Here is the next chapter of Shunned one. I would like to thank Wilhelmina Vandom for beating this chapter and would like to thank following people for reviewing: GuyverZero, CaptainThomas, shocklance, Kitsune6, JCE1985, fergnerd, The Crazy Talk Kid, Philip Gipson, Starwin, KnightofFaerun
Disclaimer: I don't own W.I.T.C.H. or D&D
000
Chapter 13: Secrets Revealed
Will had slept for a whole day after her intense and almost deadly dual with Uriah Dunn. The wounds she had left had healed quickly thanks to Sade's earlier treatment and Abele getting Will to drink a Cure potion in her sleep.
When Will awoke that next morning she felt a little weak, but that was from not eating for a whole day and could be easily fixed with a meal. Will laid in the bed, trying to figure out how she got hear when she was supposed to be at the dual. But then the memories of what happened during the dual came flooding back to her.
'Did one of other others…save me? It must have been Elyon or her mother, since they both have access to Cleric spells. Guess they have not yet turned their backs on me like I know their going to someday.' Will thought as she just lay unmoving in the bed, and then noticed something hard and narrow under the pillow.
Will pulled it out to find a scroll. Becoming curious, Will opened the scroll and read what it said.
Dear fellow Warlock,
I was impressed by your Spell Dual with that Uriah boy and thought you should have a little reward for your struggles. Officially, that boy will most likely declared the winner because of the judge's unfair views on our kind, but you and I both know you should have been the winner.
In this scroll, is a spell that once you read it, will place a powerful tattoo on one of your arms (which one is of your choosing) This magic tattoo, is the key to an incredible power, that once mastered will give you access to a technique called the Eldritch Lighting Blade.
The Eldritch Lighting Blade is what one would call a called a hybrid technique, combining a long forgotten spell and invocation into a single attack. The tattoo will do all the work to create the attack, so that part is easy, but the hard part for you is to handle the intense pain of using the attack.
If and when you succeed, I'll approach you and teach you the finer points of this new power and with it, you will never need to fear anything ever again. Good luck and know that I will be watching and hoping you can succeed in use this powerful ability.
Signed, a friend.
000
'A...hybrid technique? It sounds like this could combine both my spell casting classes. But should I trust this person? But if it's as good as the note says; I'll be able to survive on my own when the others stop feeling pity for me and throw me away.' Will thought as she considered on what to do with this scroll, when she heard the door start to open.
Will quickly stuck the scroll under the covers and looked to see Abele enter the room with a tray of food. "I was hoping you would be awake! You gave us quite the scare when you slept for a whole day." Abele said with a big smile as she put the tray down in front Will. It was a simple meal of eggs; bacon and toast, with a glass of orange juice, something Will's hungry stomach was going enjoy having inside it.
"T-Thank you." Will said a she picked up her fork and start eating her meal. After Will was done, Abele asked, "How are you feeling? Uriah's cowardly attack really hit you hard."
Will looked up at Abele in confusion as she asked, "Cowardly attack? The last thing I remember was Uriah using that fire blast trick of his and then everything went black. Did he try something after that or something?" This caused Abele to shake head grimly, knowing the news she was about to tell the young half-elf would most likely frighten her.
"Uriah didn't pull his last spell Will. He let it go completely unchecked, making it a very deadly move on his part. If it weren't for all that training toughening your body up and Sade being there to heal your wounds, you might not have survived." Abele explained. As she expected, Abele saw Will start to tremble and look very afraid.
"He…He tried to…kill me? But I thought it was a non-lethal dual." Will said in a scared tone. Not even the Golem incident scared her this much. Then again, the Golems also did not try to burn her alive in supposedly non-lethal dual.
Abele gave a sad and regretful look as she replied, "It was, but Uriah was loosing, so he changed tactics to change the outcome in the battle. It not unheard of for mages to do so when they are about to be defeated; he is using the excuse that you were going to kill him with your next strike, so he attacked first in self-defense. What makes it worse is that Theresa is supporting the spoiled brat's story and has declared Uriah the winner of the dual. We tried to fight it, but we have not solid grounds to change the decision or punish Uriah for cheating."
Will was silent all through out Abele explanation, her mind still trying to grasp the news of her almost untimely end. 'I was not strong enough to defend myself when it really counted. If not for Sade, I would probably be dead right now. But for how much longer will I be able to count on that? I…I need to learn that technique. If I ever need to keep people from hurting me ever again, I'll need that kind if power if I ever need to survive on my own.' Will thought as she tried to figure where she could go practice with out anyone seeing her. Will did not want anyone knowing she learning a technique from an unknown source, they would try to talk her out of by saying it was too dangers.
"Will, are you alight?" Abele asked, feeling worried about the young girl's silence. Had the older woman knew of Will's current fears and plans, she would probably the lock the child up for her own protection and send word for Susan to get to the capital on the double.
"I'm…I'm alright Abele, can I got train for a while? I need to clear my head and be alone for a while." Will asked in hoped of being able to try learning that hybrid attack the scroll mention.
Abele did not like the depressed and quite tone Will spoke in. The powerful sorcerers assumed it was because the girl was still trying to grasp the news of what happen, which to small degree was true, but was far off from the real reason for Will strange behavior.
"I don't think that would be a good idea for you to train so soon after waking up, but I'll make you a deal. Rest up today and we will go to the palace tomorrow. Sade knows the girls want to see you after you woke up and thought it best for you all to get together, the day after you recovered. We can go early and you can use one the private training rooms to do your exercises." Abele said in hopes of reasoning with the young to girl to rest a little longer.
It seemed to work since though she seemed disappointed, Will relented to the Mage's request and laid down again. Abele smiled and took the tray away, wishing Will sweet dreams before exited the room.
After Abele left, Will took the scroll out and began to red the instruction on what to do before she could start using the Eldritch Lighting Blade. In the instructions, Will found out the names of the two original attacks that made of the more powerful one, but found out she could not use either one yet.
The spell was called Lighting Blade, which was a third level spell. At best, Will could only cast second level spells at this point, so the Lighting Blade was beyond her abilities at the moment.
But the spell sounded pretty powerful, since it seemed be a more advanced Shocking Grasp combined with a spell called Haste which made a person move much faster. Unlike a normal Shocking Grasp, which shocked an opponent when touched, the Lighting Blade made the lighting gather in the palm of the hand and then the user charges at their target with their now enhanced speed.
When the user of the Lighting Blade gets close, they aim for the chest or stomach and slam their palm into the target. The lighting focused in the palm combined with the speed of the thrust, deals tremendous amounts of damage to the target.
The second attack, the invocation, was also beyond Will current abilities since it was a Lesser grade invocation. Will could only use Least grade invocations, but like the Lighting Blade, this ability sounded powerful.
The invocation was called Eldritch Blade and seemed like it a Warlock version of the Lighting Blade. The main difference was that the Eldritch Blade was meant for point blank attacks instead of charging towards people. This made have a little less punch the Lighting Blade, but it was still very useful.
At first, Will thought this meant in might at least several months at least, before she could use the hybrid version of the two attacks, but then Will read a small note below the description of the two attacks.
