but for this purpose it made my trips more convenient because I could keep the gateway open continually enabling time to flow at the same speed on both sides.

  We left the room through another door and ended up on a flagstone paved street covered in a layer of fine sand.

  All around us were the ruins of a large city, there were numerous buildings lining each side of the street, some in near perfect condition others half collapsed. There was no one style of architecture, some buildings were clearly from ancient Egypt others looked Greek or far Eastern.

  I had first built the original city six thousand years ago and it had been continuously inhabited for about four or five thousand years, then abandoned.

  During the time of its existence, thousands of sorcerers had been trained and lived here, creating an unimaginable amount of magic.

  The city was full of left over spells, gadgets and bizarre creatures, it was the most dangerous place I had ever known, I never walked around it without my trusty bronze sword.

  I looked at the large bracelet on my left wrist, I normally used it to cast all my spells, it was about six inches long and covered in many small squares, the squares had writing on them in a language I had invented and only I understood. I would flip the squares over in certain specific orders to cast different spells.

  I used in now to conjure up my bronze sword, I slung it over my shoulder.