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~~ Visitors Day It was a day like any other. Alex was wandering the streets of Ferron, without purpose, just wasting away the time. The cobble stone streets are crowded in by tall dark buildings, their smokey woods and soot covered stones give our city the unofficial name "Black city of the sea". The Ferron southern district is a dock and the north leads up in to the mountains. Once upon a time Ferron was part of a great nation spanning dozens of cities throughout the northern lands. War broke out and it was at this time that Ferron was saved by the Sorceress. A beautiful dark haired woman, she came from no where and protected our then grand city from the evils of war. Back then, our buildings were not so dark, we were a shining white city of marble and glistening cobblestones. Alex knew this because he had seen paintings in the art galleries of times gone by, before the war. They say the dark soot comes from the ashes of the war - that both sides have obliterated each other. At first, many resented us abandoning our allies but as time past and it seemed that all to the north had been lost - that resentment turned in to admiration for the Sorceress and her power. More than half a century later, the all women sorcery academy is like our religion, our faith - in them we trust that we will be safe forever to come. Every month they assemble around the city and talk of the wonderful research going on in the academy, the advances in their understanding of the universe - and with them, our understanding. Many of us are skeptical that they have really made any advances beyond what the high Sorceress herself had done to save us once before... but who are we to judge? Alex remember his grand father tell me how difficult it was as a man in those times to have to lay down his arms and let a woman take control of our cities fate. Today it seems inconceivable that men ever ruled our lands. The whole of parliament consists of some of the most notable and riches women of our city - several of them are part of the sorcery academy itself. Alex was of age. He had finished school last winter. Now summer was here, and like all young men was expected to find his way in life. Instead, he was lost - he had no ambitions. Alex made my way to a large market space. In the center was a statue of the Sorceress surrounded by water. He brushed at the stone rim of the pool to get some of the soot off the blackened stones and then lay down to watch the sky. Like many, Alex had only expected to see birds in the sky - but instead in the sky loomed a wondrous sight. A large glistening cigar shaped object floated serenely in to view. It seemed to defy all of nature as it bobbed in to the air. A small carriage hung below it and hundreds of people were waving to us from its tiny windows. At first, Alex did not know what to make of its dimensions.... and like many people who weren't otherwise occupied, Alex followed it progression across the city as it caste a long afternoon shadow to the parliament palace. As it got lower its dimensions seemed to be impossible. It was as big as a tower by somehow stayed in the air. This was not something we had ever seen from the Sorceress. A large crowd of city dwellers had gathered in the open grass lands before the parliament as ropes were thrown down from the airship and people climbed down them. They hammered large pegs in to the ground and tethered it off, then they started to guide the ship down to the ground by working together. The city watch had been summoned and pages ran wildly to the homes of the parliament officials. This was unprecedented - the known world did not include anything to the south across the oceans and yet this was where the airship had flown from. Alex remembered the day well. After the official greetings had taken place, every body from the ship had gone in to parliament with our politicians and there had been several hours of discussion. With nothing better to do he had stuck around and watched as people ran in and out of the important buildings, summoning people, dismissing others. There was a steady stream of catering and wine flowing in to the buildings as well. Eventually, the sun was setting and Alex decided he would return tomorrow. He started on his way back home but on the way he stopped at one of the temples to sorcery and went inside. Men were not forbidden here - only at the academy. Here was for every citizen of the city, to come and give thanks to the wonders of sorcery and the glory it has brought us. It was an opulent though small hall he had entered, filled with rows of seats and a stand at the front for someone to give sermons to the crowd. Normally there would be many sorcery students, cute girls all of them, wandering around ready to talk to you about your troubles. But today, the room was empty. Alex had expected there would be at least a guardian left to ensure no one got the bright idea to steal the silverware. He considered that course of action for a moment as my head peaked in to the private chambers annexed off the main hall. But no one was here either and something much more interesting caught my eye. It was a training book for the young sorceress first entering the academy. As far as he knew, no man had ever laid eyes on it before - so he just had to know what was in it. Fearing that the commotion of the day would eventually die down enough that people would return, he stuffed the book under his tunic and made haste out of there. Alex was now seventeen to be precise - short scruffy brown hair. He stands at 5'7 which was about average for the population both men and women. He was by no means a catch. He lacked that coltish charm that women swooned for, though he was not by any means ugly either. Alex made himself a simple supper - some bread and soup and sat down before the fire place to read the book of sorcery. The first page was an ominous sign - some one had had the forethought to warn any wayward man from reading any further - "Of those of the male gender, to read further is to treason, punishable by death." He flicked past that page quickly, hoping it would never come to that. To his surprise, the book was as straight forward as a manual on cooking. The first chapter was about magical focus and energy