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OOC Thread
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Villanero, California, is one of the main magical centers in the United States, a town with a number of European mage clans settled there as well as a naturally high concentration of mana which makes things that would be impossible elsewhere possible here - as mages descend on the town for vacation during the summer, however, something strange is going on. The town just "feels" different and there's mana in the air, indicating some kind of mass scale magical project happening somewhere nearby...
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- H U N T E R S - BOOK I – CHAPTER PROLOGUE: “REDLINE”
Villanero, California
July 4th, 2020
Collaborative post between Forest State and Lunas Legion
VILLANERO, CALIFORNIA, WAS A STRANGE PLACE. The town was located in the north of the state, beyond the Bay Area and far away from the brighter lights of the south, of the cities of LA and San Diego and Anaheim. It was also beyond the hustle and bustle and the wokeness of Silicon Valley, instead settling for a distinctly more traditional attitude that would make some wonder if they were in California at all upon stepping into the very much European styled and very much rich town, where it seemed social mobility might as well not have existed and where old money from all over the country found itself settling. Of course, there was a reason for this, and it didn’t just have to do with the city being popular for retirees or celebrities something along those lines.
Those were excuses for normal cities. The fact of the matter was that Villanera was not a normal town. The reason old money ended up settling here was because the town was one of the most important in the country for a small percent of the population - a small percent which, of course, was perhaps disproportionately powerful… Magic users. The town had been established by Italian and German magic users who had settled down in the western United States and needed a place away from prying eyes to pursue their work, and things had never changed since then. The people changed with time but the town generally had the same role, perhaps even growing in reputation as more mages came in from different places, setting up and settling down here and starting families which in the future would turn into full blown mage clans, all of them having connections to this one place…
It was considered an important location for a reason. And one could tell it just by looking at how the people carried themselves… By looking at the buildings and how much any of the houses around here were worth - it was impossible to find a sign with someone selling a house for a reasonable price. No, living here, it was a privilege. One could tell that just by looking at what was on the road - not cheap sedans and SUVs but sports cars, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, and the like. It was one of the few places where seeing a Rolls Royce Wraith wasn’t even the most uncommon example of excess.
And right now, these streets - the same streets that were filled with sports cars, luxury cars, and other vehicles along those lines… Were the place where Candace Marin found herself, along with Gabriella Bianchi-Costa and two of her sisters, Cassia and Cassandra Marin. They were an odd family, really. Didn’t take long to figure it out, that maybe their parents were a little eccentric. They’d taken from their own names, Chandler and Clementine, when naming their children… And it showed, when looking at a list of their names - Cassandra, Candace, Cassius, Cassia.
The names weren’t the most notable thing about them, though. The most notable thing about the Marins was that they were one of the biggest families in the magic world, or at least the United States and French magic scenes, where the branches of their family were based for the most part. It was one of the reasons they could come and go here freely - and their profitable work fighting off supernatural threats in front of the world was the reason why they were able to treat their children like this… To put them in cars like the Hellcat that Cassia was driving right now, something that looked a bit out of place around here for not being luxury enough, even if it was something many regular people would strive towards getting.
But the Marins weren’t regular people. And Candace’s friend wasn’t a regular person either.
Gabriella’s family, the Bianchi-Costas, were not exactly a famous family even among mages, but what they were was old, and age often had a value of its own. Gabriella was just the latest in the ancient line stretching back generations, that had practiced magic before since magic had been but superstition among the populace and witch trials were common and usually ended with burnings at the stake or a drowning. In some ways, Villanera was like coming to a small shard of home out in distant California. Even the name was Italian, after all.
The traditions of her family made for an interesting contrast with the company that she kept right now, the younger generation of the Marins generally being a rowdy bunch - at least, the American branch of their family could say that. Cassia, from the driver’s seat, kept a blunt between her fingers as she placed a hand on the steering wheel, waiting at a red light to keep going as they cruised the streets on this 4th of July evening, where they found themselves breaking away from the main gathering and heading off on their own - well, in Gabriella’s case, she was only really heading off because Candace had asked.
But she was with them nonetheless, even if the car smelled like Cassia’s smoke, and even if the radio was blasting what wouldn’t typically be her type of music.
They didn’t particularly have a goal in mind right now although they had agreed to get out of the city center itself - away from the richest part of it, the part where the streets were filled with foreign cars and all of the buildings cost ridiculous prices. The hills and mountains outside of this city were said to hold many magical secrets from past years, whether those secrets were related to natural occurrences of magic or to experiments and the like conducted by the many, many mages that had either lived in this place or spent time in it for “work” reasons.
“You know,” said Candace, as they waited at the red light, looking over to Gabriella who was next to her in the back seat while Cassandra was in the passenger side opposite of Cassia in the driver’s seat. “I’ve been feeling something ever since we got here… Don’t know if you’ve been feeling it also, feels like it’s a magic thing. Something over the entire town, even… Fuck it, there’s gotta be something going on down there. Red Mountain, I think they call that place…”
“I’m a bit desensitized to large passive magical… Things, I lived in one after all back home, but I’ll take your word for it.” Gabriella said carefully, turning to look out the window briefly before turning back towards Candace.
“Gotta be fuckin’ blind to not feel this one…” muttered Candace, closing her eyes and focusing on the magic herself - it did seem to call out to them in a way, although that was just because of the strength of the magic, maybe. Whatever the source of it actually was. “Maybe the Hunter Association is doing something but… I doubt it. I mean, since when has their magic felt like that?”
