Magician's Secret

by Angeteen

The digidestaned learns that the Digimon Emperor has gone back into the past to kill their past selves. Ven, a magician, decides to help them out. But is there more to Ven than first meets the eye?

Magician's Secret

This is the longest fic I've ever wrote so please be sure to read and to review.

Angeteen

They were coming for me. They were at least twenty in all. They came one on top of another like
wild dogs after their prey. I ran even harder though my legs were already protesting. Silently, I cursed
under my breath that they were doing this. I, one of their own kind, they were attacking. It wasn't my
fault I was born with this ability. But I already knew that anything people didn't know about they
feared, and what they feared they destroyed...human or not.

I kept running till I came to the base of a rocky outcropping. I looked around, hoping to find some
way to escape. The only way out was up and even if I managed to do that they would just shoot me
down. At last they approached.

The twenty or so of them stood their ground each one looking at me. In a couple of moments I knew
I would be dead unless I used my gift. It was ironic, really, that what was saving my neck was also
what originally caused all of my problems. I invoked it-and all Hell broke lose.

***

I was walking home on my way back from school. It was just another routine thing. Going to the
same classes, meeting faceless people in the halls and knowing that to them you have no face either.
It wasn't exactly what I would consider a good time but then that's life.

Walking on, I felt a hand grab me by the shoulder and pull me into an ally. I didn't get a good look at
his face until he pinned my arm behind my back. There were two of them. One of them was well built
and had what appeared to be a horse's jaw. The other was tall, skinny, and blond.

I held my breath, hoping that they would just want my money and leave. "Hold still girl" horse jaw
said. "Yeah" blonde said. "We won't hurt you if you cooperate with us." "I'm sorry but I have no
money." This wasn't a lie. I didn't have any money...with me anyhow.

Blonde smirked. "Oh, it's not money we wan cootie" he said, rubbing my left chick. "It's something
else." My blood went cold at these words. I knew what that meant! "No thanks" I said, trying to
squirm free but not getting anywhere fast. "I suggest you not try anything" horse jaw said, tightening
his grip. "You will never be able to leave unless we want you to."

"I think she said to let go" a knew voice said. I looked up through the ally and saw who the voice
belonged to. It was a boy. He looked to be about fifteen. He was tall, black headed, and wore a pair
of blue jeans, a short sleeved shirt, a pack, and in his hand he carried a strange rod. Getting a better
look, I saw it wasn't a rod but a staff. Strange.

"Why don't you take care of this guy" horse jaw suggested to blonde. Blonde charged at him but the
stranger thrusted his staff out and struck him in the stomach, lifted him over his head, and deposited
him over his shoulder.

Letting go of me, horse jaw attacked. As soon as he got close, he dodged to the side, expecting a
blow in the stomach. The stranger jumped forward and casted a hard slap on his back., sending him
rolling forward with his partner.

The stranger looked over at them and raised his staff in both hands. "Leave now while you got the
chance or be prepared to face the full brunt of my raft." Horse jaw and blonde scrambled over one
another trying to get up. At last they succeeded and made a wild dash towards the entrance of the
ally way and quickly turned the corner, desperate to put as much distance as they could between
themselves and the unknown stranger.

He walked over towards me and helped me up. "Are you all right?" he asked. "I'm fine, just shaken.
Who are you." "My name is Veneficus Donum, but you may call me Ven." "Thanks, Ven" I said,
trying to stand up. "Who are you?" "Sora."

Ven nodded his head and glanced at one of the pockets in my pants. "You seem to have something
on your person that seem to have great power. It seems to be a production of the fourth element.
May I see it please?"

I looked at him for a moment and realized what he was talking about. My digivise! Somehow he
knew I carried one...but how? It's not as if he was psychet for such things were obviously fake.
There must have been a different way that he had known, like someone telling him that I had one.

Then I froze. Someone told him? The other guys in the ally, they were probably there just waiting for
me! Now it all made sense. It wasn't by a fortunate accident that I was saved. He had probably set
the whole thing up himself and now he was trying to get information from me by pretending he had
come only to help!

"No, you can't." He looked at me with with a bit of surprise and shrugged. "Have it your way, Sora.
I'll just find out my own way. Until then, I'll be watching you." He walked away from me, muttering
something in a low voice. I looked at him, wondering what was happening, and suddenly he was
gone. Just like that, he was gone as if the previous scene had never even occurred. Shuddering, I
hurried out of the ally and ran towards home.

***

As I was nearing my apartment, I saw Tai running across the street, looking to be in a real hurry. I
raced over to him and asked "what the big rush was?" He stopped for a moment and said "Izzy sent
a message saying that he had something important for us."

"What is it?" "I don't know yet, that's why I'm trying to get over there. Whatever it is though, it's
bound to be important." Surely it was. But what was getting at me was was it something good or
something bad? After the meeting with Ven I hopped it wouldn't be anything bad. Learning you got a
new enemy to watch out for isn't exactly a cheerful thing after all. So joining Tai, we made our way to
Izzy's house.

***

After a short jog we finally reached our destination. Izzy was standing with a nervous look on his face
and behind him was his computer with a message displayed on the screen. "I've got a message from
the Digimon Emperor" he said. "It says he went back into time to kill our younger selves. We have to
go back somehow to stop him but the problem is I don't know how to do it."

Everyone looked around, trying to think of something but no one made a sound. "We could find his
hide out and and use the machine he made in order to do it." "I don't think that would work. If he
went back into the past he must have a way to return. The only way we could ever find him is to
make one ourselves but none of us know how to do that without some sort of blue prints to go by."

"Maybe I could help you" a new voice said. I turned around-and immediately froze. Ven was here! "I
don't think we need your help and besides that, how did you get in here anyhow?" He smiled. "I
followed you. Anywhere you can go so can I, one way our the another. And frankly, yes you do
need my help. I can take you...for a price of course."

"And that would be?" "Your soul." My eyes widen. "I'm kidding. I'm not the devil, despite what
others would say. But seriously...I need to examine that object you were carrying or one that the
others are currently carrying. I'm most curious about the power they hold and must find out what it is
and document it. I will return it in a couple of moments so you'll have no fear of loosing it."

"How did you know we all carry one and not just me?" "I can sense it. The power from them is
defiantly one of the four elements used in magic. My only question is exactly which one it is and what
it can do. It will only take a couple of moments and it will be an insignificant thing to do, especially
when your getting it back.

Somehow I doubted him, despite his calm equibilam. I bet the devil would have offered something
similarly useful only for the person to find out latter that it was more useful than they once thought.
Something like approaching David and asking to exchanging his sling shot for a woman named
Delilah.

No, those were two separate things but still it explained things well enough. And what of him
remarking that a couple had said he was the devil? I wasn't sure whether or not to trust this shady
character.
I was about to open my mouth to say something but Tai had already pulled out his digivise and
placed it in Ven's hand.

Ven closed it in his hand and slowly closed his eyes as well. He remained like that for several
moments and his eyelids snapped open. Silently he handed it back and said "powerful indeed. I could
only glimpse a little bit of it's workings but still it was enough. This is by no doubt made from the
fourth element. Now then, for my rendered service. Take me to the spot where you wish to end up.

I blinked. "What do you mean 'take you to the spot where we wish to be?'" "Just that. If I'm going to
jump us back in time a bit, I need to be in the exact area. Of course I could just take you back and
let you do a bit of walking but at least this way it won't be as much trouble. Now then, when do you
want to be?"

"We've no idea. He didn't say the date." Ven sighed. "Well I might as well help you once more. Clear
about everybody, I'm going to need some room." Everyone took at least two steps back as he took
a bunch of playing cards out of his pack.

He laid them on the ground going from one to zero. After that he took out a compass. He looked at
the compass and said "show me the year's first number of where I must travel." After a couple of
moments he looked at a card that had a 'one' on it and asked for the second date of the year and
after he looked at another card he asked for the third third number of the year.

This kept until he had gone though the year, the month, and the day. I didn't know what he was up
to but it defiantly had me mystified. He picked up the cards, the compass, and stuffed them back into
his pack, looking quite satisfied.

"All right, I have the date now we can go." I shrugged, questioning his sanity about trusting a compass
and a pile of cards and figuring we wouldn't have much to lose by giving this a shot. All right, let's go.
I said, bringing out my digivise and holding it up to the screen. We were on our way to the digiworld.

***

After going through what I would call remarkable, I saw we were in a forest. I had no idea where
we were but I was beginning to wonder if these kids were actually magicians. The objects they held,
digivises I think they were called, must have been made by a powerful one.

I doubted they had such power but in couple of cases strong magic does reign in some children. I
should know, I was one of them after all. But if they were magicians, then I should have detected
magic in their being. I couldn't for some odd reason so I brushed it off and figured they got them from
one who was. But why would a magician give them such things of power, it hardly made sense.

"All right" Sora said "let's see what you can do." Of course, but first give me a moment" I said,
rummaging through my pack of supplies. With out turning my head I could tell she was glancing into
it. It hardly mattered as long as everything remained in my possession.

Which was a good thing...for her. She would probably end up killing herself or turning into something
if she fooled with the things I kept. This was one of the many reasons why I hardly cared if someone
got them because they were a threat only to themselves.

"What is that stuff?" "Potions, ingredients, apparels of magic, and other stuff you don't need to know
about. Remember" I said cautioning her "NEVER fool around with a magician's equipment because
you could wind up killing yourself." "Whatever" she said, shrugging.

Reaching into my supplies, I pulled out a small vial of red vapor. "Watch this" I said, removing the
cork and stepping back. The vapor seeped out of it and floated in the air, moving with the breeze. As
it past over a bunch of trees they melted to the ground leaving behind a small puddle of liquid. I made
a couple of gestures at the vapor and it returned to the vile which I corked and replaced.

"As I said, don't mess with my stuff. If you released that one we already be siphoning your remains
from the ground." Sora's face now had a look of both appreciation and fear. Finally, I brought out a
heavy leather bound book and opened it.

Thumbing through the pages I mumbled as I past through the texts. "Conjuring, containing, jinxes,
manipulating, here we are, time travel." Hastily, I memorized the words to the time spell and looked
back at the group.

"I got the spell" I announced. "But before we go, I need to give you some advanced information.
First, I have never gone back into time more than a few days at a time for a certain reason...it drains
you.

Sora's eyebrow raised. "I know what your thinking so I will explain this as easy as I can. When
casting magic, part of it comes from the caster which is why we enchant a staff or wand to help us
with our spells." I twirled my staff in midair for impact.

"The greater the spell, the more energy it will drain from a magician. I could go on this mission alone
with some strength left over but I'm carrying you with me so I will be weakened to the point of
exhaustion. Please watch over my body until then for you will need me again.

"All I need you for is to take me back into time and that's all" Sora put in courtly. I could already tell
we were going to be enemies. Humans, go figure. "Yes you will. You can not talk to your past self or
any others you know without risking paradox. I am not exactly eager to face one of those thank you
very much, and also you'll need me in order to return."

Standing up, I turned my head away from her and began the spell. It was a little complicated to tell
you the truth, even though all the spells in the world consisted of one type of language or another.
Most were in Latin but a couple were in English, French, Chinese, you name it.

The more powerful ones usually had two or more languages mixed together so it would be hard for a
novice to know what he was doing without first knowing the language a little. This one happened to
have three.

As I neared the end of the spell I found myself tiring. It hardly mattered. The spell would soon be
completed and I could rest for the time being. But still a promotion of doubt nagged at me. For some
odd reason I felt as if this mission would be more complicated than I would once think. And as that
bit of doubt stuck me, I blacked out as the spell took hold and we were whisked away into the
depths of time.