flow. Alex had heard as much through idle chat and gossip. But the book described the technique for creating your own wand. ~~ The Wand Step one - obtain a shard of wood from the oldest tree you can find. Alex spent the day wandering the city. He knew that most of the old trees were on the other side of the mountains and it was no secret that the sorcery apprentices would go out there for 'retreats' and 'training exercises'... they were essentially our military in all respects so secrecy and discipline were part of their regime. He had a different idea about where he could find some old wood. Alex remembered a bar his father had taken me too when he was young and an old sea captain had bragged about the ship he once commanded. A wooden fishing boat that had 'survived every storm except the great storm'... as he had put it. But what was interesting to Alex now was that the story had discussed the making of the ship - carved out of the trunk of an ancient tree so big the whole ship was one contiguous piece. The bar in question had a chunk of this ship hanging from its wall, a piece of its side. Where better to find a shard of wood than to cut one off of that? The city was abuzz with news about the strangers from the south - across the ocean they said. Newspapers were being printed, town criers were out in force and Alex had made his way to the dingy little bar. It did not live up to his childhood memory. It was a smelly place, smaller in every dimension possible. But, true to the tale hanging on the wall was the piece of wood he remembered. "What'll it be?," asked the bartender and Alex was snapped out of his thieving contemplation. "Oh, just a water - I had to get out of the sun." The bartender grunted at this and poured him a tall glass of water. Customers that don't drink something hard are not exactly a good way for him to run a business. He made his way in to the back to the kitchen - when he returned to tend bar again, that young man who had asked for water was gone. And so was the piece of wood on the wall. Alex spent the day with his knife, whittling at the chunk of wood. He knew what wands looked like and he was trying to emulate their look. The process was slow going but soon he was down to a hand sized piece of wood, sleek and balanced slightly heavier at the grip. He smiled to himself and carefully hide it away in his pocket. At that time, a commotion had begun and a loud horn sounded across the bay. People were running down from parliament hill to the docks so Alex ran along with them. A new amazing sight could be seen - a gigantic floating fortress puffing black dust in to the sky was making its way in to their harbor. The fishing boats were out in force to watch the huge shining thing slowly float to their city. But behind it were dozens more. They were bigger than the airship and some of them even had airships tethered to one end of their decks. The scale and immensity of the construction was baffling. The crowd gathered in awe at the sight of these juggernauts. The fleet stayed anchored out at sea while the flag ship docked at their port. It was filled with strangers from a strange land and they slowly filed their way down. The airship was just the first to arrive - this fleet was the real meeting. Officials from parliament and city watch made their way down and Alex watched as many pleasantries were exchanged. He wondered if the Sorceress would make an appearance soon - these were exciting times indeed. Alex stayed at the docks until the sun was setting again. The strangers dressed in clean and shiny clothing. They all brandished a sword and but also some sort of fire arm on their hip he had never seen before. They all wore a similar uniform - except for their women who wore fanciful dresses or shirt skirts and impossible high heels. Their hair was often done up in elaborate fashions with complicated hats too. Alex had never seen anything like it. He felt humbled in his torn shorts and soot covered shirt. As he looked around the scene he realized that everybody in his city looked positively wretched compared to the people of the ships. That night over bread and soup again, he returned to the book and read about the wand. He placed his wand on the table and continued his lesson. "To test the strength of a piece of a wand, rest it balanced on a flat surface and give it a spin. Blow on the wand. The less the wand slows down, the more potential it has," he read aloud and then with a shrug, gave his wand a spin. He blew on it and nothing seemed to happen. "Okay, that worked... next step. Charging your wand. Carefully roast wand over fireplace for ten hours - do not allow it to be burnt," he read aloud again and then went to work hooking up his wand over the fire place. He decided by morning it should be charged enough. ~~ Magic He could barely sleep through the night, tossing and turning - he couldn't get his mind off recent events, or his little wand project. By sunrise at 5am he had had enough and he got up. He took his wand down from above the fire and took a whiff of it. It smelt of smoke and had a dry feel to it in his grip. He got dressed in his regular clothes and put his wand in his pocket and decided to go for a jog. The morning air was cool, brisk as the sun rose slowly over the mountains. He made his way down the cobble stone streets, then up the hill side to an area that was used for farming cows and breeding chickens. Up there, he found a large rock and sat down on it - from here he had a big view out of the bay and at all the ships. The dark city by the shore lived up to its name as he looked over the impressive tall soot covered buildings. He wished his city was bright like in those old paintings. Alex took his wand out and twirled it between his fingers like he would a pencil. He was pleased with his work - the weighting was just right. As he swished it through the air quickly he imagined he was seeing little rippled in the air - or perhaps he was seeing them. He focused some more and smiled to him, "I wonder if men can actually do sorcery." He decided it was time to find out. He pocketed his wand and made his way back in to town. The strangers from the ships were mingling about as shops opened up. Alex saw in the newspaper that the strangers were from a land called Aura and were welcomed