Arcanum of Magic

[jiahao_94]

The next thing we know, Shaun tries to rape her.

Oh well. Nice chapter(s)! =) Been waiting for some action.

[Kon]

Very nice. So you're going into Street Racing for this chapter? ^^

[Timmias]

Thank you Ivan

[XxKiraYamatoxX]

Chapter 11

When I woke up the next morning, it was already quite late. The wall clock read 10 am. I guess it was natural, I had to follow Shaun to the race last night. There was a handwritten note on my side table, written in Cody's handwriting. "What happened to you? Frederick, one of the guild's members, is taking us out for breakfast. Just stay, we'll get you something to eat," it said. I shivered as I got up, then noticed that I had fallen asleep without taking off the clothes I had worn during the race. "So THAT'S what he meant." I sighed and unbuttoned the half-jacket with a little effort. The entire set immediately expanded again, and I wasted no time taking off the pants and hanging the set on a hanger. I closed and reopened the wardrobe, and was pleased to see a much more respectable set hanging beside the one I had just taken off.

A light blue T-shirt, complete with a dark blue skirt. Both matched me well, and I was soon walking downstairs with the Bow of the Falling Stars in hand. "Mmm, you're up late today," Shaun's head poked out of his room. "Whaddya expect? I was up half the night," I sighed and rubbed my right eye. "Let's head out for breakfast," he jerked a finger upwards. I knew what he meant. "Cody's going to bring something back for me, it's fine," I smiled.

"Not really what I meant. Fred left a note for me asking me to pick him up at 10:30, at Boulevard. The Exocet's a two-seater. Who'll pick up your friends?" Shaun explained. "Oh......" I mumbled blankly. Frederick, together with Cody and Freya, made 3 people. Shaun's car wouldn't fit all of them in at a time, so...... "Wait, didn't you fit all of us in when we first got here?" I asked. "That was a little magic. Only works at night due to magic particle issues, and I actually had permission that time," he shook his head. I groaned. "You want me to drive, don't you?"

The Toyota Dredge was also a two-seater, but it had a nifty space expansion program. Activating it resulted in the space behind the driver's seat to widen hydraulically and two more seats to spring up. Shaun refused to drive it, pointing out that the system had already acknowledged me as its owner and wouldn't take anyone else. He still had to come though, I didn't know the routes around here. Again, the Bow of the Falling Stars followed as a tattoo, hidden under my right sleeve.

I reactivated the system and engaged the space expansion program. The car whirred for a moment as the hydraulics engaged, then stopped with 2 extra seats at the back. "Let's go," Shaun started up his Exocet as well, and I saw the magnetic rails underneath start emitting a soft glow. I nodded and gripped the steering wheel. The landing pads retracted as the hover thrusters started up. I depressed the main thruster pedal slowly, and the car inched forward. A quick press on one of the hover thruster's control buttons lifted it up a few inches, allowing me to clear the rooftop railings. "Follow me!" Shaun yelled. "Don't the cars have radio communication or something?" I looked around. "Activating radio uplink. State target vehicle," the computer responded. "The Nissan Exocet in front," I stated. "Target selected. Initiating uplink," the computer beeped, and a few moments later, Shaun's face appeared in a corner of the windscreen. "Okay, let's go," I smiled. He nodded and I began to follow him.

The city of Kuching was rather crowded when we got there. Shaun explained that the city had expanded quite a lot since the year 2010, developed around the major shopping malls. Boulevard sat in the middle of a garden, with multiple residential skyscrapers arranged around it. Luckily for us, it wasn't rush hour now, so it was quite easy to find parking spots. We landed on Boulevard's rooftop parking lot just as Shaun's cellphone rang, I could hear it on my end of the radio uplink. "Hold on," he flipped open his cellphone and accepted the call. "Hello?" he spoke.

