The Magecraft Chronicles: IC

[Sariel of Tevet]

“Well I figure we could just head down to the equator line and follow it east towards Megolin. After this we will both need to lay low for a while and I don’t think Hyddick wants us badly enough to go into Megolin to find us. Especially not with all of the tension building up right now, running in after us might start another war. Alright Wawanarduwas, AWAY!!!”

The abomination lifted its head back and let out another fireblast, covering the sky with smoke. It spread its giant wings and began to flap, sending dust and dirt all through the alley and into the air around them, and slowly began to take off. As they bolted into the sky Eleazar looked down and saw the Hyddick soldiers who were only a block away staring up in horror, weapons dropped to the floor and mouths open. He laughed and held on tight to the undead dinosaur as it picked up speed and began to make its way over the ocean.

After an hour or so gliding above the sea Eleazar began to get fidgety. He wasn’t nervous about flying, just the opposite in fact, he loved the freedom of the open air. His passenger however was making him uneasy. After an hour had…flown…by the knight had not said a word. He merely sat there in a trance like state, not paying attention to Eleazar or the flight itself for that matter. Eleazar took a deep breath, turned around to face the Shade and spoke.

“So uh…what exactly is a Shade doing this far from the Darkened Islands? I mean…I don’t mean to be nosy exactly, it’s just that this will probably be a long flight and since necromancers aren’t exactly adored by the masses and you well…don’t really fit in either, we may have to find an island or something a ways off the coast. Looks like we may be stuck together for a while, may as well talk.”

[Torack]

Thalatan stepped into the cabin. From what he could see, it was a humble place made of mainly wood and plaster to hold the logs in place. He'd seen others in the area made from stone, mud, and even hay. This looked like one of the moderate abodes in the vacinity. The family that lived here had a relatively normal life, neither in poverty nor in extravagance.

Though he liked the family and their hospitality, he knew he couldn't stay here for long. He needed to make it to Hyddick soon. After about five minutes of back and forth between the householders and himself about him staying the night, he reluctantly agreed and they sat him down for dinner. The food they brought in looked delicious. It was roasted beef, ironically, in vegetable soup and a large dish of salad.

They served him first and waited for him to try the food, though Thalatan's culture taught him to wait until the rest of the household had their food. Getting the hint, they started distributing the food amongst themselves. And again, they waited for him to try his food, but his master, and caution, had taught him to wait for the houshold to eat first.

Both parties looked at each other to try the food first. Thalatan's suspiciouns grew and his eyes started to squint as the tenstion grew stronger. Seeing this, the father - who was responsible for a two male young adult beastmen and a beastwoman - nodded at his two young boys who simultaneously jumped at him. The boys weren't too fast, but considering they were literally sitting next to him, they managed to grab him before he could do anything to escape.

The young boys' grips were impossible to break out of as they held both his arms and dragged him out of the cabin. There, the father moo-ed and the inhabitants of the small villiage came out slowly, all of them looking at Thalatan. "We have the ghost!" the father shouted, triumphantly.

"I'm not a ghost, dimwhit," Thalatan said, in his whisper-like voice. As soon as he said it a hoof smacked him across the face. When Thalatan recovered the dragged him to a rock in center of the villiage and the villiagers moved up, surrounding him and the boys. He looked daggars at each and every single one of them. Though, he had to admit, these creatures were an intiguing lot. They were a group of many animals, all of them standing up right, except for a dog or two. what kind of an upsidedown country have I come into?

The father was speaking to the beastmen in front of him about some fearsome ghost of some kind as Thalatan was planning his escape, and as soon as he completed formulating his plan, one of the boys let go of him to pick an oversized nose. He took that as a good omen and struck the other boy in the face with a jab. He fell like a log, and before anyone had time to react he ran towards the crowd and slipped into a shadow right before he ran into one of the creatures.

The anger and panicking had started. While the simple minded creatures were looking and wailing at the spot Thalatan had vanished into, he reappeared behind the mob and silently, but quickly made his way forward out of the village. He took a quick glance back and noticed the father pointing at him from a distance and quickened his pace. As soon as he turned his face forward, and before he could react, he saw a large log, weilded by a husk of a creature, swinging towards his face. Thalatan groaned as he found himself on his back, his face full of hot red pain. He opened his eyes and found a growling bear weilding the club. He cursed to himself and everything went black.

