ã€ŠMagician&#x27;s Pactã€‹


 Prolog

    Mage light hung along the walls illumanting the room as the long dorment magic flared to life as the sounds of shouting filled the ancient hallways. Spells cast from long ago kept dust from settling and keeping the air clean for when the fated day arrived.

    That day was not today as two scholars of the book of prophecy tried to stop the olive skin wizard pushing through them as his own two body guards kept the guardians of the book away from Antiarius... the Chairman of the American Arcadia Pact Accord.

    He grunted in mild annoyance as ''this was the defense'' they held for the book? History spoke of all those who tried to break into these hallowed halls as ancient spell and traps had been set aside. Wizards and witches being called upon for the exact day predicting when anyone would try to attack... unless they had been chosen to read from the book.

    The Chairman marched towards the wooden pedistal where the ancient book laid as a growing mixture of fear and anger filled his heart at being able to get so close to the book... and a twisted hope. If he was stopped then he''d curse fate itself, but if he wasn''t stopped... if he took hold of the book?

    "Then it changes everything." The voice whispered in his head. "It shows that it was flawed... that your life was a lie."

    One of the defenders of the book of prophecy stood infront of him trying to figure out what to do as if... he had no idea on what to do. The vaulted ever knowing and all see defender was as blind to what would happen next as a bloody Mundi!

    "It pains me to have to do this, but..." Chairman Antiarius sighed "But for the good of the magical world I must." He raised his own wand "Eviciora"

    A burst of red light flared from his Elder Wood wand as the River Terror Spine core flared to life. If the man thought fate would save his life... then who was he to deny his faith to see if those musty old pages would save him now?

    The curse lashed out tearing flesh from bone as the foolish wizard was tore to shreds. No last second magical words, defenders jumping in at the last minute, or even the sudden ''gasp'' of some plucky young soul hidden behind a random pillar or something.

    Nothing happened!

    Glancing back at the other two ''protectors of the book'' who just stared at him in disbelief. Fate''s will broken and undone... undone and unbound, broken and twisted, again and again. Like so many times these past twenty years.

    The chairman kicked the corpse out of his way as he pulled the book open as myth and legend would have you believe that those who sought the book would turn straight to the page that prophecy spoke of them. That it showed the scope and scale of the Albion Accord that guided the magical world since Merlin''s death...

    Only to find Myth and legend where just that... Myth and Legend.

    "This isn''t it! Archmage Veltarious vanished twenty years ago like the other half of the magical world!" He screamed in hatred "He can''t exist to do this if he doesn''t exist anymore!"

    He throw the book down onto the floor in seathing hatred. He followed the dam prophecy for all these years. He was told what to do and followed it without thinking... without question for it all to be fake!

    Fake!

    Those dammed scholars and ''protectors of the book'' probably wrote the so called ''future'' after it had already passed! Already a few dozen spells came to mind at how it could be faked! How they were fools for even letting it get as far as it had!

    "Please stop..." One of the protectors of the book of lies shouted "You must..."

    "Our world is dying... it''s falling apart." Antiarius hissed in rage "The Mundi Warding charms are failing. The spells of old refined from the age of Merlin are dying..."

    The problems he was supposed to fix... the ancient spells set up by blind faith in the past were now unraveling apart with no way to fix them. Plans set up with people no longer existing to forfill the plans. His own daughter...A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    "It wasn''t enough that half of population across the world just went up and vanished over night..." Antiarius spoke outloud in a mixture of disbelief and anger "As if that wasn''t enough..."

    He chuckled as the sheer insanity of living his life to an old book written by a dead man centuries ago really was. How utterly insane it actually was that everyone just went along with the utter nonsese that had been shoved into their stupid little childish minds making them believe this joke was real!

    "And the civil war that followed when half of the magical world just upped and vanished over night!" The chairman screamed kicking the book "Where is that in the book! Where in the bloody world did those old fools of long ago write that! Maybe a hint or a warning, or a plan! Where is the plan I ask you!"

    His wife was dead. His daughter was dead. His family had died because he trusted ink on a page to guide his life. He tried not to laugh as it was as if the blinders had been removed and it just became so clear on how easy it would have been to protect them.

    If he just taught his daughter some basic protection spells. If his wife was taught what a gun actually was instead goverment mandated nonsense of living in blissful ignorance.

    Where was that blissful ignorance when the trigger was pulled unleashing a small piece of metal tearing through flimsy leather, flesh, and bone could be. How if he simply treated a mere mundi as a threat instead of a joke... they''d... they both would have been alive.

    They both would have realized how stupid it was to trust a book that stated she was going to become the next greatest witch of the comming age.

    How was she supposed to claim her destinywhen she was dead!

    The sound of a cane hitting the stone floor seemed to echo throughout the room. The protectors of the book looked down the hallway in fear and disbelief trying to pull out their own wands only for his bodyguards to cast a stunning curse on each of them.

    Chairman Antiarius watched as the man in the yellow suit entered the room as the black iron cane left it''s mark on the ancient stone floors.

    "See it''s just like I told you." He spoke with a grin "Fate is a word people use to absolve themselves of responablity. The tale told to easy the pain of decesion and choice."

    The cane spun towards the book as he adjusted his black shirt and silver tie "Fates says you''ll make it. Reality says it''ll break it. The spells are fadding and charms are breaking. Your books says to wait for a child while I say you should stop waiting for answers."

    The wizard turned to the man in yellow. He wasn''t a wizard as he was not bound to the Albion Accord, but he knew more than him... more than any wizard Antiarius had ever run across with knowledge more reliable than an ancient book written by ancient fools.

    He glanced at the book. He could take a leap of faith and trust the book... or thrust his hands upon fate''s false weave tearing it apart as he made his own choice... the right one.

    "I know I''m not what you wanted." The man in yellow spoke as he strolled towards the book "But I am exactly what you need."

    Antiarius stared at the book that had been causally kicked aside as if it was garbage... no it was garbage. Nonsense whispered to the masses to tell them what the false prophets had spoken of and the lies they had woven.

    Twenty years... twenty years to change their tone as reality itself had proven more real than their fairytale book. Twenty years wasted... as their world wasted away.

    "I need magic... magic so great I can ensure our safety." the chairman spoke as he tried to picture the scale of magic he needed "One that would rival the Albion Accord... one that would change the course of history itself."

    "Like this?" The man in yellow spoke revealing a black leather bound tome.

    Antiarius looked into the book and nearly laughed. Each page typed up as various notes had been added along the sides of the pages or stuck on by sticky notes. The creature it spoke of was a monster plain and simple... a monster that would be spoken in the worst stories and the greatest of nightmares.

    Such a book would have been banned and handed over to the Department of Mysteries... or every wizard and witch within the High Council would have tried burning it. Yet the man in yellow handed it over as if it was one of those Mundi Yellow pages...

    "You can''t be serious... such a thing is..." He nearly said ''impossible'' until he thought about the location... the cost... the magic it would unleash if properly utlized. "And the price?"

    The man in... no the creature calling itself Lord Velkear shrugged "A name, a paper, and a vote." He pulled out a scroll and revealed it to be a contract written in golden ink as he produced a blood quill in his left hand "So do we have a deal?"

    "You can''t trust this... this demon!" One of his own bodyguards shouted "The book may have been false, but the ideals it stood for..."

    A burst of green light splashed over him as the other body guard lowered his wand. The bodyguard who spoke out against him fell dead to the ground. The shadows clung to the walls as... was this what it felt like?

    Antiarius chuckled as this is what Mundi leaders must have felt when making a decesion wasn''t it? The quill had somehow made itself in his hand. The simple act of making a choice and living with what would happen next...

    The knowledge that history itself would be written or rewritten upon this final act. Would his own magical core turn into an Abysal core if he agreed to it... if he wrote his name?

    His own maddened smile was matched by the demon in yellow as the pale skinned monster spoke "I have it. You know where it needs to go."

    His hand hovered over the quill as he read the contract. It read almost like one of those stories of the Fae... a contract made by mortal kind and unnatural kin from the forest that were spoken of with awe and horror. ATrue Fae instead of the pretenders that the Shade Court dressed up as.

    The demon in yellow had lead him here... whispered each detail in his ear... and he was not foolish enough to believe they were allies. No eachtruth it spoke only served to further it''s own goal as Antiarius was just another piece on whatever board it was building.

    "I know what you are thinking. I know what they''ll say... Oh it''s a shame your daughter is dead, but yourprophesied daughter shall mend the hole in your heart." The demon mocked him "How she shall be picked to beblood adopted to become the savior of the magical world... that her and whatever idiot the book picked shall bound together and fix everything with a twirl of their twigs."

    "So trust the nonsense made by Twig Twirlers who failed your family..." He pulled out a small glass jar that devoured the light nearly plunging the room into darkness "Or seek the Shadows? See that the Abyss has seen you... and heard your cries."

    Antiarius eyes focused on the jar as Velkear had everything didn''t he? Like some sort of dark sibling to the Book of Prohpecy... one that knew what to say to pull his strings.

    There was only one thing he could say "Why? What do you want from all of this?"

    Lord Velkear the demon in yellow put away the jar "Why I thought it should be obvious." He grinned as Antiarius took a step back "I want to benoticed."

 Ch1

    Every tale has a start. Some start at small moments like a certain hobbit answering the door and meeting a gruff old wizard. It was from these small moments that lead to the small chain of events like meeting a bunch of dwarves, to joining an adventure into a lost mountain to slay/steal (from) a dragon.

    There are tales that start with the big flash moments like a princess trying to escape an evil empire. You see soldiers holding the line only to be cut down by blaster fire until the main villain in black armor appears on the scene demanding to know where the stolen plans to his secret weapon is.

    Personally his favorite was the one involving the detective taking his wife out to someplace trying to relax only to end up having everyone dragging him to whatever crime had happened because they wanted him to solve the mystery when he just wanted to take a vacation.

    The classics were just underappreciated.

    Marcus Leng Flame the Third walked along the edge of the city playground as he was fully prepared for everything¡­ or as best as he could hope for. His clothing blended in for the most part as anything odd was safely hidden away within his backpack or the various pouches that hung off his body.

    None of the other children reacted to his presence as he walked towards the small out cropping of trees that were supposed to give some privacy to the children playing in the back, but you could hear the sound of cars and traffic on the other side of the trees.

    He sighed as nobody had given a second glance at his staff. He heard plenty of complaints, details, and reasons for why he shouldn¡¯t have brought it or even tried to make one¡­ but nobody saw it as anything more than a gaudy toy.

    Grant it Marcus was fourteen years old¡­ but still!

    Slipping off his backpack he grumbled to himself ¡°Just pull out the trinkets, check the area, and get paid. He said a child could do this and we need this.¡±

    Pulling out a small black pendant and pulled out a small bottle of red ink. Looking behind him he just saw a bunch of children playing around. Some swung on swings, others ran around beating each other with sticks playing tales of knights and squires or something.

    Would he have been running around on a playground like this if he was born normal?

    Marcus tried not to snort as no¡­ he¡¯d probably still stick with staying inside and celebrating the wonders of technology making inside far more preferable than outside.

    Dipping the pendant into the liquid he muttered a small chant underneath his breath ¡°I am he who remembers the Ancient of Rites. I call upon the Dawn to reveal the truth in this morning¡¯s light. I call upon the dark to reveal the secrets hidden within the Night.¡±

    The pendant started to glow as Marcus frowned as the old chant had reacted to the area meaning that there was either magic at work¡­ or a domain.

    First rule of the business if prepare for the worst.

    Marcus went over to the nearby slide that none of the other children went near as he dug into his backpack and pulled out a rope as one of the Unsee hidden inside the backpack helped untangle the rope.

    He had heard enough stories and seen enough movies to know why you needed a good sturdy rope tied around your waist when wandering in an unexplored area. Worst came to worst it would either help guide him out of the area or more likely help him get pulled if things got bad.

    One of the Unsee bound itself to the rope animated it with life as the rope tied itself around his waist and around one of the poles holding up the playground swing suit. The moment something bad happened would be the moment the Unsee would reel him in.

    The Unsee were useful spirits, but sometimes they were a bit over protective. They needed to be bound by something to live and Marcus helped them out the best he could... in all honesty he thought they were where the stories of House Elves came from until he was told that House Elves were an actual magical race.

    Flint one of the Unsee that normally accompanied him jabbed Marcus''s stomach as the small spirit sort of glared at him. The red cloth had been fashined into a cloak and the red cap was adjusted to help give the impression he was angry. he waved his black coal like arms before making an X with them to make his point clear.

    "You know Lord Velkear isn''t going to stop... and if I do this job it will help my parents." Marcus reminded the small spirit "I mean I know I have you all... but..."

    Aura came out as she stood beside Flint. The second Unsee had tried to style her cloth to look like a dress as the human like bird spirit was shaking her head. Flint sort of stomped his foot as Marcus let the two spirits talk it out. While Flint was focused on his safety he knew Aura understood the sense of loss at being unable to do anything when the family she had been protecting simply... died.

    He could do something for his adopted parents. Even if it was foolish and there was probably some hidden problem Velkear hadn''t informed them about... the reward for the task would be enough considering his parents had still been struggling with their problem for the last three years.

    Marcus tried to ease Flint and the other Unsee who were worried about him ¡°That is what the rope is for. Tie it around the waist to ensure that if anything happens I can get out of there quickly.¡±

    Besides it was probably nothing¡­ just some random twig twirler setting up some sort of ward or spying charm only for someone else to have hijacked it¡­ that or there was a completely normal kidnapper hiding a few cameras trying to spot their next target and the magic in the area was ironically hiding the surveillance devices instead of frying them since magic and electricity normally didn¡¯t get along.

    You needed proper proteciton built into them¡­ and the Twig Twirler society never bothered to learn how to do it. So if there was tech inside it meant someone accidently was using their magic to their advantage¡­ or they were Arcadian Bound.

    He placed his staff off to the side as the rest of the Unsee hidden within the backpack went to work trying to sort between what objects would be useful and what objects they thought he would need. The fact one of them had handed him a flare gun was both odd¡­ and slightly insulting.

    Why did one of them pack a Flare Gun? Did they think he was going to get lost at sea within the middle of the city? There wasn¡¯t even an ocean he could reach by car ride for a good few hours at the very least!

    He slid the Flare Gun into one of his pouches as he sighed ¡°Look nobody is going to notice because people don¡¯t care.¡± He glanced at all the other children ¡°Unless I start throwing fireballs around like crazy, nobody is going to care because it doesn¡¯t involve them.¡±

    Marcus shrugged as he didn¡¯t blame them. To them there was a perfectly logical explination that didn¡¯t involve magic, monsters, or nightmares. Parents standing around would mean the area was safe. The fact another child went missing a few days ago meant police would be keeping an eye out.

    The fact a child was all alone probably meant he had a parent nearby¡­ not that he was doing this without their knowledge.

    ¡°If it¡¯s dangerous I¡¯ll simply go back to the hotel room and call them, then the police if it¡¯s a mundane threat.¡± Marcus informed them ¡°If it¡¯s mystical in nature I¡¯ll do the same except have them call the magical police or something.¡±

    While he did have the random fantasy of being the hero of some great story¡­ he also knew that he wasn¡¯t hero material. Those tended to have people marked by destiny being something grand and willing to play the odds to do what was right no matter the cost.

    That was kind of the problem as Marcus valued his life a lot. Oh sure he was out here risking his neck so to speak¡­ but that was because Velkear picked a time in which his parents would be busy and offered something that Marcus couldn¡¯t exactly pass up.

    If he did this one job than his parents would be in a better position¡­ and he¡¯d help make up for the mistake they made three years ago. That is what drove him forward today as he grabbed everything he could think of just to be safe¡­ just in case things weren¡¯t as ¡®simple¡¯ as they were made out to have been.

    Grabbing the rope and giving it a tight tug he heard a female voice call out ¡°You shouldn¡¯t be around here. It¡¯s dangerous.¡±

    Marcus turned to stare at the teenager as she looked nervous, but didn¡¯t set off any warning bells. He would have ignored her if she didn¡¯t keep looking into the clearing of trees with obvious fear. There hadn¡¯t been a report of a missing child in a few days¡­ and Velkear made the offer to him ¡®today¡¯ ensuring that it would be okay.

    ¡°Your younger sibling went missing yesterday.¡± Marcus sighed as the look of shock and horror on her face confirmed his worries ¡°And you can¡¯t explain what happened, but you know it wasn¡¯t normal.¡±

    He retrieved his pendant only after firmly ensuring the rope was tied around his waist. No way was he going in the tiny patch of woods if something was lurking inside them instead of someone.

    ¡°Can you describe the creature?¡± Marcus asked as the Unsee hid themselves inside the backpack ¡°Did you get a description or¡­¡±

    She shook her head ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear what I said¡­ I mean it¡¯s dangerous!¡±

    He rolled his eyes and produced a camera ¡°I have a phone, camera, and just need a bit of proof to get everyone else to believe me. If it is real I¡¯ll bring back proof. If it isn¡¯t then somebody had a car on the other side of the tree line where they kidnapped their latest victim.¡±Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author''s preferred platform and support their work!

    If it was a creature he doubted it would wait for someone to wander near the tree line¡­ and if it was somebody with a getaway vehicle? Well they also wouldn¡¯t wait as they would just grab whoever they were after when the opportunity struck¡­ including breaking into a bathroom, grabbing the kid, and then shoving them into the trunk before driving away.

    To be honest the second one would be just the kind of trouble he''d expect since it would mean a bunch of criminals would be after him. They would most likely be non-magical giving him a slight edge over them... with the risk of being kidnapped or shot to make sure he had a health douse of fear when facing them.

    Not all threats had to be magical threats after all.

    ¡°Just what makes you think that a child should be doing this! I mean¡­¡± She glanced at him as Marcus hated it when they treated him like a kid.

    He didn¡¯t mind being a kid. He just hated it when they thought that ¡®kid¡¯ meant incompatent. That he was just the same like everyone else and because everyone else was a bunch of entitled idiots that he too was just as incompatent as them!

    He built his own staff when the traitorous old goat made it so that Marcus couldn¡¯t legally own a real wand. If they thought that was going to keep him from practicing ¡®regular magic¡¯ then they had no idea who they were underestimating!

    Marcus motioned towards his equipment ¡°I have tied myself to this pole just to be safe. It will prevent me from being instantly dragged away and I can scream pretty loudly¡­¡±

    He motioned to tug on the rope he found nothing in his hand. She stared at him in horror not because she feared him¡­ but because the sounds of the vehicles in the street had vanished. The playground with all of it¡¯s various attractions and children had also vanished.

    Instead they were left in the middle of an endless forest with only what they had on them at the moment.

    The backup full of all his extra items (and help) wasn¡¯t with him. His staff wasn¡¯t within arms reach, and the freaking rope tied around his waist had just vanished before he could blink! He could understand lossing his staff, but why did the rope with an Unsee bound to it disapear!

    He''d have a better shot at lossing his cape before the rope!

    Digging into his pockets he pulled out a pair of white rocks with a minor arcana inscribed upon them as he was a Magician by trade and Magicians by nature tended to be one half misdirection, the other half preparation.

    Sending a bit of magic into the stones he tossed them to the side creating an illusion of a large dog that stared at them. It wouldn¡¯t be enough to fool a person since it was misty white and looked a little more like a ghost than a flesh and blood creature, but it didn¡¯t need to fool a person.

    ¡°Over here and hide!¡± Marcus hissed as the teenager quickly followed suit.

    They both hid behind one of the trees as Marcus pulled out the second pair of stones before he used them to send a command to the illusionary dog. It ran off into the distance barking loudly as they could hear the sounds of leaves shifting and branches breaking off in the distance.

    It went after the ¡®prey¡¯ that tripped whatever trap they stumbled upon while they kept silent off in the distance. They could hear the illusionary dog growl and bark at the ¡®creature¡¯ before there was a resounding crack of something hitting the dog and the ¡®snap¡¯ with the pained yelp from the illusion before the magic animating it failed.

    They heard the creature grumble ¡°Through Pine and Bark I see your flesh. Through earth and rot I smell your breath. Like sticks and stone I¡¯ll grind your bones as you stepped onto my domain young soul.¡±

    Marcus kept a hand over her mouth as she kept a hand over his own. Neither of them spoke as they waited for the creature to leave¡­ no¡­ The Grim Song. He hated trying to deal with unchained nightmares especially when they grew into becoming a Grim Song.

    They were easy to spot because of their instance at trying to turn every speech into a lyric or some sort of rhyme (and usually failing), but that wasn¡¯t the worst part. No the worst part was how hard it was in trying to kill one of these things. Normally you needed a lot of research because the nightmares loved to lie pretending they were a lot stronger than what they were, while trying to hide their weakness.

    That didn''t sound bad until you had to fight a Grim Song that used fire. Some could be defeated by water or drowing them, while others could only be harmed by fire because Grim Songs couldn''t be simple and loved having far too many tricks up their sleves.

    The creature waited for a few more seconds before grunting as it mumbled ¡®Blasted Twig Twirlers and their false summons. No meat, no trap, and time wasted while they come to find your nest.¡± It tore into one of the trees causing it to collapse as neither of them screamed ¡°They can¡¯t find your domain, but you need to fix the snare least they find a way inside¡­ again.¡±

    It grumbled marching away in annoyance before they could safely remove their hands from each other¡¯s mouths happy at the knowledge that the Grim Song didn¡¯t have enough power to ¡®look through trees and smell their breath¡¯ like it claimed.

    It was just a scare tactic meant to reveal themselves. Now that it left he could check what he had and try to figure out how to escape the Domain of this creature¡­ or kill it. The second one would be tricker because he didn¡¯t have his staff!

    The teenager coughed ¡°So¡­ what are you exactly?¡±

    Marcus glanced at her before remembering that she had seen the supernatural, but hadn¡¯t fully realized how ¡®natural¡¯ it actually was.

    How exactly did you explain that magic, monsters, and ¡®pocket realities¡¯ were in fact quite normal and it was just the simple fact that the world isn¡¯t insane because it had always been insane. She was just one of the few ¡®lucky few¡¯ who got to see what happened backstage?

    Clearing his throat he gave it a shot ¡°I¡¯m a magician¡­ magical kind, but we do share a lot of similarities with the fake stage magic variety.¡± She stared at him in disbelief as he pulled out a fake wand¡­ a ¡®toy¡¯ magician wand ¡°On the surface it looks normal¡­¡± he twisted off the bottom and revealed the blood red runes and the obvious arcane glow ¡°But if you look a little bit deeper is a lot more complicated then it first seems.¡±

    He stared at his fake wand as it didn¡¯t have a magical core or special type of wood. It lacked whatever was supposed to make a wand¡­ a wizard wand so to speak. This was just a plastic prop filled with a unique set of runes to set off exactly one type of magic when utilized with the proper command.

    ¡°How good are you at aiming?¡± Marcus asked the teenager.

    She blinked before glancing off to where the Grim Song had trudged through the forest ¡°I¡¯m used to paintball guns instead of wands.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help, but chuckle a little as she was willing to accept the wand was magic and that she could use it¡­ instead of trying to have him explain everything.

    Snapping the bottom back into place he placed it in her hand ¡°White tip towards target. Hold tightly and just say¡­ fireball.¡±

    She pointed the wand up into the air ¡°Fireball.¡±

    A small fireball shot out of the wand and flew up into the sky. It didn¡¯t go off or explode¡­ as it simply dissipated. It wasn¡¯t a traditional fantasy magic fireball, but that was because he didn¡¯t know how to make one. Still he figured being able to lob balls of fire was still pretty effective even if they didn¡¯t explode.

    She held the fake wand tightly as she tried to stay calm ¡°And that¡­ thing? What is it? Why did it take my little brother?¡±

    Marcus shrugged as he told her the truth ¡°A Grim Song. Pretty much an inhuman creature that is smart enough to be evil, and is where most ¡®monster underneath your bed¡¯ stories come from. They are hard to kill, annoying to deal with, and¡­¡±

    He didn¡¯t finish as he saw her staring at him in fear of what those last few words might be. He felt an uneasy knot in his stomach as the plan was to find a way out of the Grim Song¡¯s domain before calling his parents and the local magical authorities to deal with this threat.

    Running into the den of this monster to rescue a random child wasn¡¯t part of the plan. He didn¡¯t have his staff and a good chunk of his supplies (and help) was missing!

    She stared at him practically pleading for his help as he thought about what Velkear would say¡­ and what his parents would say.

    ¡°He¡¯ll probably be alive and¡­¡± Marcus searched his robes before pulling out another fake magician wand, except this one had a red cross symbol painted on the middle of it. Thankfully he had two of them on hand ¡°This one is ¡®Mend¡¯ as you point at the injury. It won¡¯t heal anything as it¡¯s job is to keep you patched up until an actual doctor or someone can do the rest.¡±

    She stared at the wand in horror as she carefully took it out of his hand ¡°You mean¡­ to make sure he doesn¡¯t bleed out if¡­ if that monster¡­¡±

    ¡°Medicine has advanced a long way¡­ and so has magical methods by healing.¡± Marcus half-lied as he tried to calm her down ¡°Worst case? He lost a leg or an arm as we can make sure he doesn¡¯t bleed out before we get a professional to see what they can do.¡±

    The young magician cleared his throat ¡°So¡­ how long has your brother gone missing?¡±

    The teenager sighed ¡°Since yesterday afternoon.¡±

    ¡°Then he will be alive. He¡¯ll be horrified and scared as you might see another skeleton inside the monster¡¯s cave¡­ but your brother will be alive.¡± Marcus emphasizes that last part ¡°So long as he is alive I can call someone who can treat his wounds along with anything else that needs to be fixed¡­¡±

    She nodded her head as the fear was replaced with grim conviction. While this were bad there was hope that she could return back to her normal everyday life. That running into a Grim Song and taking back her brother wouldn¡¯t cause any unexpected side effects¡­ or problems.

    So long as she remembered what happened today there was a good chance she might end up becoming an Arcadian Bound¡­ especially with the trinkets he was lending to her.

    ¡°Here is a pendant for protection against slashing. It won¡¯t stop it, but hopefully stop anything from cutting to deep.¡± Marcus spoke as he pulled out each trinket ¡°A calming drought if you need it. A spare burner phone since normal tech doesn¡¯t work near a Grim Song.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± The teen spoke as she pulled out her own phone ¡°Why would it make my phone¡­¡±

    ¡°Electricity and magic traditionally do not mix well¡­ just like water and electricity do not traditionally mix well together.¡± Marcus spoke as he pulled out the spare phone ¡°So we need to make things to protect the electronics from water or magic. So ironically it¡¯s faster and safer to run by foot than to get into a car since you need a car battery to drive a car.¡±

    She nodded as a small grin came across her face. There wasn¡¯t much, but they were getting things together. The last two items they needed to deal with was the more obscure and arcane of the items in question¡­ and sadly ¡®obscure¡¯ was a bad sign when you barely knew what was going on.

    ¡°And one Guidance stone.¡± Marcus handed the spare stone with some reluctance ¡°It is currently set to my backpack¡­ technically the Unsee within it, but they are trapped outside the Grim Song¡¯s Domain¡­ so these things are our only guide out of here.¡±

    Looking at him she understood the problem ¡°What about tracking the monster?¡±

    Marcus shook his head ¡°I would need something from it to be able to track it. The whole point of the distraction illusion was to avoid it getting close to us.¡±

    Now they¡­ no now she would make the decision. Either they would both go out of the domain and call his parents to get help¡­ or she would venture into the unknown trying to find her brother regardless of the risks.

