Jared

(It's taking too long so I figured out a way to slide this in there smoothly.)

My poor Kindra, her vision was failing already and I had only begun to do what I had set out to do. That's alright though, in the process I discovered the Jewl had many more properties than I had ever imagined.

I saw Sterling walk into the room where my wife and daughter were fighting Deothanos. I walked up to him and put a hand on his shoulder, "Don't worry brother. We can overcome him."

I walked into the room and waved at him. Everything in the room seemed to freeze as he looked at me. Rachel stopped attacking and so did Kindra. All three watched me as though I could move the world with this power and I could, but I needed something else.

"Hello Uncle," I smiled. "Well I guess you'd be more like a distant cousin."

He scowled, "So you really are a member of the royal house like me then?"

"Yes," I responded. "My ancestor forsook the throne and passed it to your ancestor, but that's beside the point. You want this don't you?" I held up the Jewl, taunting him.

His eyes lit up and he tried to rip it from my hands with his magic. I firmly held on to it and grinned, "I'm going to make you fight for it."

"You will lose," He answered. "I've been holding back thus far."

"I know," I held my grin. "And I was letting you keep me in prison. So I guess we're even. Oh wait that's right, I have the Jewl, even has no meaning now."

He again tried to rip it from my hands, this time he almost succeeded and it stopped somewhere in the air between us. He began throwing things at me trying to break my focus. I altered the metal in the room and created a barrier to protect me.

Rachel and Kindra stood behind me ready to act. I glanced back, "Stay out of this one girls. Just trust me."

A moment later I got hit by an object and thrown into a wall, "No!" The Jewl reached his hands and the walls of the room shook. Everyone slammed into the far walls, except me and he began crushing them like they were flies.

"Deothanos," I screamed. "I'm the one you're after, let them go!"

"Oh very well," He sighed. "But they were such fun little pets. Perhaps I'll keep Kindra and Rachel alive as my personal slaves. They are very beautiful, give them a few years and they'll be perfect."

I growled at him as he threw me around the room like a rag doll. He then picked me up and tried to crush me but to no avail.

"Why aren't you dying?" He said in frustration. "This should be working."

I smiled as I broke the grip he had on me and walked up to him, "Can't you feel it working?"

"I feel my power draining away," He complained. "How?"

"I altered the properties of the Jewl, it is giving me all you powers because you used its power," I shrugged. "I knew you'd fall for using it."

"There must be a catch," Deothanos said.

"I will die," I said frankly. "But so will you, your body is too old for the virus it is infected with."

"What are you going to do?" He asked. "Why did you need all my power and yours added together?"

"I need it to make certain nothing like you can ever happen again," I answered calmly as I picked up the Jewl and felt the surge of power flowing through my body. I could barely manage it. Deothanos was laying helplessly on the floor and I could feel the movements of the universe around me.

I nearly lost focus on what I was doing this for when Kindra and Rachel ran into the room. They starred at me in wonder. I imagine I must have looked strange to them, my powers would have been fully manifesting and I would have been dripping in power. I nearly killed both of them simply for existing, that's when I looked into Rachel's eyes and there I found my purpose.

"Father!" Kindra shouted. She turned to Rachel and said, "Mother, we have to give him our powers to help him, he needs all the power he can receive."

The surge of power increased as they gave me, truly, honestly, and in love, gave me their powers. I felt my body lift into the air and I saw even clearer the universe before me.

I had to watch my words at this point because I could feel the universe bending to my will. I thought methodically and the words just came to mind, "Magic will no longer be given as it has hitherto been given. From this day forth anyone or any species, with any level of intelligence, who truly and diligently seeks to command the forces of magic will be allowed to control it. There are no constraints on scope or depth of the power they wield, except that the body will still be used as a focusing device and there is the limit."

I felt the power fading and my life beginning to dwindle.

*Kindra's perspective*

"Father!" I screamed as he fell to the floor and didn't move. I ran to his side and lifted his head up gently. "Father? You can't go father."

He smiled up at me, "It's alright my darling." Tears were streaming down my face, my mother reached us a moment later, "My beautiful wife. Don't cry, I knew this was going to happen. I didn't have a choice. If I had waited much longer he would have killed you both."

I buried my face into his chest. He looked years older than he had moments earlier.

He spoke again to my mother, "Rachel, go to Deothanos. Receive the virus he carries, you will survive the change and so will the child." He placed a hand on her belly, "He'll be a healthy baby."

I could no longer see the future, or anything else. Magic had truly changed as he had commanded. Mother didn't want to go. He sighed and with great effort he stood and walked with her to Deothanos. I sat and stared at him in amazement. My father would be a legend, I would make sure he was remembered. There he was dying and still he worried about my mother more than his own life.

Deothanos was still alive but only barely, the virus hadn't done it, losing his powers had. He left my mother near him and walked back to me.

"Kindra," He smiled and stumbled. I caught him and laid him down.

"Not a very fitting place for a hero to die," I joked. "We should at least move you to something not metal."

He smiled again and replied, "That will not be necessary. Metal is my home, it is more fitting that I die here than anywhere else. Kindra, you must survive. Watch over your mother, she will change and your brother will not be a human, but watch over them. In many years to come a child of his will seek you out and want to learn magic from you. You must be ready to teach."

"What will happen to me?" I wondered. "What will the virus do to me?"

"Nothing," He answered. "You are immune. So go, take your mother somewhere and help her until she gives birth, then go and learn the ways of magic."

"But father..." He cut me off.

"Kindra!" He raised his voice as much as he could. "This is the last command that I give you. Please obey me."

I hesitated, I didn't want to let him go. I had just gotten him back. Slowly I nodded, "Yes father. I will do as you command. I will be waiting for your descendant."

"Good," He smiled once more. "He won't be alone Kindra."

"I understand."

His smiled faded and he closed his eyes and stopped breathing.

"Father!" I put my head on his chest and cried for a long time before my mother urged me to leave. "Alright mother, let's go hide."

(What happened to Rain and Sterling? I don't know, you can make a post if you want Dee. Hope you aren't mad at me.)