Chapter 13

"Everyone, you are here for a reason and it is something that has an effect on your lives both in the past and the future," began Brianna as they were all seated around the living room. As the last to arrive, once Matt and Rayne showed up it was time to get started.

As they looked around at their children and their spouses, they both couldn't believe how much the boys took after their father, even down to having the same silver forelock now in their hair as well

But knowing this would be hard they each took a deep breath. They could see Galan nodding at them to continue from his side of the room. Little Aric played by himself off to the side on the floor as his parents watched their parents speak.

Gail tried not to look surprised as she now had her first look at Brianna since she had been gone. While her husband had explained it to her what to expect, it was still hard to picture someone she had known as a child, and who was far older than herself the last time she saw her, now appeared to be far younger.

Darla had a chance to see her change in Caelan's memory a few seasons back, but still sitting here with Brianna in front of her like this was a bit disconcerting for her. Darla was finding it very hard to swallow how young she looked.

Only Matt didn't appear like he was fighting shock, but he had the night to sleep on what he saw as well.

"While your mother and I were traveling we came across a man. This man's name is Wolfgang. He had a very interesting tale we needed to verify with Galen before we discussed it with you. It seems the man has a problem with Battlemages. In particular this family of them," started Aric

"Dad what are you talking about? There aren't many who would pick a fight with any of us knowing who we are," said Jaden. He clearly remembered the city of Galicia and the impression his father left.

"No son you are wrong there, he has not only been killing Battlemages, but he managed to continue fighting with the mages Guild at the same time for just under 3,000 seasons," said Aric.

Now everyone was watching him intently.

"Dad? That long? Are you sure? How can anyone live to be that old?" asked Caelan as he watched his parents faces.

"We'll have to explain it in detail in a minute, but it seems that not only is he that old, but he styles himself as the protector of the world and view's it as his job to keep the Battlemage population down," said Brianna sourly.

"Ok, but what does that have to do with us?" asked Rayne obviously curious where this was going.

"You know the Battlemage curse I've always waited to tell you all about when you turned 18?" asked Aric

"Sure, and we've all seen what the effects of it could be as it happen around us, so much that we started being more careful," said Caelan.

"Well it is a lie. It was a lie created by Wolfgang to either scare Battlemages or the populace into doing what he wanted or he used it as an excuse to hide their murders when he killed them," said Brianna.

"Mom what are you talking about?" asked Rayne confused.

Talking in better details, and letting Galen fill in where needed, they explained to the kids briefly how it was possible and where he touched all their lives.

They made sure to explain how he had a hand in trying to kill or cause strife in all their lives and the effect it had on the ones they planned to be with as well in their lives.

Suddenly there were three pairs of glowing red eyes in the room and a pair of blue ones that glowed just as brightly. As Aric, Brianna, and Galen talked they started off glowing, but they seemed to get brighter with every betrayal listed to them from their father's life down to theirs.

But as the three of them spoke, Aric, Brianna and Galen, they elected to leave out Galen's involvement with a youthful Aric or the council trying to prevent them from helping Caelan and Darla, though they did mention how Wolfgang's powers were similar, yet different, from hers.

"WHAT! He almost got Gail and Darla raped when his hair brained plan went wrong?! He was responsible for setting Quinn off on his rampages? He sold us out to those idiots?!" asked Jaden

"I was terrified for months after that. I couldn't do anything. It took me so long to get over that fear," said Gail as she looked on in anger speaking at the same time.

"I was trapped as a mental cripple, having to have my parents clean me as I lost control of my body, and he was the reason I was a vegetable for weeks because of that?" asked Darla almost at the same time as well.

Her blue eyes seemed to become an even more intense glowing color of blue suddenly as her anger grew.

"You mean it was almost my fault that Matt almost died because that man was scared of me wanting to possibly rule the world some day?" asked Rayne as she looked in shock over at Matt sitting next to her as her hand darted out to tightly squeeze his.

Her eye's color completely winked out and stopped their glowing as that thought hit her. Matt had always been more important to her than anyone else.

Matt was too surprised to say anything other than stare at Aric and Brianna. He hadn't even heard of this curse so it was all news to him.

"Yes, he claimed he didn't want to take any chances and wait to see if any of you were serious about world domination. While I can't speak for the past people he murdered, I can say that he never gave any of us a chance before he tried to do us in," said Brianna.

"So what are we going to do about him?!" asked Jaden fiercely. "We can't let him get away with this."