    Wand in hand as she pulled out her own cellphone with the other¡­ she stared at the screen for a few moments.

    ¡°My name is Cathrine¡­ and I¡¯m going to try to find my brother.¡± She glanced at the magician as she closed her eyes ¡°Could you help me find him?

    He wanted to say no and do the smart thing. Sadly for him his father was a bad influence.

    ¡°We can try¡­ for thirty minutes.¡± Marcus firmly stated ¡°Any longer and it might circle back or notice our presence. If we can¡¯t find him we leave, call authorities and have them try to break in here to rescue him.¡±

    Thankfully she didn¡¯t argue because even if he was younger than her¡­ he knew a lot more about what to do in order to avoid being killed than she did. He was the resident¡­ monster hunter¡­ in this situation after all.

    Besides the main threat was out of the way probably looking for someone else to try and lure into its domain¡­ and it would help getting a feel for the area so that when they escaped he could tell his parents everything they needed to know to fix this problem.

    ¡°I think I know where it is hiding my brother.¡± She spoke more to assure herself ¡°As there was a path in the woods¡­¡±

    Now that was odd. Grim Songs do not leave ¡®paths¡¯ because when they make a domain they prefer having their prey run around helplessly without any idea on where they were going. If it hadn¡¯t created this area, but simply moved in after the original owner died¡­

    That usually meant somebody was trying to hide something within the domain. Something that was usually illegal¡­ or valuable.

    "uh..." Cathrine stared at him "I''m sorry, but what was your name again?"

    Marcus tried to smile "It''s Marcus... Marcus Flame."

    She nodded as she tried to find some marker or way to figure out where to go while Marcus just followed her. He could spare thirty minutes to help try to find her brother... and if that didn''t work out he could always make a Pact with her, get his parents to help, and then deal with his parents unhappy at him risking his life, but happy that he tried to help someone out.

    Either way... He glacned at his wrist watch.

    "That was the deal. I''d spend at least thirty minutes in here to forfill Velkear''s part of the bargin."  He reminded himself.

    Unless they found something to improve their odds of surivial in a fight against a Grim Song... all they could do is walk around the woods and try to find where her brother was... or where the exit was.

 ch2

    Cathrine walked through the woods as she tried to make sense of everything that had happened. Yesterday she had brought her little brother to the park because he needed to go outside and play¡­ and she had a date.

    Well not a ¡®date¡¯ date¡­ but¡­

    She held the wand in her hand as she remembered her ¡®date¡¯ ditching her when that¡­ thing... tore through the woods snatching up her little brother. How he didn¡¯t even give her a second thought ditching when the forest surrounded her.

    She could feel the pit in her stomach grew as she just¡­ she had just ran away when the monster just tore down a tree with ease almost as if it was putting on a show. How it seemed to have mocked her grabbing her little brother¡¯s arm and holding him up in the air.

    The look of fear in his eyes as he was left dangling in the air¡­ as she ran.

    She ran as her little brother screamed for help. Her legs had grown tried trying out run the almost beastial laughter as if the monster had been mocking her. How tired she felt when she escaped the mysterious forest¡­ only to realize her brother was still missing and nobody cared.

    The police didn¡¯t believe a word she said. Her former ¡®date¡¯ didn¡¯t want to remember and claimed that she should just forget she even had a brother¡­ he hadn¡¯t even been missing for an entire day and he told her to give him up for dead!

    So a day had passed¡­ then another day¡­ she spent the second day finding out that it was like clockwork as a child always went missing within the park for the past three months at the exact same spot! That nobody listened to her when she tried zoning off the area as the police took down yellow tape and improvised blockade she had set up!

    Nobody believed her¡­ expect for the odd kid.

    Catherine stared at the wizard¡­ he had to be a wizard after all. Magicians did stage tricks and no child she knew of had access to ¡®props¡¯ that doubled as flamethrowers. Even if it was ¡®fake magic¡¯ having a portable flamethrower felt like a miracle.

    She chuckled as all she had brought was a¡­ Well ¡®sword¡¯ was a strong word for the hunk of metal she bought. She gave it a few swings to make sure it wouldn¡¯t break, but her friend Roy claimed he didn¡¯t make cheap junk.

    The rustic long sword looked like it belonged in one of those LARP things than¡­ actually being used to hunt a monster. Pulling out her cell phone she was happy that it was on full bars as she would need the battery life to continue recording this¡­ insanity.

    The woods seemed endless as the timer was counting down on her phone. Just ten minutes to find something¡­ anything¡­ otherwise they would focus on leaving this creepy place without her little brother.

    While she did feel that something would be done considering the kid had a lot more equipment on him than she did¡­ there was a mixed feeling of hope that she would find more people who actually believed her¡­ and fear that this child was like her.

    That he knew the truth and nobody believed him including the adults they knew.

    She crept around every tree almost expecting the monster to jump out of the bushes as fear clenched her heart. Marcus on the other hand was walking around without any fear as he was actually wearing headphones and was listening to music of all things!

    Wasn¡¯t there supposed to be some horror movie rule that you don¡¯t wear headphones and listen to music while a monster was lurking around the woods?

    She could even hear a few bits of the song from his headphones ¡°Just a day in the life, With Science and a Knife.¡±

    She held the sword tighter wishing she had a gun¡­ that she could buy a gun without having to wait three days to get a license to use one. She was going to get a license and learn how to shoot one if she survived this mess.

    ¡°Let¡¯s pin it down and rip it out¡­ an¡­ se¡­¡± The song started to stutter as her phone started having problems.

    Instantly the boy went tense hiding behind a tree as Cathrine followed suit. The monster hadn¡¯t apparached them yet, but Cathrine recognized the remains of the shed she had run into¡­ and from. There was an odd taste in the air and her electronics didn¡¯t seem to be working.

    With a deep breath Marcus took a sigh of relief letting her know that they were safe¡­ or as safe as you could get within these cursed woods.

    ¡°Just a Mage Hold¡­ freaking wizard space¡­¡± the boy seemed to curse underneath his breath before looking at her ¡°This is a discarded wizard space that they forgot¡­ or the idiot who made it didn¡¯t tell anyone allowing a Grim Song to take up residence within it.¡±

    The boy walked to the edge of the shed before pulling out his flare gun and pressed his hand against¡­ something. She couldn¡¯t tell what it was, but it looked like he was pressing his hand up against an invisible barrier.

    ¡°Okay the space is safe in there at least¡­ Wards are flimsy¡­ and Vanish markings are here.¡± He spoke with annoyance ¡°This was a hidden stash or hold and the owners were lost during The Vanish. Still the wards should be good enough to keep a Grim Song out, but not anyone with ward breaking skills.¡±

    Pulling out a steel knife he grabbed the air as it struck something that was akin to a rainbow¡­ except more colors including a few darker ones that just sort of spiraled out of the air before he began to chant. She couldn¡¯t hear the words, but the light show was something she wasn¡¯t going to forget anytime soon.

    The¡­ magic¡­ it had to be magic.

    The wild array of magic danced in the air as her heart ached for it. She saw the magic twist and bend as something tugged on her heart calling out to her as the world seemed to vanish from her eyes. All she saw was the display of lights that flowed into the flare gun¡­ and the array of lights full of every color she had even seen including a few she never thought possible slowly expanded before her eyes.

    She was lost in the colors that danced forth as she felt like a blind person finally being able to see for the first time as it¡­ was¡­ horrifying. To see something she only heard of and only able to now see¡­ to now truly see¡­

    It was mystifyingly horrifying¡­ and beautiful.

    She was nearly completely lost in the lights until she felt something prick her skin as a voice called out ¡°Cathrine?¡±

    Her mind focused on her brother as she looked around her in a panic ¡°Where is it? What happened to the monster that¡­¡±

    ¡°Oh thank god you''re okay¡­¡± Marcus breathed a sigh of relief ¡°You were just¡­ never mind¡­ just¡­¡±

    She blinked, rubbing her eyes as she wasn¡¯t outside anymore. Instead she was lying on a cheap couch as various crates and boxes surrounded the area. The wall was filled with countless clocks (non-digital and all of them telling a different time) along with an entire wall filled with countless pictures, nails, and red strings.

    The wall sent a shiver down her spine as numbers had been dug into the wall as if by a knife. The boxes were filled with various objects, and judging by the crowbar Marcus had taken a peek into some of the crates while she had been unconscious.

    She glanced at her wristwatch only to frown as it was dead.

    How long had she been out?

    ¡°Just an hour¡­ and a half.¡± Marcus replied, answering her hidden thoughts ¡°I forgot I needed to be more careful when practicing with Higher Arcana and¡­ you got blinded by it for a lack of better words.¡±

    ¡°Blinded?¡± Catherine spoke rubbing her eyes as she tried to make sense of the¡­ warehouse they were in.

    ¡°It¡¯s complicated. Long answer short¡­ you heard of the expression rolling for insanity?¡± He meekly smiled ¡°You failed your wisdom save and needed to rest. I took the time to lock the door and set things up until you woke back up.¡±

    He motioned towards a crate that had been used as an end table ¡°Sorry about borrowing your stuff, but you needed some protection on it¡­ and even if the modifications to the sword are illegal¡­ we kind of need it.¡±

    The once pink phone now had small black lines across it as her index finger had a band-aid around it. She questioned exactly what happened, but those thoughts died when she saw the phone was working while her wristwatch wasn¡¯t working.

    Her best guess was that it was¡­ magical protection for a better lack of a word. Tech just stopped working when in the presence of magic¡­ which probably explained the headphones. The moment the music stops is the moment something magical approaches.The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    When the music stopped playing the monster would be nearby.

    That thought alone made her shiver as it meant trying to take a picture of the monster with an electronic camera or phone was useless¡­ no it would have been useless, but now she had a phone that could do it.

    Cathrine glanced at the sword as it had changed. It still looked like a basic long sword, but now it had silver engravings along the center of the sword. She felt her hand itch as it felt odd not having her sword near her side.

    Her sword¡­ When did that happen? When did she refer to the sword as her sword when just a few hours ago it was that heavy piece of junk she was borrowing because she couldn¡¯t get her hands on a gun?

    Cathrine picked up the sword and felt like it had always been in her hand. She gave it a few swings as they were a far cry from the awkward swings of her swinging around a lump of metal she never held before.

    Now it felt like she had been playing baseball¡­ no fencing. Fencing with a long sword for a couple of years somehow!

    ¡°Okay no offense, but why is this illegal?¡± The teen spoke as she now had a magic freaking sword in her hands! ¡°Because it feels a lot better than before.¡±

    ¡°Because of what it does to magical things when the blade hits it.¡± Marcus simply stated ¡°And right now wizards are ¡®magical things¡¯ but that also includes the monster in the woods.¡±

    Did that make this an anti-magic blade or something? Catherine shook her head as she didn¡¯t know, but having a slightly better sword and a working phone was good¡­ also she made a note not to look at him doing crazy magic stuff.

    ¡°Thanks little merlin.¡± She couldn¡¯t help, but speak with a smirk.

    To her surprise the boy frowned as he muttered ¡°I am not little. Now we just need to be careful and continue¡­ following your idea for now.¡±

    Cathrine paused as she realized that something was wrong. He said they only had thirty minutes (which were long up) yet he was willing to stay to help her find her brother? More than that her ''pay attention idiot'' sense was tingling as something was off.

    "Did I say or..." The words felt odd in her mouth "Do anything I''d regret?"

    The little wizard turned around and gave her possibly the most fake smile she had even seen as he tried to pretend nothing had happened "I think trying to stay here instead of getting out of here is something you should regret."

    She sighed trying to sound relieved, but that was a deflection.

    He did something to her phone, her sword... and he was avoiding her question. Glancing at the sword and then at the mysterious little wizard. She tried not to bite the inside of her check as asking might risk them leaving... instead of trying to find her little brother.

    "Your right... I''ll probably regret it, but it''s my choice." She told him and more importantly to herself.

    Cathrine pulled herself off the couch before getting a good look at a ton of expensive looking junk in one of the crates. Some sort of liquid silver that glowed? Whatever the stuff was Marcus had already stuffed a few water bottles with the junk as she could see some sticking out of his bags.

    ¡°So what happened to the folks who owned this place?¡± The teenager asked glancing at the liquid silver crate ¡°Did the monster get them or¡­¡±

    ¡°The Vanish happened.¡± Marcus spoke with a sigh ¡°Twenty years ago half of the magical population just¡­ vanished. Nobody knows, how, why, or what happened. Just that they vanished, it left everything in a bit of chaos and then a few civil wars broke out.¡±

    She stared at him in disbelief as¡­ How exactly did half the (magical) world just vanish overnight? Did someone find a golden gauntlet and snap their fingers or something?

    Shaking his head the kid muttered in annoyance ¡°Places like ¡®this¡¯ were suddenly forgotten and things moved inside these areas. Everyone is still trying to find these spots, but this was an illegal warehouse filled with a lot of useful, but highly illegal things.¡±

    That made Cathrine facepalm ¡°So this entire mess is caused because some idiots were smuggling magical junk!¡±

    To her shock the boy shrugged ¡°Wouldn¡¯t surprise me. Just wish they left some proper wands or a handgun, but the latter was probably wishing for too much.¡±

    She stared at him trying to figure out why a gun would be less likely to find than a bunch of magical sticks? Okay sure this was a magical illegal warehouse, but...

    ¡°Wouldn¡¯t wands be better?¡± Catherine spoke out in disbelief ¡°I mean¡­ ¡®magic missile¡¯ sounds a lot like using a handgun only without having to reload.¡±

    Marcus just gave her a flat look before pinching the bridge of his nose ¡°Shotguns works just as well. You do not need to chant ¡®Shotgun Fire¡¯ to pull the trigger right behind something larger than you to make it work.¡±

    The teen glanced at her magical monster slaying sword¡­ and suddenly felt a little bit less thrilled about it as she realized one tiny flaw with the weapon. A gun meant she could shoot at a distance¡­ a sword even blessed with monster slaying¡­ that required getting close to the monster for it to work.

    <hr>

    The next half hour was spent wandering the woods again as Cathrine tried quizzing her ¡®little merlin¡¯ as she tried getting a feeling for what was going on. He warned her that she might not want the answers thinking that living in ignorance would be easier¡­ but after her brother got kidnapped by this ¡®Grim Song¡¯ she wanted as many answers as she could get.

    Turns out there were a lot of monsters that actually went bump in the night¡­ including a few that were located within the city she lived in. That something like this wasn¡¯t uncommon, but the only ¡®uncommon¡¯ bit was that nobody else had stumbled upon its den.

    Each new fact filled her with uneasy prompting more questions in which the boy just smiled and answered every question. It would have made her uneasy if it wasn¡¯t for the fact that he seemed happy that she wanted to know more.

    Cathrine actually had spent her time writting down as much as she could into her phone along with a few reminders of what she should askonce they were out of here. Still she followed him as she felt strangly at ease now walking through the forest instead of jumping at every branch breaking under foot.

    What exactly did she forget after Marcus did his magic trick on the shed (with a warehouse stuffed inside it somehow) before he decided to upgrade her sword and phone?

    All questions died when the music from his headphones stopped. They both took cover and moved carefully foward fearful of the hidden monster or "Grim Song" as the little wizard refered to it. The den of the beast was easy to find since it was the only cave out in the middle of the woods.

    The cave looked like one of those caves you''d see bears live inside during those nature documentries you''d see on TV... except bears couldn''t boldoze through trees and hunt you for it''s own sick twisted ammusement.

    ¡°Wait outside of the cave and count to thirty.¡± Marcus stated as he carefully crepted towards the entrance of the cave.

    Catherinewanted to just go rushing into the cave, but the garden shed with the space of an industrial warehouse on the inside made her pause. If she ran head first she might set off a trap that could make her explode¡­ or run face first into an invisible wall.

    Just watching the little wizard remove the wards of the last wall knocked her out for a while. If she saw him pause she¡¯d look away for a few seconds before glancing back to see if things were safe¡­ or if she needed to close her eyes unless she wanted to pass out in the bushes.

    Marcus crept towards the cave as nothing seemed out of place until he reached the shadows inside the cave before he sort of¡­ vanished.

    It was probably magical. Definitely magical since it annoyed her as her brother might be inside the cave. She clipped her phone onto her belt making sure that it was going to record everything as she was going to make sure she didn¡¯t forget any of this stuff.

    Once the time limit was up Cathrine tried her best to creep into the cave after the young wizard. Each twig before her felt like a landmine as all she had was a sword... a magic monster slaying sword... against a monster that tore through trees and claws that dug deep into stone.

    The cave itself was unsettling not because it was a cave¡­ but because of the bones left thrown about on the floor and the nagging questions that assualted her mind and the smell of rotting death and decay didn''t help.

    ¡°How long had they been here? Is this what happened to the other missing children?¡± Her fears whispered in the back of her head ¡°How has nobody noticed this many people going missing?¡±

    Some of the skulls were large enough to be an adult though some¡­ some were small like a child. She knew that something had happened to them¡­ it was just¡­

    The truth was that she didn¡¯t want to admit that wait laid before her on the floor¡­ could have happened to her little brother. He had to be still alive¡­ She was here to rescue him so he had to be alive.

    She carefully crept into the cave as her heart began to race. The sword emitted a soft glow ensuring she wouldn¡¯t step on any of the bones. Her fears were put a little bit at ease as she had a magic sword¡­ a magical sword that specializes in killing evil magical things.

    It needed to be stated as she wasn''t helpless. It might harm her, but she could kill it!

    ¡°Scrap and bind, by claw to find. We sing the song, for so long.¡± A voice spoke as the sound of metal scrapped against stone ¡°Your Flesh shall rend, and your bones shall bend. To fill my gullet forever more.¡±

    Catherine froze as she saw the light at the end of the tunnel. Logs had been dumped into the center of the chamber to feed the roaring fire. She saw her brother tied to a stone slab as the monster stood over him with a cleaver in it¡¯s claws.

    It wasn¡¯t human¡­ fear nearly paralized her as the monster chuckled, twisting it¡¯s spine so that it could be at face level of her little brother as it spoke ¡°Wake up¡­ wake up! Can¡¯t have you passed out for the scene.¡±

    The hand was made out of moss and broken wood bound together in the crude image of a human hand. The body itself was a twist of flesh and wood seemingly stitched together and bound by vines as the monster¡¯s claws drew a small line of blood against his face.

    Cathrine hid behind one of the stone altars within the room as she tried to figure out where Marcus was¡­ where was he? She looked around the room and wasn¡¯t able to find him. What was he doing?

    The creature raised the cleaver as¡­ She felt the knot in her stomach grow as her brother was missing a leg. The dam monster had cut off his left leg!

    Biting her lip she tried not to rush out blindly screaming as the monster turned its head¡­ one hundred and eighty degrees. She hid behind the stone altar as the monster chuckled before she glanced behind her cover to find it staring at her brother again.

    ¡°Wakey, Wakey. Strips for Bakey.¡± The monster sang as it placed the cleaver against his arm forcing him awake ¡°We need to cut and strip, Rip the flesh and so it may drip. So scream out loud¡­¡±

    She charged forth trying to stab it.

    The monster did a backflip flying over her head.

    Her sword was now going to impale her brother.

    The blade twisted in her grip, dogging her brother¡¯s chest and cutting the vine bindings on his right arm only for the monster to grab both her arms and raise her up into the air.

    ¡°Ah, Ah, Ah¡­¡± The monster spoke in a sing-song tone ¡°The maiden must watch the prince¡¯s demise. To sing the song to the folks outside. To let them hear my song each night and fear the night.¡±

    Catherine struggled in the monster¡¯s grib as it¡¯s head wasn¡¯t human. The mouth was full of various mismatched human teeth crammed along every open spot. The face was bare with only a hole the size of her fist. The rest of the flesh had been sewn on by needles leaving a patchwork mess of every skin color including one white ear and one black ear.

    ¡°One eye for the right to see for sight.¡± It spoke as a third hand came out of it¡¯s chest ¡°One blue for the light. To sing my song until the nigh¡­¡±

    The hand had reached to pluck out her right eye only for something to pop. The creature twisted it¡¯s head around as a small flare had somehow deployed three prong-like claws digging into the monster¡¯s back... except a silver light was coming off it instead of the normal smoke and fire.

    She immediately closed her eyes remembering the last time she stared at odd colors.

    Then the screaming came as the monster tossed her aside screaming in agony as the smell of burning metal filled the cave. She opened her eyes and saw her brother and quickly cut the vines binding him to the stone slab.

    Turning around she saw two more shots go off as they were coming down from the ceiling. She looked up as somehow the little wizard was on the ceiling before the darkness hid him from her sight.

    The monster roared in pain thrashing about as she held her sword before rushing it. The twisted abomination of wood and flesh moved to doge her attack, but the shadows around it¡¯s feet rose up dragging it back down to the ground as her sword bit into it¡¯s flesh.

    It howled as she continued to hack and slash.

    Hands moved to grab her.

    The blade tore through them.

    It screamed profanity.

    She screamed back.

    She kept swinging and swinging until her arms grew numb.

    When she finally stopped it was a mess of blood, flesh, and twigs.

    Marcus was now on the ground trying to pull out a bottle of some sort of liquid. He handed it to her as she took the gunk and drank it whole as it tasted bitter. Still, it made her body not feel as tired as before as the bleeding wounds her brother had were gone now.

    The problem was he was still missing his left leg. She could see where the flesh had been slowly carved off as there was no telling what would have happened if she hadn''t arrived right away. What might have happened if they hadn''t rushed in to save him and simply hoped for someone else to save him.

    She looked at Marcus as Marcus stared at the creature behind her before cursing under his breath ¡°Grab him and run.¡±

    She shoved her sword into its sheath before lifting her brother up¡­ she felt sick at how light he felt. As if he would break in her arms if she held him too tight.

    The creature roared in a garbled speech ¡°br-kath, te-ard, Ren-fles!¡±

    Bone snapped back into position as bits of wood hacked off crawled back to the mangled corpse¡­ no the mangled body of the monster.

    ¡°Run and C4.¡± Marcus shouted as he pulled out a block of what looked like C4 that she had seen in movies.

    Either the magical shed had explosives or the little wizard brought it with him. The answer didn''t matter as she saw Marcus toss the block at the creature before they both ran hearing the monster''s cursing stop as it had to have seen the block of C4 tossed at it.

    The moment they got outside the cave as the first ray of light hit their skin Marcus pulled out the trigger and hit the button wtihout a second of hesitation. The explosion went off as stone and dust pelted them from behind before the ground seemed to fall out from underneath them.

    The sounds of cars, children, and people filled their ears as she felt a small sense of relief having escaped the monster until she saw a dozen tiny magical creatures running towards her. Trying to protect her brother and pull out her sword only to stop when she realized they were carrying bags and what looked like a medkit.

    ¡°Not now little souls.¡± Marcus spoke in horror ¡°We need to run.¡±

    A bloodthirsty scream born from a horror movie tore through the air. Catherine made the mistake of looking behind her as she heard cars crashing into each other as suddenly every vehicle and light died. Screams soon followed afterwards as one of the trees came crashing down.

    Moving out of the way she saw the little wisp like creatures jumping onto the little wizard before the monster from the cave clawed itself onto the playground. The adults were screaming in panic as the monster lifted it¡¯s mangled head and upper body. The lower half was torn off like some sort of horror movie zombie¡­ except it was slowly pulling itself back together.

    The empty socket on the monster¡¯s face focused on them as it screeched ¡°Rip face off! Hang you by your guts!¡±

    Marcus said ¡®run¡¯ and she didn''t argue. It was outside and it was only a matter of time before somebody noticed the monster and killed it. The only question was not if it would die... but if they could run away from it long enough for help to arrive.

 Ch3

    Marcus hated his life sometimes.

    His body ached in pain as it felt sluggish though he had no idea if that was from using a bit too much higher arcana than he was used to¡­ or the fact the explosives he took from the warehouse had done a number on him.

    The Unsee had rushed to his aid trying to make sure he was safe. Thankfully they had escaped the domain which the Grim Song had been hiding inside allowing him to reunite with the Unsee and the rest of his equipment.

    The problem was that life, fate¡­ whatever cosmic force with a twisted sense of humor that haunted his life¡­ it always had a second opinion.

    The Grim Song roared behind them as it had also escaped by either collapsing the entire domain or simply kicking everyone out so that it could avoid being blown up. Instead of trying to hide and lick it¡¯s wounds¡­ it had opted for the second choice of trying to kill them.

    ¡°Rip face off! Hang you by your guts!¡± The creature screamed in hate as it dragged it¡¯s mangled corpse after them.

    Cars died, electronics failed, and people who had been safe within the regular mundane world suddenly saw the impossible¡­ the insane¡­ the maddening thought that they were not insane. They saw trees fall, they saw the beast scream asit asserted itself upon their reality and made itself a presence they couldn¡¯t ignore.

    They could lie to themselves of course stating that it was a movie¡­ a play¡­ some sort of logical explanation. They were afforded that luxury because the monster that tore through the park wasn¡¯t after them. That fantasy would be broken the moment it started to tear real people limb from limb.

    The young magician didn¡¯t bother looking behind him as he focused on gathering what was left of his strength as he called upon the various pacts he had made with the Unsee to protect him.

    Marcus shouted ¡°Flint! Staff! Aura! Cape!¡±

    The Unsee in the green dress Aura melded with his green cloak forming wings out of it which carried him forwards. Flint on the other hand had merged with his staff as it took a more gun-like quality to it.

    Aura focused on carrying him as the green angel like wings took flight carrying his body along with it. This allowed him to focus on the threat clawing its way towards them like some sort of infernal undead beast as it raced after them.

    Aura flew him over the vehicles not caring about trying to be subtle while the Grim Song simply clawed over each car and truck roaring and snapping it¡¯s jaw at anyone who tried to hinder it¡¯s chase. He could hear their screams as the illusion of normalcy had been broken.

    He knew they were trying to call the police or anyone to come and save them from the impossible monster. It was moving far faster than it should, but not as fast as the humans it was chasing.

    Marcus kept his eyes on the monster as Aura was carrying him to safety. He tried to steady his staff/rifle as Flint already knew what to do. The surage of the arcane bound by their pact infused the weapon to allow for Flint¡¯s prefered method of simply shooting his problems.

    The first two shots were blocked by the Grim Song tearing a door off a nearby car and using it as a shield. Thankfully the third shot broke through the window tearing into the monster¡¯s arm causing it to drop the improvised shield before Aura carried him inside a building.

    Catherine cursed as she shouted ¡°Shut, shut, shut¡­¡±

    Marcus felt his body get dragged into the elevator¡­ It was an electronic! As if realizing the same thing Flint stopped focusing on precision shots and simply rained down a barrage of magical shots keeping the Grim Song away from entering the building.

    The metal doors closed shut as the elevator roared to life slowly moving up before it died¡­ and the sound of something clawing against metal came from underneath them.

