The Lord of Black Magic
Chapter 1: Owner of the Sacred Scrolls
By ssGoku_138
Disclaimer
None of the characters in my stories are owned by me (except for the ones that I have created)
So, please, I implore you, don't sue!
It was long after dusk when Syaoran had finally made it to the suburban area of Hong Kong. He was currently walking through a seemingly empty street made up of several houses and trees. The only source of light that enabled Syaoran to see where he was going was the street lamps, and occasionally he came across a few that either gave off a dim light or did not work at all.
Sighing, Syaoran began to recap on everything he had experienced the past three months. All of the new spells and abilities that he had learned had taken time, patience, and more than a little effort. Over the period of time, Syaoran had also became more mature and more keenly educated in the art of combat. He only hoped that everything he had worked towards earning was enough to impress his mother.
After making his way through nearly a dozen long streets, Syaoran finally approached the staircase to the shrine his family had been moved to. There was one household on the top platform, surrounded by various storage sheds and a training ground. Syaoran proceeded up the stairs slowly, knowing that his life of being alone was about to come to an abrupt end.
He soon came across a white house with a blue rooftop. Syaoran took in a deep breath and stepped up to the front door, knocking three times. There were no sounds for a few moments, when in the silence he heard the coming of footsteps. The door in front of him slid open, and in the doorway stood a woman with long, black hair wearing a Chinese robe with long sleeves.
"Welcome home, Syaoran," Syaoran's mother greeted him. "Come in. Your sisters aren't here right now, if you were wondering why everything seemed to be so quiet."
Syaoran nodded, and stepped into the house. To him, it felt like it has been a lot longer than three months since the last time he came here. In the hallway Syaoran and his mother were standing in, there were three passages: two on the left and one on the right. The first one on the left was the entrance to the kitchen, while the one further down led to the stairway. The room to the right was the living room. Syaoran's mother, Yelan, walked towards the kitchen and beckoned for Syaoran to follow.
The kitchen looked exactly the same way as Syaoran last remembered seeing it. The stove and refrigerator were placed near where the entrance was, and in the center of the room there was a table that could seat six (two on each side, one on each end). There were also several cabinets and counters in the room as well, located throughout the kitchen. Though Syaoran always remembered seeing the kitchen brightly lit up, there was only a dim light coming from the lightbulb in the ceiling right now.
Yelan and Syaoran took a seat at the table. Yelan took a cup of tea that she had made earlier and gave it to Syaoran. Steam was rising from the cup, giving a hint as to how hot it was. After receiving the tea, Syaoran gave his attention back to his mother.
"Syaoran," she said quietly. "How did your training go?"
"It went well," Syaoran answered. "I've learned a lot of new things."
"Like what?" Yelan questioned.
"Sword techinques, spells, random magical abilities," Syaoran replied. "Things like that."
Yelan smiled. "I would like to hear about my only son's adventures. We have plenty of time to talk."
Syaoran gave her a puzzled look. He and his mother never took time to talk, even if it were about an interesting topic. All there would be between them is a few words or phrases, and that was it.
Syaoran looked away. "Nothing too great happened to me out there," he said. "I'd only be wasting your time telling you about it."
"Three months alone in the wilderness couldn't have been uneventful," Yelan pointed out. "Especially since the elders told me of a certain set of tasks they had assigned for you to do."
Syaoran's gaze slowly returned to his mother's eyes. "That little quest they put me on was probably the most interesting thing that happened the whole time I was out there," he stated.
"Well then, why don't you tell me about it?" Yelan asked.
Syaoran looked at her thoughtfully for a moment. It was, after all, the first time he would have the chance to share such an incredible tale. "All right," he finally agreed, taking a sip of his tea. "This will take a while though."
Yelan nodded, and gave her full attention to Syaoran. Tugging at his white tanktop and black pants, Syaoran began his story.
"When the elders sent me out into the forest, they told me to go to a specific area they had marked down on a map they gave to me. It took me three days to make it there, and what I found in this location was kind of scary. The place they wanted me to go to was a valley that was filled with several different types of landscapes. Since the elders had told me to figure out the rest once I had gotten there, I was left without even the slightest idea on what to do. I decided to explore each section of this great valley, and what I found in a dark forest was pretty interesting. It was an old shrine that contained one of the four legendary scrolls that could be found in that large valley."
"I've heard about this valley somewhere before," Yelan recalled. "The shrines in that valley were made by Clow Reed. But, I thought only those who had a reasonable amount of magic power was allowed to enter?"
"That's true," Syaoran said. "I could see the barrier around it. For some strange reason, though, it allowed me to pass through."
Syaoran reached into his pocket and pulled out an incantation. It had several Chinese characters on it, however, all of them were different than those shown on his other incantations that he had used during his Cardcaptor days.
