The Summoner and the Enchantress

Chapter 17

"The bracers were just a precaution, one that I am glad I took what with who was hunting you." The silver clad teen spoke carefully, partially hoping to ease the tense situation but mainly trying to see if the pair were hostile. He sat up straight when he spoke to them, conveying a sense of nobility and respect to the pair. "My name is Alex. Alex Greyhound, a knight in training with the Silver Bloodhounds."

A sigh escaped the pair as they heard the knight's words, knowing that the ones hunting them did not find them. A sudden thought entered the green-haired boy's mind, glancing at the dark grey bracers on his wrists with exhilaration. A look that the purple sorceress did not miss, she regarded her teammate carefully before the same sudden thought entered her mind as she remembered the knight's words.

"These suppress our magic?!" Raven exclaimed, hope filling her voice as she completely disregarded the suspicion she had earlier. Garfield followed suit with her question, praying that this could be their answer to their problem.

"Yeah, though they are supposed to keep the mage unconscious and immobile as well…" His voice trailed off as he reached the end of the sentence, carefully scanning the pair for any way they could resist the effects of the bracers. The titans regarded the blond-haired teen curiously, wondering if he was speaking the truth in regard to the bracers. The silver clad boy caught their gazes, a defeated look gracing his face before he carefully hid it behind his usual stoic demeanour. "You two don't how you are resisting the Full Binding Bracers…"

The emerald eyed boy quickly shook his head before glancing at his purple clad teammate who mimicked his action, though the purple clad girl did have an inkling as to how since their power was substantially greater than what she had already considered powerful. Raven's trust was only limited to the green-haired boy, she would inform him once they had a moment to themselves, as for Alex she sought to keep as much from him as possible.

"You still haven't told us why you took us?" Garfield quired, sitting back down beside Raven while still carefully watching the silver clad teen. He did not fully lose his aggression towards the knight as the bracers were purposefully made to keep someone unconscious and immobile, two words he did not like in a sentence. Raven gave an agreeing grunt, both staring expectantly at the knight in training.

"You both ran into me while out on the road, knocking yourselves out completely. I was worried you were hurt and wanted to take you to a doctor for treatment, but you were both radiating such powerful magic." Alex explained, staring directly into their eyes as he spoke as a way to show them that he was telling the truth. He paused in his story to reposition himself, taking a more relaxed pose leaning against the door before he continued. "I put the bracers on you both since I did not know who you were nor if you were friendly, I wanted to get you both to the doctor first and get my master before releasing the bracers just in case you two were dangerous."

"That is… actually reasonable…" The green-haired boy muttered; he could understand the caution the knight in training had taken in securing them as they would have done the same in his position. He could feel his amethyst eyed teammate unwind beside him, she even leant slightly into his side not that he was complaining.

"Should mention that the bracers were the only things I had on me at the time, Silver Bloodhound knights are both mercenaries and guards so they must be prepared with appropriate restraining methods." Alex continued after seeing the pair visible relax, taking it as a sign that they were not hostile. He rubbed his eyes and yawned slightly, tiredness taking him over from the long night. "I was returning to my guild; I had used up my other two lesser binding cuffs on the two criminals I was sent to capture."

The titans sat absorbing the information, learning of several things about this new world while finding a potential ally all in one lucky encounter though they each held their reservations on whether they could trust him yet.

"Wait… does that mean you want the bracers back?" Garfield asked anxiously, praying that they could keep the bracers to hide themselves from those hunting them. Raven immediately righted herself and eyed the silver clad teen warily, she too praying to keep the bracers. Alex had wanted to take the bracers back since the pair were now awake and exhibited no hostile intentions, though after the green-haired boy's question he realised he may need to part with them.

"I take it those hunting you are tracking your magic?" The silver clad teen enquired, he shuddered at the encounter he had with those people though he was glad he could protect the pair from them. Receiving a nod from both of them he sighed, he knew parting with the Full Binding Bracers would get him in trouble. "Those people after you are no joke, if I recall the insignia they were brandishing then they must be the Dusk Legionnaires. A nasty group of loyalists to the Fulra kingdom, though I do not know why they would go to such lengths to capture you two."

The titans shared a worried glance with each other, their eyes meeting for a brief minute before returning to the silver clad knight. They found a thirst for knowledge in this new world, and before them sat a hopefully willing provider though they knew they could not give him the truth about their arrival.