At the same time, he directed the Exocet towards a free parking space, and motioned for me to take the one next to him, then he extended his landing pads. I used voice command to do it, and when Shaun's call ended, he was smiling. "Fred forgot that my space extension spell only worked at night and wanted to take a taxi back, but I told him to come here all the same. He'll be surprised," he grinned. The passenger lift dinged, and about 6 people walked out. Cody and Freya weren't among them. We waited for a moment, and as the lift dinged again, the doors open and 3 people walked out, casting glances around. Cody was carrying two bioplastic bags, while Freya was carrying only one. Big one, actually. The man leading them, Frederick, I assumed, was empty-handed but looking worried.

Shaun waved at Frederick, and he led the other two to Shaun's car. I crouched down in the Dredge's driver's seat quietly. "How're you going to take us all? It's impossible unless we sit in the trunk, and that's dangerous!" I heard Fred say. Already, Cody was looking around, I could see his face in the rearview mirror. He hadn't spotted me yet though. "Well, Fred, get on," Shaun said cheekily. A few moments of silence and low discussions, and I head Shaun's car's door opening and closing. "What about the two of them?" Fred asked. Shaun replied, "They'll be getting in the other car."

"What other car?" I heard Freya ask, confused.
"You mean taxi?" Cody guessed.
"Nope. That red car over there."
"No one's in it."
"Just get in, you'll see."
"Who'll drive it? Fred?"
"I don't have a license."
"Oh heck, just get in, you two."

Two sets of footsteps sounded closer and closer, and eventually, Freya peeked at the driver's seat. "I was wondering if anyone would ever check," I got up, grinning. "Sis!?" she gasped. "Cecilia? What are you doing in that car?" Cody seemed really surprised. "Driving, of course, it's mine," I chuckled lightly. "It's...... yours? Where did you get it?" Cody climbed into the front passenger seat after Freya pushed him in. She got into one of the rear passenger seats. "Long story. Let's head back first," I thumbed the hover thruster button, and the car lifted off its landing pads before retracting them.

"When did you learn to drive?" Cody asked as I sped across the sky back towards the Guild's house. "Last night. Shaun taught me," I smiled. "Got the hang of it yet?" Shaun asked through the radio uplink. I nodded. "I got something for you, come look for me at the library after you finish eating," he said. I wondered what he wanted to give me......

It turned out that my breakfast today was a Malaysian food called 'laksa'. It tasted nice, although I was sweating my head off when I finished. It was really HOT! Not 'hot' as in temperature, I meant 'hot' as in chili hot! All the time I was eating, Cody and Freya were badgering me to tell them about how I got the car, but I put them off until I got something to wipe off my sweat with. After that, I told them about my experience at the race, and they blanched when I got to Bernard firing EMP missiles at us, but I explained that it was fine, since Shaun was a good driver, and I blew a couple off course with mindspells. Cody's face had turned red when I told him about the stupid dress code earlier, but I didn't really mind, I had wanted to show it to him.

I walked into the library and found Shaun already waiting with an old-looking book in his hand. "It's on support magic, I thought you might find it useful," he flipped to a page. "Resonance?" I blinked, staring at the title. The word sounded oddly discomforting for some reason. "It's used to resonate with someone else, taking your own power and splitting it in half, with one half given to the target person. You can actually form the link prematurely, then actuate it whenever you think it's needed, so you don't need to keep recasting it, and believe me, it's damn complicated," he explained, pointing at the instructions, which were half the page long.

I spent an hour or so studying the book in my room, with Freya and her Genesis Staff nearby to help decipher whatever words I couldn't understand. The Bow of the Falling Stars mainly offered help on magic particles, and I learnt quite a lot. Eventually, I knew that I'd need to use the Resonance spell, and I already knew who Shaun wanted me to do it with. He could only meant one person. Cody.

"Cody......" I approached him that night, after Freya went to sleep. He usually stayed up for a moment to think about stuff. Cody had said that he thought better at night. "Yep?" he turned around. "You know... there's this one spell in the book I'd like to... try out..." I stammered nervously. He should be suspecting something by now. "With me? I don't wanna get my brains blown out or anything," he chuckled. "I'll take that as a joke," I went ahead and showed him the book. He gasped "That!?"