[Myrdraxxis]

Casimir turned and looked at Eleazar for a long moment, debating whether or not he should actually respond to his "partner in crime". Casimir had never been one to talk much (most Shades were rather quiet, but Casimir was taciturn even by Shade standards) and there was not much on his mind that he felt like talking about. Still, he should probably indulge his necromantic comrade, lest he look rude. Casimir was many things, but being well mannered had always been a priority.

"I am wandering." he answered Eleazar's question after a while, staring off at nothing. "No destination. Not welcome back on the Darkened Isles." he paused then said, "I am dishonored."

Figuring he might as well ask a question to stave off inquiry about his exile, Casimir quickly asked, "And what of you? Necromancers hardly allowed in the Confederacy."

[Mizagium]

Kugo Agetev was a long way from home.

It had been several weeks since he lost his way, and many months since the winds ceased to feel familiar. Had it really been that long? Maybe Master Giaochu’s training had stuck after. Be as the wind, free and weightless. Allow yourself to float away – but never are you to be lead. To be lead is to acknowledge the authority of another.

“That is what I have done, master,” Kugo shouted into the winds. “I have come far from home, far away from anything familiar – but I have not deliberately chosen a path, nor have I allowed another to lead me. What must I do now?”

He waited, as if expecting someone to answer.

“What must I do here, Giaochu? Why have I come to this place?”

Angrily, he gathered arcane magic into his hands. “Crepitus!” And released it into the sky.

When that didn’t make him feel any better, he slowly released his hold on the air magic, and allowed himself to descend through the clouds. His ears popped a couple of times going down. It should have been no trouble going down, but he allowed his mind to wander – meaning when that bird flew right into his head, he really didn’t see it coming. It startled him more than anything, but it messed his concentration up enough which loosened his grip on the magics that kept him aloft, and he spiraled downward.

Kugo managed to regain control, but not before briefly zooming across the sky, and coming dangerously close to slamming into a giant…pterodactyl?

