Crossing his blades, Dusk took in the greatest brunt of the magical blow through his weapons, only pushed back a foot across the dirt as his wind-empowered blades were raised to block the blow coming down only enough that the wood grazed his hair. The moment he was touched, Caston's wind power within the blades exploded outward, amplified by Dusk's own energies as he locked his swords together. Feeling the presence of a new figure (Delon) approaching from behind, Dusk made sure the wind was able to blast in all directions, assuredly powerful enough to remove the man from his feet. "To have not been in a proper school yet have so much talent... I was right in seeking you to make sure you were truly willing to bring out your potential. I'll see you later... stranger."

Lifting his blade only enough to cut the sheath holding his jar of red smoke, Dusk took the flask in his free hand and slammed it into the ground, causing an enormous whirlwind of ash-filled dust to spread around. The smoke contained the heat of a recent fire, certain to kill if the targets didn't escape the cloud within a minute. "Your last lesson, if you didn't know it. Jars, vials, and bottles can serve as temporary, but effective ways to store spells for a later use. That way, you can release a typhoon at the unscrewing of a cap, a rock slide at a cork's removal, or this!" Dusk, once finished speaking, knew exactly where his target was as he launched himself from the smoke, dashing to Caston's house with his other throwing dagger (seeing as his original was still in the fence's post) in hand. Upon seeing the doorway, Dusk turned and threw with skill enough to let the dagger sail indoors, catching it in the calf of Caston's own mother as she was tending to the dishes. With a delighted, twisted smirk at both secluding the entire fight from the family and making sure Caston had a reason to seek him, he left the woman's piercing screams to take off into the forest, finding his feet instinctively drawn toward his own home and lair. Whether the wound would be treated on time for her own life or not, and whether Caston would have the sense to remove himself from the ever-growing cloud of heated ash, Dusk didn't know. He only hoped the entire journey wouldn't end in a few simple, disappointing steps.

"I never even got the boy's name..."

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Suddenly, a lot of things happened in a flash. Dusk deflected Caston's spell, unsurprisingly. He was affected by a portion of it, as he was pushed back. In the background, Caston saw a peculiar looking man with his face half covered creeping towards Dusk.

What the hell is going on here?

Dusk must have sensed it too, as he then unleashed some sort of firestorm spell from a bottle. Caston had to get away from the cloud immediately, lest his lungs be burned by the hot ashen cloud.

As he was backing away from the spell, Caston heard his mother yell from inside the house. Caston immediately ran into the cottage, praying to the Goddess that she wasn't harmed to badly or had perhaps been startled.

He entered the house and saw his mother on the floor in the kitchen, with his father beside her.

"What's happened?" Caston asked.

"What does it look like? Your mother's been stabbed in the leg! I didn't even see the blasted idiot that threw the knife. She says it just came soaring in here, next thing she knew she had a knife in her leg. What was going on out there?"

Caston explained what had happened to his family, and his father had removed the knife and dressed the wound. He had always taken care of hurt sheep well enough, and the wound to his wife wasn't all too serious.

"Well then, what do you plan to do?" His father asked.

"I'm not sure. I can't fight him with my current knowledge, that's for sure. My best and most powerful spell only budged him a foot. I still need to learn. At any rate, I'm so sorry, about everything."

His father threw an arm around him. "It's not your fault, son. Now get out of here."

Caston obliged. He had no idea who that strange man was, or the wizard for that matter. He didn't know where to go, what to do, but he had to start moving.

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Still trying to grasp what had just happened, Delon looked around for any sign of Dusk.

"I've never seen such magic like that... A mage with that amount of power must have a lot of treasure for the taking... I wonder where that young man ran off to."

Delon dusted himself off and walked off in the direction he believed Caston had gone. "Maybe I can accompany him in his travels, I think I overheard him saying he was going to train with some powerful wizard... Maybe I'd be able to snatch a few valuable supplies in there..."

As he came up towards Caston's house, he heard some muffled conversation, and heard what he believed to be "...now get out of here." Delon proceeded to sit down against the doorframe of the house waiting for it's occupant to exit. "I can already tell this will be fun."

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Caston exited the house, the cloud had cleared and his foe had disappeared. He quickly noticed that stranger with the mask was sitting against the house. Caston held his staff at the ready. Though the stranger had appeared to be trying to help him, he still had no idea who he was or what he wanted.

"Who are you?" Caston asked tactfully.

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"I'm but a simple traveller." Delon said with a smirk. "I noticed you're quite, *ahem* inexperienced with magic. Do you plan on taking any lessons?"

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He saw everything that happened from the seclusion of the foliage near the cottage. He then saw the older man rush towards the cottage and throw a dagger through the doorway, and heard a scream as the man bolted away. He already hated this man, but wasn't sure why. When the boy ran towards into the cottage, he followed. As the father talked and hugged his boy, he walked up silently, and didn't say a word while the two talked. He still had both of his axes in his hands, just in case. The smile was slowly fading from his face. He looked at the staff and swords the two held and laughed inwardly. The wouldn't hurt me any more than the lion's claws.

"Urg," he said towards the men.

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Caston let his guard down a bit.

"Well, I have to do something. I need to find that wizard, and ask him why he did what he did. How can he manipulate all of the disciplines? Did he even hurt my mom on purpose? At any rate..." Caston trailed off as a giant approached them. It didn't look especially intelligent, and all it said was "urg".

"Can you understand me?" Caston asked, as if he were simply talking to a person from a different region.