officially by parliament yesterday. "So that's that then, we have new friends." He stopped by a sorcery temple on his way home and saw there were people here. This temple was not as well off as the inner city temple had been. There were still rows of benches for people to sit on, but there were no expensive riches shown off here. Alex approached one of the acolytes of sorcery and she smiled to him. "Sister," he asked, "will we hear from the Sorceress about these strangers? They float cities across the water and fly through the air as if they weigh nothing." She had been expecting these sorts of questions and she said down with Alex to discuss. "Alex," she said as he had visited this temple many times before, "she is not going to get involved in matters of diplomacy and peace. Her place is in the war room." Alex nodded his head, "I guess, but what if we can learn from them? what if they know more about sorcery than we do?" The acolyte nodded her head, "The thought had crossed my mind too. They seem friendly though, don't you think? Perhaps if we are good to them, they will be good to us in return." Alex was consoled... for now, he went home and opened up his pilfered book of sorcery and flicked past several chapters to find something that sounded easy to try. He lifted up his wand and pointed it to an old oil painting hanging on the wall of a tree. With a swish of his wand and a few thoughts as described in the book followed by some special words, he attempted to transform it in to a mirror. He'd always wanted a mirror but they were very expensive. Nothing happened. He hadn't really expected it to work. He shut the book and put his wand on top of it. "Well I guess I can sell you both on the black market for a pretty penny." He grinned at this decision to make a quick buck. As he turned around to make himself some lunch, he looked in shock at the shining mirror hanging from his wall where the oil painting once hung. Alex could not believe his eyes. He rubbed them several times and looked at his reflection in the mirror. His face was covered with soot - so were his hands. This would not have bothered him two days ago, but seeing the strangers all clean made him wonder if may be he couldn't be a little more presentable. He smiled at himself in the mirror and become a little enchanted at his own reflection. This was not the first mirror Alex had used obviously but it took him minutes, none the less, to realize that something was very wrong with his mirror. In it was his reflection alright - but nothing of the world behind him. He started to feel unsettled by the experience and looked away. When he glanced back, he saw his reflection staring at him straight on and he felt a chill run up and down his spine. He grabbed his wand and book and dashed around the corner, out of the line of sight of the mirror and quickly flicked through the pages back to the spell. "The cursed mirror of ash," he said reading the title of the spell with a gulp. "It was said that the sorceress once had a cousin who was obsessed with her own reflection, so she made a special mirror for her. The longer the cousin stared at her own reflection, the more her essence was drained from her until she turned to ash white and was consumed by the mirror." He felt utterly ill - his first experiment with magic and he had created a weapon of evil. He kept reading, "After the cousin had perished, the sorceress took pity on the family and tried to destroy the mirror. With the life force of a vain but innocent girl trapped inside it, the mirror resisted all attempts to be destroyed. It is currently locked away in a dungeon, hidden from all view for fear that it may grow stronger." Alex snapped the book shut and his eyes were wide with fear. If the sorceress couldn't destroy the mirror she made, what hope did he. He grabbed a blanket and snuck up against the wall, trying to get at the mirror side long until he was right on top of it, then quickly jumped it and wrapped it with the blanket until it was hidden from view. "I'll just put you away here..." he muttered to himself as he slid the covered mirror behind a cupboard, facing the wall. ~~ Academy of Lies Alex knew he needed to be more careful with his sorcery. For one, he didn't want to be found out and locked up for the crime of even reading the book - let alone doing magic for himself. But more important - he didn't want to make the mistake of creating something like that mirror again. The next few weeks he spent reading the book from cover to cover. The topics ranged from elemental manipulation, to transformation, to teleportation and the manipulation of energy. To be honest though, much of it was beyond his comprehension. The book was only as good as the people who explained it to you when you went to do it for real. As the days passed by, Alex would try a little spell here and there, to make his life a little easier. But it rarely worked right. One night, instead of lighting his fireplace to cook dinner normally, he attempted to throw a fireball at the wood. The fireball worked, the wood burst in to flame, but the wood also exploded around the room and he had to stamp out several mini fires quickly before his apartment burnt down. Alex started to notice changes in the city now that the Aurans were wandering about freely. There had been celebrations in the streets and the vendors were loving the extra business. The city had never been as busy as this. The parliament palace was holding nightly parties and functions and during the day was the source of negotiations between the city and the Aurans. Fashion was starting to change too and Alex was trying to keep up - people now bothered to wash themselves up properly, to get rid of the soot. Some of the buildings were even being cleaned up and bright white woods were being exposed underneath just like in the paintings of old. But other things started to change too that had Alex worried. He was seeing more and more temples of sorcery closing up for no explicable reason. No one even mentioned it in the daily papers. It was just simply happening. He'd see Auran military wandering the streets and enjoying the bars as if they owned the place and then disappear in to buildings during the day time. Alex became curious and decided to investigate. He was trying to memorize