Time Keeper (a magistream story) (Ch. 15)

[Phoenixwildfire]

ch. 10


Hunter and Stella sat in his room, laughing as Hunter told her of his many escapades with his brother when they were younger. They looked up as a knock sounded at the door, Hunter standing and answering the call.
“Excuse me sir, but Fram would like to speak to you again- he is waiting in the main hall for you.” The young boy’s voice said before footsteps scampered down the hallway.
“Who was that?” Stella asked curiously, still looking toward the door before she heard Hunter’s footsteps nearby.
“It was just a page.” He said, sounding nervous. “You wait here, I’m going to go see what he wants. It’s probably just something about the sorcerer.” He said, sounding as if he was trying to convince himself more than her.
“Alright.” Stella said, starting to feel uneasy as well. Why was he suddenly so worried?
“I’ll be back as soon as I can. Don’t open the door for anyone but me.” Hunter walked over to the door, opening it and shutting it behind him.
Stella wrapped her hands in her dress nervously, wondering what the older magi wanted to talk to Hunter about. Maybe they had found a cure for her sight? Or maybe…
Maybe they had decided she was too much of a danger.
She let out a soft groan of frustration when she knew she wouldn’t be able to know what was going on until Hunter came back and told her. She looked down as Remmy peeked from behind her hair, running down her arm to sit on her lap and squeak loudly.
“What?” Stella asked the small creature, who squeaked again and ran over to her hand, biting it hard.
She yelped in shock and took her hand away. “What was that for?” She asked hotly.
Remmy made another squeak and Stella gasped as the room came into view in her mind, hearing her own breathing and looking up at her own face.
Wait- did she really look like that? No, that couldn’t be her. She had brown hair- she remembered that distinctly from being a child.
Remmy squeaked again, the sound loud in her mind- as if it was her that was squeaking.
As if she was Remmy.
“Am I seeing what you’re seeing?” She gasped in shock, marveling at all the colors of the room. She could see! Through Remmy’s eyes, but at least she could see the room and what it looked like- all the deep greens and browns, the rich wood that everything was made of, the wooden staff that leaned against the wall…
Remmy squeaked again, running off Stella’s lap and into a hole in the keep’s walls.
The rat ran along the inside of the wall, jumping from ledge to ledge before meeting several other jerboa rats, who looked at him in interest.
Remmy squeaked quickly to them, waving his arms and flicking his tail before one of the females responded, squeaking back in the same manner. Remmy followed the female up through the wall, turning a corner before pointing to another hole leading outside the wall.
Remmy thanked her with another squeak before peeking through the hole, walking outside when the coast was clear.
Stella saw through Remmy’s view, a huge room with several people up on tall chairs behind an enormous table. The large doors at the other side of the room opened, Hunter walking inside and bowing before looking up at the older men who had were sitting at the table, Fram included.
“We have called you, Hunter, to ask you a few questions about the girl you found.” A man with a nasally voice asked, looking to the man in the middle of the room.
“Yes sir, what would you need to know? I can go get her, and she can answer any questions you’d like.” Hunter replied, looking up at them. Stella stared at him for a moment, having never seen him as anything other than a being of glowing green light. He had scruffy brown hair- and green eyes. His skin was tanned from staying in the sun for so long,
“No, we wish to ask only you. How long have you been traveling with this girl? Has she shown the powers Fram speaks of?”
Hunter looked to his master in shock, a frown coming over his face. “I met her two and a half weeks ago- and I do not know what Fram has told you.”
“Do not patronize me, boy!” Fram yelled loudly, a fist slamming on the table in front of him. “The girl has time magic- did the sorcerer give it to her?”
“I don’t know. All I know is what she is, and that she was trapped in that tower against her will. I simply did my duty as a battle magi.” Hunter said gruffly, glaring at his master.
“The other students say you are close to her- is that true?” Another man asked.
Hunter looked up at him and let out a long sigh. “Yes.”
“How long do you think you have been corrupted by the dark magic?” Another man asked.
Hunter looked up at them in shock, his green eyes wide. “You can possibly be serious! She doesn’t have any dark magic- she’s just a woman, who’s confused!” He yelled in anger.
“She may be a woman, Hunter. Dangerous and dark weapons can take many forms, and all weapons of darkness must be destroyed.” Fram said solemnly.
“She’s harmless- for Gods’ sake, she’s blind! What harm can she do to anyone?” Hunter said defensively.
“She can kill anyone in this keep on a whim, and you know that. She could destroy the foundations this keep is built on, and kill all inside. She can do more than you can imagine, Hunter. Do not take such powerful magic so lightly.”
“I know her- she doesn’t think of those things, she’s not evil.” Hunter shook his head in denial.
The men murmured to each other for a minute, before Fram stood from his chair.
“Hunter of Voltar- I give you a new quest to finish your training as a battle magi.” Fram said loudly, the other men nodding in agreement.
“What?” Hunter gasped in shock.
“Your quest is to kill that girl. Bring back proof of her death, and you will be honored the title of a master battle magi.” Fram looked down at his pupil with a dark glare. “You must rid yourself of this darkness which has corrupted you. I will not let one who has fraternized with a sorcerer’s evil deed become a master.”
“You are dismissed, boy.” Another of the men said darkly.
Hunter stared up at the men in horror before growling in anger and turning around, leaving the room. Remmy watched as he left before squeaking sadly and running back through the walls to Stella as tears filled her eyes.

