Occult Encounters: Magia
Disclaimer: I own nothing except the author created characters and concepts. Thanks to Ranger Red 2.3, Mistycharming and SA June for their OC's used in this fic.
From where he sat within the classroom, Joe looked out to the window where the season was changing yet again, trees had shed almost all of their leaves and chilly gusts of wind now shook the bare branches. It had only been a day since the incident at Halloween but the early winter cold of November was already setting in.
As the bell rang and the last of Joe's classmates entered, Ray turned to him, tapping him on the shoulder to get his attention. "Hey Joe, sorry about yesterday, I didn't really think that through with you losing your head and all, I'm glad you didn't chop mine off in the end though."
"It's fine, but it's never happening again. Sera came to me a little after that and said she was being put into the school, guess Michael wants her close by without her having to sneak around. She doesn't remember being in the school before though so she's been put into Nyssa and Max's homeroom and her classes are all switched up. At least it gives us the chance to make friends with her again." Joe explained the current situation to his friend.
Ray nodded. "That's good to hear. I think there's some new girl that's just transferred here too, saw someone with flashy orange clothes and blonde hair walking around, she kinda had a weird vibe when I saw her. Maybe she's not a human too." He suggested as Joe gave a shrug.
From where she had been sat in front of the two, Saya turned, intrigued by the prospect of some other supernatural being stepping into the picture. "If that's the case, maybe we should all be on our guard till we can confirm it. I've heard from my father that the Abyssal Cult has stepped up its spy operations, which means we could have a serious problem on our hands depending on who or what this girl is."
As she finished speaking, Ray gestured with his hand to the front where their homeroom teacher stood with the new student Ray had been referring to. "Looks like I was right, you might be onto something too Saya,about half of us are in the class meaning it wouldn't be too hard for her to spy on us."
Returning her head to the front of the room, Saya's eyes widened slightly as her body tensed up. "This isn't good, I'm certain she's here for a bad reason but she's not with the Cult." She explained as she looked back to her comrades with a serious expression.
From where she had been listening in behind Ray, Ellie poked her head out, wondering just what the blue ranger was alluding to. "Why, who's she with?"
"If she's anything like her father and brothers, she can only spell trouble. She's Lelina Phoenix, daughter of Fiedar." Saya revealed to them as the four turned their eyes toward Lelina as she gave an innocent smile and wove to the class before making her way over and sitting in Sera's former seat.
"Isn't he the one that swore he'd make me pay after I saved your sister? Maybe she's here to do that." Joe suggested as Saya gave a nod.
"That's possible. I'm sorry to have caused you the trouble of having House Phoenix as an enemy, if this is just the start it won't get easier from here." Saya apologised.
"It's fine, I did that all myself remember, besides I can handle them so don't beat yourself up over it." Joe reassured her as from in front Lelina turned around to face the group.
"Sayakriel, long time no see." The Phoenix High demon greeted with a surprisingly casual and non-threatening voice. "Well I saw you back in the Underworld but that doesn't count since you didn't see me. About that, where's that guy who messed up my brother, I wanted to talk with him."
"I'm over here, is this about the revenge your Dad promised?" Joe asked, getting the young demon's attention.
"Kinda, he wanted me to deliver you on a silver platter with a way to kill you. I was just saying whatever he wanted to hear though, I don't really care about doing that. Pasra's a wreck and Salch went to the Cult to find out how to do the same thing while I was stuck bored at home." She explained, surprising the four in the seats behind her by revealing the motive for being here so easily.
"You mean to tell us that you manipulated your father into sending you here so that you could have fun in the human world? That's an oddly simplistic plan for one of you." Saya asked, not surprised a Phoenix demon would construct a plan for their own personal gain.
"Yeah well I don't really care what my Dad wants or what anybody else wants, I just want a break from all that boring backstabbing stuff my House are always plotting, so earth seemed like a good place to go." Lelina elaborated as the other High demon sat dumbfounded that the Phoenix demon was against the deadly political warfare her kind was infamous for.
From by the window, Matt had been eavesdropping on the conversation and gave a small chuckle. "A member of House Phoenix that isn't plotting against someone, that's rare." He remarked as Lelina gave a shrug.
"Who's he?" She asked.
