Chapter 12

<Knocking>

"Just a minute," called out Rayne as she started heading for the door.

Brianna and Aric could hear her as she came down the hallway making her way to her front door.

Right before the door opened they heard her say, "Matt, if you feed him that you're sitting up with him until he passes gas."

Biting back laughter at that statement, they were ready when they saw Rayne swinging open the door.

"May I help..." started Rayne before he eyes adjusted to the light and she realized that she was looking at the hooded form of her mother and father standing on her covered porch.

Crying out she lunged for her mother and pulled her in an embrace as she started hugging her tightly. All at once she started firing questions at her.

Hearing a commotion a toddler came down the short hall from the living room, followed closely by Matt, to see who it was.

Matt smiled as he realized it was his in-laws and picked up the little boy and came closer to the door.

As Aric looked he was struck by how cute the little boy was. He had dark, but sparse, curly hair and very green eyes. Looking at the child caught him off guard for a moment.

"I know my wife would love to host you all outside, but I swear the living room is much easier on the knees and has hardly any diapers left lying around. If you just manage to look out for the randomly hidden toys maybe you won't be crippled for life," said Matt with a smile.

Rayne stepped back and stuck out her tongue as she pulled her mother in after her headed for the living room.

Even though Matt was told what to expect, because he didn't get to see Brianna before she and Aric left, he still found it hard to believe she was the same woman he met those seasons ago when she pulled back her hood and he came face to face with her since her change.

He was trying to hide the fact that he struck by the fact she looked just like his wife did when he met her. Exactly like Rayne did. And right now Rayne looked to be just barely a little older than her mother, but not by much. Rayne looked like the older sister of the two.

As they had a seat, Aric was forced to take a seat in a chair across from Rayne and Brianna as Rayne sat next to her mother and started asking quick questions about her new life.

Aric looked over at Matt and the two of them just shared a smile as they watched the two women catch up. They silently passed a few moments of communication between themselves as they sat there.

Matt put down his son and the little boy immediately wandered up to his mother.

Once there, he got in between her knees, and started to push backwards until Rayne subconsciously picked him up and sat him on her lap while she continued talking to her mother, but as she did the little boy was trying to figure out who it was that looked and sounded just like his mother.

Suddenly without warning the little boy held out his arms wanting to be held by Brianna and that was the only thing that caused Rayne to stop talking and look embarrassed. Matt and Aric just smiled.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry. I'm just monopolizing you. I haven't even introduced you to your newest grandchild. Little Aric, this is your Nana Brianna and Pawpaw Aric," said Rayne as she held out baby Aric to Brianna to hold.

Brianna just smiled as she held the little boy as he touched her face a little confused. He was still a little enough to be confused as to why there were two mommies in the room.

"He's going to be a mage it seems," said Rayne out of the blue while Brianna was playing with him. "Even at his age his hands have started glowing white a few different times. White magic may run strong in his system."

That statement pulled both of them up short for a moment as they traded looks.

"Has he done anything else out of the ordinary," asked Aric cautiously.

"Well the little tyke popped me in the eye the other day and it would have been dark for almost two days before it returned to normal," said Matt laughing.

But Rayne noticed that neither of her parents were smiling or laughing at what most found as a funny statement.

"He found a spoon on the floor that I dropped, and when Matt was close to him playing he swung it over his head as he turned to run, and it hit Matt's eye. I healed it almost as soon as it started bruising," explained Rayne.

She couldn't miss the obvious sigh of relief between them, as they again traded looks.

"Mom, Dad, what's going on. It's not that I'm not happy to see you, but you both come home, you seem distant and it feels like something is wrong," said Rayne.

Even Matt could see something was bothering them.

"Well we need to talk to everyone because we've learned some things since we've been away that really impacts us all. Could you get your brothers and their wives to meet us tomorrow night at our house? It's very important," said Brianna as she looked at her daughter.

"Sure but can you tell us now what it's about?" asked Rayne

"Sweetie we'd rather tell everyone at once so as to not cover the why's all over again multiple times. But it is important," said Aric as he smiled at his daughter.

"Sure, but can I..." started Rayne.

"We'll be there. Can you guys stay awhile or do you have other plans?" asked Matt suddenly speaking over Rayne.

Rayne looked at him shocked for a moment. He had never done that before, he normally waited to after she was speaking to talk, as he was always so polite. Instead of being angry she waited to see why he did.

"We're going to be staying at the house during our visit. And thank you all again for repairing it for us after we left," said Brianna smiling.

