Michael woke up to a burning sensation in his hands. It happened every time he had to use his special abilities. He never used them around others, but last night was an exception. He walked to the bathroom, careful not to touch anything, and then turned on the water to cold. He stuck his hands under the faucet, knotting his face up to keep from screaming. He looked down at his hands, they were charred in some places, and burned badly in others. He had never had to use his “special talent” as he liked to call it, for as long as he needed to last night. The burns were going to last a lot longer this time, but it was inevitable.

His mother walked by the bathroom and walked in. She shook her head slowly as she watched.

“Michael, why did you use your ability last night?” She sighed as she saw how charred his hands had become, “And for how long did you use the flames?” Michael was still trying to suppress a scream of pain from the searing cold running through his burned hands.

“Some kids got lost in one of the caves and had just been making it worse by going deeper, thinking there was an exit on the other end. It took me over an hour to find them in there. They freaked out when they saw my lantern, thinking it was the supposed cave monster coming for them, so they jumped me.” Michael pulled his hands out from the water, he could see signs of them starting to heal already, despite the burns. His mother pulled some burn cream out and began to gently apply it to his hands. “I lost the lantern, so I needed to use the flames to get us out, or else we would still be lost up there.”

“Why didn’t you just use a piece of wood and spark it? It would have saved you much trouble and these burns would have been gone by now.” Michael sighed.

“You don’t think I tried that? All of the wood that was up in the cave was too rotted or too wet to use as a torch. I had to use my flame. I just told them that it was a jell cube that I had would give us light.” She began to wrap his hands in soft gauze, Michael could feel her putting healing energy over the wounds as she wrapped them. “Anyway, I would have just used it in spurts, but you know how badly it hurts for me to ignite the flames after having put them out moments before.”

“Well, no I don’t, but you had better go to school or else you will be late and you have a test today.” Michael walked over, took some natural painkiller roots that his mother had prepared, grabbed his bag and slipped out the door.

As he approached the bus stop, he could already see the stares and weird looks he was getting for having his hands wrapped in bandages. No doubt, at least one of them knew of the adventure the night before. He approached quickly and the bus was soon to follow. No one said anything to him. He looked over the bus again, as he did every single morning and wondered why he couldn’t just go to public school. The same old lettering in an old English style said “St. Johns” on the side of it. He climbed aboard the bus, listening to the old diesel engine roar and smoke. He made his way back to the middle of the bus. He found a seat that was empty, so he sat down without saying a word to anyone. He always felt depressed at school, because they pushed him around, and tried to force their beliefs on him. It never felt right praying in their churches, or having to suppress his urges to argue theology with his teachers and point out the reasons he was not Christian. But they did not know he was not Christian. It was a small town his mother and he had moved to after a problem with one of her ex-boyfriends stalking her and threatening her life. He had also managed to use some of his pull as an executive to make sure she was fired from her position, though it was illegal, she was fired because of her being a traditional pagan from a long line of family pagans. Michael was lost in thoughts about these things the whole ride to school. He was only a sophomore in high school, but he managed to bring himself above the crowd and excel in his courses of study. He was a straight A student, and although he never participated in sports, he was just as fit, if not more so, than most of the football team.

Michael’s thoughts were broken by the rumbling of the old engine grinding to a halt and the bus jerked. He stood up and fumbled around for his bag, sliding his arm through the loop without touching his still sensitive hand against the strap. He knew that the herbs would kick in soon and sustain him through the day, but they were still getting in to his system. He walked out of the bus and moved quickly in to the building. The strange looks from his peers continued well in to the building and on his way to his first class. No one could figure out how he burned his hands, but no one dared to ask him. He smiled at the thought that they feared him or were just to apathetic to care.

“Good Morning class, looks like we have everyone here. Now will everyone please take out their books?” Mr. Ron Atlow was a strong man, about 6’0” 250lbs of muscle. He coached the wrestling team and the foot ball team. This in addition to teaching a theology class and weightlifting classes. “Now, take a moment for silent prayer please. Bow your heads.” Michael always hated this part, but he did as the teacher said none the less. A moment passed and the teacher looked up, and said “Amen”. The class repeated the word, except for Michael. This drew attention quickly.

“Mr. Blackridge, do we have a problem praying?” Michael snapped up, not realizing his failure to say the word. “Or were you so deep in prayer that you did not hear the rest of us move forward with our day.” He moved closer to Michael and then turned to the class. “Okay. Well, now that we are all back to earth, how was everyone’s weekend? Mr. Blackridge, it seems you have some injuries, would you care to tell us how they happened?” Michael’s stomach knotted up, looking around the room, feeling every eye on him. He knew that at least one person had heard of his escapade by now and was bound to turn him in for it, but he tried anyway.

“Well, I was building a fire for my mother in our fireplace, and I lost my balance. My hands were in the fire. It’s nothing bad, I just have them wrapped for now to be safe today, to keep them from getting more beat up than they are already.” Ron moved away from his desk, after staring him down for a moment.

“You know, Michael, that is not what I have heard from the other students. Has anyone else heard this?” He looked around the room and everyone’s hands went up in the air. Ron picked one at random.

“I heard he was a sorcerer and was burn by fire from hell when he tried to summon satan!” One girl almost yelled out. Ron sent a sneer at Michael.

“I heard something very similar. Close enough. Michael, step outside of the room. I will be right with you. We need to have talk.” Michael felt very sick, the perspiration beading up on his forehead. The pain in his hands all but forgotten at this point. He stood up, leaving his backpack on the floor, and left the room. Standing in the hallway, he heard Ron Atlow tell his dutiful class to read pages one eighty onto two hundred and answer the questions in end of the chapter. Michael contemplated running, but where would he run to? He lived over 15 miles out in the country, even if he were to run, he would have most all of the school and the local police looking for him. He was scared at this point. He heard the door creak and Ron Atlow came out. Michael could feel the sinister energy coming off of him, strongly, like the smell of rotting flesh and stale air. He grabbed Michael by the shoulder and started to pull him down the hallway until Michael took up step with him.

“You are in a lot of trouble now, young demon worshipper. How can you even falsify your beliefs and be able to stand among these hallowed hallways, evil child?” Ron continued on, but Michael’s thoughts drifted elsewhere to a small leather necklace he was wearing, his pentacle. His thoughts drifted back to Ron, knowing that he could not do anything about it now. “You will get what is coming to you in hell, but in the mean time, we have to decide what to do with you now.” The had arrived in front of the main office, the principle, Mother Superior Katherine was sitting in there with paper work on her desk. “You stay here.” Ron let go of his grip on Michael’s shoulder. It was only then that he realized how hard he had pinched down on him, feeling the blood rushing back in to his shoulder.

Inside the office window, Michael could see Ron talking to the Mother Superior and he could feel the negative energy rising and the feeling of impending doom coming over him. He braced himself as he heard a call go out over the intercom.

“This is Mother Superior Katherine. Will all of the members of the cloth please report to the church immediately. Thank you.” Michael was shaking and feeling the sweat drip down his face. His hands began to hurt from all of the negative energy. Ron and Katherine came out of the office. Ron glared at him.

“Put you hands behind your back, or I will do it for you.” Michael was scared now. Too scared to put up any sort of fight. He felt his hands slide behind his back involuntarily. He closed his eyes and suppressed a scream as Ron tied them up, with no regard to the fact that they were burned. He then felt something go around his neck. He panicked, and without choice in the matter, he felt his bladder relieve itself at the exact moment. Michael opened his eyes and saw a collar and a leash had been attached to his neck. Ron Atlow was at the other end.

“He is ready Mother Superior.” Katherine looked at him with a look of disgust in her eyes. A cross around her neck, rosary in her right hand, and a bible in her left hand. She nodded to Atlow who pulled on the leash mercilessly and they began to move at a fast pace toward the exit. As they neared the exit, Atlow stopped and put a blind fold over his eyes, tying it tightly behind his head. They began to move forward. They moved outside, Michael could tell from the breeze and the feeling of the sun hitting him. His hands burned and ached, and his mind twisted, going in a hundred different directions. He was scared now. His body was shaking, and he could feel tears streaming down his face. His body was in over load now. He could feel the negative energy growing to levels that he never had encountered before. It felt like pure and absolute hatred was arising all around him. Finally, they stopped in doors. It felt like a very large room, the church from Michael’s guess. He could feel others’ presence in the room. They began to move forward and then came to some stairs. Michael tried as hard as he could to keep from stumbling down the stairs. He began to try to calm himself, taking deep breaths, steadying himself. He didn’t know what was going to happen, but he knew it could not be good. He spent some of his energy and sent down his grounding lines to the earth, going as deep as he could, pulling positive energy in to keep his shields up. The voices around him were chanting, but he cared not what they were saying. He was busy chanting in his own mind, asking his lord and lady for help, but at the same time Michael knew that what needed to happen would happen.

Michael felt them stop in the middle of a room. His senses had come back to him when he managed to re-ground himself. The room felt warm, but that the same time had a bone chilling cold energy that ran through it. He felt the negativity around him pushing against his shields, but he pushed back, keeping his shields up. He felt someone push him up against a wall, face first. It wasn’t Atlow or Katherine, it was someone else. The person pulled the gauze off of his hands.

“BEHOLD THE HANDS OF ONE WHO WORSHIPS LUCIFER!” Michael could hear jeers and gasps coming from the people in the room. He could hear a struggle of some sort going on. Suddenly he felt his hands were loose. He turned, ignoring the pain, and tried to grab the person who had undone them, but they were fast, and strong. He felt his body hit something solid on the ground and he felt his arms being clamped down, outstretched to his sides. Someone else tied his feet together and clamped them to something else. He felt something brush against his skin and his shirt was no longer on his body. The same happened to his pants. There were gasps of shock that ran through the room. Michael guess it was because of the pentacle that adorned his necklace, instead of the cross. His muscles rippled, and were tense. Michael recognized the position he was in as the crucifix position. Except there were no nails, only clamps. He felt his body tighten up even more as the cross was raised from the lying position to fully upright. His chest muscles being pulled apart, the strain on his shoulders and arms to hold his body up. Silence fell over the room, and then his blindfold was pulled off. Michael’s eyes were hit by torch light and he was surrounded by hooded people with large crosses around their neck and bibles in their hands.

“Behold my Brethren, we have here one who worships the devil, Lucifer, or Satan, if you will. He is the embodiment of Evil’s spawn. He has been in our midst for 2 years now.” The masked male turned to him. “You have been spared the nails, but will not be spared the pain of suffering through the crucifixion. You have turned your back upon all that is good, there is not room in this world for such as you. You deny the One True God for false gods and turn to promises from the devil himself of power and glory. You shall meet the one you call master, and under our watch, you shall go there quickly.” Michael felt the pain building in his chest. He knew that it would take more than just an hour or two before he would make his final passing, but that is why, he knew, that the roman’s used crucifixion, because it was so painful and long. He closed his eyes and concentrated.

A mist swirled around in front of his eyes and he saw an oak tree in front of him. He reached out at the oak tree and heard a voice call to him, it was both male and female at once. “You are not done yet, child. We still have much use of your talents. You who was born from the union of a human female and a faery. You still have much to do. You command the element of fire, and for that, you will pay a price, but it will not be an unbearable price. Pledge your life to us, your lord and lady, and so shall it be done. You will venture forth to complete your task.” Michael had dropped down to one knee in front of the tree.

“But how? How do I get out of here? I have been bound.” The voice sighed and the mist began to swirl in front of him again.