“It feels a lot more raw,” remarked Cassandra, looking off in the distance at the Red Mountain that Candace had spoken about. “And I’d say I’m not one to notice every passive magic source either, and yet I’m feeling it real heavy right now…”
It did seem like a hell of a chance to go exploring, which was what they had come out here to do anyway - look around a little and find somewhere more interesting to watch the fireworks, rather than some boring social gathering where the clothes were formal and where everyone would simply sit around and drink cocktails while playing social games with each other.
Gabriella said nothing for a few moments, shutting her eyes and focusing before her eyes opened again. “I’m used to that kind of magic level as background ambience which is why I didn’t notice it earlier, but when you actually take a moment to feel it it’s nothing like what I’m used to. It’s raw, uncontrolled, wild…” Gabriella sighed. “Let me guess, we’re going to go try and find something about this mysterious magical aura?”
“Unless you want to get high as fuck and pass out before we can get out there,” Candace said, shrugging casually. “Me and Cassia already agreed we weren’t going to pass out until the fireworks… And it’s not even dark yet,” she added, chuckling. She did tend to have a… Drug habit, to say the least, oftentimes hiding behind getting high when her mood took a downturn. Although right now, Candace seemed stable enough - it could still change at any moment, though.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to decline that, so exploring it is.” Gabriella said with a small, dismissive wave of her hand. Candace offered, and she declined; it was just one of those things that always came up between the pair of them and could even be called a bit of a running joke, if there was anything funny about it. “Not what I pictured myself doing this afternoon.”
“You’re going to have to go along with it at some point, Gabs,” said Candace as the light turned green and Cassia sped off in the direction of the Red Mountain, which was somewhat far in the distance - they’d have to cut through a long section of forest before they would be able to reach the location they were actually headed towards, although as Cassia revved the engine and they picked up speed in the direction of the mountain, all of them in the car could feel that there was definitely something up with this location in specific rather than just with the area in general.
“I’ll do my best not to, I don’t know what anyone sees in the stuff.” Gabriella said, watching out the window as the distant silhouette of the Red Mountain vanished in and out of the trees. “And is it just me, or is that particular feeling getting stronger? I don’t even need to try looking for it to feel it now.”
“You always have had a stick up your ass,” said Cassia from the front seat as she continued driving with one hand, the other hand on the blunt as she exhaled some smoke within the car - she didn’t seem too concerned about smoking inside the car, even with the windows hardly down… She didn’t exactly care about the effect it’d likely have on the smell.
“It’s definitely stronger,” Candace said, also looking out of the window as they reached the outside of the town and started towards the forest, the roads getting less straight and more winding as they made it out of the city center and started towards some of the less dense areas.
“So… Anyone willing to hazard a guess at what we’ll find?” Gabriella asked, waving a hand in front of her face to try and get some of the smell away from her. “I doubt it’s created by anyone, but if it’s just an ambient mana source it’s a very, very big one I imagine…”
“Doesn’t feel like something that’s just sitting around, at least I know there was nothing up here the last time I’ve been here, which was just last year,” said Candace with a shrug as the feeling continued to grow stronger while they got closer to the source of whatever was off in the distance. Cassia shifted the knob to the radio as they kept going, switching through the channels while keeping her eyes on the road, the general atmosphere at the moment just… Strange. Maybe it was whatever was on the mountain, but it just felt like there was a certain tension, like there was a coming storm and they were just on the outside of it, or like it hadn’t arrived entirely yet.
“So it’s not a permanent thing…” Gabriella said to herself, still watching out the window but now in a contemplative silence. “Well, given that no one in Villanera seemed bothered by it it can’t be anything too dangerous.” Or so she hoped. “But we don’t know how long it’s been there, so…” She gave a small shrug, having no idea what the origin could be. “Well, it’ll be interesting, even if I didn’t exactly intend to go exploring mysterious mana sources today.”
The sky even seemed to darken as they closed the gap between the mountain and themselves, strangely enough, even as the sun was still up in the sky - and it wasn’t raining either, but it was suddenly overcast and suddenly as if the clouds were coming from the mountain itself, forming up around it like it was some kind of signal for them, some kind of rally point perhaps that they all expanded out from. The entire thing was strange, not the kind of thing that happened normally. “Never seen clouds show up around a magical site like that before,” Candace remarked, before noting something else - the concentration of mana in the area was high enough that she could slightly see it in the air as a faint red glow which had appeared around all of them as they ended up getting closer to the mountain. “Or this…”
“I haven’t either.” Gabriella admitted, watching the clouds with apprehension. “And that’s both seen or read about…” Which was rare, since she liked to consider her knowledge of magical phenomena to be at least decent. “I’ll have to have someone check through the library back home when we’re done, there’s probably something buried in that sea of old books and paper.”
Cassia eventually turned them off onto a side path, one that would lead them more directly up towards the higher elevation and towards the mountain, but first they would have to cut through some dense forest to get there, far denser than what they had been driving through before, much of the higher tree branches serving to block out the light from above which was already limited by the overcast clouds strangely enough. Candace raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything about the strange situation just yet, continuing to look out of the window.
After a few minutes of this they would run into another sight entirely, something that appeared to be an abandoned logging camp, perhaps part of the past of the settlement - it made sense somewhat that the logging industry had dried up. The city was dominated by mages, it wasn’t the best place for someone working a regular job with no magical ability. The camp, though, seemed to be charged with a decent amount of magical energy of its own. “I can feel someone,” Cassandra said, curiously. “Someone, not something.”
Cassia pulled the Hellcat over to the side of the road and they were now sitting in front of the entrance, an old and weathered wooden sign marking the logging camp as such and a dirt trail leading inside. “Hmmmm…” she muttered, also apparently feeling something, and looking out the window at the entrance for a long moment before opening the driver’s side door and stepping out to follow Cassandra, who had opened the passenger side door.