***

It didn't take long for them to realize what had happened. There first emotion was terror and then
anger. One of them rushed at me and sent a kick to my stomach knocking the air out of me. From
behind, I could feel someone grab me by the back and hull me upright, keeping a firm grip on me.

"What should we do with him?" one of them said. "I don't know," said the one holding me. "Take him
back to the village I guess. They should now what to do with him." "I say we kill him right now, no
use in exposing everyone to this threat.

"That would be a good idea but no. When we return, no one will get near him. Also, we will be made
heroes. Think of it men...having him turned in on a silver platter will set us up for life. With that much
money and respect, we won't have nothing to worry about." "Your right, let's take him there now and
get what's coming to us." Those were the last words I heard as I felt a sharp blow at the base of my
skull and blacked out.

***

Light streamed into my eyes as I noticed my surroundings. We were still in the woods weren't we? I
got up, and looked around. It would be hard to know if we had since I couldn't tell any difference.
"Did we make it?" I asked no one in particular. "Yes, we made it" I heard Sora say. "You've been
out for a couple of hours now. Strange thing is, you seem a little taller for some strange reason."

I looked down at my cloths. They did feel a little tight for some odd reason. That shouldn't happen
unless...but that was unthinkable! It was probably nothing more than the weather being a little hot so I
brushed it off.

"First thing to do is find your past selves" I said, drawing Sora's attention. "Just give me a minute and
I should be able to that." I reached into my pack and pulled out the compass. "Were is Sora and her
friend's past selves? The needle on it spun a little and landed due east.

"There east of here, but we should approach with caution. This thing tells where everything's exact
location is and even more if properly applied, but it doesn't notice stuff like pits, rivers, mountains and
so on. We should be prepared at all times in case something nasty shows up. You clear on that?"
Sora nodded and we headed off once again.

***

When Ven said their would be problems ahead he wasn't kidding. So far we had already navigated
across rivers, patches of thorns, briers, and just about every other nuisance their was. Ven didn't
seem any happier about it either but he kept pushing me along anyhow, frequently checking to make
sure we were headed in the right direction. I began to really wonder why I was even bothering to go
through all this trouble when it would be easier to just skirt around it all.

At last when I was about to say something, he stopped. I looked ahead to see what this was all
about. In the distance I could see something moving. "All right now" Ven said. "I need to cast a spell
of illusion on you for a moment."

Sighing, I asked "what's the use?" "You can't interact with them remember? The spell should not only
take care of sight, but also sound and the indents of your footsteps in the ground. That's the beauty of
such magic. It doesn't matter if you believe in an illusion or not, it will still effect you."

"So you mean if you created something like an illusion chair I could sit in it?" "Exactly. Your brain
would think it was real and so you would be sitting in it, though you really aren't." Suddenly I began
to find myself respecting him a little more. It seemed that without him, we would've already lost. It
almost made we want to ease up a little around him if it weren't for the fact of what happened earlier
and that he was also doing this for himself as well as us.

He pointed a finger at me and said a few words I didn't understand. The spell must have been a
success seeing as how he had a satisfied look on his face. But a question nagged at me. If Ven
couldn't see our hear me, how could I get his attention?

Looking back at Ven, I saw him repeating the same spell and everything was a perfect replay of what
happened before except the spell was aimed at him, not me. At last it was done and Ven stood there
looking proud. "All right, we can go now. I just had to make another spell so I could see you."

"But won't anyone else be able to see me?" I asked. "Not really. The first spell made you invisible to
everyone around you. The second one was aimed at me making me see you. Both are illusion of
course. The first one is to make sure your are not discovered, the other is to make me be able to see
and hear you. Even though I only think those things because of the previous illusion, it still works well
enough."

So in short they cancel each other out. One to make me seem like I'm not there and another to make
it look like I was. Very clever indeed. With the spells now in place, we headed towards our younger
selves, and perhaps victory if things turned out well.

***

I rushed at the forms ahead of me and they, indeed, did turn out to be their past selves. The meeting
was fairly simple, having learnt that they had only been there for only a few days. That was both good
and bad. Good because it would be easier for them to trust me, and bad because they weren't as
experienced as the originals.

I talked to them for about an hour explaining that I was a magician who just happened here by luck
and needed some help to get back home. They didn't seem to believe the magician part so I made a
flame appear in my hand, threw it at a tree, and soon they were more than convinced.

Now that the nuisance of meeting them was over, I explained to them that I could foretell the future
even though all I actually told them was what I already knew. I went into an act of moaning and
groaning and in my best trance like voice I told them of "an evil presence is out to destroy you. He
lies not far away and won't stop at nothing until he has succeeded." Now that the "fortune" was given,
I told them we needed to locate him, which I pulled out the locator/compase and after the location
was found, we were on our way.

***

After a three hours march, I began to notice a couple of them looking at me funny. "What is it?" "You
look...different" Tai spoke up. "Different? How?" "You look...well...older." I looked down at my
arms and hands and realized that they were a little larger than they should be for someone who was
fifteen. Also, I noticed my pants were starting to get a little tight and my usually large shirt now
seemed to be a couple of sizes smaller.

"This can't be!" I screamed, horrified. "This is impossible, the mana is still present I know it is, how
else can I use magic!" Everyone looked at me puzzled. "What's mana?" Tai asked. I looked at him
and explained it all.

"Mana is what makes magic function. It's what the caster draws upon to create his spells, without it,
he is helpless. For some odd reason the potion I've been using to youthen myself is fading." I paused
for a moment thinking.

"It seems that the mana in this world is not computable with ours and I'm starting to age at an
excelerated rate. By the looks of it, each hour that passes I age one year." "How old are you?" "950.
Probably in three days I will revert to my real age which will be exactly 870 years dead.

"Your 950 years old?" Tai said in a way that made it hard to tell if it was in amazement or disbelief.
"Yes Tai, that's my true age. I discovered how to youthen myself, at least physically anyhow, at age
85 and have kept on using it every 70 years. That's how I live beyond my normal tenure. The magic
will no longer work and I will die in three days unless this journey is successful within that time."

"But if it's a potion, shouldn't it still work?" "No. Not only do you have to harvest ingredients that are
rare, but you also have to cast a few spells on it or else it's worthless. No. There is no other way. All
I'm left with now is the bit of spells I know and my staff."

I looked across the landscape and sighed. "It seems now that not only does your life depend on the
completion of this mission, so does mine." I turned my head from the landscape and looked back at
the group. "Come on now. We need to get going. I'm not getting any younger after all."

***

We went on for three more hours and rested now that night was threating to take over. Ven seemed
to be handling things quite well despite his current aging problem. Looking at him, I began to wonder
if keeping the knowledge he obtained was only a pretense to helping us out.

I mean, here he was, a powerful magician risking his very life for just a handful of people he will
probably never see again and all for what? Just to remember something that he would probably never
use anyway? It hardly seemed worth the risk let alone the effort.

I looked over at Ven. He was sitting down, writing something in his book. I walked by to see what it
was and he looked at me out of the corner of his eye but he kept on writing and didn't say anything. I
looked over his shoulder and saw what it was.

It had today's date and was followed by these words: to day on one of my travels I came across this
young girl trapped in an ally. It seemed that two men had her up against a wall and were trying to
either mug her or rape her. I wasn't sure which it was and privately I didn't care. I rushed to her
rescue all the same.

They were easy enough to take care of, being only a couple of teens themselves. That, and a few
years of training of how to fight with a staff was probably more than enough to jog some manners into
them. When I got near her, I could detect through once faze of my ability a presence of power on
her.

I asked her what it was but she refused. It didn't matter seeing as how I followed her by casting an
invisibility spell on myself. Now that she didn't know I was there, I followed her...from there he was
still busy writing out the rest.

I looked down at him and asked "what do you mean your ability?" "Later" he mumbled out of the
side of his mouth. "If I get caught talking to you they will think I'm crazy. Tonight when I'm standing
guard I'll answer your question." He turned his head, and went back to his writing.

***

It was dark and the children were asleep. I was standing guard over them and was currently waiting
for Sora to appear. At last, she stepped out of the darkness and walked towards me. I looked at her
and didn't say much.

"What is an 'ability' and what is yours exactly?" Sora asked straight forward. I looked at her and
sighed. "An ability is something that a magician is exceptionally good at naturally. To give a more
detailed view, think of it this way. When a spell for a jump in time is cast it will weaken the caster.
One who is borne with that as their ability can do it with no strain as long as his ability has had a
chance to mature enough."

"So what your saying is" she began "that all it really is is something a magician can do with ease that
others can't." "Sorta. They do repeat in most cases. It hasn't been unusual that more than one person
has been gifted in a certain field of the four elements that has a repeat talent. Some talents are simple
like levitation while others are complicated such as time travel but that's straying from the point."

"I'm getting tired of hearing about the four elements" Sora said, exasperated. "Exactly what ARE
they, and say it in a way that I can easily understand." "The four elements are, in order, earth,
transformation, forbidden but once was called unknown, and the new one is cyber."

Sora raised an eye brow. More definition would have to be given. "Earth is anything that relates to it:
fire, water, air and so on. Transformation speaks for itself. Unknown, or "forbidden" is anything from
reading minds to raising and substaning the dead. As for cyber, it deals with computer and
technology which I'm currently doing research on since I don't know much about that area."

"So now that I know what they are, what is your ability as you call it?" I flinched. "Not all magicians
are born gifted as the others I mentioned. Some haven't progressed as far as I have, but if given a
choice, I would choice to have become one of them.

"Why?" I could tell there was no backing out of it now. Might as well go through with it. "Mine...mine
was a curse. Mine was of the third element. It was also normal for one to be given a gift in that field. I
had a friend who could enchant stones and we got along well, but that's another story. As it turned
out when mine was discovered at age eighteen, it cased immediate trouble. It was unknown at first
what was causing it, but soon I learnt it was my ability and I had to flee for my life." Here I stopped.

"And?" Sora prompted. "I prefer not to go on. It's not important for you to know what it is." "If it's
not important then tell me." "I said it's not important all right?!" I said, a bit more harsher than I meant
to. "Sorry, talking about it brings back bad memories. Let's just say that's what made me go into
hiding considering that if I didn't I would have been killed."

I grimaced slightly. "They only feared my ability, not me personally. To them I am a threat that needs
to be eliminated. Stories about me have been past saying I was ruthless, evil, and corrupted. Ha!
They don't even know the real me. So now I must lay in hiding until an appropriate date arrives for
when I can tell them of my nature and avoid a serious out break of war."

"You mean a band of magicians would get together just to kill you?" "Of course. Have you seen
World War II? If not, well I have and let me tell you...that would be a picnic compared to what you
would face. I would fight back you see. Not only me but also others. Also, with the blessings of
youth and centuries of practice in the fields of magic, it would be one giant blood shed. Don't let my
outwards looks fool you. I'm far powerful than you can even imagine."

I momentarily smirked. "I am probably the most powerful being on Earth when I chose to exercise
my full power. My current aging will provide problems though. I'm only strong with a youthful body,
an old one would fail me. So you see, my efficiency decreases while my age increases, just one of the
reasons we should complete this course as soon as we can."

I stopped and thought for a moment. "I believe my watch is now over and since I'm already tired I
will be sure to get some sleep." I looked over at her for a moment. "Good night, Sora. Please make
sure you don't ask anything relating to my talent in the future except when necessarily." And with that,
the conversation was over.