“What in the hell? Uh, sorry…sirs,” he motioned at the two seated atop the grotesque beast. “A, uh, a bird…hit me as I was flying.”


~~~~~

Across the desolate tundra of Nostia, a lone figure made its way, erratic and confused. She was a ghost, the screaming woman of the frost. She was a legend. She was a myth. She was many, many people – all of whom were no more. In truth, the figure was not much of a she, but more of an it, in habiting a female host-form.

It calls.

We answer.

There was a time this entity threatened the world, but that was long ago, back when it called itself Legion.

There, I feel it!
I feel it, too!
We all feel it!
We must have it!

No.

Thousands of souls were crammed into this one form, all competing for dominance, for control of the body and direction of its power. But one stood above the others, exerted more singular force than any: the host soul. Krysta Nonem. You won’t find much about her on this side of the veil – she was a Veritan native, called across by powerful Soul Magicks. It was into her form that the Soulcatcher amalgamated, and her mind that held it together. Forty years later, and she hadn’t given up.

We will not become that again.

But we must! We hunger.
Yes, yes, yes, we must!
Or we will fade!

Had the composite souls worked in concert, they might have been able to usurp her control, but acting in such a disjointed fashion, each pulling for his own, they were unable to dethrone her. Mostly. A pulsating magic signal echoed through every soul in Legion, even hers, and they found themselves drawn across the blasted landscape to its source, even as Krysta’s soul attempted to resist. She was failing, but it had delayed the journey for several decades.

Through her own eyes, she saw the source of the pulse: a ghostly greenish-blue crystal jutting out of the snow, mostly buried. Although she didn’t know which part of the structure it had come from, she knew it for what it was. It was a shard of the Soulcatcher, a massive device that had drawn in lost souls from across the world. She had thought it deactivated when it was destroyed…

No. No!

Go to it, we must!
It needs us – we need it!
He calls to us, he brings us home!

I will not allow that!

You have no power here!
We will work against you.
This body belongs to us.

This body belongs to me!

You are one, we are many – we are LEGION!

That was when all control of her body was wrenched away, and it staggered forward and fell upon the crystal. Something deep within unlocked, a hidden storage cache of power lurched through the ancient crystal lattice and into the body of Legion. While the inhabiting souls initially welcomed the presence into themselves, the foreign nature of it terrified them. But like them, it was incomplete, missing vital pieces of itself.

Krysta found herself drowned out, pushed below the sea of screaming souls within the single body. Her struggle for control would have to wait until this new entity was dealt with.

IT spoke to them.

Legion is no more. I am Frostsoul. I have awakened.

[Luminous Gale]

Phaeral rushed towards the nearest attacker, a young man with curly, fair locks peeking out from under his forest green bandanna. His reflexes sped up thanks to his magic, the Hellan easily ducked under the clumsy chop the younger warrior aimed at his head and brought the hilt of his own weapon into contact with the thug's stomach. Momentum carried through the strike, and the power behind the quick punch threw the young man a short distance back onto his backside.

Phaeral used the surprise his first move gave him to shoot his right hand blade out, connecting with the crude blade of a stunned bandanna-wearer with enchanted force that blasted the blade out of the man's hands. The thug looked down at his hands, to his fallen companion, and then to the strange Hellan warrior, and ran off quickly. A few of his companions joined him, but more rushed in to the aid of their friend.

The artificer sensed something behind him, and spun around quickly while bringing his blades in a cross formation in front of him to block the strike of one of the tattooed thugs. Enemies were all around him now, some trying to get at him and some fighting thugs from the rival gang. A lot of good I did...All I did was get myself in trouble, Phaeral thought, pushing his blades forward to disengage his enemy before quickly sweeping his larger blade across, driving off enemies and even slicing off a few sword tips. The sword containing Endue's soul was imbued with the power of the wind, deceptively light and sharper than it looks. Now that some of the gang members saw what it could do, they ran off. Slowly but surely, Phaeral was thinning the crowd.

Phaeral pushed himself to his limits, fighting off any blows that came at him while making sure not to harm anyone seriously. He punched them, either in the face or the gut, and disarmed them either by knocking the blade from their hands or slicing their blades in half. He would disorient his enemies with swift smacks with the flat of his blades, dazzling them with his speed and skill until they gave up the fight and ran off. In a fair, open fight like this one, no mere street thug could match Phaeral Ilasti.

"Watch out!" the soft, feminine voice of his lover Aena said inside his head, and a suggestion from his right hand told him to roll forward. He did, and came up in a defensive crouch, his blades brandished before him. There, right behind where he had just been standing, was a small boy in a bandanna way too large for him, a wicked curved dagger clutched in his hands and raised to strike. He had somehow gotten behind him, and was planning to stab him in the back. Of course, if they can't beat me in a fair fight... Phaeral thought, before he quickly sliced up with Endue's blade and knocked the small knife from the boy's hands. Wide eyed, the youth ran down a side street and away from the Hellan artificer's view.

