Author's Note: I thank everyone who reviewed so far.(actually there were only about one, two reviews) I'm thankful for the encouragements. It really brightens my day and gives me reason to update my story. I'm working on the next chapter if you're all wondering and I really hope none of this twists and surprises confuse you. If you have questions about the story feel free to ask me. I'll answer them as much as I could. Thank you again and please read and review this chapter!
Chapter 7 - Shocking Events
"No! Leave her alone you big monster!" Seiki cried as dislodged herself from Tenerie's grasp to run up to Lucas and throw weak punches at him. Lucas looked down in irritation and was about to shove her away with one hand when Yuuko, the large black wolf, appeared from the shadows and bit onto Lucas' arm that had a grip on Derea's throat. The Dark Magician screamed painfully and released his grip of the Sorceress as he tried to shake the wolf free from his arm. Derea fell to the ground and gasped deeply for air.
Tenerie snapped out of her daze and rushed to Seiki's side, wrapping her arms protectively around the little girl and bringing her away from Lucas. As she moved away from the Dark Magician she felt a small tug on the side of her shirt and looked in that direction to find Derea's hand gripping the cloth tightly. The Sorceress half-crawled and half-dragged herself towards Tenerie, using as much of her strength as she could. The bomb was still affecting her strongly and has yet to subside.
"Let me...go into your mind." Derea managed to gasp out as she held her throat. Tenerie was surprised and confused at what she said. She couldn't understand what the Sorceress meant by the command.
"What...what do you mean?"
"JUST DON'T PUSH ME BACK AND BRACE YOURSELF!" She snapped impatiently. Before Tenerie could answer or reply, Derea's silver eyes changed into black ones and glowed. She watched the glowing blackness of the Sorceress' eyes grow bigger and envelop her whole body until she could no longer see or hear anything from the outside world. For some strange reason, Tenerie wasn't terrified of the darkness. She actually felt relaxed and at peace in this strange abyss. She let herself float to nowhere and stared blankly at nothing and everything.
After what seemed to her like days, weeks, months even, she noticed a small spark of light beyond her vision. To Tenerie, looking at that light admist the darkness seemed like looking at the sun at its best; she couldn't get herself to look directly at the painfully blinding light. And without seeming to, Tenerie felt herself being led by an invisible force towards that light. As she got closer she saw that there was something on the other side of that darkness. What she saw surprised her and brought back little of the senses that she had.
On the other side of the darkness, walking about a beautiful well-tended to garden together with another young girl who had raven black hair and raven black eyes, was a smaller version of the person she came to know recently as Sorceress Derea. Both girls wore a long, beautiful gown made of expensive and delicate silk decorated with frilly laces and small beads. Tenerie thought the gowns seemed too grand and to extravagant to be normal attires for normal girls. The two young girls were chasing each other playfully about the leafy green bushes and the short spiky grass, past the large trees and the small blooming flowers, having a wonderful time under the bright cloudless sky. Tenerie watched as a man appeared from the large castle by the garden and approached the two girls eagerly. He was a gentle looking man, with shocking silver hair and dark brown eyes. He smiled as Derea and the other girl rushed to him and gave him hugs.
"Papa!"
Papa...
Papa...
"Paparaparaparaparap...doodedodedoodedodedoo...ladidamdidamdidamdidam..." The sound, despite it being irritating and giving reason for her head to throb painfully, gave her a sense of being alive. Tenerie forced her eyes to open slowly, trying to make out the shadows that invaded her vision and heard the sound of a loud smack followed by a noisy crash.
"Shut up! You're going to give us all headaches..." Another voice ordered angrily. When Tenerie's sight finally cleared, she saw the looming figure of Derea with her hands curled into fists and raised threateningly at Kuwabara who was holding his head in pain on the ground beside a chair that was broken in half by his fall. Everybody else was sitting down on what seemed to be a number of couches. Tenerie felt the soft object she was lying on and found that it was one of the couches as well. Derea noticed the woman wake up and inspected her with a small smile.
"Hey there...are you alright?" She asked. "I apologize for what happened to you earlier. I only tried that trick 5 times and failed every time I tried to enter the person's body. I was both surprised and glad to find that the tricked worked this time but I wasn't sure of the possible after effects on the person I put the spell upon." She added. Tenerie slowly sat up from the couch and once she found that her head wasn't aching, turned to Derea.