***

In the morning the children and I continued towards our destination. After a short hike, we came to
this boulder that was blocking the entrance to a cave. Checking the locator once again, I made sure
that this was the current route. It pointed straight and true at it, but I had to make sure.

I asked the group to stop for a moment and moved to the left a bit to make sure. The arrow swung
around, pointing at the boulder. So far so good. I moved a little to the right and it pointed at it yet
again. No doubt about it, this was out destination and the only problem now is how to enter it.

Maybe the red mist? No, the wind was blowing towards us and that was in the opposite direction of
where I wanted it to go. A spell to generate wind wouldn't help anything either. Synthetic wind never
did work on magic. It looked like I was going to have to come up with something else.

Maybe if there was a way to make it smaller or less heavy so it could be moved. Yes, maybe if I just
chipped away some fragments and made it round enough it could roll and would save me some
trouble. A couple of force bolts would probably do the trick.

Raising my hand, I opened it wide and shouted "FORZA CLAUSTRUM!" From my spread hand, a
white ball of light as big as my fist appeared and shot out at the boulder sending a few chips flying.
Keeping my hand opened, I repeated the spell again and soon, much like an artist, the boulder began
to lake shape. Soon it was round enough to roll with some effort putted behind it.

Turning to the group, I asked if "they could help me roll it?" Looking a bit stunned after seeing what I
did to that boulder, they moved toward the side of it and gave it a good shove. It moved slightly.
Bracing my foot against the turf, I gave it a good shove with my shoulder. It moved a little farther,
and with a little extra effort, the boulder was moved and the entrance was opened.

***

Going through the passages, I could hardly believe what I had just seen. Ven had chiseled that
boulder into a ball and rolled it out of the way. What got me was he didn't even break a sweat. He
looked more like this was just a routine thing and that there was nothing serious to worry about.
Which brings to mind the question of what his true capabilities were once he decided to administer
them.

Whatever they were, they were surely potent as he had shown. But if he had such mastery of magic,
what was there to fear of knowing what his ability was? It seemed laughable at the thought of being
afraid of others learning what your magic talent was when you could just simply turn them to stone.

Whatever the reason was, it had to be a serious one. Maybe his ability, or more simply his talent,
would be something deadly like causing a person to die with just a glance, or able to project a
powerful curse at someone. Either of them seemed like good prospects to worry about but they were
of course thousand of others that it could be.

But why should I bother to question a magician about it? He had said so himself that he was over
900 years old and I'm pretty sure he knew more about magic than anyone else alive did. I should
leave it at that since I'm pretty sure he knew his stuff.

Looking up ahead, I saw him, now at age fifty, sprouting a thick beard and mustache that desperately
needed coming. His hair was even worse considering that it was down past his waist and was in
tangled snarls. 'Looks more of a hippie than a magician' I thought to myself, almost laughing at the
thought.

But despite his appearance, I could tell he was alert and ready for anything. Suddenly, he came to an
abrupt halt and looked about. "I know that someone's here!" he bellowed. "And I also know that
your a magician. Come, show yourself!"

How did he know someone was here, and even if he did, how did he know it was a magician? Then
a thought hit me so hard I nearly fell over. His talent! I remember when he was writing last night that it
said he had detected my digivise through a faze of his talent! But a bigger question began to formed.
If that was only a faze of his talent, what was it's actual form?

From the darkness of the hall, a figure shimmered into view. My mouth dropped. It was the Digimon
Emperor. If he was a magician, this could be trouble. My only hope was that he didn't know anything
potentially threating.

"I'm surprised to see that another magician besides myself is here" he said. "Tell me, how did you do
it?" Ven smiled "piggy backed. But how I got here is of no concern of yours. All that matters is that
you leave this time frame and return to yours."

The Digimon Emperor stiffened but regained his composure. "Won't talk huh? Well, I'm sure we'll
have plenty of time to get to know each other" he said, stepping away and began what sounded a lot
like a spell. Whatever it the spell was, it sure was enough to make Ven start.

He turned around and tried to dash down the hall, but since they were seven people in the way, not
counting myself, it was hard to get past them all. Suddenly he slackened and fell to the floor. He was
still alive since his chest was still moving but what happened? In fact the others were being similarly
affected. What was going on?

Then I realized what it was. A sleep spell. No wonder he had tried to get out of there so fast! But
why weren't me and Tai being affected? Then I noticed the Digimon Emperor's gaze. It was focused
on Ven and the group but we were invisible to him so he never knew we were there and thus we
were spared.

Now that everyone had fallen asleep, the Digimon Emperor said a few words, pointed his finger at
them, and they arose one by one, still laying flat on their backs. With that, he turned around and
walked away with the gang in tow.

***

When I first came to, I noticed I was back at the village. My hands and feet were tied to a wooden
pool and in front of me were the villagers shouting at me. It all took a few moments to realize what
was about to happen...I was going to be humiliated before being killed.

From the shouting I heard various things being. "I hope you burn in Hell" came from one. "My your
soul rot for all eternity you bastard" came from another. "God I love this place" I said to myself
bitterly, trying to say anything that would take my mind of the situation even if it was briefly.

The head of our village came up and raised his hands, trying his best to quiet them. "Quiet, quiet now!
I know how angry you all are at him and I also know that you want him dead but you must calm
yourselves down before anything is done."

At this, the crowd quieted, leaving a deathly silence that I might as well start to get use to. "Now
then" he said, wiping his brow. "How should be we go about to get rid of him?" From the back, I
heard one man speak up.

"Well if you ask me, since he's nothing more than poisonous gift to the entire town that has a bit of
magic, I say torture him first, then worry about killing him." I sweated. Dying was bad enough but
being tortured before being killed was even worse.

I saw pushing and shoving in the crowd and knew someone was stepping forward, probably the guy
who has just spoken. As he stepped forward, I saw that in his hand was a knife, well tempered and
about eight or nine inches long.

He raised it slightly to my stomach and bore down. The penetration sent a vertigo of pain through me
as it slid farther in and began to slide across, cutting more skin. He was moving it across and then up
at at angle, careful of what he was doing. After that, he began to go down and gave a slight curve to
it making it look a little bit like some kind of shepherds crook but not quiet.

He continued on, slicing more skin and tissue out of the way. The felling of such pain was enough to
drive a man insane. Finally after half an hour which felt more like an eternity, he had let up and was
finished. Through the haze in my eyes, I saw a brief pattern of what it was and knew that it was a
some sort of cruel joke. "Poisonous gift" I thought to myself. I would have laughed if I weren't
already crying.

As the man moved away, the head of our village opened his mouth to say something but was cut off
as a dense cloud of smoke overlapped me. Looking around, I had only a brief notion of what was
happening to me as I began to feel my energy dwindle.

In felt a hand cutting the ropes binding my hands and feet and strong arms carrying me away. My
eyes rolled around in their sockets and I managed to make out the images of houses passing by, as I
was carried away by my mysterious rescuer.

A few minutes past and the stranger began to slow down as we reached a pair of horses, one of
them baring a rider. As we got closer, I saw it was...mom? What was she doing here? I felt myself
begin to rise and then settle. Soon, I felt something wrap about my chest and stomach.

"He should be all right" I heard him say, in a voice that I knew was my dad's. "The wound was done
by a knife, it was obviously enchanted to make sure that no wound could not be entirely removed.
I've bandaged it as well as I could, he's in God's hand whether he lives or not." Then I felt a jostling
move as the horses broke into a gallop and we left the village far behind.

***

As my vision cleared, I realized that I was chained against a wall. My pack of supplies and my staff
had been stripped of course, but I still had the knowledge of magic in my head and knew that as
soon as I escaped, I would need that bit of magic to recover my lost items and then search for the
group.

In front of me stood the Digimon Emperor, clearly patient with the wait. "Listen kid" I said, glaring at
him, realizing that my voice somehow seemed strangely horsed. "Either let me go or I promise you
when I get lose I'll use your eyes for beads and your man hood as an ink well."

"Such brave words from someone who's chained against a wall don't you think?" "You may have
suspended my arms, but you haven't yet suspended my mind." "Speaking of your mind, you perhaps
wouldn't mind telling me how you got here. I found no digivise on you" he said, pointing over into the
corner where not only the children's digivises laid, but my supplies as well. Looks like recovering
what I needed was just made easier.

"I'll make you this deal, magician to magician. You tell me how you got here without a digivise and
the secret of your youth and I'll free you with no problems." I looked over at my hand and saw a few
gray hairs poking up. Looking down at my chest, I saw that my beard had jumped a foot and was
now a rich gray. I must have been at least seventy five. A day as well as twenty four years stolen
away from me.

"You see, I realize that magic spells casted in our world don't hold in this one. There's a reason for it,
of course." Ahhh...the answer to my problems, this should be useful. Maybe with the answer I could
reverse my age.

"You see, in this world, there is no mana to draw on. Instead of mana there's data. I don't know how
but that's what your drawing on to cast your spells. Which also explains the reason that your trick for
staying young won't work. It needs mana to draw off of in order to function so as default you age.
Now then, tell me what I request and you'll go free."

"The secret of my youth will remain a secret. It takes a potion and the ingredients are getting rare with
each passing year and even if you found them it would take a week to fix. I refuse to to tell you the
secret of the potion and the same will go as for as how I got here."

He frowned. "I was hopping to avoid any unnecessary unpleasantness but I see it will now have to be
otherwise." He raised a hand and a jagged streak of lighting jumped from it as a thousand volts of
electricity flew through my body.

"Do you want to talk or do you want to waste your time on something that's quite unnecessary? The
way I see it is that you have nothing to gain from helping them so you might as well do yourself a
favor and dump them right now."

The thought did seem inviting but I did actually have business with them but of course he didn't know
that and I saw no reason for him to. "Am I speaking a foreign language or something? Either let me
go or just leave 'cause you aren't gonna get anything from me." Another jolt of electricity.

"Why are you resisting? I only want a couple of simple answers and yet you refuse to answer them."
'A couple of simple questions yeah right' I thought bitterly. I knew if I exposed the two that brought
me here I would be stuck in this world. I had already delta with his kind before and was not quite
eager to share any information with him.

"No replies?" he said with mock sympathy. "Not even a few answers?" I looked up at him and said
"you better quite running your big loud mouth before I squeeze it into a tight silent ball." His face was
flushed with an intense red and he shocked me so full of electricity that I thought that I was surprised
that I was still alive.

After he was done, I slunk to the floor as he walked out the door mumbling "you'll tell me soon
enough magician. In a few hours you'll be nothing more than a bag of bones and will need to return to
the real world in order to youthen yourself again." I sighed. He was right. I was getting nearer death
with each passing second. My only hope was that Sora would find me in time, if not, well, I don't
even want to think about that.

***

Looking around a bit, I found Ven in one of the many rooms this place contained. He looked old
enough to have qualified for my grandfather. I approached him and put my hand underneath his
mouth to see if he still breathed.

He was breathing, that at least was a relief. He stirred and looked up at me. "Sora" he mumbled,
"quick, my bag of spells, bring them here." Running over, I grabbed them and brung them to him.
"Open it" he commanded. I opened it and allowed his eyes to roam around inside a bit.

After a couple of moments, his eyes stopped on one particular item. "The vial of blue moss, get it." I
brung it out and examined it. How could a bottle of blue moss do anything? "Unstop the vial and
press it against the metal bindings but be sure that none of it falls out."

Wondering if he was starting to loose it do to his old age, I figured I could at least humor him on what
he was doing. I pressed it against the metal and waited. Nothing happened. For the first three
seconds. Suddenly there was a slight give as the metal bindings turned into a bit of gray liquid which
fell onto the top of Ven's head.

