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In the short time that Niles and Darrius had been reading and dressing in awkward silence, Cha'kaar had been busy, setting up a crude stand with a piece of spare wood stuck in the middle. A glyph had been carved into it, giving off a warm, soothing glow. Cha'kaar sat beside it on a pew, stroking at Ryan's ears as he laid his head in the wolfs lap, sound asleep, and rather sated.

"Took you two long enough." He shifted the bat carefully, so as not to wake him, standing to tap the glyph which glowed brightly for a moment before settling down to it's regular glow. "I'll be taking Darrius back to gather a few items from the shack. And this..." the wolf motioned to the post. "Is your new training post, Niles." The crow cocked his head slightly, eyes flicking from the post to Cha'kaar and back. "My... training post? Training for what?"

The lupine crossed his arms sighing inwardly. "We'll be fighting creatures that can use vast amounts of magic, wether they know how to or not. You used a spell, or some sort of incantation to ward off Sirus. You'll be practising that, and any other spells with the same effect. Preferably projectile and single target. Area of effect spells may affect us." As he spoke, he gripped Darrius by the shoulder and began to steer him out through the doors of the church. "Time is of the essence, and try not to wake Ryan, he's been up most of the night."

Niles clicked his beak in irritation as the doors closed behind them, leaving him with nothing more than a simple task and an unconcious bat to hide from the locals. However, he set to work, pulling out various dusty tomes that he'd not touched since he'd been stuck in this place. Using the sleeve of his robe, the titles became clear, and so were the contents. Mage Battles: A Quick Guide Anti-Spells Advanced Spell Deflection & Trapping

All of them were along the same lines, and only a few actually contained quick-fire spells that would suit the upcoming battle. The rest were meant for groups of holy men to plan and trap the occasional rogue mage that decided to shake down the more rural towns and villages for coin, respect or fear. Niles sighed as he flicked through the yellowing pages and skimmed through the fancy lettering and woodcuts for anything of use.

Flinging spells meant to disperse magical energies can be tricky under certain cercumstances. Like lighting a fire next to another, starving it of air. A dispersal spell cast wrong, or even at the wrong time can cause the energies to be released all at once in one area, instead of slow dispersal over a large area. It doesn't really matter if the mages spell hits, just so long as it's weakened enough to shake off any after effects.

It was an hour of flicking through pages before he found a suitable spell to try. With a little concentration, a small white orb was formed at the flick of his wrist, landing on top of the glyph, canceling out the light and the warmth it produced. Niles smirked and nodded, rubbing his wrist. It'd be a while before he got used to twisting it like that, but nothing a life or death scenario wouldn't cure. The light glow from the glyph drew his eyes to it, a cursory glance showed the glyph was carved deep into the wood, ensuring a long life of drawing in background magic. With each spell flung at the wood, it's warm, welcoming glow died, only to reappear a few seconds later.

Niles couldn't tell the strength of the spells he was using without more glyphs on the post to affect at once. The bird lacked the knowledge to carve a half decent glyph, and the wolf appeared to have used his claw, or something similar.

A muffled groan and the sound of leathery wings from the pew meant Ryan had got sick of the constant flicker of the lights and had rolled over in his sleep, his large ears twitching with each rustle of Niles' feathers and habbot. He dragged a clawtip over the bat's ear, watching it twitch slightly, chuckling to himself. "You somehow survived deaths grip and emurge in a new body, and a new race." He rubbed his beak gently, grumbling. "Guess I'll be the one to teach you your new herritage, give you support, a roof over your head, food, clothing..." The bat stirred a little, the daylight landing on his curves quite beautifully, giving him an almost feminine appearance. Niles simply rolled his eyes and grimmaced.

Too many men and not enough women...

~***~

The sun had already reached the peak of it's orbit and was beginning it's slow and steady decent towards the mountains and lands unknown to Darrius before they made it back to the hut. Inside was barely recognizable. Nothing had changed in the slightest, but the warm and comforting atmosphere had all but died and the stench of unfinished and off stew punctuated the air with it's odor. The vulpine clamped his nose shut with his paw, grimmacing.