"Well… I am glad we met someone as kind as you to help us. Truthfully, we do not know why they are hunting us either, we both woke up in a forest near here and they were after us." Garfield woefully spoke, his tone almost perfectly conveying apprehension with just a hint of uncertainty. If Raven had not spent the last few days with him then she would have bought his act, though his acting had surprised her she had managed to maintain her indifferent expression. She more or less figured out his plan and decided to go alone for now, hoping it panned out well for them. "We don't recall much other than our names and a few other bits and pieces."

"We were trying to survive in the forest until we got our bearings when they attacked us out of nowhere, we ran for our lives without looking back." The purple sorceress joined in on her green-haired teammate ruse, though she could not match his skill in acting her slightly broken tone between indifference and apprehension over the emerald eyed boy's plan to trick the knight in training. Garfield had to keep his jaw from dropping, he had never imagined that Raven would follow in his acting nor do so rather well. "We figured they were able to track us by our magic, but we do not know how or why. That is why we are hoping to keep the bracers."

"Argh…" Alex gripped his head in frustration, worrying the pair that they might not get to keep the bracers. The Full Binding Bracers would be vital in keeping them safe from those hunting them, though they could not keep on imposing on this blond-haired teen to help them when they have offered nothing in return. A lightbulb appeared in the purple sorceress's mind, she searched around herself frantically looking for the thing she could possibly trade with the silver clad teen.

Raven found what it was that she was looking for on the floor beside where Garfield had been before he sat on the cot, the mysterious blood red potion she had found earlier in the forest with the help of the Sundew Lyriens. She was reluctant to part with it but without the bracers they would be running for the rest of their days, she silently hoped she could part with only a small amount of the crimson liquid.

"We have a healing potion we could trade with for the bracers?" The purple sorceress tried in vain to contain her desperation, the thought that they could be hidden from these Dusk Legionnaires overrode her control over her emotions as she pleaded with the knight in training. The green-haired boy openly gasped at the bottle, finally understanding why his purple clad teammate coveted this item so much. "It is amazingly effective; it can heal most injuries with a single sip. We found it in the forest we woke up in."

The blue-eyed boy scrutinised the weird bottle in the purple eyed girl's hands, debating internally about the trade off for the Full Binding Bracers. The green-eyed boy abruptly sat up straight, after hearing the effects of the potion he knew they could not part with it entirely otherwise they would lose a significant asset to their survival.

"We can part with some of the liquid in exchange for the bracers, I hope this can be enough?" Garfield enquired, he knew he was being selfish in trying to get the bracers while handing over so little but they were stuck in the new world with no help or idea on how to get back home, they needed any advantage they could get their hands on.

Suddenly, the silver clad boy started to cough violently as he finally realised what the bottle in the purple clad girl's hand was. The realisation had stunned him before he tried to speak and breath at the same time, his coughing fit escalated as he struggled to breath. The titans did not know whether to go to his aid or allow him to sort himself out, they had been caught off guard when the silver clad teen exploded into his coughing fit that by the time they thought to act he had managed to calm himself. Taking a second to catch his breath, the blond-haired boy faced them with a serious expression adorning his features.

"Listen to me very carefully…" His words laced with fear and apprehension, his serious expression not even fading for a second as he stared the pair down. "Make sure no one ever sees that potion, no matter what. Understood?"

The titans curious and befuddled stares spoke volumes of their ignorance as well as backing up their claim of amnesia, the knight in training sighed exasperatingly. He rubbed his eyes in frustration before he managed to collect himself enough to explain himself.

"That right there is the Crystal Blood potion, it is an extremely rare and ancient item that many covet for themselves." Alex spoke grimly, recounting something horrific as his face took a more terrified expression. The pair shuddered as they realised they had another reason people would want to hunt them down, they even toyed with the idea of getting rid of the potion to at least spare themselves some unfortunate pain or encounter. "The Crystal Blood potion has the capability to heal any wound or sickness completely, it had been first discovered nearly a hundred years ago…"

Alex paused in his recounting of the world's history, his grim face taking an impossibly darker note before he sighed loudly.