Startled, I almost dropped the vial. "What happened?!" I asked, shocked. "That's a bit of moss I
grew in a puddle of acid. I had to use magic of course. Since the moss was grown in acid, it has all
the properties of it as well which explains why the vial doesn't just desolve.

Grabbing his staff and using it to support his wait, he stood up and reclaimed the vial of moss and
stuffed it back into his pack for safe keeping. He looked up at me and said "lead me to the children"
and was out the door, leaving me to follow.

***

I was old, very old. I prayed I could find them and soon so this quest would end all the sooner. It
wasn't the fight I knew I would have to fight with the Digimon Emperor. Fighting him would be a lot
like squashing a bug under my heels no matter what my age. My fear was I would fade out from old
age. Ten ours, maybe less, and then it's a long sleep that I'll never wake up from.

So I had to simply rely on Sora to guide me to my destination and my servitude would be complete,
along with the bit of knowledge I secretly obtained of course. Soon we began to approach a room.
In it were cells lined up against the wall and in them were the digidestaned.

Running to one of them, I asked excitedly "are you all right? Your not harmed are you?" "No Ven,
were not" Tai said, relief covering his face. "Good. Stand back." Reaching forwards and touching the
lock, I murmured a brief unlocking spell and the door yielded to my touch.

The good thing about this spell was that you could open any door or locked thing no matter what.
The bad news was that it didn't work quite so well if there was a bar across it or you couldn't touch
it. This was one of those annoying spells that were useful but still had an annoying catch to them.

I looked at one child and then to the next. All were present, at least that was reassuring. I stretched
out my ability to see if I could detect any signs of magic in the area. Suddenly, I felt a faint tingle
towards the west. He was there, waiting.

I turned around, and keeping the presence of magic fresh in my mind, followed it. It would not be
long until the final confrontation would take place and I could finally leave these children behind and
continue on with my own journey. I smiled. And with the new knowledge I now gained, who knows
what possibilities I might one day awaken.

***

Following Ven, I almost began to wonder if he knew his way around but pretended he didn't. He
was headed somewhere and where that was was beyond me. Despite the fact that he did save our
previous selves, I still didn't put all of my trust in him, just enough to get this one job done.

After a few twists and turns, he came to a stop and peered around the bend. Walking out in front of
him, not having to worry about being spotted, I looked to see what it was. Guards. A couple of
digimon were standing outside of an iron door, obviously guarding it. Somehow Ven had know. His
talent maybe? Was the ability to detect anothers presence part of it?

He looked at the guards and thought for a moment. For a moment, I thought I could see inside of his
head. If he attacked them, our past selves would be vulnerable. If he didn't, they couldn't get through.
What was he going to do in order to meet both problems? Suddenly, he gave a strange smile. I
wasn't sure if it was a good sign or bad, but at least it was a sign nonetheless.

Strolling forward like he owned the place, he faced the two digimon. "Allow me safe passage through
unless you wish to find out who is the better at surviving." The two digimon turned and looked at him
in amazement. Rarely had they expected for someone to just walk up and demand entry.

The first one walked forward, ready to grab him. Ven stood his ground and didn't even move. He
didn't have to. As the digimon approached, parts of it's body began to disappear. It looked a lot like
some kind of invisible laser was disintegrating it. Was it magic? If so, how could it have been invoked
without and words, gestures, or any other signs of magical use?

The digimon noticed this and tried to change course but soon found it more than hard to do with half
your body missing. Suddenly, it fell forward and vanished. Ven looked at the second digimon and
took three steps forward.

What happened to the first now happened to the second. "What happened?" I heard one of our
younger selves ask. "I made sure it would no longer be a threat to anyone." Ven wouldn't say any
more after this. He did however have a strange light in his eyes.

His talent. I knew it had been used, I just needed to figure out how. I don't think it could have been
an instant kill talent of his, if so the Digimon Emperor would now be dead and I would be on my way
home. Transportation maybe?

He said that he made sure that they would no longer hurt others but how could transporting them do
that? In a sound enclosure? Dropped them a hundred feet in the air? Both of them surely would do it
but how would that relate to detecting magic? It seemed that for every question I solved, more would
only pop up to take it's place. Ven was becoming quite a mystery and my distrust towards him was
beginning to grow once more.

Walking up to the door, he looked up at it and examined it carefully. Pulling back his fist, he struck it
hard. There was a loud clang as his fist connected. Pulling it back, he touched the door and
murmured an incantation. Nothing happened.

"What are you doing?" one of our younger selves asked, puzzled. "This thing seems to be magic in
origin, the only problem is that I need to figure out what that origin is. It seems to be real enough" he
said, shacking the hand that had hit it.

"Also, it seems that for some reason the open spell I used to free you guys isn't working on this
door...which is odd considering that this door would only remain close if there was an iron bar behind
it. I don't think it's enchanted to resist spells so there should be a way to open it if we just figure out
what that way is."

I stared at Ven in amazement. The answer was so simple that even I could have figured it out. "It's
nothing more than an illusion" I said, hollering at him." Ven looked at me with surprise and nodded his
head. Walking forward, he said and the door started to shimmer away revealing an
opening in it.

Walking inside, I saw that we were in what appeared to be a control room. In the center of it, stood
the Digimon Emperor. "I'm impressed you made it this far" he said. "Rarely has anyone ever been
able to do such a trick, I must congratulate you." "If you want to congratulate me then leave this time
line unless you prefer to face it off in a magician match" Ven said in a way that told he meant
business.

"A magician match? You must be becoming senile in order to propose such a thing. Your close to the
age of eighty or older. You may have once been the top of your class with your long life of
experience but now your nothing more than a bag of bones."

Ven's face turned red with rage. "Listen here, idiot. I may be old and only have a fourth of my true
potential but that's all I need to beat you. You see yourself as unbeatable but you say that without
first seeing if that is so. So I restate my claim...a battle between just the two of us. No fancy stuff
either. All you get to bring into this is just your weapon of support."

Weapon of support? Was he meaning something like a staff or a wand? It seemed so. In a battle,
stripped of his precious resources and at an age of about eighty with only a staff to defend him and he
was going to fight? He was beginning to lose it. "All right, I accept it. This should be fun." "My spell
or yours?"

"Mine. I think it would be nice to do at least one kind favor to someone who's about to die." Ven's
jaw tightened but he didn't say anything. The Digimon Emperor began to chant a spell. Suddenly
there was a slight flash of light and the scene around us changed.

***

As the spell was completed I took a look at my surroundings. Jungle. In the distance was the sea.
The sea would have helped me in a couple of spells that would require water in order to operate but
since it was a few miles away it was obviously of no current help right now at this moment. Just trees,
rocks, and plants.

To bad that the trees didn't have any suitable vines on them. I could have casted a spell to tie him up
and that would have left me fresh for the kill...literally. In a magician match, there was always the
chance that someone would end up dying. The modern generation frowned on it but I was of the old
school so I had no problem with it. The fact that this boy was dumb enough to accept it, made thing
even easier for me.

Removing the pack from my shoulders, I sat it on the ground and approached my opponent. I called
him "my opponent" because that was all he was now. Just another obstacle in my way. After this was
done, chances are he would just be a memory. "All right kid" I said. "First of all, remove everything
you got besides your cloths and the weapon you wish to assist you and let's get this on."

"I've got nothing on me that I can use against you besides my glasses" he said, tapping the side of
them. "You wouldn't mind me having these in the fight would you?" I shrugged. "Makes no difference
to me. One way or another I'll end up winning."

He nodded and took a step back. Raising our arms, we both fired at the same time. A bright blaze of
fire shot from my hand and in return a ball of ice flew straight at me. Jumping, we both dodged the
attacks. The fight was officially on.

Looking at my opponent, I saw him readying another spell. Looking at his lips, I saw the way they
moved and realized what spell to except next. Leaving the ground, I levitated a few inches as the
ground beneath me collapsed. An Earth spell...useless.

Looking at him, I shot forward. Another spell flew at me and I swerved to avoid it as a tree several
yards behind me ended up with a hole as big as my fist. Dropping to the ground, I pointed my finger
above his head. Suddenly a tree branch began to creek and gave way, and came tumbling down.

He raised his hand above his head and screamed something at the tops of his lungs. A brief flash of
light appeared and as the branch fell, it hit the light and bounced off harmlessly. I stared. How could a
mere child know a shield spell? They didn't even know the basics of that spell until they were at least
eighteen.

There had to be a way he had known about it. Natural luck would have little to do with seeing as
how it took strength from the caster and considerable concentration. The later he could have
managed but the former would have been impossible unless he had been training in magic since he
was two. No use worrying about it now, he was recovering from it and I needed to think up what to
do next.

Before I could think of what to do he sent a spell towards me in my direction. I tried to dodged it but
the next spell he casted caught me in the chest and sent me into a nearby tree. As I landed, I
screamed in pain as I felt my arm being sliced open by something. I looked. A tree branch had sliced
my arm. A little more to the left and it would have struck bone.

Removing my arm from the blood soaked branch, I cradled it in my arm and looked up. It seemed
my opponent was casting another spell. Before I could move, a brilliant white flash of light came my
way. Raising my hand, I shielded my eyes as I realized what spell this was. "Mortis's Touch" I
murmured.

Anyone who understood Latin as well as I did would know what that spell would do. In Latin,
Mortis meant death and just like death, it was unavoidable. You couldn't run, dodge, block, or hide
from it. From what I knew, no one had ever been hit by this spell and lived to tell the tell.

I looked over at my opponent through the brilliance of the light and saw the look on his face. He
looked pretty sure that he was going to win. Taking a closer look, I managed to catch a glimpse of
his glasses. On them I could make out small bits of letters arranged to form certain words. 'So that's
how he does it' I thought. 'Those glasses are like a miniature library filled full with spells. No wonder
he was able to cast such strong spells and at a young age.'

It also made sense that those glasses also buttressed his strength in spells casting as well, otherwise
the shield spell would have been broken as that tree branch hit it. With the mystery of my opponent
now solved, I stood there, listening to the sound of speeding death coming at me.

***

As soon as the light faded I saw that Ven had vanished from the spot he once stood. Strange thing
was, the Digimon Emperor also looked surprised. He looked as if something went wrong with that
last spell. He stood there, looking around him, trying to see where he disappeared to.

From the bushes to the left of him I heard a faint rustle. The Digimon Emperor jumpped...and from
the same bushes Ven jumped out, raising his staff high into the air. Before he could have moved even
an inch, Ven landed on the ground and gave him a hard shove in the stomach with the end of his staff.
He fell to the ground alive but unconscious and in need of medical care.

It took me a moment to realize what was going on but then finally I figured it out...he had stabbed
him. Drawing the end of his staff out, I saw that it was covered in bright blood. The strange thing
was, the end of his staff was smooth on the bottom. That blow must have been far more harder than I
had first realized.

Turning around, he grasped his injured arm and walked over to his pack of supplies and pulled out a
vial of green liquid. Bringing it to his lips, he swallowed it in one gulp. Wondering if it was what I
thought it was, I looked at his arm and saw a torn strip of cloth but no wound. A healing potion I
figured.

It seemed that Ven had some magical spell or solution for just about every kind of problem one could
come up against. Reaching farther into his pack, he pulled out a canteen in his left hand and some
kind of strange plant in his right. Opening the canteen and squeezing the plant into powder, he added
it to the water inside and handed it to Tai's past self.

