Marcus had to admit that Lapis Rezen was interesting or different from most Twig Twirlers he had encountered. Not all of it was good, but neither was it bad. Her biggest draw was the utter fascination she had with the various bits of magical information he had.

He had never seen someone (magical at least) spend so much time inspecting one of his false wands. Oh sure she knew it wasn’t a real one and that only a single spell had been inscribed upon it… but she was fascinated that a single spell had been bound to the wand.

Lapis already pulled out a bit of scroll as she was already jotting down as many details and notes about the false wand that she could make.

“Can you bind this spell to other objects? I mean this lacks and wood muchless a magical core which defies Artia’s Third Law of Magic.” She spoke in utter fascination “What type of ink was used to make this… or did you somehow charge the wand giving it limited uses?”

“Limited charges as it can hold a maximum of five, but the important thing is that it can be recharged.” Marcus informed her “It sounds silly, but having a spare spell on hand is always useful.”

She rubbed her chin accidentally rubbing some ink against it since she was using an inferior quill over the much more sensible ink pen. He pointed at her chin causing her to blush a little in embarrassment as she produced a white cloth to wipe it away.

Marcus found the white cloth both fascinating and a little bit scary because it was also magic. It just lacked the tell tale signs that his craft involved and the attempts made to hide their magical nature.

His wands had their secrets inside the hollow inside. His shoes had them inscribed on the bottom of each shoe and his clothing was a mess of every attempt to hide and inscribe as much protection as he could make inside the clothing.

Simply turning his clothing inside out would reveal the obvious arcane protection that had been placed upon them… but they were kept hidden if you were wearing them correctly. The white cloth was white… so either it was charmed… or some sort of white base ink had been inscribed upon the cloth itself to hide the magical enchantment.

“There is a reason why Black is popular with magic when Ink is the main source of Enchantments.” He thought to himself.

“So what about the other contestants? I mean what is the deal with Hadwin?” Marcus asked as info on his rivals was important.

Lapis frowned obviously annoyed at the reference of the boy “I take it your parents didn’t keep you updated on the wizarding world’s politics?”

The young magician shrugged “We move around a lot. Hard to get a feel for the land when you have bigger things to worry about.”

“I take it the story about your parents having planned on destroying Alchemist’s glory are false then?” The witch spoke like a reporter catching whiff of a good story.

“He preferred calling it The Red Stone…” Marcus slowly mumbled “But it’s complicated. I mean...”

He didn’t say anything more as he didn’t know her that well. She just nodded, taking it as the far simpler complication of politics since it was considered rude to openly insult and curse a backstabbing traitor when they held more political power than you.

“Hadwin situation is complicated. His father took his mother’s maiden name making him legally Hadwin Havoc, but amongst traditionalists his name is Hadwin Vera since the Aloe Vera family is a long and ancient family leaving him as the sole blood heir to it.” she tried to explain.

Marcus nodded as wizarding politics were complicated, but he knew schemes. On paper something must have happened with the father and his family having them take the mother’s name… but considering he is the only survivor that makes him the owner due to being the only pick left by default.

The old goat picked up on this and chose a young easily impressionable child to follow along with whatever policies he wanted. If you steal a stone to extend your lifespan then raising the next generation to be loyal minions probably wasn’t too much of a stretch especially when you ran a major magical school and had a large amount of power within the local ruling magical government.

She pinched her nose and muttered in frustration “His biggest claim to fame is that he ‘supposedly’ killed the last great Dark Lord. The problem was that he was a baby when it happened, but everyone goes along with it since he had a Prophecy claiming he was going to kill the Dark Lord.”

Now he was lost as how did a baby kill an adult?

Seriously it was hard enough keeping babies alive! The time he had spent with Iobairt had taught him as much as the man’s makeshift orphanage/home had given him a rough summer when he was young.

“My father thinks his Mother had something to do with it, but everyone thinks Hadwin is destined since he has a Prophecy and those things usually tend to turn out to be right.” She replied in a grudging tone “The second biggest player would have to be Roland Rook if you aren’t including me.”

Marcus nodded as he sorted through the various objects the Unsee had brought with them as the spirits continued preparing the inside of the cart for whatever disaster would strike them.

If the addition of a ‘cart ride’ was made at the literal last minute for ‘safety concerns’ that it pretty obvious that some ‘unexpected accident’ was soon going to happen. Luxarious didn’t need to have Marcus live to play ball.

He just needed a plausible excuse to kill the boy before pulling out some absurd bylaw that allowed whatever puppet he had on hand to claim the title. The fact that he told everyone that Andrew Flame was the Flame Heir meant he already found some patsy to replace Marcus and he was the loose end that needed to be cut before he made it to school.

