The Magecraft Chronicles II

[Myrdraxxis]

Not long ago, the fate of Mundus Magica hung in the balance. The world was split in the fires of war, as the Megolin Federation launched a bloody campaign against the Hyddick Confederacy. After six months of bloody fighting, The Confederacy drove Megolin out of Cebrus.

With the aid of the Non-Government Fighting Group, Dark Wing, the Megolin occupation of Xiolin was ended, as the fighters led an assault on the very castle of Kaineng's capitol, defeating the commander and driving Megolin out.

But it was after this, that the war reached its climax. As Dark Wing made its way to the battlefield known as "The Gridlock", each army threw everything it had into that final push.

Ultimately, Hyddick and Megolin accomplished nothing from this battle, except for the loss of millions of lives. It was the bloodiest battle of the war. lasting nonstop for almost a week. In the end neither side could defeat the other, even with Dark Wing aiding Hyddick.

Dark Wing oversaw a treaty as both Countries agreed to a cease fire, much as they had in the Great War years ago.

The world rejoiced as, it seemed, peace had returned to Mundus Magica. But Dark Wing knew it wasn't so.

It was at that time, purely by coincidence, that their erstwhile ally Headmaster Serran of Altinor stumbled upon an ancient legend, revealing the possible location of the Mage of the Beginning.

Deep in the heart of the Frostlands.

With new resolve, the fighters of Dark Wing made their way into the Frostlands to confront their foe, and end this crisis once and for all.



But what came of this battle, can only yield more trouble for both worlds.....

[Myrdraxxis]

==Five Years ago==

Markis tried to shut out the almost constant sound of gunfire that filled the air around him. The ground shook as mortar fire pocketed the sands with more wounds, and more than likely more bodies.

He cluthed his rifle tightly, trying to remain hidden. There was a voice talking over the town's intercomm, warbling something in arabic, of the necessity of this holy war, in God's name.

Markis didn't care. He had long ago stopped believing in God.

Footsteps caught his attention and he pulled up his rifle as quickly as he could with his twelve-year-old arms.

He jumped out of hiding with a cry, spraying the alley with bullets. Three soldiers dropped.

Markis panted heavily, dropping his gun. He was tired of this. Tired of fighting. All his friends were dead. Killed fighting for "God".

He distantly heard more voices behind him. And then, a soft whining sound, slowly growing louder.

His eyes widened and the boy threw himself to one side, right as the mortar round struck the wall of the building above him.

markis cried out as debris rained on top of him. He couldn't see out of his left eye. Oh God it hurt....

His vision began fading. He heard those voices from before getting louder. Shapes moved above him. People.


His vision began to blacken. He had one final thought. 'I...just...want this to...end..'



Markis sat up with a jolt, panting. He glanced around and, seeing everything was normal, sighed. His left eye itched, and he idly scratched at the eye patch that covered it. His wound from then had never recovered.

He was currently in New York, sleeping on one of the many park benches in Central Park. His eye drifted down to the bench and he rested a hand on the book that had previously been his pillow. It seemed to resonate at his touch. He smiled.

All was fine.

For now.

[Mizagium]

Baron Vladymir Weivyr trudged through the blistering cold of the Frostlands. Even to his incorporeal body, the blinding snow and gale-force winds were taxing, and he could feel his form solidifying and slowing. Best be quick about it, then.

Somewhere deep in the ice and snow was a powerful artifact of Blood Magic, one he had been searching for some many years. It had briefly surfaced during the Second Megolin-Hyddick war and then vanished. His court mages had traced the signature to the Frostlands, where it because muddle and scattered by the weather.

Here, though, here it was strongest.

A large mound of snow materialized in front of him, seemingly out of nowhere. Geography had a habit of doing that in the uniform whiteness of snow. Crevasses could open right beneath your feet and swallow you whole.

Something was different about this mound...something...strange. Vlad extended a gloved hand and muttered an archaic phrase. Liquid darkness pooled in his palm. With another word, the darkness became wind and rushed the mound, blowing the relatively thin layer of snow away. What remained was the corpse of a particularly large Frost Dragon.

Not many things could kill a Frost Dragon. Nothing that lived in the Frostlands stood a chance, as far as he was aware; Frost Dragons were the apex predator.

