Mystic Memoir

Like I mentioned before, the chapters of this story will not necessarily be in chronological order. This chapter takes place a few years after the first war and the sealing of the gates of the Underworld.

A Chilling Encounter Part One

Udonna held Clare's hand softly as they strolled through the forest. The seven-year-old was humming some tune she had heard from the village elder during the gathering.

Her face was glamoured and she wore a brown cloak over a grey gown, not her usual purple ornate gown or the black and blue robes that marked her as a member of the Mystic Force. If it were up to her, she and Clare wouldn't exit the protective wards of Rootcore, but Clare was a growing child and needed to be around children her own age.

As far as anyone knew, Clare was an orphan from the war and she was a spinster who had taken her in, and that was the way she would like to keep it. Her home village was destroyed in the war. None of her family and friends had survived. Her allies in Mystic Force had perished fighting the hordes of Morticon. She was the last mystic, and more importantly, Clare was the daughter of the Gatekeeper.

Though most of the dark forces had been sealed behind the Gates of the Underworld, there were many agents of the Master who were active in distant realms during the final battle. Some had taken to being mercenaries and bounty hunters, but there were still those who were devoted to the Master and were looking for any means to free him or avenge him by slaying the last mystic.

The first year, Udonna scarcely left Rootcore except for gathering food and other necessities. Gradually, she let down some of her guard and took Clare out of their home. They often went to the Woodland Village to let Clare play with the other children, and learn from their village elder. Though Udonna was more than capable of teaching her niece herself, she knew Niella and Neville would have wanted their daughter to experience a carefree childhood, and even though she herself could never be carefree, the least she could do for her niece was make her feel safe and blissfully unaware of how much danger they were truly in, every time they left Rootcore.

Just then, she sensed something… a chill in the air that wasn't there moments before. She gripped Clare's hand tightly. She wanted to delude herself into thinking that it was nothing, and she was overthinking… but her senses had been honed to detect the faintest dark magic after years of battle. The strangest thing was that this magic was cloaked by something else… something familiar even, that cancelled out the dark energies, which had prevented her from detecting either magical signature sooner.

For the first time in years, she wished she had the wand of water on her. After the war, she had locked the five wands she had recovered from the ruins, within an enchanted box as per the instructions left by the former Sorceress. The realm was safe, and there was no more need for such powerful magic or another group of Mystic Warriors to take on these wands.

However, she still had her own magic, which was more than adequate to hold her own in a battle. Her only predicament was to oppose her unknown enemy without putting Clare in harm's way.

She could not see anything unusual, which meant whoever was following her was using an invisibility spell, and maybe if she ignored her, she and Clare could safely enter Rootcore, and while she was positive no dark magic can breach the wards, it was still not preferable to reveal the location of their home to those who bode them ill.

Direct teleportation was still an option though. She gulped, tightening her grip on Clare, who looked up at her in confusion, stopping her humming.

Udonna smiled at her, trying to convey a false sense of security as she snapped her fingers with her other hand. Nothing happened.

She channeled her magic once more, and still nothing.

There was anti teleportation runes around them… probably portable ones surrounding their stalker, which prevented them from accessing any teleportation magic.

Brooms were an option, but even those could be easily hijacked.

Direct confrontation was the only way left.

Then, a bout of hearty laughter came from all around them, and Clare yelped in fear and clutched her arm with both her hands, huddling close to her. The voice appeared to be feminine, but she could not be sure.

"Come out." Udonna demanded, turning around. "I know you are here."

Nothing.

And then numerous tiny yet sharp crystalline icy shards materialized out of thin air and jolted towards them.

Maybe it was all those training lessons with Lyon, who used a similar tactic, but Udonna wasted no time in erecting a forcefield around herself and Clare instantly. The shards shattered on slamming against the field.

She let the shield go, having seen where they originated from moments later, and it was easy to divine the location of their assailant.

Udonna fanned her fingers, retracted her elbow before swinging it. An arc of blue energy rippled out and advanced towards where the sorceress had directed the attack, when it collided against something. Immediately the energy changed form into something more fluidic in nature and wrapped around something… There was a slight movement as the cloaking glamour failed, and revealed their attacker- a woman in white robes with pasty skin and platinum blonde hair. Her hand was gripping a white wand with a snowflake on its top… THE white wand, the only one Udonna hadn't been able to recover after the War ended. She had thought it had been destroyed along with its wielder, her old friend Lyon the Snow Prince.