The fight was pretty much over now, so Phaeral let his attention fall to the dagger the boy had held. It hadn't broke when the sharp blade of his left sword struck it, it had held and showed no mark. As he examined it closer, he saw that the hilt was carved in the likeness of an eagle, the pommel a screeching eagle head and the crosspiece forming glittering, black wings. It was definitely enchanted, and Phaeral was determined to figure out exactly what it was as he picked it up and made his way back to his small, damaged shack.

[Sariel of Tevet]

“Me? Oh well that is easy. Hyddick sent some squads out after the Legion attacks to take out the remaining necromancers and…why are you shaking your head at me? I swear they murdered my parents and I spent the rest of my life wandering around taking my reven…ok seriously what are you looking at! Wait…did we stop moving?” Eleazar looked up at the clouds and noticed they were no longer passing by in a blur. He slammed his fist down onto his leg and started to spin around and smack his avian abomination to get it moving again, but instead accidentally slapped a strange mage that was floating in front of them. He stared at him with wide eyes, mostly out of embarrassment. He smacked the poor guy pretty hard, you really have to wind up to smack a dinosaur after all, he was surprised that the man was even still floating next to them, and a bit impressed actually.

“Woah woah woah, I’m so sor…”

VVVWOOOOOOOOOOSSSHHH!!!!!

Eleazar was cut off by the most horrifying sneeze anyone could imagine. Partially because it came from a flying undead reptile formed from the remains of countless tortured/murdered soliders, but mostly because the sneeze was followed by a massive blast of fire that sent the stranger soaring through the sky and crashing through a tower on a nearby island.

“Uh…bless…you? Wait, feral creatures can snee….focus…focus. We may have just killed someone. Let’s go apologize…if…he still has a pulse.” Eleazar made sure to smack his pet this time and it took off towards the tower.

[Nergal]

Jin had returned to his kitchen, fistfuls of fish placed on his counter. Through more experiments, he had slowly come to several conclusions about the spell he had been working on.

"It would appear that time has no effect on this mixture," he spoke, noting the discovery down in his notebook. "I dipped the fish into the solution in reverse order - starting from the most decayed to the least decayed - and the results were exactly the same as previous trials. The least decayed fish were restored to perfection, while the most rotten of the bunch became only slightly less rotten." Jin sighed, and rubbed his forehead furiously. "In that sense, my formula is incomplete," he added to the notebook. "While it seems unaffected by time, it can still only restore recently deceased bodies. And I have yet to try it on a subject other than a fish, so it is unknown if its restorative properties will have the same effect on humans. Further research must be-

CRASH!

In the midst of his thought, Jin was jolted out of his writing by a loud crashing noise coming from somewhere near his home.

"What in the world? Gah!" Jin had not been visited by...anyone in the last forty years, and his island life had been relatively peaceful - the kind of life one must lead in order to dedicate years to research. "Whoever or whatever is responsible for that noise," he growled, his hands spontaneously bursting into flames, "had better have a good reason for interrupting my studies."

With that, Jin proceeded to dash toward the source of the noise, ready to obliterate whatever had made it.

[Myrdraxxis]

"It's called the Keystone." Cole said, resting his chin in hands and leaning against the table. "I tracked it down to a region not too far from Megolin-Mesbaria. Contact with the area went down a few weeks ago, but no one's bothered to look into it since the military is busy gearing up for a fight." the older man explained. Arrick hummed thoughtfully. The two Seekers were down to business now that the initial shock of meeting a fellow hunter had worn off. Arrick had always known that there were others like him -Seekers, as Cole had called them- but he'd never actually met any others. It put into perspective how little he actually knew about his job that Arrick hadn't even known there was a title for his profession.

"What does it do?" Arrick asked.

Cole snorted. "No idea. What little information I could get from the area suggested that people were just up and vanishing. No explanation, just empty homes and the occasional blood splatter." The older Seeker paused, before continuing. "Normally I'd go and investigate, but with no intel to speak of, it would be suicide to go without backup. That's why I looked you up." he nodded at Arrick. "Heard good things about your work, even if you are still a bit green."

Arrick wasn't sure how he felt about being called a rookie, but the fact that someone had apparently been keeping tabs on his jobs made him a bit uneasy. But that was an issue for later.

"Are you sure that it's even an artifact?" he asked after a moment. "It could be something completely unrelated."

"No, it's definitely our kind of party." Cole shook his head resolutely. "Seekers tend to work alone, but there's a kind of information network that unofficially exists, keeps track of destroyed artifacts, or those that are moving. My sources place the Keystone in that region nearly a year ago. Never heard anything about it being destroyed, but I always assumed since no trouble ever popped up that it wasn't worth a look."

"Until now."

"Right."

Arrick glanced down at his ring. "Solomon, have you ever heard of this thing before?"

"I have not, oddly enough." the Celestial spoke, sounding rather disturbed by that fact.

"Neither have I," Cole's partner, Hecate, piped up. "But it is not unheard of for neither of us to know. There are many artifacts out there, and none of us knew exactly how many were left behind."

Arrick sighed, rubbing his forehead thoughtfully. "Well, I suppose that means we're going to have to go take a look."

