Somewhere in New York Horvath walked down an alleyway with such anger that it actually radiated off him in small energy waves. He had recently found his cane lying on the ground in a locked abandoned apartment, it had broken through the dirty window on the second floor so Horvath had to forcefully open the side door with a crowbar. After much energy wasted and tire folding over him Horvath had gotten his cane back and that was pretty much all that mattered. That and destroying the puny little sorceress Atara Di Vanterica. Ever since she had sent his castor away he had been on a mad hunt for it which he had to do by himself without the help of magic as he usually would. It took him a week and a half to just find the location of his castor, but once in his hand it glowed its natural light blue at Horvath's touch.
He walked quickly down the streets and then came to a large house that was neatly cleaned on the outside and the windows nicely polished clean. The sorcerer stalked up to the front door and knocked. Shuffled feet could be heard through the red oak door and then a pair of yellow eyes appeared at the top window.
"What is it?"
Horvath smiled mischievously, "Hello Boaz."
The man quickly gazed around the street to see it completely deserted and then opened the door.
"Hurry."
Horvath walked inside and closed the door behind him.
Inside the walls were completely white with black scuffs on them. Candles flickered and danced on the walls and dripped wax on the equally black scuffed floor. A large chandelier hung unused and was slightly dusty and cobwebbed by past spiders. Books, scrolls and texts of all sorts were scattered around the floor, on tables or filed in the slotted banister. The stairs had tell-tale footprints in the dust and hand prints on the wall.
"Sorry 'bout the mess," Boaz mumbled.
Horvath didn't say anything as he looked around in complete awe and curiosity. Why in the world would a master of sorcery live in a place like this?
A sudden noise interrupted Horvath's thought and he looked up to see a wild-eyed boy looking back at him. He had short dirty blond hair and thin clothes wrapped tightly around him. His aqua blue eyes stared at the man before him.
"Destro, back!"
The small boy named Destro raced back from where he came and a door slammed shut.
"Enough!"
Horvath turned to Boaz who passed him and walked up the stairs that curved to the second floor. He looked back and motioned Horvath to follow who obliged.
"And the boy is?" Horvath started.
Boaz made a face of disgust, "My apprentice."
Horvath was taken back, he knew that Boaz never liked apprentices.
"He is my cousin," Boaz said reading Horvath's mind,
"Ah," Horvath said.
Boaz led Horvath to the kitchen, which was large in size but evidently not much used. The island in the middle of the kitchen was full of the black scuffs Horvath saw earlier and dead insects. The walls were perfectly white with no scuffs but more scuffs blackened the table tops and counters.
"Ah," Boaz noticed, "You see I have many markings on the walls yes? Accidents, mere accidents my friend."
He waved his hand over the island counter and the dead insects along with the black markings burned into nothingness. Boaz turned and snapped his fingers and the water-filled kettle started to boil. He then waved his hand over the counter-top again and two cups and other condiments appeared.
"Hungry?" Boaz offered.
Horvath shook his head as Boaz started to pour the tea.
"I'm afraid I can't stay very long," Horvath said with false sympathy oozing through his sentence, "I have just come baring a…er…notice."
Boaz sipped his tea before answering, "Notice?"
"Atara."
Boaz frowned and then set his tea cup down gently while trying to control the old rage building up inside of him.
"I have heard of that girl," Boaz said quietly, "She was the one who did my spell."
"The Noga."
Boaz snapped his fingers and sudden gold lines appeared in mid-air. The lines twisted and turned until they formed a familiar diagram of the Noga. The two sorcerers studied the diagram in silence when Boaz broke the silence by pounding his fist against the table.
"Impossible!" he exclaimed.
"I'm afraid not my dear friend, she had help."
Boaz side glanced Horvath and said, "Who?"
"Spirits, she summoned three spirits to help her."
Boaz glanced at the diagram and then rubbed his chin as he thought.
"Spirits eh? Definitely not heard of in other spells, but no one has attempted in mine. What is that girl up to?"
Horvath shrugged, "As far as I know she would be with Balthazar, Veronica and that little whelp of an apprentice David Stutler."
Boaz eyes flashed with surprise, "David Stutler you say?"
"Yes."
Boaz summoned his Incantus over to him and he flipped through pages until he saw what he was looking for. He looked at the picture of a fairly-healthy looking boy with his hands out in front of him as he cast a streak of lightning at a target. Behind him in the background was a faint image of Balthazar. Underneath the picture was a caption reading: Prime Merlinian continues to train under the supervision of his Master Balthazar Blake.
Horvath studied the picture and nodded, "That's him."
Boaz glared at the picture then a smile crept upon his face, "Seems to be fairly powerful from the look of that attack."
Horvath agreed, "Balthazar trains him well."
Boaz snorted, "Not well enough. Destro!"
The boy Horvath saw earlier shuffled into the kitchen and looked dully at the two sorcerers. The boy couldn't be much taller than 5'7 and small scars embedded into his arms.
"Have you been practicing the spell?"
The boy nodded and looked at the ground. Boaz stood suddenly and glared at the boy who jumped back in surprise and squealed: "Yes!"
Boaz smiled nastily as he sat back down and then nodded for Destro to perform the spell.
The air hummed with energy quickly and the boy closed his eyes and started to chant language Horvath wasn't familiar with. Of course Horvath knew that Boaz was teaching the boy the dark arts but he didn't recognize the language. Immediately, the energy molecules seemed to freeze in mid air as Destro raised his arms and then brought them down in front of him as if he was going to pray.
Then with such suddenness, Destro opened his arms and all the energy raced towards him and shifted and formed a pair of what looked like black and red wings enveloped him. Destro's eyes flashed open and Horvath noticed that they were completely electric red, the boy clawed his hands together and then slowly spread them apart forming a highly charged orb of red lightning and black mist.
The energy and power coming off the orb made everyone's hair stand on end. The wings slowly folded around him as the boy thrust his hands forwards. The orb exploded in mid-air creating smaller energy orbs that exploded on the walls, exploding through the cups until they were nothing but dust particles and exploding threw the door until it too was nothing but dust.
The humming energy in the air ceased and the wings around the boy dispersed into mist. Destro looked drowsy as he staggered even to just stand before his Master and his friend. Blackness threatened poor Destro but he struggled to stay conscious. He looked at the stranger who was busy taking in what he saw through concentrated eyes, then he looked to his Master for approval. Boaz got up and walked swiftly towards the wall where the orb left a black scuff and then he nodded.
"Much better Destro," Boaz said grudgingly, "Go study."
Destro didn't argue as he walked away.
"What was that?" Horvath asked still in awe at the new spell.
"The Disinigrator," Boaz said happily, "A powerful wrecking spell that will put them all in their place!"
Horvath knew of Boaz grudge against his family.
"The orb is a powerful charge red lightning that sends off static impulses whenever it touches something solid, from there it keeps on exploding it until the object is nothing. The black mist acts like a poison and destroys anything the object may have on the inside while the lightning destroys the outside. It works on…anything."
Boaz turned and smiled mischievously at Horvath as he said 'anything.' Horvath pondered on what Boaz said, if he were telling the truth Horvath knew the damage he would be able to do.
"Tell me more," Horvath said.
Boaz smiled eerily: "When do you want to leave?"