"Well somebody better figure it out right now!" Nyar stomped on his own carpet, ready to pull his hair with the current situation. Jane is passed out on the couch, and her hands are glowing with Leray magic, something that shouldn't exist beyond the world of the veil. Something is happening that shouldn't. Either the veil's range of protection is a lie, or Jane is something extra special, and a danger to us all.
Danny understood why Nyar was so frustrated right now. None of this makes any sense. "I don't know what to do yet Nyar, but we'll figure it out."
Nyar pointed to Jane from afar, with his eyes fixed on Danny. "That girl is able to use magic outside of her home." Condensing his point to the boy, Nyar felt the only option remaining. "She is a danger to society, and she must be sent back to Sprawn Valley immediately."
"What?!"
Danny stationed himself in between the living room and Nyar, ignoring Taylor's reaction to handle this herself. He wasn't going to let Nyar make any kind of decision like that. Jane Venn? A danger to society? Give it a rest Nyar. That's just going another line too far. "Jane Venn is not somebody else's weapon or tool you can use at your disposal, and she isn't a danger to anyone."
"With those auras around her hands, I beg to differ kid!"
"All you've done since she's got here is mock the place where she comes from, and try to destroy her concept of living. And now you want to just ship her back like it's somebody else's problem? I can't believe you right now Nyar!"
"She is somebody else's problem. She has a family back home who can treat her."
Danny argued a counter point, "And probably criminals who now know of her existence, who want to study her for that stupid symbol."
"What is with you people and this symbol nonsense?"
Nyar doesn't even understand the concept of magic markings, yet he would dare take control of her life? "That symbol inside of her hand must be responsible for this. It's the only logical explanation I can think of right now. But you will stop treating her like some dumb kid."
"She is a kid, and so are you Danny!"
"She's a seventeen year old fighter going through something that nobody here understands. The least I'm going to do is help her out!"
Nyar felt the need to restrain Danny and Taylor, just to force Jane on a ride back to her home. They're all being irrational right now. This is dangerous stuff! Fortunately for the both of them, the sudden noise of a cellular phone ringing distracted everyone. Danny stepped away first, heading to pick up the mobile device and find out who was trying to contact him.
It was Jane's cell phone that was ringing. Danny's was somewhere else in the house. Being that Jane can't answer the phone herself, Danny took it upon himself to pick up on the other line, with a fairly certain idea of who would be on the other end. "Nyar residence?"
"Danny? It's me, Danton. I would like to ask Jane Venn a few questions if you don't mind."
So it is Danton. What a perfect opportunity to get some answers. "It's Danton," Danny called while covering the speaker of Jane's cell phone. The identifier held Nyar's attention, and that of Taylor's. "I'm sorry Danton, but Jane can't speak right now. We're having a problem."
"Is it something serious? What happened?"
"We were jumped by your criminal cult! And Jane's symbol came online despite being away from the veil!"
"What?!"
Danny's ears hurt momentarily from how loudly Danton reacted over the phone. Obviously, Danton wasn't expecting that kind of news, but still, this guy knows something nobody else does. "She's unconscious right now. I think she did something and now it's affecting her health. Danton, you're going to start giving us answers right now. I want to know what that symbol is. How can Jane use magic outside of the veil? That shouldn't be physically possible!"
Moments of silence passed on the other end of the phone, prompting Danny to become more aggressive about the situation. "Hello? Danton, you better start giving me answers this instant."
"This isn't supposed to happen. I don't know what's going on."
"You know something!"
"Were the Scarlets you encountered using magic too?"
"No," Danny replied. "Just Jane. She turned on her symbol, went berserk, and then passed out. We barely escaped with our lives."
"What happened?"
Danny was distracted from the voice behind him. Taylor called his name to the living room, showing Jane now awake and struggling to sit up in her place. Her hands were barely lighting up anymore, but they were still sparking to a small degree. "She's awake!"
Nyar didn't know what to do. This is all happening so fast. But Danton... That guy on the other end of the phone knows something is going on. What is their connection with the champion of Leray magic?
Jane panned the area around her, but her vision was slightly blurry, her head pounding. Though the scariest thing that freaked her out to a faster state of alertness were the blue painful sparks in the palms of her hands. "What's happening to me? Taylor!"
"I'm right here Jane. Try to relax."
Danny stepped right behind Taylor to reveal himself to Jane. She was fully awake right now, but her pain was also obvious. Taylor felt her forehead again, and turned to Danny to report the existence of a low-grade fever. "Just relax right now Jane. We're figuring this out for you."
