A Raven's Choice (Book 2)

Chapter 8: The Five Nullifying Casters (WARNING: HARM/GORE)

Rayenlie's Point Of View:

Arish was not in his right mind, which ultimately scared me. After Nora left us, he turned to me in frustration. "I'll go after her and make sure she is okay. You should meet up with this Luciel person. We will need all of you guys for this war." I nodded firmly. "Yes, sir. Please be safe." He chuckled. "Aren't I always?" He flexed his muscles and I laughed. "I'll see you soon, Arish." He nodded. "See you soon." We parted ways, with Arish going toward the Jadern Clan, and I going to Luciel's location. I looked at my communicator and noticed that the location was in between the Craven and Bunard Clans. It was roughly two days of walking from here. I made my way over, taking small breaks to rest, hunt, and drink. Eventually, I arrived at the waterfall area. I saw Star sitting on a rock. Luciel turned around after hearing me. He had a small child next to him. It appears we were only missing two. "Hello, Luciel." I walked closer toward them, my bow tapping my back with each step. "Rayenlie, glad to have you here with us. We're merely waiting on Zachar and Dieris." Star rolled her eyes. "He should be here soon." A few minutes later, we heard Zachar emerge from the right. He was never by himself, so my cat like eyes looked for his companions. I could tell Xakin and Tirek were nearby. I sensed their magic like I could sense the grass beneath my feet. Luciel didn't seem to care, and Star defiantly wasn't going to say anything. "We meet again, Zachar." Zachar turned to me with a nod. I could sense that he was beat up pretty badly, as his magic was weaning. "Good to see you again." He turned to Luciel. "So, what brings us here? It's too dangerous to be all together like this." Luciel dramatically shrugged his shoulders. "Where is Dieris? We all must be present for this." Zachar cautiously looked at us all and sighed. His hazel eyes turned orange as his voice deepened. "I am here." Startled, Star jumped from her spot on the rock to the ground. "A nullifying caster inside another nullifying caster?" Luciel smiled. "You always were very crafty, Dieris. It's a smart way to hide yourself from the world." He paused. "I bring you all here because I figured out a way to take the abilities away from someone more than a few minutes. I can take it indefinitely."

Dieris' Point Of View:

Luciel was talking some weird nonsense. "Zachar, do you hear this?" Zachar sighed. "Unfortunately. Let's hear him out at least." I grunted. "Fine." To us, talking within our mind became so normal I would forget my surroundings. Shaking my head, I sighed. "What do you mean by this, Luciel?" Rayenlie raised a question as well, "Is this the reason you couldn't help the world like the rest of us?" She seemed ticked off, as she was the one always thinking Justice was important. Star smiled and dramatically raised her arm. "I have seen it myself. The child you see beside him is a Uten. We all know they have their own language." She walked toward the brunette child. "With Luciel's new found ability, he no longer has his earth abilities, and he can speak our language." Startled, I responded, "Prove it. Let the child speak." Star smiled as the child spoke, "My name is Gerald." Startled, both Rayenlie and I looked at each other. We knew this was a bad power to have. It was one thing to nullify powers temporarily, but permanently? He was playing god. Zachar tickled in my head. "We have to do something, Dieris. This can't be let out into the world." I nodded. "Noted. Let me do this the smart way, you'll get us all killed." Zachar reluctantly stayed silent. "Very well." I addressed Luciel, playing on his arrogance, "Wow, Luciel. How were you able to accomplish such a feat? I couldn't even do that in all of my twenty seven years on this Earth." Luciel smiled wide, clearly taking the bait. Rayenlie looked at me with a raised eyebrow, confused on what I was planning, but smart enough to play along. "Even I couldn't accomplish such a feat, with all my years of reading." Star looked at Rayenlie and I in curiosity, but I relied on her dumbness to get us through this. Luciel's blue eyes radiated with proudness as he took out a vial of serum from his robe. At first glance, I could tell the serum was a mixture of components. It was light blue with a hint of green and white in it. "With this serum, and a spell, it is possible. It took me many years to come up with the correct components, but I was able to accomplish it." I looked at Star, trying to get her to convert to our side of thinking. "If what you say is true, what are the components made out of?" Luciel smiled even larger as Gerald stayed quiet beside him. "Oh, that? Simple and easy. We need three ingredients. The first is the water blessed by royalty. Next, we have the grass with long blades. Lastly, we have the fluid from bone." Rayenlie twitched, but remained in character. "The first one is easy. The second one appears to be from the Bunard Forest. Where do we get the last ingredient? Is it just normal animal bones?" Luciel grinned. "That, my dear, is incorrect. Since this serum affects humans directly, we would need human bone to be used."