It explained that the tattoo could be used to cheat and use the hybrid version before a person learned the other two attacks. But this put a huge strain on the body and made the user feel a lot pain, but it would let Will at least try the attack out.
'There person said they would be watching, but they might get impatient if I take too long. So I'll have to try and use the Eldritch Lighting Blade tomorrow, no matter what!' What Will though as she rolled up the scroll and hid it under the pillow again. She would have plenty of time to read the spell that put the tattoo on and practice the attack, but now she needed to rest up so she could train tomorrow.
000
Around one in the afternoon that day, Abele was in the study reading, when Julian and battered looking Caleb came in. "What happened?!" Abele asked in shock as she rushed over to check on her son.
"There was debate, they lost and we won…until Knickerbocker got involved anyway." Caleb replied wincing at his mother touch one of the bruises. "Who exactly is we and what this 'debate' about?" Abele demanded as she continued to check on the damage to her son.
"From what Knickerbocker told me when I got a message to come to the school; Caleb, Cornelia, Taranee, Elyon, Matt and Nigel fought half the school in the cafeteria and pretty much destroyed that whole room. Will and Uriah's duel was as big issue as many expected and our son's group disagreed with the majority of the school apparently." Julian explained to his wife in a dry tone, though he silently applauded his son's attempt to defend Will's honor from those ignorant brats' insults.
"How did they destroy the whole cafeteria before the teachers could intervene? And how could Nigel be involved? He does not even go to Sheffield!" Abele exclaimed as her mind tried to wrap around the idea of her son picking fight with half the school!
"Nigel snuck in to see Taranee. As for how they could destroy that whole room before the teachers stepped, think about it for a moment. Five magic users that are well above the average skill level of most the school and a Raging Barbarian can deal out a lot of damage over the course of five minutes" Julian replied and his words made Abele face go pale.
"You mean they…" Abele started to say, but her voice trailed off as the mental images of what that section of the school must look like now. After few second of silence Abele fixed her steely gaze on Caleb, who now quickly started running from his mother. Only a fool wanted to risk being near his mother when she looked that angry.
"Caleb, get back here this minute!" Abele screamed as she chased after her son, while Julian silently prayed his son would live to see another day. 'True he helped destroy a small portion of the school and got kicked out for a month, but I certainly can't blame him for running away from what ever punishment his mother has in mind right now.' Julian thought, as he went to go sit and wait for his wife and what was left of his son to return.
000
The next day, Will, Abele and Caleb were at the palace gates. Caleb was only along because Abele had arranged for Caleb to help clean the stalls as punishment until he was back in school. Will never knew the reason to why Caleb got suspended, other then he got into a fight. Abele and Julian did not want Will blaming herself for Caleb getting into trouble on her behalf, since Will had a habit of blaming herself for those kind of things.
Sade herself greet them in the great hall, where wrapped her arms around Will when the Queen caught site of the redhead. "It's good to see your feeling better Will. I swear the second that boy crosses the line in anyway ever again; I'll make him pay!" Sade stated which made Will give a small smile to the ruler of Meridian, but the sadness of her current beliefs still evident in her eyes.
This unsettled Sade, but Abele discreetly signaled the other woman to not pry into the matter. "Sade, Will has been wanting to get back to her training and I think she has a bit of pent up frustration form the last few days. I think she could use some time alone in one of the private training rooms, if that's possible. And of course, you know I want this thing I call a son to do." Abele said in gentle tone when referring to Will, but in a rough one when referring to Caleb.
Sade nodded her head and pointed off in a direction while saying, "You know where to go. Start with Celesta's lair, she made it nice and mucky for you. Don't worry about Silvia's; a certain daughter of mine is already dealing with her section." This made Caleb shudder at the thought as he started heading to what he considered was his doom.
"Lair? Since when do horses have lairs?" Will asked as she watched Caleb head off for…where ever he was going, the smirk on the two women's faces making her worried for her crush.
"Neither of are them horses Will, they are something much bigger and much meaner then any horse. Well actually, they are not mean unless you do something to Elyon or me first, but they are not pleasant to clean up after." Sade answered, as she motioned for Will to follow.
Will did as she was beckoned, all the while trying to figure out what kind of creatures Caleb was cleaning up after. A few minutes later, they were in front of a large wooden door which Sade was unlocking for Will.
"The room has any equipment you might need and is made to take a beating, so don't worry about having to hold back on your training. Though I would prefer it if you wouldn't push your self to hard Will. You have only just recently recovered from a rather difficult ordeal." Sade warned in a concerned tone, making Will wonder is she should try this new power out so soon.
'No, don't start doubting yourself now Will! You need to do this!' Will mentally told herself, before speaking to Sade. "I'll try not to take it too far." Will replied quietly and as she entered the large training room. Both Abele and Sade watched the redhead go, both feeling a bit worried about the child, but consoled them selves of the thought that Will would be smiling again soon.
'With the surprises we have in store for her, how can she not?' Sade thought as she closed the door and the two women went to go finish preparations for what they had planned.
000
Once she was safely inside the room, Will quickly took the scroll out of the bag she had brought along. She had said she had brought a change of clothes for when she was done with her training, so no one really gave the bag a second thought and made it easy for Will to sneak the object in.
She quickly took off her tunic and opened the scroll to where the tattoo spell was written. Will then started to read from the scroll aloud and as she did, her left arm started to have a burning feeling flow though it.
Will fought the urge to scream as she kept reading and red markings start to form on her shoulder. The markings slowly spread down Will's arm and eventually reached the back and palm of her hand. After Will was done reading from the scroll, she clenched her teeth and started hissing in pain.
The markings were still glowing bright red, but slowly they grew dimmer and dimmer over the course of an hour, the pain weakening along with the glow. Once the pain was gone, Will started panting heavily, the pain had worn her out and she barely had the energy to put her tunic back on.
It took a two-hour nap for Will to get her energy back and was able to finally go for the moment of truth. Could she perform the Eldritch Lighting Blade or not? Will was getting ready to find out, as she red the last part of the scroll. It seemed that using the hybrid attack was the same as using the Lighting Blade, the Eldritch Blade simply just merged with the spell to create single powerful attack.
'Okay, it seems simple enough. Guess now its time to see if I can handle a little more pain and use this thing.' Will thought stood several feet away from a wooden practice dummy and then, she clutched her left arm with her right hand and willed the tattoo to work.
The mystic markings on her arm started to draw energy from both her magical and supernatural reserves. A crackling sound started coming from her left palm as lighting gather in it. This is when the burning feeling returned and Will clenched teeth and shut her eyes tight as the redhead battled the pain once again.
As Will fought to maintain her attack, the lighting changed to a mixture of red and pink in color, like her eldritch blasts would look like. The Eldritch Lighting Blade pretty much complete, all that was left was for Will to go through with it or not.
'I…Must…Do…This!' Will screamed in her mind and redhead's eyes snapped open. Will then charged towards the wooden dummy with her now enhanced speed. Will then thrusts the palm towards where a person's heart would be and slams deadly attack in the target.
