Author's Note:

StarStar16: That's all you can say? Nice? Wow. You're descriptive in your criticism.

evilsangle: Yes it is::Dances around like a loony: It's Rorek, It's Rorek, we all love Rorek... :sings like the mad person she is:

There was silence for several moments while Raven and the unknown stranger pitted themselves against one another in a silent competition of magical stare-down. While he seemed unable…or unwilling…to break her hold, she could not break his. She tried every spell, counter-curse, and chant known to her, and yet the barrier held fast. It was as if she were gripped firmly but gently in a giant hand.

Finally, though not speaking her surrender, she let down the black force of telepathic energy, and his shield was broken as well, allowing her to slide to her feet and turn on a low, dim light, trying to illuminate his face. He was standing in shadow, however.

"Identify yourself." She growled in a low monotone, but from what she could make out of his expression, he frowned.

"I should be asking you to do the same. Judging by the magical summons I received to come here after being called back from the afterlife, a powerful sorceress lives here. Are you perhaps her apprentice?" He seemed genuinely confused by her presence in the room. Raven bit back the desire to slap him.

"I am the only sorceress here, to my knowledge." Sorceress was not the correct terminology, of course. She did spells, but magic ran through her because of her demonic side, not because of any skill as a sorceress. She could harness that energy and control it and train it, but she did not create it.

"Oh…" He stepped into the light. Raven bit back a gasp as she saw the haunting blue eyes and flowing white hair, half his face masked by a scarf and his garb loose and flowing, almost in the ways of the Arabic, though his skin was pale. "But you are just a child!"

"I'm sixteen, thank you very much." She spat. "I don't consider that a child." She raised a threatening hand coated in telepathic energy. "Now, I suggest you tell me who you are."

He raised a hand covered with similar energy, except white. "Not unless you tell me your name first, my lady."

"Are you mocking me?"

"Perhaps. Are you trying to give me orders?"

"I don't have to try." Raven's purplish-black eyes narrowed. "If you're who I think you are, I can send you back to where you came from just as easily as I brought you up."

"So not easily at all, in other words?" The wrinkles around his eyes told her that he was smiling, trying hard not to laugh at her. He lowered his hand and the energy vanished. The man crossed his arms and looked at her with patient blue eyes. "Let us pretend that we are not suspecting one another, and that we know that we can trust one another."

"I'm not good at pretending."

"It's time you learned." He continued on as if she had not interrupted. "I will introduce myself, and my background, and then you will tell of yourself."

Raven nodded, still glaring. "Go on, then."

"I would feel more comfortable explaining myself if my guest did not seem ready to blast me through a wall." He pointed out loftily. After waiting for her to lower her hand and release the energy, he spoke. "I am Rorek, wizard who defeated Malchior. I died in the attempt, at the age of twenty."

"So, you are not so old either." Her eyes narrowed once more. "You're nothing more but a child as well."

"It is not polite to interrupt." He continued after she had quieted. "Tonight I was brought back and followed the magical call, weak as it was, to this source." Rorek's blue eyes bored into her. "Now you speak, maiden."

"First off," She began, still glaring angrily. "I am not maiden, nor am I your lady. My name is Raven." She lifted her hood to cover her face, feeling uncomfortably exposed, but not knowing why. "I preformed a necromancy spell tonight in hopes of bringing Rorek back…or you, if you truly are Rorek. Until I am sure of it, I am not going to tell you why I called you here."

She could tell he was laughing silently at her again. "And how am I not to know that you are not evil? Necromancy is a dangerous magic, one that I can tell you could barely handle, judging by how roughly I was brought back. And it is dark. You could be my enemy."

"If I'm your enemy, then you are mine. If you were my enemy, you would no longer be breathing."

"Strong words for a maiden…" He mused.

"My actions are stronger." Raven assured him.

Rorek bowed and began speaking. "Forgive me, Lady Raven. I misspoke. In what way can I prove to you my identity?"

How to make him prove himself? That was the ultimate question, and she did not really have an answer. She thought for a few moments, and the answer barely came to her. "Tell me of how you defeated Malchior."

A half an hour passed as he regaled, and his story collaborated with the story she now knew to be true of what happened that fateful evening. Much as she disliked the real Rorek so far, it seemed that he truly was Rorek.

"Now, Lady Raven." Those deep blue eyes were laughing at her again. "Why did you call me from death to exist here yet again?"

"First off…you may be wanting to know the year." She stopped to look at him cautiously. "You've been dead a thousand years. It's 2004 on our calendar times, and a lot has changed."

"You called me here to tell me of the difference in the ages?"

"Of course not." She blushed slightly. He made her feel rather uncomfortable. Those eyes were completely piercing. "I called you here because I trapped Malchior in the book again recently when he used me to escape…and somehow he has escaped again."

The anger that sprang into his eyes was enough to make her wonder if she had done right by bringing this wizard of old to life.

"You let him escape!" The wizard began pacing, the volume in his voice rising. "You insolent, stupid child, do you realize what you've done? How could you have released him to begin with? Do you know nothing of curses?" He stopped to glare at her again, and now his tone was almost to a shout. "They rarely work a second time, and if that second time is to come, it normally doesn't work as well if long periods of time have lapsed. And you waited a thousand years after his imprisonment to release him and then rebind him! Dolt, insolent little waif!"

"Watch your tongue." She said, her fists clenched and teeth gritted. "I thought he was you."

"Why would I be trapped in that book? Did you not even think?"

There was a crashing knock on the door that caused both to spin in the direction of the door. Robin's voice called out when Raven made no move to answer the door.

"Raven, are you alright? I thought I heard shouting."