- Joined
- Apr 21, 2005
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- Age
- 35
The smell of blood and acrid smoke filled the air, as the guns continued their steady rhythm, splaying their metal death across the beach. Countless soldiers fell within the gunner's sights, as high above them, on the bluff, two black-robed men observed in silent approval.
One stood slightly ahead of the other, on the very edge of the cliff, oblivious to the bullets passing through the air about him. His name was 'Sternis Krauss', and he was leading this defensive manuvere that would one day become known as 'D-Day'. Its true nature, however, would never be revealed. The young man behind him, one 'Kontur Verrater', would see to that.
Sternis had thick, blonde hair, slicked back from his gaunt, skull-like face. His eyes were deeply recessed into his skull, and were a blood-red. His skin was pale and cracked, as the power he wielded corrupted over time. The muscles under his cloak were clearly formed and obvious. Overall, he gave the impression of a dying man built like a champion boxer.
Kontur, however, was completely different. He had semi-long brown hair, thin and light, that fell to either side of his face. His eyes were deep brown, almost black, and his face was young and smooth. His body was slim, yet slightly muscled, and he wore a black army uniform beneath a robe that fell open at the shoulders, as opposed to the full ceremonial garb worn by Sternis. He was much younger, and a sense of shock and awe, even fear, could be seen in his eyes as he watched the slaughter unfold.
"Here they come..."
Sternis' voice broke through the cold atmosphere like a rusty nail through a sheet of glass, bringing Kontur's attention to the beach as easily as if he'd grabbed hold of the young mans head and forced it down to watch. Three young men had emerged from the boats, wearing a very different garb to that of the allied forced about them. They wore robes, not dissimilar to that worn by Sternis, though theirs were not black. As they advanced up the beach, shields of light appeared before them, defending them from the hail of bullets that had fallen upon them.
"Start the ritual." The older man snapped to Kontur, not even looking over his shoulder, intent on the three's progress. The younger turned on his heel, not bothering to salute a superior who quite honestly couldn't care less, and walked back from the edge. Behind the two, a large circle was etched on the ground, containing a six-pointed star. At each point of the star, on the lines of the circle, sat a small metal orb, each containing a vital part of the ritual. As Kontur walked slowly into the centre, the orbs began to emit a humming sound.
As he turned about, he caught a glimpse of the beach, as the shield of one of the three gave way, and their body was riddled with bullets, exploding in a shower of blood and collapsing to the sand. He looked about him, at the bloodshed and slaughter taking place.
Why was all this happening? Why did all these people have to die? Of course, he already knew the answer. It was for Sternis' plot. It was all Sternis' fault.
It was a long walk home.
Jade quietly contemplated his options. The first day at his new school and he'd managed to miss the bus. His parents were working late, adapting to their new jobs after the move, so there was nobody he could call, and he didn't have the money for a taxi.
With a sigh, he started walking, thinking about the events of the last couple days. Ever since his father had been offered that long-term contract here, his family had just up-and-moved. There goes your world, Jade. He hadn't liked this place from the start. Where his old town had had semi-slums and housing developments, this one had high-rises and office space. Jade liked the city, but he didn't like THAT much of it. He was really starting to appreciate what he'd had back home.
No. He couldn't think like that anymore. This was his home now. Hated as he was.
He'd been the odd one out at school today. The new guy. As it seemed, dyed-black hair, body-hugging black singlets, and denim jeans accentuated with all manner of chains did not make an adequate replacement for the school uniform, or the casual dress of his classmates. Somehow, he doubted the tattoo he'd been planning to get for months now would make much of a difference in that regard. Try as he had to make friends, they just didn't want to be the ones to first associate with him. Nobody did. He'd probably just have to wait until they accepted him, or beat the crap out of him.
That was the last thing he thought before being roughly dragged into a nearby alley by three young men that had emerged from it.
He was pulled across the ground, two of his assailants holding him by the arms as he struggled, still partially in shock over what was happening. He tried to wriggle free, and was met with a fist in the face, his whole world flashing red and his hearing fading out for a few seconds.
When he regained his senses, two blue, cold eyes stared down at him from a round, porky face. Beneath a head of blonde hair, lurked something that Jade was quite sure should not be able to support it's own weight.
"Say, kiddie. You've stumbled into the wrong territory, see? Your school ain't welcome here."
Jade noticed the coloured uniforms each of the five surrounding him wore, and swore to himself, desperately trying to think up an escape method.
"Yo! Jade, over here!"
One week had passed since Jade and Even had teamed up on the rival schoolkids, and they'd since become good friends. The very next day, Evan had introduced his 'posse' as he jokingly called them, Daniel and Blake, and the four had instantly hit it off. All in all, the week had ended up a lot better then Jade had first thought. He'd never imagined getting dragged into an alleyway to be a good way to meet people...
Sliding onto the Bench across from Daniel and Blake, he promptly tossed the paper bag he held into a nearby bin without bothering to look inside. His mother's cooking was...inventive, to say the least. They all sat outside, in the small courtyard off the cafeteria, surrounded on all four sides by two-story classroom blocks.
"Shouldn't wast good food like that, man!" Evan joked, happy for a break from the other's conversation: Superman Versus Batman. Not the most enthralling subject Evan had ever found himself caught up in.
"So, it's Friday..." Jade pointed out, as the other two's voices faded to a constant background drone: "What do you guys do for fun around here?"
Evan grinned, leaning back against the bench: "Well, mostly, we roam the streets causing trouble. But if you wanna take me out to dinner..." he said sarcastically.
