It was the dead of night, the crickets chirped in the grass, the stars above spelled out the constellations and hundreds of years of history in some yes. There was a light wind running over the grass, which rustled the leaves of the trees, and blew Basch's hair around his face. His green eyes blending perfectly with the bush that surrounded him and the cloak he wore leaving him the ability to blend completely. His blonde hair stood out, but a bringing his cowl up fixed that quickly.

It was a cold spring night out, and Basch had figured tonight was a perfect night to go sightseeing, as one could call it. Inside the house of his enemy he searched for magical components, at his magical level he was able to somewhat break the veil, but only to sense bigger magic, not small enchantments and such, nor magical traps.

He sat in the bushes, watching the house of one of his many enemies who used dark magic, the magic of the dark realm. Not hell, hell was a place of torture and punishment and did not give magic to humans normally, and he did not get his magic from heaven either. Their affiliation was with something completely different, more or a rivalry, but he didn't like this man especially.

Apparently someone else didn't like him all that much either and Basch sensed this presence immediately. He could sense the furious intent, the anger welling up inside them, and the fear deep inside; the first thought to Basch was that it was someone looking for revenge, probably drunk out of their mind. Or it could be a young man on his hormones, running across the field on an instinctive thought to take out a man for revenge, or out of fear.

Basch could tell this young man didn't use magic, his presence could easily be sensed, even from the distance Basch was at. He was surrounded by it though, it was uncommon-though not unheard of-for someone to never find out about their magical aura. He wasn't sure if he knew that the man inside was a powerful sorcerer, but if he didn't he sure was about to find out. He was hiding his presence well visually, though Basch's magic made the visual part all, but useless.

Basch knew that if he could sense this man's presence, Arthur could as well, and probably knew something of who this might be. Though he couldn't sense Basch, he was steadily focusing on both masking his magical aura with the feel of nature and locating different magical components located inside the house he might want to know about. He was on something of a spy mission, though he knew he wouldn't acquire all the information he wanted.

He had just been about to leave when he sensed the young man approaching and decided that he might as well stay around and watch how this went. He opened his eyes and scanned the horizon with his eyes, dropping the radar sense he'd been using to see inside the house and around for enemies. It was always good to practice your physical attributes as well, you never knew when they would come in handy.

Finally he saw a blast of color in the grass, it quickly showed itself then disappeared, and Basch continued scanning the horizon. The young man wasn't sticking to one place obviously, he was heading toward the house, trying to stay out of sight. Basch started to see more and more flashes of color from the tall grass until he was right next to Arthur's house.

In his head, Basch cringed painfully, he almost felt sorry for the young man who was trying to take on this powerful sorcerer. This was definitely not going to end well; his vision went dark as he entered his radar sense once again, his vision was blurry of the inside of the man's house, just a bit of magic to keep him out of sight from lesser mages who would sense him otherwise, but he could see the young man and Arthur perfectly.

He simply watched as the young man crouched through the house; he was smart not to run right in. Perhaps he had been wrong about this young man and he thought this through, but still not enough apparently. Arthur was just in the other room, waiting for the young man to walk through and attempt to surprise him.

So as he watched Leon go through the halls, the walls and pictures on them and such blurry, a veil of magic distorting his vision of the inside. It was smart of Arthur to do that, just to make sure that nobody ever came up to his house on a little spy mission, like he was now. So as the young man rounded the corner, he just had to wait and see what was going to happen.

Jia Long Wang-or Leon in the west-stood outside the boundaries of the man's house, his expression completely blank as he looked upon it, but inside he was a wreck of different emotions. He always tried to remain expressionless, do not let your enemy smell or see the fear or happiness or anger inside of you and he took that to heart. His face was constantly blank no matter how much he was feeling on the inside.

