The dark side of magic

[albatross]

Aurora listened to the story silently, trying to figure out first how old the being was and what he might be. She had no idea how long a dragon could reign over Dragonblight so she was completely lost as to how old he probably was.

She gave up on trying to figure out how old the Seer was or what he might be. She settled for just sitting quietly and waiting like the rest of the group.

When the doors opened she looked over but quickly ducked her head and covered her eyes with her hands as the light was so intense. When she heard him apologize she lifted her head carefully and peeked towards him, looking him over. She was surprised he looked so normal. Aurora rubbed her eyes gently and sat up straight as she watched him.

[Lady Jenn]

"Seer," Stormider said. "These are the people you told me would seek my aid. You must tell them what you told me you have seen."

"There is something coming," the Seer said. "Something the likes of which this world has not seen since long before my arrival. It is causing the amount of magic in your world to increase, which is why there seem more and far stronger elementals than before, they are feeding off the magical energy. But as they feed off the energy the barrier between your world and the shadow world this creature inhabits is thinning. If they are not stopped soon it will have a clear path to Earth and I am not sure anything short of every wizard and magical creature on the planet could stand up to it."

"Then how can we win?" Barkeley asked.

"I have seen something else," the Seer replied. "There is one wizard with powers beyond even Stormrider's capabilities. But they are unaware of their own abilities and if the enemy discovered them before they were ready they could kill them before we are ready."

[albatross]

Aurora looked to Barkeley when the Seer finished speaking, her gut instinct was that it was Barkeley. She felt he was powerful but didn't know exactly how powerful.

Aurora stayed silent a while then looked towards the Seer and back to Barkeley. "So, have you seen who it is that is more powerful than Stormrider and looked back to the Seer, meeting his eyes.

"Maybe he's in the room now? Could you tell us if he is?" She asked the Seer, hoping she was right that Barkeley was more powerful than he knew.

[Lady Jenn]

"Something obscures my view of them," the Seer replied. "I do not know what it is, but if I cannot see them then even Stormrider would be unable to see it."

"So it could be Aurora?" Stormrider asked. "Would they have to be conciously aware they were obscuring your visions?"

"It is not the wizard obscuring it," the Seer replied. "It is a great power. For it to block my sight it has to be something that even a dragon of your power would struggle to dispel Stormrider, and we both know that is a power we can ill afford to lose to the enemy."

[albatross]

Aurora did a double take of Stormrider when he asked if it could be her. "I thought you said I had no magic power," she said, shaking her head.

"And I really doubt it could be me. I've had any type of powers. At all," she said and began rubbing the amulet again as she looked around.

"What kind of power can obscure the Seer and be so powerful a dragon would struggle to dispel it?" She asked, whispering to Barkeley.

[Lady Jenn]

"Dragonkin powers have lessened over the millenia," the Seer replied. "Someone with the magic of a dragon the likes of Skyhorn protecting them would be a match for any dragonkin from even his era, nevermind now."

"Skyhorn was Stormrider's great-grandfather right?" Muroe asked, to which Stormrider nodded. "So the runes on her amulet may be those of his family, not specifically Stormrider's runes. Did you create the yourself?"

"No," Stormrider replied. "We have had those amulets stored within the tower since before even Kara was born. Seer, is there a way we could test her for powers?"

"There is," it replied. "But...it is not an easy one. I would not advise trying unless we are certain, after all Queen Elena has the same amulet, it could equally be disguising her true power."

[albatross]

She continued to look around then looked to Kara and moved over to the woman and looked at her. "What kind of test are they talking about?" she asked, looking towards them.

"I can do it. I will do it. If you think it'll help I'll do it," she said and looked towards the Seer.

"You just got to explain it to me. I never even knew magic was real until today," she said quietly and licked her lips a bit nervously and continued rubbing the amulet.

[Lady Jenn]

"No," the Seer said. "I will not try unless I am certain. To discover the answer involves showing things that, if I am wrong, may leave you mentally scarred."

"I can do it," Meren said. "I have been here since before even Skyhorn. If it is her this magic is protecting then I can discover the answer without risking her wellbeing. It would mean allowing me access to your deepest memories though so if there are things you don't want me to know you had better tell me now."

"Don't worry," Stormrider said with a smile. "He has kept the secrets of every king he has served so there's no danger of him revealing your deepest secrets to us if you don't want us to know."

[albatross]

Aurora looked a bit nervous when he said it would leave her mentally scarred but stood her ground. "I'll risk it, this is important."