He was met with a swift fist to the shoulder, which he laughed off easily, leaning back and folding his arms behind his head. Jade laughed, and followed suit, laying back. However, as his gaze swept upwards, he noticed something.
On the second floor, a figure stood in one of the windows, looking down on them in the school coutyard. Jade only caught a brief glimpse before he quickly moved away from the window, but he was sure...no, almost certain...that he'd noticed a shadow in the window when he come out here.
Was this guy watching them?
His train of thought was broken as a shout came from across the table: Blake and Adam, apparently, couldn't come to a decision about wether or not Batman's boomerangs could cut Superman.
Sighing, Jade glanced back up at the window. The figure was back, and the second he saw Jade look up, he disappeared from view yet again.
Something was defiantly going on here.
"The key to any basic magic...is the Sigil" Blue noted, in a soft, authoritive tone. He wore a somewhat decaying Tuxedo, and paced left and right across the basement in front of the sceptical and disinterested Josh. Slowing his pacing, he grabbed a long candle from a nearby box, motioning the young man over.
"Sigils can be created using a variety of medium, each of which will affect the power generated by the Sigil, and the spells cast using that power. Wax is the cheapest, easiest, and safest to use, but you won't be able to generate a lot of energy with a Wax Sigil, or cast too advanced a spell."
Josh nodded slowly, not completely understanding what the old guy was talking about. He was really only putting up with it for the sake of a certain young woman.
Blue looked slightly disappointed at this reaction, frowning. Maybe the kid just needed to see something to give him a bit of a kick start...
The old man shuffled across the the centre of the room. The floor, walls, and ceiling in here were coated with a smooth, black lining, giving the room both a featureless and cold, dark feeling to it. Kneeling, Blue began to drag the candle across the ground, drawing a shape with it.
"Sigils..." he said as he drew: "Are used to create and control energy. Without a Sigil, to cast a spell, you'd be using your own energy in the place of that generated, and so each spell would shorten your lifespan. The Sigil is given the energy by the Gods, in exchange for the prayer made by the incorporation of the six aspects of creation into the Sigil."
As he spoke, he stood up, dusting himself off, and took a step back, letting Josh take a look at his handiwork: He'd drawn a large shield, a very basic drawing, with the same design repeated on the inside. These two were within a circle.
"The six aspects, I've got here. Fire. Water. Earth. Air. Light. Soul."
As he spoke each, he placed a small coloured orb on the circle, each at even intervals. The six orbs each glowed with a faint light. Blue noticed the young man staring down at them, and decided to explain: "Captured within each orb..." he said: "Is the essence of each of these aspects. However, you don't need an essence. Actually, just something that represents each aspect would work fine."
Josh, despite his scepticism, couldn't help but be intrigued by all this. He was starting to understand what exactly Blue was talking about. In fact, he found, he was getting more and more interested.
"Now..." said the older man, walking into the centre of the circle, slowly and purposefully: "All that remains is to cast the spell. To do so, you must simply think about the desired result you want to achieve. Also, when creating a spell, Limits are important. Unless you set Limits, your spell could spiral out of control. Very clear limitations must be created."
He closed his eyes, clasped his hands in prayer...and, suddenly, the circle surrounding him exploded in blue light, a pillar of violet flame surrounding the old man, tearing up towards the ceiling and throwing the entire room into an eerie blue light. Shocked and terrified, Josh stumbled backwards, falling against a wall. Almost unnoticing, Blue spoke through the flame to the young man, saying aloud the spell as he wrote it in his head.
"Orb to repel all biological substances, centred on Joshua, non-moving, double in size his own height, to be dispelled upon my spoken word."
As he finished the spell, the flare of blue died down, until the circle was left glowing on the ground. A blue light faded in around the boy, an orb surrounding him.
A full minute passed before Blue strode out of the circle, smiling, and walked up to the no-longer panicked young man, who was glancing around his prison in wonder.
"Touch it..." the elderly mage requested, and his pupil complied, reaching a trembling hand out to scrape the surface. An electric feeling tore through Josh' body at the touch. It wasn't solid...more of the sensation of touching water. His hand, however, could not pass through it.
"Dispel..." Blue spoke, and the orb vanished, as the Sigil behind him faded, all the light vanishing, and the room returning to it's previous state.
Gasping in disbelief, the young man could only manage to cough out a two single words.
"Teach me..."
That very afternoon, Jade found himself wandering past the same alley from one week ago: He and Evan's fated meeting spot. Only this time, Evan, Daniel, and Blake were all at his side.
It came as a surprise, then, when the same lardball from last time emerged from it as they approached, grinning from ear to ear...a smile made especially creepy by the bandages wound about his jaw.
"And here I thought we made territory clear last week. You don't learn, do you, kid?"
At once, Jade and Evan had their guard up, hands raised defensively. Jade used a somewhat slack version of Tae Kwon Do, his right hand forwards, left by his body, whilst Evan held both up before his face. Jade had taken a few lessons in martial arts...for fun, more then anything. He'd never really been any good at the flowing fighting style they tried to teach, but he'd taken some moves away from the experience. Evan, on the other hand, was purely self-taught.
"Hey, easy now. You don't wanna be doing that..." their opponent said softly, as several more kids wearing the same navy-blue shirt emerged from the surrounding streets, Daniel and Blake taking up defensive stances at their friend's backs.
"Jamie. Back off. I wanna talk to them..." an authoritive voice spoke suddenly, echoing from around the corner. The butter-churn, apparently called Jamie, nodded sullenly and backed off, as a newcomer strode around the corner.