"Perhaps we should have taken a few minutes to sort out the leftovers before our little outing?" Cha'kaar wrinkled his nose, nodding. "Yes... go tip the mess outside on the outskirts of the clearing, will you? Anywhere will do, somethings bound to eat it."

Cha'kaar pushed through the small curtain into the bedroom, listening to the clank and occasional curse word from the boy as he did as he was told, soon returning. "I left it outside the door to be washed up. Now, wheres this stash of goods you have?" The lupine leaned over and pulled the vulpine into a tight embrace, giving his neck a small nuzzle, his words causing Darrius' ear to twitch softly. "I'm sorry I've dragged you into all of this, hon, for all I've put you through since you've been here..." The fox looked momentarily flustered, pulling himself out of his lovers grip and planted a small kiss on his nose, chuckling. "What have you dragged me into? The things that have happened, no one could have predicted them, or what would happen. These past few weeks have been some of the greatest in my entire life..." He linked his fingers with that of his large woofer, chuckling softly. "Admittedly, I could have done without the near death experience, but I suppose that's part of living the life on the borders of civilization..." His cheeks begun to burn as he plunged on, eyes focused on the floor. "And I'm glad, you know? That I took this position, that is... Because I met you..." Cha'kaar felt the soft squeeze of his paw as that cute and innocent man confessed his love for him. He smiled and ran his fingers under the boys muzzle, lifting it upwards to press his lips against his own.

This tender moment was soon brought to an abrupt end as Ebony cleared his throat, a small barrel of mead under his arm. "If I can tear you two apart for a mere moment, I'd like to be paid for my delivery." Cha'kaar sighed slowly as his lips slid from that of the fox, who gritted his teeth and pushed past the sellsword, nearly knocking the barrel from his arms. "Hey! Watch it, spellslinger!" The lupine pulled the barrel from the mans arm and dropped a handful of unusual looking coins in his palm. The mutt looked less than pleased.

"The agreement was five salves and seven potions per barrel of mead, not a handful of scrap copper pieces." He dropped the coins on the nearest table, watching them bounce and scatter across it's surface, all while Cha'kaar stood in the doorway, arms crossed, with not a flicker of emotion on his face. A loose coin rolled free of the table and bumped against his toe. Using a skill well practised, he plucked it between his toes and kicked it back up onto the table. "They're Vizian coins." The ears of the other occupants perked up at this news, Ebonys network of scars shifting as he fought between surprise and his usual grumpy facade. "They're fake, then. No one has that many." The alchemist shrugged his shoulders and began to scoop the coins back into his palm. "Fine, if you don't want to check them..." The mutt's hand snatched at his wrist in a vice like grip. Plucking a coin from the pile, he held it to his eye, scrutinizing it. He blinked a few times and checked another, and then another. "By the gallows, they're real..."

Darrius had already suspected they were real the moment the name Vizian was brought up. Cha'kaar was a strange man with quite a few connections, yet he still planned to carefully check the coin he'd quietly pinned under his foot, just to be on the safe side.

Ebony had scraped together the small bundle into a seperate money pouch, grinning like a madman at his incredibly good luck. "Well then, thank you kindly sir, thank you kindly indeed." Che'kaar waved his hand at the front door and moved to the back room, leaving the two of them alone. The vulpine was quite struck at the change in attitude with Ebony, who had a perminant smile on his face and had even bowed to the alchemist as he left them be.

His smile waned a little at the sight of Darrius sitting in the corner, his toes clamping down that much harder. The mutt pulled out several sheafs of paper, tied with cord and set them in front of the boy. "Your information... sir. Apoligies for my lack of grace before..." He gave another small bow before leaving, the sunlight streaming in now he wasn't blocking the doorway.

First things first, he plucked up the coin and tucked it away behind his belt before untying his mail. Sure enough, their were a few pages on the assistants before him, and most of it was useless information, such as hair colour, birthdates and the like. The biographys were pretty scarce of information as well, mentioning their home towns and occasional behavioural traits under the watchful eye of the mages guild. A slightly smudged section of each bio drew Darrius' attention. Each one was obviously penned by Ebony from what he could remember of meeting them, as well as any local gossip relating to them.

