Chapter 13:

Crystal's Point of View:

Crystal's sensing were in a phase of numbing and sharpening what seemed to be all at once. Her magic seemed to scream someone was watching her at times, then fade away and turn into a blurred scattering of life. The dreary outline that people seemed to cast off made them look like shadows too her, mere specters of their selves.

'Isn't there help for these people?' she thought to herself in the mist of thoughts she tried to break through. Besides he scattered senses, Crystal was having a hard time simply thinking at all. Every time she did have an intelligent though, it would turn into anger and she would give someone a rude stare or a mean growl.

'What's wrong with these people? They're so mean!' she thought to herself again when she bumped into a short man.

"Get out of the way!" Crystal barked and pushed by him, but stopped thinking about it when the short man grabbed her arms and looked at her. He had bushy eyebrows and a small green hood covering his face, though obscure he wasn't very old and Crystal didn't try to move since he seemed to draw all of her senses to him. All of these things confused her and they stood standing there, him holding her arms.

"Yes, you will do nicely." He said and as he did this short rather plain man began to change, casting back his hood and letting go of her, he seemed to grow to be over six feet tall instantly. Dark black locks of hair messily sprouted everywhere on his head giving him long, wild hair. The eyes brows he had even changed to thin lines, and his eyes burned an intense red pupil surrounded by pure darkness. All of his clothes seemed to bleed black ink as they changed, and his grip returned back on her arm making Crystal scream out in pain and anger.

"That was but a taste my new apprentice. You will soon learn loyalty and beg for me to hurt you like this again. Come." He said with absolutely no care for her and dragged her by the one arm, branding her with the iron hot glove her wore, magically powered with searing heat.

"Let gooooooooo! Oh god please, what do you want? AHHHHH! No no no plughhhhh!" Crystal tried to say words past that but the pain that was burning into her was unbearable. She bucked and writhed under the gauntlet that held her, smoking and stinking of burning flesh all the while frying into her arm more. Her wound bled and was dried instantly as the glove seemed to glow white and gain more heat.

"Stop screaming! No one cares anyway… they are under my control." The man stated and his face seemed to gain a shadowy complexion while he replaced his hood.

'BARO!' her mind screamed out as it finally broke through whatever barrier held her before. For a small flicker of time, she could feel Baro's mind, and just as quickly it vanished while the dark man through her onto the back of his horse and rode away.

Baro's point of view:

"Crystal?!" Baro yelled out, feeling her mind in pain and tried to sense her, but for some reason a barrier kept dowsing whatever powers he wanted to summon. 'This mark, it's like a pacifier, or maybe a drug.' He thought and a tear fell off his nose from the uncertainty of it all.

Kamen watched from behind him, seeing the same sadness he once could feel from such things. "It's ok my son, we must move on. We cannot find your friend with such an evil over this place." He offered to Baro to try and stir up his hopes.

"I know you are right… but that doesn't make it easy." Baro said softly, fumbling with the metal cube Crystal had given him. The cold steel soothed his fingertips, but he felt a second tear come down before he stood up to keep walking. 'I knew she would get hurt, why was she so stubborn?' he thought and tried to unravel the little bit of information that she had sent him. 'Was she in fire?' he wondered and walked out to the black bubble of earth that centered the city.

Kamen and Baro stood there for a moment before Kaze came up behind them and was drawn to their side. For a few minutes it was quiet and they just sort of looked around.

"Are we really going to do this?" Kaze asked and scratched the back of his neck.

"Without another mage, it could be a little risky. You never found Crystal?" Baro asked and put his hand on the smooth black surface to see if he could sense her through the channeled energies.

"No, but I did find and old 'friend.' Raik is still pretty set on ripping your head off." Kaze said with a small smile and looked around over the roof tops.

"Wait… the mark. It's getting weaker, I think who is using it is getting farther away…" Baro started to think and Kamen joined in as well.

"You're right, I can start to feel some of my magic coming back." Kamen said excitedly and looked at Baro. "Do you think you can concentrate enough to help me?" he asked and tried not to put too much pressure on him.

"Yea… I'll be alright." Baro shook his head and put down the cube so he could stop thinking about Crystal. 'I won't forget you Crystal, you helped me a lot.' He thought as he positioned his hands on the mark, then took a few steps back as they began casting"Just channel your power into me, I'll handle the spell casting. I don't want to risk losing you, you're in a very confused state right now." Kamen said solemnly and moved his arms in the forms for his spells.

Baro nodded and took out a deep breath to try and calm his heart. While Kaze took a few steps back and leaned on a corner on a building, Baro felt the slight tingle of energy while he channeled it into a movable form and transferred it into Kamen who consumed it like it was water. Every time he felt the currents of energy, Baro loved to reflect on how it worked. 'Maybe someday I'll truly understand these mysteries.' He thought and wondered about some of his observations.

Kamen's forehead muscles strained like he was chewing on tough meat and the varying motions and words he mumbled became more blurred like he was gaining speed. This made Baro more curious but he concentrated on evening out his drain of energy, trying to give Kamen a steady and constant flow to work with.

