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However, something in the air above Jewel warped and twisted, and suddenly a single card floated into her hand from out of thin fair. On one side, it held a strange picture labeled "The Hidden Darkness": Albus, standing back-to-back with a double of himself... except that the double had black eyes instead of Albus's white, a dark, sadistic smile on his face, and pale skin spattered with blood. On the other side of the card, four words:

Just a friendly warning.

At that, suddenly several different cards appeared in front of her, all with different names and pictures.
"The Prophet" - a figure cloaked and hooded in a white robe, standing in front of a crowd of Mages, two very familiar mages at the front of the crowd - Albus's "parents".
"The Gem" - a picture of Albus and Jewel, kissing.
"The Traitor" - a picture of Jewel and Albus, locked in battle with Albus's "parents". In the background of the picture was shown Gold and Silver Knights, locked in battle with other Mages.
"Death" - A picture of the Grim Reaper hovering over Jewel as a thorny vine impaled her, a satisfied smile on Albus's mother's face.
"The Revival" - Albus, but with the black eyes and the bloodstains shown in the first card, shaking hands with Death and obviously making some sort of deal with the entity.
And finally, "The Shadow" - a picture of Albus, but with snow-white skin, raven hair, pointed ears, and claws, pitch-black eyes devoid of all emotion and an army of the dead. On the back side, another note:

There are those among the mages who seek to start a revolution and purge those who are not "light" - they call themselves the Purgers. Fortunately, I am not one of them. They will go after Albus, first - they received a prophecy stating that he is a threat to their plans. However, you must give no indication that you know this information - if you tell the new King and Queen about this, not only will they not believe you, but the Purgers will kill them! Similarly, do not tell Albus - he is far too aggressive when it comes to his parents, and will likely take this as an excuse to kill him. Instead, just be on your guard, never be alone, and do NOT get yourself killed, or we are all doomed.

Paradox, The Seer

Fortunately, Albus had recovered from the kiss she'd given him and was already in his private training area, shielded from the sight of non-Mages by special Blood Runes. When he heard Jewel approach, he smiled, turning to her, seemingly oblivious to the decimated training dummy next to him. "Heya there, Jewel. Ready to spar?" he greeted her warmly, obviously eager to test his magical abilities against her.

Albus blinked, curious, but nevertheless nodded, grinning as he crooked a finger; interestingly enough, the shadows around the training field seemed to stir, as if in anticipation.

Almost immediately, a dome of darkness rose up to cover Albus, immediately seeming to harden as it took the attacks. Then Albus counterattacked, the dome falling away for Albus to throw a barrage of black balls at her, some seeming rather liquid, some more solid-looking.

Surprisingly, however, the balls seemed to pass through Albus, even as he bit his thumb and flicked a drop of blood at the oncoming water dragon. Almost immediately, the dragon began turning blood-red as it changed from water to blood, turning on Jewel and rushing at her even as Albus began doing some sort of strange chant.

However, Albus simply began weaving and dodging around her attacks, using the minimum amount of energy needed to dodge each strike as he waited for Jewel to tire out, a small smirk on his face as if he knew something she didn't.

However, it was at that point that a blade made of darkness was suddenly held to Jewel's throat; if she were to turn around, she would see a pitch-black silhouette shaped exactly like her suitor, a small smirk on its face oh so very reminiscent of the original Albus.