Gatchi and her friends focused their attention on Victoria, who stepped in front of Chris once again.
“I won’t let you hurt her brother,” Victoria declared. “If I have to take all three of you down, I will. I won’t even hesitate.”
“Now can we kill her?” Robert asked.
“Yes. Definitely kill her,” Gatchi replied.
Robert charged at Victoria, who quickly jumped back into the air, her orb flying away from Chris and colliding with Robert’s dagger. Sparks flew. Robert retreated as the orb returned to Victoria and into her hand. The orb was large, about the size of a head, but to her it seemed light as a feather as it resided in her single hand. Laura held out her hand and fired a bolt of lightning. Victoria absorbed it into her orb and fired it up into the sky.
When Laura saw this, she was taken aback for a moment. She regained herself soon after. Robert once again charged, Victoria did too. She extended her leg to trip him, his legs removed out from under him. He quickly used his left hand to spring back to his feet, using his right to swipe at her all in one motion. Victoria took the advantage and began to beat him down with rapid punches, then a few hits from her orb…. right...left… Then she flipped him over her head and left him to lay on the cold ground. Finally, she turned her focused gaze back to the remaining two.
“Whoa...I didn’t like you before, but you kick butt!” Jackie cheered.
“Jackie, this is a serious situation…” Ty reminded her, giving her a side glance
“Well she’s winnin’, ain’t she??”
Laura approached Robert and knelt down near his head. He wasn’t injured very much, but he definitely was somewhat dazed.
“You didn’t kill him…” Laura whispered. “Not even close…”
“Of course not.”
“Why?”
“I don’t need to have a reason other than the fact that Wizards don’t kill if we can help it. If you leave, you can take him and get out of here,” Laura thought for a moment, looking back at Gatchi, who was too focused on Victoria. She nodded, gave Robert her arm, and began to leave. Gatchi gave Laura a disapproving glare as she began to pass her.
“She’s too powerful, we can’t beat her...You should come with us,” Laura advised.
“Come on, she isn’t playing around and-” she tried to explain.
“If you want to go back empty handed, fine. But I won’t look like a fool coming back empty handed. I’m going to take him even if I have to kill her,” She hissed. “I don’t need you.”
Laura didn’t seem surprised. She shook her head and continued to walk, muttering something along the lines of “Whatever, Gatchi…”
Victoria turned to the others. “Start running, now!”
Gatchi made a move to run at them. Victoria ran on the brick wall and used her orb to hit Gatchi in the gut, knocking her back a few feet. The crushing force caused her to land on her back. They all began to run.
“I want an explanation, now!” Chris demanded. “What’s going on?”
“Later!” Victoria cried out from in front of him. “I will tell you, we need to get to your house before it’s too late or she might cause us some serious problems!”
“Don’t lead her to my house!” Chris yelled hysterically. “You’re crazy!”
“She won’t be able to attack us there. I made sure of it!” Victoria assured.
They took a right and headed down the street, pushing past the few people remaining on the streets (which were mostly empty by now due to the storm).
“Faster!” Victoria cried.
“We can’t I take her?!” Jackie questioned.
“I can, but I’m not taking the risk of any of you getting hurt!”
Victoria paused, a haunted expression on her face. There, at the end of the street, was Gatchi. She smiled at them a few feet away, her sword drawn. It was a sword with a golden yellow hilt and a grey blade.
“How...how is she here already?” Chris asked. Victoria said nothing.
“You saw my friend shoot lightning. Are you really still confused?” Gatchi casted Chris a brief glance before focusing her eyes on Victoria.
“She has a point…” Ty muttered to Chris.
“Thanks for the input, buddy…” Chris sighed.
Gatchi began to cast something. Yellow particles began to appear around her. Then, she smiled.
“I’m afraid this is where it ends for you. I’m sorry we couldn’t play longer, but Victoria isn’t the most powerful person here.” She held her hand to her chest, a prideful look upon her face. “That would be me!”
“Dammit, no no!” Victoria ran full speed at Gatchi. “Tackle her! Stop her!”
Jackie and Ty ran with her in an attempt to stop her. Then suddenly, everything vanished in a flash as the world around them was devoured by white and nothingness.
Chapter 4
The Internal War
Chris awoke on the concrete road. He felt as if his body was new to him, as if he had just been born. He looked at his hands. These were his hands, right? So why did they feel foreign? He looked around, and there was nothing. It was a clear night, and there were no ongoing cars or pedestrians. He lifted himself up and entered his house, turning back to confirm that no one was there. His friends were just with him, and now they were gone like a dream. It was just him now. He closed the door, locked it, and sat on the sofa, covering his face. He asked himself if he was crazy and if he had seen what he thought he saw, or if it was all just a dream.
Chris took a few minutes to slow his breath, control his thoughts, and convince himself none of it was real. The silence was broken by the sound of a guitar playing upstairs. He froze and looked up from his hands. He listened for the sound again. The tuning of a guitar could be heard. He got up and moved to investigate. He crept upstairs and checked each room once again as he did before. The sound could still be heard, but this time he knew where it came from. As he moved in that direction, he felt his heart drop. He wanted to stop his advance, but his legs wouldn't listen to his mind. He pushed open the slightly cracked open door the rest of the way. His eyes were closed, afraid to believe anything after today. The room was somewhat clean, there was sheet music on the floor, the bed wasn’t made, and there was a person sitting there playing the guitar.