He ducked down, taking a deep breath and rolling into the grass and burying all his emotions deep inside him. He couldn't let anyone around see how afraid he was right now, but he had to, Leon had to protect his family from the man. He'd already been cursed with these damned eyebrows and he'd seen the extent of this man's power go even further, much further. He felt it was his responsibility to protect his family, no matter how much his brothers told him it wasn't.

He'd seen the man using his magic to try and burn down his brother Yao's tea shop because he'd refused to sell. Leon had caught him doing this and called him out as a fraud and saying that magic didn't exist, that's when he got these thick eyebrows he couldn't wax or shave to make go away. Yao couldn't believe that the man was a sorcerer, but was still adamant about selling, and Leon was afraid this man may hurt his family for not selling.

Leon was highly intelligent, his IQ was higher than most men and he could outsmart almost anyone when it came down to it. He'd read all he could about magic and magical artifacts before he came here, the only problem was he'd tried to come earlier and he'd chickened out. Then he went to a local bar, and decided that they might loosen him up, now he definitely loosened up, but now he was dead drunk and forgot all of his planning other than sneak up and make sure that he didn't harm those he loved.

He snuck through the grass low as he could, even being drunk he remembered his training in the martial arts, he knew how to sneak around and his small stature made not being seen already natural. He continued to walk through the grass, little did he know he was already being watched by two men with a magical aura, though more controlled than his.

He continued through the grass, looking around carefully, but seeing no one. He may be drunk, but he still had enough common sense left to know that he shouldn't be spotted if he wanted to succeed. He continued dashing through the grass until he made it to the man's window and stood up, hopping over the windowsill and jumping through it, the time had finally come.

He walked through the hallowed halls of the building, concentrating on every little piece of wall, bit of floor, and even looking up at the ceiling. The man would never be awake at this time of night, he would sneak up on him and knock him out, then he would kill him swiftly. He had to take this man out before his family could come into his grasp, there was no way he could let that happen.

As he walked through the building he got a strange prickly feeling on the back of his neck, maybe the magic flowed through the house or something, but he didn't know. Something wasn't right here, he'd seen enough stupid movies from the west to know that when things are seeming too good to be true, they usually are. He began to stop and check behind and around him every few feet, not wanting to miss anything by accident.

He continued to look around, he didn't see anything strange, but that just made him more nervous. One of the problems with him being so smart is that he knew this wasn't right, for someone so skilled in magic he would at least have something magical around. He'd heard that those who liked magic enjoyed having magical creatures around their house, or at least a few deadly magical items.

Leon continued through the house and when he finally made it to the first turn into the den he took it, but his heart skipped a beat when he saw Arthur standing there. He was wearing black magical robes, in the middle of a strange shape that could not be made anywhere, but in the magic of two dimensions. He also held a leather book in his right hand and in his left black winds swirled in a three dimensional treyarch.

"So you think you can best me with your martial arts?" he asked laughing, and Leon's drunken heart was now frozen in ice so he felt as though his entire body temperature had dropped and he wasn't sure if that was the magic, or his own fear. "Well let me tell you something, my family's magic is the best in the world, and I will not be beaten by some self-imposed little twat like yourself!"

Leon panicked, without even thinking he ran forward bare-handed straight toward Arthur, but he saw Arthur's hand drop toward him and the winds start to speed up. Looking at his book he closed his eyes and said very clearly. "Triplex ventus dromonem!" the winds suddenly rushed forward at Leon, slamming into his chest and cutting through his robes, along with the first layer of skin.

It formed an almost beautifully perfect circle, but at the same time Leon was thrown about by the winds and slammed onto the ceiling, then as the winds disappeared he fell back down to the ground. He groaned in pain from the fall and tried to get up, on only his hands and knees in front of Arthur, but he refused to stay like that for long, he would not bow. Though the ironic part was apparently Arthur didn't want him to.

Immediately after he'd gotten to a single knee he whispered into the air around him "Maledicite ex mille locustæ!" and then he shot his hand forward, a thousand locusts springing forth from it, making the sound they do and headed straight toward Leon. The young man stood, ready to fight the swarm of tiny numbers to the best of his ability; as they reached him he closed his eyes, slamming the side of his hand through multiple locusts at a time, but they started to overwhelm him.