    The teenager cursed as she looked up at the ceiling ¡°The doors should hold until help arrived right? The police or the magical police should be racing here any minute.¡±

    ¡°I shall hang your flayed corpses on the city park gates!¡± The beast roared loud enough for all to hear

    ¡°Catherine. Take the cloak. Aura. Keep her safe.¡± Marcus told them both as the green robes slipped off his body as the teenager gladly took the cloak that had been allowing Marcus to keep up with her. ¡°I need you to open up the emergency hatch.¡±

    Catherine to her credit didn¡¯t question or argue with him as she carefully put down her brother before the cloak allowed her to ¡®fly¡¯ up to the emergency hatch as she struggled to get it open. Marcus simply grabbed one of the other Unsee who had practically shoved themself into his hand and tossed it towards her as the teenager caught the small creature before placing it against the hatch.

    The magic on the Unsee took effect unlatching the emergency hatch as they could hear the Grim Song howling in fury ¡°There is no metal wall or cage that will stop my wrath fleshlings!¡±

    Marcus tried to think as it had shoved them all out of it¡¯s magical domain because it feared C4 blowing it up. The elevator shaft was narrow and it would be clawing through the bottom of this elevator at any minute now.

    Alright¡­ what did he have on hand and what could he do?

    Once the teenager was on top of the elevator did Marcus work on step two much to the disapproval of the Unsee around him. Handing Catherine her brother to help her pull him up¡­ he took a deep breath as he had her help him climb onto the top of the elevator just in time to hear the Grim Song tearing into the bottom of the elevator.

    He pulled out one of the Ardere Silver as the hot magical metal still felt unnaturally hot within the bottle. The substance was slightly illegal within Arcadia, but that was because the Scorched took offense to how the substance was made.

    Marcus on the other hand had no qualms about manipulating such a useful substance.

    ¡°What now?¡± Catherine asked in fear.

    Marcus tried to smile as that was supposed to put other people at ease right? Never let them know you are just as terrified as they need to think you have a plan¡­ especially when you don¡¯t have a good plan.

    ¡°Grab your brother and get to one of the doorways up there. This should keep it from following us as I have a second flying cape.¡± He lied.

    The teenager nodded as she took her brother and fled as the rest of the unsee didn¡¯t join her. He frowned as the small diminutive spirits had instead elected to stay with him for his own safety¡­ which wasn¡¯t going to be much.

    Once Aura took her away Marcus pulled out the knife as he muttered the old lesson once again ¡°If it wasn¡¯t useful, nobody would use it.¡±

    He pricked each finger tip with the knife as his blood flowed freely. Each drop slowly started to drop before he focused on his training as he drew forth upon the dark. The blood froze in the air before it slowly returned to the palm of his hand and slowly swirled about forming a red sphere.Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.

    Half of the trick to being a magician was smoke and mirrors¡­ the other half pulling out tricks your opponent might not be expecting. One bottle in hand and a bit of highly unstable Arcania in the other¡­

    ¡°Twist the weave, bind the iron, break the mind.¡± The magician recited as he poured one of the entire bottles of Ardere Silver onto the bloody orb ¡°With silver and blood... just die already!¡±

    The silvery orb fell into the elevator room splashing against everything coating it in a fine layer of silver before blood red runes appeared across the surface of the silver coating. Flint had already left his staff and used the mending wand to heal the knife pricks against his finger tips.

    He glanced at the smaller Unsee as he noticed others slowly binding themselves to various pieces of his clothing as they were already getting prepared for the next step. That was the problem with these plans wasn¡¯t it?

    The fact you didn''t have a better plan when you tossed the dice.

    The creature tore through the floor of the empty elevator ¡°Now I shall reap my...¡±

    The words were cut off as every inch of the room covered in silver shifted and changed. One moment the room was ¡®mostly¡¯ intact before the next moment everything in the room shifted and changed trying to crush, stab, and kill the Grim Song as the elevator began to shake.

    Everything keeping the elevator up just suddenly broke turning the elevator into a falling death trap. Marcus jumped off the edge of the elevator as everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong with the elevator as seemingly fate itself was trying to kill the monster itself.

    Closing his eyes and praying that he had it right he drew upon the magic he had been taught as he felt the plummet of gravity before he felt the sudden jerk. To his shock and surprise he was not going down, but up...

    A few ropes were tied around his waist as the chain of ropes carried him up as he could hear somebody groaning in pain and frustration. It took a few seconds before he was safely pulled up by the Unsee and a slightly terrified teenager who nearly collapsed onto the floor as the magical ropes united themselves.

    ¡°A little bit of warning would have been nice!¡± Catherine nearly shouted in shock and disbelief ¡°Still¡­ thank you for your help.¡±

    Marcus laid down on the floor as all he wanted to do was go home and rest, but of course that would be too much. The beastial roar from down the elevator shaft caused the two of them to look down and cursed underneath their breaths as thethrice dammed abomination refused to die!

    Sparks flared illumanting the monster every few seconds as wood and flesh had been replaced with steel and hate. The metal claws tore into the elevator shaft as they slowly screeched against the walls as the Grim Song was carrying the entire elevator turned coffin that was trying to crush it to death.

    It lost the capacity for langauge as it snarled, hissed, and screamed in rage dragging itself up the elevator shaft trying to kill them. He''d almost admire it''s spirit if he wasn''t trying to kill it!

    He tried explosives, illegal arcana item, and turned an elevator into a death trap. There were only two tricks left in his arsenal¡­

    ¡°Plan B.¡± the magician spoke ¡°We¡¯re going for plan B.¡±

    A burst of white light struck Cathrine in the back as Marcus turned around spotting a bunch of figures wearing black cloaks. He bit his lip pulling out his staff as just his luck... he failedthree times in killing it and now it got freaking reinforcements!

    The new group of enemies pulled out their wands... either they were cultists or twig twirlers. Marcus sighed as it was Plan C... Staff in hand and the Unsee already pulling out the crown his father had made. If worse came to worse he wouldn''t go out alone.

    "Accio childern." A voice spoke.

    To his shock he, Cathrine, and her brother was suddenly pulled towards the crowd of dark cloaked figures as a olive skinned man stood before him. Instead of pulling out a knife he steped foward and spoke "Stay behind me as we deal with this monster."

    The Grim Song dragged itself onto the floor screeching like a horror movie monster as sparks of electricy flared from the broken sparking wires dangling off it''s body. The claws dug deep into the floor as the twisted mangled head blazed with furry as silver veins flared across it''s body like an infection.

    It roared in bloodthirty fury one second before every black cloaked figured pulled out a wand and fired bursts of magical lights and spells hammering the unholy abomination without any hesitation. Only when it stumbled falling to the floor did they stop casting before the only person not wearing a cloak to clear his throat.

    ¡°You have broken the Statue of Secrecy, ran through the middle of the mundi work in broad daylight, and killed mundi children.¡± The olive skinned man spoke with obvious disdain ¡°Lie down on the floor and surrender... or face the full wrath of the Black Cloaks.¡±

    The Grim Song simply rose up and looked up at them in blinding hatred as they stood infront of them. No words, no meaning behind the primal roar of a beast that refused to be shackled.

    ¡°Adflictio Vincula.¡± The man chanted in response

    Black chains shot out of the floor wreathed in flames wrapped themselves around the Grim Song as it howled in pain. It had been shot, burnt, stabbed, and had suffered an exploding elevator yet this spell worked on it?

    Marcus stared at the odd man as the black cloaked figures had odd brass looking shields appear out of... somewhere as the sheilds lined up to prevent it from charging them. The wands lit up again as the Grim Song prepared to charge.

    ¡°No words?¡± The man spoke in mild annoyance ¡°Exiba¡¯Animas.¡±

    A dark green blast of magic erupted from his wand as the Grim Song screeched in pain again this time buckling under its own weight. When it tried to howl again the man continued his barrage of spells this time without chanting as each curse chipped away at its body until parts of it collapsed onto the floor.

    The black cloak magic users used their wands to move the pieces away from the Grim Song as their leader continued chipping away at the creature''s body until only a large golden¡­ circular thing appeared. Some sort of necklace?

    The shards of silver that had riddled the Grim Song''s body shot out stabbing the golden necklace as that had to have been the ''Heart'' of the dam thing. This shocked some of the other wizards as they tried to remove the shards of silver from the necklace (and fail) before they dropped the object into a chest that had suddenly appeared.

    Cathrine was knocked out, her borther was knocked out... and for some odd reason they hadn''t knocked him out yet. He felt nervious as he tried to hide his staff to some effect as Twig Twirlers had their wands made out ofwood. His staff on the other handwas made out of steel.

    It didn''t help that he had a few wires inside the staff that connected to his foci¡­ a glass orb filled with an alchemical enhancer and a small specialized lump of Cold Iron. Twig Twirlers used plants and animal parts to craft their wands and the rare staff. His staff lacked all of those things.

    The ''leader'' of the group or at least the only person who wasn''t wearing a black cloak and had actually spoken outloud... the stranger turned towards Marcus as if spotting him for the first time. The magician really didn''t like the fact that this man might notice the lump of Cold Iron in his staff or what the twig twirler might do.

    So he did the only thing he could think of and tried to stall for time "I was sent to investigate the area. Checked witnesses since they thought it was a Mundi Criminal. Got trapped in the G¡­ magical creature¡¯s domain.¡± Marcus half lied.

    If they didn''t know of Arcadia than that meant he could hid a few objects that he could escape with. He needed to keep Cathrine and her brother safe because of the Pact he made with. Safe return of her borther in exchange for her tonever forgetwhat happened today.

    Yes it was a cheap move to make a Pact when she wasn''t in full aware or thinking clearly... but Twig Twirlers had a nasty habbit of wipping memories away and Marcus had gotten quitetired of lossing everyone he could even speak with. He never really intereacted with them directly until now and his past expereince wasn''t that great.

    Marcus tried to summon his house rings. The one on the right hand wouldn''t be much of use, but as a Heir of the Moonless Nightit kept the key to the House of Twilight safe. If he could just get to a door with the key then he could continue with Plan B...

    ¡°Flame? You¡¯re a Flame Heir?¡± The man spoke in disbelief.

    The other black cloaked figures stopped what they were doing as they focused on Marcus. It took him a few seconds to realize they were focused on the ring on the right... the magician nearly chuckled as he actuallyforgot that his adopted parents were... kind of important within the Twig Twirler secret magical world.

    They were part of an old family and they placed emphasis on those type of things. Even if his parents hadn''t been a real part of the ''secret'' magical world for a while. Saddly this meant anything he''d do would also reflect on them and that made things more complicated.

    Not because he didn''t think he could escape them. No the problem would be from any problems caused by Marcus evading or causing problems for the... magical law enforcement.

    So with a deep breath he tried to clearly repeat the old line "Marcus Leng Flame the third¡­ third child. The first two died long ago and I¡¯m the latest heir.¡± He knew it didn''t count that much "I..."

    ¡°Why a staff? Shouldn¡¯t you have a wand?¡± The wizard spoke seemingly more focused on him than the Grim Song trapped within the chest ¡°I mean there¡¯s nothing wrong with going for... a more¡­ traditional route.¡±

    The metal staff was far from traditional and probably brought on more questions now that they realized that there wasn¡¯t a piece of wood within it. Something about plants and magic¡­ he never really understood how wizard magic worked because he was never taught it.

    No... he was neverallowed to be taught it from their stupid rules.

    ¡°It¡¯s illegal to have a wand without going to a wizarding school.¡± Marcus bitterly replied ¡°I mean¡­ my parents had a falling out¡­¡±

    ¡°Ah¡­ I understand.¡± The Wizard nodded his head ¡°I¡¯ll sponsor your admission into any magical school within North America, but we need to deal with the Mundi.¡±

    "I need to make sure that the..." Marcus tried not to flinch "Mundi and her brother are taken care of. They are the only witness who might know more about the... monster that tried to kill us."

    He hated the word ''Mundi'' as it meant mundane non-magical human... but it practically meantworthless to most Twig Twirlers in general. That meant they would gladly erase any memories or ''evidence'' of what happened without even bothering to clean up their own dam mess.

    The man in charge stared at her for a few seconds before chuckling ¡°You have my word. Send the Mundi to Saint Celine¡¯s Hospitable.¡± The black cloaks nodded as one pulled out their wand ¡°Send her with the other one. I¡¯ll interview her to find out what happened after her brother¡¯s leg has been restored.¡±

    They stared at him in confusion for a second before they placed one hand on the Teenager and sort of vanished. Marcus blinked in surprise as he heard of how wizards and witches could teleport or¡­ whatever the magical term was.

    Their leader cleared his throat as Marcus prayed that the Pact he had made was a lot stronger than their memory erasing spells ¡°I am Chairman Antiarius and I believe we have much to talk about little champion.¡±

    ¡°Champion?¡± Marcious couldn¡¯t help, but repeat in confusion.

    He had been expecting questions, threats, possibly blackmail or something along those lines. He cast magic in broad daylight, didn''t erase a regular person''s memories, and they didn''t know how many (possibly illegal) magical artifacts he was carrying on him.

    The wizard laughed as he smiled ¡°Of course. You wandered into the woods to fight a fearsome creature saving two innocent children with nothing, but a makeshift staff and your wits. I¡¯d take points off for you casting magic out in the open, but the monster revealed it¡¯s existence before you started casting spells.¡±

    He glanced towards the elevator shaft ¡°The trick with the explosives was interesting¡­ and completely unfair that it survived. So yes I say this sounds exactly like what you¡¯d expect of a champion from a story book.¡±

    Was this... praise? Marcus would have snapped at the man as it kind of felt insulting considering that he failed to kill the Grim Song and the two people he was supposed to protect might have their memories erased (like so many others) rendering the entirepoint of helping them useless now!

    As if reading his mind the man spoke "You do realize it is for not only their own good... but for our own. The magical worldneeds to be kept a secret."

    Marcus nodded his head not because he agreed, but because ''adults'' expected him to agree with them without questioning them. This was only made worse because it was aTwig Twirler who knew far less than he actually thought he knew.

    Marcus had two choices¡­ go with the strange man and call his parents¡­ or try to escape the room and flee all of these twig twirlers as he prayed that he got out of here in one piece.

    "Do you know what that... creature was?" The so called Chairman ''Antiarius'' replied "As I get the impression..."

    Marcus decided to interupt him ¡°Do you know of the city of Korona?¡±

    The wizard stared at him in confusion as there was no reaction to the name of the city. That meant he had no ties with Arcadia which made things slightly easier just so long as he kept his magic casting to a minimum.

    ¡°I¡¯ll need to call my parents as they¡¯ll be better at explaining it all.¡± Marcus dimly replied. "It''s... complicated."

    The wizard nodded his head ¡°I¡¯ll take you to the Ministry then.¡±

    The magician took a deep breath as he could do this. All he had to do was go along with the man and pretend he was a lot more harmless than he actually was. Tell a few half-truths until his parents came... or wait until they lowered their guard and he was nearby a door.

    One twist of a key and he''d go to the House of Twilight while they ran around trying to figure out where he ran off too. Until then he just had to play along and find out what the Twig Twirlers wanted from him... and what the wizard was after.

    If it was just dealing with the cleanup of a magical monster nearly letting everyone know that magic existed? Then he''d get a slap on the wrist with a few stern words, but this? The wizard placed his hand on Marcus''s shoulder as the Unsee shivered.

    This wizard had a lot more power than Marcus and nearly held a deathgrip to ensure not that the young magician would escape... but to prevent anyone else from taking the magician from his grasp. Whatever was going on... Marcus highly doubted that ''money'' was the motiviation.

    After all... life would rarely make it that simple for him.

 ch4

    Cathrine woke up in the hospitable as she looked around in confusion. Her memories were a blur as her mouth felt like it had been stuffed full of cotton. She glanced at the bed in front of her and found her brother asleep in the bed¡­ with both legs attached.

    She sighed in relief as part of her wanted to make sure they were actually there as¡­ as¡­

    The young teenager rubbed her head as she tried to remember. Her brother had gone missing for a few days. Everyone was in a panic before that¡­ that person. The police officer?

    ¡°No police officer was at the park.¡± She muttered as her mind felt like it was ramming itself against something.

    A doctor came into the room ¡°Ah Miss Catherine. Came to check on your brother again?¡±

    She glanced at the doctor as she felt a little bit dizzy. Still he was okay. Just a bad kidnapping attempt before the police managed to find the culprit and now he was resting in the hospital as he had just been starved a little.

    Practically skin and bones as he shouldn¡¯t feel so light.

    She nearly stumbled out of her chair as that thought came out of nowhere. Her mouth felt dry as¡­ as she just needed some water. Ignoring the doctor¡¯s stares she walked trying to navigate the hallways to find a vending machine to get a drink. Just a bottle of water, maybe some chips, and¡­

    A gun. She was going to buy a gun if she survived this mess.

    Shoving the random assortment of coins into the vending machine she grabbed the bottle of water trying to drown out the sickening feeling in the back of her throat. She devoured the potato chips trying to bury the gnawing hole in her stomach as she tried to stay calm.

    ¡°It was all a dream.¡± She muttered to herself ¡°You just woke up from a nightmare as¡­ as you can¡¯t remember what happened in the nightmare.¡±

    Catherine pulled out her phone before going pale as it was her phone, but somebody had replaced the casing to it. The phone certainly didn¡¯t have the random array of black lines across it¡¯s casing¡­ and the checklist.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a¡­ just¡­¡± She tried to justify the insanity, but the fear only grew.

    Running towards the hospitable room ignoring how it looked she bolted towards the door as the lights started to flicker. Her fears grew as there was a weight in the air as the words ¡°They are far more common than you¡¯d expect¡± whispered in the back of her mind.

    Without a second thought she kicked opened the door as the lights had died. Before the bed a monstrous figure hovered over the bed that was far larger and wider than any normal human. With her sword in hand she swung without ever thinking about where the sword came from.

    The blade cut into the fabric before it came in contact with something¡­ an arm.

    An arm fell on the floor devoid of blood as a metallic mask now stood face to face with her as the second hand shot out pinning her hands to the wall. The grip was horrifically strong as the light from behind the mask glowed a bright eldritch green.

    ¡°Amazing.¡± An almost human like voice spoke. There was an almost mechanical like tone as if he was speaking from a bad microphone or something.

    Yet it couldn¡¯t be human. Everything about it screamed inhuman like the monster from the cave. She stared into the green glowing eyes of the mask in horror as there was another one! Another one of those dam monsters had come!

    There was a sicking sound of a joint being shoved back into place as her eyes fell down to the arm she had cut off. The limb twisted about in an unnatural angle before it fit back into place. The robes covering the creature seemed to shift as she saw dozens of red eyes underneath the mass of clothing before the body simply¡­ condensed.

    It now stood at the full height of a regular human almost looking human¡­ if you had a human covered in black clothing with armor hidden underneath some of the wraps of cloth. The head was kept at her eye level as the grip increased nearly making her drop the sword before it was torn out of her grip.

    It examined the sword ¡°Amazing. He made one so quickly. Leng really is his father¡¯s son.¡±

    The creature chuckled as Catherine struggled managing to grab the sword from it¡¯s grasp before making another swing. The blade nearly cut into the creature before four bands of cloth wrapped around her arm before twisting her arm into a position she couldn¡¯t move it.

    She tried not to cry out in pain as the creature spoke in awe ¡°And you can see me! Truly amazing. I wonder what are the true limits of such a Pact considering the limited state in which it was enacted.¡±

    ¡°What?¡± Catherine couldn¡¯t help, but ask as she tried to break free

    ¡°Why the Pact of course. In aid of your brother¡¯s safe return you agreed to never forget what happened.¡± The creature spoke as if it was obvious ¡° The phone as a book to record. The Sword as a weapon to defend.¡±

    Her arms stopped screaming in pain as the creature showed her that her brother was lying in bed, safe, intact, and not missing any limbs. Instead a small teddy bear had been placed at the edge of the bed stand with a get well card and some flowers.

    ¡°Let there be dragons. Let there be days in which not even the sun shall shine and monsters roam the lands¡­¡± The monster spoke right behind her ¡°Yet let there also be hope. Let there be the days where the hero can rest. Let there be the days where things go right or a laugh may come. Let there be hope no matter how dark the coming days get.¡±

    It released the grip on her arms as she turned around staring at the¡­ thing in confusion as she had no idea why it had broken into this room just to deliver these objects?

    The monster chuckled as if it was obvious ¡°Because by summer¡¯s start none of it shall matter. Our lives, existence, and mark upon reality shall all be for nought¡­ so why not? Nothing shall be changed so by that logic there is no reason why I shouldn¡¯t give a small get well gift to a child who faced a horror he should have never seen.¡±

    The monster pulled out a red vial ¡°Why not help aid in the recovery for my own peace of mind? Why not grant aid if not helping amounts to the same as help? Give him two teaspoons a day for a full recovery my dear¡­ and you should also probably take a teaspoon yourself.¡±

    It turned around walking into the hallway as Catherine followed suit almost immediately as she practically shouted ¡°What is your name?¡±

    The creature turned around and made a small bow ¡°My name is Iobairt. If we succeed I would like to converse with you further. If we fail...¡± He chuckled ¡°There is just so much left to do before The Darkest Day.¡±

    Catherine bit her lip as she felt her memories returning as she remembered the monster that tried to kill her as Marcus. She remembered the cold dread as they tried killing the unkillable thing before those figures in black cloaks showed up and¡­ and left her here.

    ¡°One last question¡­ what can I do to protect myself and my family?¡± Catherine asked as the creature called Iobairt focused on her.

    She could see the light intensify for a moment as it had taken an interest in her. She felt like she was making a mistake¡­ but it would be a far greater mistake to let it walk away without answering her question.

    ¡°Amazing¡­ you have seen it and still you wish to see more?¡± The creature spoke in a praise like tone ¡°Truly amazing¡­ Forty Two, Thirty Seven, Nine¡­ Help aid her in her adventure.¡±

    Three figures crawled out of his suit each carrying scraps of black clothing to form crude clothing or ¡®bodies¡¯ as they jumped down to the floor before walking towards her. Catherine held her breath as they approached her before making a small bow.

    She opened her bag¡­ the bag that had been left for her as the small spirit-like creatures gladly went into it before she looked back up at the creature.

    ¡°Unsee are simple spirits to make Pacts with. May they ease the burden you shall take now that you wish to see more before that fateful day.¡± The creature spoke before turning around ¡°And remember¡­ Do not forget. It would be simply rude to forget after you have come so far.¡±

    The creature pulled out a key before placing it against a door. Catherine stared in disbelief as instead of another hospitable room she saw an open barren field with what looked like a massive workshop surrounded by scrap metal.

    There were the sounds of children in the background as Iobairt spoke ¡°Amazing. You have all grown so much. Now come along children¡­ we have much to do. So much to do.¡±

    The door closed as Cathrine glanced at her sword, phone, and the small bag holding three magical spirits. The smart answer would be to go back to her brother and simply pretend that this was all a dream.

    What she was going to do¡­

    The hospital had a wifi signal and she had a few things she needed to check the internet about starting with what the word Unsee translated to.

    <hr>

    Chairman Antiarius rubbed his head as he walked through the Eastern Allied Magical Alliance Center¡­

    On paper it was to show they were still unified as a whole and paid their respect to their european roots. Though in reality he figured it was because they were too lazy to refer to any magical governmental body as anything other than a Ministry of Magic.

    Walking through the hallways he did his best to avoid the parasites that tried to cling to his robes. The talk with the Mundi Girl hadn¡¯t given him the answers he wanted before her memories had been obviated. If anything they only brought up more questions which she couldn¡¯t answer.

    The fact that multiple children had repeatedly been kidnapped in such an area¡­ Either they needed new wizards in charge of the area for that district or they needed more knowledge on how such an entity managed to avoid their detection before it blatantly revealed itself to goodness knows how many mundi¡­

    He rubbed his aching head as it was a minor miracle they managed to stop the reveal of the magical world at that moment. The Black Cloaks he had placed under the specialized training thankfully moved quickly enough and selected the correct cover story to minimize the impact of the magical origin¡­ to a more mundane origin.

    One of the random problematic mundi groups had been selected to have been involved in child traffic, drugs, and whatever else was illegal. They were the ones who chased after the Mundi girl and the police officers who helped rescue the missing child. Any questions about damage were from the illegal weapons they held and the missing children¡­ a sad, but a ¡®Mundi reality¡¯ as the criminals did criminal things.

    Probably bad enough that they would be put on death row giving the Mundi their monsters to hang while the magical world was kept out of their sight.

    ¡°What is your response to Andrew Flame being picked up by the Black Cloaks!¡± One of the parasites shouted ¡°How is his health considering the last four years¡­¡±

    ¡°His name is Marcus. He is fine. No ch¡­ no injuries have happened as the young wizard handled himself better than most adult wizards would have considering the circumstances.¡± Chairman Antiarius replied.

    Technically the boy didn¡¯t have any criminal charges brought up against him because nobody would have believed them sadly enough. The dam Book Thumpers still followed the hallowed words of ¡®Prophecy¡¯ practically ignoring the reality in favor of their bedtime stories.

    Had one of the British or Japanese Ministries of magic acted the same way believing themselves to be safely able to ignore the reality outside their doors when bombs were dropped during the Mundi second world war?

    Or had they been following those worthless texts sure that the bombs wouldn¡¯t wipe them because a book said that they would live (or die) that day?

    More of the parasites moved forth pulling out their crude cameras as bright flashes nearly blinded his eyes. He kept the politician smile out for the blood thirsty ticks that he wasn¡¯t allowed to swat out of the air. The masses needed to be given the cover story. They needed their bread and circus act to continue ignoring what was going on around them.Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

    ¡°The Foul Wizard¡­ Arabtho had hidden one of his dark magical research facilities within the park.¡± He lied out loud

    Countless wizards and witches flinched as he spoke the name. Still there was acknowledgement and hatred in their eyes as ¡®of course¡¯ it was ¡®one of them¡¯ who was responsible for the latest disaster. If only they got in line and learned from their betters then everyone else wouldn¡¯t have to be cleaning up from their mess.

    ¡°The young Flame Heir had a special magical artifact in his possession that caused the dreadful magical abomination.¡± Which frustrated him that he knew so little about ¡°Had activated the trap attempting to capture the Flame Heir before he managed to narrowly escape signal help for us to arrive as quickly as we could¡­ before the savage beast ignored even the basic laws revealing itself to the Mundi populace in an effort to chase after the young heir.¡±

    There were countless cries of outrage and a few of the more respectful reporters looking shocked that someone would train a magical creature to chase after children. The fact it had been doing this for a while was not an issue until it happened to a young wizard or witch.

    ¡°The abomination has been subdued. The dark magical research facility has been ceased and the cowards responsible for this are being hunted down as we speak by the Silver Cloaks themselves.¡± Chairman Antiarius lied to the public ¡°As Chairman to the North American branch of the Albion Accord¡­ I Shall Stop Them All.¡±

    That brought out the cheers as he marched forward ignoring any more questions they tried to ask him. He continued using his fake smile to put them at ease and not throttle the idiots who asked which girl he was going to adopt.

    His daughter had died. There was no replacement for her because ¡®prophecy¡¯ was written by a bunch of drunken old fools who couldn¡¯t even get the third Flame Heir¡¯s name correct! The wretched book humpers were probably coming up with an explanation for how ¡®Andrew¡¯ would actually translate to ¡®Marcus¡¯ from some made up nonsense!

