Chapter 3

Amber came into the house and kicked off her boots. She then put her pack down beside the door, took off her twin swords, and then leaned those swords against the door next to her pack.

Her parents would be around somewhere, and after she found something to eat she would go find them. She had dropped Logan off in town, as he wanted to visit, but she only wanted to go home and unwind.

As she walked down the hallway she had the same thoughts she usually did when she passed through here.

Amber always took the time to look at the hallway walls to see the various family portraits. And as always Amber was reminded that her mother Rachel wanted more children, but she was only able to give birth to Amber and her brother Jason. While Rachel was disappointed she was also very happy with what she had.

But as Amber thought about her mom she was sure that, knowing her parents like she did, they were definitely off sparing somewhere together. The two of them seemed to like to test each other out all the time and it always led to an equally noisy time in their bedroom.

Even though her father had responsibilities as well as her mother as the Baron and Baroness, the way they still grabbed on and went at each other sometimes grossed her out.

Amber often found she wished her parents would act their age instead of like teenagers. Many a time she caught them either playing grab ass in the hallway or her father pressing her mother up against a wall somewhere as he tried to find her tonsils with his tongue.

Ewww.

She had no idea why they kept doing things like this and she really wished they would stop. But as she headed for the kitchen to tell the cook she was back, and to see if there was anything she could have as a late snack, she started to wonder where her younger brother Jason was.

Though he was just fifteen he was very tall for his age at almost six foot and was starting share their fathers muscular build, just like how she shared her mother's same general hour glass build, but Amber's breasts were quite a bit larger.

Amber's brother didn't have any magical abilities like she did, but he was starting to become almost as strong and move as fast as their father. But Amber knew that she was still stronger and faster than the two of them. The fact that she was so strong was still somewhat strange for everyone to still adjust to in her family.

Thankfully her brother didn't seem to have any problems with her being better than him or showing jealousy over the fact she was a Battlemage and he wasn't, although he did seem to be very overprotective of her. She always thought it must be a little brother thing.

Continuing her walk down the hallway towards the kitchen her long red hair hung by its ponytail a good distance down past her shoulders. Appearances really meant nothing to Amber and she only wore her ponytail because it was the easiest way to fix her hair.

Amber had done a lot of research into her family line as she got older. She loved the general tales around one of her earlier ancestors named Rayne Spencer, who was also known by Rayne Griffith, and was the world's first female Battlemage just as now she was its second.

She had read that Rayne was known for her mastery of Red magic as well as her twin sword usage. Amber wanted to emulate everything that Rayne had done, and Amber worked hard at mastering everything that Rayne had done from the usage of twin swords to Red magic.

Thankfully this was already Amber's affinity or else she would have tried to make it so, but red magic came far easier than any of the other schools of magic for her. When she was younger she wondered if her red hair had anything to do with red being her magical affinity choice or if it was her name, but they all did seem to fit her magical abilities.

In learning magic Amber wouldn't accept anyone except her Uncle Dusty as her teacher, because he seemed so nice and easy to get along with. He made learning magic easy and by this time last season she passed her last test to qualify for Archmage status.

Right now in the world there were only fifty mages who qualified to be called Archmages. They were out of twenty thousand mages who had been registered across the world with the Mages council. And that came from a world with several billion people on it, and Amber was now one of the elites.

Amber really liked to use flame strike spells and fireballs primarily. She had once talked to her Uncle Dusty about a way to transfer spells into to her sword like her family's records said she should be able to when she was ten, and then he and her mother's friend Lori, another Archmage worked on how to do it and then they showed her.

Amber now was able to ignite her swords anytime she wanted.

Though right now Amber's main driving thoughts were centered on the fact that she was clearly hungry.

Amber was hungry because she had just returned after an all-night ride to reach home after completing a scouting missing for the Mage's council. Those pushy old biddies were always on her for what they called her responsibility to the world and the magic community.

They often sent her or her Uncle Dusty off to look into things for them, but none of them except Melkin ever saw eye to eye with either her or Uncle Dusty. The rest always made her feel like they had an ulterior motive for anything they asked her to do.

