Forbidden Magic: 1x1 (Kira and Arc)

A world where magic is considered dangerous and the people are banned from using magic in any way or form. It is believed by the majority of non-magic users that these kinds of powers can only bring destruction upon the world. Those who can use magic are forced to either hide their powers or live in refugee camps of those like them. If one is caught using magic, it is punishable by death.

Toren
Male, 20, fire magic user

Anel
Female, 23, healer

Kycer
Male, 25, swordmaster

Enylt
Male, ???, Kycer's teacher

Kycer shifted through the sand and the dirt, eyes squinting from behind the goggles he'd "gotten" in the last town. Their previous owner wouldn't be needing them anymore, seeing as how he didn't have a head to put them on these days.

He stood and crossed his arms in front of his chest and coughed out a small cloud of various crud. A steady glance revealed that nothing had changed here in decades, centuries even. It had obviously been a city before it had become a battlefield, and even a warrior like himself could feel the hum of power left here by whatever had happened. He coughed again and brushed his hands against each other in an attempt to thin the considerable layer of grime and began walking again, his feet kicking up the dust as he wandered without much rhythm. A piece of a building here, a small ring of stones that could have surrounded where a tree was before...there was no rhyme or reason to what was left standing, but then again, there never was in places where magi had attacked and done battle.

While he wandered, he offhandedly wondered what this place had been. A military town? A king's favored city? A merchant's empire? Whatever it was, it must have been pretty damn important for the magi to have gone through this degree of trouble to wipe it out. He sniffed as his foot brushed something and he reached down to dig it out. It was a short sword, rusty and beaten to hell and back, but a couple of flicks showed that it would survive the journey to the next city. With a shrug, he set down his large sack and added it to the various trinkets and stones that were there. It was of little value to him, but to those that fancied themselves historians, or were just obscenely rich, he could feed himself for months on one trip alone. Of course, that excluded drink, hotels, and paying to get out of cities faster than the government's men could get in.

He frowned and knelt down as the hair on the back of his neck stood on end. He looked around and, having seen nothing, he stooped and shifted through. He grinned for the first time in days as he pulled out what looked to be a small bluish glass bead that shimmered in a metallic rainbow. It was a mana gem alright, and this one showed that he was getting close to its source. He put it in the specialized bag he carried for them and scratched his chin. Beads like that were worth a couple gold in themselves, and something told him that this place had more to it than just a simple bead. That would mean that this place had had an entire mana crystal powering it, back in the day. It would also explain why this was one of the cities that merely entering would be punishable by death. Unless it had already been looted, then there was still a King's ransom somewhere in here. His eyes glinted as he rushed off with a new vigor and a woop of joy, hoping that his luck had just turned around.

Toren and Anel, brother and sister, silently made their way through the ruined city as they preferred not to announce their presence no matter where they were. You never knew what would be lurking around the next crumbled stone wall. Especially since they most likely had some knights tailing them and they didn't know when those armored b*stards would arrive to try to apprehend them. Until then, stealth was their best idea in order to make sure they escaped their pursuers.

Even though they had never been to this ruin of a city before, the mere sight was depressing to them because they could tell what happened here. The power they felt still lingered from when this place used to be thriving before it was completed destroyed for the mere reason of magic. They could only imagine how many people had died when the war raged across the land. That didn't keep them from looking for anything that was magic-related though. No one was here to miss anything that would be taken, and it was better if they got their hands on it first because then the government hopefully would then never get it themselves. As much as the two kept their eyes opened for anything, they couldn't find anything relatively important. However, they could still feel magic coming from somewhere and were set on finding out its source; something quite large and important.

The two stopped and hunkered down, pulling their cloaks closer to them as they heard someone shout nearby. As much as they expected someone to attack or at least point them out, neither of that happened. Curious as to who else was in these ruins that would make such a loud noise, they moved to get a better look. From their hiding spot behind an old wall, they spotted the guy who made the noise, running across the dry land. They looked to each other, thinking he seemed mad for being out here and looking as if he just hit the jackpot. Now they had to decide if they would confront him or just sneak around him. Anel gave Toren a sharp look and did a small motion to indicate the sack he had that was filled with things that were most likely taken from this place. Perhaps it would be best to confront him in order to get any magical items he had in there. However, they had no idea if he was with the government or not. If it would come down to a fight, they had no idea what he could do or just how strong he was exactly. Toren was the only real fighter of the two with his fire based magic. Anel was deadly with a dagger, but she had healing magic which didn't do much good in taking down an opponent.