    Still he needed the boy for three things. His information on Arcadia was absurdly rare as he barely found any hints or traces about the elusive area. The¡­ Grim Song matched some of the more obscure recordings of ancient magical creatures before Merlin¡¯s time that seemed to have faded from history.

    More than that was the Staff. It lacked any parts it should have as not a speck of wood, plant, or anything organic had been used within its creation. The Staff was odd¡­ impossible to tell the truth, but it worked. The knife he had cut himself was goblin steel and instead of being brought to the closest hospitable the boy was sitting in a room without so much as a scar!

    Too many questions he wanted to ask¡­ and the answers he thought were held just out of reach as his parents were coming to pick him up. Even if he was the Chairman there were limits to his reach and power¡­ and unlike a certain wizard¡­ Antiarius lacked the ability to simply hand wave and claim that ¡®Prophecy¡¯ would excuse any and all actions he made.

    Especially since his plans focused on keeping the magical world safe far long before those worthless texts doomed them all.

    Walking past the parasites he entered the main hallway of the (Eastern Northern America Branch) of the Ministry of Magic. Glancing at the large map and the conflicted (because they were not at ¡®war¡¯ with each other yet) magical nations. Antiarius began to question if the magical world removing itself from the mundane one was done for their benefit¡­ or for the Mundanes?

    Their non-magical North America was split up into three counties and their USA had fifty states. By comparison the magical equivalent was far more heavily divided¡­ and made worse by the Book Thumpers. He saw the ¡®prophets¡¯ proclaiming further division and conflicts which would happen because the ¡®prophets¡¯ had been given titles and the idiots they were shouting at wanted an excuse to fight with one another.

    Chairman Antiarius tried to ignore them as he focused on the better half of the Ministry as the Markers (as close as reasonable as a self proclaimed prophet could get) were busy setting up meetings to fit everyone¡¯s schedule or sending the proper papers through the air to reach their intended target.

    The goblins were hard at work arguing with other magical creatures and wizards about goblin rights, deals¡­ and apparently complaints about the splinter faction calling themselves Dark Goblins who refused to do an honest day¡¯s work in the Bins.

    He tipped his hat towards a Centaur ambassador who seemed surprised by this action before the wizard went off and stopped for a moment staring at the true pride and joy that the magical world (under his control) had been working on.

    The magical transit system¡­ countless wizards and witches working by hand (since calculators and computers didn¡¯t work here) to figure out the exact distance side effects occurred by various acts of magical transportation. The amount of times it took before one became sick, and the exact cost it would take to allow a series of transit points to allow one magical being to start from the tip of North America before reaching the end of it in just under a day¡­ without the magical recoil of magical transportation becoming an issue.

    The Books of Prophecy proclaimed it wouldn¡¯t be possible until the next hundred years. Chairman Antiarius on the other hand had already cut out fifty years and with a little bit more backing and research¡­ they¡¯d have it finished within four years... or one year if everything went right.

    This was the power of innovation that the magical world had sorely fallen behind.

    ¡°Chairman¡­ The Flame Heir is ready to see you now.¡± Sara replied with a hint of unease. He glanced at her as the Black Cloak sighed ¡°It¡¯s the¡­ I don¡¯t know what they are, but¡­ his magical creatures do not get along with the House Elves.¡±

    He slowly nodded opening up the door and preparing for the worst. Had the house elf been killed? Was there some sort of curse held on a delay¡­ or some other unknown magical spell at play that prevented them from noticing?

    The fact that the ¡®Grim Song¡¯ managed to act without interference for so long already made him question how much the wizarding world actually knew about magic¡­ especially if the magic somehow deviated from the Albion Accords.

    To his shock, confusion and surprise¡­ nothing was wrong¡­ well there was an obvious problem, but¡­

    The House Elves stood at one side of the table as a unified force as Blipsy stood on on the chair shouting ¡°They are ¡®Sock Thieves¡¯ and will steal your left sock if you aren¡¯t careful! They can¡¯t be trusted!¡±

    The other house elves nodded in agreement or simply sneered at the odd magical creatures at the opposite side of the table as if they were some sort of magical stain that refused to be removed from the wall. House Elves despite popular belief were intensely prideful creatures.

    While they may not work for money and prefer to serve¡­ it was rare instances like this that a wizard or witch would see them in such a¡­ such an instance.

    The odd magical creatures seemingly made up or covered up in various colorful scraps of cloth made very rude gestures as one of them the size of a wizard wearing a robe¡­ or made up from the robe¡­ just hovered there as the hood somehow twisted to give the impression of a frown.

    The orange robe had an orange orb for a face¡­ or head ¡°Not as useless as pitiful carpet scrubbers. Tell me do you ask for the enemies of the families you protect to not dirty up the rugs while they attack your owners? Are your services so cheap that you¡¯d gladly toss them all away if a stray sock hits your head?¡±

    Two House Elves held one of their companions back while a few others pulled out pots, frying pans, and a few kitchen knives. The odd magical creatures on the other hand pulled out wands¡­ maybe not true wands in the strictest sense, but they could unleash one of the spells that had been woven inside their containers.

    The one sitting at the middle of the table nearly banging his head against it¡¯s hard surface groaned as the Black Cloak named Betty who was supposed to be keeping an eye on him was now busy trying to defuse the situation ¡°Edmund didn¡¯t mean to state that you are disloyal Blipsy as he is trying to defend his quality of service to the Flame Heir.¡±

    She actually shot a small glare at the orange robed magical creature ¡°As from what I understand¡­ they have tried to copy your superior policies and traditions to serve a wizard.¡±

    Instead of standing dignified and proud the House Elf smirked in the most mocking way the chairman had even seen¡­ just how did the house elf learn to do it like that? The magical creatures now tried to move forward only to be held back by their fellows as Edmund moved one of the sleeves of the robe and guestered it across his neck.

    ¡°This is not my fault. I¡¯m just a bystander.¡± The Flame Heir muttered to himself ¡°Nobody told me about the House Elves. Nobody told me about the Unsee and their dispute against them.¡±

    The Chairman took one deep breath as he had been expecting many things¡­ and ironically enough this was much better and worse than he had been expecting. It was worse simply due to the fact that House Elves knew more about what was going on than most of the magical world (sadly including himself) though the bright side was that he now had one (slightly flawed) source of information he could interrogate later.

    For now he had to reign things back into control, do damage control, and then get this back on course. After all the Duel of Fates Festival/Tournament was being prepared and the selective process was¡­ troubling.

    He only had one of his two possible candidates as the rest that were ¡®viable¡¯ were far from tolerable. The fact the Flame Heir had ties to Arcadia, able to survive the ¡®Grim Song¡¯, but more importantly held stronger tied to the Rite of Old than how it had become a Tournament/Festival¡­ It felt like Fate was dealing the cards.

    ¡°Blipsy. Please calm yourself and your allies to not be seen as unbefitting of your stations as the Ministry has chosen you to help represent and serve us.¡± The wizard stated making the House Elves stand in attention ¡°Please bring the proper refreshments and items needed for me to talk with our guest.¡±

    The moment they apperated to some other room within the Ministry he focused on the Unsee ¡°As for you¡­ do not needlessly antagonize our servants especially since you had all failed in your duty to keep your master safe when he was dragged into that creature¡¯s den.¡±

    They all flinched at that remark as it was the Chairman¡¯s job and duty to protect his employees while stopping any more conflicts from popping up. To his relief when the House Elves returned they did not antagonize the Unsee who in turn tried to ignore the House Elves in turn.

    Now if only the regular citizens of the magical world were as easy as them.

    Shaking his head he focused on Marcus Flame the third heir of the Flame family not marked by the Book of Prophecy as this wasn¡¯t some red hair sickly child with large glasses who was struggling with the aftermath of his disease. Instead here was a dark brown hair youth with a dash of (possibly justified) paranoia and a host of odd magical creatures.

    He stared at him fully expecting something bad to happen¡­ but his unease was more focused on the House Elves for some odd reason. Especially considering that the Chairman was the most important (and dangerous) person within the room.

    ¡°Do the House Elves disturb you?¡± He asked politely.

    They turned to stare at him in disbelief as Marcus seemed to have been caught off by surprise before he shook his head ¡°No¡­ I mean¡­ I am simply not¡­ used to them.¡±

    The young boy glanced at them ¡°I¡¯m not used to being around creatures that can¡­ teleport so freely.¡±

    The House Elves looked smug, but they kept it to a tolerable level while the Unsee moved closer to protect their master¡­ and suddenly the Chairman understood as it would be a fair bet to claim that Arcadia didn¡¯t have many House Elves on hand.

    ¡°They apparate¡­ in theory it sounds similar to teleportation, but in practice it is more akin to sympathetic magic.¡± The Chairman carefully explained ¡°They are in service to the Ministry and in turn it¡¯s magic and¡­ domain for a lack of better term. This is linked to them allowing them to ¡®appear¡¯ anywhere within the domain of their residence.¡±

    There was still the slight look of unease as he continued ¡°Sympathetic magic by it¡¯s nature tends to be non-combative¡­ so I highly doubt you could get a house elf to simply appear behind you to slit your throat.¡±

    ¡°Oh no I mean House Elves are¡­ smaller than I expected.¡± The boy lied as he tried to play off his paranoia as something else ¡°There are another set of creatures going by a similar name¡­ only much taller, and far less¡­ noble.¡±

    The House Elves nodded though a few seemed slightly distrubed at the thought of something like a House Elf that would cause a wizard to be uneasy by their presence. As if the natural idea that a House Elf would even be a threat to a guest or master of a household to be¡­ something from a horror story.

    ¡°I highly doubt that they kidnap babies and replace them with changelings.¡± The young wizard spoke as if as an afterthought.

    Sadly for him the House Elves had yet to leave the room as they shouted ¡°What foul creature would do such a thing!¡±

    A small group of the Unsee on the table walked over to the edge. The Chairman watched them sort of¡­ gestures¡­ they didn¡¯t talk, but the House Elves seemed to understand as some of them looked horrified at whatever the smaller Unsee was telling them.

    The young wizard wore a guilty smile ¡°Like I said¡­ it¡¯s complicated.¡±

    Antiarius nodded his head as he tried to field his questions as he glanced at Marcus¡¯s fingers. The right hand had the noble house ring of the Flame family. That ring alone marked him as the Heir of the Flame house as the magic as old as the Albion Accord itself was like a beacon to all those with the magical talent to see it.

    It was precisely because of its¡­ magical light¡­ that Antiarius was able to spot the second ring which stood as the exact opposite of it. The ring that stood on the left hand that evaded his eyes but stood out like a black spot on a white wall. The ring he couldn¡¯t spot rested on the young wizard¡¯s finger, but it was not being hidden on purpose.

    The fact that it gave off the same uncomfortable feeling he got when dealing with¡­ the man in yellow. That meant the magic predated the Albion Accord. The fact the boy had chosen to use a knife to cast a spell instead of using a wand meant he had been taught magic that was not a part of the Albion Accord.

    A champion of ¡®old¡¯ so to speak.

    ¡°I am sorry if my actions may have seemed¡­ blunt.¡± He paused trying to carefully let the words sink in ¡°But I have heard rumors about the fallout between your parents and¡­¡±

    ¡°The Old Goat.¡± The boy spoke with open venom and disdain.

    The Chairman kept his smile hidden as that was one problem he didn¡¯t have to worry about ¡°I thought it was odd that a dead dark lord was responsible for destroying such a valuable artifact. Then again he always claims that ¡®Prophecy¡¯ was the reason and nobody bothers to look any closer.¡±

    With those last few words young Marcus just went up a few notches in his book as the young wizard rolled his eyes not believing the Grand Excuse a select group of wizards could use to justify any action they committed that a regular politician would give their first (and second) born child for.

    ¡°My father was going to adopt me. He refused to respond. My father said it was going to be official as I am¡­¡± Marcus held up his right hand ¡°Blood adopted and an official heir. One week later his response came in the newspaper along with everyone preparing for them to kick the bucket.¡±

    Antiarius nodded as that ironically sounded a lot more reasonable than the¡­ truth. The Book of Prophecy had already set the day his parents would die. He didn¡¯t know if Luxarious knew the date, but it seemed like an obvious conclusion that his adopted parents would die the moment The Red Stone of Legend was destroyed.

    Judging from the glare in his eyes the Chairman decided to hedge his bets ¡°I take it that¡¯s why you accepted the job? Because you were working for this¡­ Velkear individual to obtain the missing ingredients to allow your parents to craft a new stone?¡±

    The young wizard stumbled as he tried to make an excuse and failed. The kid lost points for failing to keep a composed face, but still earned a few more by actually trying something rather than letting the vague word of Prophecy dictate their deaths.

    Foolish¡­ but the kid felt guilty at seemingly being the one responsible for cutting their lifespan short. He¡¯d feel like a heel tomorrow, but the chairman needed more pieces on the board¡­ and even if the worst happened if the kid won¡­ it would still be better than letting any of the others win.

    Heck a House Elf would be a better pick and they probably would even fight any of the other chosen students.

    ¡°So a child that has a Staff since it is illegal for one to own a wand without going to a magical school¡­ shows up with a creature no one has even seen before.¡± He let the words sink in ¡°Who just happens to be the only one to find where it was lurking and helped rescue two mundi when the monster had been killing various mundi children.¡±

    The boy seemed prepared to defend himself not that he couldn¡¯t blame the child. It sounded like a blatant scheme to get a bit of fame and fortune to force his name into the spotlight to learn proper wizard magic.

    He might have even believed it if not for how upset the child had gotten at them erasing the memories of the Mundi. At how the staff seemed to fly at the face of basic wand crafting¡­ and most of all that he had been hired by the demon in yellow.

    Velkear was on the move again and now he was dangling a pawn in front of Chairman Antiarius when he needed one.

    That was the problem when dealing with the demon in yellow. It was hard to refuse the offer.

    ¡°So I had to check to make sure if throwing my name to nominate you to go a magical school would bite me or if it was stupid for an old fool to refuse you because your name didn¡¯t match a random one written in an ancient book written before The Vanish.¡± Chairman Antiarius replied much to the kid¡¯s shock.

    He smiled ¡°I¡¯d put faith in the book if they didn¡¯t miss such a major detail.¡±

    One of the House Elves handed him a small note as the chairman knew that the Flames had entered the building and were ready to protect/talk to their son. The bait had been set out, the parents were about to arrive¡­ all that was left was to haggle out the details.

    He had a champion of the ¡®new¡¯ and he was missing a champion of the ¡®old¡¯.

    He was not going to let his second champion slip so easily out of his grip.

 ch5

    Marcus sat at the table as his parents arrived. Tim Flame and Eliza Flame¡­ the wizards known to the magical world as the elusive Flame Alchemist¡­ the title sounded a lot better in the past.

    His father had brushed his hair back trying as he wore traditional dress robes though his son knew his father much preferred his alchemy set and more modern clothing¡­ mostly for pants. It never hurt to wear something easy to run in when you hear the words ¡®oops¡¯ when dealing with alchemy.

    His mother had her red hair tied in a ponytail and looked less than pleased at having to stay longer within the magical wizarding world¡­ and apparently that opinion was also shared by the rest of the wizards outside who wore fake smiles as cameras went off behind their back.

    Chairman Antiarius signaled for the door to be shut and the remaining black cloaks to leave the room and focus on keeping the group of people outside the door ¡®outside the room¡¯ as more than one old style floating camera tried to slip through the doorway.

    Once the room was secure he heard his father speak first ¡°What do you want.¡±

    Marcus opened his mouth only for the Chairman to interject ¡°Nothing. Your son has been placed in a unique situation as I¡¯ve already heard about your troubles with Luxarious and confirmed that your son was mostly acting within the best interests of the wizarding community.¡±

    There was a pause as Marcus took a deep breath as he paid attention to how ¡®mostly¡¯ had been said. The man sitting on the opposite end of the table looked calm and had tried to confirm that the young magician wasn¡¯t in any trouble. The problem was¡­ politics were at play now.

    ¡°I¡¯ve already looked into your records. I¡¯ve confirmed that you have been unable to get your son into any magical school so that he can be given access to the Albion Accord to allow him to¡­¡± The man paused as he motioned towards the Unsee on the table ¡°To allow him to learn modern magic.¡±

    His father looked uneasy as his mother kept her hand on her wand. Marcus bit the inside of his cheek as this was where the game was being played wasn¡¯t it? He wanted something from his parents as he took advantage of their situation.

    ¡°He hasn¡¯t done anything wrong.¡± His mother stated ¡°Nothing that couldn¡¯t have been fixed if the magical world did their job.¡±

    The wizard gave his best business smile as he replied ¡°Except giving a non-magical individual a few magical artifacts and breaking the State of Secrecy. He didn¡¯t even try to hide his magical origin and knowledge before we were forced to obliviate her memories.¡±

    He felt their gaze upon him as the young magician held his tongue as apparently blackmail was being thrown on the table¡­ the wizard just tried to butter him up because he saw him as a child¡­ and simply waited for his parents to threaten, blackmail, and so forth.

    His father took a deep breath ¡°And why did he have to ask for her aid? Did anyone come to assist? Did anyone help him when a magical creature attacked...¡±

    ¡°It is not the case that wizards and witches are allowed to break the law when it is convenient for them, but to uphold the law even when they must pay the cost¡­¡± The wizard replied as he pulled out a sheet of paper ¡°Of course it would be far easier if you stopped beating around the bush.¡±

    His parents stared at the wizard in confusion as he placed the sheet of paper before them. Marcus tried to look at what it was, but much to his annoyance they didn¡¯t allow him to see it.While he didn¡¯t know the full details he was pretty sure at least one of the Unsee would have a better idea.

    Velkear had made sure that at least two of them knew more about wizarding law than most twig twirlers.

    ¡°He wants to know more about the Grim Song and he tried having me go to a magical school by becoming my patron.¡± Marcus informed his parents ¡°What is the catch?¡±

    His father pinched the bridge of his nose ¡°You want him to be your pick for the Trial of Fates.¡±

    ¡°I already have a pick for the new¡­ I just lack a champion of the old.¡± The wizard replied with a grin ¡°You need a way in and while he may be lacking within the more modern approach to spell casting I have seen enough of his results to feel he would be an adequate pick for the festival.¡±

    Marcus tried to figure out what was going on. Trial of Fates sounded more like a trial which wasn¡¯t good¡­ but they were calling it a festival? Was this one of those crazy wizard tradition things?

    ¡°The Trial of Fates is where a select group of wizards nominate and support their charges as they attend Spero Academy.¡± The chairman explained ¡°By tradition it is replaying the events of how the academy was founded with one following the old ways traveling by and challenging one following the modern way of magic.¡±

    ¡°It is Dum Spiro, Spero¡­ which roughly translates to ¡®While I breathe, I hope¡¯ as the four founders had built the school in the name of hope.¡± His father replied with a bit of force ¡°The fact is that the British ministry is trying to take control of how things are supposed to be ¡®run¡¯ for this year.¡±

    Politics¡­ Marcus tried to pay attention even if he wanted to tear his hair out as he hated politics. The chairman nodded his head as he looked slightly impressed if slightly annoyed at how quickly his father had taken the wind out of his sails.

    ¡°Ever since the Vanish the magical world has been trying to piece itself back together when it isn¡¯t tearing itself apart with some new ¡®dark lord¡¯ who thinks they will conquer the world.¡± He spoke with a groan ¡°And our friends from over the seas think that we need to come together¡­ under their supervision.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s a power play Marcus.¡± His mother informed him ¡°They want to have the Flame Heir as their champion to use as a piece against Luxarious¡­¡±

    ¡°And his chosen child of prophecy who¡¯s grand magical talent was having a so-called ¡®dark lord¡¯ keel over and die when his mother killed him.¡± The chairman interjected ¡°The one that apparently is also being supported and is going to claim that he holds ties to the Flame Family¡­ ties that allow him to claim everything you own when you die.¡±

    The young magician tried not to react to the taunt. He hated the old traitor and he already knew to watch out for his tricks ever since he stole The Red Stone. He had to admit that being chosen to pick a fight with the traitor¡¯s pick was tempting.

    Sadly his parents tried to step in ¡°He isn¡¯t going to. If we die which I highly doubt¡­ then it would all go to Marcus as he is our blood adopted heir.¡±

    ¡°I highly doubt that Luxarious would agree¡­ especially since technically speaking your son isn¡¯t a wizard and hasn¡¯t been introduced into the wizarding world officially.¡± The wizard spoke in a self-certain tone ¡°I have no doubt he will bring up some ¡®prophecy¡¯ to have him pick who your ¡®heir¡¯ is before getting everyone else to go along with it and ignore your will.¡±

    ¡°I¡¯d love to see him try and deal with Velkear.¡± His mother practically cursed.

    While he knew his parents had no love for Velkear¡­ he was surprised to see how the chairman seemed to flinch at the name. The unsee also moved forward to protect him as they registered him as a threat since he knew about Velkear.

    ¡°Look, the festival is happening. The Tower of Fates which was built by the school has been acting strangely as people are on edge thinking another great disaster like the Vanish is going to happen again.¡± The wizard tried to explain ¡°There are even rumors that Malthus¡¯s only prophecy is going to come to¡­¡±

    ¡°Who?¡± Marcus asked in disbelief.

    They all stared at him as the wizard sighed ¡°Malthus. One of the founders of Spero Academy¡­¡±

    His parents froze as they heard the name as the young magician tried to catch his breath. They knew about the elusive founder not from textbooks¡­ but because he had ties to Arcadia. To be more exact the figure was Marcus¡¯s biological father before¡­ he passed away.

    He felt his blood run cold and yet there was a rush of excitement as he tried to figure out how his father made it to the wizarding world and what he had hidden inside the school. Were there any notes or records or perhaps something to explain how he had died various times only to keep coming back from the dead?

    He hadn¡¯t come back yet¡­ but¡­

    ¡°So people think that some new dark lord is going to run around claiming that he is ¡®Vel-Kear¡¯ giving us a bloody civil war¡­¡± The wizard continued ranting ¡°So please do not say his name to get the next idiot any ideas.¡±

    ¡°How do you know about Malthus¡­¡± His father slowly replied ¡°I¡¯ve looked up the history of the school, but it never mentioned¡­¡±Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

    ¡°The Mad One?¡± The wizard interjected ¡°His name appeared on the statue and something that resembled him had appeared within the school when some of the delegates from the other nations were there. Apparently he had appeared to check up on them to ensure they were of proper quality.¡±

    Marcus held his breath as while he cared about his adopted parents who raised him¡­ it would be a lie to say he wasn¡¯t curious about his biological father. Especially since he had grown up hearing about him in Arcadia.

    ¡°So unlike the previous times¡­ there is a heavier weight with the tournament and the festival around it in North America than the other six towers.¡± He slowly replied ¡°Especially with how things thought of as myth are becoming more fact than myth these past few days.¡±

    His father looked uneasy and Marcus couldn¡¯t blame him. Velkear had offered to take him to a magical school within Arcadia while his parents went around the world trying to find the more obscure ingredients by hand. They needed to craft a new Red Stone and time was starting to get short.

    They wanted him safe within a magical school, but none of them were accepting him due to the old traitor black listing them¡­ but now they were being offered a chance.

    ¡°Can you promise his safety as that backstabbing traitor is going to be there in person.¡± His mother spoke as if she was trying to curse the man to death

    That was the catch his parents were worried about¡­ not the politics¡­ not the games that were being played or having their son duel a bunch of snot nosed brats.

    No it was having him within arms reach of the traitor that had been told they were blood adopting Marcus¡­ only for him to tell the news papers that a ¡®some random dark wizard¡¯ had destroyed The Red Stone a week later.

    The answer to the reply was obvious.

    The fact he didn¡¯t return the Red Stone since they didn¡¯t disinherit Marcus made it clear on his intent¡­ and that villain was going to be spending time at the magical school that he was going to be sent to.

    ¡°I promise to do everything that I can in order to help protect him.¡± the wizard replied as he pulled out his wand ¡°I can swear upon magic that I shall do my best to ensure that your son shall not die.¡±

    His father glanced at him as Marcus felt like shaking his head. That wasn¡¯t a Pact and it felt more like an old pact¡­ the ones that you didn¡¯t make because everybody knew how to escape them.

    ¡°No¡­ I¡¯ll just have to settle for using what is left of my fame, knowledge, and fortune to bring your entire country to ruin if my son ends up dead under your protection.¡± His father slowly replied as the color drained from the wizard¡¯s face ¡°And before you ask¡­ yes¡­ yes he is that important.¡±

    Break--

    They arrived at one of the safe houses as Marcus felt a sigh of relief. He was going to a magical school and his parents were both happy and worried about his safety, not that he could blame them.

    A regular child might scoff at the idea, but sadly he had learned a long time ago that there were adults who were perfectly okay with killing children without a second thought. He already had a few individuals who were trying to kill him because he was a Heir of the Moonless Night.

    Why should it be any different that an evil old wizard would try to kill him for his family fortune?

    Still he already had been chewed out by his parents for breaking the State of Secrecy to a¡­ mundi. Honestly he hated the term as his parents tried to give him the child''s explanation of why things were the way they were¡­

    But Marcus had a hard time believing it was because ¡®they just wouldn¡¯t understand¡¯ as he was a child of Arcadia. There were a lot of things that people didn¡¯t understand¡­ yet that didn¡¯t stop anyone from trying.

    Case in point when the door was opened his parents tried to figure out how Velkear had managed to get inside their house as the man in yellow was sitting in the living room. He put away the tablet he was looking at before focusing on Marcus.

    His father pulled him behind him while his mother looked around outside making sure they weren¡¯t going to be ambushed or something. The only one who wasn¡¯t afraid was Marcus because he knew how Lord Velkear operated¡­ and why he was here.

    The man in yellow produced a small wrapped package and placed it on the table in front of him ¡°Your payment for the job Leng.¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s Marcus.¡± His father forcefully reminded him ¡°His name is Marcus Flame.¡±

    Velkear ignored him as he continued to focus on¡­ his heir. Marcus was the first in line to the House of the Moonless Night and it was something that the old creature would never let him forget. Even if someone else took him in and raised him.

    ¡°He is my claim.¡± Velkear simply reminded them ¡°I came to check upon my heir since he is weaker than he should have been. You two coddle him too much¡­¡±

    ¡°You sent him to fight a magical monster that you knew without telling him about the threat!¡± His mother snapped ¡°We are lucky that the Silver Cloaks didn¡¯t cart him away after finding the illegal artifacts and the goblin steel knife you gave him!¡±

    Marcus didn¡¯t mention that it was his knife and that he was going to try to get another one. Goblin Steel was good quality steel especially when you needed a ritual knife.

    ¡°Yes, yes. Sorry if I was concerned that you two have yet to see reason and accept my humble offer¡­¡± Velkear spoke with obvious disdain

    ¡°The answer is still no.¡± His father snapped ¡°We still have time. We are not that desperate yet.¡±

    Velkear rolled his eyes as he walked towards the entrance of the house. His mother cast a spell summoning a wall of flames blocking the doorway as Velkear simply glared at her before he slammed the end of his walking cane onto the ground banishing the flames even if they couldn¡¯t hurt him.

    There was not a hint of wood within the cane, but the cane wasn¡¯t magical in the least bit¡­ no Velkear was a force of nature of his own and he brushed off the supposed dirt off his yellow jacket before staring at his adopted father just daring him to make a move.

