The dark side of magic

Started by Lady Jenn, November 11, 2011, 04:35:55 PM

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Lady Jenn

Barkeley parked himself across the road from his bank, looking left and right before turning the engine off and getting out. He was a tall man in his early twenties, short blue hair just reaching to above his eyeline. He was wearing a long red cloak pulled around him and so disguising the rest of his clothing, ice blue eyes the most distinctive thing about his appearance.

"This is the last thing I need," he said under his breath as he saw the queue waiting to be served inside the bank. He never liked staying anywhere in public for long but he couldn't risk using his magic to speed things up either. He tried to act naturally, aware his appearance made him stand out on its own.

Just out of the corner of his eye he caught a glimpse of a shadowy figure moving along one wall of the bank, hoping it was merely a trick of the light.

albatross

The wind had picked up since Aurora left her apartment and she wished she'd tied it back as wisps of hair crisscrossed across her face. She was a simple girl, not drop dead gorgeous but not hard to look at, her hair was dark, eyes green and a pale complexion. She was fit but had the slight curves that came with being a female.

Her fingers ghosted over the right pocket of her jeans and felt the very slight bulge in the denim from the folded check in her pocket. She had a habit of forgetting things, cellphone, purse, keys. She's had to replace everything at least once.

Upon reaching the bank she stepped into the building and brushed her fingers through her hair quickly, getting the strands of hair off of her face and made a face as she pulled a few lingering hairs that had gotten stuck to her lipstick.

After getting the wind tangled mane of knotted hair somewhat under control she stepped up to get into line so she could wait to be served and looked over the back of the man in front of her. The red cape and blue hair was very unique.

"I like your hair," she said, hoping she said it loud enough to get his attention. "And your cape, can I ask why you're wearing it?" She questioned. Aroura had been born without much of a filter and had a high curiosity level. If she had a question she asked it and if something was on her mind, it came tumbling past her lips before she could think it may not be the right thing to say.

Lady Jenn

"Uh..." he froze, unsure what to say. He couldn't tell the honest answer and he'd never been good at coming up with a cover story. "I just have a weird fashion sense," he said, laughing. "Strangely looking like this seems to help me melt into the background unnoticed more."

At that moment he caught something out of the corner of his eye. The vage shadow he had seen a moment before was moving towards him and Aurora. It suddenly dawned on him what he was looking at, he had no time to worry about blowing his cover.

"Get down," he shouted to the other customers, pushing Aurora to the floor and flinging a blast of white light straight at the creature which was flung back stunned, but still alive. "Crap, they've found me. How do they keep finding me? I need to get to the vault," he said to the girl behind the counter, who did as he asked almost out of fear more than anything else. He reappeared a moment later, an object wrapped in a black cloth slung under his arm. "Sorry," he said to Aurora. "I wish we could've met in slightly...calmer circumstances than this." With that he ran towards the door to make his escape.

albatross

"Well I wouldn't call it weird and I think people notice you more, just don't know how to approach you," she grinned and looked over his face, her eyes narrowing slightly as she noticed the way he seemed to be watching something.

When he shouted get down she turned her head to see what was happening but instead was pushed to the ground. The blast of white light was so sudden it was blinding and her hands covered her head with her hands and squeezed her eyes shut.

Once she heard Barkeley's voice again she dropped her hands and looked up, watching silently as he spoke to the teller and disappeared into the vault. When he returned she was staring at the creature laying stunned and jumped a bit when his voice startled her.

"No, wait!" She called and ran after him. "You can't just disappear after all that. What was that light thingy you did? What is that thing?" She said, her hands moving awkwardly as she tried to figure out how he made the light appear, then as she mentioned the creature she threw her hands up in the air.

Lady Jenn

"They're called Shades," he said. "Wizards of sufficient skill can give shadows sentience, that's what a Shade is...." he froze, realising he was discussing magic as if it was normal with someone who probably had no idea what he was talking about. "Its magic," he said. "But not the kind of magic you see in the movies."