If people were dump enough to think a baby killed a powerful magical mass murderer then they would have no problem accepting a completely different person claiming to be the real Flame Heir after they plucked the Flame family ring from his cold dead fingers.

He wasn’t paranoid. He was simply the audience member screaming at the characters who were walking into the obvious haunted murder mansion as they ignored Creepy Mc Stab Happy who was leading them inside the place.

“And who are you and Roland?” Marcus asked before he tried to correct himself “I mean in the political landscape since you are dealing with a child of prophecy.”

She stared at him for a few odd seconds in disbelief before blinking “You think that I’m as important as him?” She shook her head as she grinned “You get points for flattery, but the truth is my family is powerful in europe and that makes me important. Roland gets his from Infamy as his family is also an ancient noble house, but while his family is willing to live in poverty he isn’t.”

She glanced out the window “Chairman Antiarius is backing him to the point he is practically adopted. Roland has been one of the first in a long time to stand in the face of prophecy preferring to make his own and ignoring the Great Lux’s wisdom.”

Lapis chuckled “The Rook family is loyal followers of Lux and befriended the boy of prophecy… while Roland challenged, defied, and is as big of a rival to Hadwin as my own brother… only for Roland it’s personal instead of House Vera and House Rezen being on different political sides.”

Marcus rolled his eyes as the two biggest players on the field… where only because they stood against Hadwin? What about skill? Talent? Did they favor fair fights, did they cheat, could they avoid being set on fire?

With those thoughts in mind he messed with his staff testing out one of the spells Velkear had left him with. The Purple Arcane energy formed at his fingertips as he focused on keeping the magic contained.

“Hadwin has made good marks in his grades and each year he has faced a trial within the school only to succeed…” Lapis stopped talking as he looked up at her to see what was wrong “What… what is that?”

She pointed at his hand in fear as he stared at the Wand Breaker Curse before dissipating it “Just a minor chant. So… what items do he favor? Is he skilled with a sword? Knife? What other skills does he have at hand besides his wand?”

She blinked staring at him in confusion “Just a wand. I mean he has some talent with magic considering his status, but…” She shook her head before taking a deep breath “Is it not common for your parents to use wands?”

Marcus shrugged “Wands for the most part. A bit with potions and wards. I’m a little bit more spread out due to not being legally allowed to have a wand until recently…” Things slowly fell together “Wait… he just skilled with a wand? How many spares does he have? What wand does he favor?”

“Just the one.” Lapis spoke with a hint of unease “Like most people. How many do you have?”

Marcus stared at his own staff as… he was going to have to train on the wand breaker curse during his stay at the school. If he had a spell that could disarm every twig opponent in this tournament then it might be a lot easier than he thought.

Of course he’d still have to avoid the spells, curses, and magic they threw at him…

The cart started to slow down as a voice called out “Tree is in the middle of the road. It must have fallen down…”

“Get down. Hug the floor of the cart now.” Marcus spoke as he slipped out of his seat and hugged the floor

To his relief she went down to the floor clearly unhappy at his suggestion, but she moved just fast enough to realize something was wrong judging from the expression on her face.

“Why did the driver just apparate away?” She spoke with a hint of fear.

“He doesn’t need to be good… just the only one left.” Marcus replied as the Unsee jumped into his suitcase. He placed his hand on the obsidian ring and pulled out the key “Flint. Get Buttercup ready as we are going with plan B.”

The red spirit saluted taking the key and jumping into the suitcase.

Arrows rained down striking the cart.

Few tore into the walls revealing their tips, but never piercing the walls.

Screams came as Marcus focused on the basic fireball spell. Arrows meant magical threat since humans would use guns. If they used guns then they might have actually killed someone.

“Give us the Boy.” The Lord of the Broken Dawn demanded outside.

Marcus held his breath as he was far too naive. He thought the traitor would simply use wizards to try and kill him. Instead he sold him out to the freaking scorched and now the old monster was here trying to kill him again!

He needed more time. He needed…

“He’s in the first bloody cart!” A voice shouted out.

Marcus glanced at Lapis as she held up four fingers. They were in the fourth cart. Whoever shouted had made a mistake, but they bought Marcus a few more seconds.

“Flint.” Marcus spoke as he pulled out the key from his ring “Use the door on the outside and get Buttercup and Plan C.”

Lapis Rezen tried to figure out what was going on.

First fact - whatever was outside knew they would be here and where not wizards. The magical world didn’t go out and attack people muchless children right before a major event.

Second fact? They were possibly after Hadwin Vera (currently living up to his Mundi origin last name) or they were after Marcus Flame instead of Sir Andrew Flame who hadn’t appeared and possibly might not exist.

