Sorcerer Hunters Fan Fiction ❯ A Brother's Love ❯ The Prologue ( Prologue )

~Prologue~

 

 

 

On the Spooner Continent, there were Sorcerers and Parsoners; the Parsoners were those who couldn't use magic, and the Sorcerers, on the whole, were those who could, and who oppressed those without their inborn gift. Most towns, villages and cities were overlooked by a resident Sorcerer, most of whom seemed to do as they liked with their Parsoner charges. However, in all fairness, the ones who did a perfectly good job and caused no trouble whatsoever were hardly mentioned. The Sorcerers who favoured less than desirable lives for Parsoners were kept in check by Big Mama, the head of the Stella Church. She was on the side of the Parsoners; her organization of Sorcerer Hunters kept the Parsoners hoping, and they were the ones who brought justice and happiness to the side of the oppressed.

 

Some Sorcerers were worse than others; some would stay in their own region, bringing hell to whoever came near them. Some of them had castles, some of them had bases, some of them stayed there, some of them wandered around as they felt they might. Two such Sorcerers of this description were Celery Salt and his brother, Radish Salt. They chose to wander around the Spooner Continent, never staying in the same place... somewhere on the Spooner Continent was somewhere they called home, but it was rarely used, and even then, only when they were in the area. The brothers had little use for such a thing, but kept it as and for their posessions anyway.

 

As for the brothers themselves, Celery Salt was around twenty, and the type of person who might attract a lot of amorous attention, were he at all interested in that kind of thing. Tall, slender, distant... short hair, a deep dark purple, framed a serious face. A serious face that was usually marked with worry over Radish. Radish Salt was the opposite of Celery; two years younger than his brother, Radish was a hellion, and the one to be feared from the pair of Sorcerers. Radish stood an inch or two shorter than his brother, and had none of Celery's airs or graces. His hair was a mass of dirty blonde, with a curious streak of green going down the centre. Fronds of hair fell over his face, over his shoulders... his hair came somewhere down his back, growing longer, almost to a point before trailing out. Radish wasn't the kind to care about his hair, though. Blue eyes that glittered with an angry expectance would stare out from underneath that hair. Those eyes were usually the last things Radish's victims saw before they died, if they even saw him at all...

 

Radish's latest craving was to destroy Parsoner villages from afar; a fire spell here, a fire spell there, perhaps a flood... whatever took his fleeting fancy. The sudden violent destruction of several neighbouring Parsoner villages all in the space of a week or two had been what'd alerted them to Big Mama's attention in the first place. Eyewitness reports from the area had spotted a pair of Sorcerers standing on a cliff some way away from where each village was destroyed; the evidence fitted, Big Mama had heard of these two before, but hadn't had any solid reason to chase the two of them up. This was reason enough; the Sorcerer Hunters were dispatched.

 

Deposited near to where Celery and Radish would be found, the Sorcerer Hunters soon found their targets, who were on the way to the town of Qeran on the quest for more of the Forbidden magic that Radish craved. Much as he liked destroying Parsoner villages, fire spells and blowing things up tended to get repetitive after a while; on his brother's request, Celery had conducted research on the Forbidden magic not yet destroyed or permanently sealed away - or destroyed - by Big Mama and her Sorcerer Hunters, and the two had set off to find magic fitting that description. The town of Qeran was supposed to contain some kind of illusion magic, psychic magic, something like that. Once Celery had informed him of it, Radish hadn't cared what the magic happened to be; it was magic he didn't have, it was magic he wanted. It was magic he was determined to get. Hanging around a forest close to Qeran, the two brothers had their guard down for a moment; in that moment, the Sorcerer Hunters had taken the chance and attacked. The brothers were brutal, but the Hunters fought back with equal enthusiasm.

 

Tira and Chocolat, in black leather and suspenders, had Celery cornered.

 

"So... we hear you've been destroying innocent villages..." Tira licked her whip slowly, enjoyment visible on her face. "... you naughty, naughty boy. Perhaps, oneesama, he needs to be punished?"

