“Sir!” a dark black haired woman ran up to a Tall man with light purple hair in spikes, “The kid-“
“I was told, on my way there now.”
She bowed at his terse tone, “Sorry Majesty.”
“it’s fine,” He said as he kept walking at his hurried pace, “Go get the Queen. She will want to be here.”
“Yes Sir,” She bowed and stopped following and darted back into the hall as he walked out into the back patio of the Palace.
As he rounded the corner heading towards the children’s usual playground, another Amazon male appeared from an alcove, “King Victor. May I have a word?”
“No,” Victor’s terse reply cut the other off, stopping to glare down at the shorter man, “I’m in a hurry right now and don’t have time to listen to your proposal about arranging our children’s marriages. So leave Dalewind, I will not tell you again.”
“Sir? If I may.”
“Did you not hear me?! I said Leave.” Victor’s voice took on an icy tone.
The other man bowed his head, and darted away. With a huff Victor turned towards a guard across the yard. The guard nodded and followed where the other Amazon had fled. He spun and continued on his course. He rounded a bend and found the tent that had been erected in the area.
Stepping through the drapes he saw another man in robes and deep brown hair, “Your thoughts, Albert?”
“Nothing good,” Albert stepped back and put his arm on the pole holding the tent up leaning on it like he was drained. The sleeves of his robe rolled up revealing a blue tattoo going up his right arm.“The Children have all ben cursed. It hasn’t settled yet so I’m not sure the exact specifications, but they also seem to have sections of their memories completely burned.” Albert then paused and looked at the door then said “looks like the other is on her way”
A flap of wings sounded from outside and the tent flaps pulled back. Stepping in was a tall creature. Her Raptor claw talons grabbed the earth as the feminine creature walked in. She stopped and folded her leathery wings against her back. Her dark chest was covered with what looked to be bones growing from her body forming an armored top.
Looking around she saw a young kid with short black hair and a pair of shorts and blue ranger power rangers shirt on. With a gasp she started to shrink, her body taking human proportions. Her canine like snout turning into a pair of ruby lips on her porcelain white skin and her sharp cross shaped pupils shrinking and rounding into a pair of dusky brown humanoid eyes.
Spiraling ram horns [PB1] were drawn back into her head near her temples and she was fully human, dressed in a long white shift [PB2] as she approached the bed. She knelt over the bed and stroked the child’s head.
“Is Devonna alright?” She glared across the tent at Albert.
“Yes Ascent,” The mage replied softly, “All three are alright. As far as I can tell while they are unconscious, the memory spell was an advanced burn which will make whatever section was targeted unrecoverable?”
Ascent raised an eyebrow while standing and facing Albert, her arms crossed over her chest, “So our children are computers?”
“In a sense,” Albert says, “But we all are, impulses darting between the synapses like the memory going around in a computer hard drive.”
“Is that how they work? Maybe I should get a few if you’re so interested in them they may become something big,” Victor smiled, sitting on the edge of Razor’s bed.
Albert waved his hand, “They’re more complex than that but the point remains the same. A portion of the memory centers is essentially burned out. My memory spells would work more subtly but the raw power behind it means it can only be one person.”
“Warlock,” Ascent growled out, her lips pulling back from teeth that became pointed and sharp. Her arms were tense at her side with fists balled and clawed talons digging into the soft palms of her human hands.
Victor stood and put his hand on Ascent’s shoulder, “Most likely but we need to stay calm and figure a course of action from here with a level head.”
“Fine,” She says as her hands loosen and her teeth go back to flat human teeth. Grabbing a white towel from the bedside stand next to Devonna’s slowly breathing form. With a sigh, she wiped her hands on the towel, staining the pristine white with red as she tossed it to the stand before sitting at the feet of her daughter.
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Victor pinched the bridge of his nose as he watched Albert scratch his chin and stare into the distance.
“Is it possible to sum the curses between the kids?”
“What?” Albert snapped back to the present and glanced at Victor, “What do you mean Vic?”
Victor pointed at Razor, “The curse itself hasn’t settled. It is anchored and will affect them all in time, but what if we scraped the loose threads together into one of the kids to find out what it was. We can always put them back to where they were before.”
“That’s dangerous Vic, maybe deadly.”
“Use Devonna if you have to, our people are strong and fairly magic resilient.” Ascent said looking up.
“No,” Victor said shaking his head, “If something goes wrong I would rather it be my child taking the risk. Thank you Ascent but the kids were on the palace grounds and the ward that should have protected them didn’t.”