“You control the element of fire, our son.” The voice faded out and suddenly it all went black, Michael snapped his eyes open and looked around. Torches! There were torches all around the room. Michael felt the fire in his soul begin to burn forth, heating up. Flames burst forth from his hands first, a scream escaping his lips, and then his feet, moving all the way through his body, setting the wooden cross behind him ablaze. The onlookers in the hoods and cloaks screamed as they flames around them from the torches began to leap forth and grab at them, setting their cloaks aflame. Michael continued to scream, as he felt the flesh in his body burning, and the cross burning beneath him. The screams of those below him growing louder and louder, smoke and the scent of searing flesh rising through the air. Michael let out one last scream of fiery air that was engulfing his lungs and the world went black. Right before he passed out completely, he felt himself fall and hit the ground.

Michael awoke later, not knowing how much later, and rolled over a bit. He felt his body was singed and charred, but he didn’t know how badly. It hurt every fiber of his being to move, even a little bit. It took almost all of his strength to prop himself up against the wall. He felt around and found an unburned cloak hanging on the wall. He could no longer feel any energy around the room, except for his own. Slowly and gently, he put the cloak on his body. He still could not see anything, his eyes burned, going by his dulled sense of touch, and his memory, he found his way to the stairs. He climbed them, slowly, taking the better part of fifteen minutes to get up to the top of them. He was hoping that there would just be a normal door or just a hanging cloth, but he was wrong, much to his dismay. He pounded on the door, feeling around, looking for something that would trigger the door. Suddenly it went, without warning and Michael stumbled through the door and fell on to the ground. Smoke billowed out of the hole. The pain seared through his already dulled nerves, making them scream in pain. Michael screamed out, but it came out gurgled, and weak. He picked himself up, a feeling of energy coming from somewhere, he knew not where, and carried himself out of the door. His sight was returning as blurred streaks of light, but that was all he could get.

Michael fumbled around for a piece of cloth and tore it from the bottom of the cloak and wrapped it around his eyes, to keep them from the light. He stood for a moment and determined he was in the parking lot of the school, his senses spinning to pick up the direction of his house. Instinctively, he took a step forward, and then another. He could hear screams from people who saw him. He pushed forward, moving slowly.

After what seemed like an eternity, Michael stopped and leaned up against what he figured was a tree. If his body would have been capable of sweating it would have been, but he was dehydrated and he could tell parts of his body were charred. He heard something from behind him. He turned instinctively, realizing in mid turn that his eyes were useless at best right now. A voice came forth with a pleasant, positive healing energy.

“Young man. Please. Come with me, so I may help you. I will not hurt you.” Michael tried to speak, again, it came out as a small gurgle. The man lead the way by his energy. They walked for what seemed like forever again, but when ever Michael would start to feel weak, he would get a boost of energy from the man in front of him. Michael felt a sense of great energy come over him, and if he could have seen, he would have looked, but the man was insistent.

“Come young one, you need to get inside soon.” Michael for some reason feel where the man was directing him. They entered in to a small room, and the man stopped him.

“Please, lay down, my son, and we shall take care of you. But you need to rest so that you may recover. Just rest, so that we may help you.” Michael started to ponder the meaning of we, but decided not to, and laid down to rest on the bed, feeling a darkness pass over his mind, going in to a deep sleep of recovery.

It felt as if he was sleeping but not resting. His mind filled with images of what had happened just previously. Every face, every feeling burned in to his mind like an etching in glass. He awoke to a cool feeling all over his body, but it was a weight at the same time. He tried to move slightly, but he could not. He opened his eyes, and found that there was something covering them. Michael could feel healing energy flowing in to his body from that which was touching him, and another type of energy. HIS MOTHER! Here? How? Michael’s mind was a flutter.

“Yes, Michael, I am here.” Michael tried to speak, and this time, words came out, but it sounded like a rock crusher in motion.

“Mother. Where, I? How you?” Michael’s sentences were broken up badly, but it was the best he could do.

“Hush Michael. You need to recover. Kaleth contacted me about a week ago and told me that he had found you. He didn’t know what had happened, but he has an idea. That contact was made about a week after he found you. He saw something in the paper about there being 30 bodies burned beyond recognition in a secret basement at St. Johns. He knew as soon as he saw that, it had to have been you. Wait until you are better before trying to explain. It can wait.” Kaleth came in to the room, his energy immediately filling the room.

“Christina, may I have some words with you, please?” Christina stood up and walked over to the corner of the room where Kaleth was standing.

“What is it Kaleth, my dear friend?” A note of sadness in her voice. Michael’s ears had grown to be able to hear what went on around him.

“Christina, even with all of our combined talents, which believe me, we are using, he will not recover his physical form in the full way of his old self.” Michael could hear a slight sadness in his Mother’s voice.

“How bad will it be Kaleth? I need to know. Will he be okay to return to society?” Kaleth sighed deeply.

“Ahh Christina, if I could only tell exactly how badly. His body will be scarred all over, likely for the remainder of his life. His eyes will recover sight, his ears will recover their hearing, and his fingers will likely regain touch. I cannot guarantee that he will be able to smell or taste again.” Christina sighed as she accepted the truth that her only off spring was to be marred for life. “I am sorry Christina, we are doing our best for the boy.”

“It’s okay Kaleth. At least I know he is in good hands, and not in a hospital or any where else for that matter, and the fact that he is alive relieves me.” She paused for a moment, thinking, “I cannot stay here long Kaleth. I have other matters to attend to back at civilization.” Kaleth walked over to the door with her, his arm around her shoulder. “Please, do your best, tell him I love him, and when he is recovered, I want to see him again.” They embraced in a warm hug and she left the room quietly. Michael was now confused. He did not know what had happened to him completely, nor why his mother was not staying. If he could have asked, he would have, but instead, he felt a tiredness come over him and pull him back in to a deep sleep.

Slowly, Michael opened his eyes, he no longer felt the immense pain in his body. He wondered momentarily if it had all been a bad dream, until his eyes were open enough to let in the light. It was a blinding white light that pierced as though to his very mind. He quickly shut them, cringing at the sharpness of it.

"So, ye are finally wakin' up, eh lad?" Michael knew right then that it was not a dream, that he was indeed where he was. "Let me go fetch Kaleth for ye, before ye hurt yeself tryin' ta move too much." The voice had a heavy irish accent and speech pattern. Michael sensed the man moving around and heard a sound of blowing. "Okay Laddy, if ye so wish, ye can open yer eyes without all that blindin' light comin' in." Michael slowly obeyed, opening his eyes very slowly, avoiding the urge to pop them open as he was accustomed to doing. He looked around the darkened room, it was not very large, with wooden cabinets, and the walls looked as if he was inside of a hollowed out tree. Time passed slowly as Michael took in what he could from his vantagepoint without moving.

After what seemed like an eternity, Kaleth appeared with the Irish sounding man next to him. He lit a small candle so he could see better in the room.

"At last you have awakened from your sleep." Michael nodded slowly, a small up and down motion. "I was afeared that you might stay sleeping forever after I put that healing spell on you." Michael looked quizzically, his curious look must have shown through, because the Irish man let out a small snicker.

"Yes, laddy, we do indeed know a bit of the magick of olde. Unbeknownst to most and not cared about by even more." There was laughter edged in his voice, an amusement of sorts.

"Hush Sean, you might scare our young one. We wouldn't want that now, would we? Christina would be most unhappy with you." Kaleth had a laughing edge to his voice. From what Michael could deduce, they were friends of old, having spent many years together. "Now, Michael, we are going to work slowly from here, to see what you have and don't have after your recover. I don't want you to panic if you have lost something, because you never know if it might come back." Kaleth opened a cupboard of small bottles and other tools, took a few bottles out, and then closed it again. "First things first, how long do you think you have been in a healing sleep?" Michael shook his head and shrugged slightly.

"Well, that looks good, but I want you to try to vocally answer me, Michael." Kaleth seemed as if he knew what he was doing quite well, as if he had done it before.

Michael took a breath and tried to speak. "I don't know." His heart skipped as he heard the words come out, with little effort. The voice that accompanied them, however, was deep, and quiet like a whisper.

"Very good Michael. It looks as if we have accomplished that much in our healing." Kaleth took out a bottle and opened the top. Slowly, he waved it under Michael's nose. Michael took a breath in through his nose, but did not smell anything. He waited until Kaleth took the bottle away.

"I didn't think that you would be able to smell, unfortunately, Michael. The burns went deep inside and probably took that away, however, we know you can see, and hear for that matter. Now the taste." Again, Kaleth opened a bottle, took a small dropper and took some of the liquid out. He turned back to Michael. "Your tongue please." Michael obeyed and opened his mouth, sticking out his tongue. Michael could see the tip of his tongue, and noticed it was darker, but not charred as he had expected. The drop went down on his tongue and almost instantly, Michael's face cringed at the bitter taste that overwhelmed his taste buds.

"Again, very good. You seem to have your taste in good order, because that was meant to be very bitter, indeed." Kaleth put the bottles away, and turned back to him. "I know you have a lot of questions, Michael, as I do myself have many for you. Please, ask them if you would like." There was a pause and right before Michael could speak, Kaleth put his hand up and stopped him.

"First, Let me explain to you where you are and why." Michael nodded his agreement to the topic. "You are here with a small group of people who are part human, part faerie. Descendants of those relationships. Your mother agreed to let us care for you and teach you to better use what gifts you have. I am Kaleth, the head of the group. I founded it a long time ago for many such as you. We generally keep quiet to ourselves and study our gifts and how to help others use them.” Kaleth went quiet for a moment to let Michael absorb it. “Do you have any questions?”

Michael’s head was a-whirl with all kind of questions to ask, but he knew that the answers would come in time, rather than asking and having to accept the answers that were given. He had learned that many years ago, that to merely accept the answer that you would receive from asking one man a question, is only to get a fraction of the story. He shook his head slowly from side to side.

“No, I have no questions.” Michael mused about the fact that it was becoming easier to speak, however, his voice was still deep and quiet.

“Good, without further questions then, let’s get you up and moving.” Kaleth summoned Sean over and they each took him by an arm and lifted him to his feet, supporting him as he tried to take his first steps since he had arrived there. They were clumsy and unsure, but Michael also knew that it would come in time.

The next couple of weeks were a blur for Michael. He underwent intense physical workouts everyday in an attempt to regain his strength. He finally was able to walk on his own, and move about, but he still did not have his full stamina back. It was coming back quicker than they had expected, but it still was no where near where it used to be.

Every morning, he would wake up and go out on a run, with the watchful assistance from Sean. His day consisted of lifting weights in the morning, then the afternoon, he spent reading ancient texts on faeries and the gifts which they had. Among these texts, other’s had written their own texts about their own gifts and shared their techniques on controlling them and using them. Then the evenings were spent doing meditation and joining in ritual with the others. He spent many nights after the rituals and meditation just laying on his back, staring at the ceiling and thinking. This comfortable life style was about to change suddenly.

Michael was in the library, reading a book on a child who possessed the gift of phasing himself through solid objects, and the encounters when he would just walk through doors, not knowing it was not normal to be able to do this. It was humorous, but at the same time sad to Michael, because of the ridicule that this child went through. He heard Kaleth’s unique footsteps coming through the door.

“Michael, my boy, we have a surprise for you if you will come with me.” Michael closed the book gently, and replaced it back on the shelf. He turned to Kaleth, who was wearing a large smile on his face. “I know you want to better control your abilities, and with the help of some of the others, we think we have a solution to the issue of it burning your hands and body.”