"Reiki?" Yelan asked, looking at Syaoran's incantation. "Isn't that the healing spell?"
"Yeah," Syaoran replied. "Once I found it, I kind of taught myself how to use it. I followed everything written on the scroll, and mastered it's ability in about a week's time. I also learned how to fly with that techinque."
Yelan looked impressed. "You can fly now?" she asked.
"Yes, but it wasn't easy," Syaoran answered. "I didn't learn how to modify that ability until I found the next two scrolls."
"So, you have visited all four shrines," Yelan noted.
Syaoran nodded, and continued with his story. "I found Reiki at the forest shrine. The next spell I aquired, the Hidama spell, was inside of a shrine I found out in a weird desert. Hidama is star-powered attack that releases a strong ray of light to attack enemies, and is usually better used at night. The third shrine I visited was in a meadow far from the dark forest and desert. The meadow seemed like a sacred land, and was always bright and sunny during the day. Inside it's shrine I found the Hizashi spell, an attack similar to the Hidama spell. The only difference between them were that the Hizashi spell works better during the day. All of the spells I had obtained to this point took me about two weeks each to master."
"What was the final shrine?" Yelan asked curiously.
"That one was the hardest to find," Syaoran responded. "I had gotten several hints from the spirits in the area as to where it could be found. After about a week of searching, I came across a lake with pure water that made a perfect reflection. As I soon found out, the shrine was inside of the lake, but only appeared at night. Once nightfall came, I jumped into the water and swam down towards the entrance. Funny thing was, whenever I entered, there was no water at all inside of the shrine."
"I came across a large chamber after taking a short tour through the shrine. Instead of finding a scroll, like I thought I would, I ran into a mysterious woman named Kiyoitsukikage."
"That name..." Yelan thought out loud. "Kiyoitsukikage. I remember one of the elders telling me about her. She was said to be an ally of one of Clow Reed's creations..."
"She seemed to know a lot," Syaoran said. "When I first ran into her, she said something about the world falling into a dark era. I don't know what she meant by that, but when she met me, she told me that instead of finding the one responsible for that era, she found the one whom was going to put an end to it."
"Tell me, Syaoran," Yelan spoke up. "What did Kiyoitsukikage look like?"
"Kiyoitsukikage... Looked sort of like Madoushi," Syaoran replied. "Instead of the black hair, though, her hair was brown. Plus, Kiyoitsukikage had a sword, and definately weilded a lot of magic power."
"I see," Yelan acknowledged. "Anyway, what all did you do with her?"
"She taught me a few different sword techinques," Syaoran answered. "Almost all of them consisted of using some magic power. Every training lesson I finished with her, I was left feeling tired and drained of my energy. After training with Kiyoitsukikage for a month, I felt stronger than I ever had before. As a reward for completing the training, she gave me the Majikkumiraa scroll. Kiyoitsukikage also told me of a powerful attack I could perform once I had mastered all of the scrolls that I possessed. Bidding her farewell, I continued the rest of my training in the different landscapes of the valley. It also took me about a week to master the new scroll, which happened to be a moon-powered magic ability dealing with mirrors and reflections. After I had mastered all of the scrolls, I began practicing on combining their separate energies with one another. On my very first try, which happened to be earlier today, I fired the Ultima Strike attack."
Yelan smiled. "It sounds like your training was hard, but at least it was a complete success," she said. "I want you to know, Syaoran, that I am very proud of you. If you were only this strong when the Clow Cards were being captured... I'm sure you would have been their master."
Syaoran returned her smile, and stood up from his seat. "That may be true," he said. "But those cards belong to the person who deserves them most. And, sadly, that person isn't me."
Syaoran walked towards the entrance to the hallway. He had finished his tea moments ago, and felt extremely weary. "I think I'll go to sleep now," Syaoran said.
"Alright, then," Yelan said, standing up as well. "Good-night, Syaoran. Do sleep well."
"That I will," Syaoran replied tiredly. He then stumbled through the hallway, heading towards his room. If, of course, he remembered where it was at.
~*~*~*~*~
Above the town of Toemoda, stars filled and lit up the sky. Slightly off to the West, a cresent moon loomed overtop of the houses and trees, providing what little light it could. At the Kinomoto Residence, Sakura lay on the bed in her room, sleeping soundly next to Kero. All was quiet, and everything seemed to be peaceful.
That is, until the clock tower bells mysteriously began ringing when the midnight hour had finally arrived.
Sakura began to stir from her pleasant sleep. When she woke up, she sleepily walked over towards the window, staring in the direction of the clock tower.
"Why are the bells ringing?" Sakura asked herself silently. It was no normal thing for the bells to ring at midnight. The last time they rang at such an unholy hour it was from the actions of the Time Card. Sakura then began to wonder if it had anything to do with magic.