He headed out of the door and froze as he saw the Shade wasn't the only creature they'd sent. Stood in the centre of the square was what looked, at first glance, to be a man, but this creature wasn't made out of flesh and bones but electricity, the heat of which could be felt even from where Barkeley was stood.

"This...beauty," he said, a note of sarcasm in his voice, "is a lightning elemental. The best advice right now would be...well, to run. I'm not sure I can fight one of these things, nevermind protect you from it. You go, I'll try and draw him away from you."

albatross

Aurora looked at Barkeley with a blank stare as she blinked slowly. "Ooooh," she said when he just simply said 'its magic'. "Well, there now. That clears it all up," she said and frowned when he headed out the door and followed him, right on his heels.

"You can't just say it's magic but not the kind I see in the movies and just leave. I mean, why are these things trying to kill you? Or capture you, or whatever it is that they're doing and what is that thingy under your arm?" She asked, rambling. She opened her mouth to continue speaking when he spoke and she followed his gaze and simply stared at the creature in front of them.

"Draw him away from me? What's it want with me? Can't you make us disappear?" She asked quickly and looked between the two. "If you can't fight it then maybe we should both run?" She suggested.

Lady Jenn

"It wants me, if you follow me it'll come after you as well," he said. He thought quickly, sending a blast of energy towards the creature which threw it through the window of a nearby shop. "Making that thing disappear would take a far more complex spell than I have anytime to produce right now."

He grabbed her hand and ran towards his car, grinding to a halt when he heard a crunch behind them. The elemental had picked itself up, barely scratched by the blast. Barkeley cursed under his breath, he at least thought he'd knocked it out but he'd barely scratched it.

"If this doesn't work we are officially screwed," he said, firing a blast of ice at the creature. It managed to freeze the creature but not before it fired a bolt of electricity at him, which hit him in the shoulder, causing him to stumble. "Damnit," he said through gritted teeth. "You'll have to drive, I can't drive with my arm like this." Little sparks of electricity were moving up and down his arm. "We need to move, ice magic won't stop that thing for long, the amount of heat that's giving off will melt the ice in no time at all."

albatross

There was not a single time in her entire life she could remember her heart pounding so hard against her chest, if she wasn't breathing so hard she was sure anyone would be able to see the rapid bu-bum vibrations.

When he grabbed her hand she stumbled but ran with him to the car and paused when he did. She chomped down on her bottom lip. She wanted to just run and get away from everything she also felt like she'd caused him to hesitate and that could have caused him so it wasn't like she could just leave.

The scream forced it way from her throat when the bolt of electricity flew at him and hit him. A quick nod of her head said she'd heard him and looked at the ice surrounding the element then opened the door and grabbed his keys from his pocket then shoved him into his car. "Okay, okay," she mumbled to herself repeatedly. "Oh yeah," she said as she was about to get into the driver's seat and shut the door she'd shoved him through.

She put the keys in the ignition and pulled away from the curb, thanking whatever or whoever was watching that the car was automatic and not manual. After speeding down a few blocks she lightened up on the gas and looked over at him. "Are you okay? Where should we go?"

Lady Jenn

"Not a hospital," he said, the pain of the wound causing him visible pain. "If they know I'm hurt it's the first place they'll go looking for me. Besides, no medicine I know of can fix this." He took a map from the glove copartment and opened it, pointing to an isolate lake "Go there, I don't have time to explain why, you'll just have to trust me on this one."

He looked back, seeing the ice already melting and cursing his luck. He had fought these creatures before but something was different about this one. It was shrugging his magic off too easily. Then something dawned on him.

"Its a REALLY good thing we didn't hang around," he said. "That elemental had been enhanced somehow. I could've thrown magic at it until I was exhausted and I may still have done almost nothing to it at all. That amulet around its neck, I've seen it somewhere before, but..." he could feel himself starting to black out. "Talk to me," he said through gritted teeth. "If I lose consciousness then you'll have to do this alone, and I guarantee this is beyond your skills to deal with, whether you have magical ablility or not.."

albatross

Aurora nodded her head quickly as she looked at the map and glanced down a few times to make sure she was heading in the right direction out of town and let out a slow breath. She glanced at Barkeley when he began talking about an amulet and tried to think back about what it looked like but couldn't picture it.