He wore the same Navy-blue formal shirt as his allies, but it's sleeves were rolled up, the hem untucked, and it was unironed. From the sneakers, to slightly-darker-then-Caucasian skin, the slicked back black hair, and the cold, confident blue eyes, this guy was definatly not one to mess with.
"Hey there. So you're the guys who humiliated Jamie last week? They told me there was only two of you. Usually, after taking a beating that bad, I'd expect them to increase the number of enemies if they were going to lie about it..."
That was when Jade noticed the others standing around. Two were visibly bandaged, and one held himself in a very awkward manner. It seemed they'd done well.
The enemy leader, giving a nonchalant chuckle, continued: "Ah well. Jamie's not exactly known for his tactical genius, you know? The name's Adam. You, however, call me Atlas. And I'm kinda what you'd call the Godfather of this little High-School Mafia."
Jade shifted uncomfortably. He'd just caught a flash of light from behind him, one that suspiciously had looked like reflected sunlight. One of these guys had something made of metal. A knife, he was guessing. His blood froze as he realised that, despite Atlas' calm demeanour, something was about to go down.
"Now..." Atlas started, as he began walking forwards slowly, his gang members following suit, advancing slowly: "This is usually when we give you an ultimatum: Give us your lunch money, or we beat the crap outta' you. But...I like you. So, ya'know what?" He asked, his face splitting into a confident grin.
"I'm going to let you keep your cash."
With that, they attacked.
From nearby, a black-clad figure watched in silence as Jade fell to the ground under a barrage of punches and kicks, and Evan was dragged over to a wall, set upon by several more as he was thrown against it.
"Yes!"
Joshua's shout echoed triumphantly through Blue's basement, as the red light below his feet faded, as did the red orb floating before him.
"Did you see that? I did it!" he demanded excitedly, as the old man chuckled to himself.
"Well done...for a first try." he replied, inwardly marvelling: Usually, it took about a week for a beginner to learn to manifest their power as a simple orb. Yet Josh had done it on his first go.
"Alright. Now you've got that...the next step is to maintain it. Don't lose your focus this time."
"Right!" the young man grinned, clasping his hands again, as the red glow beneath him flared up again
As Jade's feeling slowly flooded back through his body, he found himself wishing the numbness had lingered longer.
His entire being hurt. He couldn't see out of his left eye...it was covered in his own blood, and his eyebrow swelling. His right hand wouldn't move. He felt wet all over, and knew he'd quickly find patches of red on his clothing in those spots.
"My, that was an impressive fight you guys put up there."
The alley Jade realised he had been stuffed down had suddenly been filled with a mocking clapping. He twisted his head to see who it was. That Atlas guy again?
Next to him, Daniel was slumped, unconscious. Not far off, Evan was propped up against a dumpster, Blake lay atop it, and at the end of an alley, a figure was silhouetted by the streetlights from the road beyond.
Streetlights? If it was already nighttime, then they'd been out more then three hours. Not a good sign.
Walking into the alley, the young man inclined his head, looking down at Jade: It was then that he realised where he'd seen the guy before. It was the guy who was watching him from the second floor at school today!
"Heh, so you've remembered me, then? Sorry about that. I did intent to hide better, but apparently, the Macramé club uses the room I'd selected as a watchpoint on Fridays."
Evan struggled to raise himself into a half-sitting position, looking up into the eyes of this newcomer.
"Ah. Where are my manners? I'm one of the Student-Teachers. You guys, being students, are supposed to call me Mr Kelly. I'm fine, however, if you just prefer 'Sean'."
Despite the response to this, he paused for a moment as if listening, and then continued: "So...tell me. When those guys jumped you...why didn't you use your magic?"
Wait a second, Jade thought to himself, going over 'Mr Kelly's' words in his head.
Did he just say Magic?
"Hey dude...I got a question..."
Jamie looked inquisitively up at Atlas, who sat on the back of a torn, damaged couch, watching a small television across a dirty, unkempt room.
They'd returned to Atlas' home after their little fun. He lived alone with his father, and the two of them had very little interest in cleanliness.
"Yeah?" he replied, not looking down at his crony, obviously more interested in the television then his so-called friends.
"When we were kickin' on those guys...the Bats and Knives...where'd they come from?"
Atlas seemed to pause for a second, the confident, in-control look disappearing from his face. He turned slowly to look down at Jamie, his face twisted in confusion.
"I...I don't know. Mine just...appeared in my hands, right when I was thinkin' I needed one..."
"Yeah. Magic."
Evan and the others still sat in the same alley, though Sean had produced bandages and medicines that he'd just so happened to be carrying at the time, and helped to clean them up. Evan was staring with puzzled intent at the man who'd just informed him, that apparently, he had an 'Aura', and the ability to utilise magic, potentially of the 'higher order'.
"You're telling me you don't know?" Sean asked, as he finished wrapping a bandage around Blake's leg. So far, he'd fixed up Blake, Daniel and Evan himself. Now, however, he simply threw the bandages to Jade with a look of disdain.
"Fix yourself up..." he said, moving back across to Evan, kneeling before the sitting teenager.
"Tell you what. I know a little about this kinda stuff. So...meet me in the school's basement storeroom tomorrow morning. If anyone asks...tell them I'm helping you catch up on some maths work, or something."
With that, he rose to his feet, and walked slowly from the alley, leaving the others behind to help Jade bandage his wounds.
"So...when will you teach me something a little more useful?"
Blue chuckled to himself. The kid had learnt so much, in just a few days. Not only had he mastered every spell he was shown, within three attempts, he'd also made astonishingly insightful observations on the nature of many of them, and even managed to modify one of the spells to achieve an entirely different effect. Blue was no teacher, and he'd only taken two apprentices, both of whom had died in the purge. But Joshua seemed to learn at almost triple the speed they had. In a way, it was frightful.