"This spell's complicated all right," I perspired, already halfway through the list of preparations. First of all, I needed to draw a magic circle on the ground. Since I didn't know how, the Bow of the Falling Stars helped by focusing Gaian particles into a visible spectrum on the ground which I could use as a guideline to draw. Gaian particles were Earth elemental magic particles. The magic circle I was using for the spell was a pentagram with a circle and multiple foreign words, Greek, I guessed, arranged around it. The center was taken up by a hexagon.

It took half an hour to finish the circle, as Cody couldn't help. Non-magicians couldn't draw magic circles. If they tried, the finished one would vanish into thin air, and they would lose all memories pertaining to the circle. As I stepped into it, a few portions began to rotate, some clockwise, some counter-clockwise, and it began to emit a faint white glow. I felt rejunevated. "Cody, come on in," I pulled him into the center of the circle. The rotating portions were moving a lot faster now. "We'll need physical contact for the spell to work, leave the incantation to the Bow of the Falling Stars," I nodded at the white apparition just outside the circle. It nodded back and began to chant in a low tone as not to wake Freya. "Like this?" Cody grabbed my hand. "Not enough," I shook my head, then wrapped my arms around him and hugged him tightly. I felt my chest press against him, then blushed for a second. The circle's glow intensified, signalling that contact was enough.

I felt like I was...... flying for a few seconds, then the magic brought me back to reality. Cody looked a little giddy, and I realized that my vision was swimming as well. "Tell me...... before something like this happens again..." he moaned, grabbing onto the wall to stabilize himself. Unfortunately, I was still hugging him, and the both of us fell to the ground. Something vaguely organic poked my waist, and I found Cody's face sandwiched between my breasts. "Sorry!" I quickly got off him, then noticed that he had passed out. I smiled fondly and bent down, then felt my hair brushing against my legs. "Eh?" I looked around. My hair was definitely longer than usual...... The Bow of the Falling Star in it's apparition form walked over to me and placed a hand on my back. "An extended effect of magical puberty. Magicians cannot experience normal puberty due to magical interference with the sex hormones, and thus, some experience puberty later, some earlier. It would appear that the spell agitated your hormones, causing them to break free of their hold and course through your body rapidly, carrying magic along with them, thus causing the sudden growth," it explained. Now that he mentioned it...... I had always been wondering why I hadn't grown since 12, while the teacher explained about puberty just a few years ago...... "I feel fat," I complained. "Your hips, that's all," the Bow remarked. I looked down. Indeed, wider and a lot...... rounder. My shirt now showed my waist under it. Without another word, I struggled to lift Cody up, and laid him on his bed slowly. Exhausted, I tumbled onto my own bed and fell asleep.

[jiahao_94]

Chapter 10

*Incomplete, obviously*

Quoted for posterity.

Lol@latest chapter. It's fantastic, really. Seems that you've cleared the writer's block due to trashing creeps with bm2. =)

Good luck with your life, then!

[lagger12]

Lol, I just realised you used my name. Or did you... I vote for me raping someone!

[Kon]

Veery nice, I loved the street racing action, though I can't imagine all those barrel rolls.

[jiahao_94]

Neither could I, due to previously built up impressions of the three laws of motion. But still, it's great. Fantastic, in fact.

[Publica]

Yay, I take it that you got over your writer's block? :)

Great story, keep it up! :D

[XxKiraYamatoxX]

Chapter 12

I ran as fast as I could, with no idea of where I was going. Right behind me, was some kind of a giant red hound with it's fangs bared at me. "No, stay away, stay away!" I yelled, then tripped over a stone and fell over. The hound caught up in no time and bent it's head over me, opening its jaws...

"No... NONONO! GET AWAY!!!"

"Cecilia, what's wrong!?" someone grabbed my hand forcefully. I opened my eyes slowly and found...... Cody's face staring down at me. Freya was beside me too. "Nightmare...... Man... this sucks..." I struggled to get up, but Cody held me down. "You're feverish. Get some rest. Freya, get an ice pack!" he said. "Feverish...?" I lifted a hand and placed it on my forehead, then quickly took it back. "Hot......" I moaned. Really...... I still felt tired...