"What happened? I don't remember..." Jane tried to think back as far as she could. The last thing she remembered so vaguely was the torture given to her by her captors. "I was kidnapped! But I don't remember anything beyond that!"
"I'm sorry Jane," Taylor apologized, "but your symbol came online. I don't think you were awake for it, but we're back home now."
"My symbol?" Jane freaked, staring down at her blank arm. "My symbol came on in New York?! This can't be happening! That's not possible!"
"I'm going to have déjà vu and a fever of my own later," Nyar remarked.
Chapter Theme Shift:
Danny pressed a button on the phone, placing Danton on speaker mode as he placed the phone on the couch beside Jane. "Danton? She's awake now."
"You called Danton?"
"I called you," Danton corrected through the speakerphone. "You're symbol came online despite being outside of the veil," he summarized. "Tell me exactly what you can remember, what happened in that moment. It might help me determine what symbol this thing is."
"I told you, I don't remember anything except for pain," Jane explained. "It was just pain, and then tingling all over. That's all I can remember."
Danny interrupted this nowhere diagnosis to add his version of detail. "Jane used her magic to fight back against the Scarlets, but I don't think she was fully aware of the situation. She just blasted people with invisible force and unusual bolts of energy until they all fell unconscious. She didn't seem to care about distinctive differences in her targets."
"There is no doubt about it then," Danton surmised. "If Jane wasn't using those familiar spells you've seen before, then the magic source she used was pure lunar energy."
But, "I thought you said it wasn't possible to use pure lunar magic. You need a veil, right?"
"Wrong. The veil enables Leray magic converted from lunar magic. But without the veil, any trained mage can use lunar energy in its raw form, usually at the cost of their own life. I must assume that Jane is critically injured from her incident?"
"I'm a little okay," Jane stretched.
Danny spoke for Jane back to Danton, since he wasn't here to see all of the bruises and scars all over Jane's body. "Emphasis on a little. Her hands are sparking up like a storm."
"I've never heard anything like that."
"But I have," Danny reminded. "It happened just shortly after she was marked by the spell bomb. Jane never came to the full power she demonstrated to you until a lot of time passed afterwards. But I can't believe it's actually possible to use pure magic outside of Sprawn Valley."
"Neither can I." Nyar finally had his share of the details he didn't want to hear, and he stepped further into the living room to make sure this bastard could hear him. "Champion of Leray magic. They should be calling you a criminal. How could you know something so important and keep it from everyone?!"
"Because the people I'm fighting right now want to use that information to exploit such a system. And I think they just figured out how to do it."
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
"How?"
"I don't have the time to explain the details over the phone. Jane? If what I'm thinking is true, your physical condition will deteriorate until you return to Sprawn Valley. You need to return here now and recharge your energy using the veil. Otherwise, you'll continue to grow sicker and weaker."
"I can't believe people trust Leray magic these days," Nyar spat. "But I will agree to send the girl back to Sprawn Valley."
"You can't!" Taylor cried. "If Jane is going back to Sprawn Valley..." She couldn't finish her thought just yet, as Taylor needed time to analyze the gravity of their situation. If Jane doesn't go back, she'll grow sicker and immobile.
Nyar ignored Taylor's useless tantrum, speaking only to Danton. "I'll go ahead and make the arrangements. But it's only because I want this nonsense out of my sight!"
"Nyar, was it?" Danton had to come clean with this familiar sensation sooner or later. "I understand why you and a lot of people don't like Leray magic. You aren't wrong to assume that it has hidden dangers. We've simply kept it hidden to make sure nobody taps into that raw power."
Nyar pranced in his certainty, despite what the others were feeling. "I knew I was right to assume how dangerous magic really is, but now I have to be even more paranoid. You have any idea how bad this is? People can use magic anywhere they want!"
"Not true," Danton corrected. "At least, it's not true yet. People who use lunar magic outside or inside of the veil usually don't live another week afterwards. Jane appears to be an exception to this rule, but I'll have to protect her new secrets from the Scarlet Syndicate, or else they will use it."
"Are you trying to tell me that there is no way to escape the possibility of a full world nightmare?" Nyar needed to know what to expect, how far this could stretch.
"There is no easy answer. I've been on damage control for years, and I know that people hate magic. I personally think they have a right to opt out of the system. But I also need you to trust me on this. Will Danny and Taylor be able to return to Sprawn Valley as well?"
"Hell no."
Danny and Taylor both stood up, facing Nyar in complete determination and defiance. "We're going back," they spoke simultaneously.
