Chapter 4: The Colours of Magic

A Chapter by Daisygirl

Chapter 4

Duana stood in the middle of a beautiful meadow full of wildflowers. The sun shone brightly and the sky was a clear blue. Duana was wearing a long blood red dress, the same blood red colour as her sparkling magical aura.

Then all at once the sun disappeared behind a thick layer of clouds, changing the sky to a dark grey. All the flowers wilted. Small fires burnt in the grass all around her. Black cascaded over Duanas dress and magic, turning both blacker than night.

Seraphina materialised in front of Duana. She was in full armour, on her head she wore fathers crown. In one hand she held the bloodstone, in the other she held her drawn sword. Behind her all the armies of Odrana marched silently in place. Duana stood alone against the oncoming forces.

Seraphina lunged, sword pointed towards Duana. Dark magic burst from Duana like whips of wind. They both fought fearlessly but Seraphina's pure light was stronger that Duana’s corrupted dark. The sword slid into Duanas chest and blood poured out of the wound. Seraphina withdrew the sword and Duana fell to her knees, hands clutched to her chest Seraphina forged on past Duana, the armies marching after her. They had fought, and Seraphina had won.

Duana woke up and didn’t know where she was. She bolted out of bed and fell to the floor as pain in her chest reminded her of her wound. She remembered the dream and dread filled her. They had fought, and Seraphina had won. She couldn’t let her win again, Duana knew she couldn’t let that happen. She needed to go, she needed to end this now.

“What happened? Are you ok?” Rhea rushed into the room.

“I’m fine. I need to go, now,” Duana said curtly.

“Go? Where?” Rhea asked confused.

“I have to go do something,” Duana said vaguely.

“Well you’re not going anywhere. You aren’t well enough,” Rhea said sternly.

“Then at least help me outside. I need to get something,” Duana demanded.

“You need to get something from my deck?” Rhea asked skeptically.

“Nothing, I need to call something,” Duana replied.

“Alright,” Rhea said with a shrug and helped Duana to the deck.

When they got outside Duana Leaned over the railing, “oh, do you need anything?” Rhea asked.

“No. It will come to my call” Duana replied confidently. She let her magic flow along the ocean floor, riding the currents. She felt it call back, fly towards her.

Rhea watched dark magic pool around Duana, calling out to something. The water churned around the house boat, rocking it violently. The door slammed shut as Rheas protections awoke to keep the dark magic out of the house, and away from Aya and Rheas talismans. Rhea covered her ears to try and block out the eerie sound of darkness. The water in front of Duana glowed blood red and black. She was completely encased in in black tendrils of dark magic. Rhea backed away until she was leaning against the door. The feeling of her earthy magic comforted her.

A burst of dark magic exploded around Duana knocking her over. The magic was finished, the darkness had retreated back into Duana, she held something tightly in one hand. Rhea took a few deep breaths then walked over to Duana and helped her up.

“What was that?” Rhea demanded fearfully, “that was dark magic!”

“That was my magic,” Duana replied wearily.

“That was dark magic, whatever you called was powerful, and it came to dark magic,” Rhea argued.

“It came to my magic.” Duana insisted.

“Your magic is dark magic!” Rhea exclaimed.

“It won’t come to dark magic, only my magic,” Duana explained.

“Which is dark magic!” Rhea repeated loudly.

“It doesn’t matter, it will only come to my magic. It makes no difference what colour my magic is, it recognizes it, even if it is dark now,” Duana said quietly.

Rhea closed her eyes and counted to ten, “can you promise me it’s safe?” she asked in a tight voice.

“No, but I can promise it won’t hurt you or Aya,” Duana promised.

Rhea sighed and chanted a few words in magic. Her protections fell dormant once again and the door swung open.

“How long until you let me leave?” Duana asked as she clasped the bloodstone necklace to her neck.

“Two weeks until I’ll let you leave, but six days until I can’t stop you from leaving,” Rhea said flatly as she checked on Aya.

“Six days then,” Duana said reluctantly.

“Somewhere you need to be?” Rhea demanded lightly.

“Yes, actually,” Duana replied staunchly.

“Oh? And does this have anything to do with that necklace you called? Or why you killed the king, perhaps?” Rhea asked casually.

“Yes,” Duana replied.

“And your magic?” Rhea pressed.

“You know what causes magic to change,” Duana told her.

“Magic shows our natures, reflects what’s in our heart and soul,” Rhea said cautiously.

“And my heart is as black as my dark magic,” Duana said coldly.

“Why?” Rhea demanded.

“I can’t tell you,” Duana replied stiffly.

“Can’t, or won’t?” Rhea asked pointedly.

“Both.”

Rhea shrugged and gave up on the topic. It was obvious Duana wasn’t going to tell her what was happening, but she knew one way to find out what was going on. Rhea started making soup, adding all sorts of herbs to it. “I need to go to ashore soon. I’ll run out of herbs otherwise, and I’m running low on some other healing supplies. Besides, I want to know what’s happening at the front lines,” Rhea said.

When she mentioned the front Duana looked away guiltily.

“What?” Rhea asked.

“Nothing,” Duana replied shortly.

“No, something’s wrong,” Rhea observed, “it’s about the war isn’t it.”

Duana sighed, “nothing has happened. No one has won, and no one will.”

“What do you mean?” Rhea asked.

“Simply that no one can win. It’s a war of desperation, and no one will win,” Duana replied.

“How do you know that?” Rhea demanded.

“How do you know what herbs to use for healing? How do you know what talismans will help in circle patterns? Magic of course,” Duana said.

“So they’re going to send the soldiers home?” Rhea asked hopefully, naively so.

“No. Both sides will continue to uselessly fight,” Duana said angrily.

“But if no one can win…” Rhea trailed off.