Either way, most of it was still useless, but concluded with scenarios of how they most likely died. All but one was listed as poisoned by flora or fauna out in the swamps, as each body was carefully examined by both Niles and Cha'kaar.

Small emotions began to churn deep within Darrius' being. The fact that Cha'kaar was the only witness to the deaths, and was observing the autopsy of each student was suspect at the very least. He shook his head and even smacked his forehead, as if to shake the thoughts from his skull.

Don't be stupid, Darrius... You know the sod! He isn't capable of such things!

Even with all this, the thought still lingered at the back of his mind. A tiny, yet constant gnawing sensation as it whispered sweet nothings and what if's on the verge of his mind. A few more smacks to his forehead dislodged a few papers on the table to reveal a heavy looking letter. The yellowing envelope was decorated with a large red mage guild wax stamp, the kind that only end up in the hands of the imporant and the elders themselves. He flipped the letter over to read his name, and the word "Urgent!" underlined. Either way, it contained something important, and solid, judging by the occasional clink of metal.

The vulpine hooked the tip of a claw under the seal and began to pry it away carefully. Thin tendrils of magical energy ran up and down his fingers before subsiding. He'd heard stories that these types of seals could easily kill a man, designed to be the ultimate deterrent to thieves and prying mages alike. The magics in the seal somehow detected if you were the recipient or merely someone a mite too nosey for their own good. It was all far above Darrius' understanding of magic. Besides which, the seal hadn't killed him yet, so that was a good start.

The letter contained one folded slip of parchment and a small velvet bag, a deep purple in colour with the objects inside. Setting the item aside for now and read the brief message within.

Mage Elder Dunwall's Orders To One, Darrius Vayren.

Recieved weekly report, noted unusual behaviour and flora.

Obtain complete 1 (one) of each sample of healthy flora, destroy the rest. Possibly poisonous due to examinations of sketches supplied in report.

Alchemist (Cha'kaar) deemed highly dangerous, capture or render unconcious.

1 (one) set of dampening tethers included, instructions included.

Battlemages en route to secure residence and any evidence pertaining to illegal magic and alchemical formulas. Estimated time until arrival : 0 weeks, 0 Days, 7 hours, 47 minutes, 31 seconds.

Signed, Elder Dunwall.

The time on the parchment began to tick down steadily, another set of magic imbuled in the paper, most likely. But Darrius shook slightly as he read and re-read the letter, hoping that if he looked it over one more time, it might change the words. His head spun as that dark voice was freed once more, chittering away at the back of his mind.

The letter had just about proved it. Cha'kaar had murdered his students, poisoned each one and made it look like an accident. The fox scattered papers left and right as he skimmed the cause of death for each student. The final assistant, Errol, was killed by drowning. Perhaps he'd been wise enough not to consume whatever foul concoction that the wolf had made for him, and he'd simply been led deep into the marshes, far from anywhere. It was easy to lose your footing in some parts. Even easier to lose your life when someone holds your head under the water and your lungs scream for air, your body relents and instead of the musky, hot and fetted air your body expects, water. Cold and filthy, filling your lungs with it's horrid mixture of gods knows what...

With shaking hands and tears burning in the corner of his eyes, Darrius pulled the velvet pouch towards him and upended it. He'd get his answers, one way or another...

~***~

Cha'kaar sighed and leaned on his hand. Whatever the boy was doing was taking forever, and the bed was deceptively comfortable, even in it stank slightly of stale sweat and lovemaking after so long away. It was another minute before he jolted awake, the feel of hands wrapped around his waist from behind. He smirked and made to turn. "Not yet, darling." The lupine chuckled softly but obeyed. "Hon, as nice as it would be, we haven't got the time for this just yet." He felt the fox's whiskers brush against his ear, making it twitch slightly. "But I want to play with my new toy." Cha'kaar blinked a few times. "Erm, new toy?" He felt the boys hands slide back before resting his arms on his shoulders. Two thin metal rods, about six inches in length came into view on either side of his vision. "Yes, these ones..." A catch was pressed on the sides of the rods and the tops snapped upwards, exposing two electric blue crystals that crackled with arcane energies. The lupines ears shot up at the sight of them. "Oh, shi-"