That last detail might be important since Andrew Flame was written within the book of prophecy and was supposed to have his big reveal this year. That had the slight unsettling detail that Marcus Flame would meet an untimely demise… and she was in the same cart with him.

When the criminals outside decided to start negations with an open volley of arrows before demanding the death of someone. She highly doubted they would care if they accidentally killed a couple more people by collateral.

Lapis Rezen cracked open the door as her suspensions had been confirmed as the enemy didn’t try to single anyone out. No the next barrage came in the form of silver arrows to smash into the shields of the only cart with adults left protecting it, before then using scorched earth tactics.

She had never seen anyone apply the phrase in such a literal manner as her opinion of Garmr Grim and the silver cloak buddies went up a notch. The enemy wasn’t playing around as she couldn’t even see the cart through the flames scorching through the cracks in the trees. The entire forest felt like it might go up in a blaze at this rate.

Marcus tapped her arm causing her to turn around in fear “What is it?”

The Flame Heir pulled out a few odd trinkets and handed her the plastic wand with healing magic enchanted into it. He tried to smile, but she could tell he was nervous.

“I’ve got a way out of here. You can go through a magical door and be safe…” He tried to explain.

She frowned as she didn’t believe a word he was saying “There is no way I’m running away. What’s the plan?”

No way was she going to be used as bait… and if she ran then Lapis Rezen would become a laughing stock as her brother wouldn’t let her live it down. She wouldn’t let herself forget this moment of weakness and failure.

He blinked as he was apparently caught off guard before shrugging “Well I’m going to go to the roof and try to get this cart to escape. The Unsee can bind themselves to the cart and Buttercup can pull the cart. The problem is that the Scorched outside are going to notice us trying to escape.”

Lapis bit her lip as he apparently planned to run. It wasn’t the best plan since it sounded like their goal was to kill him and by extension everyone inside of the cart. Still… she wasn’t going to let Hadwin Havoc show her up.

She was going to do more than just cower and let someone else save him while he takes all the credit.

“Anyone I should aim for?” Lapis asked with a forced smile

Marcus paused before a rather twisted smile briefly appeared on his face before he shrugged “The one in silver armor and a big name. You’ll know who since he’ll try to be killing me. Just watch out for the arrows and fire.”

He turned around and gave the door a knock “Yip, Yip.”

Lapis moved the door on her side and grabbed the driver’s seat before getting ready to see what Marcus’s plan was. To her disbelief the door on his side didn’t open up to reveal the inside of the cart, but the inside of a house as a black key rested in the lock of the open door.

The Flame Heir claimed it was a horse, but that was utter nonsense! It had six limbs as the front four had more in common with a wolf as only the back two legs looked like it came from a horse. It had leathery wings for Morgana’s sake! The tail was barbed and looked like it came from a lizard…

And the head?

Two branches like horns jutted out of the head. The ‘mouth’ was a mess of tentacles as the two large eyes focused on her before the reins of the cart suddenly wrapped themselves around the creature. It took the position of where the horse was supposed to have been as more Unsee appeared somehow possessing parts of the cart leaving scraps of cloth behind.

There was a crack as she turned around to see that Marcus had simply blasted a hole through the roof as he shouted “Still Alive Rust Bucket!”

Out from the woods what looked like a knight in silver armor raced towards them as the attacks against Hadwin’s cart stopped. The monster horse neighed loudly as it tried to run as Lapis held out her wand only to hear a loud bang.

The knight fell backwards screeching loudly in pain as Marcus cursed “Forget the cost. Load the special rounds and use everything. If we kill the Lord of Broken Dawn I call it a net gain!”

“I shall claim your head this day!” The creature in silver armor screeched as flames burst from its armor.

“You said that since I was eight and I’m still alive!” Marcus screamed back as a purple beam of light shot out of his staff.

The magical beam tore through the ground forcing it to doge as two more shots came out from the side of the cart as the monster ‘Buttercup’ tried getting them out of here.

Lapis held the side of the cart staring at the open doorway to someplace as more of the tiny spirits were bringing out Mundi weapons… highly dangerous mundi weapons as from out of the woods more ‘knights’ came charging out of the forest riding steeds made out of plants, wood, and pieces of steel.

None of them were wizards… none of them were even ‘alive’ as bullets tore through their armor only to have bursts of flames flare out making them look more inhuman.

“Maybe I should have taken his first offer.” She thought to herself as she cast her first spell.

Marcus focused on the limited selection of spells he had on hand as he cursed Luxarious for having hired the freaking Scorched and the Lord of the Breaking Dawn to try and kill him! Did he know about their history or was it just a happy accident?