"Nobody of your concern, just keep to yourself Lelina. As long as you don't cause any trouble for us I don't think anyone cares if you stay. If you do though, there will be serious consequences." Saya warned as Lelina gave a casual nod.
"So when's this school thing start?" She asked as the blue ranger gave a sigh.
"It's already started." Joe answered. "You might want to start learning about everything you're gonna be doing while you're here." He suggested.
"Oh guess I forgot to think about that." Lelina gave a laugh. "Could you help me learn then? I bet you could teach me a lot." She dumbly asked as Saya gritted her teeth and began brooding over what Lelina had just said.
"Hey Joe, something up with Saya? She's acting all moody." Ray mentioned as Joe and Ellie took note of the odd behaviour the blue demon was now presenting.
"Maybe she's just unhappy with how someone from a rival demon House is sitting in front of her, I know I'd be a little more than peeved if Nikolai was sat where Ray is." Ellie suggested as the bell to end the strange homeroom session rang.
[Occult Circle]
After a few hours, the lunch bell rang and Nyssa, Max and Sera emerged from their respective classrooms and converged in a hallway on their way to meet up with the rest of the rangers.
Sera had now ditched the cloak and whatever Angelic attire she may have been wearing underneath for the clothing she had worn prior to her death, little to her knowledge that it was.
As they walked, Nyssa gave a tired yawn. "History was a bust today." She groaned as the three walked.
"How so, Lord Michael always says it's important to know every detail of what's happened in the past, if we don't learn from the mistakes of others, we're doomed to repeat them." Sera gave a small lecture as the Fallen Angel beside her held back a laugh.
'Angels are all hypocrites, bet the Archangel's made a load of mistakes other people have gone and done in the past too.' She thought, keeping it to herself to avoid species conflict.
"From what my Gym teacher said acquaintance of his stopped by at the party last night and started flirting with our History teacher. She ended up running away with him right after the party so now we're stuck with the temp, sad that she was our homeroom teacher, now we're stuck with him for that too." Max explained the situation that lead up to this to the two.
"Wasn't she married though? Who'd be that suave to sweep her off her feet?" Nyssa asked to which Max just shrugged.
"No clue all he said was that he was some German guy and that it's best if I didn't know any more. I was pretty surprised that Michael of everybody would be filling in till they can hire a real replacement. Guess it's a pain for you right Nyssa? I'm not too bothered, right now I'm just thinking about getting my hands on some of that cafeteria meatloaf right now."
"I'm always surprised by how similar you are to a dog, always having your eyes on the next meal aren't you? It's a pain having to take lessons from an Archangel though he's insufferable to be around and how he drones on and on about the small details of ancient historical events drives me stir crazy. Does it have to be ones he's been there for that he talks about?" Nyssa grumbled.
"I disagree." Sera started. "Lord Michael has a lot of knowledge and it wouldn't be right not taking it in. The only thing I can't ask him about is my past, he won't tell me why though."
"Sera's naivety aside, I hope that's the only weird thing we'll have to deal with today." Nyssa added as the three turned to the right at the end of the hallway and entering the cafeteria, where they saw a rather surprising sight.
By their usual table, Saya stood with her sister while opposite them was Lelina Phoenix. The two sisters gave hostile looks to the other High demon who wore a rather smug grin. Between them stood Matt and Joe, staying the three from starting a demonic cat fight in the middle of the school's eatery at lunch hour, which would surely have spelled disaster if they didn't intervene. While the incident went down, Ray and Ellie sat at the table while the latter ate the meatloaf Max had been craving while wearing an unimpressed look on her face. They had decided to keep to themselves and avoid the conflict brewing.
"You promised you weren't going to cause trouble Lelina, do you really want to be causing a scene in front of all these people? I warned you but it's just like your kind to go back on their word." Saya clenched her fists, fired up and ready to fight if it came to that.
"It was your sister who started it Saya, she pushed me away from Joe while he was helping me learn about humans and how they act so I pushed her back, only made sense to." Lelina shot back, also becoming fired up for the potential fight.
Sakura turned to her older sister and spoke quietly so only she could hear her. "She was cosying up to him though and I thought she might be trying to seduce him which doesn't help you so I did it to stop her from ruining your chances."