From behind her, Sakura could hear Kero waking up from his slumber. Letting out a tired yawn, Kero flew over next to Sakura. He rubbed his eyes for a little bit, and turned his attention to Sakura.
"Hey, Sakura," he said. "What's with the ding-dong-ding?"
"I don't know, Kero-chan," Sakura answered. "It's kind of odd for the bells to start ringing at midnight."
Kero landed on the desk near the window. "Don't tell me there's another Clow Card that Clow never told me about."
Sakura shook her head. "No, I don't think it's a Clow Card. I don't feel the sensation that I did when they were free."
Kero glanced out of the window. "Do you feel any sort of magical sensation at all?" he asked.
Sakura lowered her head and closed her eyes, allowing her senses take over. She could not feel anything at first, but as Sakura continued to search, she had picked up the presence of an eerie magical force somewhere off in the distance.
"I sense something," Sakura said after a few moments. "It's pretty far away, but it seems to be getting closer..."
"Is it an evil force?" Kero asked.
"I... can't tell," Sakura said, trying to get a better reading of the power. "It's too far away to know..."
Suddenly, the bells stopped ringing. At that exact same time, Sakura had lost all feeling of the presence far away.
"It's gone," Sakura said. "When the bells stopped ringing, the power disappeared."
"Strange," Kero remarked. "So, the reason behind it's ringing did have to do with magic power."
Flying back over to the bed, Kero nuzzled himself against the pillow. "It's nothing for us to worry about yet," Kero told Sakura. "If it's as far away as you claim, it'll take a while for whatever it is to get into full range of your senses. We'll know if it's something bad if you start having dreams again."
Sakura nodded, and followed Kero back to bed. However, she couldn't help but to worry about it. It had been so long since she had last sensed a power... The idea of something coming towards them gave her a creepy feeling. While she continued to wonder about it, however, she slowly drifted to sleep again.
~*~*~*~*~
The morning sun slowly rose over the horizon. A girl wearing a white robe stood on the shore of an island, admiring the dazzling reflection the sun caused on the distant waters of the sea. The clouds near the sun had a pinkish hue, and went in a pattern around the sun that reminded the girl of a ribbon. It was a beautiful sight, and one of the only few mornings that she actually had the time to enjoy.
In fact, the last time she remembered even seeing the morning sun was several hundred years ago, in a setting very similar to this one. However, that time was not a relaxing one, as it was now. Back then, she was waiting for her arch enemy to arrive, so that they may end their disputes in a fight to the death. Her enemy did arrive, but when the fight ended, it was the girl whom had lost. The boy she was fighting, though, spared her.
"Death is too cruel a punishment for anyone," he had said. "Even someone like me will admit that."
The girl was left confused. She and her enemy had hated each other, but yet he let her live. Even to this day, the very matter puzzled her. She began to think that perhaps there was more to the boy than she had noticed before...
"Shadow," she whispered. "What happened to you? We still never settled the score..."
Though she was talking of revenge, the girl had found her voice to be surprisingly tender. She wanted to hit herself for showing any type of concern for a loathed adversary, even if he had shown concern for her at one time.
,br /> "So, Hikari," a voice from behind her said. "You're still worried about finishing what you and Shadow have started?"
It was Oogama, a boy whom had joined sides with Hikari (the girl) and her master. He was commonly dressed in warrior's attire, usually silver armor and a black cape along with some sort of loose, mobile pants. Oogama was a skilled martial artist, and also knew how to weild his sword, the Ryu-Dokuga Tou, better than many swordsmen could handle their own blades. The most deadly attribute that Oogama possessed, though, was his unbelievable amount of magic power.
Hikari looked up at him. Oogama had spikey-brown hair and cat-like green eyes, compared to Hikari's long, black hair and bright blue eyes. Though she had only met Oogama a few months ago, there was already a strong alliance between the two of them. Hikari seen Oogama as an older brother of sorts.
"What do you know about it?" Hikari asked in response.
"I know about Shadow all too well," Oogama said, his mouth forming a sly smile. "He was known as the best swordsman in the world at one time. A true warrior in every way, I must commend."
"Well, you got one thing right," Hikari said. "He was really good with a sword. Wasn't too shabby with his own magic abilities, either."
"I take it you know all this from experience," Oogama said.
"Yeah," Hikari replied, returning her gaze back to the rising sun. "We've fought lots of times."
"What was the reason behind it all?" Oogama asked.
"It was because Shadow was the one who had killed Madoushi," Hikari said. "She was like a mother to me. I swore revenge on him, even though I've never really been able to achieve what I was after."
"Which was to see Shadow dead?" Oogama asked again, looking out towards the morning sun as well.