The dummy is then blow apart by the force of the blow and Will drops to her knees in pain and exhaustion. "I…did it. Not sure if I can do it again though. Maybe I should have waited until I was able to do it properly." Will said to herself as she panted heavily and hoped her arm would stop hurting soon.
"And make me wait that long to see the results? I don't think so!" Will heard a familiar voice say and make her blood run cold. Will slowly looked over to see a man with short red hair and cold blue eyes and who's body was draped in a black cloak. It was her father, then man she had not scene since she was three years old, yet she could still easily recognized him after all this time.
Will trembled in fear as her father came closer, she also remembered how cold and cruel he had been and did not think he had changed in nine years. "What's wrong Will? Not happy to see your own father? I'm hurt!" Will's father said in obviously fake hurt tone. The man nearly killed her every time he tried to 'toughen her up' or 'bring out her full potential', so somehow Will doubted he cared if she was glad to see him or not.
Will did not responded to her father's taunt and focused on getting pot her feet so she could run, but the man grabbed Will's arm before she was even half way up. "I don't think so. I waited to long for this day to let you run away again. Now, why don't we get going, so I can keep my promise about teaching on how to better use that tattoo? I can teach you things that even that elf would not even think of, so you'll grow much faster and stronger under my tutelage." Will's father said as he tied to pull the redhead towards him, but Will fought back.
Channeling power into her fist using the Hideous Blow invocation, Will tried to punch her father in the gut, but he was too quick and simply let go of Will arm so he could side step the swing.
"If you wanted a sparing match, all you had to do was ask." Will father said in a mocking tone and had an arrogant grin on his face. Angered by this, Will fired off an eldritch blast at her father, but he just moved his head to the side a bit and the shot fired past him harmlessly.
"Let me know when you're finished warming up." The man said as he continued to mock his daughter. He was glad to see the anger in her eyes, anger would be more useful then fear when he started training her again. Fear may encourage obedience, but anger and hate motivated a person to become stronger then the one they hated, which would make the girl a stronger weapon and more useful for his future plans.
"I don't know why you want me back, but I'll never go with you. I won't go through that ever again!" Will screamed as she casts the Flare spell in hoped of blinding her father, then strike while he was defenseless. As the burst of light appeared in front of her father, Will fired another eldritch blast and this time…it went through him!
"A word of advise my darling daughter. You'll need more advanced tactics then that to beat me." Will heard her father voice said from behind her. Will turned her head to see he was actually there, and the spun around to see an image of her father fading out of existence from where he had been a moment ago.
"How did you…" Will said fearfully, start to think that she could not beat this man even with all the training she had done over the last few months.
"It's quite simple my dear. Using a little invocation called Flee the Scene, I can instantly teleport to a near by location, while leaving a realistic image of myself behind to fool my opponents. It's also good for quick escapes, but I doubt you could use it at your current level since it a Lesser grade invocation like the Eldritch Blade." Will father replied in a casual tone, like it was minor trick or at least for him it was.
As Will tried to think of a way to escape this man she called her father, the door the training room opened and the girls, Caleb and Matt walked in. "Hey Will! Long time…no…see. Who is that?" Irma asked as she caught sight of Will's father.
Hay Lin was just as confused as her best friend, but Caleb, Matt, Cornelia, Taranee and Elyon's faces darkened at sight of the man. "You have some nerve showing your face around here!" Caleb said as he drew his sword, while Matt and Cornelia did the same.
Mean while, Taranee and Elyon were getting ready to attack with their spells, making it look like things were going to get ugly really fast. "Irma, you and Hay Lin better get ready for a fight because this guy's dangerous." Caleb said coldly, making the girls quickly agree and draw their weapons.
"How rude! We were having a conversation before you seven walked in. Oh well, if you want join this little party, be my guests." Will's father said with an evil grin on his face and drew his sword.
Will fearing for her friends lives, quickly did the one thing that she knew could save them from certain death. "Don't hurt them and I'll go with you quietly! I'll even do anything you say, just please…don't hurt them." Will begged her father, hoping the man would be more tempted by getting what he originally wanted, over taking a few lives.
Will's friends looked at her in shock, while her father looked at her with a sadistic grin. "All I need to do to get my ultimate weapon is spare a few insignificant lives? Can't really pass up that offer, now can I? But one step out of line, even a smidge and I'll hunt them down…got it?" Will father replied and got scared nod of acceptance from the redheaded half-elf. To bad the others were not going to be so accepting.
"Your not going anywhere with him Will!" Irma yelled out and along with Matt, Caleb and Cornelia; charged Will's father head on with their weapons ready to strike. But the red haired man reacted to quickly and fired a black colored eldritch blast at Irma.
The blast struck its target dead on but then did something unexpected; it bounced from Irma after it her, and then hit Cornelia, then Matt, then Caleb. Each time the blast hit its target it also sent it flying backwards as if repelling the person it struck.
As Will watched in horror her father said, "Don't worry I pulled the attack. I said I would not hurt them, but I won't let them interfere either." As Will's father said this, Taranee and Elyon both fired a Scorching Ray at the man, but he quickly countered by activating his Entropic Warding invocation to block them.
"This is so easy, I almost feel bad that I'm winning. Keyword, almost!" Will's father said as he casts a spell called Sleep to make his opponents pass out. Unfortunately, Caleb and Matt were too strong to be effected while the other girls passed out, but this was only a minor annoyance to the powerful warlock.
"Too bad your Hexblade spells aren't that strong you bastard!" Caleb said as he and Matt got back on their feet, but Will's father did not look effected by Caleb's taunt. Mean while, Will was recalling just how powerful her father was. She knew he was a Gifted, but she never knew what he classes were because she had been too young to understand at the time, but now she did.
Her father's first class was of course Warlock, which is obviously where inherited her own Warlock powers from, but her father's other class was just as frightening despite what Caleb insults about it's magic power, the Hexblade Class.
Hexblades were warriors with access to a limited selection of spells that either augmented their own abilities or hamper their enemies. They also had access to an ability called Hexblade's Curse, which was used to weaken their opponents' abilities. They also had what was called the Aura of Unluck, which affected the ones they were fighting in melee's combats luck to be affected badly. (AN: Tony Vandom: Gifted in Hexblade & Warlock Classes, Character Level 20)
"You have lost boy, just give it up and save yourself a world of hurt." Will's father said in casual tone, but neither Caleb nor Matt listened. They both charged the dark warrior but it was a vain attempt.
Matt was has hit with another eldritch blast before he even got close and was knocked out this time by the attack. The blasts bounced off Matt's chest like last time, but Caleb managed to dodge the rebounding attack and take a swing Will's father.
But Caleb's blade was blocked by the more powerful warrior and was finished off in the worse way, with the Eldritch Blade. Even when pulled, the powerful attacks hurt Caleb greatly, as it struck him in the chest and sent him flying back and land on the ground hard.
"I warned him, but he did not listen. He is as stubborn as his father. Let's get going Will, we have wasted enough time here as it is." Will father stated as he placed one hand on his daughter's should and used the ring on the other to teleport away, leaving the girl's fallen friends behind.