"While that's thoughtful of you, now's not the time." Saya mumbled back before turning her attention back to Lelina. "You're lucky it was partly her fault, or we'd have a big problem, let's just stay out of each other's way for now." Saya decided.
Lelina gave a nod. "Fine, but don't get jealous in future, just because I might be better at getting what I want." Lelina explained vaguely as she calmly took off.
Joe and Matt gave relieved sighs as the former took Sakura away from the scene of the conflict to calm down a little. As Joe and Saya sat down, they were joined by the other three members of their team who had decided to also avoid conflict and now sat eating lunch.
"Boy I'm glad that's over, what was that whole thing about anyway Saya?" Joe asked, clueless as to what any of them would get so worked up over.
"It's just a girl thing, don't let it bother you." She quickly dismissed while turning her head toward the window.
As things settled down, Ray decided now was the right time to address them all. "Hey, I've been going over all those sightings we got from yesterday and I've narrowed down all the ones that might be credible and got rid of any repeats."
"Great work, so what're we down to?" Joe asked as Ray tallied it up in his head.
"About five. Some of them are normal others are weird. I think the most likely one so far is one I found on a textbook Witch, you guys wanna check it out tonight? I'll give you all the details when we get to the Clubroom after school, according to everything we got, she lives out in an abandoned shack on the edge of the city, place is really in the dumps though so that Witch might be hostile." He gave a quick rundown before warning them of the potential danger.
"We'll be able to handle one Witch if that's the case, right?" Joe brushed it off.
Ellie shook her head while putting her unfinished meatloaf to the side. "Not exactly, anyone who can use magic is pretty dangerous but Mages have different amounts of power. If that Witch's trained in the realm that's full of Mages, they're a serious threat. We need to be careful with this." Ellie explained as Max took the unfinished meatloaf and began scarfing it down. "I guess you can have mine too, it tastes bad anyway." She told the Lycanthrope as he gave a thumbs up without stopping.
"Doesn't look like Max cares." Ray commented as the teens turned from serious to casual talk while they waited for night to fall where they could tackle their next case.
[Occult Circle]
Once darkness had fallen, the chilling air hit the rangers quickly as they headed to the outskirts of Numin City. It took quite a hike but the six of them eventually made it to the supposed location of the shack. Yet from the impression they had been given they didn't expect this 'shack' to be in such good condition, it even appeared livable. The wood appeared to be in good condition and the windows were well cleaned. A warm orange glow resonated from the interior, spilling out from the windows, indicating that a fire was set inside. As Sera peered into the glass, the white ranger could see that the place was well lived in and several pieces of furniture such as a bed and a few chairs had been placed within the hut.
"It looks like the place Ray was talking about, but someone's been living here for a while." Sera relayed the information to the others as she moved over to them.
"If whoever's been living here's the same person we're looking for then they're not here. Any ideas?" Joe asked as they all shrugged.
As they pondered how to continue their investigation, a brisk wind blew at them, making the rangers shiver. Without their knowledge, a female figure now stood atop the house, the moon providing some light to reveal her features. She looked no older than eighteen with pale skin, long blonde hair was tied in a braid resting on her shoulder as she looked at the six with a hardened face. Her attire was made up of a brown corset over a tan high collar shirt, a bright yellow gem rested on the collar around her neck, from her waist was a flowy brown skirt cutting off just before the knee while brown heeled boots finished off the ensemble. In her hand was something resembling a musket, yet it possessed no firing mechanism or trigger and held a small bright yellow gem at the end of the barrel.
"I take it you've been looking for me?" She asked in a guarded manner as the rangers looked overhead at the source of the voice.
"We're looking for a Witch, we heard there was one around here, we're doing an investigation into it." Saya answered as the figure studied them for a moment.
"So, you're Witch hunters?" The figure misinterpreted. "Then let us see where the upcoming battle takes us, either way I win today." She added as she targeted Nyssa with the musket-like weapon and began to transfer yellow energy into the weapon, charging it.
"Crap, I didn't think we'd have to go at it like this. Alright, everyone ready?" Joe asked as they all waved a hand over their Occult rings to reveal them.