“Probably the cause of all this, I imagine.” Gabriella said as she turned herself to the side and stepped out, brushing herself down and adjusting her skirt. “Or if not, then… Who knows?”
Candace stepped out after Gabriella and looked around before starting to approach the worn down entrance, looking up at it for a few moments before continuing on her way along with Gabriella behind the other two, reaching out with her own magic to create a couple of miniature stars which would hover next to her, capable of being used as a weapon if they happened to need one. She couldn’t say she had the best feeling about this even if she wasn’t the type of person to be stopped by something little like that. “I can’t see anyone…” she said at first, as they started to search through the center plaza, which itself was surrounded with the wooden remains of a number of the main buildings that had been used when this was an actual logging camp rather than just another location for exploration.
“Yeah, but I can feel someone…” Cassandra said, and Cassia seemed to believe, also. Candace could feel something but she wasn’t sure exactly what to make of it - and the faint red glow, it was stronger… Which meant they were in an area with more unrefined mana that was shifting forms in its excess and becoming visible in the are.
“The mana is also stronger here, not sure what that actually means for us though…” Candace added on to Cassandra’s statement as they continued taking a look around.
“What would someone need this much unrefined mana for?” Gabriella mused, her eyes taking on a purple glow, giving the red haze of unrefined mana in front of her a slightly different colour. “Unless it’s a by-product of something…” Gabriella continued, eyes drifting from side to side as she followed the others, searching. Instinct said to just leave, but she wasn’t about to just abandon Candace and the others with whatever was here.
Candace remained silent for a moment as she looked around further, closing her eyes and focusing on just the mental image she was building of where the mana was located specifically and where it was coming from and heading to. She quickly realized that it seemed to be leading to one specific set of buildings off to the north. “Further in the camp,” she said, before pausing… “But unless I’m misreading things completely, most of this mana is coming… From way further out, at least from what I can see here. What’s someone doing harvesting large amounts of mana from the population?”
“I would assume, at a guess, as fuel for something potentially.” Gabriella said, still following after Candace. “Something big, most likely, given the sheer quantity of mana in the air.”
As they continued, they would see someone coming out of one of the buildings, either not noticing them or not paying attention to them, but having quite the magical aura - the girl didn’t seem older than they were, maybe slightly younger, with blonde hair which could be seen brightly even through the layer of mana and the layer of fog that was over the general area, wearing what seemed to be regular civilian clothes and a sweatjacket with the hood pulled down for now. She didn’t say anything… Didn’t even look up at them. In fact, it seemed like she was as focused on the mana as they were, paying attention to it rather than them.
“Hello?” Gabriella called out, not entirely sure whether staying silent or not was the better course of action here but figuring that there were four of them and Cass had said it was someone she could sense around here, she wasn’t exactly worried if it came to a fight even though she hoped it didn’t. She could just be another explorer, or more likely, whoever was doing all this.
The girl turned around to look at the group but she didn’t say anything just yet, allowing them to keep an eye on her as she backpedaled for a couple of steps - although she never looked nervous, per say. If anything, nothing on her face changed despite looking at them, even with the interest on her. When Candace closed her eyes once again and focused outwards in response, it did seem… Like a decent amount of the magical energy was coming from her. “There’s a lot of mana on her right now…” Candace hissed to Gabriella in a low tone.
“She’s not trying to murder us quite yet, at least.” Gabriella whispered back, more concerned from the lack of outward response from the girl, her face seeming more of a mask than a face from the lack of movement. She hadn’t said anything, hadn’t done anything but step back from them even if she had a large quantity of mana at her disposal. “But I think we should probably just try and leave, whatever this is, is… Likely beyond the four of us.”
“Seems a bit late for that,” said Candace, looking at the girl in front of them as she adjusted her earpods, reaching down for her phone and pressing the play button to pick up with her playlist - if they were going to be involved in something crazy, she was going to at least do it while listening to something of her own choice rather than the ambient sounds of the forest around them.
Ahead of them, the blonde girl finally spoke. “What are you doing here?” was the one question that she asked, extending her arm as something came down from the sky and landed on it with quite some force, although it didn’t seem to affect her - a black creature, an unnaturally large raven perhaps, which rested on her outstretched arm and looked at them as she also looked them down, not saying anything more for a few moments before adding another statement. “It’s dangerous out here.”
“I could say the same to why you’re out here, and alone at that.” Gabriella said, eyes flicking briefly over to the… It probably wasn’t a raven, it was too large, a small summon perhaps? “At least we have company.” She continued, gesturing to Candace. “But regardless, we picked up… Well, this.” Gabriella waved a hand around her to the red haze of mana around her. “Figured we’d come out and see what was causing it.”
The girl didn’t say anything for another long few moments as the raven looked between all of them, head shifting ever so slightly while the rest of the bird remained rather still, resting on her arm. “You should leave the area,” the girl said simply after an awkward silence had set in, not moving from where she was, the feeling of mana in the air only seeming to get… Stronger, the longer they stood around here in the abandoned camp.
“Mhm.” Gabriella made a noncommittal sound, turning her head towards Candace. She didn’t exactly want to just leave with this entire mystery left unsolved but equally, refusing meant a fight against a potential unknown. Even if there were four of them, well, overconfidence in numbers had been the downfall of many. “It’s dangerous, or you said it was, but…” She paused. “I think we can handle ourselves, and again, I could say the same back to you.”