Caleb was still very much awake though and despite being in a lot of pain, knew he needed to get up and tell in his mother and the Queen about this right away. 'Come on body, Will needs you to work so we can save her from that man. Why does Tony Vandom want Will anyway?' Caleb thought as used his sword as a crutch and limped off towards where his mother and Sade were, hoping he would not be too late.
000
Back with Will and her father, they appeared in a clearing with cave in the middle of it. Will was wondering where they were, when he father called towards the cave, "Black Wing! Let's get moving! I don't want to risk having the royal guard following us, so we need to leave!" Tony yelled in a commanding tone. Will was wondering who Black Wing was and why it sounded so familiar. She did not need to wonder long though, because Will heard something moving inside the cave and out came a black dragon.
Now Will remembered who Black Wing was, it was her father's familiar and a deadly one at that. Will also remembered how cruel and short-tempered the scaly creature was and was not looking forward to what her father had planned if her guess was right.
"If you did your job right, then they will not even notice the girl is gone until we are far away." The black dragon growled at Tony, but the man ignored his temperamental partner's comment looked at his daughter.
"Get on and do try to do a better job of holding then when you were younger." Tony ordered, which Will obeyed with out hesitation. She knew her father would be true to his word about going back to finish her friends, so she knew she could not protest about riding the one creature who loved to try and make her fall off when they high up in the air.
"You don't seems happy to see me again, half-breed." The dragon said evilly as he smelled the fear radiating from the girl. He loved how intimidated the girl was of him and enjoyed freighting Will as a child. It brought black-hearted creature such pleasure.
"Would you be happy to see a creature that tried to spit acid at you when you could hardly walk?!" Will yelled at Black Wing just responded, "Your still alive so what the problem?"
"Both of you shut up and get moving!" Tony barked out and climbed onto the Black Wing's back and singled the huge beast to start flying. The dragon obeyed and Will grabbed onto the saddle that was on the dragon's back, or at least what little she could with her father sitting in it. Will mostly just grabbed onto the strap that held the saddle in position and prayed she would not fall off, as they took to the sky.
000
Back at the palace, a cloaked figure was riding at full gallop into the courtyard with a large number of soldiers behind the person. As the figure got close to the castle's main entrance, a servant took the reigns of the mount and person got off.
"Her highness is waiting in the royal gardens my lady." The servant said as he led the horse to wards the castle stalls. "Thank you.' The hooded woman replied and headed for the gardens.
A few minutes later, the hooded figure was with in sight of the two women, they stood and met the figure in a friendly embrace. "It is good your back! Your are probably needed here more then you were ever needed at the ruins." Sade said as she broke away from the figure; who was removing her hood to reveal the face of Susan Vandom.
"What do you mean? Is there something wrong with Will?" Susan asked in concerned tone as she completely removed her cloak. From the way her friend's voice sounded, it seemed a lot had happened while Susan had been dealing with the creature in the ruins.
"With or with out counting what just happened?" Caleb's voice asked weakly, making the three women turn to see the boy being supported by a servant and looking like he had been attacked by a pack a wolves.
"Who have you been fighting now?!" Abele demanded, still very upset about her son's previous brawl. "Would you have preferred I let Tony Vandom take Will with out a fight mother!" Caleb growled at the woman, already in a bad mood about failing to protect Will and did not needed a lecture about fighting right now.
Abele's face went pale at hearing that name, as did Sade's. Susan on hand started to tremble with rage as she said in cold hard voice, "He…did…what?!" Susan was projecting an aura of pure rage right now and it was clear she was going to be calling for blood (mainly Tony's) any second now.
"Me, Matt and the girls were going to see Will in one of the training rooms. When we got there, we found her and Tony facing one another. When we got ready to try and fight him, Will said she would go with him willingly if he spared us. We tried to stop her but…he was too strong. He swatted us aside like flies and teleported away with Will." Caleb explained, looking away in shame as he finished retelling what happened.
"Caleb…there was no way you could have won, so there is no reason to be ashamed. You tried your best." Abele said as she tried to console her son. Susan normally would be supporting Abele in this attempt, but right now she wanted to focus on getting Will back from that monster.
"He has already taken one daughter from me, I won't let him take another!" Susan growled out as focused on the bracelet on her wrist, and used it connection to the circlet on Will's head to find the young girl. Mean while Sade, Abele and Caleb looked at the woman in shock, had she declared Will…her daughter?
'It's about time!' Both Abele and Sade thought and had feeling Tony was going to hate his soon to come confrontation with his former wife. But few seconds they heard Susan let out a growl frustration and anger then heard the woman yelled out, "They're travailing by air and are moving to fast for me to be able to teleport to their location. I…can't save her. I failed Will like I failed Wilhelmina twelve years ago." Susan's lat words were said in her knees as she started crying over loosing another child to her former husband.
As Susan sobbed away, Sade realized something. 'Will and Wilhelmina…could they be…' The queen started to think, when a female voice called out from overhead, "Teleporting maybe out, but what about flying?" Susan stopped crying and looked up to see someone she had not seen in years.
"Serenity?!" Susan called out as gold dragon landed down in the garden.
000
An hour later, Will was still holding on for dear life. Black Wing had taken the liberty of keeping the flight 'entertaining' but Will often wondered who he was trying to entertain. It certainly was not fun for her, that was for sure!
'One more dive bomb and I'm going loose what ever is in my stomach!' Will screamed in her mind as they flew along. For the moment at her father command, they were flying straight and fast. He was not in the mood for Black Wings games when they had an important mission to finish.
'Once we get her back in his highness' territory, we will have another weapon to use when we are ready to attack Meridian. Or at least 'we' will until it's my time to act. Then I'll use the girl's power to help me over throw that brat and take command of MY kingdom!' Tony thought as they the got with in sight the eastern mountains. They marked the end of Meridian's territory. After they got past them, they would be in what was called the Dark Lands, a place where many evil races lived and was currently trying to be united under Tony's master's rule.
'He probably won't succeed in unifying all the tribes and clans, but at least he can build an army that will take this kingdom by storm. That's when I'll…wait. What is this feeling? No! How did she catch up so quickly!' Tony thought as felt like an invisible weight get place on him. It was the feeling of a Dimensional Anchor spell being placed on him, prevent him from teleporting or using other form of instant magical transportation.
Tony then looked back just in time to see a lighting bolt come flying at him. He barely moved his head out of the way in time to dodge it and saw a golden colored dragon flying towards them. "Blast that woman! She never knows when to call it quiets! Black Wing evasive maneuvers!" Tony commanded, knowing an air battle was not to their advantage.
Black Wing did as he was told, he was under no desire to go toe to toe with Serenity, not after what happened the last time they fought. 'It took forever for my wings to heal she tore them to shreds!' The black dragon thought as he to shake his pursuer, much Will's dismay.
'Who is following us? Can't be anyone I know of, because I don't know anyone who knows a gold dragon.' Will thought as she tried to hold on tight and stay down as lighting bolts fired at them.