Vlad stepped forward two steps when his foot kicked something else buried in the snow. He lifted it with his foot; it was a human leg. He dropped down to his knees and began brushing the snow off, uncovering a full corpse. Not a human, but a Hellen, he discovered when the head was revealed and two horns wrapped around. A light-skinned Hellen.

The body was face-down in the snow with one arm outstretched. Blood stained the bottom layer of ice and permafrost. this man killed the Frost Dragon, Vlad realized, but died of his own wounds. He walked around and lifted the Hellen's face. Yes, this was the man he was looking for.

Following the direction of the arm, Vlad walked fifty paces out into the snow before coming across another buried treasure. A sword in its' scabbard lay buried just as deep as the Hellen. He touched it; it was warm. With a wicked grin, Vlad lifted Cruor out of the snow and cradled it in his arms, feeling the pulsating Blood Magic coursing through it. He glanced back at the frozen corpse of Martin Rutilus - Martin the Red - and laughed.

Mortals were notoriously intolerant of Blood Magic. This one had been led to his death by a wondrous creation. He though himself free of the torment, but life was only the beginning.

His torment would not end with death.

[Myrdraxxis]

Qwaser Weivyr moved like a man on a mission. In truth, he was simply trying to get to his apartment without any trouble. This whole place, this Los Angeles, was a strange place. People gave him wierd looks as he passed. Given that he was covered head to toe in clothes and coats, and a wide-brimmed hat on his head, he supposed it was warranted.

He had almost made it to the block that his apartment was on when three young men stepped out of an alley, blocking his path. Qwaser sighed. Of course. He glanced around. Anyone else on the street either quickly vacated the area or ignored the soon to be mugging.

Gotta love California night life.

"Hey there freak." The first man, said, though with all his tattoos and piercings, Qwaser really didn't think he had room to talk. "So how about you just give us all your fuckin' money and we won't cut. Yeah?" The other two chuckled. Qwaser sighed again.

"I will try and go easy on you, being the simpletons that you are."

"ooh this one's got a mouth on him." The man sneered. He pulled out a small knife and grinned wickedly. "Well then, how about you shut the hell up and die."

He lunged at Qwaser. The Shade waited until the last moment and then uttered a single word. It was guttural, unnatural and hurt to say. The minute he said the un-word, the mugger flew backwads, as if punched in the stomach.

"Wha?" The man asked dazedly. Qwaser wasted no more time, and launched into a string of un-words. One of the other muggers howled and gripped his ears as blood started to flow freely from them. The other was gibbering madly, eyes rolling back in his head.

The first mugger, for an odd reason, seemed to be a bit less receptive to the un-words. He stared at his comrades in horror, and then back at Qwaser. The Shade uttered a final word and both of the mugger's friends dropped dead, brains overloaded.

That did it for the first man. He took off running with a choked sob. Qwaser waited until he was a bit further, and then held up an arm. He began chanting under his breath. The man froze where he was, eyes wide with terror.

He began scratching at his skin, yelping in pain. It became more frantic, until he was almost ripping at his skin, now yelling in agony. Qwaser turned and began walking away, not keen on watching the man die as his blood boiled away in his veins.

But still, tonight had proven a valuable test of his newfound skills. Maybe he should go back to Mundus Magica for a bit, and wrap things up with House Weivyr. Yes, that sounded like a good idea.

Qwaser walked back down the street, whistling a merry toon that echoed hauntingly off the empty streets.

[Mizagium]

Yolanda rested her head in hand and stared out the window of her classroom. The teacher was going on about defensive spells, but she wasn't really listening; a lot of this she learned on the road with Dark Wing months ago.

Thinking about that made her realize how boring her life was now. She was glad the war was over, but she missed the adventuring aspect of it. Her parents had been ecstatic when she had returned with her uncle Cedric. Now they had moved back to Ossen to help with rebuilding the nation.

Meanwhile she was stuck in school while her friends were off doing who-knows-what. Whatever it was, it was bound to be more interesting than this.

"Miss Raevyn, are you paying attention?" She flicked her eyes back to the front of the class room to find everyone had turned as was staring at her.

"Hm? Yeah - I mean, yes sir."

