Previously in DTRE. It's the first of the year and the Pradesh family have gathered in Pelerno for the New Year festivities. Cristoff and Lucy get waylaid on their way to him being re-inducted in the unrestrained Immaculate Light and transported to evil King Karadin.

What will happen next?

Chapter 29

As the brilliant purple light faded in the hall Tennison schooled his features into well practiced alarm.

"The hell did this happen?" his voice boomed in the empty room as he made his way quickly to the side door barking out orders as curious men entered to investigate the unexpected magical output his spell had caused. It was all going according to plan so far.

Getting this room cleared without flat out ordering it had not been easy. Many of his men and women wanted to see the lunar slayer and his pregnant mate today. It was the morning of the first day of the year and while any pregnant woman received much attention and care from any Boscan on any day, today was special and there was nothing more "uplifting" and "hope inspiring" than the promise of new life. This couple had some serious celebrity status already too.

Each member of the Pradesh family were highly sought after, even the father. They were all beautiful, powerful and successful; the political influence they wielded together could not be ignored either. Yes, one of the country's favorites was finally taken and expecting a little bundle of joy and trained Holy Knights ready to fight on the front line of any battle they might be but they were still just normal people with normal desires. If they couldn't have Cristoff they wanted to see who got him in the end, make sure she was good enough – as if they had any say in the matter.

Tennison had to force himself not to roll his eyes. People and their ridiculous notions he'd always found baffling. Why was one life more important than another if it wasn't yours? Why were people so obsessed with the beautiful and powerful when nothing could be gained from it? Most of these people would never actually meet a Pradesh but they still wanted to know everything about them. Idiots, all of them.

The general, with years of practiced control exerted himself to maintain his façade letting his magic adapt things slightly letting just hints of suggestions play through his people prepping not only the immediate scene but any potential witnesses as well for when Kaleb inevitably showed up.

It was mildly surprising the man hadn't already arrived with so much activity happening in a usually deserted area given how protective and inquisitive he was by nature…very interesting. There must be something very distracting fighting for the guild master's attention if his spell had work so effectively.

-DTRE-

Cobra couldn't help it. The shit-eating grin just couldn't be pried from his face as the dark purple snake wrapped around his wrist, tongue tasting the air and tickling his forearm. She was another piece of happiness he still didn't think he deserved but was greedy enough take anyway.

Shit, Vander's expression had been priceless when Lucy brought out the large terrarium with the baby Havati serpent in it and handed it to him instead with a happy new year wish and a kiss to his temple. It had to have been the first time he'd ever seen jealousy from the shadowquip.

He, Cobra, once dark wizard, previous member of the Oracion Seis, man who tried to destroy and remake the world twice, one time at the price of Lucy's own life, was the man who'd been given such a priceless gift worthy of royalty. How the hell Moon Boy and Tink had even found his little Gem was beyond him. The fact that they gave her to him and not Vander was unbelievable.

Vander had the winged snakes tattooed on his body, Clan Husen was known to have revered the preciously powerful reptile and with their fall so came the almost extinction of their beloved friends as well. It was in the youngest Pradesh's blood to care for the creatures but Erik had been given that responsibility instead.

Fuck if there weren't tears burning behind his eyes as he listened to his Gem's simple soul sing contentedly for him.

"I'm almost jealous seeing you look so adoringly at another female," Xally whispered arms draped on his shoulders, front pressing against his back, fingers caressing the smooth scales down Gem's back.

"You should be," he said turning his head to meet the loving gaze of his mate smirk lifting one corner of his mouth.

"Asshole," she said before nipping his ear a little more forcefully than her usual.

"And don't you ever forget it," he stole a kiss from her pouting lips letting Gem move higher up on his arm under his sleeve seeking additional warmth.

Xally swiftly gripped the back of his neck pulling him back in for a much deeper, more heated kiss that had all sorts of new plans on how he was going to spend his day when the most horrid sound had him wincing and covering his ears.

"The hell?" he got out before the screeching disappeared and Tink's soul begged, prayed even that he was listening.

Erik, I hope you can hear me. Sorry about the noise, I wanted your attention. Cris and I are trapped by a General of the Holy Knights, can't use our magic so I hope you're listening. Gods, he's about 5'8" dark brown eyes almost black. Curly silver hair just below his shoulders. About 40 years old. Fuck he just said Karadin I think we're being sent-

Lucy's running monologue cut off and Cobra was on his feet in an instant pulling Xally along with him as he ran down the stairs and through the huge house to where he heard the majority of his new family congregating.

"Erik, what's wrong? What did you hear?" Xally asked frantically but moving along quickly not willing to slow their progress. She knew her mate well enough that anything less than serious devastation didn't get a reaction from him.