Cole grinned triumphantly. "Agreed. For now, I'd suggest getting some rest. I'll meet you here tomorrow morning and we can get going." The older man stood, offering a hand. Arrick stood as well.

"Tomorrow then." They shook hands and Cole departed. Arrick stayed for a bit longer to eat before he too departed to find a room for the night, and to prepare for this newest job.

~][~

Casimir continued to stare off into space, not at all concerned by the sudden appearance of the stranger or Eleazar's subsequent path of destruction that followed.

[Torack]

Thalatan awoke with his body bound and found himself in a dark place. His mind was cloudy and his face felt like fiery balloon. He looked around trying to make whatever he could of the room. It was simple, with a few crates here and there, a small sink on the far corner to the right and himself in the center of the room. There were no candles or lamps in here engulfing the whole place in a dark shadow. Lucky break for Thalatan, he created a simple knife like structure from the shadow and cut his binds loose.

He stood up, though a bit dizzy, after he had untied himself and held on to a wall to stable himself before he toppled and made enough noise to call in a party of those idiot beastmen. Shaking his head quickly, he absorbed himself into the shadow and looked out on all the outer walls. He found that he was in the basement of an empty house, or rather an occupied house with it's owners asleep. Yes, that made more sense, and it certainly wasn't the cabin he was in the first time he came here.

He came out of the shadows and reformed in the living room, which was also gratefully dark and used the shadows to go through the wall and appear outside. He scanned the area and found it completely empty. Quickly and as quietly as he could he made his way out of the villiage and cursed them, hoping something evil and dark would come upon them and utterly destroy them.

With that, he made his way further south to reach his destination.

[Mizagium]

Kugo should have been killed by the pterodactyl sneeze. He also should have been killed from the impact into the tower. Hell, just the fall alone should have killed him, much less the rubble collapsing on him. So what was that...like four times in one day he should have died? A record, he thought grimly. Never had he been more thankful for the ward glyphs tattooed on his body then that moment. Without them, he wouldn't have been able to cast spells fast enough. As he hurled the last piece of stone tower into the ocean, he realized he was grounded. His wards had siphoned off too much of his reserve magic. His wards would stay active and he could probably conjure some Arcane bursts, but no flying for a while.

"Awesome. Where the hell am I? I should probably find the owner of this tower and apologize..."

-

Adden Gae'om was waiting at the door when Vesperita came around the path, grinning through his wrinkling and weathered face and grayed hair. The robes draped around him did their best to give the impression of a healthy man, but his slumping posture belied the frail form within. That didn't stop Vesperita from running up and clasping ehr arms around him in the biggest hug she could give.

"Hello there, Vepsy," Adden returned the embrace. "How are you?"

"I'm alright, Uncle Addy. How did you know I was coming?"

"Master summoner, remember?" He trapped her head. "Seeing spirits all along the path. Come in, my girl. Would you like some tea?"

"No. I just need to speak with you."

"Oh?" He lead her in to the living room and sat down in his favorite chair, the cushy one that supported his bones, creaking as he lowered. Vesperita followed, but didn't sit, preferring to pace uneasily. "What is troubling you?"

"Father." That one word conveyed years of meaning. "A couple of days ago, a Dark Wing rep came calling, asking for his help for something...I don't know what it was; Dark Wing likes to speak in riddles and vagueries to the uninitiated."

"Things have...changed, Vespy. Dark Wing is no longer the organization it was when I left it. Ethan wouldn't be so happy with it either, I think. I take it he turned them down?"

"Yeah. Any harsher and he would have thrown him out of the house. And then there was that attack on the headquarters today..."

"So I've heard." Adden leaned forward and folded his hands under his chin. "These are all troubling events, yes, but that's not what troubles you, Vespertia."

He waited.

"They won't let me leave."

"Vesperita..."

"I can't stand it here anymore! All my parents have to say is about how much Dark Wing sucks now or how great my brother is! Nobody else had anything else to talk about either - I've seen more and more street brawls between pro- and anti-Dark Wing people. And there's recruiters freaking everywhere! And now the headquarters was attacked!" She stopped, suddenly aware that she was shaking and on the verge of tears.

Adden sighed again and rose uneasily. "Vesperita...I can't tell you the correct path. Only you can figure it out. I also cannot and will not tell you to disobey your father. Despite the differences we have, he is still your father."

"I'm not going back," Vesperita declared.

Adden was at a loss for words. In her he recognized the same fire and lust for adventure that once possessed Vi'ir, and he feared it would lead her down a path of death. The world was not the same place it was forty years ago. Adventure was less common, and more dangerous. Historians would debate the shift in world paradigm for ages to come, but he suspected that the sudden influx of Veritan mages upset the previous few centuries of status quo. That ripple was still spreading across the world to this day. One day soon, a great wave would crash over everything.

"Stay here," he offered. "Stay here and clear your head for a few days, it'll do you some good."

But she wasn't listening. She stormed off to the training room, where he held his summoning classes.