"Those must be ancient. Almost as old as you, I imagine."

- Angela of Altena

Seeing Red

Author's Notes: Yes, yes, I'm bad and lazy. Naughty poptart. Well, I updated at last, so there. Read and review, you lot, please!

Disclaimers: I made up a song, just for you.

Don't sue me please

I have some cheese

Straight from Greece

Don't get out your law suits

Or else I shall flee!

With the geese

(and Earl, my main squeeze)

Reviewer Responses

Staci/Nadia – Aww. Your review made me sad, because in this chapter, they're a deal bit older, so now they're not so much cute and evil and mischevious as they are pubescent and evil and cranky and perhaps a tad bit acne-y. I fully encourage you write your Koren/Angela littlekiddiebuddyfriends fic. Unless you already have. I really should've updated this a while ago, I think. Love triangle? Well, you'll see. cackle

Another Dark Being – Affirmative on the spitball issue. Your last comment about your highly-rated fics intrigue me…linkage, please? And stop winking at me! I am innocent! runs awaaay

ignorantly grinning: See, this is why I changed the genre from angst. --; This fic is faaar from it. Thanks for the review, as always!

Kurai-Jaugen-Doragon: Heath is a special little priestboy. And I wouldn't know about sexualities rocking, but I bet it's pretty awesome. It always makes me glow to have my Koren-centric fic reviewed by THE Koren fan, so thanks again for reviewing!

Freeloader1: Woot! I didn't realize it was that funny. Well, I did, because it was the funniest thing in my chapter (so very sad) but yeah, thanks for noticing. Oh, and sadness. You were numbered. Damn conformity! DAMN IT ALL!!! …cough. Thanks for reviewing. Reviewing gives me a snuggly warm feeling in my stomach, kind of like how I feel when I set fire to teletubbies.

Red Dragon: NEW REVIEWER!! Joy! I really should get an alarm for this.

Insane Laine/Laine-Laine/Whatever: Eep. I don't mean for Mana Goddess religion and Christianity to be so alike. I guess I'm just uncreative. That, or I am brainwashed by Catholicism anyways. I empathize with you. I had to go to Catholic school for 5 years (only elementary). And you can't stop me from being lazy and uninspired! That's who I am. YOU CAN'T CHANGE ME!! I'M UNIQUE. Oh, by the way, you must update Hold On likeNOWtally-opippip.

they've come to find you odalisque
as the light dies horribly
on a fire escape you walk
all rare and resolved to drop

and when they find you odalisque
they will rend you terribly
stitch from stitch til all
your linen and limbs will fall

- (The Decemberists) Castaways And Cutouts … "Odalisque"

Chapter 4: Disembodied Voices = Bad

"Ferrshel, agulen, u – umn – umnicűou, ezzebareth…" [1]

"Very good, Angela. Now precede to the next line." Jose said pleasantly. Angela stuck out her bottom lip in objection, looking as if she'd very much like to say "No, I don't think I will, thanks" in typical Angela fashion, but instead, took a deep, miserable breath and resumed the ancient text of the ritualistic chants that took place before a magic spell, the technique of the Faraaq a 'das, the ancestors of the Altenans. The room settled back into the comfortable silence with only Angela's high voice slowly stuttering out the peculiarly pronounced words.

"Agædorr, ώinferrale, ozcōr – "

"It's όzcōr." Koren smoothly interrupted. Angela raised her eyes from the dusty textbook and glared at her friend, while Jose arched an eyebrow, impressed that he had known without even seeing the printed word.

"Indeed, Koren, that is correct." He smiled crookedly, as if he had an inside joke that he wasn't planning to share. "Funny, though, that the word you happened to correct for Angela was 'death' in Faraaqi."

"What?!" Angela shrieked, and jumped up from her seat so fast the book was knocked off the table and fell to the floor.

"Princess Angela!" Jose scolded, bending over to pick it up. "And that's why I don't tell you what the words mean – you would react just like that."

"Well, if I had KNOWN that I was reciting a death spell for you old loon, I would never have said them at all!" Angela yelled. Jose threw his hands up in exasperation.

"That was not a death spell, princess! And even if it was, it would require an extremely fit, powerful mage to harness such a spell!"