Though, Anel was quite curious to where this guy heading exactly. He might know something about this place that the two of them didn't. It was worth finding out at least. Without saying anything to each other, they moved together as would be expected from traveling with each other for a long time. There was hardly any need of words between the siblings to know what their next move would be. They stayed in the cover of the ruined buildings of the deserted city to make sure the guy they were tailing would not notice them. Once they knew what he was up to, they would be able to confront him. They hoped he wasn't working for the government because that would make things a whole lot easier. Those with the government were quicker to battle than those who made their own decisions.

Kycer could tell he was being followed (he was a veteran mercenary, after all) but he didn't bother to search. The government dogs would have jumped on him by now, what with how seemingly careless he was being. That left treasure hunters and other mercenaries. However, his fellow mercenaries were the sort to do or make business quickly. They would have either approached or attacked him by now, so that left treasure hunters. He frowned and slowed down his pace to an easy gait. Whoever it was didn't feel very threatening, but that was never a clear indication. His teacher looked sweet as honey until he did any of a million unpleasant things to you, after all. Considering all these things, he unbuckled the top straps to his sword. It was carefully wrapped in leather to hide that it was one of the few Mage Steel swords in use, but as soon as it was out it would be obvious to anyone that it wasn't a normal sword.

Eventually, he stopped and started brushing off the ground with an expert's care and precision. He knew how to read several varieties of runes, but he still only understood half of the ones in front of him. Which was odd. He had gone through pains to read every book on runes that he could come by, and several thats only copies were in his teacher's private study. He stood up, suddenly disturbed by this discovery. "Just who were you..." He whispered to the ghosts of the dead.



"You there! What are you doing! Don't you know that trespassing in these places is forbidden?!" Snarled a captain from on top of his horse as he glowered down his nose at the strange man in front of him. When he saw the bag, he snarled and spat at the man's feet. "Trespassing AND stealing the rightful property of your superiors?! HOW DARE YOU?!" He snarled as he waved a couple of men forward. "Artifacts and old hieroglyphs from the unmentionable times belong to the local barony, all usable non-magic weaponry belongs to the local King, and anything even mildly magical is to be given to the High King Himself to be destroyed immediately!" He roared, his face going red as the two men nervously grabbed at the much larger man with the sack. However, their hands brushed off the layer of dust obscuring his jacket, revealing something that was a calling card of sorts: the bright red leather straps of a mercenary, and the sheer number of them criss-crossing was a sign of the High King's personal division, the only men in the lands allowed to carry magical weapons as they pleased. At this, the soldiers paled and stepped back, their hands raised in surrender and the captain's horse even shied away a little as it sensed the mens' nervousness.

"Oh, I'm so very sorry M'Lord, I didn't know one of you had been sent here to investigate these ruins. You are, of course, free to take what you please. The laws of possession do not apply to you lot, since you move on the High King's direct orders." The captain muttered, his eyes cast down like a child that realized he had just tried punching the headmaster of a school and fully expected to be lashed for it. When no response came, he gulped and hoped this was one of the more slaughter-hungry ones. "Sir, if it would not disturb your current job to much, my party and I was sent to go kill a couple of stubborn Mages that refused to leave their magics. Would you mind accompanying us? One is known for fire magic, and could cause real trouble were we to confront him in the woods surrounding this place, however some one with your considerable battle prowess would easily tip the scales in our favor..."


Kycer smiled lazily at his luck. These men weren't just a good omen that the government took heavy interest in this place, they meant supplies as well, if the pack mules in the back of the column told the truth. He rolled his shoulders and finished unbuckling his sword before setting the sack down and strolling forward before pulling his weapon out of its sheath along with a mana gem the size of a small bead from the pouch on his belt. At the sight of this, the men grew visibly uneasy. It was obvious to Kycer that they weren't use to seeing anything remotely magical, and a man his side drawing a weapon would definitely be unnerving. He smiled lazily at the captain and touched the mana gem to the small indented area on the bottom of his sword, where there was a light crackling before it disappeared into it. "Ah, of course I'll help you and your men. You see, my sword is very interesting...it absorbs magic and then uses its power to make me stronger." He said calmly before turning and grabbing his sword with both hands, he swung and cut a wall in two as if it were butter. At this, the men started looking at each other and grinning confidently at their chances against the mages. Despite all the dust and rubble, the sword lacked any form of scratch and still shone perfectly in the sunlight. "You see, it cuts easily through a wall or..." He paused the wheeled, and in a quick movement the blade had swung up and lobbed the horse's head off and cut the captain in half. "A man and his horse." He said with a calm smile, even as the blood rained down upon him. The men were frozen in fear, and then chaos broke loose as there was a mixed reaction of fear and anger at what just happened. Kycer simply moved through, his massive blade slicing through their leather armor as if it were nothing, the blade glistening as its enchantments sent the blood running off it. Between Kycer's blade and the men slashing at each other in their fear and confusion, the bloody mess was over within five minutes.