“Oh really? And how is that? Not use it?” Michael was smiling now too, his toothy grin showing. It was still a disturbing sight for Kaleth, because it looked more like Death itself was smiling than the young man that Michael used to be. Suppressing his reaction, Kaleth walked back out of the door with Michael in tow.

“Actually Michael, quite seriously, we have created a way for you to use it without being burned, or so we would hope.” Michael could feel his heart beat intensify. He knew his gift was still there, as it would never leave him, however, the question was if his fear would prevent him from using it. He knew that his body had still not completely recovered from all of the burns, and that some of them still hurt, even though it had been months now of intense healing rituals and careful attention to his wounds.

The rest of the walk across the grounds was quiet until they reached the forgery. Once inside, Michael could see the rest of the people from the group were gathered around and waiting, with large smiles on their faces. In front of them all, was an outfit made of a black and red material folded nicely, and on top was a mask and pair of gauntlets. Shoes were placed in their pair behind the outfit on the table.

“What’s this supposed to mean?” Michael pointed at the mask. He was instantly offended, as if they found his face too repulsive to look at. Sean stepped in quickly to calm him.

“Tis just a precaution, laddy. We wanted to make sure that your face would be protected when you used your ability. We didn’t want to take any risks. I’m sure you can understand that fact, laddy.” In his mind, Sean took a deep breath and waiting with bated breath to see his reaction. Michael smiled and picked up the mask.

Michael turned the mask over in his hands, looking at it’s polished surface. There were three slits in the mask, two for the eyes and one for his mouth. Other than that, it was a smooth, curved surface, leaving no features. Michael’s mind at that very moment began to see possibilities. He looked at the pile of clothing on the table and the mask.

“Would you excuse me while I try this all on? I would love to see how it fits.” Michael smiled to himself as the group left the room, leaving him in peace, the only sound in the room was the sound of Michael’s breathing and the crackle of the fire. “At last, I finally will have a way to repay them. For what their ignorance did to my body. Then I will be able to rest in peace.” He quickly doffed his clothing and began to put the clothing on. It stretched to fit his body snuggly, leaving him very agile motions. There was energy around the garment, a protective energy and a healing energy at the same time. He picked up the mask and slid it over his face, attaching the leather straps after some initial difficulty with the task. The shoes were next, then the cloak. The clock wrapped completely around his body, concealing his arms, yet it was weighted so after brushing it aside, it would dutifully fall back in to place. The gauntlets lay on the table, waiting for their new master to put them on. Michael could feel a transformation was taking place inside of his body and mind right now. Part of it scared him, but he accepted it as inevitable. He knew the day would come when he would be able to exact the same price from those who hurt him, a price he had to pay. He picked the gauntlets up and slid them over his hands easily, feeling the gauntlets tighten themselves down on his wrists. A magickal device, Michael figured that would keep them from falling off and keeps another from finding them and putting them on without proper knowledge of the device.

He opened the door to the outside slowly, the hoods of the cloak over his face, and as soon as it was open, rose himself up to his full size. The voices gasped, and from the sounds, it was not a fake gasp as they may have intended. Underneath the mask, he smiled, knowing that if this hardened group of people were shocked at the appearance he gave, then a normal man would be scared stiff. He walked back to his quarters and looked in a mirror. His appearance was indeed a frightening sight. Death without a face was the first thing that came to mind. The smooth silver polished face allowed a reflection, and the cloak, hood and black and red colored body suit made it more fitting. His smiled never dimmed as he locked his room door for some privacy.

Slowly, he walked over to his meditation altar in the corner of the room. The candles remained unlit and the incense unburned for the moment. Michael slowly cleared his mind of all thoughts. Except for one thought. Fire. He called it forth from within, once again to show itself to him. A burning sensation came through his body, letting him know it was still there. Michael’s eyes snapped wide open, looking through the mask’s slits for his eyes. He looked at the candles and silently commanded them to ignite and burn. It took some effort at first, but in a few seconds, they ignited, their flames burning hot and high. He watched with an insane pleasure as the candle went from almost untouched by flame to a melted pool of wax in seconds. He turned his attention to the incense now, it was sitting to the side of a small cauldron with a charcoal briquette sitting in it, unlit. He turned his attention to the briquette, and in a split second, it was ignited and burning hotly. He threw the incense on and it was engulfed in flames.

All this time that Michael was focused on the incense and candles, he didn’t realize that Sean watched him silently from the corner. Sean gasped as he watched the scene unfold in front of his very eyes. He knew that something was not right, something was gravely wrong as a matter of fact. He watched the candles disappear, as if they were pine needles in a forest fire. The smell of the incense instantly overtook the room as it disappeared in the flames. Sean no longer wanted to see this anymore. He knew that it was a grave mistake to give him the suit and the go ahead to pursue his talents, but no one would listen to him. Inside, Sean knew what had to be done to prevent things from coming full circle in the way that the fates had decreed, but somehow, he also knew his actions would not matter.

As Sean slipped out through the secret passage, he mumbled to himself, incoherently to anyone else but himself. He walked past the younger residents and headed straight for Kaleth’s chambers. He made his way in, without so much as a knock. In the back of the room Kaleth had been talking to a man, but their conversation stopped instantly as Sean walked in. The man was tall and muscular in stature, wearing a black cloak similar to what Michael wore now, except there was no mask, yet try as he might, Sean could not see his face.

“Now, would you care to explain what you are doing in my chambers without so much as a knock, Sean? I am in the middle of a very important meeting.” Sean took a deep breath, knowing that the tone of Kaleth’s voice had a certain threatening edge to it right now.

“We’ve made a grave mistake Kaleth.” Kaleth quirked his head to the side momentarily. He knew what Sean was talking about, but decided he would play along.

“About what Sean?” Sean took a deep breath. He had played a game similar to this with Kaleth before, and it never made getting a resolution easy.

“About giving Michael that protective outfit. He’s going to lose control, Kaleth. You know it as well as I do.” Kaleth’s eyes turned hard, as he looked Sean directly in the eyes, his gaze piercing directly in to Sean’s soul, from the receiving end of the stare.

“He will not lose control. We have talked about this time and time again, before this. I know he will not lose control. And even if he does, we will deal with it when, and only when, it happens.” Kaleth’s voice was getting extremely edgy from Sean’s perspective. “Now I would like to know what you think that the grave mistake, as you put it, is.” Sean broke the gaze momentarily to look at the hooded stranger who was standing silently, listening to the conversation. The best he could guess was that the man had no idea what was going on right now, but he was probably taking in the conversation none the less.

“The grave mistake is that we gave him that protection. He can now use his talents with fire, without fear of being burned or hurting. That means he has power, without consequence. That is our mistake. He will not be able to handle it.” Kaleth started to raise his voice, and his stature straightened up.

“That is where you are wrong, Sean, and until you can prove otherwise, we are going to leave this conversation be. It is over. There is no more to be said, and I will not listen to any more of your useless banter on this topic. Now, if you will excuse me, my guest grows impatient, for we have some serious business to discuss.” Kaleth broke the gaze and turned back to his guest, whispering something incomprehensible from Sean’s distance.

Sean was furious right now. If he couldn’t convince Kaleth, then he couldn’t do anything about it.

“Just remember that absolute power corrupts absolutely, Kaleth, and don’t say I didn’t warn you.” Kaleth turned to him, anger evident all around him.

“DO NOT EVEN BEGIN TO THREATEN ME! NOW LEAVE! WE WILL TALK ABOUT THIS LATER!” Sean knew when to stop, and that time was now. He stormed out of the door, letting it slam behind him. He moved quickly to his chambers, the frustration evident to anyone who was even remotely sensitive to energy.

Once inside of his chamber, he sat down in front of his altar and closed his eyes for meditation. He knew that he had to wait for the right time to strike, now that Kaleth was aware of his concerns. If he could prevent it, the upcoming chaos would not happen, but that was only if he could prevent it.

Kaleth motioned to a chair for his guest, noticeably nervous at this point. “I am so sorry Patrick. I did not mean for anyone to intrude upon our dealings. Now, what is it you have come here for?”

“That was quite alright Kaleth. You know that I do not worry about such matters as that, for all it took was a quick illusionary spell to keep from having my identity known. And this boy, he interests me, the one Sean was talking about. What gift has he, that it would be that important to keep in check?” Kaleth shifted in his seat uncomfortably, he knew that all Patrick would have to do is look in to his eyes for the answer, but he seemed to get more pleasure out of making people talk to him.

“Well, it seems that this boy has some talents controlling the element of fire. We aren’t sure the extent of his ability, so we created a suit for him to wear, for protection purposes, you know.” Patrick knew that Kaleth was fudging the truth on him, so he stared him straight in the eyes, going through and finding what information he could about the boy.

“Kaleth? Why did you lie to me when you know I can merely extract the information from you at mere thought?” Kaleth had been reaching for drinks at that exact moment, and spilled it on his desk when he jumped from the words. “Yes, Kaleth, the boy has much more talent than you were going to tell me. Do you not trust me, Kaleth? Do you think that I would hurt the boy intentionally?” Kaleth stayed silent, his eyes watching the floor.

“Patrick, I do not want you involved with the boy. We were asked to care for him and train him, by his own mother, after an accident. I made a personal promise to his mother. He will not be helping you, Patrick. You’re searching and you personal vendetta are yours alone.” Patrick laughed out loud at this attempted display of courage, when Kaleth completely caught him off guard. “Patrick, if you so much as lay a finger on the boy, you will answer to me.”

“And Kaleth, what will prevent me from doing what I want?” Kaleth stood up, his aura flaring up.

“Patrick, you will have to go through me to get to the boy, and I swear that if I do go down stopping you, it will not have been in vain.” The youthful fire that Patrick once knew Kaleth to have, returned to his eyes full force, burning hotly and furiously. Patrick smiled, keeping his cool.

“Calm down, Kaleth my friend. I would not dream of behind your back to get the boy. Let us have another drink and be done with the serious discussion. I have many stories from my travels I would love to tell you.” Kaleth poured another drink and sat down, his fires still burning hotly, but calmed down for now. Patrick let out a silent sigh of relief. He knew that even in his old age, Kaleth was still a powerful faerie mage, and that if he was truly to fight against Kaleth, he might actually stand a good chance at losing. Patrick took the drink and took a long sip from it before continuing on telling of his most recent adventure in to the faerie realm. Kaleth listened with interest to the story, but part of his mind was still flaming at the fact Patrick would even think of using Michael for his own purposes.

The evening passed and Michael was tired. He was not used to expending that much energy that quickly. He stretched out on his bed, having removed the clothing and folded it neatly next to his bed. When he went to sleep, he was troubled by nightmares. The nightmares took him back to the day that he had his accident, and played over and over again, but no matter how hard he tried, he could not wake up from them. He was screaming in his dream, and for all he knew, in his body as well. It took him time, but eventually, he woke up, his body sweating and his heart was racing. Sean was standing over him, holding a talisman next to him, silently, his eyes closed in meditation. Michael summoned his energy back up, and shoved the talisman away, snapping Sean out of his meditation.

“It was you! You did that to me!” Michael was standing in a heartbeat, face to face with Sean.

“Did what Michael? I was only trying to help you. I heard you screaming bloody murder from my own room and I came to investigate.” Michael’s eyes had fires burning inside of them, a small glimpse of what was going on deeper inside.