"Drink" was the only words Ven said, but he had said it with force. "What is this?" Tai asked. "You'll
find out but then once you do, you won't. "Huh?" "Just drink it. All else will be explained later."
Looking at him skeptically, he brought it to his lips and swallowed.

Suddenly the canteen dropped from his hands which Ven caught in midair. "What was in that?" Tai
said, starting to fall towards the ground. "A sleeping potion and some lithe water." "Lithe?" he said,
his voice starting to grow faint as he started to lose conciseness. "It makes you forget. It's important
that you forget who I am what you have seen."

Looking up, he left Tai's now sleeping form and looked at the rest. Raising the canteen he said "who's
next?" "Why are you doing this?" I head my past self say. "Because, I'm not from your time. I'm
actually outside of it, four years into the future to be exact believe it or not."

Ignoring their look of surprise and confusion he coninued on. "This guy over here tried to kill you and
I was sent back to stop him. Now that he's out of comesion, I must erase your minds what has
happened. There, I said it. Now then, drink!" he said, shaking the canteen in his hands.

With surprise at the news and extreme reluctance, they took it and drank from it. As the last one was
asleep, I marched up to Ven and screamed "who do you think you are?! We were just children then,
couldn't you have been more nice or something?!" Ven looked over at me, apparently annoyed.

"This mission is almost over and I am very tired and weak now, all I want to do is return the real
world, take the youth potion and retire for the day. I'm sorry for the lack of equities but you try being
in this old body. I've already suffered from arthritis and every other complication of old age but I've
been quiet about it until this far. Now then, I've got to take care of one last problem and then we can
go."

Walking over to the Digimon Emperor he raised his hands in the air and began an incantation.
Realizing what he was about to do, I ran over and pushed hard against his arm to stop him. As I did,
a near by tree was set aflame. "Don't!" I screamed.

Looking at me like I had just said something dumb he said "he has tried to kill you and your friends
and you want me to spear him?" "Yes" I said, trying to remain calm. "He's a human not an animal.
You can't just go around killing everybody."

He shook his head. "He lost. In a magician match the penalty is death unless the other wishes
otherwise. I see it as folly. Kill him now and that's one problem you won't have to worry about no
more." "But that would be murder!"

He shrugged. "To me that would be nothing more. I've killed more people than you know and I have
no problem with it. He will only be another one to add to it. Don't worry though...I will promise him a
quick death. Painful to be certain, but at least it will be quick."

I stood in front of him, my body between Ven and the Digimon Emperor. "You'll have to get through
me first!" I said, hopping to bluff him. He shrugged. "Fine. Let him live. It's your neck, not mine that I
have to watch out for." I sighed. He was going to live! "Thanks Ven" I said slowly.

Ven only grunted. "Whatever. Let's just return to the real world. I'll use some of my supplies to take
care of the injury." "But you'll be asleep for at least an hour, maybe even more at this old age. He'll
die unless he gets healed immediately!"

He shook his head. "Not so. Time is like a river flowing from the past to the present. If you go
against the current you tire, go with it and you have a much farther reach. This time the spell will only
weaken me slightly. There should be no problem with me falling unconscious." Hoping that he was
right I got beside him.

It felt strange actually relying on someone you didn't trust. After this adventure with him, I began to
really wonder about him. Were all magicians like him and if so why? I realized that probably none of
these questions would be answered. Turning to Ven, I saw that he had finished the spell and we were
headed back to the present.

***

It had been several hours since we returned to the present and I was keeping watch over the
Digimon Emperor who turned out to my deepest surprise to be Ken. I was startled at first realizing
that he was our enemy but maybe I could talk some sense into him. At least I hopped so.

Suddenly he stirred. Ven looked up from the spells he had recently been studying and approached
him. Ken opened his eyes...and immediately jumped to his feet but knelt back down, nestling his
stomach as the sudden pain overwhelmed him.

"Take it easy" Ven said, holding up a hand. Whether it was to calm him down or to get ready to cast
a spell on him I don't know but slowly he did as he was told. "You need to rest for awhile before
your injuries completely heal."

He looked down at the wound and nodded weakly at him. "All right, what do you want me for? You
kept me alive and I can more than guess it was for a reason." "Actually, the reason your alive is
because this girl insisted that I letted you live. I however beg to differ but if you kill them all it will be
her own fault. For this I have letted you live and you should be glad of it."

Ken looked surprised as if not believing what he had heard. "You mean...you could have killed me
but didn't?" "Naturally. All I'm going by is her choice. You should be thankful that she is nothing like
me." Reaching into his pack, he removed a bottle of balm.

"Here, I've healed your wound some but it will still need to be bandaged for half a day. Removing his
shirt he revealed a huge scar that looked like a serpent. Acting as if nothing had happened, he tore it
into strips of cloth and dumped some of the balm onto it and plastered it against Ken's side.

For a moment, I stared at the huge scar and wondered where he had gotten it from. From being
tortured was my first guess. Tied up and then while he was helpless they cutted that into him.
Whether I was right or wrong, I did know that when he got it, it must have hurt. Looking up at him, I
asked "Ven, your scar, where did you get it from and why is it of a snake?"

For the first time I could remember Ven looked startled. "I had nearly forgotten about this scar. It's
just part of an old story that took place a long time ago. I don't think you'd be interested but if you
want to hear it anyway, I'll tell you.

"Sure" I said, and sat back. "All right. To start off with, this scar and my name are closely related.
Back when I was both physically and mentally eighteen, I learnt that I had an ability that was very
powerful but unfortunately others feared it."

At this I became interested. His ability was about to be revealed! "It was" he sighed "the ability to
destroy magic." Ken took notice at hearing this and jumped to his feet despite the fact that the wound
must have hurted him in that abrupt motion.

"Your one of the illegal wizards aren't you?!" he shouted, fear piercing his voice. "Yes" he said,
adverting his gaze, his mind going back to a previous even. "It's true. Don't worry though. I won't use
it unless I have to."

Ken backed away but did not yet run. I glanced at him. "What do you mean 'he's an illegal
magician?" I asked. "I mean his kind are usually confined in closed off cells for the rest of their lives
for the protection of every other magician's safety. It's illegal for any of them to be anywhere outside
on the streets."

Ven sighed. "Yes, I know. I was the first to be born with this gift. I still remember back when my gift
was first discovered. A mob was soon formed and I ran for my life. However, I was soon cornered
when I was blocked by a mountain. I would have died right there if I hadn't used my ability. As I
recall, it removed the casting abilities of the twenty some magicians who chased me." He paused for a
moment and continued.

"After they lost their magic, they grabbed me and beat me aside the head and took me back to town
and became instant heroes. I was tied up to a stake and indured the insults they through at me. One
of them said 'I was nothing but a poisonous gift with magic' and that stung the worst of all. Then, from
the crowd, someone came up to me and gave me this scar." He pointed towards his chest.

"Everyone laughed at what he did. I however was nearly dead from the blood lose and suddenly
wished I would just hurry up and die. Before I knew it, smoke began to surround me and I was
carried off by my farther. He and my mom left our town and tried to conceal me as best as they
could. One faithful day however, we slipped without knowing and was faced by a mob of angry
magician's who wished nothing more than to kill me." Here he paused to wipe a tear from his eye.

"They were no match against them. I tried to help but it was useless. My parents soon went down
and was killed. Fortunately our house was located near a cliff so as they approached me, I jumped
off it, having appeared to committed suicide. But secretly there was a hidden ledge that jutted out so
I landed there and waited until they left. After that, I promised revenge for my parent's demise."

"So how did you do it" Ken said, looking like he was cornered by some psycho with a chain saw in
his hand. "By protecting others like me. I knew if I had this gift, so would others and soon they would
need protection. So that's been my mission in life. I succeeded doing very little until I was in my three
hundreds when the origination called DIM formed and I became it's first member.

"DIM?" I asked, puzzled. "Defense for illegal wizards. It's a special society that looks after and
protects it's followers. The name was also chosen because we're trying to dim the number of illegal
magicians who are imprisoned but I can't tell you how it's to be carried out.

Ken scowled. "It's carried out by killing every other magician who isn't a member." Ven's eyes
narrowed and I could tell that he had struck a major vein. "We do not kill unless we have to and
that's to only secure secrecy and as a last resort. I wish not to fight any more than you do but it
happens anyway."

"Yeah, and what about your merchandise huh? I heard you operate a pretty good black market for
any kind of hard to get magical instrument or spell." "We do, but that's only to provide funding. We're
not a bank so we have to provide our own money."

Lifting his hand, he showed that it had a blue sapphire ring on his ring finger. "This shadow ring of
mine for example is lusted for by those who lack certain abilities in thievery. I've even been known to
use it myself on more than one occasion. This is just one of the many items we either use or sell."

"Such as illegal text." "I prefer to think of it as 'obtaining a diary of information.' Spell books are illegal
but then again we're known for that kind of thing...it comes with the territory." He smiled slightly. "I
knew this job would be difficult. It keeps reminding me of a rose. It's a worth-while cause but it does
has it's dark sides."

"Ven" I said, joining the conversation "if you wanted to protect your parents so much why didn't you
use your ability to help them?" This was something that was suddenly nagging at me. If he could have
done such a thing as banish their spell casting, why hadn't he used it then?

"My parents were at my side. If I used it then, they would have been caught as well leaving someone
who was only nineteen to defend against dozens of people. Victory could not have been achieved
that way. I could not even go back in time to change it considering that I could not interact with them
and even if I could, I would not be alive today."

"So you did this because you were afraid to die?" "Because if I stopped that from happening, how
could I have been that powerful enough in the future to go back and stop them when I didn't live that
far? It would have only created paradox and that's something no man wants to face."

Sighing, he rubbed his head. "This conversation is only bringing up painful memories like I said it
would. All I want to do is just try to forget what's happened in the past and move on with my life."
He stood up. "I have to go now. I have to meet them." "Meet who?" I asked, thinking that he meant
someone from DIM.

"My parents." I starred at him in confusion and then realized what he meant...he was going to their
graves. "I wish you luck." He remained silent for a moment and then looked over at Ken. "Go. I will
not follow."

He paused for a moment and then coninued. "Just don't bother reporting me in. Ven is not my
name...my real one that is. In my native language Veneficus Donum means 'poisonous gift.'" Picking
up his supplies, he chuckled for a moment.

"Of course, 'poison' is referring to the magical reference of course." Then I realized the grim humor in
it. The name reflected what they had called him so long ago and that scar on his chest was only to
add insult to injury. Something like that wasn't easy to forgive and to forget. Add that with the death
of his parents, I could just imagine what he must be going through.

No wonder he was a bit cold at times. I was beginning to feel sorry for him and almost wanted to
help him but knew I couldn't. "Good luck Ven. I won't tell about you either but I also won't support
you in your cause."

He just smiled slightly. "No matter what you choice, go through with it with all you got. If your not
sure, go all the way through with that indecision. The worst place you want to be is the middle."
These were the last things he said to me before he disappeared.

***

I woke up as I felt someone shaking my shoulder. Looking in the darkness, I saw Ken was standing
above me with an urgent look in his face. "What is it?" I asked. Looking at my clock I groaned. "It's
twelve in the morning."

"Come with me. I'm going to need your help." Wiping the sleep out of my eyes I followed him up the
stairs wondering what could be so important. Was Ven back with an important message? I hardly
thought so seeing as if there was something important to say he would have said it a lot sooner.

At last we reached the door to the roof. What was this all about? Opening the door a crack, he
looked outside for a moment. "Check this out" was all he said after turning his head back towards
me. Looking outside I saw something that made my eyes widen.