“Very well,” the girl said. She turned her back… And watched as streaks of mana, in its most visible and energetic form, shot up into the sky from the distance as they converged on one point near the peak of the Red Mountain off in the distance, one of them even appearing not far from the group, in front of them at the abandoned logging camp they were standing in right now - it seemed every stream of energy was heading to the same spot, the mana in the air dissipating as the concentration of it was finally directed towards one place by the summoning circles which had been etched into the ground in this location and apparently in various other ones. And while all of this happened, the raven seemed to have a keen interest in what was going on, giving off a magical energy of its own that almost seemed… Restrained. As if it was actively being masked, hidden from them. And the girl, she didn’t seem to think that what was going on was strange at all. No, she was watching with interest. One could say she wanted this to happen - whatever it actually was.
“So…” Gabriella said, for once at a loss for words as she eyed up the mass summoning ritual with nervousness. She’d known whatever was being done was big, but she’d thought… Whoever had set this up had been going for quality, rather than quantity as was now obvious. “Summoning is most certainly not my area of expertise. I don’t suppose you could enlighten us a small amount on all this, if you do know anything at all about it?” She continued, taking a single step back and her eyes brightening ever so slightly as she mentally readied herself.
“I don’t think this is the kind of thing the Association would want you dabbling in, Gabriella Bianchi-Costa,” said another voice - one that seemed to come from the raven itself, and was perhaps more deep and booming than anything else in the area… The raven didn’t turn around, however, and there was no way of being sure where the voice was coming from. Both the girl and the bird seemed satisfied with keeping their eyes on the mountain as the mana was concentrated in that direction rather than around the entire general area.
“This will be done in a few minutes,” the girl said simply, her own voice calmer and colder, too.
“What does the Association have to do with this?” asked Cassandra, but the girl didn’t give her an answer immediately - she looked over her shoulder, though, meeting Cassandra’s eyes.
“I think it would be better if you stayed out of it,” she said plainly enough, making it clear she didn’t want to give more information.
“You’re doing… Something. I can’t quite piece together what, but…” Gabriella fell silent. The raven, which was quite obviously not a raven given that it spoke and more importantly knew her name, despite her never giving it or being anywhere near as well-known as the Marin sisters. “It is quite obviously bad news most likely if you don’t want to tell us what is being done.” Of course, then there was the tiny matter of stopping it and given the sheer scale and quantity of mana involved, Gabriella wasn’t sure that was even possible at this point. She turned back towards the others. “At this point, I think leaving may be the smart course of action, unless you feel like remaining to see the end result.”
Before they could do anything, the attention would be taken off of the question and put on the situation in front of them - the concentration of unstable mana seemed to ignite, causing the peak of the mountain to explode, a bright flash shooting straight into the sky and lighting things up for miles… For a few moments, all of the overcast weather didn’t mean anything, as the heat from the flash spread and made it look and feel like they were out in the sun in the heat of the middle afternoon. “Holy shit…” said Cassia, watching the scene play out from start to finish, the beam of light disappearing as shrapnel from the explosion started to rain down, one rock even making it all the way to the logging camp and smashing through one of the buildings around them, collapsing the weathered wooden structure without incident.
The girl remained calm but even she realized that this wasn’t going right, or at least it seemed like she had caught onto it. “Shit…” she muttered under her breath, looking to the raven on her arm. “That’s going to draw too much attention… As if we didn’t have the whole town looking here anyway…” she muttered, before turning to face the edge of the camp, still talking to the raven. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I think that goes the same for us.” Gabriella said, turning back towards the others, a small field of faint purple light shimmering into existence over her head to protect the group from any of the shrapnel that fell this far away. Ritual magic was one thing, but ritual magic that had gone wrong was another altogether, especially on this scale with this much power. “Unless anyone objects?”
“Don’t think so…” Candace said. At the same time, the raven that had been on the arm of the girl in front of them shifted, moving away from her arm and dropping onto the ground before becoming much larger, the sound of bones moving and shifting audible to everyone in the surrounding area as a mana fueled fire still raged in the background at the top of the mountain. The girl climbed onto the back of the raven… And the thing pushed off the ground, kicking dirt and rocks back with the force of the air that came off its wings with the move. Which left the other group to move back towards the Hellcat, which was parked some ways away by foot distance, more explosions sounding in the background as the unstable mana ended up in different places after the initial mountain explosion, the main fire still burning.
“You always take me to such interesting places.” Gabriella remarked as they made their way back towards the Hellcat, her shield flickering and expanding out into a bubble in case any of the explosions came too close to their group. “I suppose you’re all just as clueless about that as I am?”
“I don’t know much more than you,” said Candace, moving and scooping Gabriella up in her arms to move quicker, not paying much attention to being gentle or to where she was grabbing as she picked her up and held onto her. “Don’t think any of the others do, either…”
“Nothing from me,” said Cassandra as Cassia nodded in agreement.
“I’m too high for this,” was the only thing Cassia said as they reached the Hellcat and she went back around to the driver’s side, quickly opening the door and climbing inside while waiting for the others.
“I’ll have a look for anything on this whenever I get back to the library in Switzerland, or set mother on it, she knows more than I do.” Gabriella gave a small shrug as Candace pulled open the rear door and all but shoved her inside before climbing in after her. “I get the feeling that whatever just happened is major, and not in a good way.”
Cassia sped off before all the doors were closed, and Candace pulled Gabriella on her lap as they climbed inside shortly before it happened, taking a deep breath and resting back in her seat, contemplating the situation. “Where the hell are we going to go after all that?”
“Back to Villanero, if we can make it. It’s probably going to be the safest place around.” Gabriella said, settling in to Candace’s lap. “I don’t really know the area so the other option is just drive away as fast as you can get away with, either option is good. Just not here.”