“I don’t believe you Sean.” They locked eyes, both of them waiting for the other to say something, and finally Michael broke the silence. “I know you don’t like me. You’re jealous. Yes, jealous. Jealous at the fact that Kaleth will listen to me more than you, and that he is more interested in what gifts I have, then what ones you have. You brought back my nightmares to drive me insane, didn’t you?” Sean stood silent, he furious at Michael’s train of thought, he knew it was partially true, the jealousy, but he had nothing to do with the nightmares. Before he could answer, Michael had moved to the door and opened it.

“You’re silence proves to me that I am right. Now, if you will excuse me, and leave my quarters. We will talk about this in the morning.” Michael knew that he would not be around in the morning however, because something inside of him was telling him to leave that night. His journey awaited him, and so did his destiny. Sean moved through the door quickly, the tension in the room had probably woken up every empath for miles, but it did not matter to Michael or Sean. They both knew that it was far from over.

Shortly after Sean left his room, Michael picked his clothing up and began to put it on, quickly and quietly. Before he left, he found his climbing rope and brought it along too. He slipped the mask on over his face, and pulled the hood down so his mask was partially concealed. Before he left his room, he extinguished the candles, and closed the door silently behind him. He knew his directions now and he knew where he was going.

About a half of a mile away from the village, Michael heard something in the bushed directly in front of him. Instantly, he was in a defensive stance, getting ready to throw flames forward at his attacker. Patrick stepped out, his cape flowing in the darkness, his black hair and dark eyes, shining in the darkness.

“And where would you be going, young one?” Michael was speechless at the man. He was beautiful in a dark way. The black parts of his clothing and body seemed to make the darkness of the night seem more like a large fire was burning. “Master Kaleth would not approve of this, if he knew you were leaving the village so quickly, much less without warning.”

“Who are you?” Michael could feel his senses coming back, his fire burning and ready in case this unknown man attacked suddenly.

“Ah, forgive me, my name is Patrick. A traveler of sorts.” He took a step closer, and watched as Michael’s body stiffened up. “No need for that Michael. I know where you are going, and I am not going to make any attempt to stop you. Master Kaleth told me of your story, and I would not stop you on your journey to redemption. They deserve to get the same done to them as what they did to you.” Patrick had a slight smile on his face, the darkness around him drawing Michael in, making him listen to his words. Suddenly, Patrick snapped his head to the side, as if he had heard something. “Michael, I must go now, but we will meet again. Now go, before someone from the village finds you and alerts Master Kaleth.” Michael hesitated for a second, but Patrick pushed him on his path. Michael took off, sprinting, not wanting to be caught. He knew if he was caught, Kaleth would surely keep him under watch and wonder why he was leaving the camp.

Michael felt the freedom again. Not having to adhere to the strict schedules and ritual ways of doing every small daily task. Not having to have everything he wanted to do be approved by a senior member of the village. Now it was a matter of surviving. After what seemed like hours of sprinting, Michael could see the lights from the town up ahead. He continued his movement in to town. He stopped behind a gas station and stood catching his breath. The payphone was in a dark corner of the building’s outside. He moved to it and using some change he found on the ground, dialed up a number he remembered. A number that was forever burned in to his memory.

“Hello, you have reached St. John’s. If you know your party’s extension, please enter it now.” Michael pressed the numbers on the phone for Mother Superior Katherine’s Extension. The phone picked up to a machine again. “Hello, I am unable to answer your call right now, if you leave a message, I will do my best to get back to you. God Bless.” Michael took a breath and spoke after the beep.

“Mother Superior, I am a student at the school, and I need someone to talk to. Tomorrow night, would you meet me at midnight in the church? I have some things to confess to you, but I am scared to do it in the day. Please, Mother Superior. I will see you in the church at midnight tomorrow night.” Michael hung up the phone and moved swiftly back to the shadows. Finding a small tree in the woods behind the gas station, he meditated next to it, letting himself talk to the tree, and then soon after, slip in to a deep sleep.

Kaleth stormed out of his Chambers in the morning. Immediately he went to the guest chambers, opening the door without a knock. It was clear, Patrick nor any of his belongings were any where in the room. Leaving the door open, he stormed over to Michael’s chambers. He found that everything was intact, except for the protective clothing. In seconds, Sean was next to him.

“Kaleth.” Kaleth turned to Sean, anger burning in his eyes. “I saw your guest leave earlier in the evening, then Michael and I had a fight. He must have left soon after we fought.”

“What?! You should have come and told me right away. For all I know, they might be together. Whoa to us all, if that were to happen.” Sean could see the anger mixing with nervousness inside of Kaleth.

“We need to talk, Kaleth. Let’s come clean on all of this, so maybe we might have an idea of what is happening.” They moved swiftly to Kaleth’s chambers, locking the door behind them.

“Okay, Sean, first explain to me what your fight with Michael was about.” Sean took a deep breath, sat down and looked Kaleth in the eyes.

“I heard Michael screaming bloody murder last night, shortly after I saw your guest leave so quickly. I went in and used my protective talisman to try to pull him awake. When he woke up, he pushed me away and accused me of giving him the nightmares that he was having. At that point, I was trying to make a connection in my mind about it all, then Michael hurried me out the door, telling me that I was the one who did it and we would talk about it in the morning. I swear that is all I know right now, Kaleth.” Kaleth was quiet, taking it in, and making connections in his mind, or at least that is how it seemed to Sean. “Now Kaleth, it is your turn to come clean to me. Who was that visitor? And why do I get the impression that he has to do with Michael’s dream and disappearance?” Kaleth took a breath, and let it out before he started.

“That man, Sean, was named Patrick. He was student of mine a long time ago. Before you and I even met. He has very strong psychic abilities, and very strong ties to the faerie realm. He can come and go between them as he pleases. He had a run in with some people of the church in the past, a situation similar to what Michael went through, except he wasn’t physically harmed by it. Just a bruised ego and irreparable damage to his reputation. After that happened, he took up being a traveler. His karma came back at him right before he began to travel and left him without a family, or work. He blames it on the organized churches of today. He never would listen to the idea of it being karma, even though he was never a man of high moral standards. He would manipulate people, using his psychic skills, like they were chess pieces and it turned against him. Since then, he has been traveling, looking for artifacts that he could use against the church, and looking for more ways to increase his psychic skills. He firmly believes that there will be a large-scale war that will occur and that he is destined to be the pagan savior.” Kaleth took a breath and paused, taking a sip of his drink. Sean figured that it either had some calming herbs in it, or it was alcoholic. “I have tried to help him Sean, but I can’t. He won’t listen, but I figure if I listen to his stories, I can get an idea of what he is planning, and perhaps stop him.” Sean stopped Kaleth in the middle of his thought.

“Not to be rude, Kaleth, but what does this have to do with Michael?” Kaleth smiled a fake smile and continued.

“Last night, when you burst through the door, talking about Michael, you gave him information about him. He can pull information from someone’s head while just looking at them in the eyes. He got that information after you mentioned Michael. And to him, someone with Michael’s ability would be a very valuable asset, especially if war came up. I was trying to instill the morals and values of peace in to Michael, and I was going to start him on a strict training regime as of today, but since he is gone, I fear for what might happen in the outside world.” Sean adjusted in his chair, not wanting to think of what could happen.

“Shouldn’t we go out and try to stop him? Or at least bind him so he won’t harm anyone?” Kaleth shook his head.

“No Sean. Our strict rules prevent us from interfering with destiny as a group, unless another has interfered it with, and our purpose is to restore it. Aside from that, as a group, we are bound not to interfere.” Sean caught the under lying message that Kaleth was trying to send to him. He nodded.

“I understand that Kaleth, and regrettably, I must go back to my chambers. I’m late to start my meditation.” He stood up, taking Kaleth by the hand, shaking it. Their eyes locked, and they both knew that it was going to be the last time they saw each other until they were in the summerlands. Sean walked out of the room, head held up high. He could sense the sorrow coming from Kaleth, but they both knew what needed to be done, and that it must be done, or else fate would intervene and force it to happen.

As Sean left his chambers, Kaleth felt a tear slide down the side of his face. He knew that he was going to lose Sean, but he did not know how. Fate would not show him that, because if it did, he would try to interfere. He already was paying the price for interfering once before, and that price was to lose his closest friend, his non-blood brother. He pounded his hand on the desk, holding back the flood of tears.

Sean moved quickly once outside of Kaleth’s chambers. He rounded up some clothes, a cloak that had been given a protective energy, his bag of talismans and his family sword. He hurried out of the door, knowing that everyone else was at daily ritual. Swiftly, he moved through the woods. Sean knew that Michael had gone to the town that he came from, it was just a matter of finding out when he planned to extract his revenge. He knew that Michael had attended St. Johns, so the first thing would be to check on that. He knew he would strike there, it was just a matter of finding out when and where.

Within a couple of hours, Sean walked in to town, and immediately found the school. A grove of trees nearby provided the best protection from being spotted. He waited there, watching the day pass by, taking the occasional snack off of the bread and water he had brought with him.

Michael looked around in his dream, he was watching a scene unfold in front of him. He watched as if he was an onlooker. He was in the church at St. Johns. He saw himself waiting in a pew, kneeling, with his hood over his face. Atlow and Katherine came in to the church, it was dark, except for the altar candles that Michael had lit, which gave the church an eerie dark glow. He suddenly felt ill. He knew what was going to happen. Atlow and Sister Katherine approached him. He watched himself stand up, and pull the hood back, revealing the silver mask. He saw them gasp, but he could not hear them in the dream. Suddenly he saw himself pull the mask off and Sister Katherine fainting, with Atlow still standing, but looking queasy. He raise his hand and sent a stream of fire on to both Sister Katherine and Ron Atlow, but extinguishing it after a couple of minutes, leaving them alive, but charred.

Michael felt something pull him out of his dream. He wasn’t sure what it was that woke him up, but a quick glance at an electronic bank sign told him that it was 11:30 PM. He moved quickly to the school, making sure no one was following him, he moved in to the church, using the claw on his metal finger to break the lock. He slipped inside quietly, closing the door behind himself.

Sean snapped out of his meditation upon Michael entering the church. He knew it was Michael because only Michael would be entering in to the church at night, and Sean had his senses at full awareness. Sean’s own internal clock told him it was about 11:45. He kept watch now, to see when the others would enter the church. He knew that Michael would not settle merely for destroying the church. No, not with what had happened to him. It had to be blood that was spilled for the humanity he had lost.

Ron Atlow knocked on Mother Superior’s door. She answered in her habit, cross hanging around her neck, a bible in her hand. They walked out to his car. In the car, Ron decided to ask some questions.

“Mother Superior, who is the student who feels the need to confess to us?” Ron put the car in drive and started down the road.

“I honestly do not know, Ron. He left a message, with an obviously disguised voice and no name. Told us to meet him at the church at midnight.” Ron shook his head.

“You know that I think this is a prank, right?” Mother Superior nodded her head. “And if it turns out to be a prank, I am going to blister who ever was involved with it, severely.” Mother Superior let out a sigh.

“I just can’t shake the feeling that there is more that is going to happen tonight than we know. That voice on the phone sounded hauntingly familiar, but I have never heard it before.” They sat in silence for the rest of the trip.

Inside of the church, Michael lit the candles up on the altar, as well as the votive candles on the sides of the altar. Then after those preparations were made, Michael took up a kneeling position in the first pew, pulling his hood down over his face.

Outside of the Church, Ron Atlow parked his car, and got out, escorting Mother Superior Katherine in to the church. He closed the door gently behind him.

Up in the grove of trees, Sean moved immediately, upon seeing them enter the church. He swiftly moved to the door, following them in, but keeping a distance. He didn’t want to give up his cover until the time was right.