But it was Jane who struggled their argument; she sat up off the couch, holding onto both of their arms, begging for them to never return to such horrors ever again. "Don't do it." Jane sounded so weak in her voice; she could hear her own echo of noise broken by the damage in her voice and the loss of stamina. "You have family to visit. You need to go back home."
"Even your crazy friend understands what's at stake here."
"But I have no real family to return to. I'm not going back to Kalamo!"
Danny already knew everyone would understand Taylor's argument, but there was a reason for him to return to Sprawn Valley as well. It's a wonderful country, currently in peril when it could be the best place on Earth. Even if it weren't, Danny knew he could always visit Kalamo whenever he needed to. The credits he could generate with all of his skills as a Leray warrior would quickly draw in enough money for international cruises, or distant flights. "I know I need to visit my folks Nyar, but they're just going to have to wait longer. I'm going back to Sprawn Valley with Jane, and Taylor is coming with us too."
"I'm not letting you do that. You already know that Danton isn't asking you to go back there for sightseeing."
Jane's expression went confused, and she faced the cell phone set on the table. "Danton? Is that true?"
"It is. I want to have their skills, combined with your own and our elite forces to handle the situation here better. The Scarlet Syndicate has suddenly become hyperactive. They've been attacking all of our towns and cities, burning infrastructure to the ground, and it seems from our reports that this is all being done just to stir chaos in the faith of the people. Everyone is questioning our ability to wage war with these murderers, and worse, I've not been able to pinpoint or locate their leaders anywhere. The same could be said for their hideout. We also can't do too much to approach them. These guys use dark magic to defend themselves; that makes them a severe danger to society, and to our own armed forces."
Nyar twisted his fist in a rage, prepared to drive his wrist through the phone right now. "Sending my kids to some faraway land to fight a war for you is something I won't let happen. If you don't like how the people are using your magic, then just destroy the source right now, shut it all down."
"What?!" What is Nyar talking about? Jane refused to believe such a thing would even be possible, but Danton's mild hesitation made it all too believable!
"If we shut down our veil, it will raise too much awareness about how our system operates. With that, we'll simply have the Scarlet Cult setting up their own artificial veil in other cities around the world. Right now, we don't have the advantage, even if we were to kill the switch on our own magic, but I've seen Danny and Taylor battle with my own eyes. Together with Jane, I know they can defend themselves incredibly well. However, that decision is still up to you Nyar. You are their parent."
"Rightfully so."
"But, you're not our family!" Taylor stampeded in place, refusing to have Nyar control her decision to travel and help protect Jane.
"I warned you that I was going to try and shift legal custody of you over to me. I haven't succeeded just yet, but it's only a matter of time Taylor. You don't want to live with your original parents; I get that. But I'll be damned if I'm going to let you just waltz back into that hell hole I pulled you out of."
"I want to fight," Jane argued. "I want to go back to Sprawn Valley and fight these people. It's not because I'm addicted to magic Nyar. I just want people like you to stop having reasons to refer to Sprawn Valley as a hellhole. I've lived there all my life, and it really is a wonderful place to be. I won't justify people who would use dark magic to ruin everything."
Nyar knew Jane would partially agree with him on one level, but this needed to be set clear. "Maybe you can stop them, and maybe you can't. But Danny and Taylor are not your tools or weapons to use as you please."
"But we are our own people," Danny argued. "I'm making my decision to go back to Sprawn Valley. Taylor is making her own."
"You are not making that decision for yourself. Going back there will only get you pain and death!" Nyar had to try and keep them both here. There were many ways to force them to stay, but only being reasonable could this lead to the best outcome. "Look at you!" Nyar pointed directly to Jane, even though Danny and Taylor looked beaten up from their encounter just an hour ago. "Jane can barely sit up-right! She's in no condition to fight, and neither are the two of you!"
"If I may interject for a moment," Danton interrupted, "Jane's condition should improve within minutes of returning to a magical source of a veil. I presume her ability to fight is only a matter of time after returning to her home."
"Great," Nyar continued. "She can go, and these two stay with me."
To Nyar's response, Danny and Taylor edged themselves closer to Nyar in a threatening pose. Even Taylor had the nerve to act in such defiance, and she held out her arms as a protective gesture to keep Jane here. "Wherever Jane goes, we both go too."
Danny assisted Taylor's mentality in complete synchronicity. "If you send Jane back, Taylor and I will find our own way to Sprawn Valley without your help. If you don't send her back, it could kill her. Either way, I am not some puppet you need to protect. I can look after myself and others."
Chapter Theme Shift:
They were only making this worse than it needed to be, and it only frustrated Nyar further. "What is with you and your stupid attachment to that dangerous woman? Do you want to die over some stupid friendship? You're attachments to Jane aren't normal. They're irrational and meaningless!"
