Marcus hated his life sometimes.

His body ached in pain as it felt sluggish though he had no idea if that was from using a bit too much higher arcana than he was used to… or the fact the explosives he took from the warehouse had done a number on him.

The Unsee had rushed to his aid trying to make sure he was safe. Thankfully they had escaped the domain which the Grim Song had been hiding inside allowing him to reunite with the Unsee and the rest of his equipment.

The problem was that life, fate… whatever cosmic force with a twisted sense of humor that haunted his life… it always had a second opinion.

The Grim Song roared behind them as it had also escaped by either collapsing the entire domain or simply kicking everyone out so that it could avoid being blown up. Instead of trying to hide and lick it’s wounds… it had opted for the second choice of trying to kill them.

“Rip face off! Hang you by your guts!” The creature screamed in hate as it dragged it’s mangled corpse after them.

Cars died, electronics failed, and people who had been safe within the regular mundane world suddenly saw the impossible… the insane… the maddening thought that they were not insane. They saw trees fall, they saw the beast scream asit asserted itself upon their reality and made itself a presence they couldn’t ignore.

They could lie to themselves of course stating that it was a movie… a play… some sort of logical explanation. They were afforded that luxury because the monster that tore through the park wasn’t after them. That fantasy would be broken the moment it started to tear real people limb from limb.

The young magician didn’t bother looking behind him as he focused on gathering what was left of his strength as he called upon the various pacts he had made with the Unsee to protect him.

Marcus shouted “Flint! Staff! Aura! Cape!”

The Unsee in the green dress Aura melded with his green cloak forming wings out of it which carried him forwards. Flint on the other hand had merged with his staff as it took a more gun-like quality to it.

Aura focused on carrying him as the green angel like wings took flight carrying his body along with it. This allowed him to focus on the threat clawing its way towards them like some sort of infernal undead beast as it raced after them.

Aura flew him over the vehicles not caring about trying to be subtle while the Grim Song simply clawed over each car and truck roaring and snapping it’s jaw at anyone who tried to hinder it’s chase. He could hear their screams as the illusion of normalcy had been broken.

He knew they were trying to call the police or anyone to come and save them from the impossible monster. It was moving far faster than it should, but not as fast as the humans it was chasing.

Marcus kept his eyes on the monster as Aura was carrying him to safety. He tried to steady his staff/rifle as Flint already knew what to do. The surage of the arcane bound by their pact infused the weapon to allow for Flint’s prefered method of simply shooting his problems.

The first two shots were blocked by the Grim Song tearing a door off a nearby car and using it as a shield. Thankfully the third shot broke through the window tearing into the monster’s arm causing it to drop the improvised shield before Aura carried him inside a building.

Catherine cursed as she shouted “Shut, shut, shut…”

Marcus felt his body get dragged into the elevator… It was an electronic! As if realizing the same thing Flint stopped focusing on precision shots and simply rained down a barrage of magical shots keeping the Grim Song away from entering the building.

The metal doors closed shut as the elevator roared to life slowly moving up before it died… and the sound of something clawing against metal came from underneath them.

The teenager cursed as she looked up at the ceiling “The doors should hold until help arrived right? The police or the magical police should be racing here any minute.”

“I shall hang your flayed corpses on the city park gates!” The beast roared loud enough for all to hear

“Catherine. Take the cloak. Aura. Keep her safe.” Marcus told them both as the green robes slipped off his body as the teenager gladly took the cloak that had been allowing Marcus to keep up with her. “I need you to open up the emergency hatch.”

Catherine to her credit didn’t question or argue with him as she carefully put down her brother before the cloak allowed her to ‘fly’ up to the emergency hatch as she struggled to get it open. Marcus simply grabbed one of the other Unsee who had practically shoved themself into his hand and tossed it towards her as the teenager caught the small creature before placing it against the hatch.

The magic on the Unsee took effect unlatching the emergency hatch as they could hear the Grim Song howling in fury “There is no metal wall or cage that will stop my wrath fleshlings!”

Marcus tried to think as it had shoved them all out of it’s magical domain because it feared C4 blowing it up. The elevator shaft was narrow and it would be clawing through the bottom of this elevator at any minute now.

Alright… what did he have on hand and what could he do?

Once the teenager was on top of the elevator did Marcus work on step two much to the disapproval of the Unsee around him. Handing Catherine her brother to help her pull him up… he took a deep breath as he had her help him climb onto the top of the elevator just in time to hear the Grim Song tearing into the bottom of the elevator.