 

Chocolat spread her arms wide, her deadly wire glittering between her hands.

 

"Oh, Tira, I don't doubt that."

 

Celery stood tall, looking distantly down his nose at the two girls. He looked away, closing his eyes.

 

"Punish who you will... you can't defeat us."

 

Tira stepped backwards, "And how often d'ya think we've heard THAT before?"

 

She leapt forward, aiming to strike with her whip... Celery struck out with his hand, the whip seemed to bounce off, as if Celery had some kind of shield up. Tira scowled, "Dammit..."

 

Celery just smirked. "And you're the Sorcerer Hunters?"

 

He raised the finger of one hand; it glowed. "I would have thought you'd put up a better fight."

 

Celery pointed to Tira, Chocolat was barely able to push her out of the way in time before that area was alight with some kind of electricity spell. Chocolat helped Tira up, "You okay?"

 

"I-I'm fine... Carrot, how're Carrot and the others?"

 

Gateau and Marron were nearby, Gateau and Radish on the verge of having a fist fight, Marron on hand with his ofuda, and Carrot up a tree, yelling encouragement down from his safe place.

 

"Yeaaah!! Go Gateau! He's not gonna be able to fight you and win! Marron, whack him in the face with an ofuda! Yeeahhh!!"

 

Celery, Tira and Chocolat watched, blinking. Chocolat sighed.

 

"Darling never changes."

 

"This has gone on long enough."

 

"Huh?"

 

Celery had spoken. He made some kind of signal with his hand, and red lightning burst from the ground beneath the Hunters, and from Carrot's tree. Carrot fell from his tree, yelling as he hit into the ground. Marron looked round in shock, "Niisan!!"

 

Carrot was groaning slightly, about to sit up, when the red lightning appeared again. It formed a kind of cage around him, when he reached up, before he even touched it, it buzzed angrily. Carrot retracted his hand quickly, wincing at the piercing sound.

 

A more elaborate hand gesture, and red lightning trapped the other hunters too. Gateau, Tira and Chocolat complained and protested, but Carrot was too busy being absorbed by his own problems; Marron was too busy watching Carrot.

 

"Niisan... niisan! Are you alright?"

 

Carrot looked up, "Yeah, I kinda fell on my arm..."

 

Radish smirked, hopping over to Celery and grabbing onto his arm.

 

"Hehehe, see, we've got you all trapped! Né, oniisama, what should we do to them? Should we like, blow them all up at once? Or one at a time? Burn them slowly? Or drown them? Fry them? Man, we'd be like, so famous, disposing so easily of Big Mama's prized Sorcerer Hunters!!" Radish shook Celery's arm, "What do you think? Come on, think of something?"

 

There was a 'bzzt', Carrot had, for whatever reason that'd crossed his mind at the time, tried touching the red lightning; the magic had it's usual effect, Carrot was starting to turn into his beast form. The red lightning was absorbed quickly enough, but it's source seemed endless. Transformed and trapped in a net of red lightning, Carrot roared in bestial pain.

 

Chocolat snarled, feeling helpless. "DARLING!!"

 

"Niisan... niisan..."

 

Marron's eyes narrowed. Carrot, despite having transformed, was obviously in some kind of intense pain. Celery smirked as he controlled the red lightning, letting it flow to his will, from the ground, into Carrot. Carrot's growls were loud... Carrot was hurting... he was in pain... the anger within Marron built. He took an ofuda in his hand, waving it in an arc. Some kind of spell was cast from it, and Celery's magic from around him was nullified; Marron broke out, standing with his ofuda.

 

"I won't let... anyone... hurt my brother..."

 

"Huuh? Celeoniisama, what's he... gonna do? Shit, this isn't supposed to happen!!"