Candace shifted a bit awkwardly with Gabriella on her lap, the slightest of blushes settling on her face - her relationship with her best friend was… Complicated. She didn’t exactly know how to handle it at times. And well, she was sure she had just made things awkward. They continued, however, down the path back to Villanero, through the winding forest, the feeling of mana in the air no longer there like it had been before… All that mana had been directed to the mountain where it had combusted.
Gabriella said nothing, just shutting her eyes and staying where she was. It was comfortable enough, and they were out of danger, so she could relax for now at least. There were still questions, but they weren’t questions she could answer here and now.
Those were excuses for normal cities. The fact of the matter was that Villanera was not a normal town. The reason old money ended up settling here was because the town was one of the most important in the country for a small percent of the population - a small percent which, of course, was perhaps disproportionately powerful… Magic users. The town had been established by Italian and German magic users who had settled down in the western United States and needed a place away from prying eyes to pursue their work, and things had never changed since then. The people changed with time but the town generally had the same role, perhaps even growing in reputation as more mages came in from different places, setting up and settling down here and starting families which in the future would turn into full blown mage clans, all of them having connections to this one place…
It was considered an important location for a reason. And one could tell it just by looking at how the people carried themselves… By looking at the buildings and how much any of the houses around here were worth - it was impossible to find a sign with someone selling a house for a reasonable price. No, living here, it was a privilege. One could tell that just by looking at what was on the road - not cheap sedans and SUVs but sports cars, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, and the like. It was one of the few places where seeing a Rolls Royce Wraith wasn’t even the most uncommon example of excess.
And right now, these streets - the same streets that were filled with sports cars, luxury cars, and other vehicles along those lines… Were the place where Candace Marin found herself, along with Gabriella Bianchi-Costa and two of her sisters, Cassia and Cassandra Marin. They were an odd family, really. Didn’t take long to figure it out, that maybe their parents were a little eccentric. They’d taken from their own names, Chandler and Clementine, when naming their children… And it showed, when looking at a list of their names - Cassandra, Candace, Cassius, Cassia.
The names weren’t the most notable thing about them, though. The most notable thing about the Marins was that they were one of the biggest families in the magic world, or at least the United States and French magic scenes, where the branches of their family were based for the most part. It was one of the reasons they could come and go here freely - and their profitable work fighting off supernatural threats in front of the world was the reason why they were able to treat their children like this… To put them in cars like the Hellcat that Cassia was driving right now, something that looked a bit out of place around here for not being luxury enough, even if it was something many regular people would strive towards getting.
But the Marins weren’t regular people. And Candace’s friend wasn’t a regular person either.
Gabriella’s family, the Bianchi-Costas, were not exactly a famous family even among mages, but what they were was old, and age often had a value of its own. Gabriella was just the latest in the ancient line stretching back generations, that had practiced magic before since magic had been but superstition among the populace and witch trials were common and usually ended with burnings at the stake or a drowning. In some ways, Villanera was like coming to a small shard of home out in distant California. Even the name was Italian, after all.
The traditions of her family made for an interesting contrast with the company that she kept right now, the younger generation of the Marins generally being a rowdy bunch - at least, the American branch of their family could say that. Cassia, from the driver’s seat, kept a blunt between her fingers as she placed a hand on the steering wheel, waiting at a red light to keep going as they cruised the streets on this 4th of July evening, where they found themselves breaking away from the main gathering and heading off on their own - well, in Gabriella’s case, she was only really heading off because Candace had asked.
But she was with them nonetheless, even if the car smelled like Cassia’s smoke, and even if the radio was blasting what wouldn’t typically be her type of music.
NOW PLAYING: CALIFORNIA LOVE ON NORTHERN CALIFORNIA RAP RADIO
They didn’t particularly have a goal in mind right now although they had agreed to get out of the city center itself - away from the richest part of it, the part where the streets were filled with foreign cars and all of the buildings cost ridiculous prices. The hills and mountains outside of this city were said to hold many magical secrets from past years, whether those secrets were related to natural occurrences of magic or to experiments and the like conducted by the many, many mages that had either lived in this place or spent time in it for “work” reasons.
“You know,” said Candace, as they waited at the red light, looking over to Gabriella who was next to her in the back seat while Cassandra was in the passenger side opposite of Cassia in the driver’s seat. “I’ve been feeling something ever since we got here… Don’t know if you’ve been feeling it also, feels like it’s a magic thing. Something over the entire town, even… Fuck it, there’s gotta be something going on down there. Red Mountain, I think they call that place…”
“I’m a bit desensitized to large passive magical… Things, I lived in one after all back home, but I’ll take your word for it.” Gabriella said carefully, turning to look out the window briefly before turning back towards Candace.
“Gotta be fuckin’ blind to not feel this one…” muttered Candace, closing her eyes and focusing on the magic herself - it did seem to call out to them in a way, although that was just because of the strength of the magic, maybe. Whatever the source of it actually was. “Maybe the Hunter Association is doing something but… I doubt it. I mean, since when has their magic felt like that?”
“It feels a lot more raw,” remarked Cassandra, looking off in the distance at the Red Mountain that Candace had spoken about. “And I’d say I’m not one to notice every passive magic source either, and yet I’m feeling it real heavy right now…”
It did seem like a hell of a chance to go exploring, which was what they had come out here to do anyway - look around a little and find somewhere more interesting to watch the fireworks, rather than some boring social gathering where the clothes were formal and where everyone would simply sit around and drink cocktails while playing social games with each other.
Gabriella said nothing for a few moments, shutting her eyes and focusing before her eyes opened again. “I’m used to that kind of magic level as background ambience which is why I didn’t notice it earlier, but when you actually take a moment to feel it it’s nothing like what I’m used to. It’s raw, uncontrolled, wild…” Gabriella sighed. “Let me guess, we’re going to go try and find something about this mysterious magical aura?”