"I don't have magic anything. If I did I would've made myself win the lottery," she said and did a double look at him as what he'd said clicked in her head and thought quickly. "Okay, umm, so this one time when I was in grade school. Grade three. We were putting on a play. The Wizard of Oz. I was Dorthy," she said and kept looking at him. "Well I mucked up some of my lines and I started to get really nervous and when the pretty witch came out I threw up on her dress. In front of everyone," she said and rolled down a window to let some air into the car as they left the city limits and she pushed on the gas.

"It should only be about ten or fifteen minutes until we get there. So long as nothing else tries to stop us," she mumbled and looked back at Barkeley too. "So, I wonder if my little episode with the witch in grade three was a warning about bad experiences with magic," she said, attempting to make a joke.

Lady Jenn

"If you can believe me most female magic users are fighting on the side of good," he said, the air helping him remain conscious more easily. "At least, all the ones I've met have been anyway. You'll see a turning half shrouded in trees about two minutes from now, take that. It'll take us directly where we need to be."

He used his healthy hand to partly uncover the object he was still carrying, smiling as he covered it again.

"A hell of a lot of people have a bounty on my head because I inherited this from my grandfather," he said with a grimace. "Half of them don't have the first idea what it actually is though. It took me long enough to realise it and I've had it most of my life."


albatross

"Considering how much I know about all of this stuff I'll take anything and everything you say to heart," she said and nodded again as she took his directions and turned off the road when he told her to. "So what exactly is it?" She asked, slowing a bit on the rougher roads as the car bounced.

"Sorry," she apologized and slowed the car down when she saw the lake and put the car in park then turned it off and climbed out and opened his door for him.

She looked down at the covered object then looked at him. "You've had it for all of your 20 years of life?" She asked. "What is it and what do you want me to do?" She asked, unsure if she should touch him since she was scared it might hurt. When she pushed him into the car it was a bit more of an adrenaline rush but now she was thinking a bit more clearly now.

Lady Jenn

"Its..." he paused, but this time not because he was unsure how honest to be but because he was struggling to think of an answer that would make sense to most people. "Some people think its a weapon, others think its a key for unlocking some ancient long hidden vault. If I'm right in reality its both. Once I've sorted my arm out we can come up with a more coherent plan for what to do."

He climbed out, staring across what appeared to be an empty lake, aside from an island at its centre with no obvious way to reach it. Perched on a small wooden post near the water's edge and watching them intently was a small eagle who took off and landed on Barkeley's unharmed shoulder when it realised who he was.

"Muroe old friend," Barkeley said as the eagle nuzzled his hair. "Aurora, meet my lookout/guardian Muroe. He's trained to attack anyone who approaches the lake who isn't me, but since I'm here he evidently doesn't consider you a threat. Now to show you something quite cool." He raised his free hand and uttered something under his breath. Nothing seemed to happen at first but slowly, seemingly out of thin air, a stone bridge linking the lakeshore and the island appeared. "Its a magical safeguard," Barkeley said. "If you try and cross the bridge without casting the spell first you'll just fall into the lake."

albatross

She waited patiently when he paused and took in a breath of the fresh air. It was nice out there, so quiet and relaxing, well, as relaxing as it could be considering the circumstances. As he spoke she listened silently, her lips pursed as she thought about his words and nodded.

"With you're magic, isn't there ways to talk to people who've passed over?" she asked. "Or maybe you have an old wizard friend who can help you figure out what it is?" She asked then stared at him when the eagle landed on his shoulder.

"Oh. I was gonna say," she said with a laugh and stepped closer to the eagle and tilted her head at him. "He's beautiful," she said and smiled. "I've never seen an eagle this close before." Aurora had her hands clasped behind her back so the urge to pet the eagle was kept in check. She didn't need to go and upset one of his friends. "This is gonna sound greedy, but if we survive this, can you make a Chanel bag appear outta nowhere like that? Or a car?" She asked when he made the bridge appear.