    ¡°You know he isn¡¯t going to be accepted into a magical school.¡± Velkear firmly stated ¡°If he made a Pact with the young girl who had her brother kidnapped then maybe he might have even had some help. But instead he followed your idotic teachings and moral nonsense having helped the girl without taking anything in exchange for his services rendered!¡±

    ¡°We already got him in a magical school.¡± His father stated with force ¡°And we do not need your help as we can take care of our own.¡±

    Velkear hissed in anger ¡°Somehow I doubt having a freaking Grim Song running around for plenty of non-magical people to see would count as ¡®non-problematic¡¯ as your twig twirling kinsmen would gladly pin the blame on him then accept that they were the ones who screwed up!¡±

    Marcus kept his mouth shut as his parents stood their ground. The seconds passed as Velkear waited for them to respond while his parents tried to keep the location to the school he was going to a secret. While they distrusted and hated the old traitor¡­ they did fear Velkear.

    The problem was that they stood up to him regardless and they actually won. That was something that frustrated Velkear to no end.

    So after seeing them stand firm in their convection the man in the yellow suit sighed before he opened up the box revealing a few of the key missing ingredients they needed to craft The Red Stone¡­ not pieces that they needed to try and craft a new one¡­ but ingredients that residents in the wizarding world could no longer get because they had simply become extinct.

    ¡°My heir has worked hard for these ingredients for the services he has rendered¡­¡± The man spoke with a hint of strain in his voice ¡°I would gladly place him within a school for his own protection. I would even allow you to pick two ingredients from your shopping list to hand to you right away. You know my stores are vast and the items I can obtain far outweigh anything you can find in the wild.¡±

    Velkear stared at his parents waiting for them to respond ¡°I can even promise to teach him ¡®safe¡¯ magic. To have his teachers not teach him anything that would offend your ¡®moral sensibilities¡¯ and even bind it with a Pact if you should so desire.¡±

    ¡°Why?¡± Marcus couldn¡¯t help, but find himself asking.

    To their shock Velkear simply laughed ¡°Why? Why Leng... it is because you are too weak. Next time when you fail it shall not be the cost of a random girl¡¯s memories. Considering all that is going to happen this year¡­ It would bother me to find your protection sorely lacking to allow the Lord of Breaking Dawn to try and obtain his vengeance against you.¡±

    Now the young magician was afraid as that old foe still tried to hunt him down not only because he was a Heir of the Moonless Night¡­ but because the old monster lost to an eight year old child. It was the reason why Marcus had been chosen to be the first in line since he won and managed to escape with his life.

    Velkear looked down at him ¡°Give me one good reason why¡­¡±

    ¡°Luxarious has put forth a claim to take possession of our family fortune and legacy. We are contesting it as Marcus is being ¡®officially¡¯ presented to the wizarding world in a way that not even he could deny.¡± His mother interjected ¡°Is that a good enough reason?¡±

    Velkear froze as if he couldn¡¯t believe the words he was hearing before his face twisted in rage ¡°The twig twirler put forth a claim on my heir!¡± The air grew harsher as the shadows grew around him ¡°That he tries to subvert the claim I hold upon my heir!¡±

    ¡°So I take it that you deny his claim is stronger than ours¡­ or yours?¡± She spoke with a smirk.

    The walking cane snapped as Velkear looked down and saw that he had crushed the top of the cane with his bare hands before he chuckled as the cane and it¡¯s remains sunk into the shadows despairing from sight.

    ¡°I understand¡­¡± Velkear slowly replied as he produced an obsidian key out of nowhere ¡°No you are¡­ right¡­ in your judgement.¡± he spoke in grudging defeat ¡°It was good that you brought this to my attention as I can not let even his ignorance excuse the offense he has brought to me.¡±

    He shoved the key into the nearby wardrobe before turning it. Instead of revealing a couple of old robes and jackets the doorway revealed a large bustling city as everyone non-human creature that turned to see him instantly backed away as the crowd parted in his presence out of fear.

    The man in the yellow suit smiled as he gave them a small bow ¡°Until next time¡­ and my offer still stands as I refuse to accept old age rob me of our little rivalry.¡±

    ¡°And I refuse to give up without trying first at least.¡± His father replied as they watched Velkear enter the city streets before closing the door.

    Just to be safe his father opened up the door again revealing the old robes and jackets inside the wardrobe before pulling out his wand and summoning some rope to tie the doors open just to be safe. While they did not fully understand the extent of Velkear¡¯s abilities¡­ they didn¡¯t let that stop him.

    His mother collapsed in one of the chairs as his father glanced at her causing her to reply ¡°Would you rather focus on him giving us more problems or letting Luxarious get his fair share?¡±

    He didn¡¯t respond as they tried to take an assessment for the trouble they were going to deal with this year. Velkear knew of their plans, but hopefully he and the old traitor would take care of each other. The new magical school he was being sent to was going to be a political mess¡­

    And Marcus was going to have to represent the Flame family name while his parents tried to collect the last missing ingredients that should hopefully allow them to make another Red Stone to prevent the young magician from becoming an orphan.

    So they all tried to focus on what they could do and what should be done next. Supplies were needed for the trip his parents were going to take and school supplies were needed for Marcus as they could finally get him an official wand.

    Then of course there was an argument about how they would communicate with each other. Marcus opted to stick with trying to use cellphones as he was sure he could get one to work within a magical school while his parents opted for an owl.

    Naturally they clashed for a little until they skipped over to what Marcus could do and what he was not allowed to do. This was a school for children and even if there were going to be students dueling each other¡­ Then, the risk to life and limb should not be an issue to worry about.

    The problem of course became them arguing about what was considered legal and safe¡­ vs ''technically legal¡¯ so long as nobody knows about it.

    Especially considering that Marcus didn¡¯t have a lot of ¡®dueling¡¯ experience. He had been in fights, but generally the situations required a more liberal application of lethal force, tricks, and magic he wasn¡¯t supposed to use.

    Still¡­ Marcus couldn¡¯t help feel a little bit of excitement at going to a magical school¡­ and fear.

    Fear because Velkear was right. If he had been a little bit stronger, smarter, quicker¡­ anything¡­ then maybe he wouldn¡¯t have needed the twig twirlers to save him. Maybe he might have even allowed Cathrine to have a choice on if she wanted to remember or forget what happened.

    Instead¡­

    Instead the choice had been ripped from her before she ever knew there was a choice¡­ and Marcus was left trying to pick up the pieces like always.

    No¡­ this time he¡¯d do better.

    He had to.

 ch6

    Tim tried to catch up with his son as the old wizard was now feeling his age in the triple digits instead of the (much smaller) double digits. It didn¡¯t help that his wife Eliza looked at their son in both pride and envy as just moved to the next¡­

    ¡°Oh sweet Nefaria¡­ how many of these things are left?¡± He asked himself in disbelief.

    ¡°I know!¡± Their son/nightmare spoke in honest pride ¡°We just skipped across half of North America in just a few minutes.¡±

    The glare his wife was shooting him didn¡¯t help as transportation by magical transport was tiring. Transportation by apparition drew upon one¡¯s own magical reserve with the side effect of nausea, dizziness, and your body trying to adjust to suddenly being in a new location.

    You could go far, but you could also tire yourself out and not everyone had the talent for it. So the solution was to tie the spell to an object or a ¡®Gatekey¡¯ to allow one to be teleported to a preset location.

    In theory this worked better because a wizard or witch wouldn¡¯t be drawing upon their own magical reserve and there were spells that could be set up to help them catch their ground or breath when they apperated to the new location.

    The problem?

    It felt like he had gained a hangover only for the barkeep to then try to beat him unconscious with the empty bottle and unlike apparition he wouldn¡¯t simply ¡®get better¡¯ once his magical reserve was replenished or he managed to get his footing.

    Technically the new mass Gatekey system made it easier¡­ in the same way saying you had that annoying person saying ¡®You just have a little bit further to go¡¯ when you were dog tired and wanted to stop running.

    They were tired, exhausted, and the magical recoil was exhausting¡­ there were booths for people to rest in as they tried to recover, yet Marcus was running around as if they hadn¡¯t jumped through twelve cursed blasted things!

    He checked his watch before glancing at the map apparently impressed at the speed of travel¡­ and completely ignoring every other wizard and witch groaning about Antiarius idioitc attempt at trying to create a mass Gatekey travel system.

    Still he kept moving forward dragging his traveling suitcase behind as the large trunk on wheels would sometimes unzip itself (just a little) to where you could see something inside the suitcase staring back at you.

    Tim Flame pinched the bridge of his nose as he started to question if perhaps this was some sort of Arcadia nonsense that allowed their son to not experience any Gatekey Recoil and if so¡­ what ancient spirit did he need to make a Pact to stop feeling all bad parts of drinking without actually having drunk anything.

    ¡°Just one more.¡± His wife muttered half in prayer as the latest Gatekey¡­ a large richly decorated golden staff stood off to the side as a pair of goblins were checking tickets ¡°One more and then we can rest in a booth.¡±

    Tim nodded his head as he revealed his ticket to the goblins who stared at him in disbelief ¡°The Illusive Mage?¡±

    He flinched as he hated that title. His father named him Tim in the hopes that he could buy a better name in the future. Tim Flame actually liked the name his parents gave him, yet the entire magical world just kept trying to figure out what it stood for¡­ and kept making new titles up around it.

    Sometimes a name was just a name. He liked to keep things simple even if his wife sometimes joked it was because he sucked at naming things.

    ¡°Travel for three to the next point of the Candidate picks.¡± He dimly replied.

    The goblins quickly moved to help them get to the staff as they gave him Botmen¡¯s Savior¡¯s the small bloody awful pills who¡¯s only saving grace was that while they tasted horrible¡­ they were far more tolerable than Gatekey sickness.

    Popping the small orange pill into his mouth he joined his son as they all took hold of the staff before the entire scenery changed before their eyes as they now stood inside an old stone fort. Plenty of parents were bidding their children goodbye as more than a few adults were taking refuge in the booths to recover from their trip.

    Tim took a deep breath as he managed to walk in a straight line as his son glanced at the map checking where they were¡­ and the unsettling chill down his spine reminded him why they had kept away from the wizarding magical world.

    ¡°I heard Andrew Flame is joining us this year.¡± A voice spoke up ¡°Anyone see him?¡±

    ¡°You heard about Hadwin Vera? He¡¯s joining as Lux¡¯s pick!¡± Another voice spoke in awe ¡°Do you think he¡¯ll sign my book?¡±

    Tim pulled up his hood as his wife cast the disillusionment charm to keep the crowd from noticing them. He hated that nobody noticed his son as they all had taken to the idea of what they thought would be their son instead of¡­ accepting the truth.

    ¡°Marcus. Remember the rules.¡± He spoke reminding his son on what he was allowed and more important not allowed to do ¡°This isn¡¯t¡­ Arcadia. Nobody is out to get you.¡±

    His son turned around staring at him as if not believing him before he nodded his head ¡°Don¡¯t get into a fight with the old goat. It doesn¡¯t matter if I win so long as I make it through the school year¡­ and don¡¯t tell Velkear where I am.¡±

    While most parents who had their child nominated for the Trial of Fates would be ecstatic and try giving words of encouragement. The problem was that Marcus didn¡¯t know how to duel. Dueling had rules and regulations while fighting¡­ or the brand his son was used to?

    Their impression was to show that Marcus Flame the third child and heir to the Flame Family was just a kid even if Marcus hated being called a kid. There was nothing bad or wrong with him. He was skilled even if his magic was a bit old fashioned...

    One of the Unsee slowly pulled out a pair of headphones.

    ¡°No electronics.¡± Tim quickly replied as he shoved the headphones back into the suitcase ¡°There is going to be a lot of magic and electronics will not work there.¡±

    Marcus had worked his ¡®magic¡¯ to keep them working, but that wasn¡¯t the point. There were unspoken rules within the magical community and having a child who freely used Mundi Technology so easily despite the large amounts of magic (and wards) that should have rendered them useless?

    Tim did not want to see how the magical world would react when they realized that it might be possible for anyone with a properly warded cell phone could instantly take their picture and send it to the internet.

    Or worse¡­

    If one bound to Arcadia found their location.

    Tim felt nervous as he knew it would be safer for their son to attend the magical school even with the politics going on in the background. Still he could picture far too many ways this could all go wrong.

    What if Lux had gone too far? What if one of the other children cast a curse only for Marcus to cast one in return? What if they found a goblin steel dagger in his bags¡­ or worse¡­ what if they looked into the staff?

    As much as Tim hated that his son was bringing the staff with him after getting a perfectly fine Fourteen inch Spruce Wand. The core was a little bit troubling¡­ especially with the wood pairing.

    ¡®Flexible, Slightly Flamboyant and dramatic effects. Dragon Heartstrong bonds easily, but also can turn to the more darker aspects of magic.¡¯

    Normally most would focus on the more positive aspects or associations of the core¡­ as a powerful loyal spell caster was always something to cherish within the wizarding world. The problem was...

    If wands helped show an aspect of a wizard (or witch) then one would simply take ¡®Flamboyant and dramatic¡¯ combined with ¡®Sometimes learns towards darker spells¡¯ as the obvious sign of a budding dark lord.

    Maybe his son¡¯s paranoia was getting to him, but Tim thought of all the ways a skilled wizard could twist around the type of wand his son got into a sign¡­ a sign to remove his son and find their ¡®proper heir¡¯ to claim the Flame Legacy.

    He pinched his nose as ¡®wizard who messed with Mundi Tech and shows very little respect towards the Albion Accord¡¯ wasn¡¯t exactly a ringing endorsement. Still hopeful his son would find some people around his age and just¡­

    Be a child.

    Even if Marcus hated being treated as a child it was because he rarely got to be a child. That was what his father wanted his son to experience.

    Just the daily mundane aspects of going around classes and being taught magic. Complaining about homework and trying to find some sort of magical adventure that generally didn¡¯t amount to much, except for the fun times and laughs he and his friends would have as the worst trouble they would face would be getting detention.

    He tried to smile as he put both hands onto his son¡¯s shoulder. Tim stared at the odd young child who happened to steal The Red Stone from them¡­ only to get caught trying to sell it at a Mundi Pawn shop as he had no idea that the wizarding world even existed.

    ¡°Just be careful, but more importantly¡­ have fun.¡± Tim spoke as he glanced at the crowd of students trying to be rounded up ahead of them ¡°Not everyone is trying to get you.¡±

    Marcus glanced up ahead as he looked nervous at the large crowd of people up ahead. Some were being sorted to pick between the students who were returning to the school this year¡­ and those having been picked to serve as (possible) Champions of the Duel of Fates.

    ¡°Also don¡¯t get into any fights with Hadwin Vera just because Lux chose him as a candidate.¡± He quickly added

    Marcus nodded his head ¡°I know¡­ because he is the popular pick and the press is going to support him and tear down anyone who messes with their ¡®child of prophecy¡¯. I know to be careful in how I pick my¡­¡±

    ¡°He is just a kid.¡± Eliza cut in ¡°Do not mistake ignorance for malice as sometimes people are just stupid.¡±

    Tim rolled his eyes as he wanted to say something that sounded a little more positive, but his son nodded his head accepting the decision¡­ even if it was for the wrong reason.

    They both bid their son goodbye as Tim sighed as¡­ it never got easier did it? Two different children at different time periods. You¡¯d think that by the third child they would have figured it all out?

    Sadly being a parent was never that easy as each child could share the same fears while bringing together their own unique bag of fears, worries, and concerns that would make you second guess every decision you made.The author''s narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

    Yet¡­

    This was what being a parent was. Looking at your child go and just praying that everything would be alright.

    Marcus Flame turned around and spoke ¡°And remember¡­ if you don¡¯t have everything set by February¡­¡±

    ¡°We know¡­¡± Tim spoke with a soft smile ¡°We know.¡±

    Marcus turned around and tried to figure out which group he was joining while Tim pulled out the small business card in his pocket. Velkear would be watching their movements, but not interfering as the ancient fiend had an odd sense of¡­ honor¡­ or perhaps it would be better to say ¡®rules¡¯ that he lived by.

    Far easier to trust than some people these days.

    ¡°So which ingredient do you want to go after first?¡± Tim asked his wife.

    She glanced at the map before pointing at the Gatekey location ¡°I say Newport¡­ White River Spine and fang might be able to replace Zmei fang. Also we¡¯ll only have to take¡­¡± She took a deep breath ¡°Two more jumps.¡±

    Tim tried not to groan as it was just two more Gatekey jumps. Then they could simply collapse within one of the booths and sleep it off.

    <hr>

    Marcus took a deep breath as his parents were gone now. There were dozens of twig twirlers walking about and now there was the maze of which group he was going to be sorted into. The ones on the right shifting about in disappointment towards the silver staff GateKey.

    Safely get to school without anyone noticing you.

    Pros - Arrive at school safely and other students know the area. Cons - it makes you look weak and they¡¯ll notice you aren¡¯t one of them.

    On the left was the golden staff where other ¡®chosen¡¯ students were walking to.

    Pros - Walk proudly upholding family name and see rivals. Cons - Rivals see you and might do something stupid.

    The left he wasn¡¯t a fan of since there was no telling what someone could do especially if they did something stupid. He also doubted anyone would intervene until someone (they didn¡¯t want) was losing.

    The same problem was held on the right side because he would be seen as weak. Even if somebody did something stupid it would hopefully mean everyone else wouldn¡¯t gang up on him thinking he was the easiest one to eliminate.

    ¡®Meh. If they try and gang up I can just use wide Area Of Effect tactics.¡¯ The young magician thought to himself. ¡®I don¡¯t need to put on a good show. I just need to be the only one left standing.¡¯

    The decision had been made as it seemed like the right choice only some odd twig twirler in a brown duster jacket to magically move him out of the crowd and drag him towards him. Marcus hated that he was being dragged out as he tried not to glare at the adult.

    First rule of fighting in a crowd?

    Doge the first strike they throw. If you''re lucky it hits someone else making them hit your attacker. If you are unlucky then it means they threw the first punch and you are fighting for ¡®self-defense¡¯ which hopefully should work when the authorities dragged you in.

    He held up his left hand a little making sure that the obsidian ring could be seen. Thankfully the twig twirler didn¡¯t seem to react or even notice it which meant he was a regular wizard instead of one with ties to Arcadia.

    The wizard flicked his wand as the envelope from the chairman came out of Marcus¡¯s suitcase and into the twig twirler¡¯s hand. A few others glanced at him in confusion as he decidedly didn¡¯t look like a twig twirler opting for pants instead of hard to run in robes.

    The man before him had also opted for pants and a shirt¡­ but he also had a gun on his side. Marcus kept an eye on the gun as a dozen situations filled his mind on how badly this could go down.

    ¡°Marcus? No last name?¡± The twig twirler spoke in confusion

    ¡°The chairman picked me. If I am correct the proper term is new blood as my family line still has one Mundi relative with no magical ones.¡± Marcus spoke as technically it was true.

    His father wasn¡¯t born a twig twirler and nobody knew who his biological mother was (or even if he had one). Sure blood adoption counted more making him a¡­ either a half-blood or full blood.

    His (adopted) mother came from a wizarding line while his father was a new blood¡­ but he was over five hundred years old. Normally that was for magical blood lines through generations which would have made him a full blood¡­ but he didn¡¯t know if you needed magical lineage to last through ages or generations for it to count.

    Magical Twig Twirler politics were complicated.

    ¡°Sounds like one of his picks.¡± The twig twirler muttered ¡°Still at least he is being progressive. You are going behind me towards the scenic route.¡±

    His blood froze as he stared at the carriages. This was not a fancy term or name for a car or possibly a bus. No they were old wooden horse drawn carriages with the only saving grace (and failure) being that they weren¡¯t pulled by horses¡­ but some sort of magical spectral horse.

    In theory this meant they were easier to guide. In practice it meant that if the driver was gone the cart wouldn¡¯t go forward. Even if the driver ditched them a flesh and blood horse could still pull the carriage.

    Marcus coughed as he glanced at the much safer and reasonable golden staff Gatekey. If he was being forced to pick the second option¡­ ¡°Can¡¯t I go the regular way? It¡¯s much faster¡­¡±

    ¡°Don¡¯t worry about it.¡± The Twig Twirler replied ¡°Just go to cart number four.¡±

    He felt the Twig Twirler¡¯s magic push him forward a little as apparently the man misunderstood the message. Marcus wasn¡¯t being shy about going on carriages thinking they were too good. He wanted to go by the much faster and safer method of mass public transportation!

    You didn¡¯t see the regular non-magical humans take carriages to go across state lines when a car (or plane) would do the same job! Heck most people would find spending three days traveling as ¡®far too long¡¯ to spend on just trying to get somewhere!

    He nearly shot the man a glare until he saw some random child with glasses speak up ¡°Any luck on finding Andrew Flame?¡±

    ¡°No Hadwin. He still hasn¡¯t come.¡± The twig twirler who pulled him out of the safer lines replied ¡°We¡¯ll find him so that Lux can have a talk with him.¡±

    Marcus was thankful that the Chairman¡­ Antiarius.

    That was his name.

    He was thankful that Antiarius hadn¡¯t marked him down as the flame heir or this trip would have been a lot shorter than he would have liked. The young magician shivered at the brief brush with death he just barely managed to avoid.

    With that in mind he quickly raced over to the carriage before the Twig Twirlers could realize their mistake.

    He opened the door shoving his suitcase inside before getting in the antique piece of junk and closing the door shut. He nearly sighed in relief until he heard the slight ¡®humph¡¯ from the other passenger inside the cart.

    Some young blond hair girl with blue eyes stared at him ¡°What are you doing here?¡±

    Marcus sighed, holding up his left hand with the envelope ¡°Letter of invitation.¡±

    She squinted as if he was somehow offending her with his very presence¡­ ¡°You are wearing that ring on the wrong finger.¡±

    He froze as his right hand went to the suitcase as the Unsee quickly moved his staff up ready for him to defend himself.

    ¡°What house is that?¡± She asked in confusion.

    Marcus blinked, caught off guard ¡°The House of the Moonless Night.¡±

    She didn¡¯t react to the name like most people would have. There was no cursing, no fear, and more importantly she didn¡¯t pull out her wand and try to kill him. That sounded a bit drastic, but people have tried to kill him for less.

    ¡°Have you ever heard of Korona?¡± The question was about as blunt as asking ¡®you ever heard of the Albion Accord?¡¯ to a twig twirler.

    The fact she still seemed confused only brought up more questions to him since only those with ties to Arcadia could see the obsidian ring. How could you have ties to Arcadia without even knowing the most basic details!

    Marcus coughed as he held up his right hand ¡°Also I¡¯m blood adopted. That one takes precedent for the right hand.¡±

    He summoned the Flame Family Ring marking him as the latest Flame Heir and the obvious look of disbelief and shock now came from the strange young witch¡¯s face. She rubbed her eyes before looking him over twice as if in disbelief.

    ¡°You look nothing like what the books say.¡± She spoke in disbelief.

    He rolled his eyes ¡°The name is Marcus Leng Flame the Third. Third child to the flame name. First two already dead. Picked to be the champion of old by the chairman since none of you know what a freaking Unsee is.¡±

    On que the Unsee came out of the suitcase carrying whatever they could to try and fortify the inside of the cart. He spilt the beans and they were preparing to make sure that this useless bit of lumber on wooden wheels would be able to protect him.

    She stared at the small swarm of Unsee ¡°What¡­ I mean¡­¡± She seemed to struggle with what to say next before she recomposed herself.

    The young witch in black robes held out her hand revealing the ring on her hand ¡°My name is Lapis Rezen. Heir to the Noble House of Rezen and chosen to be¡­ someone who supports the traditions of the British Isles.¡±

    She smiled softly as she glanced at the Unsee ¡°I can¡¯t claim to be a champion of old when you have a stronger claim to the title.¡± The Unsee turned to face her as if acknowledging her presence for the first time ¡°I am sorry for my lack of respect¡­ Spirits of the Hearth.¡±

    A few of them took off their hats and bowed in response as Marcus was kind of surprised that she knew of them by a title. It was a good move since most of the Unsee felt¡­ abandoned by the magical female portion of the magical world.

    She chuckled a little before she glanced back at him ¡°Though I have to ask what is with your clothes¡­ and your staff?¡±

    Now he couldn¡¯t help, but chuckle as he took the opposite seat and pulled out the tools of his trade. A staff, the circular notepad with pre-inscribed Rites and Runes, and a few fake wands. The goblin steel knife just had to stay hidden until he got to the school or when trouble popped up.

    ¡°The clothing is because it¡¯s always good to wear something you can run in.¡± Marcus spoke from practical experience.

    ¡°As for the staff?¡± It flared to life within his hands as he couldn¡¯t help, but smile a little ¡°Not all magic is bound by the Albion Accord.¡±

    <hr>

    Garmr Grim sighed as Andrew Flame had yet to be found. He prevented more than a few other students that tried to hide away with the carriages, but the real reason why he was put in charge of sorting duty had yet to arrive.

    It shouldn¡¯t have been hard trying to spot the portly young wizard with goggles who smelled of various potion ingredients. Andrew would have some self confidence issues which Hadwin could help him overcome and getting the shy young wizard who didn¡¯t like conflict to grow out of his shell.

    Then again it wouldn¡¯t surprise him if Andrew was dropped off at the school by his parents considering how old Antiarius had gone off the deep end. Abandoning his position as Chairman of the Silver Cloak Protectorate and becoming whatever job position he had achieved with the Amora Branch.

    Even going so far as refusing Lux¡¯s words and having lost faith in the Book of Prophecy to the point he refused to see the child Lux had presented to fill the void left by the death of his daughter. To refuse accepting the daughter who would help save the magical wizarding world.

    ¡®Shame really.¡¯ Garmr thought to himself. ¡°We could have made the band of Five meet sooner¡­ Instead it¡¯s just a duo as Roland is still focused on being rivals with Hadwin instead of friends. No idea who had poisoned his mind considering the rest of his family seems about right.¡¯

    Still things should be better this year as Roland wasn¡¯t picked as Lux¡¯s second choice. In fact most of Hadwin¡¯s problems were being left in Europe (for the most part) as it was time for him to go see the wider magical world without any extra problems added to it.

    His Godson already had a few rough years and this one should hopefully be better than last year¡­ it would be hard to top a psychotic witch breaking out of jail and trying to kill you.

    ¡°Well let''s get to the cart Hadwin.¡± He spoke with a sigh ¡°Looks like this is it.¡±

    His godson nodded as the young youth with messy brown hair and glasses smiled ¡°Beats taking the Gatekey.¡±

    Garmr nodded as Gatekeys were useful¡­ but anyone would take a carriage ride or a broom over a Gatekey if they had the choice.

    As they walked to the cart he tried to remind his godson ¡°And remember Hadwin¡­ Andrew is a bit of a traditionalist. So be careful as he isn¡¯t as bad as Jasper Rezen, but¡­¡±

    ¡°Classic like Merlin, but not Morgana.¡± Hadwin nodded with unease ¡°I know. Still it¡¯s going to be rough as¡­¡±

    Garmr stopped as he held Hadwin¡¯s shoulder and looked him straight in the eye. The kid was still feeling guilty about what happened during the first year¡­ and it hadn¡¯t gotten any better after the disaster during the third year.