The girl persisted. "Then why did it say -"

"All words in Faraaqi are dark and gruesome, Angela. There's not even a word for 'smile' or 'rainbow' in that ancient language." Koren drawled lazily from his slouched position in the wooden chair. Jose nodded.

"Why, that very line you just recited half way - Agædorr, ώinferrale, όzcōr– that alone translates roughly to Greed, Power, and Death. In the original text, it goes 'Thou shall lust for thy power of hereineth of golden strife in life. Thee canst cast shadows on fair and meadow province, and may death come easily to those who hast made haste and fall.'"

Angela wrinkled her nose. "Goddess, what awful poetry. That didn't make any sense!"

"It doesn't have to. They made their general point come across, which is all you need to bargain with the Underworld for power." Koren said, idly twiddling his thumbs and staring at the ceiling, obviously bored. Angela's green eyes widened, and she whirled to point an accusing finger at Jose.

"I knew it! You – you're trying to use me as a catalyst or something!" Angela screeched. Jose rolled his eyes. "Princess, I don't believe you even know what 'catalyst' means." Koren snickered, and Angela shot a look that could kill. The blonde quickly silenced.

"That's it, I've had enough of the book-and-pen part of our lesson. Let's move on." Jose said tiredly, closing the tattered book in front of Angela. "We are going to try some basic spells." Koren leaned forward in his chair, much more interested now. Angela merely groaned and fell back against her chair.

"I can't do them in class, what makes you think I can do it here?" Angela grumbled sourly. Jose cast an equally sour look at the lavender-haired girl.

"The reason we are having lessons and conducting work here is because you cannot perform in class exceptionally well. The Queen and I find that you are remarkably lazy among the distractions of classmates and divided attention. Koren is a different case, of course," Jose nodded at his half-son of sorts. "He is extremely studious and ambitious, but hard as he might try, the fruits of his labors do not coincide with his learning habits."

"How heartbreaking." Angela said dully. "Just get on with it, Jose. Might as well."

Jose produced two candles from his deep pockets. They were white, with wax chaffing off at the sides; fat in width and stubby in height. The wicks were long and old and shriveled up like a prune.

"Those must be ancient. Almost as old as you, I imagine." Angela commented.

"They are used over and over again." Jose replied, ignoring Angela's last sentence with some effort. "Now, both of you come over here, and put your right hand over the candle, about 2 or 3 inches away. Angela, you'll have to use your left hand, as you are fool-handed." [2]

"Now, this is where you must put concentration and effort in. Just keep it there, and will yourself to make your hand warm. Eventually, not only should your hand feel warm, but the candle wick itself. At the very least, a flicker of flame should burst out and disappear. That's at the least, however… it happened to be that yesterday in class, Kierra managed to make a fully-formed flame appear and keep the candle burning for a full 10 minutes."

Koren and Angela exchanged dark looks at this, and thrust out their hands over the candle.

Koren's hands are so big. They don't look Altenan at all. Angela mused, glancing at him for a second. Koren's eyes were scrunched up and knit together in concentration, with a surprisingly serious look on his young face that made her silently shake with laughter, but only for a moment.

Concentrate, Angela! She chided herself, feeling Jose's failing eyes boring into the back of her skull. No wonder you do so badly in class – you're too busy looking over Koren's body.

This made Angela blush, at how her mind had pieced together that thought with those specific words. Hopefully, she wasn't turning into another one of those stupid girls; one of those stupid girls who actually thought that Koren was cute. Ugh. Angela suppressed a shudder. Koren was all skinny and pale; all elbows and knees and no form. His hair was all straw-like and thin too, even though it was quite nice in color. It was richer than Victor's pale blonde, kind of like a golden sun-nish hue. But it was all wrong on that horribly pale, bony, angular face. His eyes were spaced too far apart, though they were okay in itself. They were the palest shade of blue, almost like ice, and gave people shivers sometimes, at how cold they appeared to be.

Yes, his eyes are alright, I guess, Angela thought. But still, he's got nothing on Victor. Wait – when did she start comparing her Victor to Koren, of all people?