Michael heard the footsteps of Mother Superior Katherine and Ron Atlow come in to the church. They hesitated at the sight of all of the candles burning, with no lights in the dark of night. The shadows danced off of the walls, like wailing demons back from the depths of hell. The footsteps resumed.

“You are the one who wanted to confess to us?” Ron Atlow stepped in front of Mother Superior.

From the kneeling position, Michael spoke. “Yes, Ron, that is correct. I am the one who wants to talk, but you see, it will not be me confessing.” Michael stood up, pulling his hood back, revealing the silver polished mask he wore. He heard them both gasp at it. “See this mask? See the terror in your faces? That is nothing compared to what I went through.” Ron quirked his head to the side, confusion setting in. He nor Mother Superior had any idea of what was happening.

Michael turned his back for a second, to take the mask off. No sooner did he do that, than Ron started to take a step forward. “It would not be a wise thing to do, Ron.” Michael undid the mask, holding it to his face with his hands. He turned around, still holding it. “See, you stole my humanity from me, and now I want you to see the face of your creation.” Michael pulled the mask down, revealing his disfigured face, making sure that he had his lips pulled back in a snarl. Mother Superior and Ron Atlow both started to throw up their previous meals and then some immediately. Michael waited until they were done vomiting before speaking again.

“Do you recognize me now? Ron Atlow, and Mother Superior Katherine?” They both were shaking their heads, trying not to look at him directly. “Come now, I would find it hard for you to forget. Never mind, you wouldn’t remember me now that I think about it. You sent 30 cronies to their death just to do away with me, instead of doing your dirty work yourselves.” Ron Atlow looked up at him, taking a good look. The only thing that kept him from puking was the fact he had already thrown up everything in his stomach.

“Oh my god!” Realization struck both Ron and Katherine. “It can’t be you! Michael, we thought you died in the fire.” Michael felt his anger rise at the mention of the fire.

“OVER TO THE ALTER! BOTH OF YOU!” Michael pointed with a metal finger. They obeyed, too scared to resist. Michael used some ropes he had brought to secure both of them to the altar, leaning up against it. “You burned me badly, took away my humanity, just because my beliefs were different than yours. For no reason other than that, I can no longer go back in to society without making people sick at the mere mention of my name. Do you think I would be able to work? Or maybe I should live on welfare and sit in pity for the rest of my life? I won’t do that. But I will take my revenge. From tonight on, both of you will suffer as I did, provided that you survive what I had to endure.” Michael took a step back, mentally raising the flames inside, calling forth the flames. “Do you have any last words before you meet the same fate I did?” Ron swallowed.

“Michael, we never meant for you to get burned up like that, or for anyone to die. We only did that as a scare tactic, to get you to realize the error of your ways. We never meant you harm. As a matter of fact, if you let us go, we will give you a public apology, and even explain to the public how and why it happened.” Mother Superior was busy praying to god that he would take care of her when she died. She knew she was a frail woman and would never survive a burning. Michael put his mask back on, fastening it back to his face.

“It’s too late for that Ron. What would you say in the explanation? How you tried to convert me to the ‘true path to light’ but I wouldn’t listen so you tried some more stern tactics? I know it would be something to that extent, but none the less made to make me and my family look like it was our fault.” Ron was shaking visibly now, and Michael was getting more and more furious with every passing moment at how Ron kept trying to weasel his way out of it. “Face it Ron, you wanted the dance, now you have to pay the piper.” Michael raise his hand, to let forth a burst of flame.

“WAIT JUST A SECOND MICHAEL!” Michael whirled around and saw Sean standing there, clad in a cloak, with a sword in one hand, wearing a talisman around his neck. “Don’t do it Michael. Please. If you start with this, where will it stop? Here? No. I don’t believe you would stop at just this.” Michael was furious now. His revenge was being interrupted by someone who was driving him to do it.

“How can say that after what they have done to me? Stolen my humanity, my life, and my future.” Michael and Sean locked eyes. “Did Kaleth send you to stop me?”

Sean never broke the gaze, adjusting his grip on the sword. “No, Kaleth knows nothing of my coming her. But know that I will stop you, with my own life if need be. This is not necessary.” Michael broke the gaze, turned around in one smooth motion and sent fire hurling in to Ron Atlow and Mother Superior Katherine.

At that precise moment, Sean leapt forward at Michael, his concern over Michael’s life gone, now his only concern was to stop a madman. He swung his sword down, but Michael was fast, catching in his hand, his gauntlet protecting him. They held there for a moment until Sean planted his foot in to Michael’s stomach, pulling his sword with him. The screams from the two burning people on the altar were dying away. Sean knew it was too late for them. He brought his sword up and was ready to strike at Michael, thinking he was still stunned, but he hesitated a moment too much. As he started to come down, one of Michael’s hands flashed up catching the sword. Suddenly Sean felt a numbness go through his abdomen and legs. He lost his grip on the sword, and on his way to the floor, he saw that most of the middle of his body had been removed in that last swipe by Michael.

“I am sorry, I failed to change what is going to happen. Please forgive me.” Sean drew one last breath, and his body collapsed, another dead corpse littering the alter, where two other bodies lay, burned beyond recognition.

Michael shrieked, snapping out of his rage. He saw his friend Sean crumpled on the ground in front of him, missing most of his abdomen. He looked at his hands, they were dripping with Sean’s blood. The bodies against the altar were now just charred hunks of flesh. The realization started to set in on what he had done. Suddenly, a wind came up and all of the candles in the church were extinguished. Footsteps clicked up the isle. Michael turned, ready to fight again. Patrick stood there, his normal eerie black glow making him stand out.

“Calm, my friend. I mean you no harm. I only mean to give you a shoulder of support in your time of need. I saw everything you did here.” Michael gasped. There was now a witness to his deed, someone who was unpredictable.

“Oh my goddess, what do you want? To keep quiet about this?” Michael was thinking on a material level.

“I only wish for you to accompany me. Accompany me, and I keep quiet. Do as I tell you, and all will be well. I will only do things to help you.” Patrick extended his hand out to Michael. “Take my hand and the deal is done. I will say nothing to the officials, and we will travel together. From my vantage point, you have the best part of this deal.”

Michael knew that he shouldn’t take it. He knew if he took his chances with the authorities, he might get off the hook, but he felt something pushing on his mind. Something that had a deep darkness attached to it. Without thinking about it, Michael stepped forward and took Patrick’s hand.

Kaleth was sitting in his chambers, when he felt a coldness pass through his body. He knew it was done. Destiny had begun to take over. Now there was nothing more to do, except wait for the circle to come full. Slowly, Kaleth lowered his head down to his desk, cradling it in his arms, and cried. Over a century of tears flowed from his eyes that moment, and there was no reason to stop them anymore.

Patrick and Michael traveled quietly together, Michael doing his best to hold back the tears. He wanted so badly to run to Kaleth and tell him, but Patrick told him that Kaleth would do worse to him than the authorities could ever do, because Kaleth would not be bound by laws in this sort of situation. Not knowing, Michael accepted that as truth. The territory that they traveled through was very unfamiliar to Michael. Soon though, they came upon some territory that he was familiar with and a small cave in the area.

As they entered the cave, Michael recognized it as the one that he had used his talent in those months ago, that brought him where he is at now. They moved deeper, Michael not saying anything to Patrick about it. Soon, they were to the back wall of the cave, but after Patrick muttered some words and made a motion, a doorway opened and Patrick pulled Michael through quickly.

“We’re home, Michael.” There was an eerie energy around the place. It was light out where he was at, with open grass, a mountain in the distance and trees just far enough away for them to protect but not be encroaching on their camp. “Yes, Michael, you are in the faerie realm now. No longer on the mundane earth plane that you are so used to. And since you are part faerie, you are able to travel here any time you wish. All you need to do is leave something of yours here, no matter how small, and you can jump back here any time. Michael reached in to his pocket and took one of his personal crystals out. He walked over to a place just on the other side of the tent, and buried it.

“Why don’t you try it? I’ll open a portal to somewhere for you so you can go out and jump back in.” Patrick was already opening a gateway before Michael even agreed.

“Okay Patrick, but what if I can’t get it figured out?” Patrick smiled at the doubt that Michael had, knowing all too well that it was well-founded doubt.

“If you aren’t back in 5 minutes, I will jump to you and bring you back here. How does that sound?” Michael nodded his agreement to Patrick’s offer. Without any more questions, Michael went through the portal and it closed. No sooner had the portal closed, Patrick constructed a temporary barrier around his little realm he created, so Michael couldn’t return quite yet. He then walked over to the other side of the tent, dug just a little bit, and pulled out Michael’s crystal. Smiling, he looked at it.

“You are more valuable than gold, and you are going to help me make him work with me.” Patrick waited for a few more minutes, before finally removing the temporary barrier and jumping to Michael. When he arrived there, Michael was in deep meditation, trying his hardest to go to the realm. Patrick smiled and tapped him on the shoulder. “You really shouldn’t try so hard. You might jump yourself to the wrong plane.”

Michael opened his eyes and saw Patrick standing over him, smiling, and before he could stand up, they were back in the meadow of Patrick’s camp again.

“Don’t worry about it Michael, I didn’t think you would be able to make it back here alone, on your first try. But you are faerie in blood, so you’ll be able to do it soon too.” Michael perked back up.

“Does that mean that you are part faerie as well, Patrick?” Patrick bowed deeply, in a comical gesture.

“At your service, Michael. A master at my skills, and willing to teach you, if you will accept me as your teacher.” Michael was confused now, as he stood up from the ground. He removed his mask, and pulled his hood back.

“I thought I had no choice in the matter, since you saw what I did back there in that church.” Patrick laughed heartily, but there was something false about it. Michael couldn’t tell though, he was too confused, and tired because his adrenaline was wearing off quickly.

“I was jesting with you back in the church, merely to get you to come with me so that you would be out of that situation before any authorities knew. I did it because you are of faerie blood. Now that you are here, you have the choice, if you would wish, to go back to Kaleth and his teachings from his books and lectures, or stay here with me and learn through hands on experience with things. No more set schedules of when you meditate and for how long, or that you have to attend ritual or else kind of an atmosphere here. Or you can go back to it.” Michael smiled, his teeth showing through his scarred lips. Patrick subdued his urge to cringe, keeping a smile on his face.

“The choice is made then, my friend and student. We’ll start lessons as soon as you wake up from resting. You’ve had a hard day. Now rest my friend.” Patrick tossed a blanket and pillow to Michael, putting a small sleep spell over him as he did to keep him out long enough for him to do his business elsewhere. Patrick walked over to his tent, and changed cloaks. He had a cloak of invisibility, which he found on his travels. He made sure to keep a small bag firmly attached to his waist. In a couple of seconds he jumped back to Kaleth’s village.

The cloak kept him invisible as he sat in Kaleth’s chambers, watching him cry. He smiled to himself, knowing that the old man hadn’t cried like that since he lost his soul mate a century ago. Suddenly, someone burst through the door. At first, Patrick and Kaleth both expected it to be Sean, but Patrick realize it wasn’t, much sooner than Kaleth.

Kaleth half expected, and hoped it would be Sean, even though he knew it wouldn’t be. The man who came in unannounced had a worried look on his face. “Kaleth, we have just received word that as of last night, there was an attack at St. John’s church.” Kaleth felt his heart pounding in his chest.

“How many bodies, and have they been identified?” The other man’s head bowed down.

“Two bodies were charred very badly, and the other one had more of it’s torso missing. The two burned bodies are suspected to be one Ron Atlow and Mother Superior Katherine of St. Johns. None of the reports have any idea who the other man is, but they said that he was slender and good in appearance, with red hair. They are asking for anyone who can identify him.” Kaleth felt the tears coming again, but he held them back.