"Perhaps you'd like to demonstrate the-"

A translucent shield of magic flickered to life around her desk, the spell he was teaching right now.

The teacher swallowed as her shield vanished. 'Yes, well..." He returned to his lesson and Yolanda rested her head down on her desk and sighed.

Another boring day.

[Myrdraxxis]

Serran sighed and signed ANOTHER document from the Megolin council requesting his presence at the Peace Conference. "Honestly," He growled. "Just because Altinor is strictly neutral doesn't mean we have to oversee every damn peace treaty."

"It's all for appearance, sure." His secretary called from her desk. Serran sighed.

"I almost wish the war was going on." he muttered. "At least I'd have something interesting to do." At that moment his secretary walked over with another stack of papers for him to sign. Serran groaned.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ethan walked down the streets of New Vesperita, waving and greeting those who saw him. Honestly, he still didn't feel comfortable with the whole "celebrity" gig that had come out of the war. He and the others of Dark Wing were seen as heroes (except in Megolin) and people always made sure to show it. It was sort of unnerving.

But still, he enjoyed walking through New Vesperita. He had almost o memory of hsi birthplace, but seeing it rebuilt into something so grand was heartwarming. But he wasn't here on vacation.

No, there was still business that needed doing.

[Mizagium]

Adden watched the airship approach the New Vesperita aerodrome. From this angle, he could barely make out the ship's name painted on the side: Voidhawk. It made him smile.

He made his way through the crowd, taking care to avoid bruising his wings stuffed beneath his jacket. He wasn't sure he would ever get used to them. By the time he reached the ship, Captain Rolan was already disembarking. He greeted the big half-Beastman with an extended hand.

"Greetings, Captain."

"Hey, Adden."

"So? How's it feel to be in a legitimate job?"

"What commander of the Ossenian fleet?" He smiled a half-smile. "Much better than being a pirate, let me tell you. I don't think any of the crew has complained once - a far cry from the old days."

"That's good. Look like we have company."

"Huh?" Rolan glanced around Adden at the crowd gathering. "Oh, right. We're famous now."

"How does that suit you?"

"Even better!" They laughed. "Have you seen Vi'ir lately?"

Adden quickly sobered. "Yeah. He visits every now and then. I tell him not to, but," he shrugged. "You know Vi'ir."

"Yeah, I do. I don't know if I could have done what he did, choosing to become part of the land instead of dying completely..."

"Without him, Ossen wouldn't be here again," Adden pointed out.

"Yeah, I know. It's just...he gave up his shot at Eternity for this. Not many people would do something that selfless."

"Yeah," Adden agreed softly.

"Hey, cheer up. Me and the crew are going into town, would you like to join us?"

"That would be great."

"Excellent. Oi!" he called up to the deck. "Let's get a move on!"

Tag, Raul, Jaison, and Uvet all jumped off and landed beside their captain. Torran, the Shade appeared a few seconds later, still as quiet as ever. But he seemed to have been accepted as part of the crew.

"Off we go!"

[Razgat]

Sofia sat at the bar with a circle of young men around her. She wasn't drinking, of course, but she did sip a little at a smoothie the bartender had given her on the house. She took a long sip of the sweet, cold drink. Being famous did have its advantages.

"Miss Sofia, do you need another refill?"

"For God's sake, boy, I only just took a sip!"

Well, it had its disadvantages, too. The circle of young men around her were all admirors who followed her like wet puppies. Annoying, really, but sometimes she did enjoy the company. She'd rather have other company like Adden or Ethan, though. The boys there just stared. It was a little creepy.

"Would you all please just go away? I can take care of myself."

"Whatever you'd like, Sofia! Of course!" They didn't move.

She sighed and grabbed her baseball bat, holding it up. "I said leave me alone!" The baseball bat lit on fire, and the boys quickly left the bar. However, they didn't go far. They were all staring at her through the window outside.

Sofia sighed and turned back to her smoothie, sipping it slowly. What was today's date? The sixth? That meant her birthday was in a week. It would be her eighteenth. "Hm...Mother mentioned something about that before she left."