No matter what Back Wing did though, the gold dragon stayed on them and was now flying overhead. Will looked up to see figure jump off gold dragon and land on Black Wing's back. "Susan?!" Will gasped as she saw her teacher touch down, noticing the woman seemed to be floating more then standing. Unknown it Will, this was because of a Fly spell that Susan had cast before jumping off her partner's back, knowing the that fight on the Black dragon's back would be impossible.
"Long time no see Tony. I believe you have something I hold dear to me, two things actually. But I'll make sure Will is safe before I beat the location of our daughter out of you!" Susan stated as she drew her sword for battle.
"You should have never come Susan. I won't loose this time." Tony said coldly as called on an invocation called Fell Flight to start flying as well so he could fight Susan on equal terms. Will just watched the two adults stare each other down, apart of her wondering what Susan meant by the 'their daughter' comment.
"If you to are going to fight, it certainly won't be on my back!" Black Wing stated and started whipping around in an attempt to shake its 'passengers' off.
"Aaaahhh!" Will screamed as she flung off and started free falling towards the ground below. Both Susan and Tony both moved to save Will, but each of their reasons were as different as night and day. Tony just wanted his key to more power and Will could not be that key if she was dead, while Susan on the other hand was doing it out love and concern for the girl's well being.
"It's alight Will, I got you!" Susan called out as she reached for Will, but Tony was not going let the dark haired woman succeed. "No your don't!" Tony yelled as he cast Dispel Magic to cancel out Susan's Fly spell. The sudden loss of her spell made Susan drop slower because of a sudden updraft and let Tony fly past her.
As Tony reached to grab Will, though Susan proved she had not given up, by using a Telekinesis spell to fling Tony away from Will, then pulled the young girl into her grasp. Once Will was in her grasp, Susan casts another fly spell so they would stop falling.
"Are we on the ground yet?!" Will cried out with a sob, her eyes had been shut tight since getting flung off by Black Wing and dared not open her eyes until she was sure her feet were on solid ground again.
"Not yet Will, but we will be soon." Susan told the frightened girl, who was clinging to Susan for dear life. Will berried her face into Susan's shoulder and continued to sob lightly, hoping there would be no more falling in the near future.
Susan tried her best to comfort Will, but suddenly was opened upon by a barrage of eldritch blasts. Tony was making it clear he either going to have Will or kill her in the attempt to get her back.
As Susan started dodging the blasts, Will starting wishing the two would land and finish this on the ground. Susan was of course trying to do this, but Tony's attacks were not making it an easy task.
000
Back with the dragons, Black Wing and Serenity were continuing their air battle. Serenity was clearly the bigger, stronger and faster of the two, but Black Wing was proving to be a bit more agile so it he was keeping out the way of gold dragon's attacks.
Serenity would try to breath fire at Black Wing, but the other dragon would counter by spewing acid right back. Back Dragons preferred ambush tactics over head on conflicts and Black Wing was no exception. But he was clearly not going to be able to do this, because Serenity was sticking to him like glue.
"Your going down this time Black Wing! There is no escape!" Serenity roared as she let loose another blast of fire from her mouth, this time hitting the black dragon dead on. But it did not do much damage to the black dragon's tough hide.
"I have no intention of dieing this day you gold plated pest!" Black roared back and let loose another stream of acid from his mouth. The acid hit one of Serenity's wings rendering it useless, but as the gold dragon fell, she made sure to drag the black dragon down with her!
As Serenity felly, she latch onto one of Black Wing's wings with her claws and shredded it to pieces. "Not again!" Black Wing roared as both great beasts to hit the ground hard. Both weakly got up and shook of the dazed feeling before they started to circle one another.
After a minute of doing so, both gold and black dragon lunged at one another. They bit, clawed and slammed one another, each trying to destroy the other. Serenity was proving to have the advantage, since Black Wing's superior agility was only present when flying. On the ground, they were both pretty even in that department.
Of course, Black Wing was getting his fair share of attacks in at well and both looked pretty badly beat up. Each had huge slash and bite marks in their scaly hides and were covered in their own and each other's blood. When dragons fought, they went all out.
"Time to end this battle!" Black Wing roared as he spewed out more acid, but Serenity was able to get in close and slammed her claw into the side of Black Wing's face. This knocked his aim off and sent Black Wing's acid flying in a direction away from Serenity, and leaving the gold dragon an opening to deliver the finishing blow.
Serenity pulled Back Wing to the ground, than sunk her teeth into Black Wing's exposed throat. Serenity held her jaws in place until her enemy moved no more, signaling it was over. After she released her hold, Serenity started to walk away but exhaustion finally over took the gold dragon and she collapsed.
'I hope you can win on your own Susan, because I'm too weak to help at the moment.' Serenity thought as she slowly drifted into a deep sleep. Her wounds would not kill her but had been enough to take her out battle and leaving Susan to deal with Tony alone.
000
Back with Susan, Will and Tony; the chase was still on. Tony was the was the one doing most of the attacking, but that was only because Susan was more focused on getting Will somewhere safe on the ground before going on the offensive.
'That bastard! He wants Will for some reason, yet he is going to get her killed at this rate!' Susan growled in her mind as she and Tony flew through the air, both competing for who would claim the child in Susan's arms.
"Give me that brat, Susan or I'll…Aaahhh!" Tony started to yell out, but the started roaring in pain. Susan was confused a second for the reason for all this, but then realized what was happening. 'Looks like Serenity came out the victor of her battle. I hope she was not too badly hurt during the fight.' Susan thought as she came to the conclusion that Tony was now suffering from the sudden mental feedback of having one's familiar killed. It was something all Wizards, Sorcerers and Hexblades feared would happen, but having the loyal life-long companion often made them take the risk.
Susan quickly took advantage of the situation and landed to the ground behind a rock face, then started to check and make sure Will was all right. "It's okay sweetie, you can open your eyes now. We won't be flying again anytime soon." Susan assured the young redhead and gently caressed the girl's cheek in a motherly fashion.
Will slowly opened her eyes to look into Susan's and had a suddenly felt all warm in side at the loving expression on the woman's face. Will wondered what this feeling was, but pushed those thought aside as she asked, "Why…Why are you here?"
Susan felt hurt by Will's question, because the tone was filled with disbelief and shock. It was almost like Will had been expecting no one to care that she was being taken away. "I'm here to bring you back home Will. But first I need to beat some information out of that man. Wait here until I get back." Susan answered and headed out to face off against her former husband.
Will watched Susan leave and quickly went to peek around the rock face, not wanting to miss seeing this confrontation. Despite still believe she would be abandoned one day, Will still hoped Susan would win. The woman had trained and protected her and would always hold a special place in the redhead's heart.
It was the place a mother would normally fill a child's heart, something the young girl finally realized after all this time. 'I wish she was my mother. Maybe then I would never have to be alone.' Will thought sadly as she watched her father recover and stare Susan down.
000
"You should have ran, Susan. You would have gotten the brat safely back to the caste and out of my reach…for a short while at least." Tony said as he got into a fighting stance. Susan did the same as she replied, "I want both my little girls back Tony, not just Will. After I beat you, I'll find out where you're hiding Wilhelmina and have my family back!"