Well, it's the truth, isn't it? Angela asked herself. Koren was cute, she supposed, in his own odd way, especially when he was in the middle of a hard problem and in deep thought… but Victor was so handsome. Angela had always fancied him before, in a silly kiddie crush sort of way, but somewhere between Angela being a little kid and growing into an unruly little teenager, Victor had grown into himself as well, transitioning from gawky teen to a handsome young man, which unfortunately had yet to happen to Koren, who was around the same age as Victor (and Angela believed, never would). None of the girls had ever paid attention to her Victor before, and all of a sudden, every day, they would hang around trying to get his attention by batting their eyelashes and pouting their lips. Well, none of it worked on him, Angela noted happily. Really, she was the only one Victor ever took a shine to in his years in Altena, and while it was probably just because he had a hand in raising her with Jose, it was still something Angela had over the stupid lower girls in the court. They were all so jealous of her, being so chummy with both Victor and Koren.

Angela frowned. Really, honestly. What did they see in Kor? Victor was so much more amazing, with that lean, muscular body. And really, those big blue eyes, like the sky in which the cheerful sun shined through every day for Altena… Koren's icy stare had nothing on that! He was nothing much to look at; it was just those stupid girls' overactive imaginations and desperation. Though she couldn't say much more about herself; her body had a mind of its own now, sometimes. Stupid puberty. How dare it sink its smelly claws into the princess of Altena? Nevertheless, it was happening to the 14-year old girl. One foot would go forward, another would twist at an angle, and suddenly she'd find herself falling face first. And with her luck, it would just happen to be right before one of the Queen's pompous, foolish noble counselors, who would either laugh or hem and haw at her before scurrying away, probably to tattle on her klutziness.

"ANGELA!"

Both Jose and Koren were watching her; Koren with a kind of half-amused look on his face, and Jose with unmistakable annoyance.

"What on earth have you been doing for the past 15 minutes?" Jose demanded. He stepped forward and took the candle into his hand. "It's not even lukewarm! Have you been day dreaming the entire time?"

"Relax, Jose; I was day dreaming about making the candle burst into flames." Angela said. Jose's face turned into a mottled purple, with a vein pulsating at his forehead. He thought these lessons were supposed to benefit them all… increase productivity with Angela, and reduce stress…

"Koren, you may go." Jose said calmly with strained difficulty. Koren looked mildly surprised.

"But, sir? I hardly made my candle go lukewarm at all either." Koren said this last part with some bitterness, but Jose ignored it.

"It's fine, Koren. At least I know you were trying, unlike some." said Jose, looking intimidating with a crushed candle in his hand. Koren shrugged, and began walking out the room. Jose stood there before the petite princess, waiting for an apology that he fully knew would not come.

"You're ruining your candle." Angela said. "Did you know?"

Koren broke into a run.

There's something magical about winter in Altena. Oh, it was winter all the time in their country, of course, but when it was actually in season, it was different. The snow is a little bit purer; the air is a little bit more dense and bitter and if you take in a deep breath, it's almost as if your lungs had frozen, or taken a dive into a cold, clean lake. Of course, most of them, naturally, did not appreciate cold weather, considering their queen devoted much of her energy to keep it away for them, but for Koren, he took almost every chance he had to stroll outside of the gates of the castle and enjoy himself. Once, he had walked out much farther than usual, so far that he could not see the castle in view any more. Perhaps a normal child would've been frightened, but it was an awesome view to take in for him. There had been nothing but flat white powder for miles surrounding him, and no sound except for the silent falling of snowflakes. It was an amazing feeling, albeit a slightly strange one that stirred a great feeling of loneliness, and one that Koren hadn't had a chance to have done since, because Jose and Angela found him later and scolded him, both of them, when he came back inside with frozen toes and blue lips.

See, that was the problem about loving the cold. His body couldn't stand it. Any of them could last in the cold for hours, Altenans, even if they didn't like it very much at all; Koren could barely handle 30 minutes. His body was different from these descendants of the Faraaq a 'das. Jose had tried to guess his heritage before, and the least vague result he came up with was that Koren was a 'mixed', and that being the case made it much harder to calculate his roots. Some of the many combinations he came up with were '½ Forcenan, ½ Rolantian'. Or another: '¾ Forcenan, ¼ Navarrian'. That would explain his complete lack of magic talent. But then, it just might be a fluke thing, like with Angela. Once, in an attempt to theorize about Koren's pale skin that sometimes seemed to be translucent, even, in moonlight, he came up with that he had an ounce of Elvish in him. But Elves loved the snow… well; they pretty much loved any kind of weather, according to Jose. They cherished anything that was given to them by nature, and could stand against anything that nature gave them. Koren was the only kid in wintertime who could never stand outside long enough to make a full snowman with the others. Well, him, and Victor.

