Gamestar Forum

Jack Blair

--2 years later--

"Shit!" The mirror tore off the side of the car, Damn pole. Jack made a fast right turn and caught some air as he sped down the hill. He kept a hand on the wheel as he dug in the glove compartment for his pistol. Got it! He swerved left into a parking lot and stopped his car. He flung open the door and jumped the small guard fence and ran into the building. It appeared to be some sort of concert venue. Jack held tightly to his gun and stood behind the desk, pistol pointed at the door.

He breathed heavily, wiping his hair from his face.

The ground shook and the air roared. A fireball had charred the walls and left a huge hole in the wooden doors. A tall red-headed man flanked by some rough looking men walked in.

"Drop the gun. Your traditional weapons won't work here." One of the men said.

"Heh." Jack smirked as he put his hand below the desk and summoned a white rose.

Another one of the men spoke up, "We don't want to hurt you, but we have to give you the option. You've seen too much already."

"What, cause I saw your fire tricks back there?" Jack said, still holding the gun, "Don't want me to tell anyone?"

The man flinched, the tall red-head stared at Jack.

"Exactly." He said after a pause, "Now what you're going to do is come with us, or we'll shut you up forever."

"Doesn't sound like much of a choice." He shot the man in the leg twice, and watched him buckle over.

"Do it." The other man told the red-head.

The boy conjured a fireball in his hand and shot a cone of flame at Jack, lighting up the entire room in an unbearable heat. He stopped the jet. Nothing but ashes remained of the corner of the room.

"Our job here is done." They helped the other one get to his feet and tore off his pant leg to bandage the wounds.

"We have to be more careful. If we didn't catch up to him he could have told the government about us, they'd drag Hart in to some lab to tear him open."

Hart nodded, closing the spark in his hand.

They heard a small noise behind them.

Hart poked the man and motioned to the source of the noise. But it was too late, the butt of a pistol collided with the man's jaw as he went to turn around. Hart made a light in his hand and saw a grotesque sight.

Jack stood over him, his burned-black skin slowly repairing itself. He held the gun at Hart's face, "Don't assume you're out here alone kid." He walked out of the building and out of sight, leaving the rose on the ground.

Rogue mages? With normal human entourages, huh. Sounds interesting. He thought to himself as he climbed back into his car. He grabbed a small flask and took a sip out of it, then raised it in front of him, "This one's to you, old friend". He was up to his old tricks again.

2 YEARS LATER

Henri Mahagany was sitting on the cold floor of his basement, sketching out a series of runes on the ground with red chalk.  At each vertex, he placed a drop of his own blood.  Or, more accurately, his bloodline, which was what the diagram was trying to channel.

"You're sure about this?" Danny asked from the back end of the room, outside the boundaries of the diagram.  Danny had been one of the first recruits to Cody's cause, turned by his fervent speeches toward the side of full public disclosure.  He had joined their ragtag band along with a few other recruits, and they were rapidly becoming a full-fledged political organization, a force to be reckoned with.

Danny became one of the members of Henri's group, which oversaw managerial and strategic tasks.  Their magic worked well together - Danny specialized in altering the properties of objects and surfaces, usually disrupting the opponent enough for Henri to catch them in a wave of hexes.  They soon realized that their personalities clicked as well, and they started a steady relationship that had lasted for six months so far.

Henri and Cody were still friends, though, and Henri felt a lot more comfortable interacting with him now that he didn't have to deal with his crush.  They certainly needed to coordinate - as Henri had predicted, more and more enemies were appearing, and while the Magus Association proper was relatively quiet on the subject, many of its constituent members weren't afraid to show their objection to Cody's plans a little more directly.

Which explained Henri's actions now.  Basic spells wouldn't cut it any more, too many mages had basic magic resistance charms that negated them.  He was usually able to overload them with enough spells, but he needed to be more versatile.  As the last heir of the Mahagany family, he had access to his bloodline's spells.  He just had to access them.

"Yes.  We've both agreed, it's the right choice."  Danny was silent.  The problem with this magic was that if for some reason he wasn't considered the legitimate heir, the magic would backfire and he and probably everyone within a large radius would die.  It could happen for any number of reasons written into the family's Magic Crest.  He had never completed his magical training.  Wasn't cooperating with the Magus Association.  Even his sexuality could be a problem if the Crest mandated that he have children.

No time for turning back now.

"My name is Hendrick Mahagany.  I am the final and rightful heir of the Mahagany family.  The lives of my parents, however, were torn away before they could pass on their Magic Crest to me."

The lines of the diagram began to glow with energy.

"I request access to these secrets.  Magic grows, generation after generation, passed down through blood or parenthood.  My blood is freely offered to you, Sanctum, and all I want in return is what is rightfully mine."

Now was the time to cast a spell.  Its legitimacy would determine the outcome of the ritual.

"FAMULUS PRISMATIS!"

The magic lines began to fade, receding back toward the center of the diagram.  The wounds on Henri's hands that he had drawn blood from closed, the blood refilled.  And more.

All the glass in the building shattered, and Henri felt it move - felt himself move it - in front of him.  It reformed itself, turning almost liquid, into a humanoid figure.  Its heart was made of stained glass.

"Looks like it worked," he breathed.  He raised his hand with a few Spark spells and reached his hand toward the familiar's heart.  It received and cooperated with his magic, its heart becoming a fiery, molten color while its outer skin solidified.  If Henri was right, it would be able to channel his spells just like his old trident could.

Henri gestured Danny over, and he began to apply his magic to the surface of the familiar, making its shape more malleable, its body less brittle, its attacks stronger, its air resistance lower.  After he was done, Henri waved his hand, and the familiar moved under his command, jumping across the room.

Danny grinned and put his arms around Henri's shoulders.  "Glad you didn't kill yourself there."

"So am I."

Suddenly, a white glow clouded both of their visions.

...

Henri

Henri smiled and nodded before standing up.  "I don't have anything tying me here except you guys.  So... I guess I'm in.  I might be able to help politically, since I suppose I am the last heir of the Mahagany family."

Hera

Hera glanced at Kirin's face. He had hope, a purpose, and was ready for anything. Maybe...I could help. I could learn... I could grow.

Hera with all the boldness of her old self and the wisdom the war had left her with placed a hand on Kirin's shoulder. "Politics, eh? Can't say that's appealing to me...at all...but I think it'll take more than two people to win this battle." The young woman glanced at Henri and gave him a knowing smile, "Don't you agree, Henri?"

Kirin

"I can handle that." Kirin stepped up. "If I need to, I may return to the association. By technicality I'm the new head to the Oshiro family." An idea arose in his head as he spoke. "Didn't you once say in your publications prior to the Sanctum War that you wanted to merge the world of normal people with that of magecraft?"

"Yeah, that's my end-goal."

"That won't be something you can do alone, mind you. Winning the war's easy; making it mean something, that's the hard part. I'll be your man on the inside. I'll join the association as your representative. You've a long battle ahead of you, Lazarus; if you need anything, I'll be a phone's cal away. Here's to the transition into the next age, so that it may be a smooth one. So that's where I'll be going. What about the rest of you?"