Consequences of Capture
By Dixxy
Chapter Four: Magic
Sage rubbed his temples as he stared at the text in his spell book. Learning all of this magic was going to be harder than he thought. There were so many words and phrases he didn't understand. . . he shuddered and closed the book, then flopped down on the bed and stared at the ceiling of what was now "his" room. He sighed and whined in complaint.
He guessed that they had now been in the Dynasty for about a week, though it could have easily been longer or shorter. Sage didn't have anything to reference for time and it was irking him. Odd. I'm a prisoner in a world I've been promised to fight and all I can worry about is what time it is. Am I going out of my mind? Sage sat up and leaned against the headboard of his bed.
During the time he'd been in the Dynasty, however, he did learn a few things. None these things included how to practice magic (the whole teleportation thing was turning out to be harder than he'd expected), but at least he had a better idea of what was going on around him.
Shortly after he'd found himself back in his room after the meeting with his captor, he'd immediately begun to look through the small collection of books on his desk. Most of them were histories of different things pertaining to the Nether Realm and the armors, which had sparked his interest early. Sage had decided to try his hand at the magic later- he didn't have a clue how to even begin. Trulpa could've told him to translate hieroglyphics and gotten better results from him.
For one, he learned that the five armors paired with the Ronin Warrior armors were known as the Ronin Senshi, often times referred to as just the Senshi. From what he could tell about these armors (which right then he couldn't tell much) they were basically the same armors, only female and unable to use sure kills. They could, however, use the magic that he was supposed to be able to use now.
I wonder. . . Maybe the Halo, Torrent, and Hardrock girls can use sure-kills if we can use magic, he wondered. After all, Trulpa claimed that they could use the elemental magic because the barriers broke- why couldn't they use sure kills? Sage grinned at the prospect- hopefully this meant the Senshi would give Trulpa a bigger problem then she expected.
In the same book, he also learned why the Ancient hadn't told them about the female armor bearers. According to the book, the first bearers of the two sets of Ronin armors were trained as a single team and a single unit. The Senshi had great difficulty learning to use their magic while the Warriors had no trouble with their sure kills. This resulted in the females not working as hard with their own magic and relying heavily on their partners. In the end, because of the reliance, nearly all of the Ronins were killed in the first battle. After that, the Ancient chose to forbid the two groups of knowing of each other until they had a firm enough grip on their own powers, which usually meant winning a war, which was a long, drawn out series of battles against a powerful Dynasty demon. The Ronin Warriors had fought two of these wars against Talpa- they were ready to meet the Senshi, but the Senshi probably hadn't even so much as picked up a weapon yet for all he knew. While Sage found the concept a little silly, he realized these were precautions that needed to be taken. The world was different back then, after all. And perhaps there was a connection between the armors that caused this to happen, even when dealing with the most independent Senshi.
And there was still so much he had to learn. So much he wanted to know.
Sage turned back to the spell book with a heavy heart. The spell book, unlike the other volumes in his room, was huge. It was nearly two feet in length and a good ten inches thick. At first Sage wondered how he'd ever get through the entire book, but apon his first skim through he'd seen the text was fairly large and there were lots of pictures and diagrams. Oddly enough, he found that the language the book was written in could be easily changed on a whim- he could read it in Japanese or English (he was bilingual) if he chose to. Sage wasn't sure if this was the book's magic or his own magic.
Halo went back to the first page of the spell book. In big, bold letters (Sage had decided to study in English that day) the word "Teleportation" ran across the top of the page. Again. It felt as if he'd read that same damn page thousands of times and he was still having trouble with it. Placing his finger on the words, he began to read aloud as the appendage followed along with his voice for what felt like the millionth time.
"Teleportation is a very concentrated yet easy form of magic that requires little more than a strong whim and determination," Sage repeated for what felt like the thousandth time that day. Or hour. Or week. "But that doesn't make any sense! I tried to will myself out of here and nothing happened! You can't just wish yourself away! That's ludicrous!"
Trulpa probably has something to stop you from teleporting out of her range of control- face it, Sage, you have to teleport somewhere inside the palace, not to Mia's front door, he thought to himself. Sage stuck his tongue out at the notion and made a face. Despite the fact that he really didn't have any desire to study any of this magic crap, he didn't have much of a choice in the matter.
"Well. . . I need to have a strong whim to go somewhere," Sage said to himself. "But where?" He closed his eyes. "Maybe I should just start out small and teleport to the other side of the room before I try anything else. That way I don't need to worry about getting stuck in the walls or anything." At the mention of the notion, Sage shuddered. He stood and walked to the far end of the room.
Maybe if I actually try this it'll work, he wondered. Bracing himself against the wall, Sage closed his eyes and envisioned the other side of the room. I want to go to the other side of the room. I want to go to the other side of the room. Bring me there. Bring me there. Sage wanted to laugh at himself for the insane thoughts going through his head. Still, he kept at it.
Suddenly, Sage felt as if he were gone.
There was no feeling in his feet, his hands, his legs, his arms, nothing. It was as if he were nothing more than a simple train of thought in. . . nothing. Just nothing. No body, just thoughts. Sage nearly panicked- what had happened to him!? Where was his body!? What was going on!?