Hunter stood in front of the doorway to his room, staring at the door as he tried to figure out what to tell Stella. ‘Sorry, you can’t stay here because they want me to kill you.’ Sounded a little too… blunt.
He sighed in frustration and opened the door, seeing Stella in the same chair she had been sitting in when he had left. He sat back down in his own chair, running a hand through his hair uneasily. He jumped in shock when he saw her rainbow eyes, looking around to see a white sphere surrounding them both. What was she doing?
“I’m sorry, Hunter. I have to do this.” She whispered, her voice wavering as tears ran down her cheeks.
“What? What are you doing?” He looked around outside the sphere to see everything still- a bird outside the window was frozen in the air. “Wait- no!”
“I can’t let you throw away your life for me, Hunter. I won’t let you.” She looked to him, biting her lip to keep emotions from overflowing.
“I can find you a place where they won’t find you, Stella. You can stay there, and no one will hurt you.”
“And they will kill you for letting me go. This way it’s not your fault. After all, I’m much too dangerous to leave alive.” She said bitterly. “I should have known better than to trust magi.”
“Stella-“
“Just stop!” She yelled in frustration. “I’m tired of you being so optimistic! They want to kill me, Hunter. There’s no place for me here.”
“But..” He hesitated, not knowing what else to stay. He didn’t want her to leave… he had only just found her.
“The time I’ve spent with you has been the most amazing time of my life, and I thank you for that. But I can’t let you die because of me…” She turned away from him. “I love you too much to do that.”
Hunter blinked in shock as she moved forward, kissing him softly on the lips. “Don’t you dare come looking for me, Hunter.” She whispered.
“No, please Stella- don’t do this!” He yelled, reaching for her when she moved away from him quickly. “Ste-“

Stella stared at his frozen body as the sphere of white magic around her settled in its smaller form. Another tear ran down her face as she looked at his desperate expression, his eyes wide as he tried to reach for her. She knew she could hold the magic this castle was under for a long time- she had done many experiments with it while at the sorcerer’s tower.
Remmy squeaked in question on her shoulder, looking up at her in concern.
“I’m not sure where we’ll go.” She whispered sadly at the small green glowing creature. “But we can’t stay here.”
She walked out of the room, grabbing for the door handle before opening it and walking into the hallway. She looked back at Hunter one last time before closing the door behind her.