He felt the cart shake as he held onto it and his staff as the remains of the fallen tree that hadn’t been burnt to a cinder fell behind them. The Wild Hunt that was chasing after them had only slowed down just long enough to get their boss on a horse as now they were trying to make up the distance.

On his right he could see more of the Unsee coming out of the House of Twilight as they were carrying more weapons to strap onto the cart to try and defend him with. Buttercup was racing pretty fast (He’d have to thank Velkear later) as the creature was pretty fast.

It might have been faster if he simply rode it instead of having it carry the cart, but…

An arrow shot over his head as two Unsee returned fire.

“Cart lined with protection beats fast, yet risky travel.” He reminded himself

Two more arrows came by as a burst of flames went to strike the cart, but the good old anti-flame wards prevented the flames from reaching them. Even if it was a rushed and shoddy job, it was enough to buy them enough time to keep running before the flames got close enough to do real damage.

“Tenebris!” the witch shouted as a burst of darkness seemed to fall behind them.

Marcus stared in disbelief as it was some sort of magical darkness… but one that prevented light. The fog of darkness caused the Scorched to try to dodge as the darkness fell across some of them robbing them of their light and leaving behind the empty shells that fell from their bodies.

He could tell it was effective because they stopped aiming at him and started aiming at her.

“Do that again!” Marcus shouted

“Get me closer to kill the boy!” The Lord of Breaking down screamed

A beam of scorching light nearly hit him as the cart swerved to the side only catching part of the cart on fire as his right arm stung in pain… instead of having a burning hole in his chest.

Why couldn’t he have taken the magical instant transportation? He was pretty sure all of the normal and other contestants weren’t having to doge a freaking Wild Hunt from a semi-unkillable monster! Heck they were probably drinking pumpkin juice and singing songs about… Merlin or something.

He didn’t know, but it probably didn’t involve screaming for their lives!

A barrel was rolled out of the door as Marcus took aim with his staff and unleashed a basic magic missile. The bolt of magic tore into the barrel, freezing the entire ground behind them causing the corpses they were riding to stumble as another cloud of darkness came from the resident witch.

“I’m going to need to learn that spell.” Marcus spoke in raw envy

Sadly the cloud of darkness missed it’s target as the Lord of Breaking Dawn didn’t just doge the attack. No it along with fate decided to be extra cruel as he jumped over the cloud of darkness and landed on the roof of the cart.

The silver sword plunged into the roof as he could see the burning flames behind the silver antique bucket like helmet the creature wore. Flames spread across the cart as Marcus ducked back into the cart as the burning white metal gauntlet tried to grab him.

“Salt and Ash.” Marcus cursed “Why won’t you die!”

He pulled out the flare gun loaded with Ardere Silver. The head came out into view as Marcus pulled the trigger. The shot struck the helmet as the various runes worked their magic drilling the round into the helmet as the Ardere Silver worked it’s magic… or anti-magic.

The door swung open as ropes wrapped around his body pulling him out of the way as the burning white sword tore through the spot he had been at as two more cracks of gunfire failed to kill the dam monster.

“I shall restore my honor this day!” The monster screamed as the back half of the cart broke away.

It was too much to hope that he had fallen with it as another burst of darkness nearly consumed the entire cart. Marcus would have laughed if the burning hot sword didn’t swing in front of his face cutting through the darkness.

The gaping hole in the helmet was now filled with a burning orange light as he replied “The Dark Breaks Before The Light Of Dawn!”

“Petrificus Totalus”

Marcus stared at the frozen lord of Broken Dawn as he could hear the silent scream of rage as somebody was now standing in between them. That dragged him onto this dam trap... now he was in front of him?

“Garmr Grim Head of the Silver Cloaks.” The wizard spat in anger “And in charge of kicking you off this cart!”

He leveled the wand against the chest and shouted “Expulso”

A burst of blue light threw the Lord of Breaking Dawn off the cart.

Wings of flames burst out of his back as he lunged back towards the cart.

“Reducto” The wizard shouted

The armor cracked as the metal hand clasped the end of the cart.

Marcus leveled his staff severing the hand with a burst of purple light.

“NO!” The unkillable monster screamed in hatred.

The cart ran over the bridge as Marcus nearly laughed in joy. They passed over a river as the other riders of the Scorched stopped beside their fallen lord as they refused to cross the bridge.

Buttercup stopped nearly throwing them off the cart, but thankfully the Unsee still bound to the ropes prevented them all from falling.

