It was at this comment that Dan became aware of the kind of power, and just how powerful his magical aura had become. His aura was coming off him like heat would from a thousand furnaces. Even one without magic would probably have been able to sense it with ease. Dan closed his eyes, taking a deep breath, he pulled back on his aura drawing it back into him. Soon enough, one wouldn't have been able to tell whether he had any magical power based on his aura. Dan's eyes scanned the faces before him nodding and acknowledging each one of them with a smile. He hoped they could all see in his eyes just how much he was grateful to each and every single one of them for choosing to stand with him despite the seemingly insurmountable odds before them. His brows drew closer to one another when he couldn't find her. "Where is Athena?" he asked not finding her face among those arrayed before him.
Dan did not miss the change in demeanour of Ember, Claire Chloe and others of those closest to him. "A lot has happened in the time that you've been away Dan," Ember offered cryptically.
"Has something happened to Athena?" Dan asked the concern in his voice immediately notable.
"No, nothing. At least not anything that we know of," Ember once again offered another cryptic answer. "It would be best if Lord Arwain explained all this," she went on to say.
"Lord Arwain?" Dan repeated his confusion evident. "He is still here?" he questioned.
"Yes," Kirra stated. "It seems that when you died, the link between the two of you was severed. And yet somehow, he was still preserved in Richard's mind," she explained.
Dan did another scan of the crowd before him. "Where is he?" he found himself asking when he couldn't find the face of the soldier among those present.
"On one of the upper floors in too much pain to move," Ember reported rather calmly, her tone in sharp contrast to the news she was delivering.
"What happened to him?" Dan asked once again his concern rising.
"Again," Ember said in response. "This conversation is best held on the upper floors where he is," she urged.
Dan's eyes closed as he sought out his ancestor's magical signature within the building they were in. Without preamble, he vanished in a ball of flames soon as he found it.
*******
He reappeared on the floor Lord Arwain was on to find him seated in a monk meditation pose with his eyes closed. A look of serenity was over his face as if he was in the most peaceful place on the earth. Dan's eyes scanned the patterned lacerations on his skin. They were in the shape of runes recurring in different points on his body. His gaze at last settled on the golden blade that was presently sticking out of his chest, seemingly having impaled him all the way through as its hilt rested against his skin. "What the hell happened to you?" Dan asked finally speaking up.
A small smile graced his lips at the sound of his voice. "If anyone was ever going to cheat death, it would be you," He stated almost as if amused by the fact. Despite not showing it in his voice or face, Dan could sense the agony that he was in. "What happened to you?" Dan repeated crouching down to his level.
"Look outside," was Lord Arwain's simple reply.
He did. Two things immediately stood out to him, the absence of window panes on any building within sight. And given his new phoenix vision, those were a lot of buildings, both on this and the other side of the shield that covered the building they were in and those around it for about three blocks. The second thing he noticed was the shield itself and the intricate runes that characterized its surface at various points. Runes that were the exact copies of what was on Lord Arwain's skin. "Care to explain what it is that I'm seeing?" Dan posed turning back to Lord Arwain.
Chapter Nine
Start from the beginning