"Yes, or at least that's what I used to want," Hikari answered with a sigh. "I don't know what I want now."
The two of them stood in silence as the sun kept creeping slowly above the water. Light had broken the entire horizon all around them from the nighttime darkness, giving way to the new day. After looking on for a few more moments, Oogama turned towards the forest behind him and began walking away.
"For your sake, Hikari," Oogama started to say. "I hope that you discover what you want, if it will keep you focused on the mission at hand."
Hikari nodded, knowing what Oogama was talking about. They were waiting for her master to return, whom had just left the night before to go and take what he needed to begin his reign over this world. Oogama and Hikari had vowed to support him, and were going to help him carry out whatever he needed them to.
Oogama jumped over a small ditch and disappeared into the trees. Hikari watched after him for a second, and then returned her attention to the pink and purple sky above, wondering about what kind of path lie ahead of her.
~*~*~*~*~
By the time morning came, Eriol found himself cooking eggs and making pancakes. Nakaru argued with him that she had made dinner last night, and that she should not have to be the one to make breakfast. Flipping four eggs and two pancakes over, Eriol began to wonder about the airplane tickets he had ordered last night. He decided to call Tomoyo after he was finished cooking, since she did ask for him to call and give her the news about the tickets today.
'CRASH!!!'
Eriol shot a quick look behind him towards the passageway where the sound had come from. "What on Earth--?"
"Suppi, you little perverted bastard!" shouted Nakaru, followed by another shattering crash. "Don't you EVER barge into the bathroom whenever I'm taking a shower again!"
"I didn't mean to!" Suppi pleaded, apparently running away from her by the noise they were causing. "Besides, you're genderless anyway! What harm did I ever cause you?!"
"I favor a FEMALE body, you moron!" Nakaru retorted as the sound of something large breaking echoed through the house. "And you took a pretty good look at me back there, too!"
Suddenly, a flash of light came through the doorway, followed by another one. "Don't tell me they've changed into their celestial forms..." Eriol said, sweatdropping. Yet another crash ensued, when straight out of nowhere Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun came rolling into the kitchen, with Ruby holding something that resembled a crowbar.
"Can't you just forgive and forget?!" Spinel desperately continued to plead, dodging a few crowbar swings from Ruby.
"Hell no!" Ruby replied sharply, tossing away her crowbar and tackling Spinel into the living room and onto the coffee table. Eriol watched on in amusement as the two continued their rumble, not noticing that he was letting the eggs and pancakes become overcooked.
Once Ruby and Spinel's misunderstanding had somehow found it's way upstairs, Eriol returned his attention to the food. It was then that he realized how black the eggs and pancakes had become.
"Wonder if it's still edible?" Eriol asked himself, pulling a toothpick out from a cabinet above him. He took the toothpick and poked one of the eggs with it. To Eriol's displeasure, the toothpick melted into the frothing white and yellow ooze. It seemed that the eggs had all melted together, while the pancakes were as hard as a rock.
Eriol let out a sigh. "I give up," he said. "There's no way I'm going to be able to cook breakfast in this psycho ward."
~*~*~*~*~
Syaoran sat on his bed, looking at his new incantations. It was late in the morning, and he was already feeling tired because of the 'welcome back' party his sisters had thrown for him earlier. He told them that he thought it was a little too early to be celebrating, but of course those energetic lunatics didn't care. Standing up, he placed his incantations into his jeans pocket and put on a black t-shirt.
With a yawn, Syaoran looked at the calendar in his room. "March 23," he noted to himself quietly. He then looked up at a clock, which read 11:42 a.m.
"Time to go and find Meilin," Syaoran said, walking past his television set and through the doorway.
He made sure he got out of the house quickly. The last thing Syaoran wanted right now was another 'welcome back' party. With a swift jog, Syaoran went down the stairs outside that lead to the street. He could see a traffic sign down a level lower, along with several cars and pedestrians in business suits moving around rapidly.
From the looks of things, it was going to take him a while to navigate around to where he wanted to go.
~*~*~*~*~
A boy with spiky-black hair stared into the void in front of him, which was yet again displaying the world through Syaoran's eyes. All around him was nothing but perpetual darkness, and the only light that actually gave a hint of the boy's existence was of that coming from the void. He seemed to be observing the images intently, taking in every detail of what he seen.
"I have foreseen Clow's reincarnation coming for a visit soon," he spoke. He then smiled evilly. "And when he does, I will be released from this prison. Then I will take back what should have been mine."
~<{FINISH}>~
I've finally finished Chapter 1... Though not quite as long as the prologue, I don't intend on making many of the chapters that long. Anyway, review if you can. Expect some artwork to be up soon (and perhaps a manga version of the story, if it gets good enough). Till next time, see you around.
--ssGoku138