When Meren spoke up she visibly relaxed though and looked at him. "Deepest secrets?" She asked and shook her head. "I don't have anything to hide really," she said and walked up to Meren and looked at him.

"Don't go peeking around the more... intimate parts though. You know. After a few too many and there's a good looking fella at the other end of the bar," she said and gave him a nervous smile and a blush. "Okay, go to town," she said and touched her head then dropped her hands to her sides and stood still.

[Lady Jenn]

"Okay," he said, walking over. "You're going to see my secrets too you realise?"

He reached one gloved hand to the side of her head and closed his eyes, concentrating. In a moment they found themselves in a frozen wilderness. Stood opposite her was a tall, white-robed figure who had wings sprouting from his back.

"Even Stormrider hasn't seen my true form," he said, reaching out a hand from which flew a series of small butterfly like creatures.  "I want you to try something which, if you have no powers, you won't be able to do. Picture yourself throwing me against the rock behind me. It won't harm me, this is merely a mental projection so I will come to no harm."

[albatross]

"I can keep a secret," she smiled at him and watched his hand to come to the side of her head and closed her eyes the way he did.

She opened them again when she felt a change and looked around. "Holy!" She jumped away from the white-robed figure then relaxed when he spoke and she recognized his name. "Jeeeze, don't do that," she mumbled, putting a hand over her heart and looked around.

She was about to ask where they were when he reached out and watched the butterfly like creatures. "Are those the things we saw flying into Dragonblight?" she asked then looked at him when he spoke again and let out a sigh as she moved to stand in front of him.

She stared at him a moment before she closed her eyes and took in a deep breath and envisioned herself throwing him against a rock. She didn't feel anything and began to feel frustrated and concentrated harder and harder. She clenched her jaw, balled her hands into fists and envisioned it once more.

The force of the power she felt course through her body took her breath away and she fell to her knees. "What was that?" She asked, opening her eyes as she panted for breath.

[Lady Jenn]

Although he hadn't been thrown against a rock he had had to use his powers to stop himself, regaining his composure as he stood back up.

"Either your powers are being suppressed or I've become weaker with old age," he said with an impresed smile on his face. "No-one's done that to me in a very long time."

He walked over to the rock, staring at it for a moment before turning to her again.

"Imagine yourself breaking this rock," he said. "Pushing someone back is easy, this is tougher."

[albatross]

Aurora stared at him a moment then looked down at her hands and had to keep herself composed as he spoke, she gave a nod of her head.

She pushed herself back up to her feet and focused on the rock. She stared, squinted, widened her eyes and began to feel the frustration building again.

She closed her eyes and saw the rock in her mind, focused as hard as she could and her breathing got deeper as she began to get angry.

"Damn rock," she growled and focused everything she could. She felt the force of power course through her body and again, fell to her knees and looked up just in time to see the dust that had once been the rock settle onto the ground. "Did I just do that?" She asked, staring at the pile of dust.

[Lady Jenn]

He nodded, a look of genuine surprise on his face as he stared at the remains of the rock. The creatures he had released returned to his hand and he stood silently for a moment.

"Something is blocking an area of your mind," he said. "Its not your more intimate secrets, but something is barring my projections from entering it. All they can tell is it is something from your past Any idea what it could be?"

Suddenly the Seer appeared next to him, a look of concern on his face.

"You need to return," he said to them. "We have news from the outside world and...its not good."

[albatross]

She looked at the small creatures and pursed her lips as she thought. "When I was young we were in a car accident and I hit my head really hard. My parents told me I couldn't remember my name and they had to teach me everything again. But even that's all fuzzy," she explained, unsure if that was the right type of incident he was talking about.

When the Seer appeared she flinched and stared at him then looked to Moren and walked up to him so he could get them back quickly.

[Lady Jenn]

When they returned there was a new man in his twenties in the room, blood running from a cut on his forehead and the unconscious body of a teenage girl in his arms. Meren pointed to a laptop that had been borought in by a dragon who could be seen just outside the tower being tended to to the mother from earlier.

"There's been an attack," Stormrider said, pointing to the screen. "One of my scouts was flying past in the aftermath and did his best to rescue who he could but was hurt in the process himself."

The image on the screen was of the same town Barkeley and Aurora had been in hours before but large parts of it were reduced to rubble.

"Oh god," Barkeley said. "The elementals...I should've tried to stop them while I had the chance." He was visibly shaking with shock.

"That would've achieved nothing," Kara replied. "If you'd been killed uring all that then the armour would still be down there and the enemy may even it themselves."