He sniffed and stepped back and began wiping himself down with a cloth he kept on an inside pocket of his jacket and checked to make sure the pack mules were still there. Yes, they were definitely military trained...or simply to damn terrified of the beating they would receive if they fled, even with all the screaming and death. He glanced over at the captains head then walked over and nudged it with his foot. "Ah, I'm sorry, I forgot to mention that I was only interested in helping you on your road to hell." He stepped back then walked over to his sack and looked around calmly. "You can come out now, unless you work for a baron, king, or the government then I won't kill you on sight!" He nodded towards the dozen dead men behind him. "That is, unless you make me come play hide and seek with you. But I don't think you want that, now do you?" His smile was calm and somewhat friendly, but still showed that the really would cut whoever was watching down should they not show themselves soon.

It didn't surprise Toren and Anel when knights finally arrived, going straight for the guy the two were tailing at the moment. Whether he noticed them or not, the only thing that mattered was that he hadn't tried to attack them yet. What surprised them was when a wall was cleaved in half by the guy's sword as if it was nothing, and did the same thing to the group of knights' leader and horse. They waited out the bloodshed that followed which was quite short, and soon all the knights laid dead, their blood spilled across stone and dirt. Now the important question, would he do the same to them or would things work out more peacefully? The two were startled slightly when the guy spoke, knowing that they were there.

Anel's eyes narrowed into a glare at what seemed like a taunt and threat of what would happen if they didn't come out of hiding. Toren knew that look and started to plead with his sister by taking hold of her arm, but she shrugged him off and stood up. He followed after her, not knowing what this man would do to them and wanted to be there to protect his sister.

"Just who the hell are you?" Anel demanded of the guy, arms folded across her chest. Toren took hold of her arm again to try and warn her to be cautious but she slapped at his hand sharply which made him let go. Figuring Anel wasn't going to listen at all to him, he focused his eyes on the other man, prepared to react to whatever he planned to do.

Kycer sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his free hand. It was obvious what he was, with the reds showing and the fact that his sword was able to be used so easily and brutally, not to mention the coloring of the steel, made it obvious that it was a mage-made weapon. However, seeing as how these two appeared to be the mages the knights were hunting, he went with the truth to avoid being potentially burnt to a crisp.

"My name is Kycer, I use to be one of the High King's mercenaries before I went rogue." He shrugged. "I've been making a living raiding ruins and selling mana gems and old artifacts to collectors, mainly rich men that don't have a license to own them and mages that need some extra power." With that, he sheathed his sword and pushed his goggles back onto his face. "Anyways, I'm onto a big lead here, I think. Best of luck surviving with knights hunting you." He began walking, but then he froze and his hand shot to his sword when he saw a familiar shadow up ahead in the structure he was headed for.


"My, my, my. Letting mages live, so unlike you. You knew better than that when I was always watching you, didn't you, Baby Kycer?" The figure cooed as he strolled around the corner. He was dressed in black and his dark, feathery hair blew in the wind. He was impossibly beautiful, however his eyes seemed to hold Hell itself in them. "I know you've been collecting things, my spies in the networks you run in outnumber yours." He cooed in a voice like poisoned honey. "However, I cannot let you enter here...There's a gem in here that even the High King's greatest researchers cannot discover how to access, or even attempt to move without being destroyed."

Without moving, he seemed to simply appear in front of Kycer. "So, he sent me...The only mage allowed in the High King's presence, because I'm just too dangerous and intelligent to be trusted in a camp." With that, Enylt raised a single dagger and smiled. "You recognize this, right?" His hand glowed with gathering magic before thrusting the dagger forward. There was the sound like a crack of lightning and Kycer barely screamed as he flew back, crumpling a wall behind him with the impact of his body.