Within a matter of seconds, however, the feeling dissipated and Sage found himself crumpled up on the floor at the other side of the room. He was breathing heavily and was gasping, choking for precious air. His brow was sweating and his heart was racing. Sage fell completely to the floor, curled up in the fetal position as he tried to catch his breath.
But through it all, he couldn't help but smile.
He'd teleported.
~
Later on, Sage learned it had been roughly a week into his imprisonment when he'd finally teleported. He was also slightly embarrassed to learn that Cye and Kento had figured it out rather easily on the first or second day, but neither of the other boys had anything negative to say to him on the subject.
The trio met in Cye's room (mainly because Cye had figured out how to get food in his room without waiting for someone else to send it) on what was about day eight. All three sat on the bed as they compared what they'd learned and tried to figure out any ways out of their situation.
"How far have you guys gotten beyond teleporting?" asked Sage.
"Not very," Kento said. "The first thing I'm supposed to be able to do make some small tremors in a patch of dirt. I'm taking my sweet time on this and milking it out as long as I can get away with it. She's probably going to turn us into mindless zombies like she did with the Warlords and turn us on Ryo and Rowen after we've completed our stupid magic training business!"
"Not necessarily," said Cye. "It would seem like that's what she wants to do but we've only been here a little longer than a week. We should try to investigate a little more to get a better idea of what's going on before we jump to any radical conclusions about anything."
Sage nodded. "Cye's right- this isn't like the war with Talpa. Trulpa's using her head on this one- we need to outsmart her." He coughed. "No matter how much you might not like that, Kento." In response, Hardrock mumbled something in Chinese that Sage was fairly certain translated into some sort of a backhanded insult. Especially from the exasperated look on Cye's face.
Silence reigned for several minutes. Cye quietly got up to retrieve a platter of cookies from a small cabinet in the corner. Kento was tracing circles on the floor with his foot, and Sage had occupied himself with a book on Cye's desk that he hadn't seen in his room. Once the plate was set on the bed, the three began to snack on the said treats.
Halo broke the silence. "The way I see it, we have two options," said Sage. He sighed. "BOTH of which would involve some sort of an escape for obvious reasons. The first we would need to pull off soon, preferably before a month passes. In that case we'd escape, go find Ryo and Rowen, and figure out what to do about the Senshi from there. Face it- we CAN'T leave them alone with Trulpa in control of the ENTIRE Dynasty. Unfortunately it isn't a matter of busting in to help them- I read about something called the Law of Dependency that prevents us from helping them until they've finished one war."
"War?" asked Kento. "You're talking about a bout with a bad guy, right?"
"Yup. Apparently the first generation of Senshi decided to kick back and relax while the Ronin Warriors did all the work- they couldn't get a firm grip on their powers in time and decided to just leave it to the men. The Ancient didn't want that to happen again, so he created that 'rule'. I guess it's considered a major no-no to break it, and I don't think we should risk jeopardizing ourselves and the Senshi."
"And the second idea?" asked Cye.
"Wait for the Senshi to get a firm grip on the powers so the Law of Dependency thing passes. Then we find a way to contact them and ask for help," said Sage. He sighed. "THAT would obviously be the more risky and time consuming path. There's no guarantee they'll know who we are and they may pass us off as a Dynasty trick."
"Great- neither of them sound workable to me," Kento said.
Sage shot Kento a look. "Do you have a better idea?"
"No, admittedly I don't. But with going back to Ryo and Rowen we're stretched for time- we can't just randomly show up a year from now. Either they'll think we're some kind of a cruel illusion and try to attack us or something, or they're going to go into shock," he said. "If a year passes without them hearing from us they're going to think we're dead, and dead people don't show up at your doorstep to say hello." Sage looked at Kento in surprise- he didn't think that Hardrock thought about things like that.
And he has a valid point, too, Sage mused.
"Let's try to practice our magic a little harder," said Cye.
Kento and Sage stared at Cye in shock and disbelief. "Are you NUTS!?"
"No!" Cye said, glaring at them as if they'd missed an obvious point. "I'm ruddy serious! If you ask me, Trulpa's going to hate it if we're escaped WELL-PRACTICED MAGICIANS instead of PISS-POOR HALFWITS. Get what I'm saying? We could use our magic to help the Senshi once we get out of here!"
"But that could work against us, too! How do we know she won't use that magic to her advantage?" Sage countered. "We can't just assume we'll escape. Trulpa's no idiot. She probably knows we're going to try and escape some time or another. She's going to use us to the best of her ability!"
"Then there's no right or wrong answer, is there?" said Cye. "Why are we arguing about it?! Trulpa wants us to practice the magic anyways, and if we don't then what'll happen to us then!? Sage, we don't have a choice but to go along with her plans for now. And we can't just yell at each other like this. We don't know how long we're going to be here, but the better we get along and work together, the longer we'll be alive, even if it IS in this hell hole. There must be some way out, even if it IS through the Senshi."
"Well, I'M not afraid to ask for help," said Sage.