    ¡°You are not ¡®The-Boy-In-Trouble¡¯ but the ¡®Boy-Who-Survives¡¯ alright?¡± He spoke firmly to his godson ¡°It was the dead dark wizard who was responsible for the destruction of the Stone. It was the crazy witch Vilateria who killed that young witch. You are not responsible for their actions Hadwin Havoic.¡±

    The young wizard tried to smile, but the guilt still hung there ¡°I know¡­ I just¡­¡±

    Garmr smiled ¡°You are riding in a cart to be protected by plenty of my friends as you¡¯ll get to meet a lot of people. Nothing is going to happen to anyone on this trip Hadwin. We kept everything a secret including the last minute change to this location to ensure that nothing is going to happen.¡±

    It gave Antiarius a bit of a fit, but Garmr didn¡¯t care. They had already faced enough problems trying to get here¡­ and he knew why Hadwin was feeling uneasy this year. He still held the newspaper of the rather direct mark of ¡®the threat for the year¡¯ in his hands.

    The picture of the Aloe Vera manor as dozens of Silver Cloaks were busy trying to figure out who had left the attack and how they managed to get past so many family wards. The fact they weren¡¯t home when the attack happened was a relief¡­ but the wards had been broken and the message¡­ was troubling.

    ¡®The Claim Is Mine!¡¯ was carved into the door.

    Hadwin didn¡¯t know what the message meant, but Lux feared it was some new Dark Lord only this one was after the Staff of Aeons. It was still locked safely back in Stagniss as the defenses guarding the staff were still intact, but those who read the book of prophecy would know that Hadwin was supposed to claim the staff in the future.

    So if someone was contesting a claim¡­ it would be for the staff.

    So Garmr was going to do his best to protect his godson and try to figure out what the latest dark lord wannabe was and take care of them early so that Hadwin could focus on making friends with the other two chosen picks.

    Andrew Flame and Casandra Hawks.

    ¡°Ah Hadwin¡­ Still see that everyone giving you special privileges.¡± A voice spoke out mocking his godson ¡°Did Mommy pull strings or did Lux think you needed ¡®extra protection¡¯ after how badly you screwed up last year?¡±

    Garmr turned around as the last person had arrived¡­ and it was now Andrew Flame. No this was Roland Rook¡­ who wasn¡¯t supposed to be here.

    The red hair youth wore a mocking grin as he held out his envelope ¡°Chairman Antiarius personally came to pick me up and ensure that I would arrive with the chosen few.¡±

    Garmr snatched the envelope out of the kid¡¯s hand and looked at it in disbelief ¡°Wait¡­ you''re the champion of new? What happened to...¡±

    ¡°New kid? Last minute pick who won by merit instead of drooling as a baby.¡± Roland spoke with a hint of envy ¡°Still try not to get anyone else killed during one of your ¡®scenes¡¯ this year Vera. The school is already making a betting pool on how many students you get killed at this school before the middle of the term.¡±

    Garmr shoved the envelope back into Roland¡¯s hands ¡°Take a cart. The Headmaster is going to¡­¡±

    ¡°Welcome me to his school as Luxarious the old prick is not my headmaster this year.¡± Roland snarled back ¡°Please do your job well so that Hadwin doesn¡¯t win by simply being the only contest left alive to arrive at the school.¡±

    Garmr gritted his teeth as he watched the prat walk off. Hadwin gripped his wand tighter as their rivalry hadn¡¯t ended¡­ if anything it somehow had gotten even worse? Hopefully having Hadwin beat him fair and square in a duel would finally make Roland less of a prick and become the friend he was supposed to be by the end of this year.

    ¡°Wait¡­ the new blood is the champion of old? The Mundi-born kid with the suitcase?¡± Hadwin spoke in disbelief

    Garmr glanced back at the carts as that couldn¡¯t be right. Even if Antiarius had turned sour¡­ Roland Rook came from an established (if down on their luck) old wizarding family. There was no way that he had been passed over as the champion of old¡­ unless something had gone wrong.

    ¡®Pre-Albion Accord magic?¡¯ The older wizard thought with an uneasy shiver.

    Technically it was an older form of magic¡­ but there was a reason why it had been left for dead. Not even Antiarius would even consider¡­ something like that.

    ¡°He¡¯s probably lying, Hadwin.¡± Garmr lied to his godson ¡°Let¡¯s get to the carts so that you can meet Lux¡¯s second pick.¡±

    They walked to the cart as hopefully Hadwin¡¯s meeting with Cassandra Hawks would turn out alright. The only question would be if they got along¡­ or if they would both be nervous at meeting one another. Personally he hoped it would be the second one as he needed some time embarrassing his Godson and getting someone else to see him as Hadwin Havoc instead of the elusive ¡®Boy of Prophecy¡¯ that was supposed to help save the magical world in the future.

 CH7

    Marcus had to admit that Lapis Rezen was interesting or different from most Twig Twirlers he had encountered. Not all of it was good, but neither was it bad. Her biggest draw was the utter fascination she had with the various bits of magical information he had.

    He had never seen someone (magical at least) spend so much time inspecting one of his false wands. Oh sure she knew it wasn¡¯t a real one and that only a single spell had been inscribed upon it¡­ but she was fascinated that a single spell had been bound to the wand.

    Lapis already pulled out a bit of scroll as she was already jotting down as many details and notes about the false wand that she could make.

    ¡°Can you bind this spell to other objects? I mean this lacks and wood muchless a magical core which defies Artia¡¯s Third Law of Magic.¡± She spoke in utter fascination ¡°What type of ink was used to make this¡­ or did you somehow charge the wand giving it limited uses?¡±

    ¡°Limited charges as it can hold a maximum of five, but the important thing is that it can be recharged.¡± Marcus informed her ¡°It sounds silly, but having a spare spell on hand is always useful.¡±

    She rubbed her chin accidentally rubbing some ink against it since she was using an inferior quill over the much more sensible ink pen. He pointed at her chin causing her to blush a little in embarrassment as she produced a white cloth to wipe it away.

    Marcus found the white cloth both fascinating and a little bit scary because it was also magic. It just lacked the tell tale signs that his craft involved and the attempts made to hide their magical nature.

    His wands had their secrets inside the hollow inside. His shoes had them inscribed on the bottom of each shoe and his clothing was a mess of every attempt to hide and inscribe as much protection as he could make inside the clothing.

    Simply turning his clothing inside out would reveal the obvious arcane protection that had been placed upon them¡­ but they were kept hidden if you were wearing them correctly. The white cloth was white¡­ so either it was charmed¡­ or some sort of white base ink had been inscribed upon the cloth itself to hide the magical enchantment.

    ¡°There is a reason why Black is popular with magic when Ink is the main source of Enchantments.¡± He thought to himself.

    ¡°So what about the other contestants? I mean what is the deal with Hadwin?¡± Marcus asked as info on his rivals was important.

    Lapis frowned obviously annoyed at the reference of the boy ¡°I take it your parents didn¡¯t keep you updated on the wizarding world¡¯s politics?¡±

    The young magician shrugged ¡°We move around a lot. Hard to get a feel for the land when you have bigger things to worry about.¡±

    ¡°I take it the story about your parents having planned on destroying Alchemist¡¯s glory are false then?¡± The witch spoke like a reporter catching whiff of a good story.

    ¡°He preferred calling it The Red Stone¡­¡± Marcus slowly mumbled ¡°But it¡¯s complicated. I mean...¡±

    He didn¡¯t say anything more as he didn¡¯t know her that well. She just nodded, taking it as the far simpler complication of politics since it was considered rude to openly insult and curse a backstabbing traitor when they held more political power than you.

    ¡°Hadwin situation is complicated. His father took his mother¡¯s maiden name making him legally Hadwin Havoc, but amongst traditionalists his name is Hadwin Vera since the Aloe Vera family is a long and ancient family leaving him as the sole blood heir to it.¡± she tried to explain.

    Marcus nodded as wizarding politics were complicated, but he knew schemes. On paper something must have happened with the father and his family having them take the mother¡¯s name¡­ but considering he is the only survivor that makes him the owner due to being the only pick left by default.

    The old goat picked up on this and chose a young easily impressionable child to follow along with whatever policies he wanted. If you steal a stone to extend your lifespan then raising the next generation to be loyal minions probably wasn¡¯t too much of a stretch especially when you ran a major magical school and had a large amount of power within the local ruling magical government.

    She pinched her nose and muttered in frustration ¡°His biggest claim to fame is that he ¡®supposedly¡¯ killed the last great Dark Lord. The problem was that he was a baby when it happened, but everyone goes along with it since he had a Prophecy claiming he was going to kill the Dark Lord.¡±

    Now he was lost as how did a baby kill an adult?

    Seriously it was hard enough keeping babies alive! The time he had spent with Iobairt had taught him as much as the man¡¯s makeshift orphanage/home had given him a rough summer when he was young.

    ¡°My father thinks his Mother had something to do with it, but everyone thinks Hadwin is destined since he has a Prophecy and those things usually tend to turn out to be right.¡± She replied in a grudging tone ¡°The second biggest player would have to be Roland Rook if you aren¡¯t including me.¡±

    Marcus nodded as he sorted through the various objects the Unsee had brought with them as the spirits continued preparing the inside of the cart for whatever disaster would strike them.

    If the addition of a ¡®cart ride¡¯ was made at the literal last minute for ¡®safety concerns¡¯ that it pretty obvious that some ¡®unexpected accident¡¯ was soon going to happen. Luxarious didn¡¯t need to have Marcus live to play ball.

    He just needed a plausible excuse to kill the boy before pulling out some absurd bylaw that allowed whatever puppet he had on hand to claim the title. The fact that he told everyone that Andrew Flame was the Flame Heir meant he already found some patsy to replace Marcus and he was the loose end that needed to be cut before he made it to school.

    If people were dump enough to think a baby killed a powerful magical mass murderer then they would have no problem accepting a completely different person claiming to be the real Flame Heir after they plucked the Flame family ring from his cold dead fingers.

    He wasn¡¯t paranoid. He was simply the audience member screaming at the characters who were walking into the obvious haunted murder mansion as they ignored Creepy Mc Stab Happy who was leading them inside the place.

    ¡°And who are you and Roland?¡± Marcus asked before he tried to correct himself ¡°I mean in the political landscape since you are dealing with a child of prophecy.¡±

    She stared at him for a few odd seconds in disbelief before blinking ¡°You think that I¡¯m as important as him?¡± She shook her head as she grinned ¡°You get points for flattery, but the truth is my family is powerful in europe and that makes me important. Roland gets his from Infamy as his family is also an ancient noble house, but while his family is willing to live in poverty he isn¡¯t.¡±

    She glanced out the window ¡°Chairman Antiarius is backing him to the point he is practically adopted. Roland has been one of the first in a long time to stand in the face of prophecy preferring to make his own and ignoring the Great Lux¡¯s wisdom.¡±

    Lapis chuckled ¡°The Rook family is loyal followers of Lux and befriended the boy of prophecy¡­ while Roland challenged, defied, and is as big of a rival to Hadwin as my own brother¡­ only for Roland it¡¯s personal instead of House Vera and House Rezen being on different political sides.¡±

    Marcus rolled his eyes as the two biggest players on the field¡­ where only because they stood against Hadwin? What about skill? Talent? Did they favor fair fights, did they cheat, could they avoid being set on fire?

    With those thoughts in mind he messed with his staff testing out one of the spells Velkear had left him with. The Purple Arcane energy formed at his fingertips as he focused on keeping the magic contained.

    ¡°Hadwin has made good marks in his grades and each year he has faced a trial within the school only to succeed¡­¡± Lapis stopped talking as he looked up at her to see what was wrong ¡°What¡­ what is that?¡±

    She pointed at his hand in fear as he stared at the Wand Breaker Curse before dissipating it ¡°Just a minor chant. So¡­ what items do he favor? Is he skilled with a sword? Knife? What other skills does he have at hand besides his wand?¡±

    She blinked staring at him in confusion ¡°Just a wand. I mean he has some talent with magic considering his status, but¡­¡± She shook her head before taking a deep breath ¡°Is it not common for your parents to use wands?¡±

    Marcus shrugged ¡°Wands for the most part. A bit with potions and wards. I¡¯m a little bit more spread out due to not being legally allowed to have a wand until recently¡­¡± Things slowly fell together ¡°Wait¡­ he just skilled with a wand? How many spares does he have? What wand does he favor?¡±

    ¡°Just the one.¡± Lapis spoke with a hint of unease ¡°Like most people. How many do you have?¡±

    Marcus stared at his own staff as¡­ he was going to have to train on the wand breaker curse during his stay at the school. If he had a spell that could disarm every twig opponent in this tournament then it might be a lot easier than he thought.

    Of course he¡¯d still have to avoid the spells, curses, and magic they threw at him¡­

    The cart started to slow down as a voice called out ¡°Tree is in the middle of the road. It must have fallen down¡­¡±

    ¡°Get down. Hug the floor of the cart now.¡± Marcus spoke as he slipped out of his seat and hugged the floor

    To his relief she went down to the floor clearly unhappy at his suggestion, but she moved just fast enough to realize something was wrong judging from the expression on her face.

    ¡°Why did the driver just apparate away?¡± She spoke with a hint of fear.

    ¡°He doesn¡¯t need to be good¡­ just the only one left.¡± Marcus replied as the Unsee jumped into his suitcase. He placed his hand on the obsidian ring and pulled out the key ¡°Flint. Get Buttercup ready as we are going with plan B.¡±

    The red spirit saluted taking the key and jumping into the suitcase.

    Arrows rained down striking the cart.

    Few tore into the walls revealing their tips, but never piercing the walls.

    Screams came as Marcus focused on the basic fireball spell. Arrows meant magical threat since humans would use guns. If they used guns then they might have actually killed someone.

    ¡°Give us the Boy.¡± The Lord of the Broken Dawn demanded outside.

    Marcus held his breath as he was far too naive. He thought the traitor would simply use wizards to try and kill him. Instead he sold him out to the freaking scorched and now the old monster was here trying to kill him again!

    He needed more time. He needed¡­

    ¡°He¡¯s in the first bloody cart!¡± A voice shouted out.This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

    Marcus glanced at Lapis as she held up four fingers. They were in the fourth cart. Whoever shouted had made a mistake, but they bought Marcus a few more seconds.

    ¡°Flint.¡± Marcus spoke as he pulled out the key from his ring ¡°Use the door on the outside and get Buttercup and Plan C.¡±

    <hr>

    Lapis Rezen tried to figure out what was going on.

    First fact - whatever was outside knew they would be here and where not wizards. The magical world didn¡¯t go out and attack people muchless children right before a major event.

    Second fact? They were possibly after Hadwin Vera (currently living up to his Mundi origin last name) or they were after Marcus Flame instead of Sir Andrew Flame who hadn¡¯t appeared and possibly might not exist.

    That last detail might be important since Andrew Flame was written within the book of prophecy and was supposed to have his big reveal this year. That had the slight unsettling detail that Marcus Flame would meet an untimely demise¡­ and she was in the same cart with him.

    When the criminals outside decided to start negations with an open volley of arrows before demanding the death of someone. She highly doubted they would care if they accidentally killed a couple more people by collateral.

    Lapis Rezen cracked open the door as her suspensions had been confirmed as the enemy didn¡¯t try to single anyone out. No the next barrage came in the form of silver arrows to smash into the shields of the only cart with adults left protecting it, before then using scorched earth tactics.

    She had never seen anyone apply the phrase in such a literal manner as her opinion of Garmr Grim and the silver cloak buddies went up a notch. The enemy wasn¡¯t playing around as she couldn¡¯t even see the cart through the flames scorching through the cracks in the trees. The entire forest felt like it might go up in a blaze at this rate.

    Marcus tapped her arm causing her to turn around in fear ¡°What is it?¡±

    The Flame Heir pulled out a few odd trinkets and handed her the plastic wand with healing magic enchanted into it. He tried to smile, but she could tell he was nervous.

    ¡°I¡¯ve got a way out of here. You can go through a magical door and be safe¡­¡± He tried to explain.

    She frowned as she didn¡¯t believe a word he was saying ¡°There is no way I¡¯m running away. What¡¯s the plan?¡±

    No way was she going to be used as bait¡­ and if she ran then Lapis Rezen would become a laughing stock as her brother wouldn¡¯t let her live it down. She wouldn¡¯t let herself forget this moment of weakness and failure.

    He blinked as he was apparently caught off guard before shrugging ¡°Well I¡¯m going to go to the roof and try to get this cart to escape. The Unsee can bind themselves to the cart and Buttercup can pull the cart. The problem is that the Scorched outside are going to notice us trying to escape.¡±

    Lapis bit her lip as he apparently planned to run. It wasn¡¯t the best plan since it sounded like their goal was to kill him and by extension everyone inside of the cart. Still¡­ she wasn¡¯t going to let Hadwin Havoc show her up.

    She was going to do more than just cower and let someone else save him while he takes all the credit.

    ¡°Anyone I should aim for?¡± Lapis asked with a forced smile

    Marcus paused before a rather twisted smile briefly appeared on his face before he shrugged ¡°The one in silver armor and a big name. You¡¯ll know who since he¡¯ll try to be killing me. Just watch out for the arrows and fire.¡±

    He turned around and gave the door a knock ¡°Yip, Yip.¡±

    Lapis moved the door on her side and grabbed the driver¡¯s seat before getting ready to see what Marcus¡¯s plan was. To her disbelief the door on his side didn¡¯t open up to reveal the inside of the cart, but the inside of a house as a black key rested in the lock of the open door.

    The Flame Heir claimed it was a horse, but that was utter nonsense! It had six limbs as the front four had more in common with a wolf as only the back two legs looked like it came from a horse. It had leathery wings for Morgana¡¯s sake! The tail was barbed and looked like it came from a lizard¡­

    And the head?

    Two branches like horns jutted out of the head. The ¡®mouth¡¯ was a mess of tentacles as the two large eyes focused on her before the reins of the cart suddenly wrapped themselves around the creature. It took the position of where the horse was supposed to have been as more Unsee appeared somehow possessing parts of the cart leaving scraps of cloth behind.

    There was a crack as she turned around to see that Marcus had simply blasted a hole through the roof as he shouted ¡°Still Alive Rust Bucket!¡±

    Out from the woods what looked like a knight in silver armor raced towards them as the attacks against Hadwin¡¯s cart stopped. The monster horse neighed loudly as it tried to run as Lapis held out her wand only to hear a loud bang.

    The knight fell backwards screeching loudly in pain as Marcus cursed ¡°Forget the cost. Load the special rounds and use everything. If we kill the Lord of Broken Dawn I call it a net gain!¡±

    ¡°I shall claim your head this day!¡± The creature in silver armor screeched as flames burst from its armor.

    ¡°You said that since I was eight and I¡¯m still alive!¡± Marcus screamed back as a purple beam of light shot out of his staff.

    The magical beam tore through the ground forcing it to doge as two more shots came out from the side of the cart as the monster ¡®Buttercup¡¯ tried getting them out of here.

    Lapis held the side of the cart staring at the open doorway to someplace as more of the tiny spirits were bringing out Mundi weapons¡­ highly dangerous mundi weapons as from out of the woods more ¡®knights¡¯ came charging out of the forest riding steeds made out of plants, wood, and pieces of steel.

    None of them were wizards¡­ none of them were even ¡®alive¡¯ as bullets tore through their armor only to have bursts of flames flare out making them look more inhuman.

    ¡°Maybe I should have taken his first offer.¡± She thought to herself as she cast her first spell.

    <hr>

    Marcus focused on the limited selection of spells he had on hand as he cursed Luxarious for having hired the freaking Scorched and the Lord of the Breaking Dawn to try and kill him! Did he know about their history or was it just a happy accident?

    He felt the cart shake as he held onto it and his staff as the remains of the fallen tree that hadn¡¯t been burnt to a cinder fell behind them. The Wild Hunt that was chasing after them had only slowed down just long enough to get their boss on a horse as now they were trying to make up the distance.

    On his right he could see more of the Unsee coming out of the House of Twilight as they were carrying more weapons to strap onto the cart to try and defend him with. Buttercup was racing pretty fast (He¡¯d have to thank Velkear later) as the creature was pretty fast.

    It might have been faster if he simply rode it instead of having it carry the cart, but¡­

    An arrow shot over his head as two Unsee returned fire.

    ¡°Cart lined with protection beats fast, yet risky travel.¡± He reminded himself

    Two more arrows came by as a burst of flames went to strike the cart, but the good old anti-flame wards prevented the flames from reaching them. Even if it was a rushed and shoddy job, it was enough to buy them enough time to keep running before the flames got close enough to do real damage.

    ¡°Tenebris!¡± the witch shouted as a burst of darkness seemed to fall behind them.

    Marcus stared in disbelief as it was some sort of magical darkness¡­ but one that prevented light. The fog of darkness caused the Scorched to try to dodge as the darkness fell across some of them robbing them of their light and leaving behind the empty shells that fell from their bodies.

    He could tell it was effective because they stopped aiming at him and started aiming at her.

    ¡°Do that again!¡± Marcus shouted

    ¡°Get me closer to kill the boy!¡± The Lord of Breaking down screamed

    A beam of scorching light nearly hit him as the cart swerved to the side only catching part of the cart on fire as his right arm stung in pain¡­ instead of having a burning hole in his chest.

    Why couldn¡¯t he have taken the magical instant transportation? He was pretty sure all of the normal and other contestants weren¡¯t having to doge a freaking Wild Hunt from a semi-unkillable monster! Heck they were probably drinking pumpkin juice and singing songs about¡­ Merlin or something.

    He didn¡¯t know, but it probably didn¡¯t involve screaming for their lives!

    A barrel was rolled out of the door as Marcus took aim with his staff and unleashed a basic magic missile. The bolt of magic tore into the barrel, freezing the entire ground behind them causing the corpses they were riding to stumble as another cloud of darkness came from the resident witch.

    ¡°I¡¯m going to need to learn that spell.¡± Marcus spoke in raw envy

    Sadly the cloud of darkness missed it¡¯s target as the Lord of Breaking Dawn didn¡¯t just doge the attack. No it along with fate decided to be extra cruel as he jumped over the cloud of darkness and landed on the roof of the cart.

    The silver sword plunged into the roof as he could see the burning flames behind the silver antique bucket like helmet the creature wore. Flames spread across the cart as Marcus ducked back into the cart as the burning white metal gauntlet tried to grab him.

    ¡°Salt and Ash.¡± Marcus cursed ¡°Why won¡¯t you die!¡±

    He pulled out the flare gun loaded with Ardere Silver. The head came out into view as Marcus pulled the trigger. The shot struck the helmet as the various runes worked their magic drilling the round into the helmet as the Ardere Silver worked it¡¯s magic¡­ or anti-magic.

    The door swung open as ropes wrapped around his body pulling him out of the way as the burning white sword tore through the spot he had been at as two more cracks of gunfire failed to kill the dam monster.

    ¡°I shall restore my honor this day!¡± The monster screamed as the back half of the cart broke away.

    It was too much to hope that he had fallen with it as another burst of darkness nearly consumed the entire cart. Marcus would have laughed if the burning hot sword didn¡¯t swing in front of his face cutting through the darkness.

    The gaping hole in the helmet was now filled with a burning orange light as he replied ¡°The Dark Breaks Before The Light Of Dawn!¡±

    ¡°Petrificus Totalus¡±

    Marcus stared at the frozen lord of Broken Dawn as he could hear the silent scream of rage as somebody was now standing in between them. That dragged him onto this dam trap... now he was in front of him?

    ¡°Garmr Grim Head of the Silver Cloaks.¡± The wizard spat in anger ¡°And in charge of kicking you off this cart!¡±

    He leveled the wand against the chest and shouted ¡°Expulso¡±

    A burst of blue light threw the Lord of Breaking Dawn off the cart.

    Wings of flames burst out of his back as he lunged back towards the cart.

    ¡°Reducto¡± The wizard shouted

    The armor cracked as the metal hand clasped the end of the cart.

    Marcus leveled his staff severing the hand with a burst of purple light.

    ¡°NO!¡± The unkillable monster screamed in hatred.

    The cart ran over the bridge as Marcus nearly laughed in joy. They passed over a river as the other riders of the Scorched stopped beside their fallen lord as they refused to cross the bridge.

    Buttercup stopped nearly throwing them off the cart, but thankfully the Unsee still bound to the ropes prevented them all from falling.

    Broken, battered, but still whole the Lord of Breaking Dawn clenched the sword tightly as the ground slowly turned to glass underneath his feet. Marcus held his breath as he wasn¡¯t sure if Lord would throw the sword out of pure spite¡­ or if doing so would break one of his ancient pacts.

    They crossed a river during a wild hunt and by the rules they should be safe¡­ key word being should.

    ¡°Toss the boy over and I shall grant any wish you desire.¡± The Lord of Breaking Dawn practically spat in anger ¡°Gold, Crown, Beautiful Women¡­ Men?¡±

    ¡°Why did you attack us!¡± The wizard spat in anger ¡°Why did you try to kill children for Merlin¡¯s sake!¡±

    The Lord of Breaking Dawn snarled ¡°He is the Heir of the Moonless Night. What other reason do I need?¡±

    ¡°I also bet him fairly in a game of wit when I was eight.¡± Marcus added ¡°If he won my corpse would be his next suit. If I won I got the prize he offered¡­ he was a sore loser.¡±

    Both witch and wizard stared at him in disbelief as they didn¡¯t understand how that was a reason to try and kill him¡­ for six straight years. It made him feel a little bit better because if they didn¡¯t understand, then they didn¡¯t know about the Scorched.

    If they thought he was lying about what he was offering them to betray him¡­ then they wouldn¡¯t toss him over the bridge.

    ¡°He¡¯s the Flame Heir.¡± Lapis interjected ¡°And their Fae.¡±

    ¡°Impossible.¡± the wizard spoke in disbelief ¡°Why would the Shade Faction¡­¡±

    ¡°Real Fae.¡± Lapis replied

    There was a pause as Marcus glanced at the wizard. Was he going to have to defend himself or¡­

    ¡°Aque Percrutiens¡± The Wizard replied as a burst of water shot out of his wand nearly slamming into the Scorched on the other side of the bridge. They scattered glaring at him from behind the trees ¡°Leave now or I¡¯ll get the rest of the silver cloaks to finish you off. No children will die on my watch!¡±

    ¡°You are making a mistake.¡± The Lord of Breaking Dawn snapped back.

    The wizard nodded his head ¡°I know¡­ I¡¯m letting you live. Leave before I change my mind.¡±

    They slunk away returning to wherever they came. Marcus nearly collapsed as¡­ he made it. He survived as nobody died. Nobody he cared about at least, but¡­ he survived.

    Laying back against the remains of the cart Flint jumped over to him holding the key as Marcus sighed. He grabbed the key placing it back into the ring marking him the first in line¡­ the ring that marked him as the Heir to the House of the Moonless Night.

    ¡°So¡­¡± The wizard turned and stared at him ¡°Would you care to explain what happened?¡±

    Marcus shrugged ¡°He wanted to kill me because I won against him in a game of wits when I was eight. Unlike most children I read the stories and came prepared so that when I won¡­ I knew to run before he could kill me.¡±

    He tried to smile ¡°He took insult to my survival. It¡¯s not an uncommon story from those from Arcadia.¡±

    ¡°Arcadia?¡± The wizard spoke trying to figure where he was from.