Her father hadn't wanted her to on this mission, or any mission for that matter, at first because when she started last season she was only sixteen and he still felt she was still young to be put in harm's way, but Uncle Dusty made him see that it was for the best, and he finally gave in.

She traveled at first with her Uncle Dusty, but this season she was able to start going on missions with Uncle Dusty's son Logan, and their friends Blaine and Jordan.

As Amber thought about those last two friends of hers she realize that she was still a little jealous of them, as the two of them had made Archmage at twelve! She always wanted to be the youngest Archmage ever like her ancestor Rayne had been at one time.

Blaine was such a magical prodigy that there wasn't any spell he couldn't disassemble by just simply observing someone using it. He's eyes took on a strange glow and you could almost see the arcane letters float past his vision as he watched someone else use magic. Then he would immediately cast the same spell perfectly.

He had been like that for as long as Amber had known him, and he was currently a year younger than she was.

Blaine's sister Jordan was equally as scary.

There wasn't any spell she couldn't envision. If she wanted to find a way to cast a spell for a given situation she would just spend a few minutes considering what she needed to do and then come up with the spell on the spot.

If the spell didn't exist for what Jordan needed it didn't matter to her, because she would then just make it. Most mages took months or seasons to fashion a new spell, but not her.

And if that wasn't bad enough, those two of her friends had all of their mutual friends killing each other for their attention. Blaine with his thick curly blonde hair, blue eyes, and easy smile had every girl he ran across almost jumping at the chance to be with him.

Amber was sure that a few of those girls had already been to bed with him, although he never actually admitted it or ever bragged about it.

But no matter how cute Blaine might have been seen by other girls, he would forever be the bratty kid to Amber who used to always call her "tomato head" all the time when they were younger.

At sixteen Jordan with her jet black hair and curvacious figure was just a touch more petite than she was, although with many of the same curves. No one could see Amber's build because of her use of baggy clothing that she always preferred to wear. She just liked how loose those clothes felt on her.

Jordan was always in a long, but tight form fitting, black dresses. While they laced up the front, they always somehow seemed to be left untied, so that the dresses were continually showing off a lot of deep cleavage from her good sized breasts.

Boys literally drooled on themselves as she walked by. She had a way of walking that made the boys stupid when she entered a room.

Amber chuckled as she thought about the fact that she was sure she often saw wet shirts after Jordan passed through a room full of boys and sometimes the occasional older man.

But Jordan seemed to only have eyes for Uncle Dusty's sixteen season old son Logan, and Jordan made it obvious to anyone who saw them together. While Amber thought Logan was ok as far as looks went, and maybe kind of cute, but in all honesty Logan really didn't do anything for her.

There never had been any spark between her and Logan over the seasons growing up, but as soon as Jordan met Logan as a child she followed him everywhere when they were smaller. And the older Jordan got the more obvious she made her interest in him.

Everyone could see that Jordan couldn't wait to touch any of Logan's exposed muscles every chance she could. It didn't matter if it was around her parents or Logan's, she wanted all to know he was spoken for and all hers, although around her parents she only held his hand.

Jordan was constantly was touching Logan on his arms or chest to make him look into her eyes so she could give him seductive looks. Logan didn't seem to be fighting what she did, but he did somehow manage to always keep his own hands to himself.

Learning how to use the spell interface that was created jointly by Lori and Uncle Dusty was something all the children learned as a way to use magic and the very first major spell that Jordan practiced every day was the one that let her travel to Uncle Dusty's house until she could cast it for next to nothing using magical power.

Jordan used it constantly to travel between her house and Uncle Dusty's to visit Logan.

Amber hated herself for it, but she did use the travel spell herself a few times to travel secretly and watch Jordan from time to time. She did it to make sure that Jordan wasn't sneaking around with anyone else since she lived so far way that they didn't know about.

But Amber never saw Jordan doing anything questionable like that.

Logan was like a brother to her and so she at least made herself feel better with the secret knowledge that Jordan wasn't cheating on Logan or leading him on. Jordan seemed truly dedicated to him.

Amber could see that no matter where, if Jordan was alone without her brothers then she stayed alone, much to the chagrin of which ever boy was trying desperately to get her to be with them for whatever reason.

