Rainbow 2

It starts as all things should…

At the beginning.

A dark sky, dotted with stars.

Lines appear, joining the stars to form a phrase…

Cured

An Aquarion Production.

They say.

They fade away, and the camera pans down as the story begins…

Chapter the First

Flames.

That’s what the reddish tinge was, Flames.

They were getting quite high now, licking the branches of the trees like they were looking for a night to remember.

Normally there would be fire-engines or something, except in the forests of a land where Magic was prized over science any day of the week (except possibly Thursday) Fire-engines were not so much late as “I suppose it might have been a good idea to invent them” type thing.

Plus this was a forest. An old, dry forest. Even if there had been a local fire station, the chances of any of the forest being recoverable were slim.

Watching the fire were two men. The first was the leader of the village. The second was a man who we will come to shortly. Suffice to say at this point that he is the instigator of this conflagration, which is to say that he started the fire. In fact, stuff shortly, let us look at him right now.

When this person looks into his bedroom mirror at night, which he does every night, it is obvious that he sees a God of Men. Tall, Sleekly muscled, with the hair that would go on TV declaiming that they were “worth it”. The problem was that to the rest of the world he wasn’t. Admittedly he was tall, but his hair did not look cut so much as mown. And as for “sleekly muscled”, it would apply only if you could also pin that label on Shaggy from Scooby Doo.

At this point the writer could leave it, point at him and laugh and call him Mr Stereotype. This is s type of person who doesn’t really need a name. And even if he had one you would instantly forget it. But, for narrative simplicity we shall give him a name. We shall call him Roger.

“I didn’t mean for this to happen” said Roger, unnecessarily, “I was only…”

“I’d save the excuses son.” Said the Leader who, for the record, was not Rogers father. Nor wanted to be.

“What do you mean?” Ask the bespectacled one (did we mention the glasses? No? He wears glasses.)

The Leader said nothing, but pointed at a button. The button was blue, and behind a slim pane of glass. Which someone, in defiance of all probability, had set into a tree and written upon it some words. Those words were:

In case of emergency, break glass.

“I think,” said the Leader, looking at the ashen remains of the village, “this counts.” He broke the glass.

There was a blue flash.

A couple of seconds a blue shimmering area appeared and a man stepped of it.

“Who the Hell are you?” asked Roger.

“My name is Sapphire Kael Da Blue” Said Sapphire Kael Da Blue “But call me Sapphire, And I am one of the 7 most powerful Magicians in this dimension”

“And what have you got to do with this village?”

“Easy” Said Sapphire with a hard edge that hadn’t been there before “I was born here.”

“Oh” Said Roger.

“Bugger” He added.

“So” Said the tall Magician in the blue robe “How exactly did you burn down my village?”

Roger paused. There were two options here. One, he could attempt to fob Sapphire off with a lie or Two, he could tell the truth.

Of the 7 members of the Rainbow, who comprised the 7 most powerful magicians in the world, Roger happened to know that Blue and Green had cornered the mind reading side of things. That was Sapphire and his girlfriend Emerald. Lying was not, then, a good idea.

Jascain of Pyratic

He stopped on the road away from Pyratic.

He turned his back to his destination, and reviewed both the road he had travelled and the city that lay beyond it. Never was there a place like it, and nowhere could there ever be again. Darkness was falling, and he was far from the only person on the roads at this time of the evening. Resisting the tide of people fleeing from the burning remains of what had once been the Magictions Quarter hundreds of years ago, before the war. Why it was called Pyratic had been lost, along with the thousands that had lived there in the time. Now it was living up to it’s name, as the flames flickered and lit up the sky and the other three city areas, divided by the Wall. If you looked with a magictions’s eye, you could see the guards atop the wall, throwing water and rocks at flames and refugees respectivly. The last thing the city needed was the fire spreading, so the first thing the Poltack had ordered was the closing of the gates to all but those who could prove their address was not in the poorest district.
Jascain, however, had recently fallen upon hard times. His soot blackened clothes conspired with the ragged canvas bag at his back to make him look like one of the more wretched denzins of Pyratic. It could be said that who knew him would be shocked to know of his fall from grace as one of the foremost artists of the City, but those who knew him then would never even know he existed now, the same way he stopped existing as soon as his work – and him, though not in that order – fell out of the Poltack’s daughters favour.
The flunkies and hangers on who he thought of as his friends at that time had dropped him like a bad apple. On the way down, you find out who your friends are, he doubted he had a real friend left.

Except.

