A/N Sorry about the delay, folks! I'm a slow writter. Had to up the rating to pg13, that's what I ment to put it at anyway... So, more notes at the end. Only own Lyn, Crab and Shanda.

Morning came much quicker then Lyn would have liked. An inaudible voice rang in her head, sounding quite irritated. Get up, girl! Sleepiness fell from Lyn with surprising suddenness as she recognized the summoning voice. She sat up and look around wildly, expecting to see Flea standing over her. To her surprise, the room was empty. A sigh sounded in her mind, and she realized she hadn't truly been hearing Flea's voice at all. From your room, the door on the left. Now get over here! Thoroughly confused, Lyn followed the directions, going through an octagonal room that was sparsely furnished with a few wall hangings and a daybed in the middle. There were four doors in the room, but Lyn was too frightened to explore. She turned to her left and hesitantly opened the heavy wooden door.

A heavy wooden bed with a canopy sat in the far left corner of the bedroom, with a vanity beside it. There was a wardrobe on the right side of the room, and an unlit fireplace with a fur rug before it. Flea was in the bed, sitting against some large pillows, and glaring at the unfortunate girl.

"Faster, girl, faster. This is the last day I will go easy on you," the mage purred with steel in her voice. "Now, go to that wardrobe and get me my clothes." Lyn obeyed, opening the cabinet, which suddenly seemed much bigger than it looked. The human was amazed; she'd never seen so many clothes belonging to one person before. She stood bewildered, unsure as to where to even begin. Flea's razor soft voice spoke again. "Girl, your job is not to gawk. Well…for today I want my white dress, the one with the pale blue edging."

Timidly, Lyn reached for the specified robe and brought it over to Flea. The wizard fluidly stood and motioned for Lyn to dress her. Lyn did, though rather clumsily. Flea grimaced unobserved, irritated by Lyn's ineptitude, and then fluidly moved to the vanity and sat down. "Now, brush my hair. I think I'll leave it down today. And hurry up; I don't want to be late for breakfast."

It didn't take long to prepare Flea, and Lyn was soon following her mistress through the maze-like stone hallways of the Mystic castle. A large pair of wooden double doors momentarily blocked the hall, until Flea made an annoyed gesture with one hand and they flew open with a loud bang.

"Ah, Flea. As dramatic as always. You really gotta go easier on the doors, y'know?" Ozzie greeted from the table. He looked behind the magician and nodded slightly. "So you got the girl with you, huh? What ever for, Flea?"

Flea slipped into her chair and spoke to Lyn, "Girl, get me some food, and don't spill it this time. Boy, you might as well help." She took her attention from her slave, and answered Ozzie. "She might be useful. Anyway…" her voice faded as the young man pulled Lyn away.

"You need to move faster," he muttered, opening the door to the kitchen. "Crab, what d'you have?"

"Ah, here you are! Well, Lyn! Yer alive! How long you got?" the imp cook said, bustling over to the stoves. "Yo, Shanda! SHANDA! Get over here!"

"We don't have long," Janus replied, raising his voice slightly. "Lady Flea wants food, and she's not in the best of moods." Lyn simply stood there, looking lost.

"Shanda! Bring that bread!" Crabby ordered, speaking to the brown-haired human. "Sorry, the plates aren't quite done yet. Here, takes this, boy, and mind you share!" She turned and handed something to Janus, who quickly hid the item.

"Lyn?? LYN!!!!!" Shanda shrieked, dropping the bread she held and running at her daughter. "Lyn!! They took you away…I thought…Oh, Lyn!" She hugged Lyn close, nearly strangling the poor girl.

"M-mom?" Lyn asked. Too much had happened to her in too short a time for her to be sure about anything.

Before Shanda could answer, Crabby had descended upon and separated the two women. "Back off, they don't got time for that, Shanda. Here, here's the plate, you'd better get it back out there double time." As the imp spoke, she thrust a plate at Lyn, simultaneously motioning at two others, which Janus took. "Boy, you explain it too her. Prob'ly be better…Shanda, get over and get cooking."

"Come on. Lady Flea's angry enough already. Don't make it worse," Janus said, walking back out to the dinning room. Lyn gapped momentarily before following.