Darrius pressed the two crystals against Cha'kaar's neck, causing a brief crack of spent energy and the wolf went limp, panting with exertion as he landed heavily on the floor, his limbs like lead weights. He groaned and clutched at his neck. "...Urgh... knew I should've checked the mail beforehand..." A swift jab with a rod to the back of his knee halted any chance of him getting to his feet.

He rolled over to look into the boys, panting as he did so. He saw no more love in them, only a hatred he'd never witnessed in his apprentice before. In one hand, he clutched the rods, the crystals glow growing over time, readying another charge, a bundle of papers in the other. One of which looked much like a guild message. Cha'kaar groaned and rubbed his eyes.

"Okay... what did they tell you?" The vulpine looked momentarily taken aback. "What? No, 'please don't hurt me?' or even a 'why did you do that?' Just what did they tell me?" He raised himself up on an elbow and despite the weakening effects of the rods, looked rather relaxed, despite the situation. "Are you going to tell me, or shall we play the guessing game?" His apprentice glared at him, yanking the paper out of the bundle in his hands and tossed it to Cha'kaar. "What didn't they tell me? You poisoned your students!" The wolf's eyes flicked over the short message and fixed the boy with an unimpressed stare. "I'm an alchemist. I grow rare and dangerous plants for my spells and concoctions, and you leap to the conclusion that I poisoned every one of my apprentices?" Darrius made to yell a reply, but stopped himself, rubbing his arm a little, slightly embarrassed. "I... well... not every single one. Their biographys told me enough to put two and two together." He yipped as Cha'kaar leaned towards him and yanked the paper out of his hands, waving the rods around in front of him, like a holy man with a relic. "Hey! I paid good money for those!"

The lupine sat cross legged, scattering pages around him as he read every single one, fixing the boy with another blank stare, although anger clearly lurked behind this one.

"Darrius, child... Do you even hear the shit coming out of your mouth? Why would I kill them? What would I gain, and why would I get my supposed 'victims' from a guild that places trackers on their youngest mages and keeps records of where they have been sent? Answer me this instead, why were you and the others given orders to look for unusual flora in the marshes and why would the guild keep sending people if I posed such a danger?" Darrius' tail curled around his leg as he broke eye contact, the rods by his side as he felt humiliation sink in, new questions burning in his mind, demanding answers.

"Wait... how do you know our orders? Everyone was given sealed satchels!" A rod hovered a mere inch from Cha'kaar's nose as he made to stand, freezing him in place. The shocks from those things weren't painful, but they didn't half make you groggy for a few agonizing minutes.

"I opened the satchels and read their orders, of course." He held up a finger to silence the oncoming question. "I am very adept at magic, child. The seals were childsplay for me." He brushed aside the rod, standing tall with his arms crossed. "Your guild has been lying to you." The vulpine stood, open mouthed at this accusation and waved a rod under the wolfs nose. "And what proof do you have to make such a bold and scandelous claim like thi-" Cha'kaar snatched the rod from his students hand and zapped his ear, causing him to yelp and massage some feeling back into the side of his head, grumbling darkly.

"I am getting sick and tired of my lover and student threatening his mentor with a magical device he doesn't even know how to use." Snatching up the second rod, he pried off a small hatch that Darrius hadn't noticed before, jabbing his claw into the intricate workings of the machine. With this, he raised both rods in an almost artistic fashion and swung them towards Darrius, an arc of energy flashing out from both ends of the magical artifact, wrapping around the boys chest, pinning his arms and draining his store of energy, slowly but surely. He fell to his knees, panting and struggling weakly.

Cha'kaar smirked and sat on the corner of the bed, tossing the rods aside. "Now, are you going to be quiet and listen to the story of Maric Ahmet? Or do I have to convince you to listen?" He footpaw trailed teasingly over the boys muzzle, causing him to blush, nudging the footpaw away.