 

Marron threw an ofuda at Carrot, absorbing the dark magic that caused him the pain. Celery was surprised enough by Marron's escape to stop summoning the lightning from the ground; that was enough for Marron, and enough time to give to Carrot for him to turn back to his human self. Marron didn't even look as Carrot transformed back; safe in the knowledge that his brother was soon to be safe, Marron started the relentless attack. Lightning-fast fire was thrown in Celery's direction. He was hit, enough to release his hold on the other Hunters... fire surrounded Celery for a moment before it was extinguished, Celery coughing as it went. Radish looked worried.

 

"Oniisama, are you okay? What did he do to you? That bastard, hurtin' my brother... Celery, stay still, don't move!! I'll kill that prettyboy before you can even blink!"

 

"Ra-Radish..."

 

Radish leapt forward with a catlike pose, yelling as he launched himself on Marron. Marron wasn't really a physical fighter, but Gateau was; Marron managed to push Radish aside, and Gateau grabbed him from behind by his wrists, throwing him against the tree Carrot'd been up. Radish let out his breath as the impact winded him, Gateau took the oppotunity and turned to smile at Marron, hoping perhaps for slight recegnition of his merits... but Gateau got no smile back. Marron still had that look in his eyes... he wouldn't rest until justice was dealt to those who'd hurt Carrot. Both Celery and Radish seemed hurt; it'd be pot luck as to who Marron went for.

 

Gateau watched as a ring of fire was visible around Radish and the tree. Radish saw it too, looking around him, suddenly scared...

 

"Ce- Celeoniisama, what's gonna happen?"

 

"You work together to cause my brother pain... you murder the innocent, and it's unforgivable. I will never forgive you, not for what you did to the villagers... or to my brother."

 

Marron threw his hand out, ofuda about to be thrown, Radish yelling "CELERY! HELP ME!!"; Celery ran over to Carrot, grabbed him around the waist and produced a dagger from his belt, holding it close against Carrot's throat.

 

"If you throw that ofuda, this one will die!"

 

Marron turned round, "Ni-niisan!!"

 

The fire hovered around Radish, who just trembled, trying to push himself closer to the tree, just so he didn't have to risk being close to the flames... Celery ran the tip of the purple-jewel-encrusted dagger along Carrot's neck, smirking as he did so.

 

"Such soft skin, it wouldn't take a lot to pierce that skin. If you don't extinguish that fire, then I'll press a little harder, and we'll see what he looks like when we pull his windpipe out..."

 

Chocolat and Tira leapt forward, "Darling!", "Carrot!", but were thrown aside by some kind of power from Celery. He glared at them, where they landed on the floor.

 

"This isn't your concern. I suggest you make your escape immediately, unless you want to die..."

 

Gateau rolled his eyes, "You guys go to corny dialogue classes or what? Marron, just kick their asses!"

 

Marron was glancing nervously from what was in front of him to where Celery was stood with Carrot. All he had to do was throw the ofuda, and Radish would be disposed of... but if Radish died, it'd inflame Celery's anger... Celery, though he had the perfect opportunity to break it, seemed to be keeping to his promise. If Marron hurt Radish, Carrot would be killed... Marron's anger made his thoughts confused, but more than anything else, the safety of his niisan was the most important thing. It wasn't worth the risk. And if Celery still hurt Carrot after Marron removed the fire, well, that could wait until it happened, if it happened.

Marron crumpled the ofuda, the fire disappearing alongside his anger.

 

Radish ran forward as the fire went, grabbing Marron's shoulders, staring up at the taller male. Anger was in Radish's eyes, "You BASTARD!! You were going to kill me then!! Jeez!! What the fuck's your problem? You just got lucky! We won't let you do that again, next time we'll be the ones trapping you, and we won't hesitate to kill ya! You'll die, HAH! Right, Celery?"

 

"Radish, just leave it for now."

 

Celery sounded calm, slightly resigned. Radish blinked at Celery, then at Marron. Marron also looked calm... Radish didn't understand the look, and it frustrated him. He folded his arms, a sulky look on his face. He tried glaring at Marron, but Marron's quiet calmness didn't break. Marron was back to normal.

 

Marron spoke softly. "You should listen to your brother. I know what pain it'd cause me... you should leave, before I change my mind. My brother means a lot to me; you... probably mean a lot to your brother."