the spells because he assumed that was what the sorcery acolytes were required to do to graduate. He saw Aurans enter a non- descript building tucked away in the shadow of a taller building. Next to it was a bar, so he went inside and went in to bathroom where he was alone. He plucked out his wand and pointed it at the wand. With a flick and a spell he gave himself a way to hear and see what was going on inside. What he saw shocked him - maps of the city, some sort of listening equipment, they were listening to conversations from parliament, from the negotiations, from secure rooms where they weren't meant to be heard. But what was weirder, they had on their map marked several places for rich known citizens and places where the sorcery temples are unpopular. He disengaged his spell and put his wand away and pondered over what he just saw.... the Aurans were spying on them! There was only one place he could go with this information if the parliament wasn't secure. There was absolutely no way the Aurans could spy on the Sorcery Academy. He made up his mind - the acolytes must know, their city was under attack from within under the guise of smiles and fashion and commerce. He left the bar and headed to the center of town where the glorious Sorcery Academy had been established some eighty years ago. It was not the home of the Sorceress, that was a tower up in the hills that overlooked the city. But it was the primary source of all things sorcery in Ferron. Alex knocked on the large wooden doors of the grand sorcery temple and waited. Nothing. He knocked again and tried to peek inside through gaps in the walls. Nothing, the place looked quiet. He decided this was too important to ignore and he would take the rap for entering a forbidden place later. He walked around to a side door and drew his wand. With a flick, the lock popped open and the door opened up in to an empty kitchen. He walked in to the deserted kitchen, dumb founded - pots and pans were laid out and vegetables on the tables were rotting away. He progressed further in to what appeared to be a barracks. There were rows and rows of empty bunks with peoples possessions at the base on them untouched for days. Alex started to run through the building... he made it out in to the grand court yard... nothing, no one. There was no one here at all - impossible! there were hundreds of sorceresses in the temple on any given day. He made his way inside to the great hall that he had only seen paintings of. The room was huge, with marbled floors and stained glass windows. It must seat hundreds of women to learn the teachings of the temple. But no one was here at all. Alex sat down on one of the seat and looked around, biting his bottom lip in concern. If the sorceresses weren't here - perhaps they were already trying to fight the Aurans and for what ever reason they had to abandoned the temple? He could think of only one thing to do - investigate further. The answers he seeks must be down in the forbidden vault. He made his way down the stone steps in to the caverns below. None of the torches were lit any more, so he used his wand to carefully light one and walked along with it down the corridors until he came to a large door protected by a magical shield. There was only one way through that door... a woman had to prove her sorcery skills to enter. Alex could see the magical lock at work, changing from second to second. It was tricky and definitely a challenge. But one other thing was abundantly clear... attempting to open the door would open his body to the magic of the lock itself and if he were not female, he would be ripped apart by its magical gears and machinations. Alex stepped back from the door and looked around. The temple was deserted, their new found Auran friends were clearly enemies... he really had no choice. He made up his mind, he'd really stretch his magical abilities today to get inside this vault. He walked away from the door and in to an ante chamber where he spotted a mirror earlier and stood in front of it. Peering at his reflection, he lifted his wand and pointed it at the mirror so that the spell would reflect back on to him where he aimed it accurately. "Why not start with my hair," he said to himself and gave his wand a flick. His short scruffy blonde hair began to grow out over his shoulder, tickling his neck and shoulders as it grew down to his mid back. The extra weight on his head was a revelation and he considered, "How about...." he started to say but his hand was faster than his words as he flicked his wand. His brown hair lightened a few shades in to a honey blonde. He smiled at it and gave his head a flick. "Who knew disguises would be so easy." Alex pulled his mass of hair back behind his ears and then knew he shouldn't dally, so he continued his work. He motioned the wand over his reflection. This was a spell he had been using on himself since he perfected... a spell to clean up his skin fully. His skin glowed from head to toe as all the soot and dirt washed away leaving him clean as a whistle. With another flick of his wand he decided to get serious and watches as his stature thinned out and his muscle tone diminished subtly, rearranging itself. He stopped and put his hands to his hips, feeling their widening totally change his stance. He shuffled his feet about to get a better feel for his new center of gravity. He felt more stable like this and his tummy had never looked so trim. His butt looked bigger to him as he looked over his shoulders. "Okay, in for a penny, in for a pound." The big spell took several motions with his wand as his chest started to fill out underneath his shirt as his genitalia inverted between his legs, his penis becoming a canal and his balls drawing inside himself as ovaries. He took a deep breath, as if he'd just been kicked in the crotch and chest. The extra weight on his chest was a surprise, but the airy feeling between his legs was just shocking. He? no... officially a her. She looked at her figure in the mirror and tugged her top up off of her head to look at the breasts now perky on her chest. She tugged down her pants over her wide hips and looked at the alien vagina between his legs. "Well," he said and surprised himself by hearing a male voice reflected on a female body. He nods to himself, "Yes, finish