Koren allowed a small smile to creep onto his face, making the watch guards stare strangely at him as he walked past them through the gate. He ignored them and slowly put a foot from the cold stone to plush powder. His foot sank in slowly through 6 inches of snow, and he took another step, sinking a bit more.

Victor. He was even more of a wimp about the cold than Koren, though he supposed that would be because Victor didn't actually like cold as Koren did. He preferred to stay inside and be a good little boy, running around with errands for Jose, the Queen, or spending extra time with the books to learn even more advanced magic, training as Jose's apprentice, becoming the world's youngest magic theorem teacher, earning respect and awe every where from the royal court, the Queen herself, an extremely proud Jose, even Angela…

Koren gritted his teeth. Victor. What a fool. What an idiot. He was just a little, hapless puppet that was happy and unwilling to let go of his strings. Koren balled his hands into fists. A puppet with more magical potent than him and Angela combined, and a stupid brain just waiting to get brainwashed to go with it.

It wasn't fair. Angela couldn't understand; probably never would. She absolutely adored 'Vicky', just like everyone else. Koren had no idea why; the guy was a complete klutz with giant feet. He had a big nose too. Plus, he stuttered a lot around Jose and blushed whenever an older woman made suggestive comments towards him. (This happened to be often, for reasons beyond Koren's understanding.) Koren hadn't any idea why Jose would think the two were very much alike. Who cared that they were both found and taken in by Jose on the coldest day of the year, during the worst snow blizzard of the year? Certainly not Angela. If it did make a difference, why would Angela like Victor, the world's biggest pansy, and not even her closest friend…

Koren reddened unconsciously. He remembered when Victor had twisted his ankle… Angela had visited him in the infirmary every day, every hour, on the hour. It had driven Koren mad with jealousy. Angela had taken one look at his embittered face and laughed. "What's wrong with you, Koren?" She'd ask between giggles, and he could say only nothing.

Suddenly, he stopped walking and looked around at his surroundings. He hadn't even realized how far he had been walking…again. But this time, it was even farther, and in a different route. The falling snow had been steadily getting worse, and the wind kicked into action at this moment. He could hardly feel his feet anymore. It seemed that the day had turned into the coldest day of the year, and rapidly into a blizzard. Koren dully wondered if he would stumble upon a blonde-haired, starving orphaned boy in the trees. He cursed quietly to himself for being such a dolt, and turned around to go but when he heard a noise.

It came from the cave at the end – wait, a cave? How far had he gone? Snow caves didn't exist for miles around the castle's perimeter… and most of them were blocked due to winter.

He cautiously edged closer to the entrance, which was perfectly thawed into a round shape. The noise grew louder and stranger as it reached Koren's ears. From inside the cave was emitting an unearthly, high-pitched humming, mixed with a deep, throaty rumble, like an earthquake, but with no shaking. He peered inside, and what he saw numbed his body all over, and not just his toes.

Queen Valda was standing, shoulders back and head thrown back, feet apart. Her arms were in the air, which at the moment happened to be glowing a queer silver blue. Her face, which was in clear sideways view for Koren, was what was most shocking. Her set of deep blue crystals that were renowned and praised in poems all over the world, were a horribly dark, ugly black with miniscule pupils. They were lifeless, soulless, and very much evil-looking.

She opened her mouth to a wide gaping whole, and swallowed a great hollow gasp as her body gave a tremendous twitch, making her shoulders arch back further and her chest further out. Her feet rose to her tippy-toes, with her ankles at a slight angle leaning forward. This made her body physically impossible to stand upright, but somehow, she still was. It gave the appearance that her body was a magnet being pulled in towards the…

"Mana Stone." Koren whispered in awe, finally seeing the large structure that had been partly obscured by the queen before her strange seizure-like fit. The thing began glowing brighter and giving off a very strange smell that resembled smoke with some other foreign material. Had Koren ever been to a volcano, he would've known that that strange unknown smell was brimstone.