"Occult Breakout!" "Celestial Breakout!" The six rangers called as they were immersed in coloured light for a moment before emerging fully morphed and brandishing their weapons.
As they spread out, the figure finished charging her weapon with energy and released it from the gun-like weapon, firing off a projectile formed of yellow energy that clipped the black ranger in the shoulder and knocked her back slightly, giving their foe time to descend.
The white ranger quickly summoned a Lightspear to her hand and hurled it at the suspected Witch in quick response to the first shot, unfortunately, their foe dodged it with lightning fast agility, catching Sera off guard.
"Huh? That attack should've hit." She spoke out as their foe targeted the white ranger and fired off several short energy bursts from her weapon.
Because of the time their new enemy needed between each shot, a plan was now forming between the team to take her out. Max charged in swinging his axe, the suspected Witch quickly dodging it and taking aim at the amber ranger while Ellie snook up behind her and very nearly struck their enemy. Unfortunately, the foe jumped backward out of the way just as she fired the shot, the burst of energy went wide yet she was quickly setting up another.
As she did so, Saya and Joe attacked simultaneously, catching her off guard again and striking her with powered attacks from their blades. Falling back a few steps before regaining her footing, the young woman shook her head.
"This won't do. I can see from how you fight that you're not Witch hunters, but we're already fighting so I'll promise to take care of this quickly." She told them as she crouched down and placed her hands on her boots, transferring yellow energy into them before taking her rifle weapon and aiming it again.
To the surprise of the rangers, she appeared to begin to levitate, ascending several metres in the air before coming to a halt. As yellow energy resonated from her hand and outlined the weapon she called out one word. "Multiply." The chant was simply but done quickly as to the ranger's shock, five more of the strange rifles materialised seemingly from thin air but were formed completely of the yellow energy the foe had been using against them. If not for the fact it was being used against them, the rangers would be impressed by her aptitude. Each one took target at a ranger as the floating opponent took a deep breath in. No matter where the rangers would go to try and outmaneuver the weapons, they would be tracked by them meaning escape from the blast would be futile.
After several moments of channeling the yellow energy, the young woman opened her eyes and gripped the original before opening her mouth. "Barrage." Was all she said as the strange rifle and its duplicates unleashed several powerful bursts of yellow energy that struck the rangers head on, knocking them to the ground and out of their ranger forms.
The six gave groans as they rose, barely managing to as their opponent descended to the ground and the duplicate rifles dispersed. "It looks like you managed to survive that, then there's only one thing left to do." She observed as she walked up and pointed the weapon point blank at the nearest ranger's head, Ellie's head.
Their foe looked Ellie straight in the eyes, she expected fear from the Vampire but she saw none, the crimson ranger stood calm as if she was waiting for her to pull the trigger. The young woman stood there for a few moments before finally lowering the weapon.
"I've decided to spare you all. You, come with me, I want to talk to you. As foolish as it is to ask the rest of you, could you guard the area? I suspect there are others much worse than you who might be inclined to end us both if we were found." She explained as she took Ellie into the hut.
While the other rangers took the time to catch their breath and heeded the young woman's words, they couldn't help but wonder why she had taken Ellie into the hut and spared them all from certain death.
[Occult Circle]
Ellie sat in the hut in a chair opposite the young woman, who had now placed the rifle down beside her own chair. "I take it you have questions? Go ahead and ask them first."
"Who are you, I guess what's more important is what are you and what's that weapon you used against us?" Ellie quickly asked, knowing exactly what she needed to hear from the person that they had just been fighting.
"My name is Lilyanna and while you might think you found a Witch, what I am is very different. I'm what you'd call a Magia. I was just a normal human around eight hundred years ago but because of the contract I signed, my body doesn't age and I have access to power beyond that of any normal Witch, which is why you failed so easily. My weapon is what you could call a gun-staff. It combines the features of a gun with that of a staff to allow for greater magical output within a short amount of time. So does that answer all of your questions?" Lilyanna asked.
Ellie nodded before the Magia continued. "You're wondering why right? It's because of the look in your eyes, it's the same one I have. What are you then, how long have you had to suffer as well?" She asked, Ellie quickly understanding what she was referring to.
"Sixty eight years, that's how long I've been a Vampire. I don't like being like this but I'm stuck with it." She answered, Lilyanna nodded before continuing.