things." He motioned to his neck and his adams apple disappeared as his voice tightened up an octave. She cleared her throat and said "Hello... hello" To her surprise, she now sounded very feminine and she smiled. Now, Alex knew she had to finish up and get to work. She focused on her face, it had to be passable. With subtle flicks of her wand she used what she had learned to manipulate her face... his cheekbones become more prominent as her lips filled out and her eyebrows arched. The subtle changes did wonders and she stopped to admire her reflection. She turns this way and that and flicked her hair about. "Hey stranger," she said to her reflection and flashes a toothy white smile at herself. Laughing she gathered up her clothes and awkwardly pulled them back on, stretching them to the point where the stitching started to break. She rushed back to the magical door and could already feel it starting to respond to her presence, reaching out to her and inviting her to accept its challenge. She tried to understand the way it worked and started to flick her wand at it, trying this and that. The secrets of the door were always kept from initiates so it was not unusual for someone to fumble about with the lock and get things wrong. After a moment, Alex slumped and suddenly realized the door was reacting to her position in the room. She started to walk around and watched as the magical locks changed differently as time progressed. Hours passed as she toyed with it and started to figure out how to undo the magical combination - her mind entered a whole new abstract realm of magic only previously described in the book but never experienced in her day to day life as a mundane boy. Suddenly, the door made a loud -bang- and began to open itself up. She stopped and caught her breath as it opened up in to a large dark chamber. She grabbed her torch and entered the vault. There were columns holding the roof up for as far as she could see in the gloom... but nothing else. Not a book, not a shelf, not a desk, not a soul, not a note... nothing at all. Alex slumped down, "What does it mean? did I do it wrong... or is it meant to be empty?" Distraught and downhearted, she started to make her way back out of the vault and up the stairs. Half way up she was suddenly interrupted by the appearance of twenty armed Auran soldiers. "You!," they said catching her off guard, "You're our prisoner." ~~ Up high, in the sky The Aurans did not want anyone to know they were taking people prisoner, obviously... as evidenced by the way Alex was forcefully taken in a long black cloak with a white mask forced over her face to hide her identity - not that anyone would have recognized her. She felt so foolish for being captured like this. She was escorted through back allies and eventually found her way on to a docked airship. Once on board she was lead through hallways and then put in a sell. Her wand was not even taken from her, which she found very puzzling. She'd have fought back if she knew how... the only real weapon she knew of was that fireball, but she knew she couldn't perform it faster than they could run her through with a sword at these distances. Once inside the cell, the locked the steel doors shut and said, "The captain will be along shortly to interrogate you. Don't bother screaming, no one who can hear you will care." The guards walked away. The ground beneath her feet began to shake as the airship was unlashed and began to rise back in to the sky. Alex was scared and confused - how dare foreigners invade their sacred sorcery temple and arrest a woman, albeit a fake woman, right inside the premises. Something was very wrong. Alex knew she didn't want to be interrogated. The fools apparently had no concept of what a wand was. She plucked it from her waist band and gave it a twirl in her fingers and point it at her cell door lock. Lacking the subtlety she had applied transforming her own body, she melted the lock with an intense burst of the fire elemental. There was a bright green blue flash from the lock that blinded her for a moment - but no one came to investigate. Breathing again, she opened the door and snuck out, wearing only the cloak they left on her - the mask she left in the cell, and her mostly ruined boy clothes, she began to sneak down the corridor. The guards seem occupied with their duty roster and the fact that the airship was taking off. Time to show these false friends just how deadly the weapon of Ferron is... sorcery. She lifted her wand up to the ceiling and then gave a whistle. The male soldiers turned around and saw her standing there looking incredibly hot in that cloak and holding a little twig above her head. Their look of amusement was short lived as she give it a flick and the lot of them dropped to the floor unconscious. "Fools, they know nothing about our magic." She smiled to herself and snuck out of the guard room and found herself on a balcony outside. The wind was rushing by as they raised higher and higher from the ground... how could she get down now? She made her way along the perimeter of the airship trying to find some way to get down again. She pondered that perhaps she would have to blow the whole thing up and force them to land it for her to escape. Alex realized she had walked in front of the control room and was looking in at several soldiers, the captain and what appeared to be the prince of Auran standing there looking back at her. She quickly made a dash for it back the way she came. Prince Arren of the Auran Empire watched in surprise as a woman wearing a prisoners cloak walked her way out in front of the bridge outside of the airship as it was taking flight. Anyone from Aura knows that's a good way to fall off the ship to your death - but not these Ferrons. He saw her pretty blonde hair and her shapely figure under that cloak and couldn't help but grin. Several of the guards around him jumped to action and ran out through the port door and chased after her. The Prince popped his head out to watch the amusing situation. To his surprise, he saw the girl had wonderful balance running along the edge of the ship. She turned toward her pursuers and lifted what appeared to be a stick. She pointed it at them like a weapon and the men went to draw their pistols before they suddenly dropped