Outside was a figure wearing a black robe with a green snake imbroded on it circling his robe from
the hem on up, where it terminated with the snake's head on the back of his hood. I couldn't see his
face. It was hidden by the crawl of his hood, exposing only his mouth.

Currently he was muttering a spell that seemed complex and didn't even notice we were standing
there. What was curious was that in his right hand he held something in it. Whatever it was was
glowing brightly and probably held great importance to what he was doing.

Who is he?" I whispered. "By the looks of it the leader of DIM. This is only a guess seeing as how
the usual members never wear such things. Their type of wear is usually the same as ours. That way
they could look as if there going out to a movie instead of doing there true business. If he's the
actually head figure behind this, we're all in trouble."

"Yeah but what can we do? If he is the leader, I doubt you could take him down." "Why do you
think I brought you?" Reaching into his pocket he brought out a knife. Not the regular kitchen kind
though, this was the kind that you would normally use against a wild animal.

"I'm going to distract him and you need to throw this at him. Make sure your aim is good 'cause if
not..." he trailed off, not needing to say it. I knew the feeling. If I missed I might as well say that we
were done for.

Opening the door, Ken charged at him as fast as he could. The man turned and looked at him as he
approached. Ken raised his hands and sent a bolt of fire at him but the man just side-stepped it and
didn't even miss a word of his spell.

Still running, he jumped on top of him. The man raised his empty left hand and caught him by the
back of his shirt and tossed him behind him in one swift motion. Getting up, he moved to the left until
the man's back was facing me and charged again.

The man reached out and grabbed him by his throat and held him there. Ken tried to escape it but
was making little progress. After a couple of moments and still no luck his face started to go blue. It
looked like in less than one minute he would pass out from lack of oxygen.

Realizing that now would be a chance to attack while his attention was still drawn and his back was
turned, I ran forwards, carrying the knife in tow. Approaching him, I raised the knife in the air and
prepared to drive it in.

Suddenly he turned around, as if knew I was standing there all along. Dropping Ken to the ground,
he struck out at my midsection which was more than enough to knock the air out of me. Running and
attacking him, what had I been thinking!

The sound of my footsteps striking the ground would have been more than enough to have given me
away. But at least some good came out of it. On the blow, my body fell forward, driving the knife
halfway into his shoulder blade.

A scream pierced the air and he knelt down, trying to remove the knife, his robes already socked a
crimson red. As he removed it, he went flying towards the edge of the building as if some kind of
giant hand had thrown him there. Again he went flying, this time over the edge, screaming all the way.

Turning around, I saw Ken had climbed to his feet. Whatever spell he had used, surely had done the
trick.
Near the edge, I noticed something laying in the corner. Walking over to it, I saw it was...a digivise? I
picked it up. It was an old model.

The only questions I could think of to ask was 'how had he gotten it' and 'was he one of us?' Placing
it in my pocket, I realized the answer to both of those questions. No, he was not one of us. Which
stands to reason as mine was currently missing. It seemed that Ven had picked mine off of me
somehow nd then gave it to the leader of DIM.

Then, I remembered what Ven had said earlier, about him frequently using a shadow ring. Now that
it had happened, it struck me as stupid that I would not have thought of the obviousness earlier. Still,
I could not really blame him. He said that he would work for DIM at the best to his ability and this
proved true.

Then, walking over to Ken, I told him what I already knew. After hearing it, he said "that may be
true, but I don't think that was the leader of DIM. If it was, I doubt we would be standing here
talking about it." Maybe he was right. Maybe that really wasn't the leader. But if he wasn't the one in
charge, who was? The prospects of me facing the true leader was spine tingling.

Then, over my shoulder, I heard it. Screams. Running over to the ledge, I peered down to look at
what was happening. Down below in the streets, I saw something, a shadow from what I could tell. It
looked human but a little different.

It was thin, narrow, and black all over and instead of walking, it seemed to move up and over things
like a shadow. Only that instead of being flat, it stood up on it's own much like anyone else. Still
looking, I saw it float over a couple of people and when it left, they were lying down on the ground
dead. Things were just getting worse and worse.

"What is that thing!" Ken yelled, standing beside me. "I don't know" I shouted back. Try casting a
spell or something!" "Yeah right. On something like that? I doubt whatever I could do would even
have an effect." "Well you at least got to try something!" Looking doubtful, Ken pointed his hand at it
and yelled "edurus deleo!"

For a moment I expected a ball of lighting or something would shoot from his hand but I was
surprised when nothing happened. "What happened?" I asked, afraid of what the answer would be.
"I don't know!" he shouted.

"It's like I can't draw upon any mana." "You mean your defenseless?" I asked, shocked. "In magical
terms yes, but I still may be able to figure out something. This didn't happen until that...thing,
appeared. There has to be a connection somewhere between the two."

"If so, what about the people that are lying on the street dead? How would that refer to magic?" Ken
was silent for a moment, trying to think of an answer. At last he said "I don't know. All I do know is
that we have to drive it away from the the city somehow."

"That won't do us any good if we get killed by it. I think retreating would be a better choice right
now." "Good idea." At this, we made a dash for the door. Halfway there, I heard a sound as if some
giant snake were slithering across the ground. Turning around, I saw it was that monster in the street.
It had somehow crawled up the building and got up here.

"Run!" I screamed, running faster than I had ever done before. Ken reached the door and gave it a
hard jerk but it remained closed. Ken reached up an slapped himself in the head. "I forgot...these
things lock when you close them."

Great. Here I was trapped with no way out. If there ever was a worse time for being caught between
a rock and a hard place, this was it. I searched around in my head frantically, trying to think of
something that would be of help.

Nothing came. Slowly, Ken and I began to back away from the door until we were up against the
ledge. The monster followed also, getting ready to close in for the kill. It charged...and the two of us
ran in opposite directions. We were still alive, at least for the moment.

The monster stood there for a moment, deciding which one it should go for first. At last, it oriented
on me and moved forwards. I tried to dodge but this time I was not lucky. As I dodged, it turned a
sharp left and drifted over me.

Suddenly blackness was all over me. My heart began to beat faster thinking that I was about to die.
Then, out of nowhere, I heard a voice unmistakably human. "Sora, you must listening carefully and do
as I instruct. The keystone, do you have it?"

Keystone? What keystone was it talking about, and further more, why was it trying to talk to me?
Thinking that I should at least know what it was talking about, I asked "I don't understand. What do
you mean. "The keystone in the spell. It's what lent me energy to complete this creature but the spell
was incomplete. Please, I need it in order to undo what has happened."

Now that I knew who I was talking to, I began to seriously question his tactics. Why would I give my
digivise to the leader of DIM? It hardly made any sense. But then I remembered that he said the spell
was incomplete. What did he mean by that exactly? Was the spell suppose to be different or was it
to be something worse?

A couple of the people on the street were dead now because of him, why should I risk it? Then
again, he could have just simply killed me and searched my body for it. Maybe he was telling the
truth. Maybe he was trying to fix the mistake that had happened. Ven did say after all that DIM
doesn't kill unless necessary. It was a gamble I knew, but still I had to take it.

Reaching into my pocket, I pulled it out and said "yes, I do." "Good hold it up, this shouldn't take
long." Doing as he said, I raised it up, wondering what he was going to happen. At first, nothing
noticeable happened, but in a few moments, that all began to change.

The darkness that had once surrounded me began to dissipate and fade. As the last of it left, I
noticed it began to curl upwards. Following it with my eyes, I saw that it was colasting in on itself at
one point. Soon, the last of the darkness faded and revealed the leader of DIM hovering in midair.

Suddenly, he dropped towards the ground and stayed there for awhile, nursing the side of his
shoulder with the knife wound. Slowly, he began to get up, his hand still over the wound. "My thanks
for you help. I'm sorry that things came to this, but because of you you have saved most of the
magician race and helped prevent unnecessary deaths."

"Yeah, sure, thanks and all the good it will do you" Ken hollered at him. "If it wasn't for your spell
casting, this would never have happened!" He turned and looked at Ken and for a moment I thought
I heard him repress a scowl.

"That spell would have functioned with no difficulties if you hadn't barged in. If it wasn't for you, none
of this would have happened" he said, removing his hand to show the wound on his shoulder.
Suddenly, his features eased a bit but still remained firm.

"But it also stopped a major disaster. If it wasn't for the fact that you had stopped me from invoking
the control spell, I would never have noticed the damage I would have done. The original purpose
was to create a monster that absorbed mana."

I jumped at this. So that was why Ken couldn't cast spells! But why were the people in the street
dead when he passed over them? I listened, thinking he would soon tell me. "The only way to do that
was to use something that would be the base of the spell so I figured that since my ability was the
same as all illegal magicians, I should be the participant in it."

I was sure that this news was surely shocking to every magician alive. He was trying to stop the use
of magic in a most perverse way. "I figured that the spell should be centered on me because of my
vast majority in the art, that way I could be able to do the job as well as control what I created."

He smiled grimly. "Control was an important part in it. It's what allowed me to guide what I created
with no mishaps. Only the fact that I was stopped before performing it was what made me see the
error in what I was doing. As it turns out, mana does not only let us perform magic, it's also what air
is to a human."

'Mana is to a magician as air is to a human?' I thought to myself. No wonder they were dead. I could
now see why it was a good thing we had stopped him. Perhaps it was fate, perhaps not, either way I
was just glad nothing serious had happened.

"After I discovered this, I knew I had to stop it. The devise that Sora has is a transmitter of energy.
I'm not sure exactly how it works, but I did know that I would have to work several spells together
and then I had to combine them so it would function properly. The spells were form, animation,
shape, control, and so on. I knew that if I missed even one spell, or was to weak to continue, my
efforts would be for nothing."

The fact that the digivise transferred energy was not surprising seeing as how that's what made our
digimon digivolve. The fact that it could give the bearer energy however was. This began to make me
wonder, if these were in the hands of a magician, what other discoveries would be made?

But despite all that I was learning, there was still something I was wondering about. "Why are you
telling us this?" "Seeing as how you were dragged into this, I believe you have a right to now. Also,
what information I have already learnt of your devices so far would probably be of use to you, seeing
as how you've used them more than once four years ago."

I jumped. "How did you know we used these earlier?" "Ven talked to one of your friends after he left
you today. He told me what he knew and I did more than question the fact that children had such
things. These things have great potency, maybe even greater than I will ever know." He paused for a
moment in thought.

"I must go now. I'm sure that after what happened, people should be coming to investigate." "Hold it
right there" Ken said, pointing a finger at him. "If anyone's coming, then that's reason good enough to
keep you here." "I would recommend against that" he said, his voice a deadly calm.

"It would be better for you to keep any hostile movements or actions to yourself, seeing as how such
acts are more trouble than they are worth." Ken raised his and and was about to throw a spell at him,
but before he had the chance, the leader of DIM removed his hand from his shoulder waved his hand
a him, sending him hurdling toward the far wall.

His head turned momentarily towards the discarded knife and it soared into the air and flew over to
Ken. The knife stopped in midair just barely touching his throat. He hovered there for a moment and
then flew over to the man's hand.

Fingering it, he said "you were lucky around me last time but only because of the spell I was trying to
cast. Now I am free of such complications and as long as my guard is up, you won't even be half as
lucky as next time." Ken dropped to the ground and the man tossed the knife at his feet and walked
away.

Little was said as I looked at Ken for a moment seeing him there in a mixture of both fear and hate. It
was clear he had only done that to show the impossibility of taking him down. I glanced over to the
leader of DIM, but he was gone. All that was in his place now was air.