"So, why haven't you just ended it? It's easy enough to just kill yourself if you hate what you've become, so what's your reason. I can tell that deep down you're just like me, you want to die, so why don't you?"
Ellie was taken aback by the question, she hadn't been put into a situation where someone knew exactly how she felt was asking her such serious questions. Ellie lowered her head. "You're right, every moment is painful, I miss my family, my heart breaks every time I see a relative die. I'd rather be dead than watch anyone else I care about die. But I believe there's a reason I have to suffer like this, it might be so I'd be able to meet the others and fight with them, that's why I can't choose the easy way out. Because others are counting on me." Ellie explained her reasoning as a small smile crept across Lilyanna's face.
"I talked like that before. You see, we Magia always operate in groups with our contractor, unless the others in the group along with the contractor die and then we're on our own. They counted on me like your friends are counting on you, today you might've all escaped death but on day that won't be the case. Whoever survives that day will be burdened with guilt and just like me they'd welcome any opportunity at death." She explained to Ellie as she pieced together why she had fought them.
"So back when you fought us, you wanted us to-"
"Kill me? You understand then. After every one of my friends died, there wasn't anything left, nobody cried for them, nobody would remember them. When my time comes nobody will remember me either. I don't have a purpose now, stuck with a body that won't die of old age. I don't see the point in living, but I want to die fighting instead of ending it myself. Those like us can only die in those two ways but I saw firsthand how the second way ends for Magia and I wouldn't wish that on anyone." She added, lowering her own head as she stared into the fire.
As Ellie was about to say something, a commotion could be heard outside as the sound of the other rangers morphing echoed through the walls of the cabin. Ellie and Lilyanna looked to each other, sensing the trouble outside. The latter picked up her gun-staff before the two emerged from the cabin.
[Occult Circle]
As they emerged, Ellie quickly morphed again as she and the Magia saw the other rangers locked in combat with Fallen Angel foot soldiers, a small group of black winged warriors in black armour wielding crude maces and jagged swords. While the majority of the rangers were locked with the Fallen Angels, neither gaining the upper hand, Joe fought one on one with the Knightly looking Eligor, one of the three Generals of the Fallen Axis.
As they locked blades, Joe could see the calm composure of the General as he pushed off Joe with little effort. "So you're the famous red ranger that leads the fight against the Cult. I heard you defeated Salch Phoenix's younger brother and he joined us quickly looking for revenge. Fortunately for you that means I can only incapacitate you but I will still enjoy our little duel." Eligor told Joe as they exchanged several more blows.
"How'd you even find us? Only a few people knew where we were going, you're not here for the woman in the shack are you?" Joe asked as he parried Eligor's next strike.
"Not at all red ranger. Lord Skuros presented me with an opportunity to fight you all and I took that chance. I believe we have a spy though, close enough to you to leak such info." Eligor suggested, surprising Joe with his words.
"Why are you telling me that?" The red Occult ranger asked, lowering his guard.
"Just a simple observation, it's only fair after you've given me a good fight too, but now it's time to end this." Eligor spoke as he raised his sword high where it was enveloped in purple energy before he brought it down, striking the ranger and breaking away his ranger form.
Joe was quickly knocked to the ground by the shock wave from the attack and while he struggled to rise, he saw Eligor maneuver quickly to the other rangers. Ellie had also joined the fight now and the rangers were slowly beating back their foe. Unfortunately the Fallen Angel General caught the five other rangers off guard and quickly reduced them to the same state Joe was in.
"Damn, he's on a whole other level than us… How can we even stand up to that." Joe wondered as he gave a cough. Eligor didn't appear to be that big of a threat until he used that attack but whatever magic he had channeled around his weapon tore through their ranger suits like paper.
Eligor nodded now that his job neutralising them was done. Yet his attention turned quickly to Lilyanna, who had piqued his curiosity. "So, you're the powerful Sorceress that's been residing here?" He asked, walking over to her and putting some distance between him and the rangers.
"Magia actually, but I don't think I will be for much longer." Lilyanna answered as she looked to Ellie and gave a small smile before turning her attention to Eligor again.
"Why is that? Do you seek a warrior's death? If so, I shall carry that out." Eligor offered.