Tony looked confused for a moment, then slowly stated to chuckle until it become and all out fit of laughter. The laughter infuriated Susan and made her roar out in anger, "What do you find so funny you monster?!"
After a few moment, Tony stopped laughing like a mad man and grinned at Susan evilly as he replied, "You don't get it do you? Take a look at the girl and think. Didn't you once notice she has my hair, your eyes, your skin, and your face? Take all that into account along with the fact she is a half-elf and has Warlock and Sorcerer blood in her veins, what do you get you foolish woman?!"
Susan was stunned by Tony's words and implication. Not once did she think of any of that and truly made her feel like a fool. If what Tony was saying was true, then her child had been by her side all this time!
"If that is the case, then all that is left for me to is make sure you can never hurt Will ever again!" Susan growled as she dove at Tony and both began their deadly dance. When this fight ended, one would walk away the victor, the other would be sent on a one-way ticket to meet the god of death in the afterlife.
000
Through out the whole verbal show down between Susan and Tony, Will listened intently. When she first heard Susan say she was here for both her little girls, the half-elf's hopes began to rise. Susan was claiming Will as her child as well this mystery girl, it made Will finally believe someone truly cared for her.
But then her father's words hit Will harder then they had hit Susan. Will could not believe it, Susan was her actual mother? The one parent she dreamed of meeting as a little girl had been looking after her for the last few months? It seemed too good to be true!
'Please…don't let this be one of dad's lies.' Will begged what divine beings that might be listening, as well as pray that Susan would be alight when this was all over.
000
The battle between Susan and Tony was fierce one; both to Will's great surprise were using the Soaring Blade sword style at a master's level of skill. Will did not know it, but back when Tony and Susan cared for one another, Susan had taught the fighting style to Tony and now both were trying to use it to destroy each other.
A master of Soaring Blade was a sight to see, since this principle of the style was to be in constant motion. This was why a key part of the style was the prediction of your opponent's movement, because if a person was constantly moving and did not predict how their enemy was going to react, could be cut down before they had a chance to defend them selves.
This was even more important when fighting another practitioner of Soaring Blade because if your opponent was constantly moving like you were, they were negating your initial prediction and making their own as well. In the end, it was going to be a contest of who would out maneuver the other that would determine who survived this deadly dual.
Will watched in awe as her mother and father fought. Their blades were a blur to Will, the only reason she knew they were being blocked was because of constant clashing sound the two swords made when they hit another.
Will wondered is she would even half as good as either of her parents when it came to using Soaring Blade. The two moved constantly at high-speeds and occasional performed acrobatic maneuvers, where one or both would jump into the air and attack at odd angles, then launch at one another when they touch back down on the ground.
Eventually though, the two combatants broke away from their battle and tried to catch their breath. Both were heavily winded from the non-stop fighting. Tony knew he needed to kick things up a notch and activated the one thing Susan had been worried about.
Tony used his Hexblade powers to call on his Aura of Unluck and could very well tip the scales in this battle. Susan countered by casting Cat's Grace and Haste for a boost in both speed and agility, hoping that would at least keep her on even ground.
It was not to be though, because the Aura of Unluck quickly took effect and made Susan miscalculate her speed and aloud Tony to knock Susan's sword from her hand. The sword hit the ground at a bad angle and shattered on impact, the strain from the earlier action taking its toll on the blade.
But Tony's small victory was short lived, as Susan fired a green ray of light from her finger and Tony's sword vanished into thin air. The ray the elvin woman had fired was called Disintegrate and as the name implied, it disintegrated what ever it touched.
Susan then jumped further back and gripped her arm liked Will had done earlier when practicing the Eldritch Lighting Blade. Will was shocked to see it the spell version Susan was using, as the lighting gathered in her mother's hand and looked the woman was planning on using the deadly attack to try and finish Tony off.
Tony was not beaten yet though. He jumped back as well and to Will's horror, called on the hybrid attack to counter Susan's spell. Unlike Will's Eldritch Lighting Blade, Tony's attack was black in color and looked a lot stronger then Will as well.
Will was about scream out for her mother to run, but then noticed her mother's attack was changing as well. The Lighting Blade seemed to become stronger and gave off humming sound to go along with the crackling sound of electricity. Will heard of this ability, it was called Energy Admixture and was powerful trick to use with combat spells.
Most combat spells fell under five damage categories Acid, Sonic, Cold, Electricity or Fire and with the Energy Admixture ability, a magic user could add one of these energy types to an existing spell. Doing this double a spell destructive power and if Will's guess was right, her mother's attack was now equal to her father's.
It was contest of what was better. Tony Vandom's Eldritch Lighting Blade, which was combination of two different attacks or Susan's super charged Lighting Blade. They were about to find out because they then charged at another other, thrusting their hands forward to strike.
The Blade attacks met one another head on and both magic users tried to over power the other. It was looking pretty even until Tony used a trick only he (and possibly Will when she got stronger) could do. He powered up an Eldritch Blade in his free hand and slammed it into his Susan's shoulder and sent the woman flying back in pain.
As Susan landed on her back, Tony opened fire with a wave of eldritch blasts. In a surprising act, he pulled the attacks and barraged the now helpless woman. By the time he was done, Susan looked badly beaten up. Her clothes were torn or scorched from the blasts and she was bruised all over.
As Tony advanced on Susan's prone form he said, "I was originally planning on killing you, but I think I now have a much better idea. I'm bringing you both back with me and I'm going to find out if we can produce another little weapon. We gave birth to one child who is Gifted in three classes, lets how many more we can have."
Susan looked up at the man contempt as she weakly replied, "You see your own daughter as nothing more then a weapon? You disgust me." Tony just laughed at her and leaned down to touch Susan's face in a seductive manner. It made Susan sick that he dared do this, but was powerless to stop him.
To bad for Tony, his battle was not over yet, because he still had one more person to face before he could say he won, Will. The redhead stepped out from behind the rocks she had been hiding in and demanded in cold voice, "Get your slimy hands off my mother!"
Tony looked over to see his daughter taking a stance that would prepare her to use the Eldritch Lighting Blade, the attack he had given her access to because of his scheming.
"Do you honestly believe you defeat me with a weaker version of MY attack? You could barely use it when you magic reserves were full and did not know of the full force of the pain you would endure. You probably barely have enough magic to even create the attack, let alone hit me with it!" Tony mocked his daughter, clearly confident he would defeat this girl, since she was much weaker then her mother.
"I won't hit you with it…I kill you with it!" Will screamed and called that tattoo's power and created the powerful and painful attack. Tony's face darkened at his daughter's threat and got ready to use his own Eldritch Lighting Blade. He had Susan now, he could afford to kill the girl and make a new weapon, an obedient one.
"I hope you said your prayers brat, because this you last day on…" Tony started to say, but suddenly found himself unable to move or even speak! 'What's going on?! A Hold Person spell? But from…dam you Susan!' Tony though as he realized the woman behind him still had enough strength left to use her magic. If Will managed to pull off using the Eldritch Lighting Blade while Tony was unable to move, he would be killed for sure!