Suddenly the change started, the Mark remained a solid form, but the earth under in started to sink making people back up and snap out of their delusions. Baro's mind went into the state he experienced with Crystal, and the lines of energy became more apparent. Energy that had been pouring from the Mark into people now struggled with Kamen directly, trying to push the Mark back up. Kamen grinned a strainful grimace, but still fought on with the opposing magical force.

"He's fighting back?" Kaze asked, a little unsure of what was happening and backed up even more, grasping his swords. In his thoughts, Baro could almost feel the dark man and Crystal over the rift, Crystal who was much weaker then the man who tried to subdue Kamen.

'Crystal!' he shouted out, diverting a small portion of energy to call out to her. This man the dark man put a little strain on Baro's mind, at first stopping his channeling but Baro pushed back, gritting his teeth as he brought Kamen more energy. 'I'm not letting go.' He thought and struggled while small spheres of purple energy blocked his vision.

"Lets see how you like it." Baro thought and tried to use his power the best he knew how by sending energy to push the man back. Immediately Baro dropped to his knees and stopped channeling, letting out a rapid breath from the incredible strain. 'Oh my god!' he thought while energy burned like fire in his veins, making him sizzle and finally lose his mind.

"Ugh, What's the matter with you?" Kamen yelled out and with on final push shoved the dark man from their minds to finish his spell. The Mark began to sink faster and faster, soon being several feet below the surface, then several yards and seemed to look smaller and smaller as it dropped. When it had dropped as far as Kamen wanted he sealed the earth back up and sat on the ground peacefully, meditating to him self.

Kaze ran over to Baro as people walked out to the center, confused and wondering faces on themselves. The very clouds seemed to go away, making the sun shine through on the broken down camp. Even still Baro laid there, clutching his legs close to his body in shock. His eyes stared blankly at nothing while Kaze rolled him on his back.

"Oh no, come on Baro. You can come out of this, I know you can." Kaze said worried, looking over at Kamen to do something. But Kamen did not get up to look at Baro, he already knew what had happened and had no way of doing anything.

"He's been mana burned directly after suffering such a mana drain. He's lucky not to be disintegrated instantly, let alone in this dimension." Kamen said plainly and opened his eyes to look at Kaze.

"But how?" Kaze asked confused, starring at Baro.

"He doesn't know that much about magic I'm afraid, not as much as I thought. He attempted to cast a spell over several miles and just didn't have the energy. The dark lord tried to dump his extra energy into Baro which was way more then he could handle, making the energy that pulsed through Baro burn him. Mages call it Mana burning, when our mana burns through us causing damage."

"Can't anything be done?" Kaze asked and stood up, wanting to run away and get help. Kamen stood up to try and stop him.

"The only thing we can do is wait, If I had more energy I might be able to do something, but I used my energy to finish Baro's spell before it completely burned him. I'm too old for all this." Kamen sighed and suddenly stopped to look at a woman approaching them from the crowd. Though everyone seemed happier now or at least serious about their surroundings, this woman seemed different just by the way she walked up to them. She had dark curly hair that rested on her shoulders, and wore a simple light purple cloak that covered her body making her look like she floated along easily. Brilliant emerald eyes shined at them as she looked around looking unsure of everything.

"Do any of you know what has been happening? I feel so lost… this last month has been a blur." She said to them in a bright voice, but she softened when she saw Baro lying on the ground. "Is he all right? She inquired and motioned to him, looking down a bit worried.

"Oh, he's just fine. Can we help you?" Kaze lied, not wanting any more people involved with his friend. He eyed her suspiciously, showing his sword to her as if to make a point.

"I have healing abilities." She stated calm him, and as tough as Kaze was being she gently brushed him aside without him resisting, and knelt beside Baro. Kamen watched with interest, eyeing her with the same spark he had when he met Baro.

"Healers like you are quite rare." He said quietly, kneeling side he while she worked on Baro. The women smiled and put her hand on Baro's forehead, then spaced two of her fingers on the bridge of his nose.

"Healing is always easier on young people like us." She replied, referring to herself and Baro. Thought she had darker skin Kamen nodded but metal noted they had a slight resemblance, but couldn't quite place how.

Small little oscillations of energy began moving between the girl and Baro in small light blue sparks. Baro was just able to breath very shallowly, but it was an improvement. Her hands moved over his chest and abdomen, sending more little blue sparks as she worked, moving her hands in circular motions.

The next thing Baro found was a slight consciousness which pulled out to anyone who would listen. She was the first, he tried to link minds but wasn't strong enough, so the girl helped him out be linking for him.

'Are… are you crystal?' he asked to the strange mind he never sensed before.

'No, my names Ember. I'm going to take care of you.' She thought back to him softly and continued his work, feeling him pass out under her.

'Thank you…' Baro mumbled in a small thought and felt his finger twitch before a large pain rocked through his spine, making him scream out and Ember immediately frowned, quickening her healing to figure out what was happening.