Broken, battered, but still whole the Lord of Breaking Dawn clenched the sword tightly as the ground slowly turned to glass underneath his feet. Marcus held his breath as he wasn’t sure if Lord would throw the sword out of pure spite… or if doing so would break one of his ancient pacts.

They crossed a river during a wild hunt and by the rules they should be safe… key word being should.

“Toss the boy over and I shall grant any wish you desire.” The Lord of Breaking Dawn practically spat in anger “Gold, Crown, Beautiful Women… Men?”

“Why did you attack us!” The wizard spat in anger “Why did you try to kill children for Merlin’s sake!”

The Lord of Breaking Dawn snarled “He is the Heir of the Moonless Night. What other reason do I need?”

“I also bet him fairly in a game of wit when I was eight.” Marcus added “If he won my corpse would be his next suit. If I won I got the prize he offered… he was a sore loser.”

Both witch and wizard stared at him in disbelief as they didn’t understand how that was a reason to try and kill him… for six straight years. It made him feel a little bit better because if they didn’t understand, then they didn’t know about the Scorched.

If they thought he was lying about what he was offering them to betray him… then they wouldn’t toss him over the bridge.

“He’s the Flame Heir.” Lapis interjected “And their Fae.”

“Impossible.” the wizard spoke in disbelief “Why would the Shade Faction…”

“Real Fae.” Lapis replied

There was a pause as Marcus glanced at the wizard. Was he going to have to defend himself or…

“Aque Percrutiens” The Wizard replied as a burst of water shot out of his wand nearly slamming into the Scorched on the other side of the bridge. They scattered glaring at him from behind the trees “Leave now or I’ll get the rest of the silver cloaks to finish you off. No children will die on my watch!”

“You are making a mistake.” The Lord of Breaking Dawn snapped back.

The wizard nodded his head “I know… I’m letting you live. Leave before I change my mind.”

They slunk away returning to wherever they came. Marcus nearly collapsed as… he made it. He survived as nobody died. Nobody he cared about at least, but… he survived.

Laying back against the remains of the cart Flint jumped over to him holding the key as Marcus sighed. He grabbed the key placing it back into the ring marking him the first in line… the ring that marked him as the Heir to the House of the Moonless Night.

“So…” The wizard turned and stared at him “Would you care to explain what happened?”

Marcus shrugged “He wanted to kill me because I won against him in a game of wits when I was eight. Unlike most children I read the stories and came prepared so that when I won… I knew to run before he could kill me.”

He tried to smile “He took insult to my survival. It’s not an uncommon story from those from Arcadia.”

“Arcadia?” The wizard spoke trying to figure where he was from.

Marcus smiled as he tried to get up “Leng… Marcus Leng Flame the third. Third child of the House of Flame blood adopted by Nicolas Flame and first Heir to the Moonless Night against my parents wishes.”

He glanced at the witch who didn’t try and kill him “I’ll pay for damages.”

The rest of the children were rounded up as Iobairt shook his head. So many children… the adults shouldn’t have struggled, but they didn’t understand. Such was the curse of ignorance gifted to the young in the misconception that it would protect them against reality.

“I am sorry, but this is for the greater good.” Iobairt replied as he truly did feel sorry for them

“The council of Ikara shall not stand for this!” Someone shouted “When they learn of this betrayal…”

Iobairt held out his hand and silence the Twig Twirler with one quick move. The children screamed as the adults fell back in fear as the magical core of the Twig Twirler had been ripped from his body. The witch stared at him in disbelief before her body sadly perished.

Shaking his head Iobairt examining the ethereal blue magical core in his head “Amazing… such a gift squandered in ungrateful hands.” He glanced at one of the children by his side “Eban… I must ask for your aid.”

The dark skinned child nodded his head as he removed his shirt. The youth of fourteen shivered as Ionairt readied his tools and plunged the core into the child’s body as he screamed in pain.

Iobairt did not stop his surgery as he tried to graft the magical core into the child’s body. He lacked the gift of magic and Iobairt had yet to uncover all of it’s secrets, but he had studied, learned, and now it was time to act.

The child fell to his hands and knee throwing up blood as he nearly died… but two jabs to the neck ensured that the right concoction of drugs and stimulates ensured that he would survive. His life would be at risk, but given the proper aid he would survive.

He would live.

Iobairt stared at the collection of lost souls “No one shall notice your disappearance. None shall notice or care by the end of the year if we fail… for none of this matters if we fail.”

For the greater good Iobairt got to work culling the students selected to participate within this ancient ritual. None of them would survive as their replacements had already been picked.

Iobairt was only glad that little Leng wasn’t a part of this group.

He was probably safe in Europe or something.

Iobiart sighed as he turned to the next test subject.

“So much work to do.”

“So little time.”