Will's hand arm quickly started to burn again as she powered up the deadly attack. The pain was felt even worse then before, but Will did not care. She would not fail in protecting her mother!
Will then charged forward and when she got close, slammed her powerful attack right Tony's chest. The super charged palm thrust struck right where the evil Warlock's heart would be and the attack punched a hole right through the man, killing him instantly.
'For once in my life, I was not worthless.' Will thought as she passed out. The pain and exhaustion of using the attack a second time was too much for her and collapsed. Susan released the spell on Tony's corpse and watched it crumble to the ground before she slowly crawled over to her daughter's side. Once there, Susan made herself sit up and place Will's head on her lap, trying to make unconscious girl as comfortable as Susan could.
'Once I regain enough strength, I teleport us back to palace sweetheart. Sade will be able to treat you wounds then.' Susan thought as she looked down at her slumbering daughter, knowing much more about her former husband's tattoo then the redhead did.
The pain Will felt when using it was from the forcing of mystical energy to do something it could not yet do, so Will was actually doing terrible damage to her body and let untreated, could be cripple Will later in life.
Fortunately, it sounded like this was only Will's second time using the Eldritch Lighting Blade. So taking that into account, along with Will still being young, strong and healthy and the fact Sade was dam good Cleric, the long terms damage should be nothing at all.
As Susan ran her finger through newly discovered daughter's short red hair, she heard a loud roar overhead. The elvin woman looked up to see a large silver dragon swoop down and land in front of Susan and Will.
Sade jumped down from the new dragon's back and looked the two over, then looked over at Tony's body cringed at the sight of the hole in his chest. "I hope you got the information you wanted out of him before you killed him." The Queen of Meridian commented as she leaned down to check on Will.
"Tony actually told me of his own free will. He wanted to mock me for being so blind to not realizing it sooner." Susan said as she looked down at Will and the Queen caught onto the subtle hint.
"I was actually wondering that just before you left. The fact Tony wanted Will, her classes and race, even the names were similar. Of course I did not have time to tell you, since you left so quickly. Not that it was important considering the circumstances." Sade said as she examined Will body, then gasped in shock.
"I see you noticed. It seems Will learned it somehow, she probably has the tattoo on her left arm to prove it." Susan answered the soon to come question and made the Queen quickly to starts casting a healing spell.
Will was going to need to sleep off most the effects still, but at least now the damage had been reversed. There side effect to Will's mystic energy that would need time to recover and no spell would be able to help, only a lot of bed rest and no use of magic for a while.
"Let's get you both back to the palace. Celesta, can you please help Serenity get back?" Sade asked her familiar , who nodded her head in response. "Of course Sade. I saw where she was when we flew here, it might take a while to get back though. Her wing looked badly damaged." The silver dragon responded and too to the sky again to go help her fallen comrade.
With that, Sade teleported her two patients back to the capital. Both were in needed of a long rest after this ordeal.
000
'Where…am I?' Will wondered as she finally woke up. She was starting to wonder if she was making a habit of waking up clueless when heard a voice ask, "Will, are you awake?"
Will looked over to the spot next to her and as her blurry vision cleared, she found Susan lying next to her. Though the bruises the woman had gained were gone, Will could tell Susan was far from full strength still.
"Hey there sleepy head, how are you feeling?" Susan asked as she gently ran her hand down the side of Will's face in a comforting manner. Will was silent for moment, enjoying the gentle physical contact before she finally answered, "Very weak for some reason. What happened Susan?"
Susan smiled and tapped Will on the nose before saying, "Now why are you calling me that? I think you know what you should be calling me." Will just turned her head away, like she was ashamed and replied, "Do I even deserve to call you that?"
Susan, shocked Wills words, pulls the young girl closer and makes Will look her in the eye. "Where is that coming from? In fact, you were acting strange when I came to get you away from your father. Did your father saying something I should know about?" Susan asked gently but made it clear Will needed to answer truthfully.
Will tried to remain silent but her mother's gaze made the girl's defenses crumble and relent to her mother's demand. "I had a spell dual with this boy Uriah and he…said things. Things that made so much sense they have to be true." Will answered trying her best to break eye contact with her mother, but was being thwarted every time she tried.
Susan's eyes widened at this news, she had been told of the dual and that the boy had been taunting Will with something during the match, but no one knew what he said. What ever it was had clearly affected Will in ways Susan did not like.
"Will I need you to tell me what he said so I can set every thing straight. I have no doubt what so ever the boy had were meant to hurt you, not actual facts." Susan told her daughter firmly, hoping she could Will to open up a little and let Susan make things a little better for her little girl.
"He said…people only cared about me because they felt sorry for me and that one day, they would just throw me aside when they got over it." Will told her mother, as her eyes starting to fill with tears. This made Susan pull Will into a comforting embrace, silently making a vow to kill that boy when she got her hands on him.
'I thought I helped Will stop thinking like this, but I was obviously wrong. Uriah Dunn seems to have destroyed a lot of my attempts help Will and now I have to start all over again.' Susan thought as she tried to calm Will down again.
After Will stopped crying Susan pulled away bit and said, "Will, you should not listen to a word someone like Uriah Dunn says. They'll say anything that will hurt someone and is often far from the truth, like this time for example. Do you think your friends would have tried to fight your father if they did not truly care for you? That alone proves Uriah was lying."
The words seemed to have had the intended effect, because a hopeful look filled Will's eyes and asked, "So no one is going abandon me? I won't be alone again?" This made Susan nodded her head, assuring the young girl everything was going to be all right.
After that Will curled up into her mother chest, finally able to lower all of her defenses for the first time in her whole life. There where of course lots of questions she wanted to ask, so thought now would be as good a time as any. "Mom...what happens now? Will anything change from what it was like before?" Will asked, knowing full well that thing rarely stayed the same after something big like this.
Susan smiled down at her daughter as she replied, "A few things, the first of which is this has to go." With that, Susan gently removed circlet from around Will's head. Susan also removed the bracelet from around her wrist and placed the two objects on the near by nightstand.
"B-But what about my sentence? Don't I still have to pay off all that gold?" Will asked as she watched her mother put the symbol of her punishment down. She liked the idea of having the object off her head, because even though she was sure Susan would never use to hurt her, Will was still scared of having something that could electrocute her at anytime on her head.
"Will sweetie, do you honestly think I'll have my own daughter working for me? Besides, Sade paid off your debt the moment she found out you were my daughter. I bet Lord McDohl is going to be receiving the money with in the next three days. I hope he does not horde it all to himself, but knowing him I wouldn't put it past him." Susan replied, hating the fact that in a way she way paying that man for her daughter's freedom. The elvin woman was going to make McDohl paid for making Will's life so hard for who knows how many years.
"Now for the next matter of business Will. How did you end up in Trader's Central? Your father made it clear he planned on using you as a weapon so I can't see him just letting you runaway so easily." Susan asked, wanting to know how her little girl ended up on her own in one of the worst towns for half-elves.