Lady Jenn

"Sadly I haven't perfected creating things out of nothing," he said, laughing. "The bridge is always there but its covered in all sorts of charms and hexes. Unless the bridge is visible then it is impossible to cross it. I wasn't the one who put the charms there so I'm not 100% sure how the spells work."

He took her hand and led her across the bridge, Muroe remaining perched on his shoulder as they walked. At the far end of the bridge was an unusual sight. Two statues of knights leaning on swords stood to either side of the bridge and sat at the centre, blocking the entrance to the island was a fearsome looking lion, which snarled at their approach, but calmed after a cry from Muroe.

"See, getting onto this island when I don't want you too is next to impossible," Barkeley said, letting the lion nuzzle rub its head against his hand in welcome. "It could be worse, those statues are designed to spring to life at one command from me. No-one's managed to get past my defences so far." Laid out in front of them was a grassy clearing surrounded by a large forest, at the centre of which was a two story stone building covered in ivy. "This is where I call home," he said with a slightly embarrassed smile. "What do you think?

albatross

"Ooooh," she said in understanding and followed him as he took her hand and led her across the bridge. As they walked over the bridge she reached out and ran her fingers along the surface, just to know what it felt like. She didn't know what she was expecting but it just felt normal.

She looked forward when they began nearing the end of the bridge and looked over the statues then tilted her head when she saw the lion. She was about to open her mouth about the lion when it snarled. She didn't think it had been real until it snarled. Aurora let go of his hand and stepped back a few steps.

After Muroe had calmed it she ran up behind Berkeley and edged as far from the lion as she could. "Oh. I see," she nodded and looked over to notice the scenery the first time when he spoke as she'd been staring at the tiger. "Wow," she mumbled and stared. "This is like, you're own piece of paradise," she mumbled quietly and continued staring in awe. "It's so beautiful."

Lady Jenn

"Its nothing too special really," he said, laughing. "I promise you that the novelty of living here wears off really quickly after a while. Give me a few minutes to make sure the house is in a reasonable state, I don't have visitors very often...well, more like ever."

He vanished into the house, the lion turning to Aurora and rubbing its head against her hand, encouraging her to pet it.

"Wow, almost no-one gets to pet Tea aside from Barkeley, she must REALLY like you," said a voice that at first seemed to come from nowhere, but then its source revealed itself. Jumping from a tree where Muroe had been sat moments before was a young man, dressed in a bright blue shirt and a rather tattered pair of jeans. "Sorry, Barkeley should've warned you before I did that. I'm Muroe, I happen to be an animagus." He smiled at the confused look on her face. "Basically I can take the form of any animal I wish, I just prefer my eagle form." The biggest hint as to his identity was the fact his eyes were emerald green, exactly the same as the eagle's she had seen before.

albatross

"Oh god don't eat me please," Aurora mumbled when the lion turned towards her and closed her eyes as she stood still and held her breath. When the lion rubbed her head against her hand she opened eye a crack and peered down at the lion. "Oh, hi," she smiled and ran her hand over the lion's head.

She crouched down as she continued to pet the lion with a big smile on her face. "You're very soft, such a beautiful animal," she whispered to Tea but startled when she heard the new voice and fell on her butt. She peeked over the lion's back and nodded slowly. "Oh. Well, considering the day I'm having you fit right in," she smiled and pushed herself to her feet and brushed herself off.

"When I was a kid I used to climb ontop of our fridge and jump off trying to fly," she smiled and let her fingers run over Tea's hair as she looked at Muroe. "So have you all been here long? Or just since Barkeley inherited the weapon-key thing?"

Lady Jenn

"He rescued us," Muroe said. "Well, he rescued me anyway. Got into a fight with a fire elemental, really not a smart idea when your only real magical skill is turning into an eagle. By chance I had a run-in with the thing a matter of feet from where Barkeley had gone to get some groceries. Since I was homeless and he needed someone to keep an eye on the lake when he wasn't around I ended up coming to live here. As for the lion..." he paused, shrugging. "We don't know how she got here, apparentely Barkeley came home one day and found her waiting here for him."