"The Crystal Blood potion started one of the greatest wars in the history of this world, countless lives were lost as well as several kingdoms fell during it." The knight in training stared off into space as he remembered the story he was trying to recount, wringing his hands out in apprehension. "Many kingdoms fought just to get their hands on a single drop of it, even now there is still battles fought over the few remaining drops left in the world."

His words struck a chord inside the pair, realisation that they now held a proverbial nuke in their hands. They each sluggishly drew their eyes towards the flask in the violet sorceress's hands, each thinking about the potential destruction they could cause if any nefarious person found out they had the large flask.

"I have never seen that much Crystal Blood before, the Silver Bloodhounds only have a single drop that they keep inside the vault and I have only seen it once when they bring it out for beginning training as a knight." The blond-haired knight laxed his terrifying expression, choosing to reminisce about his ceremony of becoming a knight in training. The amethyst eyed girl slowly handed it back to her emerald eyed teammate, who placed the flask back inside a secret pouch he had on his suit. With the potion out of sight, the knight in training visible relaxed. "I don't know how you have that but I do know that no one can ever get their hands on it no matter what, unfortunately you can't sell any of it as they track all the drops in the market heavily."

"So, it would be best if we kept this potion to ourselves or do we get rid of it?" The verdant-haired boy asked cautiously, unsure of the best course to follow in regards of the potion as keeping it would be a major boon while getting rid of it would prevent future problems from occurring. His violet-haired teammate agreed with his question, eagerly watching the silver clad teen for an answer though knowing the best course would be to get rid of the potion as soon as possible.

"Truthfully, it would be better to keep it. Crystal Blood can heal and cure just about anything so it would be invaluable, especially with a bottle that size." The knight in training honestly answered, pondering the best possible advice he could give to the troubled pair. "There are certain magical items that can hide it, either in void storage or an illusion enchantment."

"Umm… not to impose but could you explain what those are?" Garfield curiously asked, he could possibly guess as to what either of them could be, but he knew when acting that he had to play his part otherwise it would break the deception. The silver clad teen nodded in understanding, remembering their previous claim of amnesia.

"Void storage comes in various accessories; they are essentially gemstones embedded in something that allows one access to a certain size of space where they can store items." Alex stated matter as a matter of fact, like a teacher lecturing new students to the class. "Illusion enchantments are temporary scrolls that can be magically placed on an item to disguised them as something else."

The pair eagerly absorbed the information the knight in training was freely offering them, slightly marvelling at the items they could find on this new world that can have such amazing effects. The knight in training rejoiced with their wonderous expressions, such simple items to him had given them such wonder.

"There are some downsides though…" Alex warned, hating the fact that he needed to dash their wonder, but the downsides needed to be stated. "The void storage has two issues; the first being the actual space inside as the lesser the grade and quality of the void storage means the smaller amount of space available, and the second being the security as most void storages can be opened by anyone while the higher the grade and quality can grant better security and the possibility of soul binding."

"I take it that soul binding means the void storage can only be accessed by the person that it is bound to?" Raven quired, the little general magic she knew of had similar effects, but they were mainly theory or fantasies of researchers. The silver clad knight raised an eyebrow at her, slightly impressed but also confused as to how she knew. "I remember a few bits and pieces about magic, but I can't piece them together."

"Ah! So, you know some of the terminology but not what it applies to. Alright, I can work with that." Alex exclaimed, clearly excited that he did not have to go straight to the basics. "Good, well for the illusion enchantment the downsides are the spells duration and the size of the object. Different grades have varying results."

"Wouldn't the magic of the item interfere with the enchantment?" Raven asked, eagerly following along with what the silver clad teen was saying. It took a few minutes before Garfield understood the downsides for the illusion enchantment, he decided to just ask his purple clad teammate later.

"It would only be a problem for magic seers, those that can sense or see magic. Though, their kind are extremely rare, so it isn't usually a problem." The knight in training absentmindedly stated, seemingly making the issue as nothing more than an absent thought. The green haired boy thought about these magic seers, wondering if these Dusk Legionnaires had one who could track them.

"Is there a range on these magic seers?" Garfield enquired, hoping that he could find some weakness he could exploit to keep away from theses seers if they ever lose the bracers. There were other questions about these seers that he had wanted to ask, but the range is usually the main weakness of most abilities.