    Marcus smiled as he tried to get up ¡°Leng¡­ Marcus Leng Flame the third. Third child of the House of Flame blood adopted by Nicolas Flame and first Heir to the Moonless Night against my parents wishes.¡±

    He glanced at the witch who didn¡¯t try and kill him ¡°I¡¯ll pay for damages.¡±

    <hr>

    The rest of the children were rounded up as Iobairt shook his head. So many children¡­ the adults shouldn¡¯t have struggled, but they didn¡¯t understand. Such was the curse of ignorance gifted to the young in the misconception that it would protect them against reality.

    ¡°I am sorry, but this is for the greater good.¡± Iobairt replied as he truly did feel sorry for them

    ¡°The council of Ikara shall not stand for this!¡± Someone shouted ¡°When they learn of this betrayal¡­¡±

    Iobairt held out his hand and silence the Twig Twirler with one quick move. The children screamed as the adults fell back in fear as the magical core of the Twig Twirler had been ripped from his body. The witch stared at him in disbelief before her body sadly perished.

    Shaking his head Iobairt examining the ethereal blue magical core in his head ¡°Amazing¡­ such a gift squandered in ungrateful hands.¡± He glanced at one of the children by his side ¡°Eban¡­ I must ask for your aid.¡±

    The dark skinned child nodded his head as he removed his shirt. The youth of fourteen shivered as Ionairt readied his tools and plunged the core into the child¡¯s body as he screamed in pain.

    Iobairt did not stop his surgery as he tried to graft the magical core into the child¡¯s body. He lacked the gift of magic and Iobairt had yet to uncover all of it¡¯s secrets, but he had studied, learned, and now it was time to act.

    The child fell to his hands and knee throwing up blood as he nearly died¡­ but two jabs to the neck ensured that the right concoction of drugs and stimulates ensured that he would survive. His life would be at risk, but given the proper aid he would survive.

    He would live.

    Iobairt stared at the collection of lost souls ¡°No one shall notice your disappearance. None shall notice or care by the end of the year if we fail¡­ for none of this matters if we fail.¡±

    For the greater good Iobairt got to work culling the students selected to participate within this ancient ritual. None of them would survive as their replacements had already been picked.

    Iobairt was only glad that little Leng wasn¡¯t a part of this group.

    He was probably safe in Europe or something.

    Iobiart sighed as he turned to the next test subject.

    ¡°So much work to do.¡±

    ¡°So little time.¡±

 Ch8

    Marcus Flame sighed as he sat in¡­ he wasn¡¯t sure if it was the principal office or an empty room remodeled  into looking like an important room. Then again he wasn¡¯t sure if either mattered since there were a lot of important looking people sitting on the opposite side of the table.

    First was the wizard.. Garm? Garmar? The wizard who tried to protect him when his life was in danger. He was standing at the end of the room trying to go over what had happened to the adults.

    Marcus hated his life at this moment as he didn¡¯t trust the adults¡­ okay he didn¡¯t trust one of the adults as The Old Goat was sitting smack dab in the middle tugging on his beard pretending to look concerned, but most likely trying to figure out how to pin the blame on him.

    He hated the traitorous old fiend. Now that his plan in failing to kill Marcus had come to light especially with his ¡®last minute schedule change¡¯ to sick a Wild Hunt on him¡­ now he was trying to justify his excuse and claim that Marcus was a threat to the school or students¡­ or twist it into some way that ¡®hinted¡¯ that they should kill him.

    Or that he was an imposter.

    That would be the exact evil villain move he¡¯d use wouldn¡¯t it? Claim that he was some sort of dangerous impostorer before revealing that he had personally brought ¡®The Real Flame Heir¡¯  who was some fat chubby star eyed youth who¡¯d agree with whatever the blood sucking fiend would say!

    ¡°Do not try and kill the vile fiend¡± his parents had warned him ¡°He is old and you don¡¯t know enough magic to sucker punch him in the throat¡±

    Okay maybe that last line wasn¡¯t exactly word for word, but Marcus knew that the moment he pulled out his staff, then a dozen wands would release two dozen hexes at him. The old fiend came prepared probably with fifty different wards set up as they almost stripped a fourteen year old boy of everything he had.

    Oh they let him keep his staff and what he had personally on hand¡­ but every Unsee dragged away. Every potion, chemical, and weapon inside of his bags had been taken. The only trick he could pull off if the old goat tried to kill him would be¡­

    Praying that the other twig twirlers would hold of the old man long enough for Marcus to unlock the door to the house of Twilight and have one of the Unsee inside the house pull out a heavily enchanted and warded harpoon gun to kill the old man¡­ that or a cannon.

    The last one might be unlikely, but maybe Velkear had made it to the House of Twilight and prepared something nasty to be used against his enemies? A magician could hope after all.

    The door opened up as the two silver cloak jailers as they were not bodyguards. Bodyguards are supposed to guard people and they ditched everyone that wasn¡¯t in cart number one! They glared at Marcus as if blaming him for the obvious ambush when they ditched everyone they were supposed to protect/kill!

    They escorted him to the single wooden chair to stand trial in front of the five judges set for this illegal trial. It was illegal because the young magician was pretty sure he was supposed to have a lawyer¡­ or was that not allowed within the wizarding world when they wanted to frame someone for a crime they didn¡¯t commit?

    ¡°Do you know who we are?¡± The vile traitor spoke pretending he was innocent.

    Marcus nodded his head as he started from left to right ¡°Yes.¡±

    The wizard in the middle of the table rolled his eyes ¡°Are we even sure he isn¡¯t an imposter?¡±

    While he had been expecting it. That didn¡¯t change the fact it was rather insulting that they didn¡¯t even wait to try springing that lie so quickly. They didn¡¯t even ask his name before claiming he was an imposter.

    Marcus held up his right hand and sighed ¡°Marcus Leng Flame the Third. Heir to the Flame and blood adopted child of Tim and Eliza Flame. I also accept any challenge to the claim by that of a Wizard¡¯s Duel as my champion will be able to arrive to stand for my honor within one hour which is perfectly legal and required by the laws of every governmental position sitting in this room.¡±

    They stared at him as if he had grown a second head or something.

    While he didn¡¯t know every bit of magical legal law¡­ he knew enough to buy himself enough time to get someone who could help him. He knew a few people who would step in¡­ and probably accidentally kill the Twig Twirlers if they didn¡¯t know what they were dueling against.

    The pause continued to draw on as the young magician pinched the bridge of his nose ¡°I may be a child, but I am not an idiot.¡±

    This was why he hated being seen as a child. Too many people viewed children as idiots and expected him to be one.

    Idiots didn¡¯t last long within Arcadia.

    <hr>

    Garmr pinched the bridge of his nose as he tried to step in before Philip made things worse. If there was one thing his gut was telling him¡­ the little kid was serious.

    The monster horse wasn¡¯t from any magical besterary that he knew of and to make matters even worse the kid had cast spells with the intent to kill. That was more serious than the attack by the magical creatures that were trying to kill him.

    Every child had been told to never cast magic with a killing intent, yet he practically shouted it outloud without any hint of shame or grief. He made it clear that he didn¡¯t care¡­ which made him far more dangerous.

    If a duel came¡­ Garmr wasn¡¯t sure if the kid wouldn¡¯t use lethal spells to finish off his opponent.

    Lux was trying to play mediator to keep things civil ¡°Why did you hide your name when you were asked for it?¡±

    ¡°Same reason why I tried to avoid getting on the carts and tried to take the safe form of transportation.¡± The kid replied with a hint of anger ¡°Because I wanted to live.¡±

    The other adults were left speechless as¡­ Garmr rubbed his neck as the kid wasn¡¯t playing around. Normally he¡¯d have called it paranoia¡­ but there were creatures outside the castle trying to kill this child.

    ¡°Why do they want to kill you?¡± Garmr couldn¡¯t help, but ask ¡°I mean you are¡­¡±

    ¡°Just a child?¡± The boy spoke in an acidic tone ¡°Why not? Plenty of people have plenty of reasons for wanting to kill me already. How many of you are disappointed that I am the real flame heir instead of whatever puppet you had set up?¡±

    Angry, bitter¡­ and not exactly wrong either.

    Garmr would have spoken up if not for the looks of clear unease and disappointment shown from the other adults within the room. The Flame Heir was supposed to be a slightly chubby young boy with glasses who was shy and nervous. Good with potions and become a great wizard in the future¡­ but certainly not this boy.

    This one was the opposite.

    He was a bit more skinny, paranoid, and clearly knew that the others weren¡¯t going to be happy with his presence. In fact he practically seemed to ignore what had been written with the Book of Prophecy itself.

    Which either meant they misread the book¡­ or that this kid was supposed to die before Andrew Flame was picked up by then end of the summer. His parents were traveling around the globe so it wouldn¡¯t be unexpected if they picked up a fourth heir.

    As if reading their thoughts the young wizard gripped his staff harder ¡°If you think I¡¯m going to roll over and die you are sorely mistaken.¡±

    The staff started to glow the dark purple neon glow as every wizard and witch within the room felt their magical cores being assaulted. It wasn¡¯t a direct attack, but the pressure alone was enough to unsettling most of them¡­ and especially to Garmr.

    If this was the kid flexing then he knew how to directly attack somebody¡¯s magical core¡­ which was deeply unsettling. You could heal from physical wounds, but it was hard to treat injuries upon one¡¯s magical core.

    ¡°I think we need to take that staff away from you¡­¡± Lux started to reply

    ¡°You can pry it from my dead fingers.¡± The young wizard threatened them as magic started to pool around his left hand.

    Garmr quickly stepped in as he had no idea what curse that was, but it couldn¡¯t be good ¡°He made the staff. It didn¡¯t come from any of the¡­ what were the creatures from the woods again?¡±

    The child dispainted the curse as he slowly replied ¡°Scorched.¡±

    ¡°The Fae.¡± Chairman Antiarius supplemented ¡°Marcus was trained in the art of the old ways and we do have records stating that the True Fae did exist in the time of Merlin and it was only due to his success in the creation of the Albion Accord was he and the other witches and wizards were able to drive them back to their forgotten realms¡­¡±

    He let the words hang in the air as Garmr sighed ¡°Which sadly means they are still alive.¡±

    Glancing at the child who didn¡¯t glare back at him probably due to the older wizard having protected him against the¡­ True Fae.

    Garmr shook his head ¡°Can you explain what Scorched means¡­ and your point of view on what happened during the ambush?¡±

    <hr>

    Hadwin stood outside where the rest of the children were supposed to be coming. The silver staff flared as more than a few students who belonged to this school came stumbling out a little bit green, but they quickly stood tall pretending that none of them had gotten sick.

    After all it would look bad if they faltered before the chosen picks of the Duel of Fates.

    Hadwin tried to smile and wave only for them to quickly move around him, clearly unhappy at his presence. It would have been easy to place it all on the anger of being robbed of their cart ride to the school and having to take the stomach quenching magical transportation¡­ but the golden staff flared as the rest of the picks for the Duel of Fates walked out.

    Hadwin stared at the sight in slight disbelief as he had expected everyone to be arguing or talking with one another¡­ that someone would try and make a scene or look a little bit queasy.

    Instead they walked forward as if they had all come from the same school instead of from different schools or more obscure places. None of them seemed to be suffering any ill effects from the transportation as¡­ something felt off about them.

    The young wizard spotted two of his old friends from Stagniss and spoke up ¡°Clint! Maria!¡±

    The two turned and glared at Hadwin causing him to stumble back in shock. They had been friends last year, yet they now looked as if they were ready to join Roland in trying to pick a fight. What happened over the summer to change them so much?

    It was then Hadwin swore he saw a scar along the back of Clint¡¯s neck as the pale skinned youth shook his head ¡°I¡¯m not being a part of this year¡¯s tally Hadwin. We all remember how well that went for Rebecca Gracefield last year.¡±

    The young wizard was left gapping in disbelief as if he had been punched in the stomach. While he did regret what happened, but¡­

    ¡°We all heard that your cart was attacked as two others died when their guards ditched them while your guards stayed to protect you.¡± Maria spoke as the dark skinned witch glared at him in hatred ¡°Don¡¯t bother us this year unless we are dueling one another.¡±

    Hadwin tried to reach out with his magic if only to confirm that these were his friends. Their magical cores were there, but they felt more jagged and raw¡­ as if somebody had cut them out and stitched them back in.

    Clint to his shock summoned a fireball without a wand or a chant in his hand and threw it at Hadwin¡¯s feet. He stepped back as more than a few of the other picks for the Duel of Fates pulled out their wands as they focused on him¡­

    Something was wrong, but he didn¡¯t know what it was. Only that he felt uneasy and confused at how Clint managed to master wandless and wordless magic casting within the space of the summer!

    Still the glares from the sea of strangers made him fall back as the voice in the back of his head warned him to hide from this group. He didn¡¯t know what was off, but he immediately wanted to go to Headmaster Lux¡­ except he wasn¡¯t the headmaster of this school.

    Even then¡­ he didn¡¯t have any proof that anything was wrong. The last time he jumped to conclusions and acted without proof¡­

    It cost Rebeca Gracefield her life.

    ¡°Wow¡­ trying to find new meat shields already now that your old ones aren¡¯t here?¡± Lapis replied in a mocking tone ¡°Why your Mundi girlfriend would be so upset that you traded her in for a fancier model.¡±

    Hadwin clenched his fist as he turned towards Lapis Rezen who smirked leaning against a wall as the young wizard didn¡¯t trust her. The other teachers thought it was just an extension with his rivalry with Jasper Rezen, but something about the young witch filled him with anger.Support the creativity of authors by visiting the original site for this novel and more.

    That she had done something personal to him and he didn¡¯t know¡­ as she always smirked as if mocking him for it.

    ¡°They were after the fake Flame heir.¡± Hadwin countered ¡°It wasn¡¯t my fault that they attacked!¡±

    ¡°Really?¡± Lapis spoke in a sarcastic tone ¡°That your bodyguards just happened to stay around to protect you while the rest of us were left helpless¡­ only for me and Marcus Flame to risk our lives causing the True Fae to chase after us to prevent them from trying and killing the rest of the chosen picks?¡±

    ¡°He was trying to save his own skin and you ditched everyone else instead of trying to help them!¡± Hadwin shouted back ¡°Besides the real Flame Heir had yet to arrive as it¡¯s¡­¡±

    ¡°Andrew Flame?¡± The witch replied with a chuckle ¡°Just like how Roland is supposed to be best pals with you? Morgana¡¯s Grace¡­ you two fight more than my own brother and that¡¯s just because my parents hate your parents. Roland hates your guts!¡±

    Hadwin kept his wand lowered as Lapis had been picked because she was (as much as he hated it) one of the best duelists within their school. To make things worse unlike her brother she was quite adept at twisting things to suit her story as she avoided getting into trouble.

    If he cast the first spell he¡¯d get in trouble and so long as she kept using words instead of curses¡­ then there was nothing he could do.

    ¡°Of course Golden Boy gets preferred treatment. He gets a new girlfriend who is supposed to become an important pure blood.¡± She spoke out loud as some of the other students turned to listen to her speech ¡°Golden Boy gets a pat on the back when somebody dies while the real hero is facing punishment for trying to save everyone!¡±

    She cupped her hands near her mouth nearly shouting ¡°Tell me Hadwin! What was the plan if your cart wasn¡¯t attacked first? Would they have taken you to safety while the rest of us got torn apart in the woods or did Lux have a plan for what should happen if we all died?¡±

    Hadwin turned around and tried to march away.

    ¡°Just like how you hexed Rebecca Gracefield because she beat you in a duel and left her to die by the hands of Vilatrix the Crazed!¡± Hadwin stopped as the witch continued ¡°Makes you feel like a big boy after her family was oblivated into forgetting that she even existed! That¡¯s why you prefer New Blood as friends isn¡¯t it?¡±

    The next words drove home ¡°You can erase any evidence they existed while you take all the credit.¡±

    Hadwin turned around and prepared to cast a curse only for his wand to be shot out of his hand. He turned to the person who cast it only to see a tall figure covered in black bandages staring at him. It towered over the crowd as the red lights from behind the mask flared.

    ¡°So you are the deviance for the memory loss from the pact¡­¡± The voice seemed to whisper into his ears ¡°Disappointing¡­ You are not needed for what happens next.¡±

    ¡°So are you going to try and hex me because I¡¯m not kissing your shoes?¡±

    Hadwin turned around and saw that his wand was on the ground. He picked it up and looked back towards the crowd trying to spot the towering figure that felt like it had a vice grip on his magical core.

    Instead he saw every child within the crowd staring at him with open disdain and anger¡­ that none of them trusted him¡­ that they all expected him to try and attack Lapis.

    Hadwin didn¡¯t know which was worse¡­ the uneasy feeling he got from the¡­ thing that had been inside the crowd before it vanished¡­ or the looks on their faces as it felt like a repeat of his second year in Stagniss.

    Taking a deep breath and trying to not to shiver.

    Hadwin slowly exhaled before glancing at Lapis who stared at him in confusion ¡°I¡¯m not the bad guy Lapis¡­ I didn¡¯t know about the attack and my godfather ditched me to help protect you and your friend when both of you were in danger.¡±

    He glanced at the crowd ¡°Though Lux was right. This Duel of Fates is different as something bad is coming. Whatever those things were in the woods¡­ they are not a part of the normal magical world.¡±

    Hadwin knew his luck was awful¡­ but he also knew what this year¡¯s threat was. Whatever those creatures that had been lurking within the woods where?

    They would return.

    <hr>

    Marcus had spent the last half hour explaining what had happened from ¡®his point of view¡¯ starting from being stuck taking the cart ride, their driver (and steeds) vanishing before the scorched tried killing as many people as they could in the opening volley.

    Then of course the cart chase as he tried to edit parts of the story¡­ mostly in keeping the door to the house of Twilight a secret as he pretended that his suitcase just had a lot of wizard space magic to account for where everything came from.

    There was no way he was going to inform him that he just needed any door with a doorknob to escape.

    Still what irked him was that Antiarius was his only ally as he agreed with the magician¡¯s decisions. Especially when he confirmed that he had been trying to kill the Lord of the Broken Dawn!

    There was no reasoning with that monster and it had been trying to kill him for six years! If anything it only proved that it would only stop when one of them died! Why shouldn¡¯t he try and defend himself against it!

    Instead they seemed more concerned about him attending the school thinking he was a bigger threat to the rest of the students than the freaking Scorched who were running around outside!

    Marcus may have tried to kill it, but the Scorched had already killed two children when they attacked. Yet that didn¡¯t think that the Scorched wouldn¡¯t return.

    What part of The Wild Hunt did they not understand!

    The man with the double chin spoke ¡°How can we be sure that this boy didn¡¯t bring them? Lux had clearly changed the travel plan to protect the star children picked to uphold the Duel of Fates and this boy tried to sneak away while the rest of the children could have perished!¡±

    ¡°Please do not jump to any conclusion Philip¡­¡± The old goat spoke pretending to be on his side ¡°Though I do find it odd that no one seems to have heard about you until now.¡±

    The young magician gritted his teeth ¡°They sent you the letter.¡±

    The old goat looked at him put on an old grandfatherly smile and lied  ¡°I believe I would have noticed a letter from my old teacher.¡±

    ¡°And we certainly heard your reply a week later.¡± Marcus viciously thought in the back of his head.

    Now the other adults were looking at him as if thinking that somehow Marcus was the criminal mastermind that somehow knew about the last minute change in an attempt to hire somebody who wanted to kill him¡­ to try and kill everyone else.

    He knew Twig Twilers were stupid, but apparently he had been underestimating just how stupid they were or just how blindly they followed the traitor¡¯s every word.

    After all it¡¯s not like the man who changed the plan at the very last second could have an ulterior motive for trying to kill everyone else except the chosen picks he had!

    Heck he probably had ¡®Andrew¡¯ sitting in the back of a room waiting to be revealed as the Flame Heir until Marcus had the audacity to survive!

    The only man not in the wicked wizard¡¯s pocket spoke up ¡°I find it hard to believe that a child could somehow outwit Luxarious...¡±

    The old traitor flinched as Antiarius stood up to defend the young magician. While the others may have believed the traitor¡­ it sounded silly to think that somehow a child was smarter than they were.

    Antiarius focused on the ancient traitor  ¡°In both planning to kill every other child just one day after I chose him to be one of my picks¡­ much less be informed about Luxarious literal last minute change before avoiding the only cart that didn¡¯t have the guards vanish the moment the Fae stepped into the scene.¡±

    Antiarius nearly laughed at how utterly ridiculous it really was to even believe such a bold face lie. He had to spell it out step by step on just how absurd this crazy lie really was.

    ¡°Why... it is quite ¡®lucky¡¯ that Hadwin was the only one left with protection?¡± The best wizard at the table replied in a mocking tone  ¡°Especially when Roland shouted at which cart Hadwin was in... as the Fae seemed to be under the impression he was talking about the Flame Heir?¡±

    Apparently that was a step too far as the old traitor tugged his beard clearly unhappy at the ¡®baseless¡¯ accusations that were being thrown at him.

    ¡°Why would I want to do that?¡± Luxarious demanded

    Antiarius shrugged as if it was obvious ¡°Because I found out recently that the Flame Family had changed their will three years ago. That according to the old will you were supposed to get quite a lot¡­ and now you don¡¯t.¡±

    ¡°Impossible. If they changed the will we would have known about it.¡± Garmr the misguided fool replied ¡°And what exactly makes you think¡­¡±

    ¡°No¡­ they might have reason to think about changing their will.¡± The Traitor spoke glancing at Marcus.

    The young magician tried to sit straight refusing to buckle underneath the old back stabber¡¯s gaze. The message had been clear¡­ but clearly the old traitor didn¡¯t care.

    Marcus shrugged as he couldn¡¯t help it ¡°Maybe they just didn¡¯t trust how you would take care of their belongings.¡±

    He knew it was foolish as the other adults stared at him as if Marcus swore up and down like a mad man. They couldn¡¯t believe that he would have the audacity to say such a thing out in public!

    The old wizard frowned as he focused on Marcus ¡°It was a mistake.¡±

    The Red Stone was stolen as Luxurious tried to make his stance clear ¡®Do what I say or perish¡¯ to his parents. They refused to bow so he punished them.

    ¡°A costly one.¡± Marcus replied bitterly

    He also refused to bow¡­ and he also wouldn¡¯t go down without a fight.

    <hr>

    They let the child out the door as they weren¡¯t going to get anything from him. Garmr rubbed his aching head as in some sick twisted way¡­ this actually made perfect sense.

    Everybody just assumed that the Flame Heir would be happy to see Lux, but it was pretty clear that the child hated the old wizard. He didn¡¯t view him as an old friend of the family, but as the man responsible for causing the destruction of Alchemist¡¯s Glory¡­ and the slow death of his parents.

    Lux sighed clearly upset by this unexpected revelation ¡°So now that Philip has managed to alienate the only person who knows anything about the threat lurking within the woods. What is our plan?¡±

    Philip humph clearly annoyed at being signaled out ¡°Antiarius was the one who doubted Lux making it seem like he was trying to kill the boy!¡±

    Garmr rolled his eyes as maybe they should have let Lord Rezen join this meeting instead of letting this idiot here instead. Oh sure he would have tried to slight Lux and mock about how ¡®The Great and Powerful Lux failed to protect a bunch of students¡¯ and how he could have done better.

    But the slimy creep wouldn¡¯t have tried to pin the blame of Marcus if only because he helped protect his daughter. Then again she knew what the Fae were.

    Which sadly meant that Lord Rezen was the closest thing to an expert they could call on for now. They were going to have to ask for his help before seeing what the slimy creep would demand in exchange for that knowledge.

    ¡°Is Marcus the heir of any other houses?¡± Lux spoke clearly unsettled by some unspoken chain of thought.

    Garmr was about to say ¡®no¡¯ as it seemed silly to ask until he remembered ¡°Oddly enough¡­ yes. He also claimed to be the Heir to the House of the Moonless Night. Never heard of the house, but¡­¡±

    ¡°He made a staff and has ties to magic not bound by the Albion Accord.¡± Lux spoke shaking his head ¡°I fear that he is infact a child adopted by the Flame Family¡­ but he is not the Third Flame Heir.¡±

    The others looked at him in confusion as Garmr tried to think about what the old wizard was talking about until¡­ an unsettling feeling formed in his stomach. There was one silly little bylaw within the wizarding world that wasn¡¯t used often, but¡­ Garmr knew of it only because he had been one of the individuals involved.

    ¡°If they adopt another child then ¡®Andrew¡¯ will become the Third Heir leaving Marcus to become the Heir of the other house.¡± Garmr replied as he saw the problem

    Lux nodded his head as the other wizards and witches realized the problem, but he explained it anyway ¡°A child with a reasonable grudge overshadowed by his sibling. I fear that Marcus is going to be one of the threats the book of prophecy warns of¡­ specifically the one that Andrew is going to have to best in the future.¡±

    It became obvious when you saw the truth as you had the child taught with dark magic practically radiating from a Staff who hated Lux for his inability to protect Alchemist¡¯s Glory¡­ and the fact that he took pride in the Flame family name and offense to those who scorned it.

    Such a bitter prideful child would certainly have a grudge if his position had suddenly been usurped at the last minute by some random stranger his parents would adopt before they die¡­ and the relationship would quickly grow sour before it ended with both of them dueling to claim which one was the True Flame Heir.

    A tragedy in the making.

    ¡°You can¡¯t seriously believe this pile of nonsense!¡± Antiarius shouted in anger ¡°That just because he isn¡¯t some weak pushover that he must be some sort of villain we need to smother in his sleep lest he threaten the wizarding world!¡±

    Lux glanced at his old friend ¡°I was merely suggesting we take careful steps around the boy¡­¡±

    ¡°He isn¡¯t a threat! You are! You are you blasted old fool!¡± The man shouted in anger ¡°My daughter has been dead for years now and unless you get someone to somehow revive her from the grave than you and your blasted book is wrong!¡±

    The people between Antiarius and Lux moved out of the way as everyone knew the issue between the two and that while Lux was a firm believer in the Book of Prophecy¡­ Antiarius lost his faith the moment his daughter died.

    At this point he was defending Marcus simply because Lux was warning them of the possible danger that would come in the future. At this point if Lux claimed it was day then Antiarius would swear it was night as he refused to look out the window.