"You were yelling at something to get away from you. I won't ask what, but don't overwork yourself," Cody said. "I'll be... fine...." I groaned as Freya came back with an empty bioplastic bag from the magic trunk. She muttered a quick incantation and ice appeared in the bag. After that, she laid a wet towel on my forehead and put the bag on it. "It feels good......" I sighed. "It better. If a German magician comes, we'll be doomed," she frowned. I nodded weakly. "Cody can...... do it, can't he...?" I sweated. Freya stared at him, her eyes demanding answers silently.

"Speak of the devil."

A sudden explosion really close by threw me off my bed and the others off their feet, and I collapsed to the ground, clutching my arm in pain. "Cecilia!" Freya crawled over to me, while Cody got up, unsheathing his sword. "I found you, girl!" an oddly familiar voice that sent shivers down my spine rang out. Wait...... could it be...... that guy who got a hole blown through his shoulder!? I leaned against the wall for support, pushing myself up. Indeed, it was him. Bad timing...... "Leave her alone!" Cody yelled. The earth magician was standing on a patch of magically elevated ground just outside the hole in the wall. "This isn't good......" I muttered, then looked at Cody. He looked back, into my eyes.

"Resonance, actuate." I whispered. Instantly, a white glow enveloped me, and I felt weakened, enough to make me collapse again. Cody was also enveloped by a white glow, but his was more intense. He nodded and placed his index and middle fingers on the blade of his sword, running both up the flat edge. Latin words appeared on it as he did so, and the wind started blowing stronger. He was using...... my wind? It felt warm, even as the blade became half-transparent and blue-coloured. Then, I realized that I was almost holding the sword together with Cody. Was this the power of the spell? It felt so...... unreal...... "Haaaah!" Cody charged and leapt towards the magician. My wind magic granted him much faster movement, and he was soon behind the unsuspecting magician. As he did, from Cody's eyes, I saw that the magician's right shoulder, the one I had blown a hole through, was completely healed. "What should I do?" Cody sent mentally. "Cut that shoulder off."

Cody brought the sword crashing down on the magician's right shoulder, but the blade met an invisible barrier, and he was thrown backwards into a tree. "ARGH!" I screamed, clutching my back. "Sis!" Freya looked at my back. "You're bleeding!" she exclaimed. "Dammit......" I moaned, and sent a Wind Shear flying at the magician. He blocked it with a wave of his hand. I saw myself through Cody's eyes as he came back into the fight. I even sensed...... determination in him. I looked weak at the moment, slumped against the wall like this.

"Girl!" Shaun appeared in the doorway and threw a bag at the earth magician. "Not going to work," the latter remarked, dodging it. "Wasn't aiming for you," Shaun grinned. The bag suddenly burst open, revealing dozens of earthen spikes. There was a sickening sound as the projectiles crashed through the man's stomach from behind. I looked away, still clutching my back in pain. Through Cody, I saw the magician drop into the ground and disappear again. "Cecilia, are you okay!?" Shaun ran over to me, then spotted my now-bloody hair and gently pushed it away. Cody had the exact same wound on his back, I knew, as he levitated back to the room and ran over to me. "I was careless......" he spat blood on the ground. His sword returned to normal as he canceled the effects of the Resonance, but the wounds stayed. "Shoot, we need a healer......" Shaun gritted his teeth.

"You're lucky I just got back, then," another voice came from the doorway. I couldn't see who it was, because I had my back turned to the door, but I recognized it as one of the Guild's members. "Stand back, I'll see what I can do," the voice commanded, and I felt a pair of hands on my wound. "ARGH!" I shrieked in pain. "Hold still, I'll try to make this quick," the voice said, and I felt fresh magic floating into my body, healing most of my wounds. "Cody, you next, she'll be fine," it spoke again. I tried to get up, but I still felt weak. My fever was still present...... "We'll need to fix that wall. Ready, Shaun?" the healer said. "Whenever you say so, Will."

Cracking sounds came from behind me, as the two magicians repaired the wall together. Soon, all natural light bathing the room was blocked out, and I was lifted back onto my bed. "That was a close one," Shaun heaved a sigh of relief. I tried to talk, but I felt too weak. "Don't try to do anything tiring. You need some real rest," Will said. "So...rry... to... trouble you..." I moaned weakly. "You're the Chosen One, aren't you? Without you, we won't be able to end the war. We'll be moving once you get better, this place isn't safe anymore," he nodded. Once I got better, huh......