to the deck unconscious. The princes eyebrows shot up and his eyes made contact with the girl. Smugly, she waved to him, smirked and ran off. Arren ducked his head back inside and turned to the captain. "I think I'm in love." Captain Serov was a seasoned airship polite and had been in many wars lead by the Auran royalty. This was the princes first conquest and he was skeptical of his tactics and leadership at first... but so far things had been going amazingly well. The city seemed to have little to no resistance. "Don't get ahead of yourself Arren," he said addressing the young prince of 19 by his first name. The two were familiar, Serov was like an uncle to the prince, "You can have any woman you want from the city once it is under our rule." The prince just shook his head. "You don't understand... she's the one, I can feel it. I must know who she is." He paused a moment and then turned back to Serov. "Begin the invasion." Alex meanwhile had made her way to the rear of the airship where giant blades spun for no apparent reason to her. She decided this must be part of the magic that made this vessel fly. She lifted her wand and melted the first blade. The second kept on turning and the ship started to veer to the left. Horns sounded around her and she grabbed on to the nearest rope to hold on tight. The ship started to descent back toward the city. When it was near the ground, she jumped down and -ran-. ~~ Power of the Sorceress Alex was running for her life. She looked behind her and troops were pouring out of the airship with rifles. They were spreading out and some started to pursue her. She knew the streets well and knew she would lose them easily. However, just then, the air around the city started to explode as the fleet of ships began to fire their big guns on the city. The ships began to sail in toward the bay as well and legions of soldiers flooded off the ships. The city watch was rapidly hit by strike times prepared by the listening post intel. Critical parliament officials were killed off immediately and in mere moments, the city was in chaos and under intense siege. Alex made it back to her apartment and caught her breath. She cursed loudly, "Fuck!" and jumped on to her bed and hugged the pillow. "By the Sorceress what is going on? Why isn't she protecting us!" Alex began to cry in to her pillow, not quite understanding why she would do that but it felt like she couldn't stop it even if she tried. The shelling from the great ships guns continued in to the night and there were screams and gunfire all over the city. Some of the citizens were fighting back but for the most part, the fighting was sporadic. Some of the watch must have survived... some of the sorceresses must be around -somewhere- ready to fight the Aurans and take the city back, right? What is the Sorceress were trapped some how in her tower? Alex finally snapped out of her funk and realized there was only one thing she could do... she must go to the sorceresses tower and find out what is going on. Hopefully meet up with the sorceress army and help fight to defeat the invaders. She looked at her wardrobe and frowned... all her clothing was designed for a man. She was not in any condition to repeat the transformation she had done upon herself in the temple, especially not without a mirror. So she decided to alter one of her outfits. She took her long pants and tunic and began to tweak it with her wand, adjusting it until the tunic would fit over her chest and support it. She put that on, then slipped on her pants and tied it off with some rope. She decided that the dark cloak would actually help her now that it was night time, so she pulled that back on her and snuck out in to the night. Resistance was light - there were groups of troops standing at corners, lighting up the roads with their torches. Alex developed a technique for dealing with them. First, she would use a touch of air to blow out their lanterns... then as they grabbed their arms, she would sneak up and put them to sleep as she had done with so many others. It was slow going, check point after check point, to get up in to the hills. As she got closer to the tower, she notices a marked build up of enemy troops - they were attempting to breach the walls of the tower but apparently unsuccessfully. Alex felt her heart jump - the tower was resisting the invaders, perhaps there was hope yet inside. She made her way up to one of the walls and felt an oddly familiar feeling from the walls of stone themselves. It was just like the door inside the sorcery temple that guarded the vault. She looked around at the guards and followed the feeling. It led her away from the main entrance to the tower and around to an otherwise unremarkable piece of wall. She could see the magic and it was even more complicated than the vault was. If she were to get answers, she would have to get through this wall. This entryway was quite different to the vault. She could feel it poking at her, almost like it was alive. It seemed to be probing her feelings... the feelings of fear, urgency and desperation seemed to spike the walls interest and the stones began to shift and open up before her. She quickly entered and then stones closed behind her. The grounds leading up to the tower were chaos... the trees were overgrown, the grass long, the water features filled with stagnant pools. No one has tended to these gardens for a very long time. She made her way through the tall grass to the nearest door of the tower and entered. There were no further magical locks now... just lots and lots of stairs all the way to the top of the tower. What surprised her, despite the towers size, there were absolutely -no- rooms in the tower until the very top. Inside the top tower was a strange room, filled with contraptions Alex had never seen before. The walls were covered with books and in the center was a large workbench. She approached the bench and on it found a diary. The diary was left open on the last page dated from almost ninety years ago. "I cannot stay in Ferronis any longer, he broke my heart and I have to move on." Alex mouthed the words to herself, "Ferronis, that was the old name of the city. Ninety years ago? But that means the sorceress hasn't been here for ninety years! that's not possible, the temple of sorcery