Of Kingdoms and Magic (Salanis Bluestar x The Evil Witch)

Eric Gunmast Vladost III. That is was the name that he was born to. If only he was like his great uncle, a noble earl who defended the kingdom against an almost unstoppable force. Maybe then his own family might of just tolerated him. Eric never knew why he was different, where his family were dark of complexion and brown eyed, Eric had crystal green eyes and pale white, healthy skin. In court in the few times he was required to be there, the third prince born to the king, he was one of the few that could not only be picked out of a crowd, but easily so as he stood the tallest of his family, where his brother were shorter but stockier and stronger of body.

Some in the court hoped that he would grow out of it, like it was a phase, but instead as he grew up he only showed his "Awkwardness" to the rest of his family. Where his brothers were busy with the sword master, learning the intricacies of fighting, he was off in the gardens, enjoying the sun, the vibrant feel of Life that came from the plants around him.

Things were different for him though almost a month ago. The rival neighboring kingdom decided to send a gift to the royal family. Three assassins who had been posing as servants for the last year. No one really knew how the assassination failed. Except for two guards, and Eric. The assassins picked the wrong time as the king and his queen were out, and his brothers were still there. But Eric was easily found. When the bodyguards fell to light wounds, the assassins went to fall upon Eric, only to be blinded by a terrible light, driven to fear and confusion.

When his brothers and a contingent of guards came, they found the confusion and didn't question. But the answer was quickly found whispering around the castle. Eric was a mage. He had to be. Yet most were afraid to speak about it to the king. The law was clear. Mages and witches were to be killed on sight. But there was a secret law. If they swore their powers to the crown, they were allowed to live. For a price.

Eric had never once understood who the woman who traveled with his father, yet when life started to return to normal, or as close to it, he noticed her gaze. How she was always at the end of the hallway looking at him. Today though, he found the woman in a place he didn't expect, as he was entering into his 'personal place' a room hardly known in the castle that had a small opening to the afternoon and evening sun. "Wha... What are you doing here?"

Emmeline smiled at the tall youth before her. She had watched him for as long as she had been brought to the castle. When the kings guards had found her she had been preaching to the faithless. They tried to kill her on site, but she fought and prevailed, eventually she was out numbered and she allowed herself to be captured, all the while the secret that she practiced magic had been revealed.

When faced with trial the King told her he was being merciful. That if he trained the prince, her life would be spared a brutal death on a pyre. The gifted had always been hunted in the lands, as magic was a terrible curse in the eyes of crowns false gods. She was intrigued to see that the rules applied differently for the prince. Politically it would be terrible if the church found out that Eric had the gift. The priests would demand him to be handed over, and he would get the same fate that all mages would get. The rumours were already spilling outside of the castle. Soon there would be an investigation. The King knew that.

"I've watched you come here for some time. It's a nice room, with a beautiful view." She turned her attention to the setting sun. Soon the dark of night would embrace the sky. To Emmeline there was no better time. "You know you are different, I hope? You should. It is not a common trick to burn the eyes of mortal men, Eric."

"I am Emmeline. I am a witch and priestess of the Gods of Shadow, and your father has asked that I teach you how to control your abilities," She smiled at him warmly, and stared into his green eyes.

Eric shifted his gaze away from her own, as he remembered the last time he looked at a woman that had seemed off, like him. He had never told his family of it, and he had been alone as much as he knew, until a druid witch had found him, leaving him unprepared. It was the first time he had ever used his gift, and the first time he had ever known a woman sexually. He had managed to avoid losing his seed to her, and he had never seen her since. Yet there was almost the same intensity that he could feel towards Emmeline.

"I-I don't know what you are talking about... I am just like... Everyone else..." He couldn't even believe in the words he spoke, as he stood there, his arms almost hanging limply. He could feel the sun as it shifted in the sky, feel the power that hung in the air. Night time was coming. A time when predators awoke, wanting the warmth of blood and of sexual need. His head rose, as he looked back at her, his fists clenching as he tried to put a faint sense of command into his voice, which he had never managed, except the few times he had used his gift unintentionally. "I want you to leave. I am not a mage or a witch. My father is wrong."

"You are nothing like everyone else, Erik. You don't lie half as well," Emmeline teased with a smile. She could sense hesitance and fear within the child. It was likely the boy thought he was cursed. The gift should be embraced. The Gods of Shadow gave only the worthy the gift of magick.

She approached him slowly, placing her arm on his shoulder. "I know you have the gift. I feel it inside you. What if it was to build?" She channeled her magick to effect the boy, to overwhelm him. "What if it was to become uncontrollable? You couldn't fight away the emotion or the magick?" She gripped him tightly, her hand didn't budge. "What if you were to lose yourself in a fleeting moment of rage?"

The witch released the boy finally,"Under torture you would break, child. If that is to happen to you by the clergy of the False God, you will reveal yourself and then you will die."

Eric watched as she came close taking a step back faintly angry. Who was she to call him out? He knew what he was. He wouldn't be a mage or a witch. He had only done what he had to do. Of course it was an instinctual act. Eric only knew that his gift told him to react to the three men who were going to spill his guts on the ground. Never did he expect that he would blind them so badly that their eyes would be white for the rest of their lives, which was only a few days before they met the headsman's axe and were burned like criminals.

Tensing up, he bit his lip as she touched him, listening to her words. They made him angry. Afraid. His eyes widened though as he felt energy flowing into him, more than ever before, as he started to try to pull himself away, finding her grip unyielding.

Her words threw him off, as his eyes faintly glowed with the build up of power, unable to know what to do, as she released him. A pent up gasp left him as he stumbled over to a wall, trying to hold back. "It's lies... I have control... I have... Con... AHHHH!" His eyes looked up towards the faintly open sky as his entire front of his body flashed with a radiant light. Crumpling to the floor, he found himself sitting with his back to one of the beds that he had managed to wrestle into the room, a bed that would allow him to lay under the open ceiling.

"You are weak," Emmeline stated with a coldness to her voice. She lowered her hand, having casted a protective spell to shield her from the blinding light. She approached the boy slowly as he lay on the floor against his bed, staring up at the gap that revealed the sky. "But do not fret, child. You have time to control yourself,"

She sat on the bed and stared down at him, feeling his exhaustion radiate from him. It was no easy thing to control magic, and the boy would need to be diligent if he wanted to control himself before a member of the Holy Order investigated the rumours. "Do you believe in your god, Eric? Do you know anything about my gods, The Gods of the Shadow?"