And that was the word that changed it all. “Except”. Except maybe, if he was lucky, and if he hadn’t totally destroyed whatever friendship there had been by that argument long ago, there may still be the slightest possibility that…

He was fooling nobody, least of all himself, but that sliver of hope was all that remained. In the last month, he had lost his life, his Fianc, his dream, and now his house and all he owned. There was only one place he could go now.

Home

Ceaven '95

Dear ghods this is old. This is the only reminant of the first incarnation of the world now known as Cevearn. It was written after about four years of working out details, and when I was 16 years old. It was typed on my Amiga 600. It's not very well written, and it has a Mary Sue so obvious as to be scary. Nevertheless, it has it's moments, so it earns it's place here. It's not spell checked, nor is it modified in any way beyond that needed to make it HTML. Enjoy. (Aquarion, 2002-06-12)

Kael's Rainbow

Some people, thought Kael, Do not have this problem. No, he ammended in his head, absolutly no one has this exact problem, save one. me.

Arguing is a human trait. It is fairly easy but can be made more difficult with extra factors such as, for example, the other party being of the oposite sex. This was one of Kael's problems. It would be made more difficult is you were trying to argue with two differant members of the opposite sex. This was another of Kaels problems. They are - naturally - arguing about two differant subjects entirely. There are few ways to make this harder still- short of the two arguments happening of differant worlds. Cue Kaels problem no. 3. Plus he was getting a headache.

"Lisa" He said to the Wizardess in the University
"No" Said Emerald, the Wizardess in the University, in a voice that stated that she would soon begin punctuating remarks with fireballs.
"Lisa?" He said to the girl in the library.
"Yes?" said Lisa, Kael was relived.
"I'm sorry, I apologise unreservedly for this misdemenor, but unfortunatly we do not posess the infomation you require."
"What?" said Lisa,
"Kael!" said Emerald, A flash of panic zoomed across Kaels face and was gone before it was noticed.
"Y..." said Kael to Lisa before he realized then: "We don't have any books on the role of egg sandwiches in World War II"
"But my friend Clara said she got all the books she needed from here." Said Lisa.
"You're not paying attention!" Said Emerald
"No my love" Said Kael to Emerald. This was getting complicated. Hold on! IDEA! "I've got some complications down here, I'll be back later"
"But you can't vanish in the middle of an argume..." screamed Emerald, incorrectly as it happened
The Kael in the library seemed visibly more relaxed.
"Can't I?" he said under his breath then: "Who told you this?" he asked
"Clara. Clara Binkings" said Lisa
"Year?"
"7"
"Regestration group?"
"7Y-Dibbins"
Details went into the computer. seconds later.
"Your friend Carla" said Kael plesently "has taken all the books we have on egg sandwiches. I'd go an speak with her if I were you."
Lisa stormed off and started making towards a small girl with large round glasses. Then Kael went back into the librarians office and relaxed.

The air shimmered for a minute and Kael appeared in his office at the university. The office was blue. very blue. The carpet, the books, the desk, the shelves. All differant shades of blue. Kael was no longer wearing school uniform either, he was wearing a light blue suit with a single badge on it. The badge was a rainbow design arching over the top of a blue gem. the gem was in the shape of a water drop and seemed some how unreal. The glasses he wore- an affliction, he could fix his eysight, but he liked wearing glasses- were deep blue colour. he clicked his fingers and his staff appeared, shrank into a pen which he put in his pocket. From his desk drawer he drew a bunch of flowers, and so, defences in place and muttering "Here`s some I prepeared earler" he left his office. Seconds later he was standing outside the next office. The design on the door was similer to his badge, except that instead of the blue rain-drop the symbol here was a green tree. He knocked.

"Come in" said a voice. Kael took a deep breath and did as he was told to.
"Bella Donna" he said as he entered, "I bring a peace offering" he presented the flowers.
"We are not at war." Said Emerald "Yet."
"Tempory measures." replied Kael. "Look, I`m really sorry about just now..."
"Sorry." Said Emerald with forced calm "You disappear from an Argument, with 5 seconds notice. An Argument we have been having for the past 3 weeks. An Argument that You promised you would not rest until was settled this time."
Oh dear. thought Kael, Capital Letters.
"Have I rested?" he asked. This was the wrong thing to say.
"The university opens in 6 weeks. In 6 weeks time each member of the rainbow has to start teaching students their subjects." Said Emerald
"That's not my fault" he said. and instantly regreted it. It Was.
"Oh yes it is!" Kael, sensibly, did not mention pantomimes.
"6 Months ago you reappear after nearly 800 years away, and suggest that it may be a good idea to put the training on a reliable footing, for example a university. And like fools we all agreed. then you compleatly shake up the entire way we think of magic. So now Me and you and all the other partnerships you formed have to find ways of linking their lessons."
muttering about plot elements Kael gave in and spent the rest of the day arguing with his girlfriend.