He was forced to repeatedly dive out of their path as Arthur laughed at him, it was humorous for him to see someone suffer like this. It was as he should for sneaking into his house with the intent of murdering him in his sleep, as though he wouldn't sense that incredible magical aura. Though what had attracted his attention more was that hatred that lay deep in his veins, the hatred for himself. It was sweet, he could use that hatred for himself, and gain power for himself.

Arthur removed the locusts from around Leon, but in a way that he was still surrounded by them on all sides, but one. Without any incantations Arthur brought his hand up, and after bringing his hand up with line of sight, he did what little kids did with shadows or those they may not like, bringing his hand down on him. Though when he did it, an invisible force grabbed ahold of Leon and lifted his legs off the floor, leaving him there swinging his lefts to attempt to free himself.

Arthur grinned at this, he was helpless before his magic, and now that he'd seen what his magic could do, this would be so much easier. He held his hand in place and said, "Veniunt hic!" the invisible hand responded as Arthur pulled his arm back, bringing Leon so close Arthur could had pushed their noses together. "You have much power in you, I can sense that."

Leon continued to struggle as he heard that, obtaining a compliment from your enemy was not something that happened every day and when it did, it usually meant something big. Then Arthur's smirk told him it wouldn't be any good kind of big. "It's power I could harness, I could train you to grow into a sorcerer," he said. "A dark sorcerer, with the power to protect your family." That was it, the bait was his family, let's just see if the look looked friendly enough.

Leon stopped kicking, his arms constrained to his sides, and his face a look of pure shock at the offer. He would really train him to use magic? He couldn't believe the man would actually do that, but apparently it was true, and he was right here with the offer in his hands. He could become so powerful, powerful enough to take revenge on Arthur and protect his family forever. All the while he would secretly be weakening him, figuring out the weaknesses to his magic, and finding magic to counter him.

He thought about it though, power from such an evil source, it had to come at a price, a price he just couldn't pay if it's what he thought it was. He shook his head adamantly. "I will not, like, protect my family with the same magic you were going to kill them with!" His look was stern and stubborn, he wasn't going to change position and Arthur's smirk disappeared, replaced with a disappointed frown. Leon immediately knew he'd made the man mad, he didn't want to take no for an answer.

The Brit looked at the young Asian boy with disdain, he could sense a certain power about him, he hadn't killed him for that exact reason, but now it was no use. Getting rid of him would be the best option, and a slight smirk emerged on his face as the floor lit up underneath him. A cone of light fanned out across the room as Arthur's hand moved either the one holding Leon, and as he was let go a gust of wind sent him twirling through the halls and out the window like a cannon.

He felt himself flying through the air, the fields around the house beneath him and he groaned in pain from the force of the winds. The speed of the winds multiplied by the downward force of gravity and the density of the ground beneath him… equaled ouch. As he landed he didn't feel as much pain as he expected though, sure, he moved earth around like a meteor impact would, but the pain didn't extend into every bone in his body.

At first he thought his life was fading away as the cells were slowly dying in his body, thus rendering his nervous system inactive and useless. That might have been true, had he not felt the ground underneath him, and he realized how much pain he was actually in. He could barely move his hand without pain shooting through his body, though it could be worse, he could actually be dead.

As he lay there and looked up at the night sky, he tried to remember all the constellations he'd been taught when he was younger. Then his eyes fell on the moon, and he allowed a small smile through in what he assumed to be his last moments. "Heh…. Rabbits are trying to make medicine on the moon…." It was something Yao had taught him when he was little, strange how that's what he remembered.

Then moments after his fall he felt himself fading into unconsciousness, but not before a figure stood in front of the moon he captivated. His green eyes and blonde hair easily visible against the night sky, he could see the lines of his mouth moving, but heard no words as the world went black.