[albatross]

Aurora stared at the man and the teenage girl a moment before she looked to where Meren pointed and walked over to it. She peered down at the screen and gasped, covering her mouth.

"Are they attacking there because it's where we were?" she asked and looked up at Stormrider a moment before she looked back at the screen.

She looked at Barkeley when he spoke and then sat down slowly.

When Kara spoke, she nodded her head in agreement but stayed quiet, wondering if all those people in the town died because of her and because she didn't know who or what she was.

[Lady Jenn]

"It was a warning," the man said as he laid the girl on the floor, allowing Tea to tend to her wounds. "There was a man there, he said to tell the dragonkin this is only a sample of the power they can unleash. If I didn't have experience of magic myself my sister may not have survived."

"They've been enhanced somehow," Barkeley said. "Elementals are strong but the lightning elemental I faced was shrugging off spells that would've have KO'd an elemental before. We need to find what they've done and stop it."

"You're in no state to fight," Imrik said, shaking his head as he saw how much Barkeley was shaking. "I'll go to Shadow Glade, gather what scouts I can and track them to their source. Could you afford to lend us a dragon or two?" he asked Stormrider, who nodded grimly in response. "Then I will return when I can," Imrik said, jumping into the air and flying away.

"Meren, Seer, look through my father's old library," Stormrider said. "There must be something in there with a clue as to how to fight this."

[albatross]

Aurora chewed her bottom lip as she stared at the screen on the laptop then looked to Imrik as he spoke and stood up.

"What can I do? I wanna help in some way," she said and looked between them. She didn't know if there was anything she could do without Meren teaching her and telling her what to do but she wanted to help in some way now that she knew she had powers.

[Lady Jenn]

"Look after Barkeley," Kara said, resting a hand on her shoulder. "He is in a bad way and I fear if someone doesn't keep an eye on him he may do something stupid."

"Kara," Stormrider said. "We must gather the council of elders, I fear it is too late for us to sit back and watch events take their course. I will meet you at Talon's Rock."

"Okay Kah'lun," she replied, before turning to Tea. "If you need any help healing the wounds Maira outside is an expert healer." she then walked out of the tower, returning to her dragon form and flying from sight."

[albatross]

Aurora nodded her head and looked to Barkeley then took his hand and lead him over to a few seats in Stormrider's hall and sat down, pulling him to sit beside her.

She offered him a smile and looked over his face. "We'll be able to help out eventually, but for now we just gotta sit around and wait for them to figure things out," she said, letting go of his hand and rubbed his shoulder lightly.

"Who would've thought we'd be related huh?" she asked with a grin and tilted her head.

[Lady Jenn]

"My grandfather once told me there was no such thing as a coincidence," he said with a smile. "Maybe he was trying to hint about you and I just wasn't listening."

He watched Tea who, having done what she could for the girl, was now tending to the wounds of the brother, occasionally reaching into a bad at her waist and taking out herbs.

"If we make it out of this alive Tea could you show us Shadow Glade?" he asked tentatively, unsure how she'd react.

"If you two help us succeed in saving the world I think the Queen will insist on you being her guests of honour," she replied. "But if not then of course I'll take you there."

[albatross]

"You think he knew about me?" She asked with a smile. "That you'd bump into your distant cousin are some random bank the day some elementals decided to attack you?" She questioned with a raised brow and amused smile on her lips. "I think a warning about strangely strong elementals would've been better," she teased.

She looked to Tea when Barkeley spoke to her and smiled a bit. "I think that's be amazing. "It's probably so beautiful," she said quietly and smiled to herself.

[Lady Jenn]

"Considering how memorable your grandmother evidently was I wouldn't be surprised if he knew about you," Barkeley replied. "They may have hidden us from each other in case one or the other turned to the dark side, in case whichever went rogue might go after the other."

"It was once," Tea said. "In my grandparents time it was one of the most extraordinary sights on Earth. But the wars have changed it. Although its true beauty will survive as long as there are still fae to protect it."

"I'm glad Lightning's on our side," Muroe said from the spot by the door outside he'd been sat the whole time. "That scar just lends to the air of menace that comes from him, I imagine Kara isn't that different to him when they get into a proper fight."

[albatross]

"So he knew that I had some sort of powers then?" She asked quietly and looked into his eyes. "The Seer said they were after me, right? Why would they want me when I don't even know what I can do? Or how to do it?" She asked and glanced to Muroe when he spoke.

"I'm just glad the dragons are on our side now," she said with a light smile and sat back in the chair. "I'm not a huge fan of just sitting here though. I wish there was something we could do."