“We are not going to reveal his identity, because in doing so, we would reveal ourselves to the outside world. This incident has already cost us much in the way of our secrecy. From this point on, no one else leaves the village without my permission. If they do, they will be bound, and hunted down before any secrecy can be lost.” The man snapped off a salute, indicating that he had military training in his background.

“Yes sir, Master Kaleth.” Kaleth motioned the man out, and the man was gone swiftly. Kaleth stopped for a second, then turned around to look at the corner where Patrick was hiding. For a moment, Patrick worried that his cloak had failed him, but then Kaleth shrugged and went back to pouring a drink. Time passed, and Patrick continued his spying on Kaleth, making sure he heard every word of conversation. He just couldn’t make eye contact with Kaleth, because in doing so, Kaleth would know he was there. His patience paid off though.

Through the door, Christina came in, after knocking quietly. She ran up to Kaleth, who stood up to greet her. In an instant, she wrapped her arms around him.

“Ahh, Christina, what brings you to our humble village?” She paused for a second.

“It feels like someone is here, Kaleth. Are you sure we are alone?” Kaleth looked at the corner again, making Patrick check his cloak. “Never mind that Kaleth, I am sure we’re not being listened to.” Patrick wiped a bead of sweat from his brow and resumed listening to them.

“What is on your mind Christina? It’s not like you to show up without contacting me first to send a guide.” Christina smiled.

“After being here so many times, the guide is not longer necessary. But on more serious matters, where is Michael?” Kaleth bowed his head deeply.

“I have failed you Christina. He is gone, and taken his revenge on St. John’s, I’m afraid. In the mix of things, we lost Sean too. And now Michael has disappeared, and no one knows where he went.” Kaleth held on to Christina as she was crying in to his breast. “I am sorry, Christina, but you know as I do that fate plays no favors, or else I wouldn’t have lost Calindra that century ago.” The tears started to form on Kaleth’s eyes, but he fought them back. “But I found you, Christina, and that is what matters. But we are doing everything we can to find him and get him back here, before he gets in to any more trouble.” She smiled weakly up to Kaleth.

“Thank you Kaleth. I love you, and I know you will get Michael back for us.” She kissed him in a full embrace that lasted for a long passionate moment. “I know this is rough to take for you, Kaleth, but I am getting married tomorrow morning. My new husband to be, Charles, is a good man, he is taking care of me and helping me out. It will be at the small white chapel downtown, if you want to take the risk to attend it.” He smiled to her.

“I cannot attend, but I will be there in spirit, Christina, I will always be there in spirit.” She gave him a quick squeeze and walked out of the room quietly to a guide waiting to take her back down the mountain.

Patrick smiled, his spying session was fruitful, giving him information that he could use to achieve his goals with lethal efficiency. He decided to play a game with the old man Kaleth. In an instant, his cloak had been disengaged, and he was standing in the corner, leering at Kaleth.

“PATRICK! YOU ROTTEN SCOUNDREL! WHERE IS MICHAEL?” Before Kaleth could get any closer or say anything else, Patrick jumped back to his meadow, by way of a few busy cities, to cover his trail. Kaleth was fuming mad now. He wasn’t sure how much Patrick had heard, or how long he had been there. In the next instant, the door on his chambers flew off the hinges and hurtled across the village on to the ground. Kaleth collapsed in the next instant, his energy gone, leaving him crumpled on the floor, crying at his helplessness. He was nothing but an old drunk now, in his mind, helpless against the young evil that opposed him.

Patrick made one more jump, to the captain of the guard’s chambers, making eye contact and invading his mind with an obsession for control. In seconds, he jumped again.

Patrick jumped back in to his realm, with a large smile on his face. Michael was just waking up from his spell-induced sleep. He greeted him with a groggy smile and was surprised when Patrick walked over to Michael, and kissed him as he hugged him.

“I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist myself, you just had that effect on me just now.” Patrick’s smile was large, and Michael was smiling too. Unbeknownst to Michael, Patrick put an illusionary glamour spell on him, to cover his scarred face up. It was something that Patrick was going to teach him to do on his own, because right now, the only person who could see his face was Patrick, but later, it might be others.

Patrick put his arm around Michael’s shoulder, pulling him to his side. His tone changed a little bit, but still had a happy edge to it. “So, Michael, when you recovered, did you, umm, recover your sexual function?” Michael grinned again.

“Yep, at least that is one thing that I managed to hold on to.” Patrick turned to face him, smiling, and pulled him closer. “Umm, but I am still a virgin, Patrick. And I’ve never thought about guys in that way.” Patrick knew that this was coming.

“Well, Michael, I was asking because I have a ritual to do that requires sexual function, something I don’t have. But I can do the ritual while you perform the sexual functions, then it will work perfectly.” Michael hesitated for a moment, and was about to ask what the ritual was for, but something blocked the question from forming on his lips. Patrick held his gaze on Michael for what felt like an eternity, but was actually only a few seconds. Finally, Michael gave in.

“Okay Patrick, what ever you need me to do, I will do it.” Patrick smiled, pulled him close and kissed him passionately. He felt the bulge underneath Michael’s cape growing. Breathlessly, he pointed to the tent and they move in there swiftly to do the ritual that Patrick had planned.

Kaleth stood up. He knew he had to warn Christina somehow, and also find out where Michael was. If Patrick got a hold of him first, the consequences could be disastrous for them all. No one would be able to stand up against them as a pair, except maybe himself, if he were a century younger and still had Calindra around for support. But that was ancient history, what mattered now, was to get this situation taken care of. He stood up, brushed himself off, and walked out of his chambers. He started out towards the town, but was stopped suddenly. A guard stepped out from behind the tree and stopped him.

“I am sorry, Sir, but we cannot let anyone in or out without permission from Alex, the captain of the guard.” Kaleth’s jaw dropped, and he turned white. For a moment, he stood like that, then regained his composure.

“Yes, of course, I will get his permission immediately, though you do know that I am Kaleth, correct?” The guard’s expression did not change.

“You’re name does not seem familiar, and even if it was, you still need permission. That is the direct order from Captain Alex.” Kaleth turned around and walked back in to the village. He was furious at this point. No one could take power from him, he founded this village for goddess sake. The captain’s chambers were not hard to locate, because Kaleth helped build them himself. Two guards were standing at the door, and at Kaleth’s approach, stiffened up. He recognized both of them as part of the internal guard. Neither of them tried to stop him as he burst through the door. Alex was sitting behind his desk with some papers, trying to look important.

“Just what in the name of the goddess do you think you are doing, Alex?” Alex looked up with a leer across his face. “I can’t even leave my own Village, without permission from you? I don’t know how you got the idea in your head you could do this, but I will not stand for it.”

Alex stood up. “It seems we have a misunderstanding, Kaleth, I am in charge here. No one else has any authority any more. See, you gave an order that no one could leave without your permission, but you are getting old and might not remember how important the secrecy is to us, so I am taking it one step further. No one leaves without my permission. Period. If you do, and we catch you, you are dead. And if you do anything inside the town to disrupt it, you are dead. We’ve set up guardians on the astral plane to ensure that you nor any of the other mystics will be astral traveling out of here for help.” Kaleth was furious.

“Just remember, Alex, I may not be as young as I was when I founded this place, but I still know every secret about it, more than you will ever hope to know. So, don’t tempt me with threats of death.” Kaleth was inches from Alex’s face.

“Just try something old man, I have a better fate in store for you than death.” Alex broke the eye contact and sat back down. “Now, if you will excuse me, I have work to do.” Kaleth was absolutely furious right now, but trying something right here in the captain’s chambers wasn’t going to solve anything, so he left, leaving a trail of frazzled empathetic people in his wake.

Patrick kept his arms around Michael, as they cuddled up in the tent. Michael kissed his neck and then stood up. He walked out to relieve himself, and when he came back in, Patrick was already cloaked back up and dressed. Michael didn’t object to it, so he put his cloak and clothes back on, except for the mask.

“That was really wonderful, Patrick, we’ll have to do it again sometime, but next time without having a ritual to perform, so we can enjoy it more.” Patrick flashed a large smile to him and nodded.

“Yes, there will be plenty more times to do that. But right now, I have a favor to ask.” Michael nodded.

“What would that be, Patrick?” Patrick pointed to an axe leaning up against a stump and a wheelbarrow.

“It is going to be night time soon, and I would like to have a fire, could you please bring some fire wood over here?” Michael grinned, and took off with the axe and wheelbarrow. As soon as he was out of range, Patrick grinned, maliciously. Michael was doing everything he wanted him to do, without question. It wouldn’t be too much longer before the plan came full circle. Then it would begin to get very interesting.

Kaleth walked in to his chambers, radiating energy. He slammed his door shut, locking it. He then subconsciously put a shield up around his chambered area, preventing anyone from seeing in, not to mention coming in. He walked over to one of the bookcases and pushed it aside. Inside, stood an altar. The candles that once populated the candelabras had long since been burned down. On the Alter itself laid a large book, with a necklace holding a mystickal symbol was neatly laid on it. Slowly, he picked up the mystickal symbol, and gently put it on, as if he were touching a lover. He then put his hands on the book and closed his eyes. A very bright white light began to move up his arms in to his head. Hours passed and continued to pass as the light moved up inside of him. Soon, the light stopped completely, and Kaleth opened his eyes. He stepped back from the altar, and using one finger to point, he moved the bookcase back in to place. Kaleth had sworn to himself that he would never retrieve his combative knowledge from the book where he stored it shortly after Calindra passed on. He used to be one of the strongest faerie mages left until after the second faerie war, when only a few survived. They had all agreed to store their knowledge in books, unless it was absolutely necessary to retrieve it. He went ahead and stored his knowledge as agreed, but the other mages had grown greedy, and ended up killing each other off. It was after they displayed such behavior that Kaleth founded his village with some refugees from the second faerie war.

Anytime there was another war, it brought many more refugees to his village. Being that he was mostly faerie, he had earthly immortality, or at least so far as dying of old age was concerned. He continued to rule his village until now. Now, the time was once again to fight. This time, the enemy would be one that he saved from the war, even though he knew that the child was spawn of a demon and a faerie.

He walked out of the building, his composure that of a warrior once again, energy radiating off of him. It drew a lot of attention from the soldiers who started to band together, watching him. He neared the edge of town and Alex and his loyalists were standing in the way.

“I told you that you are not leaving Kaleth. And I meant it.” Kaleth didn’t back down.

“I am Kaleth, the last of the Faerie Mages. Let me pass, or I shall be forced to make passage on my own.” Alex’s men started to pale, but Alex stood firm.

“Stop blowing smoke old man, you wouldn’t know what a faerie mage is, they were all destroyed after the second faerie war. Even you couldn’t have forgotten that. Or maybe you did. In any case, you are not getting past me and my guards.” Kaleth smiled at the fact Alex didn’t realize his loyalists were scared in to leaving his side. Alex looked to his sides and then turned back to Kaleth. “That’s okay, old man, I can still beat you. You’re nothing but an old has been.” The air went tense, Kaleth was standing calmly, but Alex was tense, waiting for a chance to strike. Kaleth turned his head for a second.

“You know, this Alex has a lot to be desired in a leader. Take care of him when I am gone.” No sooner had Kaleth turned his head than Alex charged at him. He didn’t get very far, because with a flick of his finger, Kaleth sent a column of rock up in the air underneath Alex, hurtling him through the air. After Alex landed with a thud, Kaleth picked up a wind current and was away, riding it swiftly to his destination. He hoped he wasn’t too late.