"Cerberus, just...... let me go......" I moaned, already exhausted. The massive hound was still standing right on top of me, pinning my legs and arms to the ground. It kept snarling at me, even as I struggled to get free. I was only wearing a simple white robe that had been almost torn to pieces by the hound. "Let me go!" I yelled. The hound bent its head towards me and snarled, sending saliva splattering onto my face. "LEAVE ME ALONE!!!"

I woke up sweating badly and still in my bed. It was almost midnight now, according to my watch. My fever had subsided somewhat, but it was the nature of these nightmares that was troubling me. Not to mention there was something buried in my chest. "Cody?" I whispered, staring down at the familiar head. He didn't seem to have noticed, he was snoring quietly. Freya wasn't in her bed, but I noticed a note lying on my side table. I picked it up, careful not to disturb Cody, then smiled.

Good luck.

That was what it had said.

I managed to make enough room on my bed on which to move around on, and quietly slipped off my shirt, then threw my bra aside and put the shirt back on, making sure to leave the buttons at the top completely unbuttoned. After that, I wrapped my arms around Cody and hugged him into my chest tighter. He continued snoring peacefully, and I let out a light chuckle, then went back to sleep still hugging him.

......

"Mmmm!!!"

"Huh?" I opened my eyes slowly, then noticed that Cody was flailing around, still held with his face in my chest by my arms. "Just a few more minutes......" I pretended to yawn, then closed my eyes again. "MMMM!!!" the unlikely prisoner flailed louder and louder. "Oh, okay, okay!" I opened my eyes and released my arms. A little too forcefully. I rolled over the edge of the bed and onto the floor. "Ouch!" I rubbed my head as I sat up, then noticed a blotch of red on my shirt. Cody had his back to me, and was rubbing his nose vigorously. "Can you...... not do that next time?" he complained.

I had pretty much healed up by then, so Shaun said that we would leave soon. Before leaving, Frederick called me to the library, and he passed me a box the width of my hips. "It's made of magic-infused wood, like the wardrobe and the trunk in your room. So it pretty much can do the same things, just on a smaller scale," he had explained. It was now inside my backpack, as the five of us headed up to the rooftop. Shaun, Frederick, Freya, Cody and me. Cody was still suffering from a minor nosebleed though, and Freya was talking to him, winking at me.

Shaun and Frederick got on the former's Exocet, while Cody and Freya got onto my Dredge. Most of our belongings went in the car's trunk, while there was a suitcase in the front passenger seat, with Cody not wanting to sit there. I guess I hurt him a little...... The sky didn't look so good. "It's a tough choice. The three of them don't have ICs, so we can't take any public hotels, or we risk getting busted by cops. I know a few underground hotels, and price isn't a matter, since they all know my name, but they won't be safe," I heard Shaun talking to Frederick. "Put us in the underground, we know how to defend ourselves," I said into the radio, and flicked a few switches on my dashboard. The stabilizer wings popped out, and red storm gel coated the entire car. The tails on the thrusters also extended outwards. In front of me, I saw the same happening to Shaun's car, only that his linear thruster was still exposed, and his storm gel was blue. "Storms play havoc with radio uplinks, so you'll have to keep your eyes on me. Don't lose sight, or something bad could happen," Shaun warned even as the first few drops of clear blue rain began to fall. I activated my windscreen wipers, hoping that the predicted storm wouldn't last long.

As it was, cloud cover was really low that morning. I could barely see Shaun's taillights even at full intensity and a few meters in front of me. Radio uplink integrity wasn't good either, and static filled the car more often than once. Each time lightning flashed, the radio would emit a loud burst of static, so I had to turn it off and focus on following Shaun. He was going slow to match my speed. I started thinking about the dream. Cerberus...... What was that? Why did I have two of these dreams in a row? "Sis, keep your eyes on the sky!" Freya shouted. I barely spotted the wall of a building in front of me, and quickly spun the steering wheel to the right as fast as I could. The car barrel rolled right, narrowly clearing the side of the building, with the car's G-force dampener automatically activating to stop us from getting sick. I spotted Shaun's taillights up ahead, and accelerated forwards. "Careful..." Freya advised. "Sorry," I apologized.