"Yes what! No one messes with our family and their lives! What about our kids?" Caelan asked suddenly.

"While I trust him as far as I can throw him, he claims to have no interest in anyone other than the four of us and our spouses. Galen seems to believe that he's not a liar. A manipulator maybe, but not a liar," said Aric as he sat there.

"What about Darla and me? Her power is similar to his, but different from what you tell us. How do we know he's not going to try for her someday?" asked Caelan suddenly.

Darla's face seemed to set hard as the implications of what that meant became aware to her. She would never help someone who tried to kill her husband.

"Wolfgang doesn't force anyone to join him. Those who do are either recruited or come to him seeking power. But he has never forced anyone against their will. Our records show that much on him," said Galen.

"Why don't we just go and destroy his island?" asked Caelan suddenly.

"Even if we were for it, what would that prove? That he was right about us?" asked Brianna.

"And kids, one other thing we should mention about that, the mage's council has been trying for centuries to remove him by destroying that island, and they have failed every time. If that much collective magic was unable to, I doubt we will," said Aric as he looked around the room at them. "But that doesn't mean we have to sit still for it either."

He wanted them to understand how futile it was, but he could see the frustrations on their faces. Aric shared their feelings, but there were times when you just have to walk away from a fight when you have more to lose than the other guy if you try and stay and fight.

"That's why you were concerned when we talked about little Aric's magical ability wasn't it?" asked Matt out of the blue as he looked from them to his son.

"Yes if he starts to exhibit any signs of being a Battlemage he will suddenly gain Wolfgang's interest. Even if he does have the power, we have to prepare him for a confrontation regardless. We have to prepare all of the children so they understand what the threat is to them," said Brianna.

While each of the children was lost in thought, Brianna managed to catch Rayne's eye.

As she looked at her daughter, her daughter at first quickly shook her head no as she gave her mother a look of horror, but as Brianna continued to stare hard at her she then looked down at the floor as she sadly and slowly nodded yes.

Rayne then quickly looked over at Matt who was still watching their son before she then continued to look back down at the floor sadly.

"Kids, we also spoke with Galen earlier about something else that we need to make sure everyone understands. And he understands the need for this conversation, but wants to see it demonstrated at all cost to fully understand its effect.

"Caelan, Jaden, Rayne? Have you each talked to your spouses about what we talked about before we left?" asked Brianna quietly while looking at her children in turn.

Jaden blushed and looked away, Rayne continued to stare hard at the floor as she shook her head no, and only Caelan and Darla met her eyes.

"Ok, so only Darla knows. Darla, are you ok with it?" asked Aric suddenly.

"It's not like I have any choice in the matter. I mean exactly what choice do I have?" said Darla simply.

"Excuse me, what are we talking about again," asked Matt, as Gail seemed to echo his though by looking at Jaden questioningly.

Rayne looked up at Matt sadly as she took his hand.

"Matt there is something that I had been meaning to tell you, but I didn't know quite how to put it, so I put it off for as long as I could. But it seems like that is no longer possible for many reasons. Have you never wondered why my father looks so young?" asked Rayne sadly.

"I believed it's from all his clean living," said Matt with a smile.

"No," said Rayne quietly. "It's because his ageing has slowed down to the point where he's now aging to about once in every four to five seasons. It started when he turned thirty seasons it seems," said Rayne.

"Ok, but what does that have to do with..." trailed off Matt as it hit him what she was starting to get at.

He stared at her for a moment.

"When did it start?" asked Matt quietly as his face took on a serious tone losing his smile.

Gail sat confused on her side of the room. She looked at Jaden, but he was now looking at the floor sadly. She was trying to puzzle out what was going on, but she knew enough from being a member of this family to wait to see.

Matt just realized that his very attractive wife had looked far too pretty for far too long, and while he enjoyed that, it was always something he wondered about from time to time. And now he was getting answers he wasn't sure he wanted to hear.

"Apparently a few month's ago I became aware of it," whispered Rayne, as she sadly looked down at the floor.

It was quiet in the room for a few moments, before Gail who couldn't take anymore asked, "What are you all talking about?"

"Gail, it seems at some point in our lives, as powerful mages, our aging will slow down. For Dad it was in his thirties, for Rayne it seems that when she reached somewhere about forty second season. For Caelan and me, it will probably be around that time as well. More than likely we'll greatly out live you all," said Jaden as he took Gail's hand and stared deep in her eyes.