"Well we have one more stop and we need to make before we can call it a night, even though it's just after sundown. But we'll be back to play with this little tyke some more before we have to leave again," said Aric

Trading hugs with everyone, Brianna and Aric headed for the front door.

Matt and Aric were in front as they were going and Brianna hung back to ask in a quiet whisper, "Rayne has it stopped? You look the same as when I last saw you."

Brianna couldn't miss that Rayne looked to still be in her early thirties.

"I check with Galen a few months back and he believes it has. I may not look as young as you, but it appears I may not look much older for a while. I wasn't sure when it was going to happen, so I've not said anything to Matt, but I will soon I promise," said Rayne in a whisper.

"Rayne, there is a greater reason why you should do it as soon as possible. Now more than ever. We'll cover why tomorrow night and you really will need to tell him at least by then if not before. Night honey," Brianna whispered back.

Kissing everyone goodbye, Aric and Brianna started walking in the direction of the city.

"Matt, honey, why did you cut me off? I really wanted to know what was going on," said Rayne as he parents walked out into the darkness. She waited until they were far enough off they couldn't hear her question.

"Didn't you see your fathers eyes when we talked about little Aric? Something big is up and he's not happy about it. But it seems hard on him as well. I just wanted to give him the break he was looking for before he tells us how bad it really is," said Matt as he pulled her close.

Rayne kissed him quickly as they both went back in and closed the door.

<Knocking>

"Dang it, who is it? Who's interrupting an old man at this time of night?" asked Galen to himself as he shuffled for his door.

"Alright who is it?" asked Galen gruffly as he swung open the door.

Galen's expression changed as he realized that it was Aric stood there, and he received another shock as Brianna pulled the hood back from her head.

"Oh my! Welcome you two! I'm glad to see you. Come in, come in" said Galen quietly with a large smile as he stepped back and looked the two of them over.

But he couldn't miss the grim looks both of them gave him as they continued to stand there staring back at him. He slowly realized he could feel their anger radiating as they continued to stonily stare at him.

"We need to talk about Wolfgang and the Mage's council," said Aric with a grim expression.

They could see Galen visibly pale as he looked at them.

"Let me put on some tea first. I can see this isn't going to be pleasant for any of us," said Galen as he turned and headed back into the house without looking to see if they were following him.

"So you met Wolfgang did you? I have to admit, I always knew it was a possibility, but I hoped with your trying to keep your head down that you might be missed entirely by him. I really shouldn't have underestimated that network of his," said Galen sourly as he sat across from them

They all had been sitting quietly until Galen returned with tea for everyone. Up to that point they all appeared to be quietly sipping until Galen had just spoken.

"Oh yes we did, and we had the most interesting of conversations with him," said Brianna quietly as she looked hard back at Galen.

This was a different Brianna than he was used too.

Of everyone, including Aric, she could if the need arose, show her anger to them. But of everyone she met, he was the one person she never could bring herself to become angry with. Now he could clearly feel her anger directed towards him, continuing to radiate from where she was sitting.

"Before you two get started with your questions let me say this, yes, there is a long history of violence between Wolfgang and us, but I've done nothing but try to protect you both since I've known of you," said Galen looking back at them.

"Does that include the possibility of my having a "training" accident at the academy if it was determined that I went rogue?" asked Aric quietly while looking intently at Galen.

Galen looked shocked as Aric repeated something he had long stated seasons before.

"Uh ... well ... damn it Aric that was before I got to know you. For all I knew at the time when I first heard of you, you could have been a mass murderer. But once I got to see the reports from the college, and later personally witnessed what Quinlan said was true, I was also in your corner.

"I've had to buck, bend, and break a few council rules to make sure you always got a fair shake from all involved," stated Galen looking at him intensely.

"So what your saying is that planning out the death's of any young mages who you don't personally know from among your peers, who you feel doesn't falls in line with how you or the council feels they should be, is not a problem for you then?" asked Aric quietly.

"No ... yes ... not anymore!" said Galen as he become flustered.

This is not how this was supposed to eventually go. Having Wolfgang get to them first was making this extremely difficult.

"Look, there are things that you don't know or understand. I admit the council has a long history of doing selfish things to further their own interest. And I admit for a long time I was part of the problem.

"But having been exposed to you and your family made me see where we were wrong. The only reason I've not left before now, is if I do, then who will make them understand where we went wrong in our dealings?" asked Galen as he seemed to be pleading his case, which was uncharacteristic of something he would normally do, as he looked at the two of them

Brianna and Aric just stared at him skeptically. Based on what they heard lately they weren't sure if he wasn't still playing with them now.