He knelt down and stroked the lion, which purred contendedly in response, evidently glad for the human company.

"We're not sure what she is," Barkeley said, reappearing from isnide the house. "We're fairly sure she's not actually a lion and since she's never returned to a human form its highly unlikely she's an animagus. There are a whole lot of creatures in this world even wizards haven't even begun to understand, and Tea there is one of them."

albatross

Aurora smiled a bit as he spoke of how he met Barkeley and looked down at Tea when she purred. "He does have that air of being very giving to him," she smiled and scratched behind Tea's ear then looked at Barkeley when he emerged from the house.

When he finished talking she tilted her head as she looked down at the lion and smiled. "Well, no matter what you are you're still the most beautiful lion I've ever seen, the only one but that just makes you more special," she smiled and continued petting Tea.

"Got your place all clean and tidy now?" She asked with a smile and looked at Barkeley. "Do you think those things that were after you would know who I am now?" She questioned.

Lady Jenn

"Unfortunately they will," he said with a grimace. "Elementals may not speak english but there are other ways of communicating with them. You're safer with me, otherwise they might try and use you to get to me and...let's just say you don't want to know what they do with their prisoners. And yeah, the house is ready, come in."

HInside the door was a big, spacious lounge with a silk covered sofa at its centre and a door that led off to the kitchen and stairs which led up into the darkness of the first floor. There was another door with a strange symbol on it on the opposite side of the room.

"I'll get us a drink," Barkeley said. "What do you two fancy having?"

"A glass of water will do me fine," Muroe replied. "Changing form all the time is ridiculously thirsty work."

albatross

"Just thought I'd ask," she said with a smile and nodded in agreement. "I'm very sure I wouldn't want to know. I don't handle pain very well either," she admitted and walked into the house with the two.

She got her shoes off at the door before she looked around and touched the silk couch. "Jeeze, is that real silk?" She asked and glanced at Barkeley. "Just a water for me too please," she smiled and continued to look around.

"From the movies and all that I figured changing form would make you tired and hungry too," she said and looked at Muroe as she walked up to the door with the stranger symbol. "What's that mean?"

Lady Jenn

"Its another spell," Muroe said, walking up next to her. "Barkeley's never entered that room, it was like that when he got here. Apparentely he can sense a whole lot of magical energy emanating from behind the door, which is probably why he never opens it. I don't fancy trying to open it myself."

Barkeley walked in with their drinks, laughing as he saw them studying the door.

"There's a bigger problem," he said with a smirk. "Whoever put that charm on the door was a far greater wizard than me, I haven't been able to remove it and the door won't open unless or until its taken away.When people use charms like that its usually a hint you should steer clear of whatever its protecting."

"You'll have to show her our magic library in the basement," Muroe said. "As long as you prepare her for the fact that room seems physcially impossible of course, its hard to get your head round the scale of the room."

albatross

"Is there a way to tell if it's good magical energy or bad?" She asked and looked at Muroe. "I mean not all magic is bad right? You two seem like good people so how do you know this in here is bad magic?" She questioned and looked back at the door.

"Thank you," she said to Barkeley when she took her water and looked back at the door then between the two of them. "You have a magic library?" She asked with a bit of a smile and took a drink of her water. "I'd love to see it sometime," she said with a nod of her head.

"It can't really be that..." she cut herself off and waved a hand. "After everything I've seen today I think I can handle just about anything. Especially a massively tall library," she said with a curt nod of her head.

Lady Jenn

"Not all magic is obviously good or obviously bad," Barkeley replied. "Often its more about who wields its magic than it is about the magic itself. Although in the case of dark magic its almost always evil, even if the person wielding it is good it just ends up corrupting them."

"You've not seen the library," Muroe said, laughing. "A lot of things about this island don't make a whole lot of sense if you stop and think about them long enough. For whatever reason this island seems to be surrounded by magic, not all of which Barkeley was responsible for putting there."

"Can we at least eat something before we vanish to the basement?" Barkeley asked. "I don't fancy getting lost down there on an empty stomach."