"I heard Tink. She made the most god awful sound on the chance I would hear it. Xally, we need to get to where she and Moon Boy went and be there like 10 minutes ago. I have a bastard to poison."

Just then the pair came to an abrupt stop as they entered the living room sliding a couple feet across the smooth wooden flooring gaining the attention of everyone in the room most amused seeing the typically collected slayer doing sock slides like a little kid.

"Lucy and Cris have been taken. A General is involved," Cobra bit out quickly before repeating all he heard to everyone gathered.

Everyone other than Kaleb, Safra, Lucy and Cristoff had been there chatting, enjoying the holiday treats and their new gifts. Well, at least they had been. Now, everyone was moving in what looked like chaotic actions orchestrated by Arman.

"Of course Cosplayer gets kidnapped again. Don't know why I thought Cris would stop that shit habit of hers. Fuck I think he's more caught the damn syndrome from her instead," Bickslow was muttering to himself as he moved upstairs to get dressed.

-DTRE-

Round and round his thoughts went and he was still no closer to a reason why Freed would run away from him, why for years the man must have been hiding his interest. He wasn't shy or disgusted from male attention like most Fioren men seemed to be. Kaleb had made sure to let the Rune mage know he could set the pace; that he was willing, eager even, to take whatever he offered with no strings. Hell he even hinted at the possibility of a relationship if that was what was holding the man back.

Nothing, he couldn't think of one good reason why Freed would deny them a chance together. He was brilliant on another level, graceful, powerful, confidant, loyal and beautiful. Freed didn't just let his genius languish either; the gorgeous man actively sought out knowledge and challenges to keep his mind active and limber. Just picturing being with him came easily to Kaleb.

They could share his duties running White Sea, spend free time curled up together reading or just simply talking. They could go see shows together, travel and even one day raise a whole pack of children they either adopted or had through a surrogate.

Kaleb wanted to pull his hair out it was so frustrating. The first person he knew he'd never get bored of, that he already liked a lot and respected was running away from him before they even had a chance to see if their attraction could turn into something more.

The moment Cris was out of the lacrima he was heading straight for Freed. If he had to tie the man up to get answers he would. A gentle tug on his sleeve brought Kaleb back to the present and his eyes met the now incredibly familiar ones of his sister?... Fuck if he knew what it meant by Apollo calling them both his children and giving them matching tattoos. Were they actually related? Were they children of an immortal being or just adopted by one? If they were was what Gin did, using a full copy of his body and magic to teach Safra about sex and pleasure, considered incest? Kaleb internally shook his rambling mind free from those thoughts. Nothing good could possibly come from that line of thinking.

"Brother, something is wrong. I see two things that are the same but different. It is making me light headed." Safra more firmly grabbed his arm to stay on her feet as things around her shifted again.

Kaleb's eyes narrowed as he checked the time. Lucy and Cris were supposed to be here at 10 o'clock sharp and it was now 5 past. Any other day or appointment and the mindbender would have thought nothing of it but this was an order from the Holy Order. All active knights were to be re-inducted starting with those currently active in the field leaving the more supervisory roles, the higher ranked positions for last since they were less at risk of being controlled. This was an appointment that should be done promptly, no delays or showing up late. Their continued absence with Safra's current unsteadiness gave him pause. Something, that had him retreating from everything but her surface thoughts, was trying to change how the very way she saw things and had him exceptionally worried.

He'd seen enough through his sister's eyes to know she wasn't imaging it, that some magic was affecting her. It was so subtle but when he searched himself he found it there too, a simple suggestion, a slight nudge for him to think of anything but Cristoff and Lucy. He wouldn't have even noticed it save for his curiosity in what was effecting his fairy sister and the idea that he was probably wrapped up it in too. Fully aware now Kaleb broke the spell's hold on him and even freed Safra from its effects fully before reaching out for Cristoff to find silence.

Silence wasn't good.

Outside of the deepest sleep a person's mind was active, there was always something to listen to. No, silence had him moving toward the exit on the path his brother most likely would have taken searching for clues and tapping into other minds looking for answers.

Eyes open Saf. See if you can see anything wrong. Residual spells or the like. I think something happened to Cristoff and Lucy and someone is using magic to cover their tracks.

Safra didn't respond just held his hand so he could lead her around while she focused on actually seeing everything around her. Spells and magic circles were layered thick over every surface of the structure, less so for interior walls – those had silencing runes and reinforcement strength magic only, but all were expertly fashioned together. It was a busy tapestry that held patterns and it was taking her full focus to try and find any aberrations.