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He nodded, then put his hand on his mouth and moved it forward, indicating speech. He then shook his head no. He attached both of his axes to his pack, and looked at the thief, suspiciously.

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"Well, I think we might be able to help each other out a bit... I'm a man with simple desires. I'd enjoy accompanying you on your travels, from your training, to the inevitable confrontation of that strange fellow that just -" he stopped when he noticed the giant of a man standing there. Delon eyed him quickly and passed him off as a simpleton. "...as I was saying, I believe a mage of such power would be collecting a fair amount of loot. And I want that loot. What say you?" Delon reached his hand out, signifiying both friendship, and a desire to get off of the floor.

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He didn't like the way he was just brushed off. These people thought he was stupid. A smile began to come across his lips. He walked over and picked up the thief by the neck. He brought him close to his face. Their noses practically touching. He looked at the thief with a fire in his eyes, and a smile on his face.

"ARRRGH!"

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Delon grasped at his throat "easy there oaf, I mean no harm to you. You just don't *cough* seem like the talkative type. Would you mind *cough* putting me down?" he spat out, his face beginning to change colors.

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The man, although insulting seemed like a trustworthy person, for now at least. He set the man down on the ground and slapped his back hard.

"HAHAHAHA!"

He let out a loud laugh before turning to the young wizard. He gestured to himself, then to the wizard indicating he would like to join the man's group.

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Caston watched the giant as he seemed to gesture that he couldn't speak, yet could understand others. He noted that the giant may be a bit smarter than he looked. He turned his attention back to the thief...as the giant seemed dissatisfied with him, and lifted him clear of the ground while roaring in his face. Delon quickly apologized.

Caston went on talking as if nothing were happening. "Well, I've never traveled extensively before, I imagine traveling in a group would be better than going alone. I suppose the first thing we ought to do is head to Windrow, ask around for information, and I will talk to the Headmaster of the Institute."

The giant had let Delon go, and apparently seemed to want to join them.

"You want to join us?" Caston mused. "Why?"

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Collecting himself, Delon said "Right, let that never happen again. That would be most excellent."

Delon reached his hand out again to Caston, and nodded at the giant.

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The giant gave the thief a wink before turning back towards the wizard. He gestured behind him, showing nothing then shook his head. He then pointed at the thief and the wizard and tried, for the first time, to speak the words of these men.

"P-p-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-r-o-o-o-o...P-r-r-r-r-r-r-o-o-o-o-o-t-t-t-t-t-e-e-e-......P-r-r-r-r-r-o-o-o-o-o-o-t-t-t-t-e-e-e-e-c-c-c-t-t-t-t-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-i-o-o-o-o-o-o-n."

He finally managed to let out with a great degree of difficulty. He then tried again, indicating both men's sizes.

"S-s-s-s-s-s-a-a-a-a-a-a-a-f-f-f-f-f-e-e-e-r-r-r-r."

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"Don't strain those vocal cords too much, friend. If you're going to protect us, you mustn't be distracted with paltry things like speech." Delon said with a smirk.

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Caston was fascinated by the giant. He had never before seen one, and now it seemed he was learning to speak. Obviously he would prove useful in a fight as well. He still didn't quite trust the rogue looking fellow, but he seemed genuine. Caston reached out and shook his hand. He ignored the fellow's remarks towards the giant.

"Shall we be off, then?" Caston was glad to have company on the journey, he wasn't sure where they would end up. What he wanted were answers from Dusk.

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The giant listened to the thief's joke. Normally, he would be offended and kill someone that talked to him like that, but there was something about him he liked.

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" He laughed at his joke, and nodded when the wizard asked if they should start their journey.

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"I see no reason to linger here, on we go then! Oh, wait. Should we like... Group hug, or maybe make up some sort of handshake?" Delon obviously found himself hilarious, but decided maybe he should lay off for a bit, in case he would entice the giants wrath again.

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After a series of long and impossible-to-track movements, Dusk eventually came into his own room, still at peace with the hand-crafted quality of the room as opposed to the rest of his domain's construction by others. Above his bed was a slit in the wall, one his sword would fit perfectly into. Upon doing so, and forcing the magical locks back so a small shelf formed itself in the wall. Among the possessions, Dusk was most interested in the one glowing with a prismatic, wild energy. Dusk pulled off the top and put his mouth to the vial's opening so he could drink the contents. There was no flavor, only an enormous rush of power and a mad mixture of every possible physical feeling of each element Dusk had known. The feeling of his full power returning was euphoric... a lesser mind would would become addicted to the need to intake power so.

Taking one minute of meditation, Dusk allowed the feelings to settle before gingerly removing one clear orb from the shelf, as well as the silver pedestal it had sat on. "Time to see how my new 'friend' fares..." By the time Dusk had tracked Caston's untapped energy enough to get an actual look at the boy, he was already accompanied by the thief and giant, who had just finished holding the thief in a warning choke. "At the best, I see blue, green, and black. The blue has potential, yes... Green would certainly fare well with lightning, as crazy and unpredictable as the energy itself. Black, I can only assume from his snide behavior... Caston may have held his own alone, but can he manage a party?"

Dusk lifted one hand and snapped, creating an echo that traveled quite far through the stone halls. Within thirty seconds, a page came forth, hovering in the doorway. "M'lord rang?"

"Yes. Have the Or'cara* from Clipe Mountain's base assemble. I want them north of Windrow, and on time to meet our new friends before they make it into the city." Without a word, the page left, soon to make it so as Dusk continued to watch the orb, shifting from potential threat to threat in the different elements.

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