[freakazoid]

Poor Stella. *offers hugs*
lol. But the jerboa rat part sounded so cute! xD
"Squeak!"
"Squeak?"
"SQUEAK SQUEAK!"
"Oh, Squeak!"
"Squeak!"

[SeaCrest]

You're just too scared of her to think rationally, you idiotic 'masters'! *fumes*

[Phoenixwildfire]

How to speak jerboa rat:

Now repeat after me:

Squeak squeakin squeakie squeak?

(have you seen my cheese?)

Squeaker squeak, squeak squeak squeaken?

(Did you eat my cheese?)

Squeakie squeak squeakin squeak.

(You owe me a new cheese.)

[SeaCrest]

Squeak squeaken squeaky squeak?

Squeak squeak, squeak squeak squeaken?

Squeaky squeaken squeak.

Howzat?

[Naimeria]

Hee, you got yourself a new reader! This is adorable!

I am in love with Hunter and Silver. Their little relationship is adorable. I like Stella as well, but I lean towards male characters

[Phoenixwildfire]

Let's have a little more fun with NON-magic jobs in magistream world.


ch. 11


“Stella!” Hunter yelled, his hand grabbing at thin air when he reached for her. She had vanished in an instant… she must have frozen him and the area around her to get away.
“DAMN IT!” He yelled loudly, slamming his fist against the arm of the chair he was sitting in, the wood cracking beneath the blow. He flinched as splinters dug into the side of his palm, holding his hand as pain shot through his arm.
“What the hell is all the yelling in here?” Solinur opened the door, looking in at his brother in confusion. “What happened?”
“She ran again.” Hunter said through clenched teeth.
“Who? Stella?” Solinur looked around the room in surprise, his brown hair whipping around his face. “How the hell did she run? She can’t even see!”
“She can see when she uses her magic.” Hunter growled, standing and walking over to his staff, picking up the weapon in determination.
“Wait- why did she run, then? Did you make her angry?” Solinur watched his twin as he walked around the room, gathering things together on his bed.
“No, she found out… somehow.” Hunter muttered, looking back at his brother. “Did you tell her?”
“Tell her what?” Solinur said defensively. “The last time I saw her, she was talking with you in here.”
“Then how did she know?” Hunter asked himself, running a hand through his hair in frustration.
“Alright, I may be your twin but I can’t read your mind. You’re going to have to tell me what you’re muttering about. I haven’t seen you this grumpy since that hot fire magi dumped you.”
Hunter shot his brother a glare at the memory and sighed in frustration. “I’m so screwed, Sol. What the hell am I going to do?” He sat back down in the chair in frustration, putting his face in his palm.
“Alright, now you have my attention. What’s wrong?” Solinur walked over to sit in the chair beside him, blinking in surprise at the tingle of magic remaining in the air.
“I can’t stop thinking about her. I don’t know what to do. She probably doesn’t want anything to do with me now, she think I want to kill her.” Hunter said, his voice muffled from his hands.
Solinur rolled his eyes. “Alright Drama queen. Why would she think you were going to kill her?”
“Because Fram gave us the new quest to do that- they want us to kill Stella.” Hunter looked up at Solinur’s shocked expression. “Yeah, that was my reaction too.”
“Why the hell would they want us to kill Stella?” Solinur asked, shaking his head in confusion.
“She has… strange magic. The sorcerer we were originally supposed to kill gave her different creature’s magic. She controls time.” Hunter explained, watching Solinur’s eyes get even wider.
“Time like… minutes, and seconds?” Solinur asked cautiously.
“Time like, she can speed your age until you’re nothing but dust. I don’t think she likes it, though.”
Solinur squirmed uneasily in his seat. “I’m sorry Hunter, but that is very dangerous magic.”
“You’ve met her. Can you imagine her going around and killing people like that?” Hunter looked up at his brother uneasily. He hoped Solinur wouldn’t decide that killing Stella was the ‘right’ thing to do.
“No… she’s way too nice.” Solinur rubbed his forehead in frustration. “She’s almost as bad as you.”
Hunter sighed in frustration. “Either way, I have to find her. I don’t care what she said, she can’t be out there alone.” Hunter said, standing up and continuing to grab things from around the room.
Solinur watched Hunter for a minute before letting out a long and deep sigh. “Alright bro, I’m coming with you. You’re in one of your ‘I need to do this until it kills me’ moods, and that’s never a good thing.” Solinur stood, watching as Hunter shot him another glare. “Would you stop that? I’m trying to help you.”
Hunter paused, looking to his twin in surprise. “You really want to help me find her?”
“Well if she means this much to you, then hell yes. I’m not going to have you moping around the castle for the rest of your life… besides, that sweet little thing’s probably stuck half dead in some alley by now. I don’t like thinking of her in trouble either.”
Hunter blanched at the thought, looking at Solinur uneasily.
“Oh Gods, I was kidding. You’re really into this girl, aren’t you?” Solinur raised an eyebrow to Hunter in interest.
“I don’t know.” Hunter said in frustration. “All I know is I can’t stand the thought of her in trouble.”
Solinur rolled his eyes. “Egads, this is worse than I thought. Alright, let me get my things together, and we’ll head out to save your damsel in distress. Maybe she’ll have met a little lady friend by now.” Solinur grinned hopefully and walked out of the room as Hunter sighed in exasperation.