"It's hard to explain. One day back when I was three years old, this man in white armor found the small hut in a swamp me and dad lived in and took me away. Dad chased after us and was catching up fast, so the man took out a scroll and the next thing I knew, I was in a village full of other half-elves. A kind couple took care of me until I was eight when a large group of humans came into the village and burned it to the ground. The couple that raised me said they were going to go live in Elvin lands after that, but when we tried to get pasted the great wall, the guards stopped us. The couple tried to force their way through...but...but..." Will tried to say as she explained her story, but tears quickly started to fill her eyes and make it clear of the fate of her caretakers.
"Shhh Will, it's alright. You don't need to explain anymore. If I ever get the chance, I'll make McDohl pay for what he and his men did, I swear it." Susan said as she comforted her daughter.
While she waited for Will to settle down again, Susan tried to figure out who was the man in white amour that saved Will all those years ago. 'The only one I can think of is Dean Collins. He disappeared right after Tony kidnapped Will, so it would make sense that he would chase after Tony and try and brining him to justice. It's what Paladins do after all.' Susan contemplated, hoping the man was all right. But considering who Dean had been up against, Susan did not think anyone would be seeing Dean Collins ever again.
After a few more minutes, Will finally clamed down and asked another important question that had been bothering her. "Mom...how do you know how to use the Lighting Blade spell? The scroll dad gave me said the Lighting Blade was a forgotten spell."
Susan was glad Will asked that question; Sade had found the scroll laying on the floor of the training room when she went to check on the girls before coming after them and like Susan, was not with what she had read.
"Will, that scroll was written in a way that meant to deceive you. One of the deceits was the truth about the Lighting Blade. You see, I created the Lighting Blade years ago and was what inspired your father to create the Eldritch Blade and later, the combination of the two attacks. I assume your father wrote that message the way he did so you would not think of showing me or someone else the scroll." Susan explained as she tried to brace herself for telling Will some other important news about that scroll.
"Now Will, what I'm going to tell you next is very important. After your feeling a bit better, we are going to need to remove that tattoo and put the proper one on your arm. The one you are using right now was the first one your father invented and it was far too dangerous to be used. I can't believe he did not give you the one he used; the one we made if we had a child like you; one that could use the Eldritch Lighting Blade to its fullest ability." Susan said, causing Will to look into her mother's eyes with a shocked expression on her face.
"What do you mean by dangerous?" Will asked with fear clearly evident in her voice. Susan could not blame Will for being scared, most would in such a situation.
"The tattoo you're using right now Will, is like magic items in many respects. Like an item, is casts a spell you can't do yourself, but there is a key difference. Most items have 'Charges' of magic built into them, but in the case of your tattoo, instead of using charges, it draws power directly from your own mystic reserves." Susan explained, then braced herself for the hard part.
"Now this is where the tattoo starts to get dangerous. The reason it hurts to use the Eldritch Lighting Blade is because of two key things. The first is the fact that at your current level, you can't use that level of spell or invocation, so you're forcing your power to do something its not yet ready for, so it leads to a strain on your body. The next part is the worst of the two, because the tattoo is trying to merge the super natural magic of your Warlock class with the arcane power of your Sorcerer class and is damaging your body because of these two conflicting powers are fighting each other." Susan finished explaining.
As expected, Susan saw expression of fear on Will's change to one of pure horror. Will started to tremble and finally asked, "W-What do you mean by damaging my body? I-Is it…dangers?"
Susan gave her daughter reassuring smile and gently stroke Will hair as she explained a bit more of how the tattoo worked. "If used too often and not properly treated, it could cripple or kill the user. But you only used that version of the tattoo twice and Sade treated the damage long before it got serious, so nothing bad will happen to you." Susan assured her daughter, who looked a lot calmer now and would make the next part of the conversation a bit easier.
"Now the thing we need to worry about next is, do you want to be able to use the safe version of Eldritch Lighting Blade or would you rather just forget it ever existed? You'll need to train a bit more, but you can do it with out fear of damaging effects. It's up to you." Susan said as she finished up her lesson on the tattoo on Will arm. The elvin woman waited for her daughter's response and hoped her little girl did not choose to learn the Eldritch Lighting Blade for the wrong reasons.
As Will thought it over, she tried to think of the pros and cons. If she learned to use the Eldritch Lighting Blade, she could become much stronger…but was that a good thing? Will knew her father's main love was power and wasn't wanting to become stronger almost the same?
"I…I don't know which to do mom. I want to learn it, but at the same time…I'm scared of it. Dad always wanted to be stronger and that was why I first tried to learn the Eldritch Lighting Blade, so I could be stronger. But that was back when I was afraid of being alone again, that I needed to be stronger so I could survive. But now…I'm just not sure of what the right choice is." Will asked, sounding a bit lost and scared.
Susan just smiled down and kissed Will on the forehead before saying, "Think about sweetie. It will be a while before you are strong enough anyway, so take your time before deciding. This is a pretty big decision and should not be rushed. That's something your father did and it cost him everything in the end."
Though the elvin woman did not say it, she was very proud of her daughter's response. It showed Will was trying to thinking about something Tony never did, which was ask herself 'Did she need this power?' Not many asked themselves that question, especially spell casters. Many were constantly trying to get new spells to achieve goals or surpass rivals, something even Susan had done in her own youth.
There was nothing else said between the two. The important questions had been answered for the moment, now was time for time for rest and to just enjoy finally having family again.
000
Else where in the place know as the Dark Lands, in fortress made of black stone was man sitting atop a throne and listening to a report from his second in command. "My prince, the Warlock has not sent word in several days. It is most likely the case that he failed in seizing the girl and was either killed or captured. My spies are still trying to confirm which is the case." A man with short blonde hair and kneeling before the man on the throne said in almost hissing like manner.
"It is of no loss. If Tony Vandom is dead, then I'm rid of a bungling idiot. If he is capture he will be executed anyway. Meridian law was tends to do that to traitors of his level of threat. The girl was never of great importance to me anyway, just someone who may have been of minor use if her loyalty was gained. One Gifted, no matter how much potential she may have, will help me get what I want. What we need in an army and we will soon have that." The man on the throne said, before getting up and looking out a near by window.
"I tire of seeing nothing but swamps and wastelands Lord Cedric. I want the Orc and Goblinoid tribes under my command soon. Until we can get the machine running, we will need their strength and numbers to get past those mountains and onto Meridian soil. Don't disappoint me." The mysteries man commanded other one, who was now standing as well.
"Of course Prince Phobos, I will have the last of them swearing loyalty to you before six months have past. What of our other…allies, if I may ask?" Lord Cedric asked.
The man now known as Phobos did not turn to look at Cedric when he answered, "Eating right out of our hands. One is so eager to have aid in conquering the Eastern Land, while the other is so focused on dealing with her sister, she does not care of our overall goals. With their help, we will be able to take Meridian quickly and once we do, we can get rid of them as well."
With that, Cedric left to carry out his orders while Phobos continued to look out the window and plan his vengeance. 'Soon mother and little sister, we are going to have a little reunion. One you won't enjoy, but I will!'
000
There you guts go. Let me know what you thought.