Back at the school library. Life was easier. Not really a busy day, so Kael pretended to read whilst listening to what everybody else was doing, and half-heartedly discussing terms and sylubuses with Emerald.

Next day was the last day of term at school. All Kaels friends and classmates left at least 2 weeks ago. Kael stayed on to help in the library. There was nothing to do at home.

6 Weeks past. Slowly. Summer holiday time, which is double normal time when your having fun and 1/4 normal time when your not. Kael spent a lot of time at the university. He had to do the introduction speach for the students...

... and the day came. The great hall was big. It was bigger on the inside then the outside. but only for this speach when everybody had to be here. The stage was empty, then the lights dimmed. There was no visable light sources to dim however. Then a voice came to them, seemingly to each indervidual alone and said: "Make your hands into a ball, on on the other" in a voice which commanded. This each person did. suddenly a blue light came from inside their hands. "Open your hands". they opened their hands. Inside was a ball of light. no bigger than a marble which lifted into the air and made it's way to the stage, where it formed the figure of a man. the man was about 6ft tall, and features were hard to make out because of the light. When the light faded, the man was seen to have brown hair, side parted, with blond streaks in it and was wearing a Blue suit. Those in the front row could see he had the bluest eyes you could ever see. He was leaning on a staff which was a foot shorter than he was. The reader knows that this is Kael, they didn't. Yet.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. Boys and Girls. Students and Human beings. Welcome to the Rainbow University" Said the figure on the stage "My name, in this particuler time and place is Kael" he pronounced it Kay-el "and I am here to give you a history of the Rainbow. Not, as my may have guessed, the result of meterological precibitation and light. The Rainbow is this particuler world's body of magical excellence. We represent the 7 fields of Magic, The Pigmental Manipulations, the Shades, and the Elemental Arts, Plus we keep the lore of the lands. You are each here to learn at least one of these skills or improve on a natural talent.

Why are we called the Rainbow? A Good Question and one which I will now answer. First of all we are not. We are, in fact the Thurmalogical Spectrum, We have however been called the Rainbow for so long that the other title is all but forgotten. The 7 People who make up the Rainbow each resprent, and are represented by, a colour. Mine, as you can see, is Blue and we shall come to the others later, but now you may have guessed. The colours we use are Red, Orange, Yellow, Green, Blue and Violet. The colours of the Rainbow.

Now for the history lesson: Before the inception of the Rainbow there were hunderds of differant magitions, Nobody knows how many since there was no formal body to find out. Each one claimed to be the best in his field, this was easy as he claimed to be the only one in his field. They all had only one thing in commern, None of them understood magic, they just did it and each took one apprentice in their lifetime. They were selfish and so refused to teach the apprentices all they knew since only then could they be better. So Magic was draining away. Each magition took at least one of his secrets to the grave. Then distaster struck the world. A war. But the cause was true, they said, one side was Saying that the world was round and span around on the Axis, with the Star of Agima at the top. The other side agreed, but said the star was called Seapea. And so the war went on. Only the World Aurthority and the Magitions stayed neutral. Then the WA suggested that the magitions went to either side and used their talents to assist the peace process. The magitions couldn't refuse could they? and so they went to either side. And failed. Being able to produce rabbits from behind ears is a neat way to make a living. But doesn`t help you when someone is trying to kill you. The Magitions, to a mage, were wiped out." The figure on stage paused at this point. he then took a glass of water from thin air and drank it.

"Where was I? Oh yes. The great destruction. After the war, in which the star now known as the Cam star was named, The WA searched for any wizards or magic users that remained. They found two, One was a bright and cheerful person, He agreed to help train young people in magic and such. The other was dark and depressing, and he refused. He ducks out of the story at this point and is never heard of again." The name of the cheerful person is unknown. He is refered to only as White and so that is what I will refer to him as.

