Page 2 of Forgotten Arcane

Lucius looks at Evander as if he is assessing him, and then his eyes drift over the rest of us as well.

“He’s right, they aren’t going to be up to go to the Elder Realm, not right now, and if it’s really that important, then a meeting can be set up at a later date, surely,” Ed agrees with Van. “You know what they’re like, they aren’t exactly in touch with things anymore. A side effect of having cut themselves off from the majority of supernaturals. It might be wise to remind them about what the Choosing entails, and what these young supernaturals have already been through in a week. Is it really necessary that they travel to the Elder Realm for a ten-minute conversation?”

Lucius sighs, “I will see what I can do. I know that the chamber will go into lockdown while they receive their new magic. I will be back after it releases. I can’t promise anything though.”

“Thank you,” Evander replies, and Lucius looks vaguely surprised.

He nods once and then disappears in the same flash of light that he arrived in.

“Well, shall we get on with it then?” Ed asks. He clicks his fingers and the chamber rights itself, quickly becoming as good as new.

“Whoa,” I mutter.

Ed grins, “It’s not the first time the place has been destroyed. After the first dozen times of fixing it, I learnt some shortcuts that made it a lot quicker and easier to do.”

“That’s pretty handy,” Raiden agrees.

I open my mouth to ask if he could teach me, or at least if he could teach me how to fix the holes in the plaster like he did because, let’s face it, I shoot holes in the walls all the freaking time, but then I realize that one, that it is probably an inappropriate time to ask, and two, even though I have wings now . . .

Holy fuck I have wings now.

Anyway, even though I have wings now, I have no idea what magic I have and what my magic is able to do. I might not be able to use the same spell that Ed uses to fix things. Magic does really work like that, there’s not really a one size fits all. Although you can get ready-made spells that work for most things, so maybe it’s one of those that he uses?

As I think about it, that place of magic within me that used to be small stirs, and my eyes widen slightly at how much bigger it is now. I always had the sense that whenever I did call on it, and it helped me, that it was only a small amount of magic that was coming through, but I had no idea just how true that was. There is a lot that I need to explore about my new magic, and of course, my wings. I am somewhat grateful that the voices seem to be behaving the same way as they always have done. At least they are for now. There is already so much change that I’m going to have to wrap my head around that, if the Voices started to sing show tunes or something, I might just lose it completely. Although that would be pretty fucking cool.

I force myself to pull away from my magic, I need to focus on the here and now.

“Why am I so nervous about getting our new magic?” Raiden asks.

“That’s perfectly normal,” Ed reassures him. “I’ll explain what will happen, which should help ease some of your nerves.”

“Thank you,” Raiden replies with a grateful smile.

Ed suddenly smacks himself on the forehead, and we all share a look as I wonder if we’ve somehow broken him. I know we haven’t realistically been inhis presence for very long, but we’ve sort of done a lot of damage in that time. I know he fixed it, but still.

“Are you okay?” I ask him with concern.

He looks slightly embarrassed as he nods and replies, “Yes. Sorry, sometimes it takes a moment for my brain to catch up with my actions, and usually I’ve already done it by then.”

“I do that,” River replies sympathetically, making me smile.

Ed smiles at River, and then becomes serious again. “The reason why I did that is because I forgot to tell you that, as you are now a Warrior Bonded team, a bond mark will appear on you that joins you all. This is usually on the inside of your wrist and is a way to prove to those throughout all of the realms that you are legitimate and a true Warrior Bonded team. As you can imagine, there have been supernaturals that have tried to take advantage of the perks and the power that come with being a bonded team.”

“Yeah, I can see that happening,” Reed nods, not looking surprised by the information at all.

Ed frowns, “There have been groups of supernaturals who have tried to get paid extortionate amounts to protect someone because they’re a bonded team when they aren’t, and other occasions where they have demanded a certain kind of treatment using the excuse that they are a Warrior Bonded team, so they therefore deserve it.”

“We’re not really going to be treated that much differently, are we?” I ask with a frown.

Ed nods, “Yes. You will, but how you respond to it is up to you.”

“Do we have to tell other supes that we’re a bonded team?” Coen asks. “By that I mean is it a requirement?”

Ed looks slightly surprised by the question, but answers honestly, “No, it’s not a requirement, although it can be helpful in certain situations, and there are some pretty good benefits.”

“I don’t think that we will use it unless we really have to,” Van says with a frown.

“I’m not keen on us being treated differently than any other Warrior team because we went through the Choosing,” Griff adds, echoing what we’re all thinking.

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