"What happened? What's going on? Is Seiki alright? Where am I? How long have I been unconscious?"
"Whoah, take a deep breath and stop attacking me with questions for a moment." Derea joked, holding out her hands in defense as if Tenerie was aiming a weapon at her. "Question one; I took over your body for a short while to fight Lucas since my body was paralyzed at the time then I used my portal to send us to safety. Two, I brought the boys over when you and Seiki we're settled here and we're all just lounging around the house, waiting for you to wake up. Three, you're in my place. Four, you were fast asleep for the rest of the evening. It's already 10 in the morning if you're wondering what time it is." She answered. Seiki walked up to Tenerie and stared with wide, amazing eyes.
"She was awesome Tenerie! As soon as she got control of your body fireballs and these ice daggers suddenly came out of nowhere and attacked the big meanie! Then he was lifted up into the air like magic and then these weird things began wrapping themselves around him and tried to choke him to death! She was really strong!" Seiki ended, staring admirably at Derea. The Sorceress gave a small smile to her then turned a concerned look at Tenerie.
"Are you sure you're alright?" Derea asked her. "No side effects, no feeling of sickness, no vomiting urges, no nothing?"
"Except for the feeling of dizziness, I'm perfectly fine." Tenerie replied. Derea gave a sigh of relief then finally turned to the boys who were all looking at her expectantly.
"Alright, break time's up. Now explain to us who exactly are you and what the hell is going on here! Why are these Dark Magicians after the Sorcerer's Necklace that badly and what are those necklaces capable of?" Yusuke demanded. Derea gave a short glance at Hiei before turning her attention to the rest of the boys.
"Like I told Hiei, my name's Derea and I'm a magician. I'm the thief you all met before and yes, I still have the Sorcerer's necklace with me. Plus, I need them for reasons that you don't need to know so don't even bother asking." She added to Kuwabara before he could open his mouth. "And that's all you're going to hear from me. Kindly tell the Spirit Ruler that he won't need you to investigate on this matter further and tell him that I'm taking both Tenerie and Seiki under my care. That should make things easier for the toddler." Derea said with a smirk on her face.
"You can't just throw us out like some piece of garbage!" Yusuke shouted angrily. "And you can't tell us what we should or should not do. You're not the boss of us!" Kuwabara gave a shout of agreement and crossed his arms stubbornly. Derea sighed and closed her eyes while placing a hand in front of her face. Then she looked up with glowing black eyes and casually threw Kuwabara to the side with a wave of her hand before fixing the broken chair that the ningen fell on earlier.
"Fools. I'll ask the kistune to give my message to Konema then. I'm sure they'll understand it better than you two do." She said, turning her gaze to Kurama expectantly and ignoring Kuwabara's angry shouts and curses. The kitsune gave a small smile and nodded to her in reply. Derea smiled gratefully and with another wave of her hand sent Yusuke and Kuwabara into a portal that appeared under them, knowing fully well that neither of the two would go in peacefully. Yusuke and Kuwabara fell in quickly; their cries could be heard echoing throughout the room. Kurama stepped up to the portal and looked at Derea respectfully.
"I'm sure Konema will understand and will be glad to stay away from your business as long as nothing bad happens. But if you do need the Spirit Ruler's help or our help you're welcome to come to us anytime." He told her. Derea nodded to him.
"Thank you kistune."
"Please call me Kurama."
"Then thank you Kurama." The kistune smiled and waved goodbye before hopping into the portal. The last person to enter was Hiei who took one quick glance at each of the girls first before wordlessly entering the portal himself. Derea closed the portal she created and gave a huge sigh of relief, glad that things were beginning to calm down, before turning her attention to Tenerie. "Sometimes I just wish that time would freeze itself to let me take a rest even just for a day or two." She said jokingly.
"What happened to that man you were fighting against? Lucas was his name wasn't it?" Tenerie asked her.
"He's still alive if that's what you meant to ask." Derea replied. "I exhausted your body to the point that I had to go back to my own you see, and it gave him enough time to escape from us."
"So you really are Sorceress Derea...aren't you? You didn't tell the boys who you were but that man named Lucas addressed you as one of the Sorceress." Tenerie stated more than asked. Without letting her reply, she handed to her the letter that Ronel passed down to her before he died.