Stella sat in a bar, holding the cup of water the bartender had given her. Her magic was almost run out… she wouldn’t be able to see for much longer. At least most of the things around magi had magic in them- even some of the buildings. It made seeing the city much easier.
“Hey little lady, what are you doing here?” A man’s voice said from beside her. Stella looked up, but saw nothing but darkness on either side of her.
“Just leave me alone.” She muttered, looking down at her cup again.
“No can do, miss. I’ve seen some of the other guys around here ogling you like you were the prize hen at a fair. I’m going to have to keep you company for a bit to keep them at bay.” He said, sitting in the chair beside her with a riot of clanking metal. What the hell was all that noise?
Whoever he was, he definitely didn’t have any magic. All she saw was a black void, surrounded with the soft green glow of the building’s walls. It was kind of like seeing a silhouette. He was tall, and broad shouldered- and there were strange sharp parts to his outline…
“So, who exactly are you? Whoever you are you’ve got the strangest eyes I’ve ever seen.” The man said, moving beside her with more metallic noise.
Oh no… her magic was going to run out soon, and her eyes would go back to normal… she still hadn’t found a way to get any food. She didn’t have any gold, and was too scared of the magi to ask for work around town.
“Don’t look so worried- I’m not going to hurt you or anything. I’m just trying to keep you safe.” The man said, sounding frustrated.
Stella ground her teeth in anger. “Why does every man I meet want to protect me like I’m some little fragile doll that might get hurt if it falls? I can take care of myself.” She muttered.
“Woaaah.” The man said in surprise. “Obviously there’s something going on here. Are you running from someone?”
Stella looked at the silhouette, flinching that she was so easily read, even by a stranger. “Not entirely. It’s really none of your business though.”
“I’m afraid it is.” The man sighed. “if there’s a man in town that’s causing women trouble, it’s my duty to stop him. Not that I like getting into domestic affairs mind you, but it comes with the job.”
“What job is that?” She said coolly, hoping that if she stayed hostile he’d go away.
“Paladin- Lieutenant Nitiko’s the name-” The paladin held out a shadowed hand in front of her. “-Fighting’s the game. Who might you be?”
Stella looked up at him with a glare, not wanting to tell her name to a stranger- none the less a Paladin… whatever the hell that was. She blushed as her stomach rumbled loudly, making the man chuckle in amusement.
“Tell you what- if you don’t have any gold, tell me your name and I’ll get you something to eat.”
Stella looked down in frustration, holding her stomach as it rumbled again. She hadn’t eaten in nearly a day- usually the sorcerer left her enough food for three meals, and Hunter had gotten good for them on the road…
“Stella.” She muttered, glancing up at him.
“There now, see? Alright- I’ll be right back.” The man stood, another loud string of metal clanks sounding with every move he made as he walked over to the other side of the room.
“Remmy…” Stella whispered to the small jerboa rat, who peaked out from her hair, holding strands of it in his paws. “Can you let me see who he is? What’s all that metal noise?”
Remmy nodded, glowing a bright green as his magic filled her.
She gasped in shock when everything came into view, Remmy looking around the dirty building, the rancid smell of alcohol matching the acrid décor of the run down bar. How had she gotten in here?