    ¡°You¡¯ve been letting your anger fester for far too long.¡± Lux kindly spoke to his old friend ¡°If you just meet her¡­¡±

    ¡°My daughter is dead.¡± Antiarius swore in fury ¡°And that boy is not the next great Dark Lord out to threaten the magical world. He is a child that you nearly orphaned because you believe that you can do no wrong! Tell me Luxarious Superious¡­ Where in the great bloody book is The Vanish?¡±

    He rose from his seat ¡°Where in those vaulted holy texts does it state that half of the entire magical world is suddenly going to vanish overnight? Seems like a ¡®minor detail¡¯ that got lost¡­ like possibly Andrew not appearing because he vanished overnight!¡±

    Lux took one calm breath before looking at Antiarius ¡°If he did vanish¡­ then it simply means that Hadwin if fated to find out what happened to our vanished breathernen on that unfortunate night and bring them back.¡±

    Antiarius placed one hand on his forehead as he gritted his teeth not saying anything for a few moments ¡°Hadwin Vera couldn¡¯t find his way out of a wet paper bag. Every encounter he ¡®wins¡¯ is only because nobody bothers to mention the bodies he leaves behind as the actual wizards who do the job are not even left as footnotes.¡±

    He glared at Lux ¡°I prefer to place my faith in the reality of the situation as Marcus managed to survive two encounters with obvious dangerous entities without having anyone die. You ¡®child of prophecy¡¯ on the other hand couldn¡¯t even save one of the body guards who died trying to protect him while your ¡®safety measures¡¯ cost us the lives of two children.¡±

    Garmr flinched as the vengeful wizard wore a twisted mockery of a smile ¡°Please tell me¡­ Did the other guards flee on purpose¡­ or has word about Hadwin¡¯s body count give them second thoughts about staying? You were the one who picked them after all.¡±

    ¡°He is just a child.¡± Garmr bitterly replied as he defended his godson ¡°He did well for his age¡­¡±

    ¡°But not well enough.¡± Antiarius snapped back ¡°And may I remind you that Roland and Marcus are also, but children¡­ no more ¡®blessed¡¯ at dropping bodies as your golden boy or as ¡®cursed¡¯ to not worship the very rocks your boy trips over.¡±

    Garmr clenched his wand tightly as he felt like giving a barb of his only¡­ before staying silent. He already knew how it would be turned back against him.

    ¡°Just do me a favor Antiarius?¡± Garmr asked the man who used to have been a friend to them ¡°Just let them act like children and make up their own mind if they want to be friends with.¡±

    Antiarius simply nodded ¡°So long as you respect if they do not want to be friends. Roland already gets enough grief from his parents as it is.¡±

    Once Antiarius apperated out of the room he felt Lux¡¯s gaze fall upon him along with everyone else within the room. It felt out of place for him to speak to Antiarius on such terms, but¡­ he had a job to do.

    With a deep breath he glanced at the other most scholared and important witches and wizards (minus philip) of their age as he gave the only plan he could think of¡­ even if it sounded foolish.

    Trying to sound as serious as he possibly could ¡°I suggest we build a moat for the school.¡±

    They all stared at him as if waiting for the real answer for how the head of security planned on protecting the school against the monsters out in the woods and the possibly budding dark lord walking around within the school.

    ¡°The True Fae stopped the moment we crossed a bridge and were enraged to the point they demanded we toss the Flame Heir across so that they could get him.¡± Garmr slowly explained ¡°It was the only thing that seemed to stop them as not even a gaping hole in the head seemed to have slowed them down.¡±

    There was a pause.

    ¡°And before anyone asks¡­ if we hand him over to the Fae then his parents will come for us all.¡± The head of the British Silver Cloaks spoke having read entire documents about the famous Flame Wrath

    He made certain that they knew he was being serious  ¡°And they will certainly not believe any ¡®theories¡¯ we give them especially since this¡­ Lord of Breaking Dawn seems just like the type to display his ¡®trophy¡¯ to his parents before telling them that we killed him.¡±

    Philip raised a hand

    Garmr shook his head ¡°And no¡­ They will not listen or care. I suggest you read the Burbank Cultist incident where the actual culprit managed to make it to a ship to escape their wrath for six more days when he pointed the finger at the very evil, but ultimately innocent of that one crime.¡±

    The infamous Flame Wrath¡­ burn to ash, shift through the ashes, and then scorch any remains just to ensure that they didn¡¯t miss their target. While Andrew might be a cheerful friendly kid¡­ Marcus was still a child of Flame who had inherited a piece of their wrath.

    There would be no explaining what happened to their child¡­ unless a completely plausible accident killed him¡­ and even then Garmr would prefer to have the conversation with an entire ocean standing between him and the Flame Family.

    Just to be safe.

 CH8

    Marcus walked out into the hallways Dum Spiro Spero¡­ or Spero Academy for short. It was one of the older fantasy fortress buildings turned into a school which meant lots of stone, lots of magical lights to offset the lack of windows¡­ and of course the odd magical nonsense that made it hard to navigate the hallways.

    He grimaced as he tried to figure out where he was on the map as the area around him didn¡¯t match the map¡­ despite the fact the ¡®guards¡¯ who brought him to the interrogation room claimed it was a real map and that he shouldn¡¯t lose it¡­ especially since most students didn¡¯t get one.

    Looking at the four hallways splitting off to his right the young magician looked back at the map as the area claimed there was only a simple turn as the path should be pretty straightforward¡­ and completely ignoring the other three paths.

    ¡°You know if they had any windows I could try climbing down to the ground floor.¡± Marcus muttered to himself

    ¡°If they had more windows you¡¯d get students flying broomsticks to class rooms.¡± a familiar voice he hadn¡¯t been expecting to hear replied ¡°I never thought you¡¯d get lost so easily.¡±

    Marcus frowned at the jab, but he tried to be polite ¡°Honestly I thought you wouldn¡¯t have wanted to see me muchless help me after what happened.¡±

    Lapis Rezen stared at him and simply smirked ¡°What makes you think that?¡±

    He rolled his eyes as he stated the obvious ¡°Scorched are trying to kill me. I nearly put your life in danger just by picking the same cart. The old goat tried to implicate me for trying to kill everyone else as he claimed that ¡®I hired¡¯ the very beings that are trying to kill me in an attempt to have them kill everyone else, before suggesting that I should be killed for everyone''s safety.¡±

    He shrugged as there probably a dozen more reasons to avoid him that he hadn¡¯t even mentioned yet. Still the possibility or risking your life or your social status wasn¡¯t a popular endorsement for trying to befriend him.

    The young witch shook her head as she elegantly replied ¡°You managed to risk your own life in an attempt to save everyone else from the utter incompetence Luxarious the headmaster of Stagniss school for Sorcery and self proclaimed ¡®leader¡¯ of the wizarding world in general.¡±

    She looked at her hand and started counting them off ¡°You tried to offer me a way out keeping me alive. If I had been in a different cart I could have ended up as a casualty during the first volley instead of losing some clothing.¡±

    There was a pause on the last one as that was probably the biggest nail in the coffin of them all. It was alright for Marcus to piss off the old goat, but that was because he didn¡¯t have strong ties to the magical world¡­ and if he didn¡¯t plan on killing the old goat in the future then would Velkear certainly plan to murder the old traitor.

    For everyone else this guy was the most respected, powerful, and most likely gets to decide if you are stuck being the janitor, the next head of state¡­ or the next ¡®evil villain¡¯ who should be smothered in their sleep.

    Going against him wasn¡¯t good for your future.

    ¡°He tried to suggest that they should kill you?¡± Lapis spoke in mild disbelief ¡°I mean I can see him saying¡­¡±

    ¡°I¡¯m not the ¡®proper heir¡¯ and while he didn¡¯t directly suggest it¡­¡± Marcus sighed as he knew the game ¡°He had someone else suggest it as bluntly as possible. He of course did not ¡®agree¡¯ with making a hasty decision, but he did hint that they shouldn¡¯t dismiss any possibilities or ¡®decisions¡¯ since he doubted I was the¡­ ahem¡­ True Flame Heir.¡±

    He couldn¡¯t help, but chuckle ¡°As apparently the will he has claims that everything my parents own goes to him when they die¡­ while ignoring the updated will that cuts him out. Including the letters and messages from my parents stating that I am their child for the past three years.¡±

    He clenched his hand in anger at how easily the old man seemed to lead everyone into doing whatever he wanted. Just how blind and naive could these twig twirlers be?

    Lapis closed her eyes as he knew she was thinking things over. Maybe the Scorched weren¡¯t as dangerous if they stayed inside the school¡­ but having a bullet sign on your back from the old traitor who was suggesting that murdering children just to be safe was a perfectly good idea.

    ¡°Well then my father would be disappointed if I didn¡¯t try befriending you if only to annoy Luxarious the ¡®ever so wise¡¯ especially after he got two children killed by walking everyone into a last minute ambush.¡± She spoke in mild anger ¡°Besides the moment he starts aiming for me I fully expect you to lend a helping hand.¡±

    The young magician tried not to chuckle as there was something off about the witch for her to be this¡­ confident? Bold? What was the exact term for it?

    She laughed as the smile she wore was infectious ¡°He already has his ¡®doubts¡¯ about me after I didn¡¯t befriend his favorite student¡­ and somehow made Hadwin Vera convinced that I am some sort of evil witch that needs to be defeated!¡±

    That caught Marcus off guard until he realized it fit exactly with the old man¡¯s personality. Finding a person who has ties to a powerful family. Introduce his chosen pick¡­ then demonize and try to remove the child in question if they didn¡¯t line up to his plans and manipulations.

    The witch pointed her wand at her own face ¡°So you are already too late on trying to convince me to stay away for my own good. Besides you have far too many secrets that would drive me nuts if I couldn¡¯t figure them all out.¡±

    Marcus couldn¡¯t help, but laugh as maybe things wouldn¡¯t be as bad as he thought. Looking at the map he tried to figure out which one of the four hallways he was supposed to go to.

    The young witch walked over to him and inspected the map ¡°So you got a map¡­ what are you looking for because I highly doubt this is one of the more special or ¡®magical¡¯ maps.¡±

    Deciding to scrap his pride the magician sighed ¡°I¡¯m trying to find out which hallway leads to the ground floor.¡±

    She stared at him in confusion ¡°Which hallway?¡±

    He sighed walking into one of the hallways only to see Lapis staring at him in confusion¡­ before pulling out a hand mirror. When he looked into the mirror he saw a brick wall¡­ and quickly walked back into the room as ¡®magically walled off rooms¡¯ really didn¡¯t sound good.

    Noticing his look of fear she shook her head ¡°This place is a magical school and one of the problems with magical schools¡­ the older enchantments start to get stronger with age.¡±

    ¡°Stronger with age?¡± Marcus asked looking at the hallway/trap ¡°Is there supposed to be a death trap over there or¡­¡±

    That earned him a small chuckle from the witch ¡°The opposite actually. Wizard Space charms were used on a lot of these old castles to add room to allow more people to work and live inside the castle instead of having to build extra houses outside the castle.¡±

    She stared at his left hand for a second ¡°It¡¯s useful when it was initially cast, but give it a few decades and a charm built to add a single room of space ends up now being able to add two dozen rooms¡­ and there are a lot of enchantments placed on these places.¡±

    Marcus tried to figure out how exactly that worked. He could understand trying to add room¡­ since magically adding room to ensure the children would be safe inside the castle rather than trying to build new fortifications sounded easier.

    It was a school for magic¡­ they probably didn¡¯t have a shortage of wizards and witches to cast and maintain the spells. The idea of the spells¡­ evolving without direct input? That was¡­ mildly unsettling.

    ¡°You don¡¯t know a lot about magic from the Albion Accord do you?¡± She asked in mild disbelief ¡°I mean I figured you were taught magic of the old ways or perhaps some new addition founded by your family, but¡­¡±

    The magician shrugged ¡°It was illegal for me to own a wand. Hard to learn ¡®regular magic¡¯ without one muchless keep up with studies when you have people trying to kill you.¡±

    It wasn¡¯t a boast. It was hard to study magic he wasn¡¯t able to use when there was a brand of magic he could easily use in its stead¡­ especially when he needed something to protect himself.

    The witch smirked as she glanced at the wall for a few seconds ¡°I¡¯ll try to keep you up to date if you tell me how you did that fancy summoning trick.¡±

    Marcus pulled out the key from his ring ¡°Key to the House of Twilight.¡±

    He quickly put it back into his ring as he knew it was foolish to show something so valuable to her, but she was the only one willing to talk to him. If everyone else was under that traitor¡¯s thumb then the young magician was going to need as much help as he could get.

    Lapis frowned ¡°That doesn¡¯t explain anything.¡±

    ¡°This school as a library doesn¡¯t it?¡± Marcus politely replied ¡°I¡¯d tell you more, but you wouldn¡¯t believe me¡­ since the adults didn¡¯t understand either.¡± He shook his head ¡°So how many students want my head after my incident?¡±

    The witch stared at him for a few seconds before bursting out laughing as he sighed. He really wasn¡¯t joking since it would be very easy for one of them to ¡®accidently¡¯ cast a deadly curse on them if they were supposed to duel one another.

    <hr>

    Lapis Rezzen had entered the Great Hallway as all of the important daughters and sons of great wizarding families stared at the Flame Heir in surprise. She had noticed how he tried to prepare to run and protect himself against an attack only to see them rush forward¡­ and thank him.

    She tried not to laugh (and failed) when he seemed completely confused at them thanking him for getting the creepy True Fae monsters away from them. He tried to tell the truth claiming it was an attempt to escape alive since he knew they were after him.

    If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    That might have worked if she hadn¡¯t been left alone with a lot of impressionable young witches and wizards to help spread a more positive spin to the story. Mind you it wasn¡¯t that hard to begin with.

    Roland made no attempts to hide his disdain towards the sudden lack of security around their carts when the abush happened¡­ after the sudden change of plans separating them from everyone else. While people were less likely to believe that Lux would try to purposely kill children they had no problems believing the ¡®Boy in Trouble¡¯ causing a few more casualties.

    Not that Hadwin was trying to kill them¡­ just that other people tended to pay the cost when he did some hair brained attempt. The fact that Marcus revealed himself like a storybook hero to lead the villains away from the innocents in danger¡­

    That was a lot easier to spin than what the Flame Heir had expected.

    She grinned as she waved at dear little annoying Hadwin who was upset that he wasn¡¯t the center of attention as she was (by association) the savior of their little expedition instead of him.

    Glancing back at her new ticket to power she heard Marcus reply ¡°They are Unsee¡­ sort of like house spirits. Honestly until I found out that House Elves are real I thought they were where the stories of House Elves came from since they share a lot of similar traits.¡±

    The House Elves in the corner of the Great Hall were glaring at the odd tiny magical creatures as the two magical species were currently content with glaring at one another and making rude or threatening gestures at one another while the Silver Cloaks were confused on what they were supposed to do in this situation.

    Her best guess was that House Elves won their spot at being the magical familiars and helpers to the magical world instead of the Unsee. Sort of like how Goblins and Leprechauns never exactly seemed ¡®thrilled¡¯ at running into one after the Goblin Banking system became a thing.

    ¡°It¡¯s just a staff I made a few weeks ago.¡± Marcus answered another student ¡°There is some merit in keeping the Foci of your magical equipment a few good feet away from your face if something goes wrong.¡±

    That raised a few questions in her mind as she took another look at the odd staff. While she thought it seemed more like a traditional artifact made with the help of the Flame Family Records as the Flame Alchemist was old enough to have used a staff before wands became the standard norm¡­

    The fact was she expected it to be at the very least ten years old with maintenance being done to help improve it. Magical artifacts and spells grew more powerful with age as even the ¡®newest wands¡¯ were twenty years old and most people didn¡¯t trust a wand¡¯s ability until it was at least a solid thirty years old.

    Using a magical staff that was a few weeks old? That sounded truly absurd, but maybe the lack of age was offset by the ring on his left hand? Possibly a magical enhancer¡­ especially if it predated the Albion Accord.

    Staves were hard to hide and keeping a ring to harness magic and using a staff as a crude wand would be easier to hide (and replace) back in the days before the Albion Accord rather than trying to keep a powerful magical staff from being broken by a bunch of angry armored knights.

    ¡°I¡¯m from Arcadia. It¡¯s not that big of a hidden secret as I am pretty sure you can find out about it in the library!¡± He finally shouted as the crowd started to leave him ¡°Until now I was left trying to deal with Grim Songs, Scorched, and the more annoying things that go bump in the night. I don¡¯t know or care about what some book says!¡±

    That got a few gasps as Lapis interjected ¡°He¡¯s the real Flame Heir. You can tell by the ring on his right hand.¡±

    He sighed holding up the hand and summoning the Flame family ring for all to see. The look of disbelief on Hadwin¡¯s face was priceless. She might have even gloated that she befriended the Heir before Hadwin did¡­ but she learned not to taunt Hadwin unless she was certain that one of the adults would interfere and stop him.

    Her side still stung a little even now as you could never plan for when somebody stupid would do something extermly stupid.

    She felt a surge of magic as she turned to face Marcus only to see his staff glow¡­ and then he sort of hopped into his shadow. Everyone gasped in disbelief as the Flame Heir had disappeared right in front of their eyes!

    Lapis looked around the room trying to see if the old man really was trying to kill him! Sure she had reason to be nervous around Lux the ¡®ever so wise and knowing¡¯ though she didn¡¯t think he would stand by and let someone kill a kid on a hunch!

    Only after seeing the Silver Cloaks backing up in surprise did she spot the Flame Heir by the Unsee. Now she was curious about what the old magical creatures really were as apparently her old notes on them weren¡¯t as detailed as she had originally thought.

    Trying to slip past the crowd the young witch nearly reached him until bloody Hadwin Vera stepped in her way like always! She bitterly cursed that the True Fae hadn¡¯t gutted the little brat and saved her a whole lot of trouble.

    Hadwin still stared at him as if she had kicked his favorite puppy ¡°Who is he?¡±

    She gritted her teeth ¡°The Flame Heir. I thought the ring made it obvious.¡±

    ¡°Grim Song? Scorched? He doesn¡¯t even sound like a proper wizard?¡± He spoke in anger ¡°What happened to Andrew? Did you do something to him!¡±

    Lapis kept an eye on the Silver Cloaks trying to figure out if she could leverage her new fame against Hadwin¡¯s outburst from before?

    No they would side with Hadwin because Lux didn¡¯t trust her so she couldn¡¯t do anything against him until he struck first. She needed him to stop interfering so she could secure her place as Marcus Flame¡¯s friend before they got sorted or whatever was done with temporary transfer students.

    ¡°Are you upset that you didn¡¯t get to play hero?¡± Lapis snarled back ¡°Did you know that he was worried nobody would like him because somebody went around claiming he was an imposter and should be killed just to be safe?¡±

    He flinched as she continued her assault ¡°Almost like how a certain somebody made a few comments about a certain Honey Badger before¡­¡±

    ¡°I didn¡¯t mean it like that!¡± Hadwin spoke as he recoiled in fear ¡°My problem is that whenever anything goes wrong you are always there! How do you know more about these monsters than everyone else!¡±

    She chuckled as the crowd now focused on them ¡°Because I stand as a Champion of the Old Ways and remember to read a book every once in a while instead of having other people do my homework for me¡±

    The crowd focused on the new dispute as she had to play her role. She was Lapis Rezen was the young prodigy witch who believed in tradition and had the power to back up her position. Hadwin was the jealous upstart who¡¯s only claim to power was having one of the strongest Dark Lords of their age somehow keel over from a stroke and claim credit for it.

    ¡°I heard you are getting your little pet New Blood to get shipped here to help you with your grades.¡± She quickly jabbed ¡°Or do you want to just rush in with no clue, no plan, and try to save the day...¡±

    One second Hadwin was on the defensive. The next second he pulled out his wand as she realized she pushed too far. That she was an idiot for repeating that line when she realized that Hadwin hadn¡¯t completely forgotten what happened during his second year.

    A burst of flames shot out in between both of them forcing them both back. Hadwin snapped out of his rage as he stared at the wizard who interrupted their fight before he realized just how stupid his actions had been.

    ¡°Lapis are you okay?¡± The Flame Heir spoke with a hint of concern in his voice.

    ¡°I¡¯m fine.¡± Lapis lied as she felt her heart racing ¡°I accidentally pushed the wrong button as Mr Vera is still trying to deal with Miss Gracefield¡¯s death.¡±

    ¡°Cathrine Gracefield is dead!¡± Marcus shouted in disbelief

    ¡°No! I mean¡­¡± Hadwin stumbled over his words ¡°Rebecca Gracefield¡­¡± He tugged on his hair trying to get the right words out ¡°How do you know her older sister?¡±

    Marcus stared at him in disbelief ¡°Because her brother got kidnapped by a Grim Song. She went after him and I did my best to make sure she didn¡¯t get herself killed. How come she didn¡¯t know anything about magic if her little sister¡­¡±

    Hadwin looked ashamed as Lapis already knew the answer. Rebecca was a New Blood and her family wasn¡¯t magical. So obviously they erased their memories and any traces of the young witch when she died.

    Lapis couldn¡¯t help, but take advantage of this golden opportunity ¡°That¡¯s because Hadwin got her killed and Lux had their memories erased so they couldn¡¯t complain.¡±

    The look of disbelief turned to outrage as she tried her best not to smile! If that look of outrage was anything to go by then she successfully ensured that Hadwin and Marcus wouldn¡¯t become friends anytime soon.

    Hadwin opened his mouth only for Marcus¡¯s staff to blaze to life. The room grew colder as the Unsee gathered around their master feeling his anger. All of the other students backed away as they now had proof of the infamous Flame Family Rage.

    With a deep breath through gritted teeth the young wizard spoke in a stressed tone trying to sound polite ¡°I am sorry for my friend for troubling you.¡± The smile was stressed to the point you¡¯d almost expect a knife to be pulled ¡°But I am a little lost in this school and Miss Rezen had promised to help guide me around.¡±

    Hadwin to her disbelief didn¡¯t back down ¡°Don¡¯t trust her. Lux told me she is dangerous.¡±

    With a harsh chuckle the Flame Heir smiled as he spoke in a mocking tone ¡°And your headmaster suggested they should hang me after I confirmed that he Stole The Freaking Red Stone they asked for his help and informed him that I was being blood adopted.¡±

    The staff struck the stone floor leaving a resounding clang ¡°One week later he cuts all contact as The Red Stone is magically destroyed by an unnamed evil wizard that somehow snuck into an entire school full of children. Now he suggests that it would be in everyone''s best interest if I hang!¡±

    Lapis felt the surge of magic rolling off the Flame Heir as she flinched under the force of his magic. What actually worried her was the pressure he had unleashed as it almost felt like a direct attack against her magical core.

    Some of the other students actually recoiled or were clutching their sides as they had felt their magical cores get a little bit injured from the outburst he had unleashed. The staff itself flared it¡¯s strange neon light with the black center now looked like a glaring evil eye from the metal clamps holding the glass orb.

    Marcus Flame stepped between them before the crowd parted as she quickly followed after him as Hadwin held his side in pain and disbelief. Her mind raced trying to figure out how easily he had accidentally unleashed an attack on their magical cores?

    She heard of flaring one¡¯s core to apply pressure as intimidation, but that felt like a direct attack.

    Once they went down the hallway she had to ask ¡°What was that?¡±

    Marcus sighed as he shook his head ¡°The truth. That traitor sent his response to my parents when they refused to abandon me. When they informed him they were blood adopting me, he sent his reply on the front page.¡±

    Lapis blinked as she could tell by the tone (and anger) of his voice earlier that the young wizard believed every word that he said.

    ¡°Actually I was talking about that magical flare. It felt like you were trying to cut my magical core.¡± She spoke with a little bit of unease.

    If she was a normal witch then she would have been holding her side as her magical core could have taken some damage. She had strengthened magical core especially with her knowledge of the dangers of the very select section of curses that could harm one¡­

    ¡°That?¡± He spoke in disbelief ¡°I was just preparing a wand breaker curse¡­¡±

    ¡°A wand breaker curse!¡± Lapis hissed in disbelief ¡°How do you?¡±

    ¡°It¡¯s not that big of a deal.¡± Marcus quickly replied ¡°I mean everyone practically knows one. It¡¯s why everyone carries a spare wand¡­¡±

    She stared at him in disbelief as Wand Breaker Curses were highly rare specialized magic as the emotion, intent, and¡­

    ¡°How common?¡± She caught herself as she realized the fatal flaw in her logic

    The Flame Heir rummaged through his pocket and pulled out a fake wand ¡°Ten Fangs a wand. I mean roughly twenty US dollars¡­¡± He held it out to her ¡°I¡¯ve got a few spares if you need one.¡±

    Lapis stared at what should have been the highly illegal and rare cursed magical artifact being handed out like a Pumpkin Pop. She moved her wand over it muttering the necessary detection charms to confirm that it didn¡¯t have a scrap of magic from the Albion Accord.

    It was a wand that was three days old.

    She gulped, taking the wand as she hid it inside one of the specialized pockets within her robes ¡°I should warn you that this isn¡¯t a common spell¡­¡± She stared at the five other wand breaker curse wands ¡°And that you could earn ten years per wand for just having them¡­ muchless using one.¡±

    His eyes widened in disbelief ¡°You¡¯ve got to be kidding me! Velkear practically has these things made in bulk.¡±

    The idea of bulk wand breaker curse wands being as common as a Mundi Pistol was a horrifying idea¡­ especially since most witches and wizards couldn¡¯t cast magic without a wand¡­ muchless the trauma and damage that would be inflicted if they were on the receiving end of such a curse.

    She tried making a push of magic emitting from her core to get a feel of his own. Instead of a wispy core burning with magic possibly revealing his emotions or more¡­ it felt like she was brushing up against a small sharp rock.

    Even with her training she hadn¡¯t gotten her core that¡­ rough.

    ¡°I take it you have a defense against¡­ them.¡± She spoke as any problems Hadwin might have been were quickly replaced with whatever threats Marcus was used to dealing with.

    He shrugged as maybe the magic he didn¡¯t suffer as badly as someone using magic based around the Albion Accord? Maybe this¡­ bulk curse¡­ wasn¡¯t as harmful as the regular version?

    ¡°I have a few, but I could make something for you in a week or two.¡± He spoke as if it was nothing ¡°I don¡¯t have a lot of tools on hand and¡­¡±

    ¡°I can wait.¡± Lapis spoke with a sigh of relief ¡°Still you know you aren¡¯t going to win any points after that outburst.¡±

    Marcus shrugged ¡°I was already expecting them to blame me instead of¡­ praising me. If they couldn¡¯t deal with my outburst when Hadwin was being a bully to you then why should I care what they think?¡±

    That earned a hard laugh from behind them as Roland had managed to sneak up on them. She frowned as while Roland Rook and Hadwin Vera didn¡¯t have a good relationship it didn¡¯t mean that they were friends either.

    ¡°Sorry. I didn¡¯t mean to laugh.¡± Roland spoke as the wizard held out his hand ¡°My name¡¯s Roland and I can¡¯t help, but want to shake the hand of the wonderful wizard who managed to put that prick in his place in front of everyone.¡±

    Lapis smiled, but her smile never reached her eyes. Roland smiled as they both knew her history with Hadwin¡­ maybe not all of it, but enough to know that Marcus truly didn¡¯t understand the history they had with one another.

    The Flame Heir shook the Rouge Rook¡¯s hand ¡°The Chairman¡¯s first pick right?¡±

    Now she tried not to frown as Roland grinned ¡°Nice to meet you to. Heard that you needed help and after watching you reveal yourself so that those bloody wankers chased after you instead of doing the smart thing of simply slipping away while they were trying to kill Hadwin¡­ I figured I¡¯d help give a helping hand.¡±

    Lapis Rezen pinched the bridge of her nose ¡°How much did you hear?¡±

    Roland shrugged as he glanced at her robes ¡°Enough to ask to be the second person on that special order list.¡±

    The young witch groaned as today was going to be a long day.