"This came from Lord Ronel. He told me to look for you and to give it to you when I meet you." Tenerie explained. Derea took it from her and unfolded it, her eyes scanned the writing quickly before a chuckle escaped from her lips.
"Ronel you old coot...you never did let anything ruin your fun. Always breaking the rules along my side." She muttered to herself with a small sad smile on her face. Then she paused to give respect to the Sorcerer before going back into what needed to be discussed. As much as she would like to mourn and grieve for one of her oldest friends in the Magician's Clan, time was not on their side.
"Alright, there are some important things that I have to do so you and Seiki have to stay here on your own. As you noticed, there are no doors in this "house" so you don't need to worry about Dark Magicians or youkais. There are books on those shelves," Derea pointed to a line of shelves filled with old, ancient looking books against one of the walls. "...that you might like to read while I'm gone. They're old textbooks that I managed to salvage from Kiyube before the War destroyed them. You can find lots of food in the refrigerator if you want to eat something and right through that door on your left is an extra room where you and Seiki can sleep in, in case I come home very late." She said as she opened a portal right in the middle of them.
"What are you doing to do?" Tenerie asked her curiously as she watched both Fal the falcon and Yuuko the black wolf enter the portal without another word.
"Something that I should have done from the moment I sensed what was happening..." Derea muttered before jumping into the portal herself. As soon as she was completely engulfed by the portal it disappeared into thin air. Tenerie was forced to sit there on the couch and ponder on the words Derea parted with.
switch scene
A portal appeared inside Konema's office without warning, causing the Spirit Ruler to jump in surprise and watch as Yusuke and Kuwabara both collapsed in front of his desk. Kurama and Hiei followed after, landing safely on the floor behind it. Botan entered the room at that moment and was about to say something to Konema when she gasped in surprise.
"Yusuke! Kurama! Hiei! Kuwabara! What is the meaning of this? How did you arrive here when I didn't call for you or asked Botan to get you?" Konema asked them. Yusuke stood up and rubbed his butt painfully before crossing his arms in anger.
"That damn witch sent us here without giving us a warning! I swear the next time I see her she's going to get her butt kicked so badly she'll regret the day she was born!"
"Witch? What on earth are you talking about?" Konema asked puzzlingly.
"He's reffering to a magician by the name of Derea who turned out to be the thief we met on Sunday sir." Kurama answered. "She told me to tell you that you don't need to investigate on this matter further and that she's going to take Tenerie and Seiki under her care from now on."
"She's just some hot shot, smug-looking, magic-wielding chick who just happened to defeat the Dark Magicians by luck..." Yusuke grumbled. "I don't understand why we're going along with her orders."
"Well she is a magician after all; surely she knows a lot more about the Dark Magicians than we do. She knows their weakness and their strengths and can use them to her advantage. Not to mention that she was strong enough to defend herself and save us from all those Dark Magicians who tried to attack us for the past few days." Kurama reasoned.
"Yeah, she's definitely stronger than the ningen or the detective combined." Hiei agreed with a smirk on his face. Konema at the time fell into deep thought at the mention of the name and was pondering to himself at its familiarity. A few minutes later he finally snapped out of his daze as realization dawned on him. He heard Hiei's last sentence and decided to catch their attention with a slam of his palms on the desk.
"Derea is without a doubt stronger than any pair of you combined!" He interrupted before Yusuke or Kuwabara could argue with Hiei. "She's probably even stronger than all of you put together." At this even Hiei glared at the Spirit Ruler.
"What the hell are you talking about Konema? She can't be stronger than I am!" Kuwabara cried. "That's just impossible!"
"Anything is possible if it's you we're talking about." Hiei mumbled with a small smile. Kuwabara glared at Hiei and was about to open his mouth when Kurama interjected.
"I must admit that she seems stronger than she looks sir, but you can't assume that she's stronger than any of us combined. Without any exaggeration implied Yusuke, Hiei, Kuwabara-yes even Kuwabara-and I are one of the strongest teams in the whole of Makkai." Kurama began. There was no hint of anger or irritation in his voice but he was skeptical about what Konema had said to them. "You recalled how we defeated the four gods as our first mission and how we won the Dark Tournament against the Toguro team a few years ago. They were one of the strongest youkais we've faced and yet we managed to become victor against all odds. Please explain to us how this young youkai can be even stronger than all of us because I for one could barely sense any energy in her."