 

Radish just sulked, "And what's it to you? You're just a stupid Parsoner, we should be able to kick yer asses, yer Sorcerer Hunters, you should be dead by now! Fuck... Celery, we had them! Can't we just kill them now? Can't we just..."

 

Radish trailed off. Marron's look was eversoslightly reproving... dark eyes met blue eyes. Marron was impassive as he stared, just wanting Radish to see sense. Radish was seeing something alright, though it could be argued that sense wasn't one of the things he saw. Not in Marron's eyes. There was something calm about those eyes; those eyes, that face... that long hair that shone in the daytime sun... the softness of his features, the seriousness on his face, that strange sense of peace that seemed to radiate from the young mage... Radish frowned, frustrated further.

 

"... just... oh, fuck. You're too fucking perfect, pretty-boy... you know that, right? What's your name, anyway?"

 

"Marron Glacé."

 

"I see. I'm Radish Salt. He's Celery Salt. Maybe we won't see each other again."

 

Radish grabbed Celery's arm, leading him off into the forest.

 

"C'mon, oniisama. Let's go."

 

Celery let himself be dragged, and the Sorcerer Hunters stood quietly, letting them retreat.

 

Once they were safely gone, Carrot fell to the floor and hit the ground with a fist.

 

"DAMMIT! Jesus, Marron! You had that Radish guy perfect! You coulda just let off a spell or something, I wouldn'ta let that other guy get me, I woulda escaped somehow... I wouldn'ta let myself get gutted like a fish! Hmph. Should we go after those guys or should we set up camp here a bit?"

 

Marron sat on the ground next to Carrot, averting his eyes from his brother's nakedness. The trials and tribulations of Zooanthropy.

 

"Niisan, wasn't your arm hurt? If you're hurt, we should rest."

 

"I guess. But come on, why didn't you just go for it? I was totally in control of the situation. Why didn't you just kick his ass?"

 

Marron stared at the ground in front of him, idly running his hand through the grass underneath his fingertips.

 

"Niisan... I couldn't risk it..."

 

Carrot turned to face Marron, about to say something in argument to that... but Marron looked... well... Carrot couldn't work it out. He was staring intensely at the ground, his voice had sounded distant... Carrot sighed. Marron wouldn't change. Carrot smiled softly, putting his hand on Marron's shoulder, ruffling against the fabric.

 

"... yeah. I know. I know."

 

"Niisan..." Marron looked up, meeting Carrot's soft smile. Marron didn't smile in return, but the unsure sadness from his eyes seemed to have been lifted. His mouth didn't smile, but his eyes did... Carrot patted Marron's shoulder, close enough.

 

"So... what about clothes? I can't keep walking around naked, we should really bring spares..."

 

While the Sorcerer Hunters sorted that problem out, Celery and Radish were making their way through the forests, Celery being dragged, having much the same kind of discussion as Carrot and Marron.

 

"Radish, were are we going?"

 

"Anywhere, just so we can get away from those bastards... fuck, I can't believe that. Looks like we've finally got the Sorcerer Hunters after us... and... we coulda beaten them, but we didn't... shit, why didn't you just slit that scrawny bastard's throat?!"

 

"Radish, you really must watch your language. It was a stand-off situation, otouto... if I'd hurt him, then that magic user would definitely have hurt you. I... I didn't want that to happen. I know it's regrettable that they got away mostly unharmed, but on the other hand, more fotunatly, so did we. Perhaps we underestimated their strength? We wouldn't have thought that we'd have got into that position before, would we?"

 

"No, but... we just gotta let it not happen next time, okay? Jeez, I was gonna go off on one about how stupid little emotions were enough to stir 'em out of attacking, but my own brother's guilty of just the same crap... it just fucking nips, ya know? We're Sorcerers! We've got magic, we've got power, we should be able to blow up a simple group of fucking morons, right?"

 

"They weren't morons, Radish."