has been putting out her word for years." Alex felt dizzy, confused, betrayed. She sat down on the nearest table and felt something underneath her full rear. She jumped back up and looked at what appeared to be a wand. She picked up the wand and felt a power wash over her like one she had never felt before. This was truly a powerful wand. She put her wand down on the table and swished this new wand through the air - it crackled with power. She could see reality distorting just moving the thing. "This must be the wand of the sorceress," she mused to herself, "I've never seen a sorceress wield a power like this before." Alex walked over to the window and saw down below the soldiers trying to burn their way through the tower gates. It was possible they might succeed eventually. She knew what she had to do - if the sorceress was a lie and no one was here to save them, perhaps the sorcery acolytes were a lie too and simply ran when they sensed trouble was approaching. But with this wand... Alex could make a difference. ~~ Day of Liberation The gates to the tower flew up and behind them stood a stunningly beautiful young woman with honey blonde hair. She wore a simple outfit of pants and tunic and over that, one of the Auran secret prisoner cloaks. The soldiers at the gate flew back as the gates slung open and more moved in and leveled their rifles at the stranger emerging from this high priority target location. Alex smirked and with the smallest of movement made a circle with the powerful wand. The air crackled and exploded around the soldiers. Their flesh ripped and exploded apart, decimating the unit in mere seconds. The air around the tower fell quiet and slowly the citizens in the neighborhood slowly started to come out of their homes to see what had happened. Alex strode confidently out of the gates and in to the street. Only once she was out there that she realized her mistake - she was talking in blood guts everywhere. An elderly woman ran over with a towel and started to clean the entrails off of her as more people gathered around. They were silent for minutes until one of them shouted, "The sorceress has come to save us!" More cheers went up and Alex, stunned, could not get a word in edge wise to tell them that she was not the sorceress. She was hoisted up on to their shoulders and the cheers started to attract attention. The revelry was short lived as it attracted more enemy soldiers who opened fire on the people. Alex didn't quite know what to do - there were too many people and they were being shot down before she could even react. She started to take out the enemies one by one but soon they were shooting at her instead! She found herself reaching deep inside herself, slowing down time, dodging the bullets barely. A bullet hit her shoulder and she fell to the ground - time sped up and went in to overtime. Soldiers stormed the place and soon she found herself in custody once more. This time, they took away her wand. The Aurans had taken over the parliament palace. Alex had never been in to this building before, but had seen paintings of it - the paintings looked better than this place was fairing now. Sitting on a thrown was Prince Arren. A soldier brought the wand to him and he held it though no magic came from it in his grasp. She was thrust to the ground before him. "You!" he said and instead of getting angry... he laughed. Arren escorted her in to a private room and offered her a chair. Alex took the chair and watched him with eyes screaming daggers. This was the man that had attacked her city under the guise of a friend. "You bastard!," Alex began, "you came here with open arms and then you spy on us, abduct us and now you shoot us! You are a monster." Arren seemed a little amused by this as he circled around her. He looked quite stately in his battle armor of silver, bleaming in the light, ornate sword at his side. This was his first conquest but it was a revenge conquest. "Let's start with your name," he said, that grin of amusement still on his face. Alex started to feel very uneasy around him. It was clear he was seeing her as a woman, not as a man. This was not a mode of interaction that Alex was used to at all. She was definitely used to being just another guy in the room, not a beautiful woman captured by an enemy prince. "Alex," she replied, not really thinking about it. "Alexandria," Arren assumed, "a beautiful name for a beautiful sorceress. My name is Prince Arren Auran. Yes, we know about your magic now. When I first arrived I saw no sign of it - until you came aboard my airship and started waving your wand around." Alex was lost for words. No sign of it? How could that be - the sorcery acolytes performed miracles every day. But now that she thought about it, from what she had learnt in the manual of sorcery, ... the wording... they were all fables, stories of times past, things that had been done by the Sorceress, nothing recent... none of the magical research they kept talking about. All the spells she had seen as a young lad growing up were parlor tricks compared to what she had been doing this past week. Arren continued, "But you are not her." He turned from her and pulled up a chair himself, "so I'm going to level with you. We came here looking for a woman... a woman who is the biggest criminal in the world. She developed a weapon so powerful she could destroy whole nations with just a thought. We call her the bringer of dust." He drew a finger over a table top, bringing soot up with it and then lifted it up to Alex, "This is the dust she brings. That war your people avoided a hundred years ago? She -was- the war." Alex was shocked. That diary she read, it was all over a man. She had obliterated the entire north over a man, then left as if nothing had been a problem. Arren paused and said, "You call her the sorceress, the savior of your nation. We came here to capture her, hold her accountable for her crimes against humanity. But when we got here, your government refused to give her up and threatened to obliterate us with her great powers if we refused to leave." Alex frowned, "No, they would never say such things. You're lieing." Alex already knew it was the truth and she felt totally crushed, her heart was clenched up, broken, beaten and everything she knew about sorcery was based