"But what about... ," started Gail as she suddenly looked over at a youthful Brianna. It wasn't lost on her that Brianna was much younger looking now than the last time she saw her and she clearly wasn't a mage.

Brianna blushed and looked at the floor as Gail's piercing look was directed her way.

"What about Brianna? She aged and now she now looks even younger looking than I am. You mentioned before your father saved her life using magic and now we can see the results of that. Can't we do that as well to keep us as young as her?" asked Gail as she continued when it just hit her that based on what she just heard that her husband would likely live three times longer than she would.

"There are two problems with that," said Aric as he looked down at the floor as well before anyone else could ask the obvious question of how he did it.

"One, he had no real idea of how he did it. It was a combination of desperation and pure luck that he didn't blow her up, or worse," said Galen.

"And two, this come with a vicious side effect that I can't really control and I don't want to have wished on anyone. I have never really wanted to ever willingly show it to anyone, but I believe from this discussion that it may be the only way and that I need to show you why you can't ever try to do what your father did," said Brianna quietly.

Looking at their two daughter in-laws and their son in-law they both recounted the tale what really happened with the Dragon and how Aric somehow infused Brianna with his magic to keep her alive.

Then they told them that it was only because of his magic inside her that reset her age and slowed it down. And they then invited everyone to go with them outside.

"Matt, hold little Aric and keep him with you. If this goes wrong run desperately for your house and don't look back," said Brianna still quietly as she hung back and let everyone file past her. It was only as Matt in turn started to go by that she grabbed his arm and made sure to say this to him before she let him out the door.

"How will I know if it's gone wrong," asked Matt curiously.

"Trust me, you will know," said Brianna softly as she shook her head while looking down.

Brianna was now shaking from nothing that had to do with the night's air. Once everyone was outside they headed to a clearing not to far off to the side of the house and waiting just outside of it. No one seemed to notice that Aric seemed to be dressed in some very old clothes.

Brianna stepped past everyone and went a good distance from the group further inside the small clearing. Everyone watched her as she started walking past. Since she left the house she appeared to be very jittery as if she was a junkie after a fix.

The spouses were standing within the tree line, along with Aric near them, but their three children, as well as Galen, were asked by Brianna to stand with her just inside the clearing.

She wasn't wearing any weapons as she stood before them as she didn't want this example to be fatal to anyone involved.

"Jaden, Caelan, Rayne, and Galen, I want you to do everything in your power to stop me using your magic. And I do mean everything in your power. Don't hold back for any reason or you will be hurt very badly," said Brianna as she stood up straight and faced the group.

They looked among themselves, and back over to their spouses, as they registered what Brianna was asking them to do. Everyone could see the fear on their faces that they might kill her easily.

"What I'm about to show you needs to stay with just us here and not to be mentioned to no one else. Included in this is the part of mages and how they age. I am highly embarrassed enough by what you will see and my lack of control over it. There is a reason that it can't get out and you will fully understand the fear of why not in a moment," said Brianna as she looked around.

She could see the confused looks of the four of them as she continued to talk to them.

"Just one of my triggers to set this off is pain. But I'm still finding more each time it happens. It also could be intense anger, it can be that I didn't get enough sex days before, or I could be just truly scared. Even fear or desperation can trigger it.

"I have completely no control over what triggers it when. But tonight we're going to combine two of them for quicker results," said Brianna as she looked at them.

As she turned away from the four of them determined to let this play out, they could all just barely hear her softly say "I always prayed that my family would never see me like this."

Without saying anything further, she walked over to a nearby tree and punched it as hard as she possibly could.

She screamed out loudly as she dropped to the ground, now cradling her injured arm, as she continued to cry out from the pain. While she was sitting the ground her only focus was looking down at her bleeding hand.

At hearing her cry out, the children started for her, but their father's voice rang out from behind them "Don't move! Don't any of you move! If you move you may die!"

They had turned to look at their father as if he was crazy, when suddenly they could hear a weird but soft growling noise now coming from their mother.

As they slowly turned back as one to look at her, they noticed that her head was still down, but she was no longer holding her formerly bleeding arm, which had stopped bleeding and looked to be repairing itself, but she was growling and she was also now getting louder. The sound was unnerving.

"Mom, are you ok?" asked Rayne as she started too reached out her hand to her mother without moving from where she was standing.

Brianna's head snapped up and around at her question and Rayne attempted to pull back her hand but seemed to be moving in slow motion as her actions seemed to no longer be under her control.