"Depends on the seer. The majority of seers are sense types and their range are limited to their magic power." Alex answered, he could somewhat understand the green-haired boy's reason for wanting to learn about seers. "Sense types mainly require physical touch to sense magic; few have the ability to sense magic further away, but it is at most anywhere between a few paces away to several buildings away."

"So, the Dusk Legionnaire must have a powerful seer to track us through the forest…" The verdant-haired teen muttered, partially praying that this is not the case. He could feel the violet clad teen beside him tense when he uttered those words, fearful of what the enemy has to track them down and do who knows what to them.

"Nah. Not really." The silver knight grunted, not single shred of care gracing his features as he completely dismissed the green titan's concerns. Receiving two confused stares from the pair, he sighed before explaining himself. "Seers are rare, barely more than fifty. The majority reside within the three kingdoms and few reside outside or in reclusive guilds. The Dusk Legionnaires don't have one but Fulra, the kingdom they hail from beside the sea, has a moderately powerful one."

"Fulra, is it a large kingdom? How powerful is it?" The emerald eyed boy blurted out in a somewhat commanding tone, following Mento's rule on know thy enemy and questioned the silver knight accordingly. Said silver knight curiously gazed at the green-haired boy, clearly impressed with his ability to take command effortlessly when he had earlier displayed a weaker side.

"Fulra is the smallest of the three kingdoms on Atheria, it's a port kingdom to the east. Its main source of income comes from shipping lanes with other port cities across the land, although its fighting force is heavily limited." The silver knight explained, allaying the fears of the pair who had a run in with them. He stopped for a few minutes, pressing his ear to the door clearly confused as to why no one came to barge open the door. "Huh, thought someone would have been here by now… whatever. Anyway, their only seer is known to have the limited range of about a standard house which is considered abnormal but not by much."

"Could that seer have detected the magical blast I set off earlier?" The green-haired boy worriedly enquired, leaning forward on the cot in preparation to bolt at a moment's noticed. His purple-haired teammate followed suit with his plan to leave quickly, clasping a hand onto his shoulder to comfort herself though she was now understanding why the room looked to be fractured.

"Nah… though that was a powerful blast, and someone should have been here to yell at us for the destruction, but the Dusk Legionnaires have already vacated the area." The silver clad boy used his usual non-committal response to dismiss their concerns over their possibly immediate capture, returning to his relaxed leaning pose against the door. "They seemed in a hurry though, had quite the few injured and really wanted to get back to Fulra. Didn't even ask me if I had seen anyone run past me, just the quickest route back to Fulra."

The pair breathed a sigh of relief as they both leant back into the wall behind the cot, each subconsciously reorienting themselves into the other's side. Sharing a moment of peace and tranquillity after the hectic escape from the Dusk Legionnaires, relaxing into each other's embrace and completely disregarding their growing auras lighting the room up in shades of green and purple.

Alex spied the two curiously, wondering what the pair was doing or how they were doing it. Suddenly he visible relaxed even further into the wall, as if he just lost all control over his muscles and bones leaving him powerless yet content to be so. He felt so at ease that an army could come barging in through the door and he would not care, that thought alone should have worried him. He could feel something was wrong with what was happening but could not place it, as if he did not want to yet a part of him demanded answers. He could feel his knight training forcing its way to the forefront of his mind, telling him something was wrong and to fight against it with everything he had.

Leaping forward, the silver knight managed to thump the cot with his silver gauntlet scaring the two apart. The tranquil presence ceased promptly, returning the knight in training back to his senses. Grumbling, he returned to his leaning position against the door before he even attempted to comprehend whatever had just happened.

"Well… I now understand why they were hunting you." Alex stated, garnering the pair's attention after they had settled down from the abrupt scare. They had thought the knight in training had wanted to attack them when they noticed their auras glowing dimly, nowhere near the intensity as it was before. "If you two were at full power then you could easily stop an army… or start a war…"

The blond-haired boy's words struct a cord in the pair, the realisation striking them with ample fear and dread tearing at their hearts. The desire to hide their heads in the sand for the rest of eternity overwhelming them, and the mounting fear distracted them from noticing their auras glowing again.

The silver knight reacted immediately to the return of the pair's aura, thumping his hand against the wall beside him. The abrupt noise wrenched them from their thoughts of fear and panic, staring wildly into the blue eyes of the exceedingly discontented knight in training. The titans feeling slightly ashamed of their inability to control their aura effect, though neither of them knew why it was happening.