She had green hair that was currently in a bob cut with bangs in the front, sea blue eyes, a blue tank top, blue jeans, and red tennis shoes. She didn’t seem to care how she looked.
“Hey, little bro, wanna help me work on this song I’m writing? It’s a work in progress.” Emily offered kindly. She laid her guitar on her bed and stared at him. “You look spooked…”
Chris forced back tears that came anyway. As the stinging in his eyes worsened, his eyes flooded, and he began to cry, unsure of what to say or even do.
“You’re even crying...what’s wrong?”
Chris stopped hesitating, ran into Emily’s arms, and hugged her around her torso.
She slowly wrapped her arms around him in slight confusion. “Chris?”
“I would love to,” He answered. And so they did.
They began to work on Emily’s song. It was a song about colors, people, and love: finding that one right person for you. Emily sang as she played the guitar, but Chris was only half listening, he was relieved. He loved the way she acted, the familiar smell of her perfume, her guitar skills, and the way her hair tickled her face when he was younger was a familiar feeling.
“You seem like you’ve been through a lot in Dreamland, huh?” She asked him as she wiped his tears. Chris was now smaller. He was a six-year-old having to look up to see his sister, swinging his feet that now dangled off the red bed sheets.
She smiled. “For a moment there, you seemed older.”
“Emily?”
“Yes?” she replied softly, brushing his hair back with her fingers.
“Would you ever lie to me?” he asked her in a quiet voice.
“Never,” she answered.
“Are you real?�
� he asked, following up his last question. Emily said nothing. She stared off for a moment to ponder her answer.
“Sis?” She said nothing, staring straight ahead.
“Answer me, sis!” he cried out as tears streamed down his face, he shook her arm frantically. She stopped him, with a soft expression.
“I’m...afraid not…but…I can tell you, you need to get out of here and find your friends,” she answered. This was not the answer he wanted to hear.
“I don’t care...let me stay here with you!” she shook her head. “Please…” she once again shook her head. “I don’t care if you’re not real, please!” She held him tightly and squeezed him like she did when they were little. He relaxed.
“If you don’t leave, you’ll be taken to the Sorcerers, away from me and against your will. I am with the Wizards on our home planet of Terminus. If you don’t leave, you will never see me again...the real me.” She told him. “The Sorcerers are the ones who committed that horrible attack on Japan a year ago...you are being held captive by one too.”
“Gatchi?” Chris asked, Emily nodded.
“Chris, this is a place called the imagination realm. An imagination magic user can send you here and hold you captive. Your body isn’t even in the real world right now,” she explained.
“Here, anything can happen. Think it, and it’ll happen... I must have been what you thought of to calm yourself down.” She explained. “And I can protect you, but you need to find Tori and get yourself out after you find your friends. I can’t protect you with my magic...only the way you remember me. I also cannot technically imagine anything.”
Chris looked down at his feet, feeling himself wanting to ask to stay with her again. He would see the real Emily if he only made it out. He nodded. She stood and smiled.
“Good, now come on.” She took his little hand and led them out of the house. There were now people on the streets, but they all seemed almost zombie-like, and they were missing faces. Chris hugged Emily’s leg.
“I’ll protect you if you only stay with me, alright? I’ve never let anything happen to you.”
She took his hand and led him across the street toward the town. They walked for a few seconds before she stopped him. She pulled him into a pizza parlor and quickly ran out the back with him. Victoria was hiding in the alleyway.
“No... not her…” Chris pleaded as he hid behind Emily. “She lies too.”
“No... I never lied to you once, but I couldn’t tell you everything either or I would scare you. I was planning on doing it today, but I just had to show you, I guess.”
Victoria and Emily looked at each other for a moment, but did not say anything. His sister was the one to break the silence.
“Tori, I need you to take him and get him safely to-” she started.
“I know...I’m going to keep my promise to you.” Victoria replied. Chris was confused.
Emily was now displaying Victoria’s memories as well. She did in fact know his sister.
“Go with her...please?” Emily urged.
“You have to come with me just a little while...then you can never speak to me again...hate me, whatever...but I’m trying to help.” She extended her hand with a smile.
Chris hesitated a moment, unsure, but he still took her hand. Emily vanished from behind him and he returned to his normal age. The ground began to shake as the sky turned red and a storm began over the town.
“Now come on, hurry!” Victoria took Chris’ arm and began to run as fast as she could with him.
“Okay, quick! Where is the first place you imagine Jackie being?”
“She would probably be...on the baseball field of the school practicing her swings.” Chris answered.
“Then she’s close...and Ty?”
“Ty…” Chris sighed slightly. “He’d probably be somewhere in the school honestly…”
“Would he be anywhere specific?” She asked. Chris shook his head and continued to run with her.