A man in full body armor stood at the counter, talking with a plump man, who glanced over at her and nodded. The armored man handed him several gold coins, turning and grinning at her when he saw her watching. Nitiko was tall- his armor made him look strong, the silver plating covering his entire body- and a large sword hung from his waist. He had long blond hair that fell to his shoulders, looking scraggly and messy from the helmet he held under one arm. He had a rather nasty looking scar across one eye- it ran down from his forehead to his chin on the side of his face, the eye it crossed white and glossy like her own. He frowned for a moment when she continued to watch him, putting a hand over his face before taking the food back to her and setting it in front of her. Stella let Remmy hide back in her hair as the man came over, sitting back down in the chair silently.
“Eat up.” Was all he said, though he didn’t sound as happy as before.
Stella couldn’t help herself- the smell was so wonderful sitting in front of her that she started eating the food carelessly, eating the fruit cheese and bread with gusto. The man chuckled in amusement as he watched.
“Haven’t eaten for a while, huh?” He asked, his voice revealing a smile.
Stella flushed with embarrassment, putting the bunch of grapes she had in her hand down “Um… no.” She muttered, looking away.
“Don’t you not have a job?” Nitiko asked in confusion.
Stella flushed deeper, her cheeks burning with heat as she shook her head. She felt so useless…
“Hmmm…” Nitiko said thoughtfully. “Maybe I should show you around. I might be able to get you a job if you’re not just passing through.”
Stella nodded gently, trying not to look as happy as she felt. At least he was letting her have a choice this time. “That would be nice… I’d like to try and lay low for a while if you don’t mind.”
“The guy you’re running from?” He asked in concern.
Stella only nodded. Well, it was partially the truth at least… she didn’t have to tell him that the magi thought she was too dangerous to live.
She gasped as her magic started fading, the world around her growing darker until everything was black again. She cursed at the magic’s timing, no longer able to tell where he was anymore.
“Hey- your eyes…” He said hesitantly. “Why did they change?”
Stella bit her lip nervously, unable to look at him any longer. “My magic ran out.” She whispered. She felt around the table for her cup of water, her hands shaky with nervousness as she took a small drink.
“You can’t see anymore?” He said cautiously.
“No. Um…” She looked up uneasily at where she thought he was. “I don’t know if I can make it around town without help now.”
“Well lucky I found you, then. We’ll head back to my place, and I’ll call on a few contacts of mine. We’ll see if we can get you back on your feet.” He said, standing with a clanking of noise. Stella held out her hand, squeaking in surprise as he lifted her quickly to her feet.
“We’ll take the rest of the food to eat back home.” He said with a chuckle, walking with her out of the bar.

[freakazoid]

lol. xD

[SeaCrest]

Remmy is awesome

How come he only featured in the first chapter of Avalon, BTW? I haven't seen hide nor hair nor name of him since

[Phoenixwildfire]

I like to try to keep pets to one story >_<; Remmy is the exception, but only because he's in the first chapter of Avalon.

I'm not sure how to explain where he went <_<
Maybe he knew he had somewhere he was needed more?

(Another little hint for you for the future of this story, if you want it )

Spoiler