He pulled out one of the Ardere Silver as the hot magical metal still felt unnaturally hot within the bottle. The substance was slightly illegal within Arcadia, but that was because the Scorched took offense to how the substance was made.

Marcus on the other hand had no qualms about manipulating such a useful substance.

“What now?” Catherine asked in fear.

Marcus tried to smile as that was supposed to put other people at ease right? Never let them know you are just as terrified as they need to think you have a plan… especially when you don’t have a good plan.

“Grab your brother and get to one of the doorways up there. This should keep it from following us as I have a second flying cape.” He lied.

The teenager nodded as she took her brother and fled as the rest of the unsee didn’t join her. He frowned as the small diminutive spirits had instead elected to stay with him for his own safety… which wasn’t going to be much.

Once Aura took her away Marcus pulled out the knife as he muttered the old lesson once again “If it wasn’t useful, nobody would use it.”

He pricked each finger tip with the knife as his blood flowed freely. Each drop slowly started to drop before he focused on his training as he drew forth upon the dark. The blood froze in the air before it slowly returned to the palm of his hand and slowly swirled about forming a red sphere.

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Half of the trick to being a magician was smoke and mirrors… the other half pulling out tricks your opponent might not be expecting. One bottle in hand and a bit of highly unstable Arcania in the other…

“Twist the weave, bind the iron, break the mind.” The magician recited as he poured one of the entire bottles of Ardere Silver onto the bloody orb “With silver and blood... just die already!”

The silvery orb fell into the elevator room splashing against everything coating it in a fine layer of silver before blood red runes appeared across the surface of the silver coating. Flint had already left his staff and used the mending wand to heal the knife pricks against his finger tips.

He glanced at the smaller Unsee as he noticed others slowly binding themselves to various pieces of his clothing as they were already getting prepared for the next step. That was the problem with these plans wasn’t it?

The fact you didn't have a better plan when you tossed the dice.

The creature tore through the floor of the empty elevator “Now I shall reap my...”

The words were cut off as every inch of the room covered in silver shifted and changed. One moment the room was ‘mostly’ intact before the next moment everything in the room shifted and changed trying to crush, stab, and kill the Grim Song as the elevator began to shake.

Everything keeping the elevator up just suddenly broke turning the elevator into a falling death trap. Marcus jumped off the edge of the elevator as everything that could possibly go wrong did go wrong with the elevator as seemingly fate itself was trying to kill the monster itself.

Closing his eyes and praying that he had it right he drew upon the magic he had been taught as he felt the plummet of gravity before he felt the sudden jerk. To his shock and surprise he was not going down, but up...

A few ropes were tied around his waist as the chain of ropes carried him up as he could hear somebody groaning in pain and frustration. It took a few seconds before he was safely pulled up by the Unsee and a slightly terrified teenager who nearly collapsed onto the floor as the magical ropes united themselves.

“A little bit of warning would have been nice!” Catherine nearly shouted in shock and disbelief “Still… thank you for your help.”

Marcus laid down on the floor as all he wanted to do was go home and rest, but of course that would be too much. The beastial roar from down the elevator shaft caused the two of them to look down and cursed underneath their breaths as the thrice dammed abomination refused to die!

Sparks flared illumanting the monster every few seconds as wood and flesh had been replaced with steel and hate. The metal claws tore into the elevator shaft as they slowly screeched against the walls as the Grim Song was carrying the entire elevator turned coffin that was trying to crush it to death.

It lost the capacity for langauge as it snarled, hissed, and screamed in rage dragging itself up the elevator shaft trying to kill them. He'd almost admire it's spirit if he wasn't trying to kill it!

He tried explosives, illegal arcana item, and turned an elevator into a death trap. There were only two tricks left in his arsenal…

“Plan B.” the magician spoke “We’re going for plan B.”

A burst of white light struck Cathrine in the back as Marcus turned around spotting a bunch of figures wearing black cloaks. He bit his lip pulling out his staff as just his luck... he failed three times in killing it and now it got freaking reinforcements!

The new group of enemies pulled out their wands... either they were cultists or twig twirlers. Marcus sighed as it was Plan C... Staff in hand and the Unsee already pulling out the crown his father had made. If worse came to worse he wouldn't go out alone.

"Accio childern." A voice spoke.

To his shock he, Cathrine, and her brother was suddenly pulled towards the crowd of dark cloaked figures as a olive skinned man stood before him. Instead of pulling out a knife he steped foward and spoke "Stay behind me as we deal with this monster."