Abruptly, the Queen's head jerked back, with her mouth still wide open like a fish. A wind that seemed to come out of nowhere rushed out from all directions and circled the tiny cave, entwining its invisible vines around her. Koren was entrapped in it also, as was evident when he found that he couldn't move from where his feet stood. He tried to yell, but the noise was lost upon the ferocious roar that the wind was causing. And then, all at once, it stopped.

Valda's svelte form fell to the icy ground in a rumpled deadweight heap. Her head reached the ground first, in a sickening crack that made Koren flinch. The Mana Stone resonated with one final glaring light from its makeup, and grew dim once more. Koren moved to help his sovereign up, but shockingly, the seemingly unconscious woman stirred and shifted her position. She groaned loudly, turning over on her side to lay on her stomach, her face contorted; a sign of great ache. Koren felt a duty to help her, but…there was still something wrong. He could feel it.

"What is wrong with…" Valda started to say in a husky whisper, and suddenly screamed in pain. The Mana Stone pulsated with dark energy now. And then the oddest thing happened. Koren felt eyes on him. Not any human eyes, either. But…something was boring into his skull, scanning at every detail of his mind and trying to penetrate the shields that protected them. Before he knew it, his jelly legs had started walking backwards unsteadily, with great effort. Whatever the horrid force was, it stopped paying attention to him once he stepped out of the cave into the bitter cold again. Koren turned around and broke into a clumsy run, with one last glance back at the cave. He saw the Queen still lying immobile on the ground, her lips moving to mouth what seemed to be a spell or something, and then breaking off the sentence from a streak of pain that would make her writhe on the floor. He looked away and ran faster.

"There you are, Koren! Where on earth have you been?" The princess of Altena stood, tapping her foot impatiently as ever, with her arms crossed, standing at the gate of the Altenan castle. Koren passed her by wordlessly without an answer to offer. Angela frowned, both worried at Koren's unusual state, and irked by the palpable brush-off. She scurried to catch up to him again and matched his slow, funeral march pace.

"What's the matter with you?" Angela poked the side of his forehead in a sort of teasing affectionate prod to get his attention, and leaped back at the heat that scorched her finger.

"Fucking horny rabites Kor, you're burning up!" Angela screeched. The surrounding guards widened their eyes, amused and a bit horrified by the young princess's language (should the Queen ever happen to be within hearing distance if Angela cursed like that again, the first ones to be blamed for teaching her such vulgarity would be the castle servants), but stood where they are. It was a bad gamble, for Angela glanced about at them, fire burning in her eyes.

"You incompetent twits!" Angela said angrily. "Someone get help for Koren!" As if her words were a striking blow to him, the said ailing person trembled for a moment, and promptly lost control over his legs and fell over. The princess squealed unhappily and immediately tried to catch him before he fell, her knees buckled at the deadweight burden.

"Someone…help…me!" Angela whispered in a high-pitched voice.

That night, Queen Valda returned to the castle at the dead of the night, her face impassive. As always, the guards who were on duty saluted her, not asking any questions but merely paying their respects. The moment she passed from their sights to retire to her room, however, they fell into flocks of whispers and mumbled rumors of what could've possibly happened. And one of them, a more attentive person than most, voiced that they had observed something that was easy to miss in the darkness on the side of the woman's head.

Dried blood.

The Queen was not a dim woman. Some fools believed so when they would first meet her, seeing her enticing eyes and unearthly beauty and assuming she was dumb as a brick; a shadow of her deceased husband. But no - she was incredibly intelligent and knowledgeable in both the book sense and in the ways of the world – how else would she have landed with the name "Queen of Reason"? And she knew then, standing in front of her large vanity mirror while gingerly tending to her head wound, that she had to stop going to the Mana Stone for strength. She knew now that there was something very, very wrong with it – something that was too different from what was real Mana energy. It had been amazing at first. When the Queen went to the Stone to pray and rejuvenate herself of energy to support her kingdom on a typical day, the energy had nearly overwhelmed her – it was bountiful and invigorating. But as time passed and she went back to it, the energy grew dimmer, weaker, and when sucked dry of strength after a shortening time period, the Queen could not and would not be able to operate and function properly until she visited the Stone once more. It was like some freakish kind of crack, but in the magical sense.