Enylt stood over his old apprentice and smiled a demon's smile. "Remember that dagger? It transforms magical energy into pure electricity. Dangerous little toy." He cooed as he flicked his wrist, causing it to stab into the ground and cut the leather over Kycer's crotch slightly. Afterwords, the man undid the sheath on his thigh and dropped that next to Kycer as well. "I'll tell you what...I want to play a game." He purred as his put his foot on his old student's chest. "I'd wager it will take me three months to learn how to use that gem's power...When that happens, its power plus my own will be enough to wipe the High King's entire damned castle and army off the face of the world." He laughed and jumped back, dancing some. "From there, beautiful chaos and anarchy will spread!" He cackled, twirling with disturbing grace. "You and those mages have three months, Kycer! In three months, come back and play with me!" He shouted so even the mages could hear, or anyone within the ruins of the city, for that matter. "And I'll give you a tip...unless one of them can harness enough power to crumple a catapult with that knife, I could still slaughter the both of them with minor effort at best."

That wasn't the answer Anel was looking for from the rogue mercenary, but Toren was again trying to get her to stop bugging the man. She whirled around to face him, about to tell him why it was better for them to find out more about this man, when they both felt a strong presence. The two swiftly faced where it was coming from, seeing a shadow emerging from the structure ahead of them, and could tell how dangerous he could be. It seemed the mercenary knew this man too, which slightly worried them. It didn't take a genius to figure out that the name Kycer belonged to the mercenary as the mysterious man called him that. Well, "Baby Kycer" to be specific.

They listened carefully, keeping their distance between them and the crazy man since they were unsure what he might do. When he flicked the dagger to the ground, the thought of quickly retrieving was on both of the siblings' minds, but they didn't dare budge from where they were. The crazy man then went on to talk about the gem that was located in the ruins of this place, and of course the two figured that was what they were feeling this entire time.

As risky as it was, it seemed they had no choice but to play this man's game. They were involved by default by the fact that they were there. What luck they had. Well, at least they were given three months to get strong enough so they could defeat this crazed man. However, even if Toren didn't realize it himself, Anel saw the amazing magical potential in him. During their travels she had seen him to some pretty amazing stuff that he passed off as "anyone would have done it if they were in the same situation" and despite modesty being a good trait, it annoyed her slightly. If that gem could even just unlock more power within Toren, she felt her brother might be able to take this crazed man. Or, she was underestimating his powers and there was too huge of a difference between him and Toren. Yet it was a risk that they were going to take it seemed. And of course, Anel wasn't the type to stay silent for long.

"And why should we go along with your game? Besides, what's there to stop us from destroying this gem? If all it's going to do is bring trouble by giving you power, then it might as well be destroyed. Though, I suppose there are more out there, but we're pretty quick so we might get there before you," Anel just spouted out, confident in her words, but it might not have been a good idea to say that. However, what was said was said, and there was no going back. Toren brought a hand to his forehead and shook his head side to side slowly as he watched his sister drag them even deeper into this.

Enylt's dance paused as he stood perfectly still, and there was the feeling of a gathering storm. He turned slowly, and time seemed to slow as it would before a snake strikes and sinks its fangs into a man. "Oh? So you disagree?" His head tilted to the side and he smiled, the magical power in the air suddenly sky rocketing. "You, a little girl, think your power or knowledge is enough to make me notice you for more than a moment? You and your brother combined are naught but insects before me, just as all the rest of you inferior insults to our kind!" He snarled as his hand shot out and a wave of pure magical energy lashed at Anel, knocking her to the side to land next to Kycer.

"You think you can even phase a crystal that I struggle to make notice me?! Don't make me laugh." He snarled. "I was going to play nice, but since the puppet insists on trying to disobey the master, I will have to teach it its place." He curled all his fingers except his middle and index fingers down and raised his hand. He smiled grimly at the girl and laughed. "Remember, this is your hand falling to do this to him." With that, he shouted a spell as his hand fell and one lightning bolt struck the boy, and then another in rapid succession.