"Under different circumstances, no, but here? Hell yes!" said Kento.
"Then we're agreed?" said Cye. His companions nodded as he extended his hand. They piled their hands on top of each other, forming an awkwardly large handshake. "We shouldn't worry about it- we'll find a way to get through this. All of us. No one is going to be left behind."
"Never."
"All for one and one for all!"
~
. . .
What. . . what is this?
. . .
You're hurt, let me help.
. . .
"I. . . I. . . I can't!"
. . .
Just hold on, we'll get there as fast as we can!
. . .
"You're going to be just fine, Kento- I know it."
. . .
"I'm. . . I'm beautiful?"
. . .
"I, I don't want it to end like this."
. . .
"Kento . . ."
. . .
"If I can help it, I won't let anyone ever do that to you again."
. . .
"Please, just hold me."
. . .
"I don't want this to end."
. . .
~
Kento bolted awake, his eyes wide from confusion. His heart was racing and his palms were sweating. He sat up, the bed sheets pooling around his waist. He looked down at his lap, closing his eyes as he flopped back onto the bed. He groaned, wondering where that dream had come from.
"Who was that girl?" he wondered aloud. "And why did I dream about her?" Kento sat up again and placed his feet on the floor. He stood, looking around his room in Trulpa's castle. He quickly grabbed his night robe, wrapping it tightly around his body as he looked around nervously.
Kento sat back down on the edge of his bed. You have no one to blame but yourself, Kento. If you hadn't been such a stubborn jackass during the wars with Talpa you wouldn't be here right now. Maybe Sage and Cye wouldn't be here right now, either. You'd all be back in Japan with Ryo and Rowen and Mia and Yuli and your families instead of this hell.
"I'm so sorry. . ." he said to no one in particular. "I'm worthless." He lowered his head and narrowed his eyes. "They don't need me. I'll just get in the way!" He clenched his eyes shut. "I've always cared so much about fighting, and now my life is ruined because of it! We're never going to get out of here in time to avoid a scandal! If I show my face to my family again they'll never believe it's me!"
The voice from his dream echoed in his head, resonating in a crystalline glory that calmed and comforted the Warrior of Hardrock. "You're going to be just fine, Kento- I know it." Kento looked up, clutching the cloth by his chest as tears streamed down his cheeks. He didn't know why the voice was haunting him so much, but it made him feel relaxed and calmed him. He crawled back under the sheets after hanging the robe on its hook, curled up with the blankets, and tried to get to sleep.
Just hold on . . . we'll get there as fast as we can. . .
~
Well, that was a little long, now wasn't it?
I'm assuming we all have a good idea on what that last bit with Kento was about.
I've got a lot on my plate right now, but I think I know how I'm going to ease it up a little. For one, I'm nixing Dragonia- AGAIN. In that story I'm creating a whole society and a whole world- that's a lot of information, a lot of which I'm still trying to figure out myself. So until I figure out EXACTLY how I'm going to work it out, I'm not going to even BOTHER with that story. The good news is I'm closing in on a final design, which includes something for Ryo to do and a basic idea for the Dragon Kin capitol. I've also come up with a few more terms to help sort the Dragon Kin hierarchy a little bit better. But don't worry- I think I have a better grip on things.
I've also got two working concepts for the Ria/Rona story, and I want you guys to vote on them and offer me some ideas:
Idea #1- Someone frames Ria and Rona for MURDER!!! Even worse, they're in a foreign land. Even more worse, it seems like everyone wants to hang them. Even WORSE AGAIN, they're being hunted by a certain blue-haired Ronin of Strata. But hey, at least Ria's Wildfire in Shining Mystical Armor believes them!
Idea #2- Ria wakes up to the unpleasant surprise of a giant lizard thing attacking her. She and Rona discover they're called Shadow Stalkers, minions of a large army that's out to take the Mortal World. To make matters even worse, the Stalkers have already taken the other Ronins and anyone else they could turn to for help!
I got onto a second page of writing EoIv2.0!!! Go me!!!
Harry: It been long time- many moons. Yeah, CoC needed work. Out of all the stories, it was the weakest, though RSL needs some tweaking as well. A LOT of tweaking. But we'll tweak. I think I tried looking at (your story) it but I couldn't get into it- gomen.
Kaci: You betcha! Hey, hold your horses! I'm working on it! And you should lay off the sugar if you're gonna react like THAT ^_~.
Iluvrikku12: o_O Aren't you one of my CC readers? Either I'm getting you all mixed up now or you just wandered over here. Ah well. That's okay- I've been busy, too. We all get busy sometimes, you know? But I'm trying to get back into it.
Narijima: After a long wait, here's the next part. ENJOY! BE FREE!!!
Evil Penguin Plushie: *laughs* Your name reminds me of this guy I used to know in school. Even the plushie part. Long story. And you want Sage torture? May I recommend Gaiden for some good Sage/Seiji bondage scenes?
Okay, we're all sick of waiting for this chapter to go out, so. . . GO! GO LITTLE CHAPTER GO! RUN LIKE THE WIND!!!
~Dixxy