And, through all this, that dwarfing black aura had never once diminished in size, or in hue. If anything, it had grown slightly.
Blue was intent that Joshua never learn even basic Necromancery spells. He hadn't even told Josh the true nature of his magical talent. It was his belief that the boy was smart enough, that if shown a single spell, he could probably extrapolate from that to a whole range of effects.
There were two primary types of magic: That was, Effect, and Energy. Effect spells consumed energy to sustain themselves, and were a definite technique: A shield effect spell would create a shield. Effects tend to be confined to specific classes, for example, only Defenomancers, like Blue, could use the types of barriers and shields he could. However, some basic effects could be used by all classes.
Energy, on the other hand, was both unique and shared. Energy spells convert energy into the auratype of the user, and then manipulate that energy, with the basic example being a simple energy blast. Energies of conflicting classes would have varied effects.
So far, Blue had only showed his 'apprentice' some basic effect spells. He hadn't even touched on Energy, and he had no intention to. In fact, he'd already reached the limit of what he'd wanted to teach the boy, the basics of controlling and manipulating his power, preventing an accidental release.
"I'm not sure...if I will..." he said hesitantly, glancing down at the young man for a second, then reiterating: "I...I'm a Defenomancer. I don't really know much about Necromancery."
The young man's eyes widened, as he mouthed the word. Blue suddenly realised he'd made a terrible mistake. He hadn't told Joshua he was a Necromancer yet. Now he'd let it slip.
"I'm...a Necromancer?" he asked, looking away from Blue, deep in thought.
"So...how was it. Was he gentle with ya'?" Blake asked, as Evan walked slowly across the yard to their table. Jade looked pissed off about something...but it wasn't their problem. Besides, they all wanted to hear about Sean's 'magic'.
"Yeah, you guys used protection, right?" Daniel spoke up, grinning across his face.
Evan paused by their table, looking down at the trio. A smile crossed his face, and he burst into speech, talking loudly and incoherantly for a second before Jade put a hand on his shoulder and drew him down to the bench, amidst the stares of their classmates.
"Calm down...now, tell me. What happened?" he asked calmly, and Evan, shuddering in anticipation now, said only one thing:
"He showed me...he showed me myself. One year, three months from now."
One stood slightly ahead of the other, on the very edge of the cliff, oblivious to the bullets passing through the air about him. His name was 'Sternis Krauss', and he was leading this defensive manuvere that would one day become known as 'D-Day'. Its true nature, however, would never be revealed. The young man behind him, one 'Kontur Verrater', would see to that.
Sternis had thick, blonde hair, slicked back from his gaunt, skull-like face. His eyes were deeply recessed into his skull, and were a blood-red. His skin was pale and cracked, as the power he wielded corrupted over time. The muscles under his cloak were clearly formed and obvious. Overall, he gave the impression of a dying man built like a champion boxer.
Kontur, however, was completely different. He had semi-long brown hair, thin and light, that fell to either side of his face. His eyes were deep brown, almost black, and his face was young and smooth. His body was slim, yet slightly muscled, and he wore a black army uniform beneath a robe that fell open at the shoulders, as opposed to the full ceremonial garb worn by Sternis. He was much younger, and a sense of shock and awe, even fear, could be seen in his eyes as he watched the slaughter unfold.
"Here they come..."
Sternis' voice broke through the cold atmosphere like a rusty nail through a sheet of glass, bringing Kontur's attention to the beach as easily as if he'd grabbed hold of the young mans head and forced it down to watch. Three young men had emerged from the boats, wearing a very different garb to that of the allied forced about them. They wore robes, not dissimilar to that worn by Sternis, though theirs were not black. As they advanced up the beach, shields of light appeared before them, defending them from the hail of bullets that had fallen upon them.
"Start the ritual." The older man snapped to Kontur, not even looking over his shoulder, intent on the three's progress. The younger turned on his heel, not bothering to salute a superior who quite honestly couldn't care less, and walked back from the edge. Behind the two, a large circle was etched on the ground, containing a six-pointed star. At each point of the star, on the lines of the circle, sat a small metal orb, each containing a vital part of the ritual. As Kontur walked slowly into the centre, the orbs began to emit a humming sound.
As he turned about, he caught a glimpse of the beach, as the shield of one of the three gave way, and their body was riddled with bullets, exploding in a shower of blood and collapsing to the sand. He looked about him, at the bloodshed and slaughter taking place.
Why was all this happening? Why did all these people have to die? Of course, he already knew the answer. It was for Sternis' plot. It was all Sternis' fault.
Zero Limit
"To break the Limits of Humanity, one must look only inwards."
"To break the Limits of Humanity, one must look only inwards."
"Stop it!"
Laughter echoed through the dimly lit street as a young pair stumbled through an alley, the girl giggling in laughter as her companion attempted to playfully nibble on her ear.
The young man had thick, messy brown hair, streaked in a light blonde, falling just over the level of his eyes, hiding them from view in the right light. His eyes themselves were a deep brown, and told of a loneliness that one couldn't comprehend with his light, playful personality.
He wore a long-sleeved white shirt, the top three buttons undone to reveal his chest and part of his left shoulder. A pair of denim jeans covered his legs, and from beneath them, white sneakers peeked out. As he walked, the laces, which were undone, flopped around dangerously.