“Unless you want to get high as fuck and pass out before we can get out there,” Candace said, shrugging casually. “Me and Cassia already agreed we weren’t going to pass out until the fireworks… And it’s not even dark yet,” she added, chuckling. She did tend to have a… Drug habit, to say the least, oftentimes hiding behind getting high when her mood took a downturn. Although right now, Candace seemed stable enough - it could still change at any moment, though.
“I’m afraid I’ll have to decline that, so exploring it is.” Gabriella said with a small, dismissive wave of her hand. Candace offered, and she declined; it was just one of those things that always came up between the pair of them and could even be called a bit of a running joke, if there was anything funny about it. “Not what I pictured myself doing this afternoon.”
“You’re going to have to go along with it at some point, Gabs,” said Candace as the light turned green and Cassia sped off in the direction of the Red Mountain, which was somewhat far in the distance - they’d have to cut through a long section of forest before they would be able to reach the location they were actually headed towards, although as Cassia revved the engine and they picked up speed in the direction of the mountain, all of them in the car could feel that there was definitely something up with this location in specific rather than just with the area in general.
“I’ll do my best not to, I don’t know what anyone sees in the stuff.” Gabriella said, watching out the window as the distant silhouette of the Red Mountain vanished in and out of the trees. “And is it just me, or is that particular feeling getting stronger? I don’t even need to try looking for it to feel it now.”
“You always have had a stick up your ass,” said Cassia from the front seat as she continued driving with one hand, the other hand on the blunt as she exhaled some smoke within the car - she didn’t seem too concerned about smoking inside the car, even with the windows hardly down… She didn’t exactly care about the effect it’d likely have on the smell.
“It’s definitely stronger,” Candace said, also looking out of the window as they reached the outside of the town and started towards the forest, the roads getting less straight and more winding as they made it out of the city center and started towards some of the less dense areas.
“So… Anyone willing to hazard a guess at what we’ll find?” Gabriella asked, waving a hand in front of her face to try and get some of the smell away from her. “I doubt it’s created by anyone, but if it’s just an ambient mana source it’s a very, very big one I imagine…”
“Doesn’t feel like something that’s just sitting around, at least I know there was nothing up here the last time I’ve been here, which was just last year,” said Candace with a shrug as the feeling continued to grow stronger while they got closer to the source of whatever was off in the distance. Cassia shifted the knob to the radio as they kept going, switching through the channels while keeping her eyes on the road, the general atmosphere at the moment just… Strange. Maybe it was whatever was on the mountain, but it just felt like there was a certain tension, like there was a coming storm and they were just on the outside of it, or like it hadn’t arrived entirely yet.
“So it’s not a permanent thing…” Gabriella said to herself, still watching out the window but now in a contemplative silence. “Well, given that no one in Villanera seemed bothered by it it can’t be anything too dangerous.” Or so she hoped. “But we don’t know how long it’s been there, so…” She gave a small shrug, having no idea what the origin could be. “Well, it’ll be interesting, even if I didn’t exactly intend to go exploring mysterious mana sources today.”
NOW PLAYING: MONSTER, HOW SHOULD I FEEL ON BAY AREA ALTERNATIVE RADIO
The sky even seemed to darken as they closed the gap between the mountain and themselves, strangely enough, even as the sun was still up in the sky - and it wasn’t raining either, but it was suddenly overcast and suddenly as if the clouds were coming from the mountain itself, forming up around it like it was some kind of signal for them, some kind of rally point perhaps that they all expanded out from. The entire thing was strange, not the kind of thing that happened normally. “Never seen clouds show up around a magical site like that before,” Candace remarked, before noting something else - the concentration of mana in the area was high enough that she could slightly see it in the air as a faint red glow which had appeared around all of them as they ended up getting closer to the mountain. “Or this…”
“I haven’t either.” Gabriella admitted, watching the clouds with apprehension. “And that’s both seen or read about…” Which was rare, since she liked to consider her knowledge of magical phenomena to be at least decent. “I’ll have to have someone check through the library back home when we’re done, there’s probably something buried in that sea of old books and paper.”
Cassia eventually turned them off onto a side path, one that would lead them more directly up towards the higher elevation and towards the mountain, but first they would have to cut through some dense forest to get there, far denser than what they had been driving through before, much of the higher tree branches serving to block out the light from above which was already limited by the overcast clouds strangely enough. Candace raised an eyebrow but didn’t say anything about the strange situation just yet, continuing to look out of the window.
After a few minutes of this they would run into another sight entirely, something that appeared to be an abandoned logging camp, perhaps part of the past of the settlement - it made sense somewhat that the logging industry had dried up. The city was dominated by mages, it wasn’t the best place for someone working a regular job with no magical ability. The camp, though, seemed to be charged with a decent amount of magical energy of its own. “I can feel someone,” Cassandra said, curiously. “Someone, not something.”
Cassia pulled the Hellcat over to the side of the road and they were now sitting in front of the entrance, an old and weathered wooden sign marking the logging camp as such and a dirt trail leading inside. “Hmmmm…” she muttered, also apparently feeling something, and looking out the window at the entrance for a long moment before opening the driver’s side door and stepping out to follow Cassandra, who had opened the passenger side door.
“Probably the cause of all this, I imagine.” Gabriella said as she turned herself to the side and stepped out, brushing herself down and adjusting her skirt. “Or if not, then… Who knows?”