Jordan was too powerful a mage for any of the boys to be too stupid and try to force her to do anything she didn't want to do.

And she secretly once told Amber several seasons back when they were younger that Logan was going to be her husband no other girl would ever get him. Everything that Amber saw between Jordan and Logan said that was going to happen

Though watching the two of them doing nothing more than holding hands from time to time Amber was sure that Logan was locked into the same promise that her father made her give him about waiting, otherwise if Jordan had her way they would have long since been in a bed somewhere.

Jordan and Blaine's brother Duncan seemed to be a mystery to Amber.

While he was physically fit, because he worked out a lot with Blaine, Logan, and her brother Jason, which seemed to be all Duncan did other than read every book he could get his hands on.

Duncan didn't seem to have any interest in anything else but reading, although his mother Lori insisted he learn every thing about magic that she knew. He was the most knowledgeable non-mage about magic that the world had ever seen.

Because of all of his reading Duncan was the most knowledgeable person they all knew for just about everything, even though he never traveled anywhere on his own.

As Amber thought about those things, she also thought about her other friend Marilyn and her relationship with her younger brother Jason.

Marilyn, while only fourteen seasons old, looked just like her mother with almost the same general physical build, but only slimmer. She had a soft voice, combined with her mother's dark brown eyes, long eye lashes, and layered long blonde hair.

Marilyn's Aunt Anita was able this season to do that stupid beauty treatment to Marilyn's face, and Marilyn now looked a lot like her mother with the same type of permanent makeup her mother wore.

Amber couldn't ever figure out why Marilyn wanted to have the same makeup on her as what her mother wore. All it did was make the men get more blunt and obvious in their attempts to have sex with you.

It was a waste of time and Amber felt it was stupid.

She did notice that as soon as Marilyn did this that her younger brother Jason, who barely seemed to notice Marilyn before, quickly reacted to everything Marilyn did almost immediately.

Amber also noticed that lately her brother often found reasons to be at Uncle Dusty's house to work out with Logan as often as he could. Amber was sure that it was now because of Marilyn.

Marilyn, for her part, didn't seem to be doing anything other than just sitting and watching them spar, but Amber was sure that she really liked Jason's attention. Amber was sure if she didn't know any better she would think that Marilyn only had this done to herself to get her brother Jason's attention, and as such to get him to make the first move on her.

Amber knew that Marilyn was also a very powerful mage like her father. She was due to have her last circle testing some time in the next few weeks to qualify for her Archmage status. Since there were eight levels, or circles as they are commonly known, Marilyn had already mastered them all and this last testing was really only a formality.

The mages council seemed to be doing back flips to have so many young people qualify so highly in magic like these friends had. Amber was sure that they were only this happy because they had some type of hidden plans for them all that they just weren't aware of yet, based on how happy the council was to have them tested as quick as possible.

While magic came easily to Marilyn she didn't seem to be as driven use it like every other mage Amber knew. Marilyn was more content to read books or visit their house and visit with her mother Rachel and then go home.

Marilyn seemed to just barely have the drive to do what she needed to in magic, except when it came to hanging around her brother. Pursing that goal seemed to be in the forefront in her life. But she did enjoy helping others.

That was another thing that made Amber sure that Marilyn was after her brother, when he was off with their father doing something Marilyn never seemed to just dropped by, but as soon as he was somewhere running around at home she always seemed to be some where close or just causally passing by.

Marilyn never really acknowledging Jason when she just showed up like she did, although Jason now stared quite hard after her every time she appeared out of nowhere.

Amber chuckled again at that thought.

All of her friends thought they were so slick and sneaky trying to downplay their different attractions with in their small circle to each other, but they fooled no one.

The parents joked between themselves about what they were doing. The only one of Amber's friends who didn't seem to be caught up in any of this "love" craziness was her friend Samantha who had been publically betrothed to the Crown prince since she was four.

Samantha looked just like her mother Marie with the same large build and angular features that made her mother so attractive. She also had Marilyn's Aunt Anita do the same treatment to her that she had done to Marilyn. This had made quite a few men tempt fate and try to get her to have a tryst with them even though they knew if the Queen found out she would have them put to death.