The young woman he was with had long brown hair, pulled back in a ponytail to leave her face free. Her skin was lightly tanned; a contrast to the pale skin of her companion, and her eyes a hazel-blue. Her body was slim, her chest on the larger side. She wore slitted jeans and a sleeveless shirt.
"So where we gettin' to anyway?" The young man asked hesitantly, simply dropping the 'G' amidst the other words. He could speak perfectly when he wanted to, but, whenever around those of a certain cliché, he tended to purposefully alter his verbal grammar for their benefit. He considered himself somewhat of a social philosopher, trying to know the minds of others. So far, it seemed to have been effective.
"You'll see…when we get there!" The girl answered coyly, turning around to poke her tongue at him, then ducking around a corner before he could catch up.
Catching up a few moments later, he slipped his arms around her, leaning in to kiss her on the cheek, and repeated the question:
"C'mon. Where are we goin'?"
She looked across at him for a moment, then grinned: "Fine. I'll tell you. My grandad's got this rule...whenever I get a boyfriend, I gotta go take them to see him. He's a good bloke. Into magic tricks and stuff like that. You'll like him, honest."
Her escort grinned and nodded, as she broke free of his arms and they drew level with a small block of apartments.
"You're grandpa lives HERE?" He asked, glancing across the balconies above him, but she pulled him down a nearby driveway, leading the way to a small, rundown wooden house in the yard behind the apartments.
"This is his place. It's not much, but he hasn't got a lot of money... and he's lived here for almost thirty years now. The old guy just doesn’t want to leave."
The male remained outside for a second, looking up at the rundown shack. It seemed to have an air about it...an electric feeling, even. When asked about it years from them, he would tell them that it had felt like...destiny.
"You coming?" the girl's voice called out, and he broke his gaze and hurried inside.
It was a long walk home.
Jade quietly contemplated his options. The first day at his new school and he'd managed to miss the bus. His parents were working late, adapting to their new jobs after the move, so there was nobody he could call, and he didn't have the money for a taxi.
With a sigh, he started walking, thinking about the events of the last couple days. Ever since his father had been offered that long-term contract here, his family had just up-and-moved. There goes your world, Jade. He hadn't liked this place from the start. Where his old town had had semi-slums and housing developments, this one had high-rises and office space. Jade liked the city, but he didn't like THAT much of it. He was really starting to appreciate what he'd had back home.
No. He couldn't think like that anymore. This was his home now. Hated as he was.
He'd been the odd one out at school today. The new guy. As it seemed, dyed-black hair, body-hugging black singlets, and denim jeans accentuated with all manner of chains did not make an adequate replacement for the school uniform, or the casual dress of his classmates. Somehow, he doubted the tattoo he'd been planning to get for months now would make much of a difference in that regard. Try as he had to make friends, they just didn't want to be the ones to first associate with him. Nobody did. He'd probably just have to wait until they accepted him, or beat the crap out of him.
That was the last thing he thought before being roughly dragged into a nearby alley by three young men that had emerged from it.
He was pulled across the ground, two of his assailants holding him by the arms as he struggled, still partially in shock over what was happening. He tried to wriggle free, and was met with a fist in the face, his whole world flashing red and his hearing fading out for a few seconds.
When he regained his senses, two blue, cold eyes stared down at him from a round, porky face. Beneath a head of blonde hair, lurked something that Jade was quite sure should not be able to support it's own weight.
"Say, kiddie. You've stumbled into the wrong territory, see? Your school ain't welcome here."
Jade noticed the coloured uniforms each of the five surrounding him wore, and swore to himself, desperately trying to think up an escape method.
"Grandad...This is Josh, my boyfriend!" The young girl said, making a mock bow and a sweeping motion with her hands. Josh blushed slightly and looked more then uncomfortable.
The old man who'd shuffled out of the living room was looking at him with eyes wide open, almost as if in shock. No...he wasn't looking at him. He was looking above him, at the air over Joshua's head. The young man stood still, fidgeting uncomfortable, as his girlfriend's grandfather ran his eyes down his body, taking in everything. Josh wished he'd worn something a little more formal...but still, there was nothing for it now.
The elderly man, on the other hand, was known by his last name: 'Blue'. There was, in his past, a reason for this name, but that he'd left behind with everything else. After the war...he hadn't wanted to be one anymore.
Being a Mage was just too painful.
Blue could still remember Lock getting cut down by the bullets. He could still see the last grey-green flash as his best friend's Aura disappeared. And everything afterwards...
But...this was not the time to be dwelling on the past. Blue had a situation in the here and now. It seemed, even if he chose to abandon Magic...it wasn't done wit him yet. Eva had never even had an aura, for that he was thankful...but this boy she had brought into his house...
A Mage's Aura was directly related to their level of power and control. To have a small Aura would mean you'd never be able to control even the most basic spells, and probably end up killing yourself trying. The bigger the Aura, as a general rule, the more powerful a mage you'd be. The colour of that Aura indicated what spells you'd be the most apt with, and the 'core', or symbol seen within it, indicated your class. With just a single look, a skilled mage could know everything about a foe.
This boy before him had the second largest Aura he'd ever seen, pitch-black, and with a six-pointed star within a circle forming the core. The only Aura Blue had ever seen that was larger then it, had also been black, and with the same symbol.
The sheer size of this boy's power...it was enough to destroy entire cities if released without training. The old man knew instantly what was necessary.
It had been some time since Blue had taken on an apprentice. He wasn't sure he even remembered his own training.
"Get up!"
Jade was roughly dragged to his feet, only to be met with a swift knee to the lower body. Apparently, the Heifer's size concealed a surprising speed.
