A/N: Hello, everyone! Welcome to this story! This one is kind of special, because:
a) It's a multi-chapter with chapters longer than drabbles, which I love, but are so short.
b) It's a W v. A story that features more characters than Tom and Benny.
c) I already have all of it but the last chapter written!
d) It involves some cool, fairly major headcanons of mine.
Just so you guys know, this story will be updated on Wednesdays, each week.
Please review, if you have a moment, because I'd love to hear what you think. Reviews are cookies! *is a cookie-hungry owlcat monster*
Be the reason someone smiles today! :)
They hadn't even been looking for another wizard.
Tom and Benny had taken it upon themselves to track wizards around them. After all, if Benny's equipment could find them, it was only a matter of time before the Nekross would. So, the boys had spent numerous school nights and weekends out in forest, pastures, and in one memorable instance, a local swamp, to break up wizard rituals before the Nekross could sense them. Much of the time, they succeeded, sometimes, they failed. Both simply strengthened their resolve.
But, at that moment, the boys were walking home from an afternoon out with their friends, minding their own business. Suddenly, a familiar blue light beamed down from the sky, lighting up the dark bridge the boys stood on. Both tensed, Tom hastily recalling his spell count, and Benny grasping the prototype stun grenade in his pocket, and wondered frantically if it was ready to test.
The strange thing was, the Nekross weren't focused on them at all, but the figure in front of them. It was a girl, about their age, in a dark sweatshirt. Tom was about to call a warning, but Varg (because of course Varg had to be there) beat him to it.
"Halt, puny human. You have tried to mask your magic, a cowardly move, but you have been unsuccessful. The Nekross will always capture their prey, wizard scum! You would do well to tremble before our might!"
The boys expected the girl to scream, or run away, or freeze in confusion or fear, perfectly reasonable reactions to encountering the Nekross for the first time. This girl, however, did none of those things.
She began to laugh.
It was not a happy, mirthful laugh. It was dark and bitter as black licorice, and it took everyone aback.
"You think you're scary, pineapple face?" She asked Varg, quietly, but in a carrying voice. "Think again." She dropped a small cube. Varg and the Nekross guards flinched back warily, expecting it to explode. Tom heard Benny inhale sharply behind him.
"No way," the genius breathed, "she didn't!"
"She didn't what?" Tom asked quietly, hoping not to alert the Nekross to their presence just yet.
"She's made a magic beacon, something that simulates a continuous stream of strong magic, without using any, and she's synced it to only react to Nekross tech, and she can turn it on and off." Benny looked torn between being impressed and disappointed. "I was working on something like that, so we could use it as a distraction. But it was complicated, and time-consuming, and there were other things that needed to get done." His admiration seemed to win out. "It takes some serious skills to throw something like that together."
It seemed Varg also recognized something in the innocent cube, and something darkened his face.
The girl laughed again, cold and dark. "You see it now, don't you, Varg of Nekron? You thought you were hunting me..." She lowered her hood, and her eyes burned like brands. "But I was hunting you."
Varg's eyes widened, and something very like raw fear flashed in them. Tom was taken aback; he'd seen Varg scared before, but the proud prince never showed it intentionally. Without taking his eyes off of the girl in front of him, Varg snapped his wrist guard open. "Zarntulous, beam us back!" He snapped urgently.
At the same moment, the girl narrowed her eyes, harshly cried,"Kel breath drah!" and snapped her fingers. A stream of magic flew from her fingers, and dove down Varg's throat. His eyes widened, he tried to take a breath, and nothing happened. He fell to the ground, completely limp, and then the light recaptured him and the guards with him.
The bridge was dark again, empty and silent except for the wind blowing the leaves across the pavement.
Then, without turning, the girl spoke.