Everyone learned early no one messed with the Crown Prince.

Crown Prince Alexander also had a single younger sister who had brown hair and brown eyes and was also very attractive. It was obvious that Alexander was the Queen's favorite, just as it was obvious to all that the Princess was the King's favorite.

Although the King and Queen tried to treat both children fairly, you'd have to be blind to not eventually see it.

Thankfully he wasn't spoiled, often being sent to spend time with his intended in-laws Duke and Duchess, or Uncle Dusty's friends Seth and Marie, at their estate where Seth often put him to work doing physical labor or training in weapons and warfare.

Because of this Alexander seemed really down to earth and likable because of this.

Amber was glad he wasn't a jerk because if he was she would hate to be in Samantha's place of having been put into a forced marriage with someone she hated. But the two seemed to get along very well together and she was always on his arm at every party they attended.

Amber's mind also wandered to Samantha's her little brother Rondale, who didn't seem to have any interest in anyone so far or any prospects to change that situation anytime soon.

Well that wasn't completely true, Amber did realize that he did act interested in her a few seasons back, but he was far too immature for her she thought.

He didn't take anything seriously and often didn't act like he wanted to ever grow up. Amber didn't have time for that because she had things she wanted to do with her life.

So she quickly told Rondale that she wasn't interested when his interest became evident, as Amber made it known that there were things she wanted out of life and he wasn't one of them.

Rondale was hurt for awhile and avoided her, but he later got over it.

Thankfully Amber was tactful enough to do it in private so as to not embarrass him, but she was glad he accepted what she said and didn't make an issue of it.

While Amber liked Rondale because he could be funny at times, she had no interest in any males at present. All the men that she had ever met only wanted one thing from her, and they made it obvious they wanted to take it from her while she was on her back.

And that was another reason she hung close to her family and friends.

Amber knew many of her close friends and family members were already waiting as well for either the right person or the right time, and it made it easier for her.

The only times it really became an issue were when she went on low risk missions for the council and she was forced to interact with various other males on the road who didn't want to take 'no' for an answer.

Jordan had at least perfected the art of sexily saying no so that they left her alone. But Amber found that often her temper got the better of her, and she got in to many fights telling men and boys to keep their hands to themselves. As a result Amber usually broke those men and boys arms and legs when they touched her body.

Amber noticed that her butt often seemed to be a favorite for males to grope as she passed by, and that always pissed her off more for some reason than anything else that they often did.

While her father often told her to work on her temper, she always knew that he fought a smile when she told him the reason why someone got hurt for touching her. She didn't know what she would do if he didn't understand it was the fault of the male for touching her.

Finally reaching the kitchen she didn't see the family's cook anywhere around, so Amber decided to see what was in the icebox herself. Seeing what she wanted Amber quickly made herself a sandwich.

Their Icebox was one of her Uncle Dusty's inventions that he made using a large box of sealed wood that was on it side so that it opened to face you and it had a magic ice spell cast on it to keep things cold.

Munching on her sandwich as she walked further into the house, Amber decided to go off and find her parents and tell them she was back.

As he came around DJ found that he was lying face down in the middle of an open field of grass.

He rolled over and looked up at the sky, and he realized that it didn't look any different than it did in his world. DJ had tried his best to stay conscious as he traveled here, but at some point he failed.

Sitting up he reached in his coat pocket and pulled out his cell phone, and he received the expected "out of service" notice.

Remembering what his mother said about when she first came to this world, DJ stood up, dusting off his pants, and looked around for the nearest town. Seeing houses in the distance he started for those.

It wasn't long before he came upon the village, although he would now call it a town. The houses made of stone, brick, and dirt with straw roofs, were present like in the stories his mother told him. But as he looked at them there were far more than he expected. DJ guessed that over the years this much growth was to be expected.

Walking up the wide dirt road it was easy to find the town. There were people everywhere, but like expected, they all went silent as they watched him make his way through the streets. DJ headed for where generally he thought his mother said she stayed when she first arrived here.

Everything, though more of it, was just like his mother's stories, the buildings, the dirt road, and even the well in the middle of the town square. Eventually he found the building with the double doors swung open wide.