He had a few seconds to think about this before a hand was wrapped around his hair, and his head was yanked upwards, a first slamming into his chin and driving him back against a wall, his head slamming into the brick with a small splatter of blood.
As the others backed off, circling around, the Piggy closed in, grinning. Jade ran a hand through his matted hair, feeling a sharp stinging as he passed over a spot to the left, right at the back. From what he felt, his head had been split open.
This wasn't right. Jade wasn't the one that took the hits. He was supposed to be the one giving them. To think that this beachball would dare to even touch him...it was impossible. He hated it. He hated him. So much. Jade's rage built up, consuming his whole body, coursing through his veins like a tangible form, a scream building up in his throat...
Music: Slipknot - I am Hated
His enraged counterattack was forgotten as, suddenly, a fist emerged from thin air to his left and drove into the amazing blimp's jaw, with an audible smack. A less audible click signified his mandible shattering under the force of the blow.
Leaping into motion while he had the chance, Jade was blocked off by two of the Gangmembers, fencing him in. He backed up, bumping into his rescuer, who faced off against a second pair of the rival school students. Back to back, they unwittingly flashed the same sly smile.
"Welcome to Atheon. Name's Evan. I see they've given you the red carpet treatment?" the stranger shot over his shoulder, as one of the rival school's gangmembers dove at him, and was met with a swift sidestep by his intended target, and a literally breathtaking kick to the back of his neck by Jade, collapsing unconscious beside them. Resuming their previous back-to-back position, Jade let the second one, from his side this time, come at them, and ducked under his guard, bringing his knee upwards into the kid's chest, leaving him wide open for Evan to deliver a devastating downward elbow to the back of his head.
"Yeah, kinda. Took the wrong street home, I guess. Name's Jade."
Over his shoulder, Jade offered a hand, and it was promptly met, as the last two enemies dashed forwards, their targets quickly spinning about one another, each to the left, hands still linked in the middle. The two charging in butted heads, and, as one, Evan and Jade brought their linked arms down into the gangmember's kidneys, putting the last two on the floor.
"Yo! Jade, over here!"
One week had passed since Jade and Even had teamed up on the rival schoolkids, and they'd since become good friends. The very next day, Evan had introduced his 'posse' as he jokingly called them, Daniel and Blake, and the four had instantly hit it off. All in all, the week had ended up a lot better then Jade had first thought. He'd never imagined getting dragged into an alleyway to be a good way to meet people...
Sliding onto the Bench across from Daniel and Blake, he promptly tossed the paper bag he held into a nearby bin without bothering to look inside. His mother's cooking was...inventive, to say the least. They all sat outside, in the small courtyard off the cafeteria, surrounded on all four sides by two-story classroom blocks.
"Shouldn't wast good food like that, man!" Evan joked, happy for a break from the other's conversation: Superman Versus Batman. Not the most enthralling subject Evan had ever found himself caught up in.
"So, it's Friday..." Jade pointed out, as the other two's voices faded to a constant background drone: "What do you guys do for fun around here?"
Evan grinned, leaning back against the bench: "Well, mostly, we roam the streets causing trouble. But if you wanna take me out to dinner..." he said sarcastically.
He was met with a swift fist to the shoulder, which he laughed off easily, leaning back and folding his arms behind his head. Jade laughed, and followed suit, laying back. However, as his gaze swept upwards, he noticed something.
On the second floor, a figure stood in one of the windows, looking down on them in the school coutyard. Jade only caught a brief glimpse before he quickly moved away from the window, but he was sure...no, almost certain...that he'd noticed a shadow in the window when he come out here.
Was this guy watching them?
His train of thought was broken as a shout came from across the table: Blake and Adam, apparently, couldn't come to a decision about wether or not Batman's boomerangs could cut Superman.
Sighing, Jade glanced back up at the window. The figure was back, and the second he saw Jade look up, he disappeared from view yet again.
Something was defiantly going on here.
"The key to any basic magic...is the Sigil" Blue noted, in a soft, authoritive tone. He wore a somewhat decaying Tuxedo, and paced left and right across the basement in front of the sceptical and disinterested Josh. Slowing his pacing, he grabbed a long candle from a nearby box, motioning the young man over.
"Sigils can be created using a variety of medium, each of which will affect the power generated by the Sigil, and the spells cast using that power. Wax is the cheapest, easiest, and safest to use, but you won't be able to generate a lot of energy with a Wax Sigil, or cast too advanced a spell."
Josh nodded slowly, not completely understanding what the old guy was talking about. He was really only putting up with it for the sake of a certain young woman.
Blue looked slightly disappointed at this reaction, frowning. Maybe the kid just needed to see something to give him a bit of a kick start...
The old man shuffled across the the centre of the room. The floor, walls, and ceiling in here were coated with a smooth, black lining, giving the room both a featureless and cold, dark feeling to it. Kneeling, Blue began to drag the candle across the ground, drawing a shape with it.
Music: Rob Dougan - Clubbed to Death
"Sigils..." he said as he drew: "Are used to create and control energy. Without a Sigil, to cast a spell, you'd be using your own energy in the place of that generated, and so each spell would shorten your lifespan. The Sigil is given the energy by the Gods, in exchange for the prayer made by the incorporation of the six aspects of creation into the Sigil."
As he spoke, he stood up, dusting himself off, and took a step back, letting Josh take a look at his handiwork: He'd drawn a large shield, a very basic drawing, with the same design repeated on the inside. These two were within a circle.
"The six aspects, I've got here. Fire. Water. Earth. Air. Light. Soul."