Walking over to Ken, I helped him up to his feet. "Are you all right" I asked. "That depend on you
question. Physically I'm only suffering from a dull throb in my back, mentally I'm shaken to the core.
It seems he's more powerful than I thought."

"What do you mean?" I mean that he sent me flying with just a glance. So far in history only four
people have been able to use magic that was outside their ability just by willing it and believe me, not
many had a long life span when he got one of them angry."

"Exactly how bad is that?" "Very. Imagine a psychopath with an entire arsenal of H-bombs. Now
imagine them going off all at once. That's nothing compared to what one of them could do. The thing
that surprises me is, why would he be worried about somebody finding him and also, with that much
magic, he wouldn't need any extra energy to complete his spell. None of this seems to make any
sense."

"Maybe because he was already exhausted?" "That would probably account for some of it but still it
doesn't make sense. None of it does. Whatever his reasons are, I'm still worried. Also the fact that
we're still alive also worries me."

He paused a moment before continuing. "The only time they ever leave someone completely
unscathed is when there's still something important that must be done. It seems that we're still needed
by them for something and I'm pretty sure that whatever it is, it isn't going to be pleasant."

***

Somewhere else in the city, I was residing in my apartment. It was one of the poorer hotels that didn't
really offer much besides a bed, a table, and a chair. The living space was small but adequate. Just
the type of place I needed. I knew they wouldn't think the leader of DIM would actually live in such a
place. One of the higher, classier places, would only be giving fate more help than it needed.

Reaching into my pack, I pulled out some salve and bandages and began to repair the wound on my
shoulder. Finishing the job, I sat down on the chair and reflected on tonight's events. I was winning
Sora over a bit but Ken was going to be a tough nut to crack.

This of course was hardly surprising seeing as how most magicians relied on magic more than they
needed to. They simply feared a life without magic so they took extreme measures to ensure that
nothing like this would happen. How much more wonderful the world would be when at last DIM
shall achieve it's compaign and illegal magicians will be able to receive equal status rights.

This was what made it necessary to learn how those digivises of theirs worked. If I could figure out
how to build one of those, I would have a valuable tool. Strong as my magic was, this body of mine
was old, ancient even. It seemed that even youthing couldn't totally reverse the effects of time.

If it wasn't for the fact I was adept at magic, I would already be in great danger. Most of the other
members thought I researched spells to help them out. That was only part of the truth. The other part
was so I could keep strengthening myself, making sure I wouldn't get to weak. If this was a fail safe
God putted in to keep magicians from getting to powerful, it sure was a good one.

After the previous spell, I was drained a little but still strong. The magic I used on Ken was nothing, it
only being a bunch of simple fetch/banish spells. In time, I knew that one day such spells like that
would prove to be difficult to use. Soon, I knew, I would one day grow to be so old that even youth
wouldn't matter and then retirement would finally have to come.

I preferred to think of it as retirement other than death. That was about the only way you could
remove a leader from office and so far in the last six centuries, none had been successful in that yet.
Oh well. Since it's my life, I figured I might as well die how I wanted to.

The old saying went that you couldn't fight death. That in reality was really half truth and half lie. You
could fight death, just not forever. Sighing, I pulled out my diary out and turned to the last page.
Arriving on it, I began to record tonight's events.

After I finished it, I tucked it back into my pack. I knew that I would have to learn how those things
worked and also how to produce them myself. All I had to do was wait and everything would
eventually fall into my hands.

They would never trust the leader of DIM, and this I knew well, but Ven was a different matter. I
knew that to them, I was only Ven and nothing more. To them, I was just another magician putting
his heart into another organization. This to, would help elevate it. Smiling, I knew that tomorrow
would be another day and with it, another chance for DIM's glory to shine.

Suddenly my smile faded as I realized the truth behind it. So far, my entire life had been fighting for
that goal. Whether I would live long enough to see it fulfilled I doubted it. I realized that even if I did
achieve my goal, another issue would probably appear to take it's place.

Yeah, just like that. Fight for a cause until you can fight no longer. I realized that without DIM to
back me up, my life was basically worthless. DIM right now was my life. What I once created to
help me had seemed more of to control me. Thoughts like this began to make me wonder.

It was probably better not to think at all. Thoughts only led to doubt and confusion. Better off to just
do the job. It at least made your life easier. But still I wondered. What about before? Back when I
was just me? I had no one to impress then and life was kind to me then.

Old memories began to flood back to me. My family, friends, realtives...all gone. I knew they were
over eight hundred years dead but still I mourned. I guess because back then I had an identity,
something to go by. Nothing much had changed.

I was still despised by my most magicians only this time my options became more difficult. I began to
quickly bury these fellings. I must hide them, keep them from arising again, they only brought back
painful memories.

I knew I could never go back and changed things. Now, I'm left with only one direction and that was
forward. Forwards into unkown danger and hatred. I did not look forwards to it. Still, it was a life.
Bitter as it was, I would fight on. What problems I faced were not worth worrying about. Only the
ones that looked up to me mattered.

I only kept the other magicians alive as part of my good will. Others questioned it and I understood
their view points, but still, I valued life. After living my own, I knew that while it was painful it still
contained unquestionable value. This kind act did little to lightened my heart but still I held tightly to
this fact.

Letting out another sigh, I pushed myself up from the chair and walked over to the bed. I would need
some sleep for tomorrow. Work was to be done. As for my own thoughts, what use did they have?
The sooner I did what must be done, the sooner I would finally be able to once again see my parents.

***

It was three days latter and Ven had just learned everything I knew about the digivises. It took
awhile, but he had won my trust. I saw that while he supported an anti-magic group, he did seem to
like to be around us. After knowing him so well, I was disturbed that instead of looking thrilled at
what he had learned, that he seemed a bit depressed. Leaning forward I asked "what's wrong?"

He sighed and said "I must go now." "When will you be back?" "I don't think I will be back. I have
only been seeing you so I can learn what I need to about these things. I admit it was for DIM but it
was all in necessary. I'm sorry. I wish I could stay longer but I can't."

"Why not? I thought you liked our company?" "I do, it's just that the only reason I've been here was
to glim this bit of information. I was suppose to get it anyway I could and I figured by friendship was
the best rought." "You mean you've been doing nothing but using me?!" I asked, appaled.

He looked up as if he was offended. "Never! The friendship I gave was real. Yet it was also
business. I wish it wasn't just business but I've no choice in the matter. All I can do is offer some lithe
water to forget that we even associated these past few days. That's the best soultion I can offer."

"I probably should use it" I said bitterly. "Why talk to someone when all they want is something from
you?" He grimaced. "I'm sorry this has happend. My loyalties lay only to serve DIM and to get
revenge for my parents demise. I can not back out of either one of them. I'm sorry, but there is nothin
I can do, sad as it is."

I glared at him. "Ken was right. The magicians of DIM are self-centered. If you wanted to stay longer
you could. Your just using this as a excuse so you an leave." "I'm only telling you the truth" he said,
his voice starting to tighting. "I can not help it that I have to go. Try seeing things from my side and
you'll know what I'm talking about. Backing out is hardly ever an option.

"All right then" I said. "Show me. Let me see if what you say is true instead of a pack of lies."
Stretching his hand out, he looked up at me and said "give me your hand." Not knowing what else to
do, I reached mine out and took his.

Suddenly our surroundings vanished only to be replaced by a dark blackness. Ven and I were the
only ones there but as for everything else who knew? "Where are we?" I asked. "Your inside my
mind" he said. "What your going to see is a replay of my life. Watch it carefully. The one your about
to see happened only a year ago when we tried to free some of our kind"

As he said this, the blackness began to fade and a scene was formed. Everything looked so real I
could have been fooled into thinking that I was actually there. In front of me were four people and the
leader of DIM. Strange thing was, I didn't see Ven anywhere.

"Where are you" I asked. "There" he said, pointing at the leader. I jumped. "What a minute!" I
shouted. "You mean your the leader of DIM?" He shrugged. "Of course. Who did you think the first
member would be? The first member is always the leader who then starts things out and the rest are
his followers. I'm surprised that you didn't realize that before.

I shook my head. Ven...the leader of DIM and also a powerful magician to boot. No wonder he
wasn't afarid to face Ken in that magician's match. By what Ken said, that means I need to be real
careful around this guy, unless I want to be changed into a frog or a newt.

In the scene, they were in a place that appeared to be mostly forest. Walking up to a hill, Ven tapped
his staff against it in several different places and a door appeared. Motioning to the others, they went
inside. After this the blackness retured.

Then, just as it returned, it faded, this time showing them in a room that was lined with cells fixed into
the walls. I presumed that this was a later event. Ven and the others were each standing at a seperate
cell that contained four or more people. Each magician had their hand on the door and seemed to be
muttering the same spell that got our past selves free.

As they finishd, the doors on the cells sprung open, realising the ones inside. They quickly scarmbled
to get out of the cells and as they did, the other magicians went to a new cell and started over again.
This continued on for a couple of minutes and about fourty some prisoners were realised. Suddenly,
down through the hall they had used to get there, they heard a noise that sounded like a lot like feet
hitting the groud.

Through the hall appeared about four men, all of them looking extremly angry. Not wasting time, Ven
whirled around and shouted a spell that made all four of them go unconscious. Ven turned to the
others and shouted "let's move. These are just the first bunch, more will be coming soon."

Nodding, they followed Ven from the cells. The scene faded and a new one appeared. In this one,
they were around a corner, trying to attack about seven or eight magicians that was guarding a door.
I figured it must have been the way out, seeing as how hard they were fighting to try to get by them.

I looked at Ven and asked "what are you doing?" "Trying to get by them" he said. "That's the door to
the outside. If it wasn't for the fact we can't kill, things would be going a lot easier." "But if there trying
to kill you..." "Sora" he said, sighing.

"They're only trying to kill us out of fear. If we attacked them, that would create a worse image than
we already got. Besides, don't you think I would be widowing or making some child an orphane if I
killed him?" I paused. It was strange to think of your emeny having a family. I wondered if this was
what he faced every day of his life. Knowing that he was about to change someone's life forever.

"But what about when you fought Ken?" I asked. "You didn't seem to have any problem with it then."
"That's different. In a magician's match, the one that loses dies unless the victor chooses otherwise.
He lost and seeing as how he tried to kill you, I figured I'd be doing you a good turn. That's why I
stopped when yo told me to. If I was really intent on finishing the job, you surely wouldn't have been
able to stop me."

That was the understandment of the century! Back in the scene, Ven was know talking to his men. I
didn't hear what it was, but they all seemed surprised at what he had said. One of them spoke up and
said "but that's insane, you'll be killed!"

Ven shook his head and said "not yet. By the way I see it, they'll want me alive. I should stay that
way for at least a couple of days until they get tired and realize that I'm not going to talk. As for you
boys, get out of here. Return for me later but only when it's safe."

"But..." one of them began but was to late. He was already running out from behind the corner and
into the line of fire. For a moment I thought he was going to die but then he surprised me. As soon as
he was out, he sent a spell towards one magician knocking him flat on his back. While he took that
one down, someone's spell zoomed towards him. As it approached, it vanished into thin air. Ven was
obvioulsy using his ability for this one.

Seeing this, the rest of the magician's charged forward, attacking him. Ven took down three but the
four others ganged on op of him. Ven tried to throw them off, but it was obvious his attempts were in
vain. It stung me a little seeing that the others went and crept out while this was happening to him, but
I knew it must be done. A couple of moments after they escaped, Ven's captors carried his limp form
away.

