by M K Drake
“Foolish Majjai, did you really think I didn’t know?” says a deep voice.
“Show yourself,” demands the hooded man.
Razakel and Herensugue appear out of thin air.
“I have something to show you Majjai, but first, I’m curious to know which of you had the courage to take such a mission. Reveal your identity,” orders Razakel.
The hooded figure steps forward, pulling back his hood to reveal a middle-aged man’s face, with a scar on the side of his right cheek. One eye has a silver pupil with a slightly different shade of silver iris, while the other eye is a deep, dark brown, “The name is Mage Callan. You may have heard of me?”
Herensugue is almost visibly frightened, taking two careful steps back.
Razakel laughs again, “It’s comforting to know that the Majjai fear me enough to send their chief assassin to me. Now, allow me to reveal my little surprise to you.”
Razakel takes a step towards the cocoon, bends slightly, and touches the tip of it. Red light fills the crevices and a beam shoots out from the top. When the light stops, the cocoon begins to rumble. Loud bangs come from within it, as if something is trying to get out. The impacts get louder, more forceful. Suddenly a massive fist bursts its way out. Mage Callan acts quickly, moving Serenity to the corner, and projecting a shield of blue light around her for protection.
The cocoon explodes outward, filling the throne room with smoke and the putrid smell of rotting flesh.
“Mage Callan,” says Razakel, “I’d like you to meet Alvarez, the Destructor.”
As the smoke clears, Alvarez stands in the middle of the wreckage, breathing heavily. But he is different from before, an aura of red light now surrounds him. He steps out of the rubble and walks towards Mage Callan, moving faster with each step.
“I’ve beaten you many times in the past, Alvarez; a little bit of red light will not make any difference,” says Mage Callan.
Alvarez chuckles at Mage Callan’s comment, “Ahhh, but there is more,” he stops walking, pulls off his cloak and roars into the air. As he does so, his skin begins to ripple, expanding, transforming him into a massive, hulking beast. He roars again. His jaw juts forward, and his arms grow. His whole physique expands once more, consuming the aura of red light, “Come Mage Callan, do your worst,” Alvarez snarls in his new form.
Mage Callan flicks his cloak back as he moves his right leg forward, preparing for the impending attack.
Alvarez jumps into the air, and falls downward towards Mage Callan who in turn back flips firing multiple shots of blue fireballs towards the beast hurtling towards him. Alvarez lands with a force so strong that the entire chamber shakes.
Mage Callan jumps into the air. He flies towards Alvarez, arm outstretched with a blue spear of light forming just beyond it. He strikes Alvarez hard, but there is no effect. Mage Callan just bounces off the thick hide of Alvarez’s new form. He rolls back onto his feet, readying himself for the counter-attack.
Alvarez charges towards him. Mage Callan tries to form a shield but it is too late, Alvarez punches Mage Callan in the gut, sending him soaring into the air, slamming into the far wall next to Serenity.
“He is too powerful for you,” she says to her rescuer quietly, “Let us escape while we still can.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” groans Mage Callan, he reaches into his pocket and hands Serenity a crystal, “Contact Elric with this, all you need do is speak into it. Hurry.”
Serenity takes the amulet as Mage Callan turns to face Alvarez again. He runs towards him, unsheathing his sword screaming as he charges. With a flick of his finger on the blade his sword splits in two and they begin to glow blue.
Alvarez begins his charge on all fours, roaring and stomping his hands and feet like a gorilla. The chamber shakes and rattles, bits of rock fall from the walls. They clash in the centre of the throne room, in a bright flash of blue and red light.
The room falls silent. Razakel begins to chuckle, as does Herensugue.
“Foolish Majjai,” says Razakel. Alvarez emerges from the debris unscathed. Mage Callan lies broken on the floor.
Serenity screams as she looks on in horror, “Nooooo!”
Without warning, a portal suddenly appears next to her. Out of it shoot two massive grappling hooks, one whips around and grabs Serenity, and the other grabs Mage Callan. The hooks pull them both through the portal, which then seals itself.