Before the blinding effects faded, however, Enylt was already gathering power for his next spell. "Now then, remember, come find me in three months. If you live that long, that is." With that, he activated the teleportation spell to send them hurtling to the Damned Lands, the most accursed, wretched place of any of the kingdoms. Anything from friendly mage colonies to relentless, blood thirsty warlords obsessed with nothing but rape and plunder resided there, as did the small castle and city of the only man the High King feared more than any devil or group of magi...and to be honest, Enylt's stomach writhed when he thought of that same man, so he was kind enough to put them miles away from that cursed place. However, who would be where they arrived was a different story all together.

Anel had stood her ground, but that was hard to do when magic was used against you to send you flying to the side. She landed next to Kycer, a bit dazed and possibly bruised, but relatively unharmed. However, in the next few moments the same could not be said for her brother. As soon as Anel was no longer in front of him, he took his eyes off of the crazed man and ran towards his sister. He wasn't really listening to the man, his focus on making sure his sister was alright. Toren wasn't prepared for when two bolts of lightning struck him squarely, the pain a sharp flash through him which stopped him in his tracks and he fell to the ground. Anel stared with wide-eyes as her brother was hit, but before she could get up the three of them were teleported somewhere else.

Without caring where they were now, Anel scrambled to her feet and rushed to Toren's side.

"Toren!" She cried out, placing her hands on him. He was still alive, just knocked out, but being the overprotective sister she was, her hands began to glow a light green with her healing magic.

"I'm okay," came a weak reply from Toren as he pushed himself up and her hands away from him. An act which earned him a smack on the back of his head from her. "Ow! What was that for!?"

"Don't worry me like that!" She yelled back at him, crossing her arms. Toren paused before he replied to her with "sorry". Anel seemed to accept that as good enough and turned around to where Kycer was still. Quickly she stood back up and went over to him to check for any injuries.

Toren took time to look around where they were, knowing what this place was despite having never ventured into here. He never had wanted to because of what lurked in this land. Slowly he stood and made his way over to where Anel and Kycer were, keeping himself alert for whatever might be out there.

Kycer groaned and sat up, clutching his left shoulder. He pulled it away and pulled his jacket and shirt back to reveal a rather deep wound. The knife had gone almost to the bone, and then his old teacher's raw magical power channeled through it caused the lightning's heat to burn the wound shut...however, the result was that the lightning had also blown away chunks of flesh to make the would look like a small crater. He winced at it, knowing that without a healer soon, the arm would be useless for quite some time. Possibly forever, which was as good as death if he intended to try fighting with his large, lofty sword.

However, thoughts on this froze when he heard some one in the forest.
"'Ey Jim, ya 'ere that?"
"Ya, soundad like mighty mage work right on the slave trail."
"What do ya think? Should we 'ave a go at getting some mage-craft weapons?"
"Ya kiddin' me? We signed on ta scout, not be candles. Let's go tell tha boss, 'ell know what ta do."

Kycer was rising, sword in hand but the pain of the wound in his shoulder sent him down. He glanced about and saw it would be useless, even in good condition--some one, likely the slavers or one of the sadistic pranksters in these lands, had lined the 'slave trail' with barbed wire between the path and the forest. After that, there was a field of briars. He could lob through with his sword, but who knew what he'd have to do to simply catch sight of them, let alone catch them. With that, he groaned and sat down, deciding to save his energy for when the voices leader came...and hoped the response wasn't sending archers in the forest. On the bright side, thugs like that would work just as quickly for benevolent forces as cruel overlords.

Toren heard these voices as well and stayed on guard even though they were leaving. Anel spotted the wound on Kycer's arm and immediately was on her knees beside him, her hands hovering over the wound. As she began to heal it with her magic her hands glowed green in a soft and pleasing manner, lifting the pain from the wound while it healed. It would take some time, but not a whole lot for her to heal it up completely. After all, she had plenty of practice of healing her brother, and on their journeys she would heal those in need of it. It was enough to say that she was a skilled healer and a dagger wound like this was something she could heal.

Toren was right beside her now, still keeping a lookout for anyone who might attack. Though he also kept some attention on Kycer to make sure he wouldn't lash out at Anel. A swift hit at that wound would suffice in stopping him if he chose to not accept Anel's help. Toren saw no reason for him to do so though since Kycer obviously wasn't afraid of magic, and he didn't seem to hate magic users either. Toren also assumed that Kycer would want use of that arm in order to fight, and Anel was going to make sure that wound was completely healed. It benefited him more to allow her to help, than to refuse it. This just left Toren wondering if Kycer was smart and figured that, or if he was an idiot with some kind of stupid "man's pride".