"So… when you both feel the same emotion intensely it gets amplified by your magic, becoming an aura effect that affects others in the area." The blond-haired boy simplified his modest understanding over what had just happened, he had still been trying to knock off the powerful feeling of dread washing over him that had started to form with the pair's aura recharge. "Again, I can fully understand why the Dusk Legionnaire would want you… just glad you two have the bracers on otherwise we would be having people from leagues around barging in through the door."

His words settled over the titans, both understanding the predicament they were in and how they had been tracked before. A stray thought entered the green-haired boy's mind, something he wanted to discuss with his purple clad teammate later when they no longer had their newfound silver knight friend.

An abrupt thumping shattered the contemplative state the pair where in, wrenching their attention to the wrecked door and who stood behind it. A commanding voice called out behind the embedded door, sending panic through both of the titans.

"This is the town's guard! Open the door!"

Authors Note:

This chapter is longer than others as I am partially experimenting with increasing the chapter size to see if it flows better but mainly because a lot had to be said in this chapter and I did not want to separate it into two chapters.

Alex is a new character that I wanted to introduce for a while, he sympathises with the pair and will help them when he can, but he will not always be around. (this may or may not be what happens, but it is where my mind is at the moment, so it may change at a later date.)

As with before, beast boy kept his beast side somewhat as his remaining vestige of his former power and now you can guess what remains of raven's power although I am not done with this just yet.

The Silver Bloodhounds are basically a grander version of adventurers but with

Side note: just for those trying to work out the map with this new land, or those wanting to know their location. The Dusk Legionnaires hail from Fulra which is a port kingdom to the far east just above where the pair had been teleported, Fulra is on the other side of the dead lands that BB had seen when he was sightseeing. The Dusk Legionnaire's came at them from the east of their location which would mean they came by boat to avoid going through the dead lands.

The pair had ran west before reaching the road and then headed north towards the town (there is a name for it but I will introduce it in the next chapter). Also, a little secret, the ocean they saw to the south was not an ocean.

Also, the mountain that they saw heralded to the south with the dead lands to the north, the ocean to the east and the plains to the west. (from location that BB had on top of the tree).

I have a crude map drawn but I want to make a better version, I may upload it later if I can make a decent version.

Import Notice

I have another story I am working on that I find myself really liking but It is extremely/quite dark with a good amount of gore, it is a zombie apocalypse story with the teen titans just without powers. I will put in a short summary below the spoiler and before the comment section, it will have lines before and after so if you want to skip it then just find the second line. Also, the story takes place mainly in BB's perspective for several chapters. If you want to know where I got the concept then watch #Alive on Netflix, awesome movie though you will have to excuse the dubbing.

Spoilers

If you could not tell from Alex or my writing then the silver bloodhounds and the majority of other guilds do not have a positive disposition with the Dusk Legionnaire, so when they came running up to the silver knight he immediately reframed from telling them anything. Also, the Dusk Legionnaires had been savagely beaten by the old man who was supposed to keep them at bay, or did they run it something else?

End of Spoilers

Titans of the Undead (name still under revision, this is first concept)

An accident in a lab leads the world down a path of destruction and death, the dead coming back alive and feasting on the living. A spreading wildfire that took out country after country faster than anyone could even possibly think, no one could ever think it would be possible nor did anyone have a way to stop the crashing wave of death. A boy left alone after failing to meet his foster father's strict rule on passing grades fines himself locked inside his home while the undead tear apart the living, struggling to survive as the new world order takes what little he has left. Living no longer means what it should, survival is all that matters. To survive, one has to forget what it means to be human.

Comments

Eris – Thank you for your comment, it is really appreciated! I would say that is a great way to describe magic though I am going off of the old and simple rule of fantasy being that it is magic, it is slightly easier to write than trying to figure out how magic works though I do like your idea. Truthfully, their magic and all other types in the new world comes from energy existing around the world, it is an old concept on how magic works in that magic is merely energy like radiation that exists in everything and people just found a way to tap into it. I have other ideas but for now this is my concept on the magic in this world. The magic is influenced by control but yes, I want the beast to be a residual part of his previous powers that helps him in the new world though the rage when he is angry but other times it is somewhat based on emotions. Though I hope you like the aura effect with their combined emotions, as well as Alex Greyhound.