Sure enough, they found Ty on the steps of the school, as if he was waiting for them. Ty had not gotten caught up in his dreams or desires, instead, he realized it was all a trap to get him killed and simply waited for whatever was to come.
He stood, obviously having seen them coming. He held a small pistol and had a bewildered expression on his face.
He spoke “You know...This place is weird, but interesting in an... eerie kind of way.”
“I wouldn’t know...This is my first time in here, but I did learn about this in my classes.” Victoria commented.
“Classes?” Chris questioned.
“That’s off topic- Jackie-- have you seen her?” Victoria asked, turning to Ty and making her orb reappear at her side and float there.
Ty explained that he had an idea of where and what she might be doing, and that she had probably fallen for the illusions. He also told them that the reason he had a gun is because he had to fight his way out of the school. Victoria seemed impressed that he had done this himself and without being told none of this was real.
There was a sound like glass cracking in the distance, but it grew closer. A long, spine-tingling sound followed, like an explosion or a ripple. Ty anxiously pointed his gun back in the direction they came from.
“That sounds like one of the things that attacked me…” he whispered.
A large creature towered over them, it was two stories tall, carried a large stone axe, and wore a knight’s armor. It also had glowing red eyes, and rock like skin. Chris looked at Victoria, who gave him a slightly scared look, letting him know that she could not take on this behemoth easily. All three of them began to quickly run into the school before they were spotted, and shut the door, quickly barricading it with a chair in case anything small showed up and tried to follow.
They quickly cut through the gym where there were more of the zombie-like people with no faces, and ran out of the back entrance. There they could see in the distance, the track and field area. Jackie was down in the batter’s box practicing her swings for a faceless pitcher. They approached her, but she did not seem to notice them.
“I’ll get a homerun and I ain’t scared of your weak and slow pitches. Give me something real!” She cried as she swung again. Victoria caught the baseball bat as she swung it and took it from her.
“What are you guys doin’ here? I have a game goin’ on right now.” She sounded irritated now. The umpire disappeared as Jackie stared at them angry and confused.
“Jackie, this isn’t a game...we need to get out of here.” Chris told her.
“But my game! No way. This is the championship game for the Yankees and I ain’t abandoning them.” She said, taking her bat away from Victoria. “And there’s nothing left to be said about it.”
The faceless people in the crowd and on the field began to have faces and they could now see people taking pictures, hear them cheering, and see the runners who were currently on second and third base.
“I promise you, this is not real. If you step away from the plate you’ll see, otherwise, we’ll never get you to listen…” Chris reasoned with her as best he could. Jackie took a step back and loosened her grip on the bat before dropping it.
“I ain’t gonna play anymore. Sorry, guys...find a new player….” She said, taking off the baseball cap that was never there and tossing it to the ground. She apparently saw it, but they didn’t. The faceless people all around them began to come toward them.
“Oh okay, that’s messed up, okay. I don’t like it…” Chris began to wonder if he could also imagine whatever he wanted...something to protect them. Nothing happened.
Victoria quickly imagined a barrier between the swarm and them. She turned and began to walk away. Chris and his friends exchanged glances before following behind her.
“Time to go find Gatchi,” Victoria declared.
“Where would she be?” Jackie asked. “And can I imagine something?”
“I have an idea,” Victoria twisted a strand of her hair around her finger for a m
oment. “And yes, you can.,” she answered without looking back. Jackie imagined herself carrying a bow and arrow.
“Oh, cool!” Jackie laughed excitedly.
Chris began to wonder if he would be able to imagine anything, he was too focused on the current situation to think about anything but escaping and finding Emily. They walked for a while until they came to the edge of town where there was nothing but mist and white everywhere, as if someone had forgotten to color it in. There were no buildings or people anywhere.
“Chris, I need you to think of something right this second, before she attacks us.” Victoria commanded.
“I’ve been trying,” he admitted. Chris closed his eyes and began to imagine the first thing that came to mind. Nothing but the darkness of his eyelids to be found here.
He kept trying while Victoria was waiting. She knew Gatchi would realize Chris was missing and start searching. She only had to wait, and by then hopefully Chris would be armed.
Chris saw something, a glimpse of a girl. She had somewhat long, slightly wavy, black hair that dropped to shoulder length, side bangs, and brown eyes. She wore a black, V-Neck style shirt with a subtle yellow outline, a black undershirt, a black skirt that dropped just to her knees, and black ankle boots. She turned to look at Chris, but before she could, she vanished. He reopened his eyes to find a sword in his hand. The hilt was golden with a red ribbon on the end. He was surprised to find it there, and it felt strange, as if he was holding it all this time. He gave it a swing and felt it move like it was a part of his arm.
Victoria smiled at him and clapped. “Just in time, we have trouble coming. She has red hair and blue eyes, and she’s coming angrily this way,” she said with a smile as she placed her hand on her hip and pointed behind Chris at Gatchi, who was approaching quickly.
She vanished into the mist suddenly and Victoria took up a fighting stance. Chris pointed his sword and stayed at her back. Ty and Jackie stayed together, aiming in different directions.
Spellcrafter-Delta Page 3