 

"N-no... né... oniisama... I know we've always said that we wanted to destroy the Sorcerer Hunters, but... what... what did you think of them?"

 

The two of them came to a stop on the edge of the forest. A sandy grass path led to, so a signpost said, a nearby town. Radish leant against the signpost, it creaked slightly.

 

Celery looked a little confused, standing in front of his brother.

 

"What did I think of them? In what way? They seemed strong enough, they worked well as a team..."

 

"You know I don't mean that, don't try to be cute. No, what... what did you think of that magic guy? The Marron dude?"

 

Celery rolled his eyes, looking to the side. "I had a feeling you'd mention him. What happened there? You were just looking at him, then you just clammed up and decided we'd leave... that's not like you, brother. You're the kind who doesn't stop until someone dies..."

 

Celery spoke the truth. Radish seemed a born killer. Left alone at an early age, the Salt brothers had often travelled around. Being a Sorcerer, Radish soon discovered a penchant for having his own way; killing people, using them, blowing up villages, whatever he wanted to do, was there really any reason not to? He never saw one, and Celery would never say anything against his brother... that was too dangerous, even though the two of them shared a brotherly bond, Celery was never quite sure how Radish would react...

 

"... you're hasty and headstrong, Radish..."

 

"Shut the fuck up, I didn't ask you to suddenly have a go at me. Okay, okay... didn't you think that that Marron guy was absolutely fucking gorgeous? Damn, I'd fuck him. That's why I thought we should go, okay? They'd probably wanna keep fighting, I don't care about any of that other lot, I don't care if they die, but... I just liked the look of that guy, okay? He got really angry, but he got really calm afterwards. Damn, you could just feel something from him... I wouldn't mind feeling something from him, yaknowhatImean?"

 

Radish spoke with a smirk, but Celery didn't share Radish's good if lewd humour. He folded his arms, looking distant but trying to warn his brother.

 

"... Radish, they're the Sorcerer Hunters, forget about them. We want them dead. Remember long ago, you said you wanted to kill all of the Sorcerer Hunters, then Big Mama?"

 

"Oniiiisamaaaa, you said it yerself, I'm hasty and headstrong... it's something to DO though, isn't it? Will we ever fight and get rid of all the Sorcerer Hunters? I dunno. Will we ever even meet Big Mama in our lives? Probably not. It's just something ya say, y'know? 'Sure, when I grow up, I'm gonna kill the Sorcerer Hunters'."

 

"You didn't mean what you said?"

 

"It's not that, but... we've got something else now. We don't need to go after the Sorcerer Hunters to kill them... we can..."

 

Radish's voice changed slightly... Celery winced a little, out of his brother's view. He knew desire when he heard it, and it was all the more painful to hear it from Radish...

 

"I... I want that guy, Celery. We're gonna go after the Sorcerer Hunters, and I'm gonna make that pretty little thing mine..."

 

"I wouldn't call him 'little', he was taller than you."

 

Radish suddenly turned, glaring in Celery's direction, "I already said, don't be cute. But hey, who woulda thought... I mean, we knew of the Sorcerer Hunters, but who woulda thought they were hiding such pretty examples of humanity amongst their ranks? ... Even if he IS a Parsoner. Well, hey. Doesn't matter that he's not a Sorcerer, though, well, damn, he'd kick ass if he was... him being a Parsoner, that just gives me something above him, right, oniisama? I'm a Sorcerer, he's a Parsoner... if I say 'jump', then he'll have to, y'know? Otherwise, well, I easily have the means to kill him... not that I would. Just tease him a bit. Right, oniisama?"

 

Celery remained quiet.

 

It was usually best to just let Radish rant when he was in the mood. So he wanted after the Sorcerer Hunters, this time to chase after Some Guy. Not like Radish hadn't wanted to chase after people before, but he usually ended up losing interest after a few days of chasing. Either that, or he ended up bringing some kind of apocalyptic doom to a town, not realising that the person was in the town at the time. Blowing things up a bit seemed to calm Radish down and make him forget about such things, even if it was starting to make itself noticeable to Big Mama.