"Yes, I remember all that and I'm greatly impressed with your courage and your strengths. I appreciate how you always gave your fullest effort and risked your lives for the good of all three worlds. But I am not taking back what I said. Her strength is and will always be far more superior than any of your powers put together. Perhaps, aside from a few existing people, she would be one of the strongest beings in the world." Konema said.
"Just who the hell is this woman!" Yusuke shouted angrily. "I think we deserve a far better explanation than that piece of crap you're giving us. For all we know, Kuwabara might even get the opportunity to fight her and win." Konema glared at him, angry at his lack of respect, and abruptly stood up from his desk.
"You want to know who this girl is? I'll tell you then! Do you remember the seven Magicians I mentioned who were the last of their kind? Well I met them before they went to the Dark Magician's hideout for the last battle and found out their identities. There were five men and two women in their group. Sorcerer Tolleni was the oldest, followed by Sorcerer Ronel, Sorcerer Olen, Sorcerer Falkean, Sorceress Livania, Sorcerer Eziekel, and the youngest of them all was Sorceress Derea." The four men widened their eyes with shock as they heard Konema's explanation. The Spirit Ruler had a smug smile on his face as he said this to them. "That's right! You heard me. That woman you were just insulting a while ago was none other than Sorceress Derea; one of the greatest Magicians who risked their lives to save the entire world!"
switch scene
The house looked dusty, old and dirty from the outside. The dark black sky and the gloomy, isolated area fitted perfectly with the lonely cabin surrounded by the creepy swamp. Green vines crawled along the walls, entangling themselves along the cracks and the windows and molds of all sorts lived within the dark corners of the house. Vultures were circling hungrily around the house, looking for any piece of scrap meat that they could chew upon.
SPLASH!
SLOP!
"Damn it all! When I get my hands on him the first thing I'm going to tell him is to get a new house!" Derea muttered angrily to herself as she trudged along the murky water towards this haunted cabin. "I mean, come on! What kind of person chooses to live in a place like this?"
"Apparently the Sorcerer Tolleni kind." Fal, who was presently sitting on her shoulder, said and winced as Derea lifted one foot above the water and revealed a soaked, torn-up shoe that suddenly had a greenish-brownish color. "Maybe he has a perfectly good reason why he's hiding here deep in the swamps." He suggested.
"He better hope he does for his sake. Tell me again why I'm walking across this dirty, dangerous and creepy swamp just to meet some crazy senile old man who might not even be here."
"Because we need to see Sorcerer Tolleni and get the rest of the group together before they all get killed like Ronel did." Fal answered. Derea grumbled in defeat. It was her sole purpose in going through this walk in the first place. She knew this yet wanted someone to remind her this important errand before she decided to blow up in frustration and leave.
"Right...right...tell me something Fal; if you were an old man living in an isolated swamp like this with a perfectly logical, sane reason as to why, would you leave the door to your house wide open?" Derea asked the golden brown falcon while continuing to stare straight ahead of her.
"No, I don't think I like the thought of other creatures entering my house uninvited. I might even put up a barrier around it just to make sure no one gets in. Why do you ask?"
Fal didn't need to hear the answer because as Derea got closer to the house, they saw the door literally thrown off its hinges to the side. Even at a distance they could already see the chaos and the mess inside the house. Chairs and tables were tossed upside down, there were broken pieces of wood lying scattered about the floor where small creatures began living in. Holes decorated the walls from all sides and blood could be seen at almost every angle of the house.
"What on earth happened here?" Derea muttered in shock as she stared from the entrance at what used to be a perfectly neat little home. "Where did all this blood come from? Whose blood did this come from?" Before they could say anything further both Derea and Fal heard the small cry of a plea.
"Help me! Somebody!" They turned to the source of the sound and found something strange. There was a flock of vultures gathered at one corner of the house, trying to get something Derea couldn't see. She stepped further inside the house and frightened the birds with a small shot of a fireball. The vultures quickly flew away, their feathers flying all around her and leaving behind a small white rabbit that was trembling with fear. It was weak and beaten up badly, dried up blood stained its fluffy fur all over. Derea knelt down in front of the creature and gently cradled the rabbit in her arms. She petted it softly and whispered calming words to it but she couldn't get it to calm down.