As he spoke each, he placed a small coloured orb on the circle, each at even intervals. The six orbs each glowed with a faint light. Blue noticed the young man staring down at them, and decided to explain: "Captured within each orb..." he said: "Is the essence of each of these aspects. However, you don't need an essence. Actually, just something that represents each aspect would work fine."
Josh, despite his scepticism, couldn't help but be intrigued by all this. He was starting to understand what exactly Blue was talking about. In fact, he found, he was getting more and more interested.
"Now..." said the older man, walking into the centre of the circle, slowly and purposefully: "All that remains is to cast the spell. To do so, you must simply think about the desired result you want to achieve. Also, when creating a spell, Limits are important. Unless you set Limits, your spell could spiral out of control. Very clear limitations must be created."
He closed his eyes, clasped his hands in prayer...and, suddenly, the circle surrounding him exploded in blue light, a pillar of violet flame surrounding the old man, tearing up towards the ceiling and throwing the entire room into an eerie blue light. Shocked and terrified, Josh stumbled backwards, falling against a wall. Almost unnoticing, Blue spoke through the flame to the young man, saying aloud the spell as he wrote it in his head.
"Orb to repel all biological substances, centred on Joshua, non-moving, double in size his own height, to be dispelled upon my spoken word."
As he finished the spell, the flare of blue died down, until the circle was left glowing on the ground. A blue light faded in around the boy, an orb surrounding him.
A full minute passed before Blue strode out of the circle, smiling, and walked up to the no-longer panicked young man, who was glancing around his prison in wonder.
"Touch it..." the elderly mage requested, and his pupil complied, reaching a trembling hand out to scrape the surface. An electric feeling tore through Josh' body at the touch. It wasn't solid...more of the sensation of touching water. His hand, however, could not pass through it.
"Dispel..." Blue spoke, and the orb vanished, as the Sigil behind him faded, all the light vanishing, and the room returning to it's previous state.
Gasping in disbelief, the young man could only manage to cough out a two single words.
"Teach me..."
That very afternoon, Jade found himself wandering past the same alley from one week ago: He and Evan's fated meeting spot. Only this time, Evan, Daniel, and Blake were all at his side.
It came as a surprise, then, when the same lardball from last time emerged from it as they approached, grinning from ear to ear...a smile made especially creepy by the bandages wound about his jaw.
"And here I thought we made territory clear last week. You don't learn, do you, kid?"
Music: Pitchshifter - Microwaved
At once, Jade and Evan had their guard up, hands raised defensively. Jade used a somewhat slack version of Tae Kwon Do, his right hand forwards, left by his body, whilst Evan held both up before his face. Jade had taken a few lessons in martial arts...for fun, more then anything. He'd never really been any good at the flowing fighting style they tried to teach, but he'd taken some moves away from the experience. Evan, on the other hand, was purely self-taught.
"Hey, easy now. You don't wanna be doing that..." their opponent said softly, as several more kids wearing the same navy-blue shirt emerged from the surrounding streets, Daniel and Blake taking up defensive stances at their friend's backs.
"Jamie. Back off. I wanna talk to them..." an authoritive voice spoke suddenly, echoing from around the corner. The butter-churn, apparently called Jamie, nodded sullenly and backed off, as a newcomer strode around the corner.
He wore the same Navy-blue formal shirt as his allies, but it's sleeves were rolled up, the hem untucked, and it was unironed. From the sneakers, to slightly-darker-then-Caucasian skin, the slicked back black hair, and the cold, confident blue eyes, this guy was definatly not one to mess with.
"Hey there. So you're the guys who humiliated Jamie last week? They told me there was only two of you. Usually, after taking a beating that bad, I'd expect them to increase the number of enemies if they were going to lie about it..."
That was when Jade noticed the others standing around. Two were visibly bandaged, and one held himself in a very awkward manner. It seemed they'd done well.
The enemy leader, giving a nonchalant chuckle, continued: "Ah well. Jamie's not exactly known for his tactical genius, you know? The name's Adam. You, however, call me Atlas. And I'm kinda what you'd call the Godfather of this little High-School Mafia."
Jade shifted uncomfortably. He'd just caught a flash of light from behind him, one that suspiciously had looked like reflected sunlight. One of these guys had something made of metal. A knife, he was guessing. His blood froze as he realised that, despite Atlas' calm demeanour, something was about to go down.
"Now..." Atlas started, as he began walking forwards slowly, his gang members following suit, advancing slowly: "This is usually when we give you an ultimatum: Give us your lunch money, or we beat the crap outta' you. But...I like you. So, ya'know what?" He asked, his face splitting into a confident grin.
"I'm going to let you keep your cash."
With that, they attacked.
From nearby, a black-clad figure watched in silence as Jade fell to the ground under a barrage of punches and kicks, and Evan was dragged over to a wall, set upon by several more as he was thrown against it.
"Yes!"
Joshua's shout echoed triumphantly through Blue's basement, as the red light below his feet faded, as did the red orb floating before him.
"Did you see that? I did it!" he demanded excitedly, as the old man chuckled to himself.
"Well done...for a first try." he replied, inwardly marvelling: Usually, it took about a week for a beginner to learn to manifest their power as a simple orb. Yet Josh had done it on his first go.
"Alright. Now you've got that...the next step is to maintain it. Don't lose your focus this time."
"Right!" the young man grinned, clasping his hands again, as the red glow beneath him flared up again
As Jade's feeling slowly flooded back through his body, he found himself wishing the numbness had lingered longer.
His entire being hurt. He couldn't see out of his left eye...it was covered in his own blood, and his eyebrow swelling. His right hand wouldn't move. He felt wet all over, and knew he'd quickly find patches of red on his clothing in those spots.