Now, at this point, the "mana" energy wasn't really energy at all. Valda could see that very clearly now. And she made her resolve to not go to it anymore. Somehow, at some point, the Stone had become possessed, or unpurified and tainted – something between the two. Or it was perhaps very well a fraud. Valda knew now that it was nothing like the Mana Stone she remembered. It was dark, and it was evil. She wasn't sure what she would do now without any source of strength, but in time she would figure it out. She always did.

Koren shifted restlessly in his tiny cot inside the infirmary. He was caught in a feverish nightmare.

The nightmare was insane… he was sitting on a bench in the quarry, giving some time for himself, when Angela skipped in towards him, holding some flowers and extending them towards him. He smiled appreciatively at Angela's charming childish offer, and reached for them. His fingers brushed a pink petal, causing the whole bouquet to shatter into little pieces, like glass. The broken flower bits sprinkled down on his arm, cutting into the skin in little slits that trickled blood. He yelled angrily at Angela, but was unable to speak. She stared back woodenly at him, her eyes glassy themselves. He took off running away from her down the outdoor hall, the blood trailing behind him from the streams in his arm. As the red liquid hit the ground, everything surrounding it turned instantly into crystalline ice, including the guards and nobles and students. Horrified at the glassy eyes of his frozen friends, Koren pushed through a set of doors on a random whim and was met with the throne room, with the queen sitting regally. Her deep eyes looked down upon him, and then lolled to the back of her head, her back slumped over. Her face was bloodied, and her eyes stared blankly and soullessly at him.

It was at that horrific point that he awoke. It was still night, and there wasn't any sound at all except the dripping from a nearby faucet. The nurse was inside her room that was located at the end of the infirmary, sleeping soundly as Koren could see through the window. He felt his own head, and was surprised to find it still burning. He felt perfectly fine, in all truth. Shrugging at what was just another bizarre oddity that habitually was occurring to him, Koren threw back his thin brown bedsheets and swung over his legs to the side of the bed. Finding himself still fully clotched, he shuffled around in the dark trying to find his shoes and the near impossible task of putting them on, and then exited the infirmary with stealthy, silent steps. He kept on going until he was fully out of the castle and in the courtyard garden, where lush flowers and bushes rustled in the clean winter wind up until the stone steps and the rusty metal gate were. There, Koren stood for a moment, looking at the star-speckled sky.

'What am I doing out here?' Koren wondered, but he needn't have even thought of the question. He knew why. It was a strange and weird urge, but it was also an insatiable thirst that he knew could not be quenched until he did. So he went on ahead to the rusty gate, which, as always, was open in a friendly gesture that any and all were welcome to the kingdom. The guards were, of course, asleep at their posts – irresponsible but conceivable. He passed by them silently, feeling one foot leaving the lush ever spring grass and the other crushing the newly-fallen white powder ice.

It was a very calm night, now that the snowstorm had passed. He walked through the snow hearing no sign of life except for the crushing of snow between the crooks and edges of his black boots. And when he finally arrived to his point of destination, he felt uneasy, suddenly wanting to turn around. The cave was dark and gloomy, he could see, and offered no light that was shed from the stars and moon. Koren cursed. He hated the dark, and desperately wished now, more than ever, that he had an ounce of magic within him to cast that simple fire spell that Altenan simpletons could cast with ease.

You could, if your heart wishes it so. A chilly, dark voice that seemed to be without a corporal body whispered from the depths of the cave.

Koren doubled back, his eyes narrowed in alarm and suspicion. "Who was that?" He said in a cold, steely voice. The disembodied voice seemed to be giggling, if such things could giggle.

Such a cold voice from so small a boy! But I digress. I am that which can bestow you whatever your heart dreams of.

"Stop talking about my heart. You can't talk about hearts. You're evil. I can tell." Koren said evenly back to whatever it was within the cave.