As Lyn stepped into the main room, Flea looked up at her, sadly shaking her head. "Now, now, girl. I told you to bring me food, not to relax and take your time. What took so long, anyway?" she commented softly.

"I, er…My-my mom was there," Lyn answered nearly inaudibly, placing the dish on the table in front of Flea. Unnoticed, Janus put his plates before the other two Mystics and glided to the shadows, glancing a Lyn with slight pity.

The pink-haired mage smiled in a manner that could be considered friendly by those not familiar with her. "Oh, was she? How sweet…" she murmured gently. "So, I supposed you spent all your time talking to her?"

Lyn realized that something wasn't quite right, but she was too new to Mystic culture to tell what was wrong. "Uh…n-no…"

Flea moved suddenly and grasped Lyn's chin, forcing the brown-eyed girl to look into her own violet eyes. "That's good, girl. You have some sense at least." She released the human's chin and slowly trailed her hand down. "But still…" her hand stopped over Lyn's heart, and slowly flattened. "You must learn to quickly obey," the magician finished softly, no sound of malice in her velvet voice, as a brief flash of black flared from her hand. The spell pushed Lyn back, and she flew into the wall. "Stay there until you are needed," Flea commanded, the steel returned to her voice. Lyn obeyed the Mystic's order fearfully, finding no comfort in Janus' sympathetic grimace.

Breakfast passed quickly after that, although Lyn was getting very hungry, and she wondered when she would be given time to eat. Flea finished and left, motioning for Lyn to follow, without any mention of food for her new slave, however. Disappointed and hungry, Lyn followed the mage back to her quarters.

Upon entering her room, Flea turned to the right, towards the one door which Lyn had not yet been through. It led to a small library, with books on two walls, to the left and straight ahead. A round table stood just left of the room's center, with a comfortable-looking chair empty beside it. To the right, on the floor, was a large circle etched into the floor in some silvery-black substance. Flea walked to the chair and lounged in it.

"Kneel, and listen to me girl," she said, sighing slightly as she waited for Lyn to comply. Once Lyn was on the floor, she continued, "There are four types of magic in this world. Fire, Lightning, Ice, and Shadow. The first three are merely elemental magic, strong enough, but not the best for attack. However, every magician must know at least one of them. If the magician wants to be really powerful, he must know at least two of the elements, if not all three, to have access to Shadow. Shadow is created by combining at least two of the elements, and is far more powerful than either of the two elements alone. You can understand that, right?"

Lyn nodded, a little confused but not hopelessly so. "Fire, Lightning and Ice can be used separate, or combined for a stronger spell," she reiterated.

Flea tipped her head slightly, the proceed with her lecture. "Sometimes magic is brought out under stress, and is almost always Shadow based, regardless of weather the caster knows an element or not. If trained, he can then continue to cast Shadow spells, without ever learning an elemental spell, but such a course is not recommended. Elemental spells have their use. Ice, for example, is the basis for healing spells. Also, some enemies are immune to Shadow, and it may even heal them. By starting in Shadow, though, the magician's elemental spells will be correspondingly stronger. If he can master them without spontaneously combusting. Now, can you tell me what your situation is?"

"Uh…um…" Lyn floundered. She hadn't been expect that question, and hadn't even considered her position during Flea's speech. "Umm…the untrained magician using Shadow?" she took a wild guess.

"I wouldn't go so far as to call you a magician, but…in essence, yes. And perhaps in time you MIGHT even earn the privilege of being called a magician. If you apply yourself, which I doubt," Flea declared. Lyn rocked back, shell-shocked. Now her future was clear.

A/N Hello! Reviewer response time!

Darth: yes, he was, no? What happened? I'll tell in the fic! Keep reading!!

Weiila: Your review doesn't show up!! Oh well...Thanks! I'll email you later about Flea.

Sarah: Unambiguouse, and I can't spell... Obviously, I am continueing. Thanks!

AA Battery: Your review didn't show either! Yes, I'm continueing. I'll go as fast as I can. And your review it really confusing!

Ollen70: He won't always be a slave! But the war...That has a history that will be explained. Glad you liked Algetty! And you should read The Story of Magus by ZealPropht, at www.icybrian.com 25 chapters, and Cyrus just died! And thanks for your other review, too!