on evil. That wand she wielded, it had probably killed millions of people out of emotions run amok. "You can't blame us for what she did." Arren nodded to her and Alex was starting to find this charming young prince far too reasonable. Arren continued, "We cannot - we searched your city and found only one place we could not enter. We were ready to leave when suddenly we saw you use magic on our airship. At that point, I thought perhaps you were she. We had no choice but to launch our invasion - if you were she, we would have been in big trouble not to take control. But now that I have you, I know you are not her. I did not truly think you were her when I first saw you..." He paused and then continued, "In fact, I thought you were the coolest girl I'd ever seen." Alex stared at him, wide eyed... flattery in a situation like this. She slapped him firmly on the face and suddenly wished she'd punched him instead. "Well I've been in her tower - she's not here. She left 90 years ago!" Arren nodded again and sighed sadly, rubbing his cheek, "I see. But the damage is done. What can we do now but to stay and help rebuild? Your society has been kept in the dark ages by this religion of sorcery you have. You've seen our naval ships, our airships, our wealth." He looked back to her, "We are having a celebration - of my victory... in about an hour. Please... would you come? perhaps you can help me put things in perspective" Alex was shocked still. This guy was persistent, constantly looking at her as a woman and not an enemy. "What? You can't be serious" His puppy dog like look made her realize he was very smitten with her. This man controlled the fate of the city. Perhaps... perhaps she could use a different kind of sorcery on him. She could manipulate his heart to get him to let the city free. "Fine," she said after a moment of contemplation. Arren clapped his hands and jumped up, "Excellent! My tailors will be in momentarily." Alex was none too pleased at his sudden elation at her acceptance. He strode to the door and looked back to her, "See you at the event... Alex" He winked to her and then left. Alex was left feeling flustered and confused. Was it true that her people had been kept in a dark age by believing the temple of sorcery could do things they could not? that the power of the wand was some weapon that had come from a land far away? Alex didn't know what to think any more. The tailor and his crew made their way in to the room and came bearing Auran gifts of fashion. Alex was compelled to behave, especially since there were guards with guns there too. Without either of the wands, she was just a regular person with no way to transform herself back in to the man she once was. The Auran women wore corsetry, and that was first. A garment that wrapped around her waist and was cinched up tightly, making it hard for her to breath. She was provided with comfortable silk underwear though and bra. Then, a long amazingly beautiful white silk gown was presented to her. She felt incredibly stupid wearing something like that, but had to admit, in the mirror, the effect was stunning. They applied some jewelry, rings for her fingers, a necklace of glittering gold and pierced her ears with diamond studs. She had never ever seen anyone dressed like this before, let alone been dressed this way. Finally, she was made to wear white high heeled shoes with three inch heels. It was awkward to walk on them. She was escorted to the grand ball room of parliament where the Aurans and certain politicians were gathered, making small talk, as if a bloody coup had not just taken place. The remaining politicians were clearly traitors. She stared angrily at them until Arren approached her. He was dressed in an ornate white suit of a prince. He offered his hand and, for appearances sake, took it. He guided her on to the dance floor as the Auran band began to play one of the local dances. Alex had never danced it from this side before and Arren was just awful at it. Arren began to talk to her, "I'm in a bit of a pickle. I want the fighting in the streets to end but the people believe so heavily that the sorceress will save them, they won't give up. You and I know that she will not be coming back." Alex knew he was making sense. "But the people have also seen you perform the miracles of magic out in the open and defeat my troops." Alex smirked at this as she danced closely with him. He was handsome and being this close to a man of such power was having a strange effect on her mind and body. Arren continued, "So I had a thought - what if we presented a lie upon a lie and had you be the daughter of the sorceress. They know your face, they know your power, it would be easy to believe." Alex huffed softly and asked, "Where are you going with this Prince Arren?" Arren smiled and changed up the dance a bit. The others dancing around them moved out of the way, not wanting to be the people who stumbled up the prince. "Well it's simple really. If you are the daughter of the sorceress, the people will listen to you. You marry me." Alex lost her footing and stumbled in to him. Her face exploded red and she had to catch her breath. She coughed and caught her breath. Arren seemed amused. Alex's head swirled and she shook her head, "There's no way... no way... none..." But the more she said it, she realized he was given her the city back. "... and the city would be free?" Arren nodded his head, "Yes. I'd leave you to rule it, as my wife... I must push to the north, to see if there are survivors, but this city will be my new capitol on this continent. The second Auran... and you would be my Princess and wife." Alex felt her body turn to jello against him and she knew there was no way she could say no. Everything he had said had been so reasonable. She looked him in the eyes and did not see a brutal dictator there... instead, a man willing to let the city go back to the way it was, sans the influence of the evil sorceress. She opened her mouth, shut it again, not daring to say the words. Alex found herself kissing Arren as he seized the advantage and kissed her deeply. She shut her eyes and kissed back, never having really been this close to a person in this way before - especially at such a disadvantage. As the kiss ends, she breathes in heavily and whispers, "I do."