"You obviously know nothing about us!" Danny shouted to the top of his lungs, caring not what any lurking neighbors might hear. But this guy can't be real family, not if Nyar is willing to go this far, and stop them from doing the most important thing in the world over some stupid protective instinct. He couldn't be any more wrong about the three of them. "Jane is our best and only friend, and we're going to help her no matter what!"
"You would even be willing to die for her? Because that's all that will happen if you face criminals who use dark magic!"
"I won't die," Danny argued. "I'll do whatever it takes to keep myself, Taylor, and Jane all alive. They're both important to me! If you can't understand that, then you aren't my uncle, or anything like a father to me."
"Oh I understand this perfectly," Nyar retorted. "You've blinded yourselves by learning Leray magic, and it makes you feel so much tougher than the average person, right up until the point where you've gone into danger you can't handle, just like tonight!" Nyar reached for the laptop Danny used earlier to search for jobs and to track down a potential buyer for Jane's license card credit count. "Using this stupid machine!" He then smashed the screen of the computer over his knee in anger. Both of them seemed to ignore the destruction of Nyar's personal property.
"It won't happen again." Taylor spoke for herself too. She knew she could fight with the existence of the Leray veil. It will work, and Jane will fight too! There isn't anywhere she would rather be right now than Sprawn Valley, even amidst the dangerous new gangs cropping up.
Nyar pointed to them both, "You're right, it won't. I can't change your minds. So instead, I'll just have to use force to keep you here." He hated every word he had to grind through his teeth, but Nyar met his intentions as seriously as he could, pulling out a pair of plastic restraints used to tie the arms and legs together. They can't return to Sprawn Valley if they're virtually immobile. Thus, they won't get themselves killed over something so stupid.
He's going to restrain us? Nyar is going to go that far over this stupid charade? Danny knew what he had to do, and he swiftly swiped the glass vase off the coffee table in the center of the living room. With a solid hit of force at the edge, Danny effectively smashed the vase into several broken fragments of glass, but the end he was holding onto now shaped itself into a multi-pointed jagged edge of a lethal weapon. Without hesitation, Danny pointed the shank closely to Nyar, but not too close. He might try and swipe it out of Danny's hand. "Go ahead and try it, scum!"
At first, Taylor and Nyar both winced backwards in surprise. This isn't Danny. He would never threaten the life of his own uncle... No, he would. Nyar knew Danny would. He's been changed by that place, that horrible veil of evil magic. "You would really threaten my life?"
Danny twisted his head slightly to stretch, and he held the shank tightly, trying to keep his arm from trembling, to little success. "You threatened ours first. What kind of life would you have Taylor and I live out here? We've seen enough of this disgusting world. We've had enough of it, all of it!"
Nyar was careful where to step and how to move. His heart was racing just from the sight before him. Danny isn't old enough to understand any of this. He can't be if he's threatening to commit such a deadly sin... But now Taylor looks just as determined to help him, standing by his side, her fists balled up and ready. She's okay with this too? "Then I have obviously taught you wrong. You do this; kill me, and you'll regret it every single day that you live."
"I don't want to kill you Nyar." Danny felt the uneven fear in his tone, though he can't let go now. "But our life is mixed up with Jane right now, back in the place you keep calling hell. And if you try to separate us again, I will only consider that a threat to my own life, and grounds for self-defense!"
Taylor added with her readiness to fight a declaration of imminent war. "I'll be a part of this too. I've had experience dealing with people like you, pretending to be family, when all you want to do is control us any way you can. I may not be able to use magic, and because of Jane's condition, she can't invoke her magic either, but I don't need some stupid tool to fight for what I believe in."
"You must understand what I have been going through this entire time!" Nyar segmented. He had to get them to understand. Force won't work now. They're stronger now than they were before. Danny will hesitate to kill, but he'll still manage to get the job done. "Have you been paying any attention to the words Danton was speaking earlier? I've been right this entire time. Leray magic is something evil, something twisted and broken. But worse than that, it's something very dangerous to get involved in, and all you want to do is go back there, pretending to be heroes. I can't stand by and watch you die beside your beliefs!"
"You still fear magic," Danny pointed out, with a surprised expression. Nyar began to nod, but Danny didn't let him get away with that close confession. "Yes, you do! Leray magic, a tool powerful enough to create or destroy. It's just an objective concept, without any personification, but all I always hear out of you people is how evil it is. There are people in Sprawn Valley. People like us, people like Danton, and Mainne, and all of the General Army who want to use that power to protect our family, protect our friends!"