The chance was there, Lilyanna had been waiting for someone who could put an end to her for a long time and now with a powerful being like Eligor before her the possibility was there. "No. I thought I wanted to die by the blade, until now. It seemed like the only other option. But I just remembered, there's another way. I'm going to die on my own terms but I'll die making a difference, even if it is small." She told the Fallen Angel as she readied her gun-staff and began channeling an immense amount of her magic into the weapon.
Eligor's eyes widened in surprise, expecting her to unleash the attack on him, instead she lowered it to her feet and placed the magical emitter to the grass at her feet. "Explosive overcharge." She chanted as the energy was unleashed, surging into the ground before an explosion of yellow magical energy detonated, engulfing the Magia in it from which a further and much larger second explosion of yellow magical energy detonated, catching Eligor in the blast and scorching his face and body, but he wasn't fatally wounded.
His Fallen Angel soldiers quickly rallied around him, retreating through a darkly coloured aura sigil. As the explosion of magical energy died down, the rangers slowly rose. Ellie was the first to do so but she found no remains as she crouched down. The others looked at the scorch marks on the ground.
"She saved us for Eligor." Max commented.
"But why, when all we did was cause her was trouble?" Sera asked, not understanding how a stranger could give her life like that.
As Ellie inspected the blast zone, she spotted a fragment of the yellow gem that had been around the Magia's neck. As she put her hand near it, the Occult ring on her finger reacted, absorbing the fragment into it. Ellie gave a small smile and rose to face the others.
"Hey Ellie, who was she anyway?" Joe asked.
Ellie looked to her ring, now containing a part of what was the Magia who had lost all hope, only to find some again before the end before setting her eyes on the red ranger again. "She was a Magia who felt just like I felt, she wanted to die because she was alone... But now she isn't and I think I can feel like I'm not alone either now. She said when she was gone that nobody would remember her, she'd just be forgotten by everyone. So let's all remember her name. Lilyanna."
|Occult Circle|
Supernatural Being - Magia - Originally a Magia is a human girl no older than eighteen with no magical abilities whatsoever. These girls through some circumstance meet a contractor, a sentient magical creature of immense power. The two mutually agree to a written contract in which the contractor grants the Magia a great deal of magical power. The soul of the Magia is then relocated to a soul gem usually worn around the Magia's neck. When this shatters it unleashes a powerful magical explosion of the soul's energy which can decimate a wide area, this outright kills the Magia however and is only ever done by one with full knowledge of what will happen. When a contractor dies with any Magia still active, the Magia wanders without purpose until their death, whether that be through combat or through taking their own lives if they decide they can't live the way they are any longer, the despair they face leading up to this situation and their subsequent suicide is unfortunately the most common way a Magia dies…
Okay that's chapter 21 over and done with and while there's been laughs drama and plot going on, there's also been the heavier emotional theme of depression too. It's something that's hard to deal with and I just wanted to show through this chapter how two characters who have had similar life experiences have dealt with it, Lilyanna being a prospective future for Ellie if she continues like she is. While depression is one of the hardest things to cope with, it does get better and easier to deal with, even if that never goes away. Hidden under all the other stuff I'd say that's the best part to Ellie's character in my opinion and I want to develop it more going forward.
I've had enough experience myself with the issue in the past that I think I'll be able to do it justice. But as more of a sentence or two directed to anyone suffering from it, just hang on in there and keep going, it may be a hard thing to think of doing but as long as you find something positive, even if it's a really small thing, to get you through the bad times, you'll eventually find a way to overcome it. If that isn't enough to convince anyone I'll just add that I've dealt with it and I've got through it, sure sometimes you might feel like you're going to go back into that routine again but as long as you have something positive to focus on you can get through any of that. So I'll leave it at that, thanks for taking the time to read and I'll hopefully be seeing you in the next chapter, until then.
Next Chapter: Occult Beasts: Nightspawn
Synopsis: While the rangers try to figure out if they do have a leak, the Abyssal Cult strikes again. This time Nikolai returns to wreak more havoc as the citizens of Novaton are terrorized and the night sky is dominated by an ominous creature known only as a Nightspawn. Next time on Power Rangers: Occult Circle.