Candace stepped out after Gabriella and looked around before starting to approach the worn down entrance, looking up at it for a few moments before continuing on her way along with Gabriella behind the other two, reaching out with her own magic to create a couple of miniature stars which would hover next to her, capable of being used as a weapon if they happened to need one. She couldn’t say she had the best feeling about this even if she wasn’t the type of person to be stopped by something little like that. “I can’t see anyone…” she said at first, as they started to search through the center plaza, which itself was surrounded with the wooden remains of a number of the main buildings that had been used when this was an actual logging camp rather than just another location for exploration.
“Yeah, but I can feel someone…” Cassandra said, and Cassia seemed to believe, also. Candace could feel something but she wasn’t sure exactly what to make of it - and the faint red glow, it was stronger… Which meant they were in an area with more unrefined mana that was shifting forms in its excess and becoming visible in the are.
“The mana is also stronger here, not sure what that actually means for us though…” Candace added on to Cassandra’s statement as they continued taking a look around.
“What would someone need this much unrefined mana for?” Gabriella mused, her eyes taking on a purple glow, giving the red haze of unrefined mana in front of her a slightly different colour. “Unless it’s a by-product of something…” Gabriella continued, eyes drifting from side to side as she followed the others, searching. Instinct said to just leave, but she wasn’t about to just abandon Candace and the others with whatever was here.
Candace remained silent for a moment as she looked around further, closing her eyes and focusing on just the mental image she was building of where the mana was located specifically and where it was coming from and heading to. She quickly realized that it seemed to be leading to one specific set of buildings off to the north. “Further in the camp,” she said, before pausing… “But unless I’m misreading things completely, most of this mana is coming… From way further out, at least from what I can see here. What’s someone doing harvesting large amounts of mana from the population?”
“I would assume, at a guess, as fuel for something potentially.” Gabriella said, still following after Candace. “Something big, most likely, given the sheer quantity of mana in the air.”
As they continued, they would see someone coming out of one of the buildings, either not noticing them or not paying attention to them, but having quite the magical aura - the girl didn’t seem older than they were, maybe slightly younger, with blonde hair which could be seen brightly even through the layer of mana and the layer of fog that was over the general area, wearing what seemed to be regular civilian clothes and a sweatjacket with the hood pulled down for now. She didn’t say anything… Didn’t even look up at them. In fact, it seemed like she was as focused on the mana as they were, paying attention to it rather than them.
“Hello?” Gabriella called out, not entirely sure whether staying silent or not was the better course of action here but figuring that there were four of them and Cass had said it was someone she could sense around here, she wasn’t exactly worried if it came to a fight even though she hoped it didn’t. She could just be another explorer, or more likely, whoever was doing all this.
The girl turned around to look at the group but she didn’t say anything just yet, allowing them to keep an eye on her as she backpedaled for a couple of steps - although she never looked nervous, per say. If anything, nothing on her face changed despite looking at them, even with the interest on her. When Candace closed her eyes once again and focused outwards in response, it did seem… Like a decent amount of the magical energy was coming from her. “There’s a lot of mana on her right now…” Candace hissed to Gabriella in a low tone.
“She’s not trying to murder us quite yet, at least.” Gabriella whispered back, more concerned from the lack of outward response from the girl, her face seeming more of a mask than a face from the lack of movement. She hadn’t said anything, hadn’t done anything but step back from them even if she had a large quantity of mana at her disposal. “But I think we should probably just try and leave, whatever this is, is… Likely beyond the four of us.”
“Seems a bit late for that,” said Candace, looking at the girl in front of them as she adjusted her earpods, reaching down for her phone and pressing the play button to pick up with her playlist - if they were going to be involved in something crazy, she was going to at least do it while listening to something of her own choice rather than the ambient sounds of the forest around them.
NOW PLAYING: IT’S NOT LOVE ON PLAYLIST: LOW FI
Ahead of them, the blonde girl finally spoke. “What are you doing here?” was the one question that she asked, extending her arm as something came down from the sky and landed on it with quite some force, although it didn’t seem to affect her - a black creature, an unnaturally large raven perhaps, which rested on her outstretched arm and looked at them as she also looked them down, not saying anything more for a few moments before adding another statement. “It’s dangerous out here.”
“I could say the same to why you’re out here, and alone at that.” Gabriella said, eyes flicking briefly over to the… It probably wasn’t a raven, it was too large, a small summon perhaps? “At least we have company.” She continued, gesturing to Candace. “But regardless, we picked up… Well, this.” Gabriella waved a hand around her to the red haze of mana around her. “Figured we’d come out and see what was causing it.”
The girl didn’t say anything for another long few moments as the raven looked between all of them, head shifting ever so slightly while the rest of the bird remained rather still, resting on her arm. “You should leave the area,” the girl said simply after an awkward silence had set in, not moving from where she was, the feeling of mana in the air only seeming to get… Stronger, the longer they stood around here in the abandoned camp.
“Mhm.” Gabriella made a noncommittal sound, turning her head towards Candace. She didn’t exactly want to just leave with this entire mystery left unsolved but equally, refusing meant a fight against a potential unknown. Even if there were four of them, well, overconfidence in numbers had been the downfall of many. “It’s dangerous, or you said it was, but…” She paused. “I think we can handle ourselves, and again, I could say the same back to you.”
“Very well,” the girl said. She turned her back… And watched as streaks of mana, in its most visible and energetic form, shot up into the sky from the distance as they converged on one point near the peak of the Red Mountain off in the distance, one of them even appearing not far from the group, in front of them at the abandoned logging camp they were standing in right now - it seemed every stream of energy was heading to the same spot, the mana in the air dissipating as the concentration of it was finally directed towards one place by the summoning circles which had been etched into the ground in this location and apparently in various other ones. And while all of this happened, the raven seemed to have a keen interest in what was going on, giving off a magical energy of its own that almost seemed… Restrained. As if it was actively being masked, hidden from them. And the girl, she didn’t seem to think that what was going on was strange at all. No, she was watching with interest. One could say she wanted this to happen - whatever it actually was.