At this altitude, lightning rendered autopilot useless, so I couldn't rest. Not until we reached our destination. Shaun's taillights suddenly dropped, and I matched his movements. We plummeted downwards for a few seconds and dropped through the clouds, towards a cluster of buildings on the outskirts of town. I tried the radio uplink, but it still wasn't working. "Cody, you haven't talked since we got on the car," I pointed out, jerking the thrusters to reverse as Shaun's Exocet slowed to a hover in front of us. I slowly maneuvered my car to their side, using small bursts from the vernier thrusters. "The radio should work now......" I switched the radio on. The closer, the better. "Cecilia, Shaun's trying to look for the place now, just wait," Frederick's voice buzzed through the speakers.

A few seconds later, the Exocet slowly decreased altitude. I slowly descended as well, until we were at street level. I had to disengage the stabilizer wings to avoid crashing into buildings. Shaun led us to a nearby garage, then he leaned over and tapped a brick on the wall. The garage door instantly slid open, revealing a ramp leading downwards. "That's smart, disguising a secret entrance as a garage," I remarked. "The underground's gotten much smarter these days. Let's go, I'll handle most of the stuff you need," Shaun nodded and hovered down the ramp. I followed behind. "Cody, you still haven't said much," I sighed. No answer from the back. He was still mad at me......

The ramp ended at an underground parking lot, with an entrance to the actual building built into the wall. There weren't many cars in the parking lot now, so we parked our cars, locked them, and walked out. I was extra-careful to create a weak, self-sustained wind barrier around mine that could repel anything short of bullets. Cody and Freya disembarked, and so did Frederick. We left our luggage in the car for now, and proceeded into the lobby of the underground hotel. There wasn't anything particularly attractive, only a long wooden counter and a bunch of chairs. There was a lift beside the counter, and there was an attractive woman wearing just a bra and pants staffing the counter. "Kayla, I was wondering where you went," Shaun smiled. "Shaun. Haven't seen you in a while. Come to pay me a visit? Or do you have business to do?" Kayla stood up, her hands on her hips. "The latter. Would you believe it if I said 3 of my friends just showed up here without ICs and travel documents?" Shaun walked towards her.

"I'll believe it, on one condition. Add one of my vinyls to your car, and they'll be staying here on the house," Kayla smiled. "Done deal. Don't mistreat them, or that vinyl's going in the garbage can," Shaun smiled back, taking a prefabricated vinyl out of her hands. "Room 1-5, right in front of the elevator on 1st underground floor," Kayla jerked a finger at the elevator and tossed the keys at me. I caught them on my index finger and twirled it around before closing my fingers around it. Even I was astonished at the speed of my reflexes. "Pretty good," she observed. I walked back out to get our luggage, with Cody following behind to help with the heavy stuff. I made sure I had the magic box Frederick had given me, and I noticed Shaun planting the vinyl on his Exocet's hood. He gave me a thumbs up as I headed back in with Cody.

"You're not just an ordinary friend of Shaun's, are you?" Kayla smirked as I walked past her. I stopped and looked at her. "I heard he won a Toyota Dredge over some bet. No way he'd let an ordinary friend drive a car like that, he'd probably sell it," she explained. "Who knows? I guess I might be, or I might not be," I refused to give a straight answer, and we walked towards the elevator. One floor down, Freya was already waiting beside the door. The corridor here was quite well-furnished, with a red carpet and everything you'd expect to find in a hotel. I inserted the digikey into the slot, and the light blinked green. The door swung open, revealing a luxury room with two queen-sized beds, satellite TV, a bathroom with a bathtub inside. Luxury...... "Wow," Freya gasped and ran over to a bed. "Liquid suspension," she noted, pressing on the mattress. "Nice......" I sighed and reclined on one of the beds.