A Hundred Lifetimes: A Clairxie AU

Chapter 2

"I never had the gift for shadowmancy..."

The following week was tense with anticipation. The wizard and his familiar had busied themselves with preparations for siege. Containment sigls were cast, lodestones were collected, claws were sharpened. Sid sharpened his sword dutifully.

The wizard and his companions gave their best efforts in preparation for the storm, but Douxie could let go of the icy dread that was building in his gut. Their enemy was even older than he was, and far more deadly. The assassin's reputation was horrific, and trollmarkets around the world were content with his centuries of absence. If he had returned, then Douxie had the sinking feeling that no amount of careful preparation would truly be enough. 

The wizard and his companions gave their best efforts in preparation for the storm, but Douxie could let go of the icy dread that was building in his gut. Their enemy was even older than he was, and far more deadly. The assassin's reputation was horrific, and trollmarkets around the world were content with his centuries of absence. If he had returned, then Douxie had the sinking feeling that no amount of careful preparation would truly be enough.

It was two o'clock on a Thursday when Douxie felt Angor Rot's insidious chill again.

He was shielding himself from the gaze of passing pedestrians as he walked to the convenience store for catnip. Even in their current predicament, Archie would scold him mercilessly if they ran out. The boy wizard was tired, but he moved quickly, hoping to make the most of his short lunch break.

Suddenly, a familiar chill stopped the wizard in his tracks. The hairs on the back of his neck pricked up. Douxie stopped and surveyed his surroundings. He reflexively glanced to the rooftops, then chided himself for doing so. He's a troll. He can't walk in direct sunlight. Can he?

The boy instinctively reached for his spell bracer. The crowd took little notice of his growing terror. As his eyes darted back and forth across the clustered noonday street, he suddenly realized that he was not alone.

A young girl across the street displayed the same attentive panic as he. She was thin and fair, likely about sixteen, with dark hair pulled back into a small ponytail. Her clothes were simple but stylish, with an odd tribute to Shakespeare on her shirt. She had the largest, deepest eyes he'd ever seen on a mortal human, and he gasped as he realized that they were now staring back at him.

Their gaze met for only a few brief moments before Douxie reflexively looked away, scolding himself for the brief lapse in focus. Keep the mortals in the dark. That was a crucial part of his eternal duty. This girl was none of his concern, and he had far more pressing matters to deal with. Most likely she was disoriented by a strange bird call, or perhaps a rogue car alarm.

And yet...

Douxie had sensed Angor Rot's presence in the area, that much was certain. The chill had faded, but the residue of foul malice still lingered in his mind. But Angor's power wasn't all he had sensed. There was something else on the street that day.

Fuzzbuckets. Just what I need. Another magical stalker.

* * *

"Douxie! Look!"

Archie's harsh and whispered tone immediately commanded the boy wizard's attention. He looked up from his starkly illuminated smartphone to gaze through the window pane at the dark street. The sidewalk was empty save for one magical phenomenon.

Outside his parlor hovered a swirling vortex of dark energy. The cold gap between realms gently tugged his soul into an icy void. Douxie swallowed hard. He only knew of one creature in Arcadia that could traverse the shadow realm.

"He's coming." The blue-haired sorcerer sprung from his chair. The shop's enchantments prevented entry by shadow portal, but nothing stopped Angor from breaching the sidewalk outside.

Douxie's heart pounded as he fought to remember his training. It would be best to keep the fight outside. If he acted fast, there may not have to be a battle at all.

Motioning for the cat to follow, Douxie dashed outside, never taking his eyes off the portal. Sealing the bookshop, he busied himself laying containment sigls on the sidewalk in front of the vortex. When sufficient traps had been set, the boy wizard stepped back several strides and looked to his side for Archie. His familiar hovered next to him, ready to unleash flames upon the intruder if need be. Douxie fired up his spell bracer and took a deep breath.

"Erm, shouldn't he be here by now?"

Douxie blinked. He shot a quick glance at Archie, finding a perplexed expression on his feline face. Upon closer inspection, the portal was not stable like the one Angor had faded into before. It trembled with strain, growing and shrinking as it spun. It had been open for mere seconds, and yet its caster struggled to keep it alive.

The wizard and his cat were still contemplating when the portal opened wide enough to spit out a thin, dark form.

Douxie jumped as his traps triggered, sealing the creature in an amorphous blue bubble. The shadow doorway closed as quickly as it had opened.

The wizard stepped closer to study his enemy. It did not struggle, but rather lay passively at the bottom of the sphere.

Douxie's confusion only increased as he observed it.

The invader's form was not large and imposing like Angor's was. It was thin and lithe, clad in human garb. Douxie sucked in a quick breath. Oh, buckets. It was the cute Shakespeare girl from the street.

Archie cocked his head to the side as he landed. "She's not moving."

The cat was right. The girl lay unconscious as Douxie worked to undo the multiple layers of magical containment bubbles. When the final trap was dispelled, Douxie lifted the girl from the ground, taken aback by just how light she was. Her dark hair cascaded over his forearms as he gently lifted her from the sidewalk.

She looked much more docile than she had on the crowded city street, but her face still carried the same lovely innocence. Douxie stared intently at the unconscious damsel as he carried her to a nearby bench.

She was as scared as I was. She's not trying to hurt me. But...I can feel some shadow in her. Not much, but a little.

"Tonight keeps getting stranger and stranger," Archie remarked. He was about to follow his paranoid comrade when he spotted something else lying on the sidewalk.

"Douxie..."

The cat's voice was tense with hushed terror. After tenderly placing the mystery maiden on the bench, Douxie dashed back to his familiar's side. Lying in front of the shop where the shadow portal had once been, was a small, cylindrical object. Douxie sucked in a rapid breath. It had been centuries since he had last seen this ominous instrument.

Morgana's shadow scathrune.