"And you'll just get yourselves all killed Danny. That is why I fight you on this."
Danny didn't give up, but he had to hold the glass shards out towards Nyar, keeping him in place. "Magic is nothing but a tool," Danny clarified. "It's not good or evil, fun nor deadly; it's just a tool. Like your common house pistol, or the automobiles people drive to work every day. Those are all tools too, and they are just as effective at killing people as anything else in this world. Leray magic is always only going to be as good as the people who try to use it. An evil person with a powerful tool is dangerous. But a good person with the same kind of power can be just as effective, if not more."
"Leray magic and dark magic are not the same thing."
"But they do come from the same source," Danny specified. "Isn't that right, Brash Danton?"
With the phone still powered, Danton had no choice but to listen to this horrible family fight. Even with such a serious question to be answered, he delivered on the promise to report only the truth. "The boy makes an excellent point. Both kinds of magic are exactly the same format with inverted wave patterns designed by intelligent mages."
Danny knew what to say, and how this system really works. Jane proved it to him over and over again. "Dark magic might seem more powerful than ordinary Leray magic, but Jane and I all have something even stronger. We're a team. Jane, Danny, and Taylor. The Scarlets might all be after the same thing, but they aren't united individuals. Their minds are twisted; their ideals are poisoned! They have noting on us."
Jane felt as if time stood still for them. The things Danny was saying, she's never heard anyone talk about Leray magic like that before. He calls it nothing but a tool, and yet still makes it sound wonderful attaching the practice to specific people. Is it true though? Is Leray magic nothing but a common house tool, usable for the same things under a different format?
"The world is a dangerous place," Danny reminded. The reminder went both ways too. His thoughts always circled back to the moment where he nearly killed Taylor on the cliffs by mistake, or that other time where Fronas was attacked by a single thief. Even Taylor's life is dangerous in a figurative way. She won't die becoming a Banshee slave, but that lifestyle leaves no room to live either. "But I've always faced it anyway, doing what I know is right. And no paranoid scrub like you is ever going to take away my ability to live with my family!"
"Am I not your family?"
"That's up for you to decide right now, but my home is not a subjective place Nyar. It's always been right here, with Taylor and Jane. We both make ourselves at home wherever we go. I love Taylor with all my heart, and Jane as my best friend. So you can count on me using this glass knife to make sure you don't try and prevent us from looking out for each other. Jane goes back to Sprawn Valley, and Taylor and I follow. Hell, you could come with us too if you are really that concerned, but we'll be the ones protecting you, not the other way around."
Nyar kept breathing, but it was getting more difficult to argue effectively against Danny's stupidity. What does he see in Leray magic? What does he see in himself that Nyar doesn't? There is something there, and it's not a blind sense of bravery or heroism. Magic... is nothing more than a tool that can be used by good and bad people, just like pistols, or any invention for the matter? That's what he said, and it isn't false. Good people won't ever use Leray magic to harm themselves, but will they willingly use it to fight such dangerous criminals? How could they possibly succeed? "And in all of this, you want to trust some guy on the phone, the same man who lied to everyone over all these years?"
Danton reacted by explaining himself to the best of his defense. "I think over all these years, the people in the outside worlds always understood there was a level of danger and lies to Leray magic. You felt it the most Nyar, even without ever getting yourself involved. Wanting to protect your children is both honorable and brave, but even with the truth out in the open, they want to help us fight for what our people want. A world full of Leray magic and possibilities, but also void of the corruption and taint of those who exploit it. Magic isn't dangerous. I see that now. Danny just thought of this in a way I never have. People are dangerous. Not magic; people."
"So what?" Nyar assumed sarcastically. "I just let them go, on their own adventures into a world full of dangerous people? You have any idea what you're asking of me?"
"He's not asking you anything," Taylor crept. "We're telling you what is going to happen here. And I'm not going anywhere to lay down and die. You honestly believe we would be stupid enough to let that happen to us?"
Nyar never felt so confused in all his life, and he held his head from the growing headache this was giving him. "Naaaaaaaaagh! I don't know anything anymore! How am I supposed to trust all of you? How am I supposed to trust this government that wants to cover everything up all the time?!"
Jane felt further on the outside. She never expected to see this kind of emotion in Danny, let alone either of them to go as far as threaten the lives of their own biological family. Is this right?
Danny sighed, and he casually tossed his only weapon to the side of the floor, breaking the glass further towards the side of the dining room. Taking the leap of faith he felt in his gut, Danny deliberately lessened his ability to seem threatening. "Taylor, grab Jane and get ready to pack our things... We're leaving."