"Very well... mentor. I will listen to what you have to say..." He shrugged his shoulders, motioning to his light blue bindings. "Not that I have much choice in the matter."

"Then let me begin..."

~***~

Back when I was younger, I was eager to learn of the worlds secrets and what they could teach me. To that end, I volunteered on an expedition to lands previously unknown to our country. To the planes of Kaddahn we found ourselves. A verdant and rather beautiful country, although a little hot, weather wise.

Nevertheless, I never forgot my reasons for traveling such a distance and struck out to find like-minded men with a passion for the arts of alchemy and magic. To that end, I found him, Maric Ahmet. A man considered mad and evil by his fellows for wielding a power that many had believed died out amongst them. He was set aside, given special privilages by the government, such as housing and a minimal cost of living, so he may study in peace and away from the common folk who held a respect for him, most likely caused by fear.

I soon introduced myself to this remarkable man and showed him my gift for the magic of this world. It stunned him to learn of others with such power on this world of ours, believing that such people had died out. Most unusual is that their magic cannot be taught like ours, their people have to be born into it, and since he was the last and not allowed to... mingle, his much feared gift would die with him. Yet he was determined to create something, something that would guarantee his people would be able to use magic, to bind it and make it do their bidding.

With my help, the process went that much smoothly, providing materials and resources, help and just about anything he needed to finish his magnum opus. In less than three months, we had created a device that would let the common man imbule any item with arcane energies and with a few helpful pointers from me, specialized glyphs to draw the background magic into the item itself constantly. We called it the Amplifier, and it was to revolutionize their tired and worn city, to help them and save them from the summer drought that grew longer year after year, to push back the ever encroaching sands...

I left to obtain a bottle for celebration, returning to find our modest workshop ransacked. Papers scattered, benches overturned and the signs of a struggle. The Amplifier and Maric gone. I asked people if they had seen what had happened... And they saw, and stood by as battlemages carried away an unconcious Maric and his "dangerous experiment" to protect them. They cheered, they even helped put him onto the boat! They cheered and laughed at the deportation of a man who was to save them, and their fear and stupidity got in the way of their reasoning...

By the time I got to the docks, it was too late. Their ship had already left and few men were willing to travel to such a foreign land. Took three days to gather a crew and supplies. And I arrived just in time for the celebration for Elder Dunwall to unveil his latest creation, the Amplifier. His mages beat up a helpless old man, put out one of his eyes, broke the fingers of his left hand and knocked out four teeth to translate his written blueprints into imperial handwriting. Then they slit his throat and dumped his body into the sea...

Then a year later, our armies marched into Kaddan, a nation half starving and half dead. They pillaged, raped and burned down the city, every man wielding armor and weaponry imbuled with the arcane gift. Those left alive became slaves, and Kaddan was no more, left to be buried by the sands...

~***~

Darrius hand been counting on his fingers for the past minute and mumbling under his breath as he listened, tilting his head slightly as he fixed Cha'kaar with a stare of mild confusion. "The battle of Kaddan was in seven hundred and fifty three and began the marking of a new era for our country, thus the next calendar year was marked one NE, meaning new era." The wolf sat flabbergasted.

"I just told you the guild elders lied to you, tell you of the lengths they went to, to obtain a device that changed the world forever, and you wish to argue over dates?" The fox frowned at him. "The year is fifty three NE. For a man aged thirty odd, you do forget your time periods." The lupine held his head in his hands and sighed deeply, exaustively. "ooh-kay... now I have to tell you something that may very well cause your fuzzy little head to explode..."

Cha'kaar sighed, rubbing his paws together. "I'm... a fair bit older than I originally said. Quite a bit older."

"If it's less than two hundred years, I'm not impressed."

Cha'kaar chuckled softly at that. "Nothing surprises you today, does it, child?"

Darrius rolled his eyes. "Please. I've been attacked by a psychopathic corpse, found out the only home I've ever known is run by murdering, power-hungry madmen and I'm in love with a man who's probably two hundred years plus. And all of this in a few short weeks? I think my world is suitably shaken up enough to believe anything at this point."