Ella, her mother, had managed to find her after the war was over. Sofia had been ecstatic to see her but also surprised. Ella had died just before the war, murdered by Jin. She sacraficed herself for Sofia to keep her from becoming Jin's apprentice. Sofia had always partially blamed herself for her mother's death until that day when she came to her. She could remember it clearly.

Oh, Sofia, you don't need to worry. I chose to go myself. For you. Don't you understand?

Then why are you still here? Why didn't you go where you're safe? I just wanted you to be safe.

I am safe, sweetie. I'm only here for you. But now that I know you're alright, I'll leave.

Sofia had kept her back, had caused her to wander as a ghost until she found a body which she used to find her daughter. Everything was for her. She just had to let go.

And she did.

Ella left shortly after that conversation after taking care of some final things. She wanted Adden and the others to look after Sofia until she was old enough to be on her own. According to her mother, that age was eighteen. It was getting closer.

"Agh!" Sofia winced and rubbed at her temples. "Brain freeze."

[Myrdraxxis]

Ethan stepped into the shop and glanced around until he spotted Sofia seated at one of the tables. He walked over and sat down. "Getting along well, I see." He grinned glancing lightly at the group of boys hovering not too far off.

[Razgat]

Sofia made a disgusted look. "Don't mention it. Really. They'll come back the minute I say anything about being by myself." She took another sip from her smoothie. "Anything come up at all? I mean, anything for us to do?"

She really needed to get out and do something, but being without parents or money didn't leave her with much choice. She doubted her home in New York was still there, and there's no way she could keep it up on her own. Still, she would like to grab her belongings if they were still there.

[Myrdraxxis]

Ethan shook his head, a troubled look on his face. "No...for the most part there's nothing left for us to do here. But...well, I sent for Adden, we'll have to see when Ihe shows up. I need to tell you guys something that Serran found."

[TEAM_DERRICK]

At that moment, everyone's favorite pseudo-russian pulled up a chair and sat down.
"Comrades?"

[Myrdraxxis]

Ethan nodded in greeting at Neredsky -and mentally wondering if he had invited the man...probably- and said, "Hey."


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sharen, can you please summon student Yolanda to my office?" Serran looked up from his work and asked his secretary.

"At once, sir."

"And those Valkyrie Guard that I sent to Elborn as well please."

"Of course."

[TEAM_DERRICK]

"I haven't seen you guys in a good while. What's new?"

[Razgat]

"I have a new group of followers. They're just peachy." A hint of sarcasm was in her voice, but she ignored it.

[TEAM_DERRICK]

"You know, I'm very adept at get people to... you know... Run for their lives. So if they start to bother you, maybe I could introduce them to good old Sasha."

[Myrdraxxis]

"Well things are gonna get better...or maybe worse, soon." Ethan frowned. "As soon as the others get here. I told Serran to summon Yolanda. And hopefully Adden and Zhang will be along soon." At that moment, Zhang walked in, followed by a few other crew members of the Night Haunt. He dismissed them with a nod, and the men took off for the counter, yelling "smoothies!" at the top of their lungs.

"Well, seems the party's gettin' started already." The airship captain said lightly, plopping down near Neredsky. "What's the deal."

"I'll say as soon as Adden and the others get here."

[Mizagium]

Adden and the crew of the Voidhawk chose that moment to enter the bar. Adden tried to push through the crowd of boys that surrounded Sofia, but was me with angry shouts of "Wait your turn!"

More than a little ticked off, Rolan cracked his knuckles and prepared for a fight when Torran stepped forward. "Move," he said simply to the nearest boy.

"Hey pal, I told your friend to - " the boy froze upon seeing Torran. "Shit, it's fucking Shade. C'mon guys, let's get the hell out of here." In seconds the bar was clear. Torran sighed, and took a seat at the other end, away from everyone.

"Sorry 'bout that," Adden said to Sofia. "Didn't meant to scare off your fan club."

[Razgat]

Sofia smiled. "Don't mention it, Pops. Really."

Thank God they're gone.

She turned to Ethan. "So can you tell us now?"

[Myrdraxxis]

"I suppose. Serran will fill in the members currently in Altinor." Ethan said, eying the group. "Well, first off, I think that it's official that the reconstruction efforts no longer need our help. So, I need to tell you something." he stood. "We need to go back to Mundus Veritas."