Alvarez transforms back to his human-like form and walks towards Razakel. On bended knee, head bowed down, he thanks his master, “My Lord, this gift of power will never fail you, I am yours to command. Do with me as you wish.”
“Rise Alvarez, the Destructor. Your time will come, but for now, we have more pressing matters to sort out,” Razakel says before turning to Herensugue, “Come, we must finalise our surprise for the Northern Portal.”
“Masssster, they have the runesss,” hisses Herensugue.
“No matter,” replies Razakel, “we no longer have a use for them. Our armies are ready. We just need to find a way to get them there – now we must retrieve the amulets and locate the Quantorbium.”
As all three leave the chamber, hundreds of little creatures flood the throne room and set to work repairing the walls and clearing away the mess.
Chapter 13
Awakenings
Back at Wysardian Manor, Atticus is taken to a bare room. Safaya and Ju Long still have not spoken to him while Khan acts as his guide for the route he is taking.
“Come Atticus, you must stand in the middle,” says Khan as the five form a circle around Atticus. They close the circle by joining hands, which instantly triggers a blast of blue energy soaring skywards, startling Atticus at first, forcing him to flinch. He feels Joyce’s hand, just to his right, grasping tighter, as if reassuring him that this is ok, that he is no danger. Any tension Atticus had soon disappears, and Joyce returns her hand to the circle.
The ceiling disappears to reveal stars and space, with the blue energy blast soaring faster and faster. Planets rush past their heads. Atticus almost ducks as he sees the rings of Saturn approaching at lightning speed. The other five stare upward, and a light breeze begins to swirl around the room. Their speed increases again, blurring everything into lines of white as they are transported to what appears to be another galaxy altogether. The view flips around and Atticus can see the Milky Way disappearing into the distance. Suddenly Atticus finds himself and the other five in a strange, liquid-like universe, with a massive star above them. Out of nowhere, five beams of light fire down from it and strike the five Majjai in the circle. A loud humming sound begins to ring around the chamber, then, a smaller, much narrower beam of light shoots from their joined hands and fires into Atticus. Startled more than anything, Atticus flinches slightly. The ceiling returns to normal, and the others release their hands. They look towards Atticus as Joyce steps up to him.
“How do you feel?” she asks.
Atticus shakes himself, “I feel a little tingly, but fine otherwise.”
“Good, ok, let’s try to get you to ‘do’ something now,” says Khan. He points to a chair in the corner, “See if you can shoot it.”
“How?” asks Atticus.
“Remember those beams of light in your dreams?” asks Joyce.
Atticus nods.
“Try to imagine them, imagine you are in control of them,” continues Joyce.
Atticus closes his eyes, he thinks back to his vision, the one where he was fighting Draconus. His hands begin to feel a little warm, he looks down and sees a blue light surrounding them. He remembers the instinctive feeling in the dream, and throws the light at the chair. The chair flies back into the wall and smashes into pieces.
“Cool!” says Atticus.
“Quite,” states Safaya, she has a similar accent to Khan’s but with distinct differences in tonality. From her manner and bearing, Atticus can easily recognise that she is royalty.
“Now you must learn more control, and more power,” Safaya says
as she stands opposite Atticus, “Defend yourself!”
Safaya shoots a blue fireball towards Atticus. Instinctively he crosses his arms and a blue shield of light surrounds him, absorbing the attack from Safaya.
“Not bad,” Says Ju Long, “Now, how do you move?”
Before Atticus can reply, Ju Long is upon him, with a lightning fast spin-kick sweeping his legs away. Atticus is on the floor.
“You must be faster, Atticus,” says Khan, “Remember what Mage Callan has taught you.”
“Mage Callan?” Atticus thinks to himself, and remembers what Professor Morgan told him earlier; they are talking about his Fencing teacher, Mr Callan. He stands again and tries to recall what he learnt to do with his feet and how to move in his lessons.