The lupines tail twitched softly, biting his lip as he chose his next words very carefully. "Seven hundred and eighty seven. By the time I was twenty eight, the world I knew was dying back. Civilization was gaining steam, building houses and roads, deforestation for fields, fishing lakes dry for food... Many unique and arcane creatures died or simply left in those early years of recorded history. Rare, exquisitely rare plants died away, the encroaching march towards order and civilization for all, it had a toxic effect on such fragile plants. Too many overburdened minds in one spot."

"The... Alchemist, the very first alchemist in the land, and... truely the last, he tutored me and raised me in those very early years. He saw the danger that civilization would wreak across the arcane world. So he... prepared me. He taught me how to survive in the wilds, to fight, to wield magic in both offensive and defensive styles. And how to do alchemy of course."

The wolf rotated a digit idly, as though stirring a cup of coffee with his finger as he continued, lost in an explination that he'd been dying to tell any living soul for years. "You know those stories you used to hear when you were a kid? Of wizards and mages who created legendary objects? The Serpent Staff of Akim, The Orb of Enlightenment, that sort of thing? Well, his creations topped all of those things, wether they were real items to begin with or not, because he knew The First Three."

Darrius, at this moment in time, folded his ears back and shook his head back and forth. "Nope. Nope nope nope! You are NOT... certainly NOT suggesting that some old fart that nobody but you has had the pleasure of meeting... someone who has avoided every history book, scroll doodle and every sod with a bloody 'dear diary' going on... met the very first magic users in existance, the people who sealed magic back on itself to prevent the destruction of the world, the saviors who appear in every creation and religious story across the world, throughout civilization... and nobody thought to mention some wizened old bean toddling along behind them? And that they taught him magic tricks? It's just absurd!"

Cha'kaar grumbled and crossed his arms and legs. "And just why is it getting absurd now? What's to say he wasn't removed from history for a reason? And why can't they have taught him magic?" The vulpine simply snorted.

"Because it was utterly unthinkable to teach magic to anyone before the binding! The merest spell slinger, the worst of the worst casters could clear their throat and cause floods and turn entire continents upside down without meaning to! The Three were the only ones in history to be so finely tuned with the threads of the arcane that they could pluck their way through so as to avoid such calamities. And you're trying to tell me that they somehow taught magic to a man without the gift? Thats like... trying to teach a baby how to swordfight. One wrong slip and their are no do-over's. Oh, and they gave themselves whole to the binding, so don't tell me they taught him after it." The wolf pinched the bridge of his nose, rubbing it gently as the boy spoke.

"For the sake of time and argument, it was because they could see the threads that they could prevent him from plucking the wrong ones at the wrong times, okay? May I continue, or shall we bluster back and forth while my students are in danger and some battlemages are due to break down my door in a few hours?" Darrius just rolled his eyes, pulled himself to his feet and sat beside Cha'kaar, still bound around his chest and laid his head on his shoulder. "Continue uninterrupted, For now."

The wolf leaned back, looking out the window, the sun beginning to dip a little too low for his liking. "I'm going to cut this story short for now-" Darrius had become unbalanced as the wolf moved, falling into the wolfs lap, his muzzle buried between the wolf's thighs and groin. A muffled reply. "No no, continue! I want to hear, don't mind me, carry on!" He felt a tug at the back of his tunic as he was lifted out of such a warm and cosy place, a light blush spreading across both their muzzles, Cha'kaar fixing him with a coy smile. "You are a strange one, you know?" His fingers brushed a small lock of hair away from the boys eye. "Thats why I love you."

Darrius chuckled softly, the blush deepening as he looked away, shrugging his shoulders. "As touching a moment as this is... And seeing as we're very pressed for time..." He motioned to the blue ring around chest, pinning his arms to his side. The wolf looked between Darrius' ears, clearly fustrated as he dragged the claw through the energy binding the boy, freeing him finally. "One of these days, we will not be bound by such petty interruptions." With that, he stood and opened the door to the basement, the fox hot on his heels, rubbing at the minor divots in his arms from the binding energies.