Patrick woke Michael up. “Come on, young one, we need to hurry, there is something that is happening that we need to stop.” Michael jumped up and put his mask on. They jumped almost immediately, and appeared in front of a church, a small white chapel. Michael felt something in his stomach lurch, but he passed it off as being because of the service in progress.

Patrick pointed to a sign. “See what they would do to us?” Michael looked at the sign and it read clearly ‘Town Meeting: Assignment for Witch Hunters Committee.”

“What do you want me to do? Go in and try to scare them?” Patrick shook his head.

“No, you have control of fire. Use it. It will only let them know we will not stand for it. No one will get hurt. I promise you.” Something didn’t seem right to Michael, but he couldn’t afford to lose his only teacher because he didn’t do what he wanted.

Michael called the fire forth and sent it hurtling in to the church. Patrick smiled to himself, an insane pleasure was washing through his body. “Good job, Michael. Now watch them run out.” Patrick knew that no one would come out, because of an instant sleep spell he put on them, and the fact he manipulated the locks to lock them inside. The building burned and burned, and no firemen came to the rescue either, much to Michael’s surprise. The building finally collapsed. Anyone inside must have died by this point, from Michael could deduce. Maybe they decided to die as martyrs.

Patrick was laughing insanely by now. “You did it. I cannot believe it. They’re dead. Everyone one of them, and no one will know anything about how it happened.” Michael was in shock. He couldn’t believe that Patrick had been so cold. “They were plotting to destroy us Michael, can’t you tell?” Patrick was laughing as he pointed to the sign. At that very moment, Patrick’s laughing was stopped immediately.

“PATRICK! We have another score to settle now.” Kaleth walked forward. Patrick turned toward him. He seemed to be the same old Kaleth that he had known for years.

“Ah, and what would you do about it, Old man? You gave up your powers almost a century ago. I doubt you could beat me in a fist fight.” Kaleth let his energy out from under the dampers that he had up. Suddenly Patrick was overwhelmed.

“Well, they say it’s like riding a bicycle. Once you have it, you never really lose it.” Patrick wasted no time in hurtling two streams of fire at Kaleth, but they dissipated instantly upon touching him. Again and again, Patrick was flinging different things at Kaleth in a desperate attempt to break through the shields.

“Well, it seems you have the shields down, but can you fight back yet, old mage?” Before Kaleth could answer, a shriek pierced the air. Patrick realized that he let down the illusionary spell that he had placed over the church sign.

“OH MY GODDESS! I…. I…. YOU MADE ME KILL THOSE INNOCENT PEOPLE! AND MY MOTHER WAS ONE OF THEM!” Michael was berserk. Before Patrick could react, Michael was sending every ounce of fire he could muster in to him. Patrick shrieked under the exposure to the flames, but seconds later, he was shielded so the flames no longer did any good, but they did a massive amount of damage to Patrick in the mean time. Patrick collapsed, his body was burned, but he was still alive.

“You have won this time, young Michael, but I will win the war yet. Given the amount of energy you have spent in the faerie realm and the fact that you have a personal possession in the faerie realm, you had better return there or else you won’t last too long over here, I’m afraid.” Patrick let out a laugh and then disappeared, having jumped to some place else. Michael collapsed crying. Kaleth came to his side.

“Oh my goddess, Michael. Are you okay? I’ve been so worried about you.” Michael was sobbing too hard to even talk. “I am so sorry about this. You mother and everything else. We’ll avenge your mother. For this reason, I broke a century old vow, Michael, and we will finish what was begun here today.” Michael suddenly felt light-headed and weak.

“I need to go back, Kaleth. I am too weak to do anything here right now.” Kaleth scooped Michael up in his arms, and instantly jumped. They appeared in a castle, with a full court sitting down, dining. Silence fell over the room as they appeared. The King stood up immediately.

“What is the meaning of this?” Kaleth walked forward toward him, still holding on to Michael, even though Michael was getting stronger with every passing moment.

“I am Kaleth, last of the faerie mages, this is my protégé, Michael. We need room and board for the night.” The king was still skeptical and he was not scared of showing it.

“Can you prove your membership to the faerie mage’s guild? The last I had known, the faerie mages guild had been disbanded after the second faerie war.” Kaleth put Michael down on his feet, allowing Michael to lean on him for support. Kaleth took his shirt up, revealing a series of burned in scars that were a requirement after passing from apprentice to faerie mage. The king nodded.

“Well met then, Kaleth of the faerie mage’s guild. We would be pleased to have one such as you and your protégé sit at our table.” He motioned to two open seats at the table. No sooner had they seated themselves, than servants came in, and brought them food. It was not what Michael would have expected, or even known what it was, but he ate it none the less. His strength returning to him, he started to get in to the conversation a bit more. They were bombarded with questions about where they were from, why they had come to the castle and such. They politely answered the questions the best that they could. As soon as the meal was finished, a servant lead them up to their room, where they could bathe and relax. Michael bathed first, relaxing in the tub, feeling the tension leave him. He was still somewhat in shock over what happened earlier that day, but he was coming to.

As soon as Michael got out of the tub, and replaced his clothes, a servant came knocking on the door.

“His lordship has requested that you attend a private audience so that you may further explain your situation.” Michael paused for a second. Kaleth looked over with a smile on his face.

“In other words Michael, follow him.” The walk down the hall was quiet, except for the footsteps and their breathing. Occasionally, they would hear some conversation from a room as they passed it, but it was never anything that they could hear clearly. Soon they came to a throne room, where the king sat with members of his court standing around, enjoying a glass of wine, or just idle conversation. The King smiled at their entrance. He motioned to the court, and they began to leave quickly. In minutes, it was only the King, Kaleth, and Michael.

“Kaleth, I would like to know the full reasoning behind your visit here. I would find it hard to believe that you were just passing through, for you were carrying your protégé, in the manner that one would carry a wounded man.” Michael bowed his head, and the king saw this. “Now there is no reason to be ashamed, Michael, but I would like the true explanation. That is why I made my court leave.”

Kaleth stepped forward. “Your lordship, we are on the hunt for someone. This someone murdered my soul mate almost a century ago, almost destroyed my village, and through magickal deception, forced my protégé to aid in the murder of his own mother on the day of her wedding. We seek vengeance on him, and hope to stop him from doing any more damage.” The king nodded, knowingly, trying to make heads or tails of things.

“That leads me to my next question. I can understand that you want vengeance, but the first question is, why are you looking in the faerie realm, and the second is, why do you need room and board in the realm?” Again, before Michael could say anything, Kaleth stepped in.

“You lordship, I can travel freely between the realms because of my status as a Faerie Mage. The deities recognize my status and allow me that passage. My protégé, however, is not at that status, and while under the deception of this villainous one, spent much time and energy in the Faerie Realm, linking him to it. To make it more difficult, the villainous one has a personal possession of Michael’s here in the faerie realm.” The King had a concerned look in his eye, one of genuine concern. Silence over took the large chamber, as the king though, trying to make connections on his own. Finally, the silence was broken again.

“I know you understand this villainous one, but I do not know of him. Would you please explain that to me? I am trying to see how I can help you.” Kaleth stepped forward.

“Patrick is his name. He is the daughter of my soul mate and a demon, through a union that occurred in her captivity during the second Faerie War. I had the opportunity to kill him, but I could not bring myself to do it, especially since I had just lost my soul mate during the birth of him.” Michael was taking all of this in, he didn’t know much of this story, but he could tell it was hurting Kaleth to tell it. “I regret that mistake today, but I couldn’t have known better then. All we need from you, your Lordship, is a place to stay for this night and possibly another one or two nights, until we formulate a plan of some sort.” The king smiled at them.

“Yes, of course, and be assured that the castle is secure. For as long as you need it, there is always a room here for each of you. I wish you the best of luck and if you have need of anything, please, let me know. Breakfast is an hour after dawn. I will see you then, hopefully.” The king clapped and members of his court began to file back in to the room, chattering quietly amongst themselves. Kaleth and Michael walked slowly back to their quarters. Michael was roomed right across the hallway from Kaleth. They stood there for a moment.

“If you need anything, holler, even if it is a subconscious scream, I will hear you and come to your aid, Michael.” Michael smiled and nodded. They parted and went to their rooms. Michael was lying down, and fell asleep rather quickly. Kaleth induced a restful light sleep on himself and was gone in seconds.

Hours had passed of restful sleep for them both, but suddenly, Michael was fully awake. He felt something on his chest. He looked up at it and saw Patrick sitting there, looking unharmed, as if the burns hadn’t even occurred.

“Thought you could get away from me so easily Michael?” Michael started to scream, but found his voice was gone temporarily. “A simple spell to silence you until we are done.” Terror started to over take Michael.

Patrick scooped him up in his arms and jumped. They were back in Patrick’s tent. Michael found that he was still naked. Now when he looked at Patrick, he no longer saw a human form, but rather, something that resembled a demon.

Michael couldn’t move. Terror was taking him over, and it didn’t help that Patrick had cast spells to immobilize him. He felt himself being bent over at the waist. He knew what was coming and it scared him. He tried to scream again, but there was still no sound.

“Oh, I’m sorry, I lied to you earlier, I have more sexual function than most men could ever dream of.” Patrick laughed as he began to rape Michael viciously. Michael’s mind was being flooded with rage and terror. Michael tried to scream one last time, expecting nothing, but this time, it came out fully voiced. Patrick froze in fear, withdrew and suddenly, Michael was back in his own room, but he hurt. Kaleth came running in to the room. He could sense Patrick’s energy still in the room. Out of no where, a voice came in to the room.

“You can’t hide from me, either of you. Because while I still have your crystal, Michael, I can find you no matter where you go.” Then Patrick’s energy was gone. Michael was lying on the bed, crying. Kaleth saw claw marks on him, and then rolled him over on to his stomach. He cringed at the sight. Gently, he picked him up and brought him in to the bathroom, setting him down in the tub. Magickally, he heated the water back up to a comforting level. Michael was in a state of shock right now. Kaleth sent healing energy in to him. He didn’t want to lose another one to this demon child. The rest of the night passed with Kaleth sending healing energy in to Michael. He vowed under his breath that they would finish it that day. Michael woke up in the tub, water still being kept warm. He had come out of his shock now, accepting the things that had happened over the last day.

Michael got out of the water, and put his clothing back on. He put his mask on, trying his best to ignore the pain. Kaleth walked with him on the way down to breakfast. They sat at the table, and Michael took his mask off, keeping his hood as much over his face as he could. Finally, one of the men from the king’s court asked the inevitable.

“Why must your protégé wear a mask, Kaleth? And why is it that when he isn’t wearing it, he covers his face with his hood?” Kaleth started to speak, but Michael held up his hand.

“I can talk for myself right now Master Kaleth.” Kaleth was caught a bit off guard at the use of the formal title. “Kind sir, in the recent past, about 6 months ago, I was injured in an attack, where my own talents spun out of control. After that accident, my body and face were left badly disfigured. After I recovered, Master Kaleth had some of his villagers fashion me this outfit to protect me from further disfigurement after using my magick. I mean no offense for anyone, so I keep covered at all times, unless I know the person very well.” They all nodded and continued on with breakfast. As soon as Kaleth and Michael had finished, they stood up to leave.

“Your Lordship, I appreciate the hospitality, and would that we could return the favor, you name it. But we must leave for now, to finish this chapter of our lives, so that a new one may begin.” The King stood up and bowed deeply and they returned it. Afterward, without a further word, they walked out of the castle. Kaleth turned to Michael.