The original training scheme was holey to say the least. A boy - or girl- with what I will call `Talent' was sent to White for training. It didn't work. The amount of knowlage to be a master of the entire sphere of Magic would not fit into one mind. After a certian ammount of knowlage - differant to each pupil - the mind rebeled and the pupil went mad. White lived many lifetimes, that was one of the spells no one else could master, and over the years he discovered ways of determing how much power the person could handle, but the idea wasn't working. The new generation of Magitions were as, if not more, competitive than there predecesors and so he gave up and stoped training. None of his pupils trained anyone, so he became the only practicing magition once again. In time he went searching for talent. He found 7 people who could together possibly learn all the secrets and taught them, and gave them the secret of eternal life" Kael paused again. He told himself he was missing bits. like the definition of eternal life for examp...
"Sir?" Said a voice in the crowd. There was a ripple of murmerings down the hall. Who was this intruder?
"Yes, Pilgrim?" Backstage Emerald flinched. 'Pilgrim' was level three on Kaels irritation scale.
"How do you mean eternal? Is it that they wouldn't get old, or that they couldn't be killed?" asked the Querier
"We don't know. We haven't got older, but nobody has managed to stick a sword in any of us yet." Answered Kael. "As you might have noticed I said We. This is because the current Rainbow is those first Seven. Which brings me on to part 2 of my little speach." Still backstage Emerald muttered something about Little. Kael couldn't hear.
"Part 2 is the introduction to the Rainbow."A curtain rose - on cue and by magic - revealing a row of chairs. all white, all wooden. Kael was working himself into a frensy of exitment "I present to you... The Rainbow!"
One by one the chairs changed into thrones. Each a colour of the rainbow.
Around the each chair came a glow of the colour of the throne, until it was imposible to look at, and then it faded, leaving a person in each chair.

And now it was a week later and Kael was facing his first lesson as a teacher. "You have all been selected because you have talent in the field of 'blue' magic. First the types of magic: Red is the first, Red magic is known as Magic. we refer to all types of magic as Magic becaue it is a neat term, and it is the one that caught the publics imagination. The real name for the disruption of normal events is Thaumology. Red magic comes from books. A spell is writen on a scroll or book by a person with a talent or it and the spell becomes real. Magitions also have control over the colour Red and all aspects of it. Orange magitions are called Mages. Their magic comes from an outside object and is measureable - more on this later - The downside for this is the fact that the effect for the spell comes from the object you select - not from you. Yellow is Sourcery, You are the Source for the magic, Sourcery is the same as Mageship execpt that the power comes from you. This makes sourcery useless for creating fireballs, for example, since they will burn your hand as you throw it. Those two powers are the 'focus' group, since they are differenciated by their focus point.

Skiping two, for reasons which will become aparent, we move on to Indigo and violet. The life couple. Indigo is the power of life, of healing and Violet is Necromancy, that of death. and then we skip back to the Mental powers, first of Green. The power of green is known as External Mental. This means that a Wizardess, such as Emerald, can read minds and use that knowlage of what someone else is thinking to create a picture, or illusion, of that. This is linked with the our power. The power of the blue, The Imaginist. or Internal Mental. We have the ability to read our own minds with a clarity that others only dream of. We can also create the most fantastic illusions possible. The very best example I can give you of this is myself. I, in a very real sense, am not here. The vision you see is a Illusion, a Metagram I call it. Story time: 800 years ago there was an accident. From what I can gather I went to answer a plea for assistance and it was a trap. I was trapped on a planet known now as Kaelsbain, or Earth as it stylises itself. I became a figure of power on that world, I was known as Merlin. The secret to immortality is not on that world however, and so I was forced to retire. The whole event lasted 50 years and then some thing went wrong. in a single day a field was placed on every living thing at a genetic level so that all magic would be damped to such an effect that it would cease to happen. My magic dried up. I put memory seals on myself and in my dying breath cast a spell to pass my power and memory to my most suitable son for ever more. 800 years later I regained my memory of that event and used a device that was orbiting that planet to cast an illusion back to this world. Thus I am still on Earth and thus I am here." The speach ended and Kael's illusion left the room.

Back on earth Kael blinked. It didn't help. The problem with wearing sunglasses was that it made the world darker. This was fine in summer, but in winter it was not so good. It must be the time of year. or something, he thought. Kael was about 6 feet tall and thin. He had deep brown hair that had a white streak on one side and usualy had brown eyes. This is where the problem lay. His eyes flashed deep blue occasionally when he was concentrating on his illusion. Then he wore the shades. The problem (again) was that he had woken up this morning and looked in the mirror. his eyes were blue. Not the shiny sky blue of eyes, but the deep navy blue of the Rainbows Imaginist. Something was wrong.