The Grim Song dragged itself onto the floor screeching like a horror movie monster as sparks of electricy flared from the broken sparking wires dangling off it's body. The claws dug deep into the floor as the twisted mangled head blazed with furry as silver veins flared across it's body like an infection.

It roared in bloodthirty fury one second before every black cloaked figured pulled out a wand and fired bursts of magical lights and spells hammering the unholy abomination without any hesitation. Only when it stumbled falling to the floor did they stop casting before the only person not wearing a cloak to clear his throat.

“You have broken the Statue of Secrecy, ran through the middle of the mundi work in broad daylight, and killed mundi children.” The olive skinned man spoke with obvious disdain  “Lie down on the floor and surrender... or face the full wrath of the Black Cloaks.”

The Grim Song simply rose up and looked up at them in blinding hatred as they stood infront of them. No words, no meaning behind the primal roar of a beast that refused to be shackled.

“Adflictio Vincula.” The man chanted in response

Black chains shot out of the floor wreathed in flames wrapped themselves around the Grim Song as it howled in pain. It had been shot, burnt, stabbed, and had suffered an exploding elevator yet this spell worked on it?

Marcus stared at the odd man as the black cloaked figures had odd brass looking shields appear out of... somewhere as the sheilds lined up to prevent it from charging them. The wands lit up again as the Grim Song prepared to charge.

“No words?” The man spoke in mild annoyance “Exiba’Animas.”

A dark green blast of magic erupted from his wand as the Grim Song screeched in pain again this time buckling under its own weight. When it tried to howl again the man continued his barrage of spells this time without chanting as each curse chipped away at its body until parts of it collapsed onto the floor.

The black cloak magic users used their wands to move the pieces away from the Grim Song as their leader continued chipping away at the creature's body until only a large golden… circular thing appeared. Some sort of necklace? 

The shards of silver that had riddled the Grim Song's body shot out stabbing the golden necklace as that had to have been the 'Heart' of the dam thing. This shocked some of the other wizards as they tried to remove the shards of silver  from the necklace (and fail) before they dropped the object into a chest that had suddenly appeared.

Cathrine was knocked out, her borther was knocked out... and for some odd reason they hadn't knocked him out yet. He felt nervious as he tried to hide his staff to some effect as Twig Twirlers had their wands made out of wood. His staff on the other hand was made out of steel.

It didn't help that he had a few wires inside the staff that connected to his foci… a glass orb filled with an alchemical enhancer and a small specialized lump of Cold Iron. Twig Twirlers used plants and animal parts to craft their wands and the rare staff. His staff lacked all of those things.

The 'leader' of the group or at least the only person who wasn't wearing a black cloak and had actually spoken outloud... the stranger turned towards Marcus as if spotting him for the first time. The magician really didn't like the fact that this man might notice the lump of Cold Iron in his staff or what the twig twirler might do.

So he did the only thing he could think of and tried to stall for time "I was sent to investigate the area. Checked witnesses since they thought it was a Mundi Criminal. Got trapped in the G… magical creature’s domain.” Marcus half lied.

If they didn't know of Arcadia than that meant he could hid a few objects that he could escape with. He needed to keep Cathrine and her brother safe because of the Pact he made with. Safe return of her borther in exchange for her to never forget what happened today.

Yes it was a cheap move to make a Pact when she wasn't in full aware or thinking clearly... but Twig Twirlers had a nasty habbit of wipping memories away and Marcus had gotten quite tired of lossing everyone he could even speak with. He never really intereacted with them directly until now and his past expereince wasn't that great.

Marcus tried to summon his house rings. The one on the right hand wouldn't be much of use, but as a Heir of the Moonless Night it kept the key to the House of Twilight safe. If he could just get to a door with the key then he could continue with Plan B...

“Flame? You’re a Flame Heir?” The man spoke in disbelief.

The other black cloaked figures stopped what they were doing as they focused on Marcus. It took him a few seconds to realize they were focused on the ring on the right... the magician nearly chuckled as he actually forgot that his adopted parents were... kind of important within the Twig Twirler secret magical world.

They were part of an old family and they placed emphasis on those type of things. Even if his parents hadn't been a real part of the 'secret' magical world for a while. Saddly this meant anything he'd do would also reflect on them and that made things more complicated.

Not because he didn't think he could escape them. No the problem would be from any problems caused by Marcus evading or causing problems for the... magical law enforcement.

So with a deep breath he tried to clearly repeat the old line "Marcus Leng Flame the third… third child. The first two died long ago and I’m the latest heir.” He knew it didn't count that much "I..."