“So…” Gabriella said, for once at a loss for words as she eyed up the mass summoning ritual with nervousness. She’d known whatever was being done was big, but she’d thought… Whoever had set this up had been going for quality, rather than quantity as was now obvious. “Summoning is most certainly not my area of expertise. I don’t suppose you could enlighten us a small amount on all this, if you do know anything at all about it?” She continued, taking a single step back and her eyes brightening ever so slightly as she mentally readied herself.
“I don’t think this is the kind of thing the Association would want you dabbling in, Gabriella Bianchi-Costa,” said another voice - one that seemed to come from the raven itself, and was perhaps more deep and booming than anything else in the area… The raven didn’t turn around, however, and there was no way of being sure where the voice was coming from. Both the girl and the bird seemed satisfied with keeping their eyes on the mountain as the mana was concentrated in that direction rather than around the entire general area.
“What does the Association have to do with this?” asked Cassandra, but the girl didn’t give her an answer immediately - she looked over her shoulder, though, meeting Cassandra’s eyes.
“I think it would be better if you stayed out of it,” she said plainly enough, making it clear she didn’t want to give more information.
“You’re doing… Something. I can’t quite piece together what, but…” Gabriella fell silent. The raven, which was quite obviously not a raven given that it spoke and more importantly knew her name, despite her never giving it or being anywhere near as well-known as the Marin sisters. “It is quite obviously bad news most likely if you don’t want to tell us what is being done.” Of course, then there was the tiny matter of stopping it and given the sheer scale and quantity of mana involved, Gabriella wasn’t sure that was even possible at this point. She turned back towards the others. “At this point, I think leaving may be the smart course of action, unless you feel like remaining to see the end result.”
Before they could do anything, the attention would be taken off of the question and put on the situation in front of them - the concentration of unstable mana seemed to ignite, causing the peak of the mountain to explode, a bright flash shooting straight into the sky and lighting things up for miles… For a few moments, all of the overcast weather didn’t mean anything, as the heat from the flash spread and made it look and feel like they were out in the sun in the heat of the middle afternoon. “Holy shit…” said Cassia, watching the scene play out from start to finish, the beam of light disappearing as shrapnel from the explosion started to rain down, one rock even making it all the way to the logging camp and smashing through one of the buildings around them, collapsing the weathered wooden structure without incident.
The girl remained calm but even she realized that this wasn’t going right, or at least it seemed like she had caught onto it. “Shit…” she muttered under her breath, looking to the raven on her arm. “That’s going to draw too much attention… As if we didn’t have the whole town looking here anyway…” she muttered, before turning to face the edge of the camp, still talking to the raven. “Let’s get out of here.”
“I think that goes the same for us.” Gabriella said, turning back towards the others, a small field of faint purple light shimmering into existence over her head to protect the group from any of the shrapnel that fell this far away. Ritual magic was one thing, but ritual magic that had gone wrong was another altogether, especially on this scale with this much power. “Unless anyone objects?”
“Don’t think so…” Candace said. At the same time, the raven that had been on the arm of the girl in front of them shifted, moving away from her arm and dropping onto the ground before becoming much larger, the sound of bones moving and shifting audible to everyone in the surrounding area as a mana fueled fire still raged in the background at the top of the mountain. The girl climbed onto the back of the raven… And the thing pushed off the ground, kicking dirt and rocks back with the force of the air that came off its wings with the move. Which left the other group to move back towards the Hellcat, which was parked some ways away by foot distance, more explosions sounding in the background as the unstable mana ended up in different places after the initial mountain explosion, the main fire still burning.
“You always take me to such interesting places.” Gabriella remarked as they made their way back towards the Hellcat, her shield flickering and expanding out into a bubble in case any of the explosions came too close to their group. “I suppose you’re all just as clueless about that as I am?”
“I don’t know much more than you,” said Candace, moving and scooping Gabriella up in her arms to move quicker, not paying much attention to being gentle or to where she was grabbing as she picked her up and held onto her. “Don’t think any of the others do, either…”
“Nothing from me,” said Cassandra as Cassia nodded in agreement.
“I’m too high for this,” was the only thing Cassia said as they reached the Hellcat and she went back around to the driver’s side, quickly opening the door and climbing inside while waiting for the others.
“I’ll have a look for anything on this whenever I get back to the library in Switzerland, or set mother on it, she knows more than I do.” Gabriella gave a small shrug as Candace pulled open the rear door and all but shoved her inside before climbing in after her. “I get the feeling that whatever just happened is major, and not in a good way.”
Cassia sped off before all the doors were closed, and Candace pulled Gabriella on her lap as they climbed inside shortly before it happened, taking a deep breath and resting back in her seat, contemplating the situation. “Where the hell are we going to go after all that?”
“Back to Villanero, if we can make it. It’s probably going to be the safest place around.” Gabriella said, settling in to Candace’s lap. “I don’t really know the area so the other option is just drive away as fast as you can get away with, either option is good. Just not here.”
Candace shifted a bit awkwardly with Gabriella on her lap, the slightest of blushes settling on her face - her relationship with her best friend was… Complicated. She didn’t exactly know how to handle it at times. And well, she was sure she had just made things awkward. They continued, however, down the path back to Villanero, through the winding forest, the feeling of mana in the air no longer there like it had been before… All that mana had been directed to the mountain where it had combusted.
Gabriella said nothing, just shutting her eyes and staying where she was. It was comfortable enough, and they were out of danger, so she could relax for now at least. There were still questions, but they weren’t questions she could answer here and now.