"Before you write me off let me explain a few things that I'm sure that Wolfgang left out in his discussions of the battles between us with the both of you, and of our crimes," said Galen as he took a deep breath.

Then he started explaining the last mage battle on Wolfgang's Island home.

Flashback:

180 seasons previously to current times -

"My god, they just got Bryant! What spell was that!! I've never seen anything like it before! How is Wolfgang doing this?!" screamed Wyatt as he watched his fellow mage get blasted by an unknown spell.

Bryant just stood up to better cast, and when he got hit, there wasn't anything but an orange outline before he completely disappeared. There wasn't even ash left behind.

The mages council had tried to use a small strike force of 10 mages to infiltrate Wolfgang's home in his valley, and currently they were caught in a magical battle.

A spy had left some information for them, but the spy stopped reporting about two weeks into his mission. Either he was turned by Wolfgang or he was killed. But either way they need the information that was supposed to be left for them. They had to find out if it was still there for them or if it was destroyed.

But they never made it inside the valley, as they were ambushed just outside on their way in. They found the information, but now were pinned down. How he always got his Intel on their plans they weren't sure, but he set them up for the perfect crossfire battle to keep them pinned there.

"I'm not sure but I know I saw Margarita over there helping him! How is she using eighth circle spells?! She failed every testing for second circle she ever took. She didn't have the power or the control! Last I heard was she had given up on magic!!" screamed Calvin trying to be heard over the magical attack.

They had approached the valley just after 3 am, to surprise everyone including any guards that might be there to get in and get out, but currently they were the ones surprised.

"Don't you read the reports?! Wolfgang has a way to join you into his group mentally and it somehow augments your power! But the reports didn't cover the spells he knew!" screamed Cantus, right before the rock disintegrated he was hiding behind, taking him with it.

"Galen! Get over here! Look boy, I know you're the most promising mage we've had in seasons, but now you're our only hope. We need for you to get this back to the council. We'll do our best to get you cover, but if we don't let them know what is here we will have all died for nothing," said Jonathan.

Taking the packet the fifteen season old boy looked back scared, but took off running.

Thankfully he was smart enough to run in different crazy zigzag patterns as he dashed for the forest because he was narrowly missed quite a few times by spells directed at him.

He never looked back as he ran desperately for his life.

"That was one moment that I have always been ashamed of, but we have never been a match for him. And I was always troubled that his group had no problem killing a young boy such as myself from the council if they interfered with his plans.

"But I have to say if he really wanted to rule the world, for him it is possible. There is something else that drives him though as we rarely heard anything from him, but we just have never figured it out. But I'm ashamed to say that that one moment tainted me against him as I ran for my life," said Galen solemnly.

"But what about the others? What happened to those left behind?" Brianna asked.

"Nine men and women were lost that day. The problem is, if you plan to go against Wolfgang, you better be better prepared than he is, and he better not see you coming. But in all the history of the united mage's guild that has never happened," said Galen.

"You do know he's tapping into your communication crystals right? He wouldn't have told me if he didn't have another way as well to get information, so that may be old news to everyone except me, its not like even I knew you used them before now," said Aric sourly.

"Boy, not everyone is going to volunteer everything they have or know just because they personally know you. There are some thing's that only need to be discussed as they come up," said Galen returning to his normal surly mood.

"Fine! I can live with that. It's not like I had a need to know, but I did about your wanting me dead when you met me," said Aric looking back at him.

Galen looked exasperated as he decided to change tactics and hopefully move his young student away from his justified anger to something that it would be better channeled into.

"When I was a lad, far younger than you, I saw what those under Wolfgang were capable of. I saw them use magic I had never heard of or had ever seen again. There was nothing putting the breaks on them. And it left a deep impression on me," said Galen quietly.

Noticing that he had both of the attention, even if Aric was still glaring at him, and he continued.

"But that wasn't the worst of it. When we had that information we found out that not only was he able to enhance the others when he linked them, but it caused some with serious flaws with in them to have them enhanced as well," said Galen.

"What does that mean?" asked Brianna as she leaned forward.

"If you were prone to stealing, you might find yourself suddenly fighting an overwhelming desire to take everything in sight, if you could. If you loved the byproduct of the grape, you might find yourself almost drowning in wine. If you held delusions of grandeur you might become a very big megalomaniac," said Galen.

"Or if you were heavily into pursuits of sexual pleasures, then you wouldn't be able to help yourself, and you would do whatever it took to make it happen," said Brianna quietly and wide eyed.