"It's alright little one...no one's going to hurt you now. What's wrong? Tell me what happened?"
"It's too late...they're gone...it's all my fault! I should have protected him...it was supposed to be my role..." The rabbit cried. Derea turned her gaze to Fal and frowned upsettingly.
Wasn't Sorcerer Tolleni's guardian supposed to be a large bear? What is this rabbit talking about?
The falcon sensed the unasked question and silently urged her to continue her talk with the rabbit. Derea looked back at the small creature while nudging it gently with a finger. She didn't know if it would help, but it was better than doing nothing.
"Tell me, what's too late? Who's gone? What happened?"
"They were killed...killed by people who shouldn't exist anymore...they attacked them with magic and knocked them down. They tried to defend themselves but the enemy was too strong for them. And simply beating them wasn't enough for the enemy...no...they weren't satisfied with watching them die easily. They began to torture them both to death, slicing their body to pieces, splashing blood all over the house...I was supposed to be his guardian,; I was supposed to protect him from harm for as long as I live! But I couldn't do anything! Both he and I were too weak to fight back... none of us could defend ourselves against them...it's all my fault! I should have trained harder, made myself stronger than I was now." Derea's eyes widened and she stared at the rabbit intently.
"Who was killed? Tell me who the Dark Magicians killed!" She cried.
"My master and his master...they killed them both...they killed Paco too, they killed everyone I know and care about!" Derea's blood froze and she paled at the mention of the name of Sorcerer Tolleni's guardian. Now she was certain about who was killed. Her hold on the rabbit loosened a little, and it wasn't until Fal caught her attention that she noticed the small white creature looking at her. Derea swallowed the large lump that formed in her throat and opened her mouth to ask it something.
"Did Sorcerer Tolleni or your master manage to leave any message for anyone? An SOS signal or a letter or a note or something?" The rabbit looked past her, right at something behind her back but didn't say a word. Its eyes were dull, devoid of any sort of emotion. For a moment Derea didn't want to move, not wanting to find out what exactly the rabbit wanted to show her. She felt Fal turn around beside her and stare at the thing behind her.
"Derea, you ought to turn around and take a look at this..."
The Sorceress slowly turned, looking first over her shoulder at the thing that was against the wall right by the door. She didn't notice it the first time she entered because she had turned her attention in front of her, not at her sides. She was glad she didn't see it immediately because now she was forced to stare with her mouth agape, at the horror before her.
"Oh shit..."
Right before her very eyes were bloody parts of the human body hammered to the wall piece by piece. The vultures had already gotten there before her and had taken a few bites from their arms, legs and torsos. Half-torn skins exposed their veins, muscles and the hard white bones which were jutting out from the body. There were large pools of blood underneath the scene where some of the parts of their bodies were tossed there like garbage. She could still despairingly recognize the face of Sorcerer Tolleni, the oldest surviving Magician after the long war, whose head was nailed to the wall from his forehead. Among the pieces of human parts was the head of a younger looking boy. It looked like Tolleni decided to take the boy in and become his mentor. Their eyes were wide open with fear and pain, their faces distorted in forms no normal being could do. Derea pressed a hand over her mouth and could barely hold her sickness in as the stench of the decaying flesh overwhelmed her senses.
"Bastards...how could they do this to them...? This is madness..." She said to herself as she clenched her free hand into a tight fist. "They'll pay for what they did to them." She swore.
"I don't think that's the only message they wanted to give us." Fal told her as he flew towards the scene. "Take a look over here at the bottom. Something's written on the wall in blood. Sorcerer Tolleni must have written it when the Dark Magicians weren't looking. Before he was...when they...when he...you know what I mean." He cried out in defeat. Derea placed the white rabbit down on the floor before she walked up slowly to the wall, careful not to touch or stare at the bodies too long or else she would have vomited what was left of her breakfast, and crouched low to take a look at what Fal had pointed at. It was written in a language only people in the magicians' guild could understand and she began to read this message aloud, dread beginning to creep upon her whole body uncomfortably.
"They have a Sorcerer's necklace. They'll know where we all are."