Sunday Story

The general idea is that every week I write, and publish here, a short story of some kind. I have to get back to writing fiction somehow, and the Panto seems to have fallen over. If I can't think of anything, I shall open up The Writers Block and follow it. So, Number one, the page in TWB says...

Short Fuse

They were just coming up to the valley when Trick ran up to Clae.
"Kael said to. tell you something. I don't. understand." he said, trying to catch his breath.
"Calm down, Trick." said Clae, slowing down his horse, "What did he say?"
"He was talking to the guide about going though the valley, when he sort of made this laugh that I don't think was really a laugh, because Kael doesn't usually laugh like that, but anyway, he looked down into the valley with the scope and then told me to tell you that there was a bacon tree ahead."
"Did he say where?" asked Clae.
"Er, no, but he was looking right down at the bottom by the road. But I don't understand, because bacon doesn't grow on trees, does it?"
"No, my son. That it does not." then he reined in suddenly, and swore loudly enough to be heard by the trio ahead.
"What is it now, Clae?" shouted back Emerald.
"Something's slipped on the packages. I'll fix it, then catch up with you in a little while"
Emerald, Kael Sapphire and the guide nodded and continued down the path.
"Clae?"
"Yes lad?"
"The packages are fine, I checked them just now." said Trick.
"I know, lad" replied Clae, and started pretending to fix them.
"Clae?" asked Trick. Clae grunted, so he continued: "Will you explain the bacon tree thing, and why we're staying here?"
Clae watched until the trio disappeared from sight behind a ridge, and worked out how long it would take them to reach the bottom, then sat down.
"I suppose I might, at that. Sit down, lad, and I'll tell you a story."

"Before the empire there were the clans, and the clans didn't get on. That's putting it mildly. A month a family stayed intact was a month to be thankful for in those days, there was nowhere safe, and each clan had a web of alliances so baroque and detailed that most of the battles were caused by accidentally firing at the wrong side. It had been one of these battles that the leader of one particuler clan had sent his top general - what used to be known as 'Kael' until he," Clae pointed into the valley to indicate Sapphire "sort of redefined the term - to reclaim a piece of territory he wanted to fish in, or some such rot. Anyway, this general was sent down and a couple of days later this junior warrior comes back screaming 'It's a bacon tree! It's a bacon tree!'. Naturally, the leader is a little perplexed by this, and quizzes the warrior: 'What do you mean?' he asks, but only gets the reply 'It's a bacon tree! Down by the stream, a bacon tree, a bacon tree!'
"Now, it hasn't been a good year for crops for the tribe, what with one thing and another. And so the leader mounts a small experdition to the stream to look at this tree of bacon. He considers maybe a pig got caught in a bush, or maybe the gods have been kind.
"A few days later, the leader returns. Just. Bleeding from every limb, he crawls back into town. He's missing three fingers, his torso is a mass of scars, but he crawls up to the junior warrior, and says just one sentance: 'That wasn't a bacon tree...'"

Down at the bottom of the valley, the guide seems to have stopped.
"Why have we stopped?" asked Sapphire, tersely.
"There's something down here I want you to see." answered the guide.
"We are in something of a hurry, we do have to get this back to the kingdom soon."
"Thankfully," said the guide, "That is no longer your problem."

Clae watched a group of archers rise from the grass a few metres from Emerald and Sapphire.
"...'No, son. That there was an 'am-bush', said the leader."
Trick gazed open mouthed at the scene below
"Shouldn't we try to help?"
"Hell no." said Clae, "First, because this box must get to the Kingdom. Second, because that valley isn't the worlds safest place right now."
"Exactly! Emerald could be killed!"
"I doubt it." said Clae, "And besides, Emerald and Kael arn't the ones in trouble."
"Why not?"

"Are you telling me that you brought us all this way just to rob us?" screamed Emerald at the guide
"Oh no. We're going to kill you too." replied the guide, somewhat smugly.
"Archers...", commanded the guide.

"Because," said Clae, "Emerald has something of a"

There was a flash of light

"." said the large, round, orange guide.
"Squeak?" said the archers.
"Pumpkins, Dear?" asked Sapphire.
"Pumpkins, Saff. And white mice. I'm feeling traditional." replied Emerald.

"Short fuse." concluded Clae, mounting the horse. "Enjoy your walk down, by the way. We'll be traveling in style the rest of the way."
"How so?" asked Trick, confused.
"Looks like you're entering the Kingdom via a large, orange coach..."