That was not all. The woman had a pendant on her chest, which resembled a snowflake except there was a humanoid figurine trapped within it, its body curling onto itself in a vulnerable fetal position… a figure with blue skin and his head modelled after a snowflake, wearing armour which was modelled after glaciers.

"It can't be…" Udonna's eyes widened with recognition. "Lyon!"

She thought fast. Whoever this person was, she had trapped Lyon and draining his magic, which explained the familiar magic she felt, and Udonna thanked the stars that she hadn't entertained the possibility of Rootcore protecting them, since there was a slight chance that Lyon's energy signature might have deluded the wards into letting this individual enter their home unharmed.

"Clare." She turned to her ward. "Don't be scared. You need to listen to me and don't argue. Run back home. Don't stop till you get there. I will be back soon."

"Udonna…" Clare murmured, tears in her eyes. "Promise you won't leave me…"

"You have my word." She said earnestly, as she quickly whispered in the language of the Ancients, placing a myriad of spells on her niece, including a protection spell and an invisibility one, which immediately took effect as she vanished from view.

"Run Clare, run." She said, as she felt her niece's hand leave her, and heard muffled sobs and the shuffling of feet. With a heavy sigh, Udonna turned around to see the woman, who had a cruel smirk on her face.

"You don't recognize me, do you, Udonna?" She drawled. "Makes sense, you wouldn't. We never had the opportunity to meet face to face, but I heard ALL about you from my dear brother. How sweet and brave you are. It made my blood boil."

Udonna saw a thin layer of ice fall over the energy restraints, before it shattered, freeing the woman.

"Your brother? Who are you?" She demanded.

The woman snorted, pointing the white wand at her.

"I am Queen Ingrid."

The name struck a chord. She knew that name.

"You are Lyon's sister!" Udonna gasped. "Then why are you doing this? Why have you trapped him?"

"You forest elk are really dense, aren't you?" She looked at her derisively. "My parents chose my brother to be their successor, not me. The sorceress of Rootcore chose him to be the next White Mystic, not me. My entire realm chose him… chose to be cursed rather than accept my reign."

Udonna had presumed the Kingdom of the Icy North to have perished, when it was severed from the mystic forest. She hadn't been able to scry the realm, Lyon or the white wand even with the Crystal Orb of Rootcore, and was forced to conclude that the entire realm had fallen, and her friend along with it. The Darkness had razed many a realm before, so it wasn't an inconceivable thought.

But Lyon had survived, albeit cursed.

She wasn't alone.

Hope fluttered in a chest despite of the terrible dark magic that emanated from Ingrid, now that her glamour had fallen.

"You chose to betray your own brother… your entire realm…" Udonna said scathingly.

"Of course I did!" Ingrid laughed, a manic glint in her eyes. "The Master gave me powers beyond anything I could have ever imagine… The gift to take what's rightfully mine. I have taken my brother's magic and this wand, even if it won't let me access its power completely. After I kill you and your precious niece and take your powers, there will be nothing stopping me from claiming the other wands and conquering this entire realm. Heck, with that brat's magic, I might even be able to raise the gates, and add the Master's dark powers to my own. I will conquer everything in existence!"

Udonna gulped.

She remembered this magic. The same magic the Master himself was rumoured to be capable of… stealing magic from others.

This woman was not the first of his sires that she had encountered. She had faced against a succubus before, but she had barely won that fight, and that was when she had the magic of the blue wand imbuing her with the strength of the oceans.

Now, she was all alone.

But, giving up wasn't an option.

This wretched being had not just held one of her closest friends trapped for years, she had also threatened Clare and revealed her nefarious plans for the entire realm. She could not be allowed to succeed at any cost.

"Lyon was a honourable knight. How can someone like you be his flesh and blood?" She spat, hoping to rile her up.

"And look what his honour did to him…" Ingrid purred. "Give up Udonna. I can sense how much magic you have, and it's not enough to beat me. Without your wand… without your ranger powers, you stand no chance!"

As much as it pained her to admit it, Ingrid was right. More than that, her own water magic had been on the fritz for years, since the day the War ended… since she lost everyone except Clare.

However, that didn't mean she can't win this fight. She and the other mystics had prevailed over greater odds before, and she had hope she would do so again.

Hope you liked this chapter and please review.

The idea of Lyon's trapped form came from the alternate 'baby' form of his Sentai counterpart, Snowgel.

Ingrid is named after the character of the same name from the show "Once Upon a Time."