The scene faded and was replaced again. This time it was a room that had more than enough
evidence to be called a torture chamber. Ven was stretched out on a table. His entire body was
bound to it with ropes and his hands were fastened into metal clamps. As for his staff, it was leaning
against the wall out of his reach.

Into the room walked a burly man. He walked over to Ven and gave his hood a firm jerk, trying to
tear it apart so he could get a look at his face. The hood moved but didn't tear. After trying for a
couple of moments and still no luck Ven spoke. "It's enchanted. It will remian intaked long enough to
keep my face hidden. Don't waste your time trying to remove it.

With a sour grunt, he left his hood alone and walked over to one of the forges and grabbed a hot iron
poker. He walked towards Ven and said "let's just make this easy. Tell us what we needed to know
and you'll end up caged just like the rest of your kind and you can skip this.

Ven didn't say anything. The man smiled. "Not going to talk huh? Good, I get to have some fun."
Grasping his robes in both hands, he tore it apart, revealing his bare chest. It seemed that while the
hood was irmovable, the robes weren't. Taking the poker, he pressed it against Ven's chest and their
was a sizzling of burning flesh. Ven's hands tightend but he kept himself from screaming.

After a couple of moments, he removed it and placed it back into the forge, leaving Ven to gasp for
air. After this, he was tortured in various ways, each more horrible than the first. They pierced a
senative vain with a needle, used a vise to squeeze/spread various parts of his body, and even placed
several heavy stones on top of his stomach and forced him to drink water.

Through all of this Ven remained quiet. Finally giving up, the torture left. The scene faded but was
replaced by the same scene except that in this one Ven looked like he was on the verge of death.
From underneath the door crawled a mouse. It sqeaked a couple of times and vanished, being
replaced a man.

The man removed a knife from his pocket and began to cut the ropes that held Ven bound. After he
was done, Ven unsteadily got to his feet and retrieved his staff. He had a little trouble standing, but
looked alright for the time being. After getting to his feet, he murmured a quick spell and the man did
like wise. After it was done they left the room not as men but as mice.

The scene faded and recleared into what looked like the inside of a cave. Ven was laying on a bed
and over him a woman was watching him, making sure he was alright. After a couple of moments, in
walked the man who had helped him.

He walked over to Ven's bedside and shook him lightly on the shoulder. "Ven...you alright?" Ven
stirred and then woke up. The man smiled and said "how are you doing." "Not so good. Next time I
need to think of a better plan on how to get us out. But enough worring about me, what about the
others, are they alright? Did they make it."

His features darkened. "They were followed. Three of them made it out but one of them died."
"Which one?" "Mark." Ven tried to get to his feet but the nurse pushed him back down. "You need
your rest" she said. Ven didn't protest but asked "when is the funeral?" "Tomorrow." "Good, I will be
there." The nurse looked objective but Ven silenced her with a glare.

The scene faded once again and came back into focus. This time it showed a huge crowd standing
out in the woods. As for Ven, he was standing over a freshly dugged grave. The scene lasted several
minutes and at last they brought the body through in a coffin. I walked over to get a look at him. The
man was roughly 5'6, neatly combed hair and beared, and in funeral cloths.

The precedure went on as they lowered him the grave. After the coffin was inside, Ven made a
gesture and the piles of Earth moved up into the air and landed ontop of the coffin, covering it from
view. After this, Ven turned his back from the crowd and continued to stare at the grave not saying
anything. After a couple of minutes, the crowd soon began to depart.

As the last ones left, Ven turned around, his face tear streaked. I felt my hand being squezzed. "I
think it's time to go back" he said. I looked back into his face and saw sadness in it. I knew that
whoever it was that was buried, played an important part in his life. The scene began to fade and my
bed room returned to take it's place.

"So do you understand now Sora?" he asked. This is why I have to go. DIM is not only a sanctuary
for my kind, but also a family in itself. I play the role of the father, always watching over those I lead.
This is why I must leave."

He gave me a significant glance. "About the only way we could continue to see each other is if you
joined me. I do not wish to have anyone join us unless it's of their own free will so I will say nothing
more on the matter.

I looked at him. "Are you asking me to join you?" He looked back and said "only if that is what you
wish." "But do you think they'll would accept me if I joined." Ven gave a wry smile and said "why
not? I'm sure they would more than welcome another of their own kind."

I stared at him in disbelief. "I'm not an illegal magician in fact I'm not even a magician." His smile
widen a little. "There is where your wrong. From when I first met you, I knew you were one of us.
Your aura helped tipped me off on that one.

"Aura?" "Same thing that allowed me to detect magic. You see, a magicin can detect anything that's
magical through his ability which also includs other magicians and how strong he his. When I first met
you, I knew you were one of us but you didn't have any experience in magic and I never saw any
reason until now to tell you this. So now I leave you with this choice. Join us or go about your own
way."

"Just like that?" "Just like that. I don't wish to have someone becoming a member of DIM unless it's
of there own free will. I can't offer you much though if you do join. All I can offer is the same thing I
offer everyone else; protection, a home, a new identify maybe, and companship. You already have all
of these things and wouldn't have much to gain by helping us, seeing as how Ken doesn't yet know
what you are."

I paused. Ken said he was against those who were a member of DIM. If he ever discovered that I
was actually an illegal magician what would he do? Would he tell everyone? Even Ven was
powerless against other magician's attacks when they resorted to non-magical means. But still he
didn't know I was one, so maybe I should just stay.

"You can join us anytime you want" Ven said, startling me out of my thoughts. "Join when ever you
feel ready. Maybe when you do I can teach you some of what I know." "You teach other people
magic" I asked, surprised. Ven laughed out loud when he heard this.

"Of course not! I'm much to busy making sure things are runned smoothly. It's my position to oversee
everything that happens within the organization, that way I can stop a desator from happening before
it starts." He grimaced for a moment. "Like that one accident when one of our members were caught
selling a book of spells...that one was a close call."

"But if your to busy to teach others, then why are you willing to teach me?" At this Ven sobbered.
His voice was kind. His next words weren't. "You are to be my relpacement." I stared at him in
dismay. "I'm to be your relacement? I hardly know anything about magic and even if I did, I doubt I
would know even half of what you knew before I died!"

He nodded. "I know. You will take a youth potion to keep yourself young, from there I will teach
you what I know. I have watched you Sora and have actually come to respect you. Not many would
be wilingly to safe their own emeny like you did."

"But..." "Also you helped support me even though you knew who I represented. You have a good
heart do you know that? It would help DIM out more than I would. I'm weaking with each passing
day. In three centuries from now, I will be back to where I was at age three hundred. If you choice
to join I will taech you what I know and you can take the next step into the office."

"The next step?" "In order to take my place you must first be strong in magic and even more
importantly, the one that's to take my place must only have the intrest of DIM at heart. These are two
important requirments that must be met but they are not the last. The third, your going have to kill me
in a magicians match."

I jumped. "What?! I couldn't posibbly do such a thing." "Sora, don't let you emotions get in the way.
You must do this. That's the only way to complete it. You must be more powerful than your
predessecor before you take your place as it's new leader. It may seem odd but that's the way it is.
Also, I would then be well over a thousand years old. I'm tired and growing weaker and I need it all
to end knowing that I've left one cabable in my stead. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

"Yeah. This will will be a suciside fight. I can't participate. If your going to be weaker than I am, it
would be unfair to fight you." "Don't worry, I won't be weak. We'll be evenly matched. Thats why I
set it for that date so far ahead in the future. So you see, you could die just as well as I can. Now
then, do you except the terms that have been given to you?"

I paused, thinking. Ven and I would be equal in strengths so that would make it fair. But if I killed
him, what then? It didn't seem right but by the way Ven had talked to me, it sounded as if he were
eager for that day to come. After knowing what he had been through, I could figure out why. He
must miss his family and friends and while new ones would take their place, they to would soon die.

He must have been tired of it all, seeing as how he's been through more than the average person. I
wonder if that would happen to me. Suffering from the loss of family and friends. Then I remembered
the group. They would die in probably seventy some years.

Looking at Ven I said "I need time to think about it." "Very well, take your time" was all he had said
and disappeared. Turning around on my bed I began to wonder. 'Should I take him up on my offer?'
I wasn't sure. All I knew was that whatever I would choice would change my life forever.

***

The taste of blood was in my mouth as I fell to the ground. Through cracked eyelids, I saw her
approaching. She was covered in blood and badly worn but still stong enough to fight. I on the other
hand was in bad shape. I had fractured an arm and a leg and had broken several ribs.

She knelt down and placed her hand underneath my head and tilted it up some, helping me get a
better view of her. I smiled weakly. "Well done. You have become as strong as I've hopped." She
didn't return the smile. "No, I didn't. You letted me win." I frowned. "Not this time. Whatever you
have done, you did on your own. You are now strong enough to stand on your own and no longer
need my guidence. You may even one day become as strong as I once was when I was in my
prime."

"In due course" she said. "In due course" I echoed. "It is a shame I won't be there to see it though. I
will miss the chase you know?" "But I'm still new in office!" she said cried. "You can't die yet!" "Sora"
I said, patiently.

"I have out lived my time and you have to. To you, your own life is an important thing. For me, it's
grown dull and stale. There isn't much I have not already done and by leaving you in charge, I can
now retire in peace. One day, you yourself will know what I'm talking about. I have lost so many
family and friends over the past years, it will be nice to see them once again."

I looked into her face and saw that she wasn't taking this very well. She looked like she was about to
cry at any moment. Then, remembering something, I said "remember that old saying I told you once?
The one that goes 'if you don't want to die, you should never have been born?'" She shook her head.

"So then there is no use for tears. Everything that lives will eventually die, even me. It's a part of life
so there's really nothing you can do about it. Don't worry, we will see each other again. This you can
be assure of." I felt moisture on my face. She was crying. Inside I felt teribble for doing such a thing
but I knew I had had no choice in the matter.

She was no longer a student of mine but the leader of DIM. I would leave my staff and my diary
behind to help give her comfort. Not only comfort would they give her, but also help. Inside of my
diary there was not only a day to day record of my life, but also the spells and potions I had
discovered along the way. This would help her out more than anything else.

As for my staff, it would give her aid in all of the spells she would one day wield. There was an old
saying that if a staff or wand was used by a powerful magician for a certain period of time, some of
his or her magic would rub off onto it. I wasn't sure if it was true, but still it was worth a try. Looking
up a Sora, I said "go. I'll take care of the rest." Half numbed, she laid my head down and walked
away, not taking a second glance back.

She would recover in due time I knew. Quietly, I murmured a self-immolation spell. As the spell was
spoken, it drifted above my body for a moment before it shot into it. Suddenly I felt as if there was a
raging fire inside of me. It felt as if there was poisonous lead flowing through every vein of my body.

Then came the calm. I felt as if there was nothing left in the world to worry about. After floating
above a pile of ashes that was once my human form, I began to drift upwards. I smiled to myself. It
was finaly over. Life's misery was never going to bother me again and my friends and family I would
once again meet. I couldn't think of a happier ending to have in my life. Closing my eyes, I slowly
began to hear the singing of angels and the playing of harps. I was finally home.

Longest fic I've ever wrote. Kinda surprised that it took me three months instead of two to write. As
for the writing style and everything with it, I think it went down some. Oh well, 5-10 ain't bad. ^_^0
Anyway, if you want to read more of my fics, go to my website at http://www.geocities.com/angeteenagermon/angeteenagermon.html