"My, that was an impressive fight you guys put up there."
The alley Jade realised he had been stuffed down had suddenly been filled with a mocking clapping. He twisted his head to see who it was. That Atlas guy again?
Next to him, Daniel was slumped, unconscious. Not far off, Evan was propped up against a dumpster, Blake lay atop it, and at the end of an alley, a figure was silhouetted by the streetlights from the road beyond.
Streetlights? If it was already nighttime, then they'd been out more then three hours. Not a good sign.
Walking into the alley, the young man inclined his head, looking down at Jade: It was then that he realised where he'd seen the guy before. It was the guy who was watching him from the second floor at school today!
"Heh, so you've remembered me, then? Sorry about that. I did intent to hide better, but apparently, the Macramé club uses the room I'd selected as a watchpoint on Fridays."
Evan struggled to raise himself into a half-sitting position, looking up into the eyes of this newcomer.
"Ah. Where are my manners? I'm one of the Student-Teachers. You guys, being students, are supposed to call me Mr Kelly. I'm fine, however, if you just prefer 'Sean'."
Despite the response to this, he paused for a moment as if listening, and then continued: "So...tell me. When those guys jumped you...why didn't you use your magic?"
Wait a second, Jade thought to himself, going over 'Mr Kelly's' words in his head.
Did he just say Magic?
"Hey dude...I got a question..."
Jamie looked inquisitively up at Atlas, who sat on the back of a torn, damaged couch, watching a small television across a dirty, unkempt room.
They'd returned to Atlas' home after their little fun. He lived alone with his father, and the two of them had very little interest in cleanliness.
"Yeah?" he replied, not looking down at his crony, obviously more interested in the television then his so-called friends.
"When we were kickin' on those guys...the Bats and Knives...where'd they come from?"
Atlas seemed to pause for a second, the confident, in-control look disappearing from his face. He turned slowly to look down at Jamie, his face twisted in confusion.
"I...I don't know. Mine just...appeared in my hands, right when I was thinkin' I needed one..."
"Yeah. Magic."
Evan and the others still sat in the same alley, though Sean had produced bandages and medicines that he'd just so happened to be carrying at the time, and helped to clean them up. Evan was staring with puzzled intent at the man who'd just informed him, that apparently, he had an 'Aura', and the ability to utilise magic, potentially of the 'higher order'.
"You're telling me you don't know?" Sean asked, as he finished wrapping a bandage around Blake's leg. So far, he'd fixed up Blake, Daniel and Evan himself. Now, however, he simply threw the bandages to Jade with a look of disdain.
"Fix yourself up..." he said, moving back across to Evan, kneeling before the sitting teenager.
"Tell you what. I know a little about this kinda stuff. So...meet me in the school's basement storeroom tomorrow morning. If anyone asks...tell them I'm helping you catch up on some maths work, or something."
With that, he rose to his feet, and walked slowly from the alley, leaving the others behind to help Jade bandage his wounds.
"So...when will you teach me something a little more useful?"
Blue chuckled to himself. The kid had learnt so much, in just a few days. Not only had he mastered every spell he was shown, within three attempts, he'd also made astonishingly insightful observations on the nature of many of them, and even managed to modify one of the spells to achieve an entirely different effect. Blue was no teacher, and he'd only taken two apprentices, both of whom had died in the purge. But Joshua seemed to learn at almost triple the speed they had. In a way, it was frightful.
And, through all this, that dwarfing black aura had never once diminished in size, or in hue. If anything, it had grown slightly.
Blue was intent that Joshua never learn even basic Necromancery spells. He hadn't even told Josh the true nature of his magical talent. It was his belief that the boy was smart enough, that if shown a single spell, he could probably extrapolate from that to a whole range of effects.
There were two primary types of magic: That was, Effect, and Energy. Effect spells consumed energy to sustain themselves, and were a definite technique: A shield effect spell would create a shield. Effects tend to be confined to specific classes, for example, only Defenomancers, like Blue, could use the types of barriers and shields he could. However, some basic effects could be used by all classes.
Energy, on the other hand, was both unique and shared. Energy spells convert energy into the auratype of the user, and then manipulate that energy, with the basic example being a simple energy blast. Energies of conflicting classes would have varied effects.
So far, Blue had only showed his 'apprentice' some basic effect spells. He hadn't even touched on Energy, and he had no intention to. In fact, he'd already reached the limit of what he'd wanted to teach the boy, the basics of controlling and manipulating his power, preventing an accidental release.
"I'm not sure...if I will..." he said hesitantly, glancing down at the young man for a second, then reiterating: "I...I'm a Defenomancer. I don't really know much about Necromancery."
The young man's eyes widened, as he mouthed the word. Blue suddenly realised he'd made a terrible mistake. He hadn't told Joshua he was a Necromancer yet. Now he'd let it slip.
"I'm...a Necromancer?" he asked, looking away from Blue, deep in thought.
"So...how was it. Was he gentle with ya'?" Blake asked, as Evan walked slowly across the yard to their table. Jade looked pissed off about something...but it wasn't their problem. Besides, they all wanted to hear about Sean's 'magic'.
"Yeah, you guys used protection, right?" Daniel spoke up, grinning across his face.
Evan paused by their table, looking down at the trio. A smile crossed his face, and he burst into speech, talking loudly and incoherantly for a second before Jade put a hand on his shoulder and drew him down to the bench, amidst the stares of their classmates.
"Calm down...now, tell me. What happened?" he asked calmly, and Evan, shuddering in anticipation now, said only one thing:
"He showed me...he showed me myself. One year, three months from now."
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