“As above, so below.” Kaleth had a serious look in his eye. Anger filled him, but it was controlled. Michael cocked his head to the side.

“What do you mean, Master Kaleth?” Kaleth paused for a moment. He had not heard someone call him Master Kaleth since Patrick had started training as a Faerie Mage.

“Before we go any further, Michael, do you realize what kind of an undertaking it is to become a Faerie Mage?” Michael shook his head slowly. “Well, time, dedication, and lots and lots of discipline. Do you still want to try for that path?” Michael nodded, not speaking. “Fine, but first, let us vanquish this demon which haunts us both. As above, so below. He can find us, we can find him.” Kaleth smiled to Michael and in the next instant, they jumped.

In another moment’s time, they were standing in the meadow, but it seemed different this time, almost two-dimensional. Michael walked over to the tent and pushed on it. The tent fell over like cardboard. Both Michael and Kaleth could feel Patrick's energy every where. Kaleth stood calmly, eyes closed, trying to locate Patrick. Michael was furious now, he started to throw fire at everything that was Patrick's, burning it. In moments, there was nothing. They were standing in darkness, like a movie set after hours.

"How do you like my residence now?" Patrick's voice came out of the air, surrounding them completely. "Now it is your residence too, Michael. With the amount of energy you have spent here, you have irrevocably bound yourself to my realm." Laughter pierced the air from Patrick, as Michael realized the implications of what had just happened. Kaleth opened his eyes.

"Give it up, Patrick. You cannot win this game." Kaleth was fully aware now. He knew that Patrick was in one of the shadows, just waiting for the right moment to strike.

"Are you threatening me, Kaleth? Because I don't take kindly to threats in my own home." Patrick laughed again. "You don't stand a chance against me. I have won, just give it up old man." Kaleth closed his eyes for a moment and suddenly the whole area was lit by a bright light. Patrick was less than 20 yards away from both of them. "And what do you intend to do now, Kaleth? Kill me? The only off spring of the one you loved so dearly?" Kaleth froze at the mention of Calindra. Michael stood up.

"You fight unfairly, Patrick. If you were half the man that you that you try to act like you are, then you would fight fairly." Patrick leered at Michael, and laughed.

"I never claimed to be a man, Michael. I am the perfect union of Faerie and Demon's blood. There is nothing manly about me. The old man can't bring himself to fight me. If he kills me, I am the only thing that is left of his beloved Calindra. But I wanted to see him freeze in fear before I kill him." Michael was furious. Patrick smiled at him, showing a sinister smile and in another second, a spear of rock was hurtling toward Michael. Michael ducked and tumbled away from it. When he recovered, his flames shot at Patrick, but they dissipated harmlessly against his shields.

Kaleth stood frozen, watching the battle rage on in front of him. He wanted to protect Michael, to help him win, but he couldn't bring himself to destroy Calindra's off spring. He loved her too much. But he remembered seeing her face when he rescued her from the demon's clutches. A look of sorrow, hatred, and sadness. Not the typical look of lust that would be in a Faerie's eyes after being taken by Demons. No, she had remained true to him through the whole affair, not giving in willingly to the sexual attacks from the demons. It was all replaying in his mind. The screams that came out of her when the birthing began, and the final tears that were streaming down her face, an instant before she died. Kaleth saw the hatred in the child, but never wanted to hurt him. But he knew now that it was not true. There was no connection of love, it was a connection of hatred. The child that killed his soul mate was about to kill his student, and the closest thing to family that he had left.

Michael screamed as he felt the shrapnel rip through his arm from the last spear of rock that he destroyed. The battle was wearing on, but it was a losing prospect for Michael, since Patrick's shields were so strong. "KALETH! HELP ME!" Michael continued to scream, hurtling flames at Patrick uselessly, dodging the elemental attacks that were coming at him.

"He won't help you, Michael. He's too scared. He won't kill the only family he has left." Patrick was still smiling, this was all a game to him, one in which he would be the victor. Suddenly as a rock was about to pierce Michael's skull, it stopped, inches from it's mark.

"ENOUGH!" Kaleth was back to awareness, his arms outstretched. His aura of energy was flaring up, a bright crimson red. "I have lost enough to you, demon child, I will not lose another." In the next instant, the rock spear shattered and fell to the ground harmlessly. "It ends now." Patrick's smile was gone now, he slowly set himself back down on the ground.

"You still have to defeat me for it to be over, Old man. And you don't have the power to do that on your own any more." Their eyes were locked, the tension was thick in the air. Then Michael saw it. A small opening in the back, an area that looked different than everything else. Mustering up his energy, he sent one last bolt of fire straight in to the area.

Patrick threw his head back and howled in pain, dropping to his knees. Kaleth and Michael stood, watching the display as Patrick lost his human form and took the form of the demon he truly was. Minutes later, a disgusting beast stood in front of them, black and slimy. It turned toward Michael.

"That was a very dishonorable thing to do, Michael." It's breath reeked of rotten flesh, and it's eyes were black orbs that seemed to float in it's head. "Why did you do it? That hurt me. And when I hurt, I get mad, and you don't want me mad."

"Winning this battle with you cannot be done by honourable measures, since you have no honour, I will use the same tactics which you would against us." Michael was staring at the orbs. He could feel them trying to pry in to his mind, to make him do what it wanted him to do, but he pushed back. Kaleth appeared by his side.

"Back, demon child. We are not done yet." Kaleth stepped forward right in to a stream of fire, but it dissipated harmlessly against his shields. Rocks flew, water streams, hurricane force winds, more flames, and yet nothing would get through. Kaleth walked forward through it all, slowly closing the gap. The demon began to panic. This old mage was withstanding the most power attacks he had.

After a few minutes of this, the Demon was starting to slow down, Kaleth had it backed in to the corner, with Michael watching from a safe distance behind him. Finally, the Demon stopped, visibly panting and tired.

"It ends right now, Patrick. You have taken too much from me to be forgiven. Now I take your life, so that you may enjoy the depths of darkness that death brings to a demon such as you." Patrick, the Demon, was on the ground looking, collapsing from exhaustion. In seconds, it reverted back to it's form as Patrick. He looked up at Kaleth.

"Forgive me Father?" Kaleth had raised his hand, then he paused for a second. In that second, a smile passed over Patrick's face, thinking he had gotten away. In the next second flames began to consume Patrick's body, like greedy hands tearing at a roasting bird. Patrick was shrieking now, going between forms, too weak to shield against the flames. Within a minute, all that was left was a charred form on the ground, half human shape, half demon shape. Kaleth took a deep breath, and spat at the charred hunk of demon flesh.

"You're no son of mine, Patrick." Michael walked up next to Kaleth. The stench was terrible, but it didn't bother either of them, because it was the stench that gave them satisfaction that they won. Kaleth put his arm around Michael's shoulders, and in a split second they jumped back to the castle. Upon their arrival, they were immediately ushered to their rooms, and the king notified of their arrival.

In the room, Michael was sitting still as Kaleth bandaged his arm up, removing the shards of stone gently as he cleaned the wounds. Michael looked over at Kaleth and decided to break the heavy silence.

"Kaleth, was he right about me being bound to the Faerie Realm?" Kaleth paused for a moment, and nodded.

"Yes, Michael, unfortunately, Patrick was telling the truth on that, however, we have one option to unbind you from any realm. But it is not an easy way, Michael, and it would require you to do much journeying and experience more than what you have experienced even in these last few days." Kaleth looked up in to Michael's eyes, seeing that they were unfaltering in their determination.

"I will do anything, Kaleth. I do not want him to even have a small victory over me. In order for me to put this to rest, I must be free again." Kaleth nodded.

"I understand that, Michael. To be free, you must complete the training as a Faerie Mage and be accepted by the guild. When you finalize your acceptance, you will be free. But it is many years of training, and there is much to learn, through books and experience." Michael never broke his gaze, the determination burning deep in him. Kaleth saw the determination, which he once had when he started his journey on the path. "If you will accept those duties, I will accept you as my student. I vowed after Patrick left my watchful teachings that I would never teach another, but I will make an exception, because destiny desires me to do so."

"I will accept the duties with all my heart, soul, mind and body, Master Kaleth, to achieve acceptance to the Faerie Mages Guild." Kaleth finished wrapping the wounds on Michael's arm slowly. An instant later, they heard a single man's clapping behind them. They turned and saw the King standing in the doorway. Neither of them had heard his entrance, from being wrapped up in the decision they had just made.

"Well spoken, young protege. The journey will be good for a young lad such as yourself." Kaleth and Michael stood up swiftly and bowed deeply.

"Your Lordship, we did not hear you approach." Kaleth was still bowed down. The king chuckled happily.

"Master Kaleth, I would have made my presence known, but I heard your conversation and found it so intriguing." Both Michael and Kaleth stood up. "Michael, you are welcome to my Castle as your home while you quest for your acceptance. And if I may provide any assistance, consider it yours. However, there is one stipulation." Silence hung heavy until Michael broke the silence.

"And what would that stipulation be, your lordship?" The King smiled for a moment.

"That you will join me for dinner and entertain my court with the tales of your trials, and the victory in the end." Michael and Kaleth smiled at each other. Michael did not even realize that his mask still laid on the table. The King paused for a moment.

"Oh, and Michael, you can leave your mask here. I do not find your face as disfigured as you would make people believe, and if one at my table takes offense to it, they may answer to me." Michael's heart skipped a beat. Reaching his hand up, he felt his face, the scars weren't as bad as they used to be. That meant they were healing. Michael smiled happily as they followed the king down the hallway. Kaleth stepped closer to Michael.

"That is a result of the Faerie part of you being awakened. Soon, within weeks from what I can tell, you will no longer have the scars, but as part of your charge, I tell you to wear your mask, so that none will know who it is that seeks to be a part of the guild." Michael nodded solemnly, his heart still happy from the knowledge that he would heal and once again be whole.

That evening was filled with adventure telling, laughter and song for everyone in attendance. Michael was pleasantly surprised to find that no one was offended by his scars, but rather intrigued with the stories behind them. The crowd was so intrigued with the stories, but what made it even more fantastic was the fact that it truly had happened. Late in the evening, after the king himself had retired, the f ires began to die. Michael and Kaleth returned to their rooms.

That night, they both dreamed. Forgiveness was given that night to both Michael and Kaleth. For Michael, forgiveness from Sean and his Mother for his hand in their deaths. For Kaleth, he once again was able to hold Calindra and hear her voice forgiving him and thanking him for freeing her memory from the demon child.

Michael awoke for breakfast to the sound of the trumpets announcing the king's arrive in his court room. As he exited his room, Kaleth was waiting with a rolled paper, sealed with wax and tied with a bow.

"Michael, here is a list of charges. I made it up last night for you, and only you. As you complete your charges, come back and see me. But before you come back to me, remember to bring a small bag of dirt from this realm, and tie it to your waist. That way, you may stay longer on the earth realm. I look forward to seeing you sucessful in your charges." Kaleth handed Michael the roll, hugged him tightly then stepped back.

"Aren't you going to join us for breakfast?" Kaleth shook his head, a small smile playing across his lips.

"No, Michael. I have a village to run, remember? I have been gone to long, and I must get back to clear up anything that may have happened. Best of luck to you in your adventures Michael." In the instant later, Kaleth was gone, leaving Michael standing alone in the hallway. Michael stood for a moment, in a solemn silence, then turned and headed toward the banquet room, and his destiny.