“Why a staff? Shouldn’t you have a wand?” The wizard spoke seemingly more focused on him than the Grim Song trapped within the chest “I mean there’s nothing wrong with going for... a more… traditional route.”

The metal staff was far from traditional and probably brought on more questions now that they realized that there wasn’t a piece of wood within it. Something about plants and magic… he never really understood how wizard magic worked because he was never taught it.

No... he was never allowed to be taught it from their stupid rules.

“It’s illegal to have a wand without going to a wizarding school.” Marcus bitterly replied “I mean… my parents had a falling out…”

“Ah… I understand.” The Wizard nodded his head “I’ll sponsor your admission into any magical school within North America, but we need to deal with the Mundi.”

"I need to make sure that the..." Marcus tried not to flinch "Mundi and her brother are taken care of. They are the only witness who might know more about the... monster that tried to kill us."

He hated the word 'Mundi' as it meant mundane non-magical human... but it practically meant worthless to most Twig Twirlers in general. That meant they would gladly erase any memories or 'evidence' of what happened without even bothering to clean up their own dam mess.

The man in charge stared at her for a few seconds before chuckling “You have my word. Send the Mundi to Saint Celine’s Hospitable.” The black cloaks nodded as one pulled out their wand “Send her with the other one. I’ll interview her to find out what happened after her brother’s leg has been restored.”

They stared at him in confusion for a second before they placed one hand on the Teenager and sort of vanished. Marcus blinked in surprise as he heard of how wizards and witches could teleport or… whatever the magical term was.

Their leader cleared his throat as Marcus prayed that the Pact he had made was a lot stronger than their memory erasing spells “I am Chairman Antiarius and I believe we have much to talk about little champion.”

“Champion?” Marcious couldn’t help, but repeat in confusion.

He had been expecting questions, threats, possibly blackmail or something along those lines. He cast magic in broad daylight, didn't erase a regular person's memories, and they didn't know how many (possibly illegal) magical artifacts he was carrying on him.

The wizard laughed as he smiled “Of course. You wandered into the woods to fight a fearsome creature saving two innocent children with nothing, but a makeshift staff and your wits. I’d take points off for you casting magic out in the open, but the monster revealed it’s existence before you started casting spells.”

He glanced towards the elevator shaft “The trick with the explosives was interesting… and completely unfair that it survived. So yes I say this sounds exactly like what you’d expect of a champion from a story book.”

Was this... praise? Marcus would have snapped at the man as it kind of felt insulting considering that he failed to kill the Grim Song and the two people he was supposed to protect might have their memories erased (like so many others) rendering the entire point of helping them useless now!

As if reading his mind the man spoke "You do realize it is for not only their own good... but for our own. The magical world needs to be kept a secret."

Marcus nodded his head not because he agreed, but because 'adults' expected him to agree with them without questioning them. This was only made worse because it was a Twig Twirler who knew far less than he actually thought he knew.

Marcus had two choices… go with the strange man and call his parents… or try to escape the room and flee all of these twig twirlers as he prayed that he got out of here in one piece.

"Do you know what that... creature was?" The so called Chairman 'Antiarius' replied "As I get the impression..."

Marcus decided to interupt him “Do you know of the city of Korona?”

The wizard stared at him in confusion as there was no reaction to the name of the city. That meant he had no ties with Arcadia which made things slightly easier just so long as he kept his magic casting to a minimum.

“I’ll need to call my parents as they’ll be better at explaining it all.” Marcus dimly replied. "It's... complicated."

The wizard nodded his head “I’ll take you to the Ministry then.”

The magician took a deep breath as he could do this. All he had to do was go along with the man and pretend he was a lot more harmless than he actually was. Tell a few half-truths until his parents came... or wait until they lowered their guard and he was nearby a door.

One twist of a key and he'd go to the House of Twilight while they ran around trying to figure out where he ran off too. Until then he just had to play along and find out what the Twig Twirlers wanted from him... and what the wizard was after.

If it was just dealing with the cleanup of a magical monster nearly letting everyone know that magic existed? Then he'd get a slap on the wrist with a few stern words, but this? The wizard placed his hand on Marcus's shoulder as the Unsee shivered.

This wizard had a lot more power than Marcus and nearly held a deathgrip to ensure not that the young magician would escape... but to prevent anyone else from taking the magician from his grasp. Whatever was going on... Marcus highly doubted that 'money' was the motiviation.

After all... life would rarely make it that simple for him.