"You call half a dozen battlemages and six sundered pearls a petty interruption? I'd have to see what you call a nusance." He ducked his head around the wolfs side, peeking into this fabled basement room to be faintly disapointed.

The room in question was a rather musty and slightly damp affair, with semi rotten wooden beams and an overall cramped feel to it. The only decorations that Darrius could make out before Cha'kaar blocked his view was that of a small lantern, a bed roll, and some box covered in a sheet. This was brought out, and plonked on the small landing, causing the fox to jump up a few steps to save his toes, the door closed quickly after.

His eyes darted from the mysterious box to that of his lover. "I'd imagine your arsenal of magical items to be a bit bigger-" The sheet was pulled off to reveal a box of exquisite craftmanship. A deep rose coloured wood, varnished to a sheen, copper plating with some of the finest engraving the fox had ever seen, the copper polished so well it glittered and shone like gold even in the tiny amount of light that made it down the stairs. He reached around to the two clasps on the box and twisted them in opposite directions. A loud click, followed by a small hiss before the box's lid raised slightly. Inside the box were small wooden slats, each with a small slot marked one to thirty seven. In each slot was a thin, golden ingot. The boy reached out to touch one before getting a small zap on the back of the hand, causing him to yelp and retract it, his ears folding back. Cha'kaar huffed on the end of the rod to cool it and slipped it in the waistband of his loincloth.

"You don't touch what you don't understand."

With that, the wolf plucked out a random ingot held it in front of his assistants nose and bend the metal into a half circle before reverting it back to it's straight edge. He placed the small wedge of gold into the door frame and spoke as he snatched random bars from the case, carefully working his way around the edge of the door.

"These are rare artifacts. Not much is known about them, for they outdate recorded history and even the mages history. The most we know after nearly a thousand years of careful deliberation and experimentation... is that we can make doors from them. The ironic thing is that you need a door frame to place them around to make them work." Darrius' eyes followed the quick paws and the progress he was making.

"So, do they have to be in a specific order, and how many of these... ingot cases exist?" Cha'kaar paused for a moment to fix eyes with the boy before continuing. "You can use as many or as little as you want in any order, but each ingot placed in different areas, or depending on how many you use can affect where the enterance opens up to. And their's less than nine in existance."

"And how many of those nine do you have?" The wolf smirked as he turned back to look at this smug vulpine, the last ingot slid into place. "Clever child, very clever. Seven. I own seven out of the eight and a half." Darrius cocked a brow slowly. "Half were stolen and melted down for their value in gold and... Well whatever magic was contained in them was released in a very unhealthy way on the thieves. Don't ask." With that, Cha'kaar pushed the door open, revealing a sight that would make any mage wet with glee.

An immaculate ballroom, at least three stories tall with windows that show the beautiful glare of a setting sun, casting intricate splashes of colour across the room as the light filtered itself through the stain glass of saints and knights long gone, their legends and names lost to time, their images all that remained. The polished floor shone where the sun hit, reflecting it's beams into that of the chandeliers that hang from a finely painted celing, the decorations are that of gold leaf and portraits of long dead lords and ladies hang from the walls, faded slightly with age, yet their stares remain as life-like as any person standing in front of you.

The thing that would catch anyones eye, was that the entire floor was filled with objects of a great many sizes. Large and small, mundane and exquisite in every detail, and Darrius was willing to bet that every single item had some magical quality behind it. Cha'kaar had disappeared around the corner while the fox strolled between the isles of curios and objects, pausing occasionally to look at paintings, statues, swords and trinkets... Just about everything here had some sort of magical vibe that even he could pick up on, all for storage and to protect them from prying eyes and sneaking fingers. Or perhaps to protect the would-be thieves from whatever lurked within these items.