Ascent rose to her feet, “Yes, but he is your heir. If something goes wrong.”
“We will deal with it,” A different female voice said coldly behind them at the entrance. Spinning they looked to see a woman with exceptionally dark black hair and eyes that seemed to be red hot embers. She walked over and put her hand on Ascent’s arm, and her voice softened, “I thank you for the thought Ascent, but Vic is right, our kids were playing on our property and we should have expected a strike. He’d been too quiet this past year, he had to be plotting something.”
“Good Afternoon Sera,” Albert said, slightly bowing his head towards the Amazon Queen.
Sera turned her red eyes on Albert, “Get it done. If it’s too much for you let me do it. It is my son afterall.”
“Alright,” Albert said with a sigh, with a wry smile he held up his staff in front of him, “I am not too proud to ask for you aid though Witch-Queen.”
Walking opposite Albert, Sera put her hands on his staff and they both closed their eyes. A small wind encompassed the room and purple wafts of energy started to float from the other two children towards the staff. As they did Albert waved one hand in front of him and the energy flowed into Razor’s body. The prone boy’s body spasmed upwards and fell back to the bed.
Glowing runes in the air started to appear and flare into a brilliant blue luminecense. More and more appeared as the chanting continued. With a final word the pair stopped and looked at the field of runes the were surrounding Albert.
“Interesting,” Seraphina said walking around and waving a finger through the air along the magical ‘code’.
“Very,” Albert said slowly turning in place as he looked over the words, “It seems the curse is-.”
He stopped speaking and shook his head, making Victor raise an eyebrow, “What is it Al?”
Albert put his hand to his head and rubbed his temple slightly, “It’s a male to female gender change curse, based off of water temperature. It’s rough, and nowhere near Warlock’s level.”
“It is laced with his Aura,” Sera said, swiping a finger through a rune and bringing purple away with the blue of Albert’s spell.
A crack is heard from outside as Ascent returns, having walked out during the magic discussion. Sap dripped from her hand as she looked at the two mages, growling out, “I can help. Us Superior are Engineered to be magically inclined.”
“Okay, go stand over there,” Sera points to a third point, creating an equilateral triangle around Razor, “I’ll extract and refine the curse. Albert, purify it to the three pieces. Razor’s and Devonna’s taking effect now and with Herro’s as late as you can get it. Hopefully it wont do much more than give him a fat ass by the time it activates.”
Albert’s somber mood broke into a hearty laugh, “I want to be there when that first happens if that’s the case.”
“Dad, do these pants make my ass look fat?” Victor chuckled, “He’s already fairly timid, that really wont help him.”
“Better than the alternatives, you know how kids are.” Sera said, her eyes a deep blue without the anger lighting them from inside.
“What should I do?” Ascent asked, with a look at her daughter asleep on the bed behind her.
“Take the three and bind them into their …. Hmm,” Sera looked her son up and down before looking over to Albert.
The brown haired mage looked over the floating code and stroked his chin, “The Thorax mana node. I’m not happy with it being so close to their core, but the haphazard w ay it was done is too random. We don’t know what would happen from there, and it can integrate with no issues and less side effects there.”
“You heard him,” Sera grinned and the three started working. Their hands glowing multiple colors with their distinct magical signatures blending and entwining as they progressed.
Victor paced back and forth behind before stepping out. Signaling a waiting maid, who ran up at once, “Majesty?”
“Prepare a small luncheon and picnic set. The children and those three fools will be hungry when they finish and when the kids wake up. Also make sure the other kids stay inside till we finish.” He glances at a pair of small purple haired heads peering around the corner, one with a streak visible from here, “Do hurry Winny, it looks like the middle two are trying to find out the issue already.”
She curtsies, glances back at the middle two Peacecraft princesses, and unfastens a strap that detaches the outer layer of her dress, leaving her in a thicker shorter skirt, obviously made to be able to move in. With a final spin she vanishes, reappearing behind the girls and grabbing each by the scruff of the neck.
“Come on Lady Summer, Lady Autumn, let’s get you inside.”
“We don’t want to go in!” Summer’s voice reached Victor’s ears as he watched his two daughters be escorted inside.
“Now,” Victor said with his grin fading as he opened the flap, “Lets figure how to keep Warlock from trying something himself. Keep the kids apart maybe? They’d be more spread out, and it would give them each unique experiences to help them when he finally springs something else.
“Yeah, I like that.” Victor finished as he watched the three magic balls settle onto the three kids, knowing it was going be a long few weeks from the fallout of this one.