 

"Radish... what makes this guy different to the people you've seen and wanted before?"

 

"Well, I've never had them, have I?"

"And why's that?"

 

Radish stood up straight, leaving the slightly bent post behind. He was quiet for a moment before he let out an angry cry, leaping at Celery; Celery was surprised, and unexpectedly hit the ground. He opened his eyes from where he'd had them shut, looking up at his violent little brother. Radish had his hands against Celery's shoulders, his knees pinning Celery down via his hips, and his face hovering a few inches above Celery's own. Celery just blinked.

 

"Oniisama, I WANT, THAT MAGIC GUY!! Shut up about all of that before, that was different, that wasn't about this guy! Those people are forgotten anyway, most of 'em are dead... but this guy is different!! Even you've gotta admit you ain't seen such a pretty guy before. Hell, he's prettier than you, oniisama. That's saying something. You weren't standing up close to him!! Damn, I was even touching his shoulders for a bit there..." Radish raised one hand from Celery's shoulders, looking at it with a curious stare. He replaced the hand on his brother's shoulder, "... you just... jeez, you can't understand what I felt just then, okay? It was just suddenly... I won't let you fight it, oniisama!! I wanna go after that mage, and I'm NOT gonna let you stop me!!"

 

Celery sighed, glancing to the side, "You never do anyway... Radish, he's a Sorcerer Hunter. He's one of our mortal enemies!! Given any chance, he'd kill the two of us!!"

 

Radish sat up, folding his arms, a happy smirk on his face.

 

"Yeah? But he wouldn't, would he... he didn't back then, anyway. He coulda killed me, but he didn't. That's gotta be compassion or weakness or something... that guy you had with yer dagger... that was his... brother, right?"

 

"I believe so."

Radish nodded, thinking things over in his mind. "His brother... hmm. They didn't really look alike, but he sure seemed... it was because of that the whole situation came around really, wasn't it? 'Cause like... he was gonna attack me, but you freaked... he freaked even more when we attacked the dude who turned into a monster. And when you were gonna kill him with yer knife, that was what made him not attack me..."

 

Radish trailed off; he was deep in thought. Dangerous.

 

"... he... his brother... né, do you think those two are... close?"

 

"I don't know, but... perhaps. Marron, at least, seemed to have some extreme emotions going along there."

 

"Yeah, that was what I thought. To get Marron... would I have to have his brother too? I don't want him, he's not the kind of person I want. I want... Marron. Né, oniisama, isn't even his name pretty? Like, 'Marron'... well, it's just nice, isn't it! Marron... Marron!! Marron... ahh."

 

Celery had a feeling that Radish wasn't listening. "He's a Sorcerer Hunter, Radish."

 

Radish fixed Celery with an angry glare, "So? Come onnn, we never knew what they looked like or anything, not before. Now we do, well, things have just changed a bit. I want him! I'll go after him... yeah!!"

 

Radish got off from where he'd been pinning his brother down, his anger subsided. Celery got up, sighing. Seemed that nothing'd change Radish's mind, though he already knew that.

 

"... Well, if you want to go after him, I can't exactly stop you. Don't let thoughts of him cloud what we came here to do, though... that signpost... yes, the town in that direction is Qeran... which is where that Forbidden Magic is supposed to be sealed. First we get the magic, then we can think about what to do next, alright?"

 

A thin smile softened Celery's face slightly.

 

"... Perhaps you can blow Qeran up afterwards."

 

This was Radish's kind of humour; he chuckled warmly. "Yeah, yeah, perhaps I can. That'll be fun... while the Sorcerer Hunters are after us, we might as well have a little fun while we still can. Either we kill them or they kill us, y'know? But yeah, magic, more magic, yaaay!! More magic I can blow things up with... c'mon!!"

 

Radish was already running in the direction of Qeran. Celery smiled and shook his head as he took the route at his own pace, speaking quietly to himself and the calm breeze around him.

 

"This magic isn't exactly that kind of magic, though... but whatever makes you happy, otouto."