Evil shmevil. Why do the young ones always think so black-and-white? Did you ever think that the world was a bit more complicated than that? Lines can be blurred, you know.

"I know they can. But in this sense…" Koren paused, and a faint revelation came to him. "You're that thing that hurt Queen Valda!"

She hurt herself more than I ever did. And you needn't yell so much. I know that you think I'm some sort of underworld scum. You're thinking it so loud, it almost hurts.

Koren started in surprise, and then narrowed his eyes further in slits. 'What do you want of me?'

There's only a small price to pay for everything you've ever longed for.

For just one tiny insignificant moment, an image of Angela conjured up in his mind that he couldn't stop from coming forth. The thing cackled with amusement.

No, no, not that, though I suppose it could be done. I'm a bit surprised, though. Why would she come before this?

And at once, Koren's head seared with pain as he screamed and stumbled about. He tripped and fell forward. He was going headfirst to the side of the cave – a collective wall of snow and ice and rock. Instinctively, he threw his hands out in front of him and closed his eyes, expecting a painful collision. Instead, he felt his hands warm up a bit and actually felt his body propel back slightly. The reason for which was given when a burst of fire shot out from his hands with such force that it made him step back. The surface that he had been about to crack his head upon was now completely melted away, with nothing but slightly charred rocks. Koren stared aghast at it, awestruck and enthralled.

"How…" Koren trailed off, forgetting about the talking thing in shock.

You know how. And by the look of your face, you like it.

It wasn't even worth lying to himself. Koren did like it. He liked the feeling of being powerful. And he always had. Angela could attest to this. Most certainly Jose could as well. But…he had never actually been powerful in his life. This feeling that he was experiencing now…it was wonderful. And made him feel nothing like he had been before – weak. There was satisfaction to this power. He could do anything, he felt. He could move mountains, stop starvation. A tiny little secret corner of his mind said kill a person. He ignored the fact that he had even acknowledged that. This slightly arrogant knowledge was unlike anything he had ever felt before, and he wanted to keep it. And, Koren judged, it was most certainly worth the pain.

"What is it?" Koren said in a hushed voice. He meant, of course, whatever the hell the hellish creature wanted. (A/N: Hee! PUNPUNPUNPUNPUN!!)

There was a silence, as if the thing was weighing its choice of words and considering the options. And then…

Anything that is asked of you. Your loyalties. Your soul.

"My…what? But how will-"

Silly boy, did I not tell you that you need not speak? I say 'soul' in a…metaphorical sense, if you will. You will understand.

Koren grit his teeth. He had never liked being talked to in that way, ever, even now with the sensation of power at his fingertips – and he still didn't, if not moreso. And so, with a slightly rebellious air of cheekiness, he replied vocally.

"Fine."

His vision dimmed, and he knew nothing more for the night.

-----

[1] - … Do I really need to tell you? It's all complete rubbish. There was this one really cool SD3 fic I read with made-up words combined with the Latin root…but I'm far too lazy for that kind of effort. I kind of just went crazy with the 'alt key-three numbers' thing. :B

[2] – Left-handed.

Closing A/N: The idea of a potty-mouthed young Angela makes me giggle. Anyways, for those of you immensely confused, here's the blunt of it. Queen Valda had been attaining energy from what she thought was a Mana Stone for a while, but the Mana Stone's fake. Flawed. It's not the real thing. Valda finally realizes this after a rather peculiar experience that was shared by Koren to an extent, and resolves to stop and figure out another way to help the kingdom. This is a plan that was set up by the Dragon Emperor or his cronies – that lot, whichever you feel like. In a sense, they've been sucking the life out of Valda and in return giving her some weak ammo, making themselves stronger. But now that Valda got sense knocked into her and decides to stop doing her freaky cocaine addiction-ish ritual, they need to come up with another plan. That plan comes in the form of Koren.

Fun Fact: Did You Know? The Mattel Toy Company started to make some Conan the Barbarian action figures, but after viewing the film, the executives realized that they couldn't afford to be associated with a film with such graphic sex and violence. They gave their doll blonde hair, called him "He-man", and thus created He-Man and the Masters of the Universe.

2nd Fun Fact: I am so sucked dry of fun facts.

3rd Fun Fact: My underwear is itchy!