A whistle pricked his ears up and he hurried back to the entrance, panting a little from exertion as he rounded a corner to find Cha'kaar standing beside a workbench with two solid looking blocks of black iron. Such a material was claimed as being nearly impossible to shape or work with conventional tools. Even magic-imbuled ones would only last a few hits before needing to be recharged. Yet, this wolf had somehow managed to carve and create two blocks with dozens of runes across it's surface. The material was a sniny black, and the vulpine had to run his digits across the surface to find the glyphs, using his minds eye to figure out the rough shape and guess their purpose from there.

Cha'kaar stood back and crossed his arms, leaning against some highly polished chest of drawers as Darrius felt his way across the items in question, trying to identify them by touch alone. The most distinguishing feature of both blocks were the rounded divots in the middle, as though some kind of ball the size of a fist were to fit between them. And on those sides were sealing runes, intricate ones, carved on top of another, leading to a vast network of runes in runes. He stood back and turned to the lupine. "It's a prison of some kind, isn't it?" Cha'kaar simply rubbed his nose. "Close. It's something I call an Arcane Battery. The idea is that you place an object like a sundered pearl inside and the excess magic it produces would seal the sides together perminantly. Any excess magic after that could be gleened from it for use in spellcrafting and the like." He sighed and stroked the other half of the cube, his digits rising and falling from the engraving as they passed over them. "I was planning on using this as a means to an end, but I suppose it will have to have an alternate use..."

Carefully pushing Darrius aside, he tugged over several leather straps, designed to carry such heavy objects. Looping them around the item, he hung one of the heavy blocks on the vulpines back. His legs nearly buckled out from under him as the sheer weight of the half block was deceptive. It was two and a half palms all the way around, and one and a quarter deep, yet it felt as awkward and cumbersome as if someone had strapped three hundred pounds of rock to his back.

Wheezing slightly as he shifted the weight, Cha'kaar joined him at the foot of the stairs, wearing a harness just like his assistant. Jerking his thumb up the stairs as he closed the door and began to pry out the ingots and set them back into their respective slots. "Go and gather a few salves and poltices. We'll need them if this battle goes awry..." With his task done, the lupine set the box back in the tiny and damp room, throwing it's protective dust cloth over it. He stopped at the open door, giving the box a final, lingering look.

What if he's the one? What if he's the one and he dies...?

Cha'kaar gritted his teeth and turned away, closing the door behind him with a snap. "Perhaps... but I can't do this without him..." His footfalls were heavy on the steps, creaking softly as he left that dank and musky corridor behind only to be greeted with Darrius, a spare belt wrapped around his waist. Small tubes of various healing potions, salves and anidotes tucked into the reinforced pockets. Each and every single pocket was full. "I thought it best to grab a good range of them, we don't know what we're about to face." He motioned to the dark figure sitting at the small table across the way. "Oh, and Niles got tired of waiting and says he's as ready as he'll ever be." This was met with a small but playful cuff across the ear as the bird moved closer. "I can speak for myself, child." His tailfeathers rustled softly as he cleared his throat and pulled down his hood, giving Cha'kaar a good, long stare. "So... this could very well be it, then?" "Could very well be, old friend." This was met with a small sigh. "At least... at least if I do... die... It'd be in good company." Niles clicked his beak softly, tugged up his hood and moved for the doorway, stopping for just a moment.

"This could very well be the last intimate moment you two have together, I suggest you two say your goodbyes. Just in case..." With that, Niles slipped out of the doorway and into the fading sunlight.

Without uttering a word, they turned to face each other, Cha'kaar caressing Darrius' cheek. The sunlight turning his red fur a bright crimson, burning the image of someone so sweet, innocent and pure into his very mind before pressing his lips against the boys own. Their muzzles locked as they enjoyed a short, but passionate embrace that they wished would go on forevermore.

It was with a heavy heart that the lupine broke the kiss, sighing contentedly as his thumb brushed against the boys cheek once more. "Promise me you'll stay safe, child. Promise me."

Darrius merely smiled and gave his lovers nose a small lick. "I promise, with all my heart, that I will return safe to your warm embrace." Cha'kaar chuckled and ruffled the boys hair, heading outside. "You soppy, adorable sod."

Thus, they departed into the marshes together, for what would be the final time...