Residual spells were even harder to see since the more time that passed the more the magic used dissipates growing fainter. When in nature or in normal human constructs that was typically not a problem but with brightly multicolored active spells so heavily used in such concentrations the residual magic from old incantations became much more difficult to see.

Kaleb made his way directly to where there was the most activity, thoughts from a dozen knights each muddled by the same spell that had influenced him and Safra, thinking about a breach in security but none of them would think directly about who had disappeared only there immediate tasks in trying to track down them down or figuring out how something like this could have happened.

It was not how the human mind worked and had he not been so distracted he would have realized that sooner. What the hell is going on?

Brother, I see a massive anomaly in this room. There are the normal spells but then there are 3 other complex works but something is wrong…with one of them…it looks off. I am not sure how to describe it.

Can you tell which ones our people here are focusing on? Kaleb kept their conversation silent. No one had noticed their entrance so far and he wanted to keep it that way, tucking them into a corner and using his own magic so everyone around him willfully continued to ignore them. It would do no harm to get a better lay of the land and understand as much as they could before throwing themselves into the fray.

They are all looking into the weird one. It seems…flat? Safra sighed more than a little frustrated. Even in her milk tongue she wouldn't be able to articulate what she was seeing.

Kaleb tapped into Safra's mind again so he could see through her eyes and focused on what she was trying to explain. At first, just like every time he'd done this before, his mind was overwhelmed by the sheer volume of visual sensory data his brain had not be wired to handle but with less and less time he became accustomed to the different view of the world around him as he focused on what he needed to see; it was like what he did with the stray thoughts of people around him, he ignored as many as he could until it was a humming white noise as he focused on what he wanted to hear.

Right off the bat he understood what the light fairy was talking about. There were indeed three large magic circles but one looked almost artificial, like those perspective paintings that looked almost real, like you could walk through the doorway or down the stairs but it you tried you ran into a wall or worse. Actually reading the text in the two other spells it was obvious what was going on. They were in an uncommon dialect from Minstrel but he'd heard her and Farron speaking before about the nuances it had that were vastly different from the other Minstrelian dialects they both knew so her confusion didn't make sense unless…

Can you not read all the languages you speak? He looked down curiously and saw a slight blush dust her cheeks.

I learned most of them from my viewing glass listening to people speak. I didn't often get a chance to even see their language. Safra tucked her chin down like she was a little girl waiting to be scolded by her teacher. It was just so cute to see the usually confident woman suddenly shy. Any other time he'd have picked her up and kissed her she looked so sweet but now was not the time.

No need to be embarrassed, he soothed squeezing her hand still in his gently. One of the Magic circles is a kind of illusion spell. It's meant to hide the first from being seen and also portray itself as something similar to the first but with small changes like the direction and origin. It's clever since that third circle doesn't even exist yet we can see it and without what is called true sight no human would be able to tell it's a false trail.

Do you know who uses this kind of magic? I see hints of it on everyone in the room…

I don't, Kaleb said. The lightness of a fascinating curiosity dying as the full weight of the situation landed heavily on his shoulders. Someone in this room had magic he didn't even know existed that was able to influence people's actions without anyone being the wiser. For how long had they been doing this? Why did they help kidnap Cris and Lucy? Who were they helping? How many other things had they changed? For how long? It was all so much to take in.

There was a traitor in their midst working actively to prevent the Holy Order from recovering one of their own but everyone here had been above suspicion. The Immaculate Light had seen to that even restrained as it was before. It would have killed someone so dishonorable but the evidence before him was damningly conclusive. Someone amongst them was either able to deceive Immaculate Light or there was something forcing their hands…

No this couldn't be forced. They wouldn't have hidden this magic from everyone if they were truly trustworthy.

Entire wars could have been avoided with a power like this. A simple suggestion to listen and understand would have gone a long way in dealing with often volatile aggressive clans from the Grass Sea. Turning borderline dark mages into informants with a simple suggestion to play on their good inclinations would have provided so much reliable intel to help bring down whole human trafficking rings.

He could do something similar with his own magic but it took too long and such incredible focus to make such small changes that he rarely had time and opportunity to do so. Plus as time went on the person's mind would reset in a way erasing all his efforts.

This person, though, could work at a distance effecting so many people at once and so harmoniously with each individual that Kaleb hadn't even noticed he'd been targeted. He would bet it would be a more permanent change too since all the conscious decisions were made for themselves, it was only a subconscious urge that might change their initial inclinations to somethings else. Such urges were common without external influences so they would be fully accepted as the person's own…

Who the hell are we up against?

-End of chapter-

So I hope this chapter answered some of your questions. Next we will get to see what's happening with the actual couple and how the distance is effecting Zen and Lucy's bond.

Let me know what you think. - Blas