“Too much thinking,” says Ju Long before jumping into the air and aiming another kick towards Atticus. Atticus breathes deeply, he thinks about slowing time, and as he does so he sees Ju Long decrease in speed, along with everyone else around him. Their voices turn to a slur of noise. Atticus casually moves to the side, he sees Ju Long land and attempt another spin kick. Atticus ducks it, and sweeps Ju Long to the floor. Atticus relaxes and time appears to return to normal.
“Impressive,” says Olof.
There is a loud knock at the door, and then it opens abruptly. Professor Morgan enters, panting, “Quickly,” he says, “Elric needs all of you in his chamber urgently!”
They all hurriedly follow the Professor towards Elric’s chamber. The main hall has emptied allowing Atticus to notice how lavish it is, the walls are all covered in massive robes of red, orange and blue garments. Each chair has sumptuous cushions and the stage is outlined in matte silver. Two large muted silvery statues resembling griffins stand on either side of the stage. A large conference table is to the rear of it, facing the rest of the hall.
Professor Morgan quickens his pace. Atticus wonders what the urgency is and taps Joyce on the shoulder.
“What’s going on?” he asks.
Joyce shrugs, “I have no idea, but it is not normal for Elric to call us in such a manner unless something bad has happened, especially after an awakening ceremony.”
Joyce and Atticus hurry up to keep pace with the others.
“Quickly, this way,” says Professor Morgan.
He leads them to Elric’s room. As they approach, the doors open automatically. Atticus and Joyce peer around the corner to find Elric standing over two other people, a woman and a man that Atticus immediately recognises as Mr Callan, his Fencing teacher.
Mr Callan rests unconscious on a leather sofa, and the woman is seated next to him, weeping, with her head in her hands.
“Quickly, Joyce, attend to Mage Callan, before it is too late!” says Elric, as he tries to calm the woman down.
Joyce walks towards Mage Callan, she sees his broken, battered body and almost winces at the sight of the cuts and bruises. She holds her right hand to his forehead, closes her eyes and concentrates. The same blue glow that healed Atticus earlier in the day consumes Mage Callan. In moments his wounds appear to heal themselves, the cuts disappear and the bruises vanish. He lies motionless, breathing easily, but his eyes remain closed.
“Thank you Joyce, now please, help Serenity here,” requests Elric more calmly.
Atticus steps towards Mage Callan, then turns towards Elric, “What happened?”
“That I do not know, Atticus. All I know is that Serenity contacted me to help them, so I brought them here as quickly as possible. Mage Callan was on an important mission to retrieve these,” Elric removes the pouch containing the Runes of Zamaan from Mage Callan’s belt. He opens it to show the runes to the Six.
“Stones, sir?” asks Atticus.
“Runes, Atticus,” replies Elric, “These are the Runes of Zamaan, and they have the ability to slow or speed up time, almost to the point of infinity. They are very powerful − and dangerous in the wrong hands.”
Atticus’ eyes widen; every bit of this new world opening up to him fascinates him. The thirst to learn as much as possible grows with each passing second.
Serenity speaks after Joyce’s healing powers have taken away enough of her pain, and she begins to explain what happened, “It was Alvarez; he is stronger than ever now. Razakel did something to him. He was in some kind of cocoon, which was surrounded by the runes, and when he emerged from it, he turned into a strange, hellhound-like beast. Mage Callan tried his best, but was no match for him.”
Elric strokes his beard as he returns to his seat, “This does not bode well. Having the stones in our possession will only slow him down momentarily. It’s only a matter of time before he learns to quicken the transformation process to fortify the rest of his army. The ingredients he needs are rare however. We will need to secure the sites where they grow, and bring them here. Minimise his ability to source more of what he needs.”
“You know of this Magic then?” asks Professor Morgan.
“Yes, a very old friend told me of this a long, long time ago,” Elric’s gaze turns to his window, he glances out towards it for moment, as if deep in thought, recalling memories from his past, he quickly shakes off the reminisce and re-averts his attention to those with him, “Olof, I think you will be best suited to this task; the ingredients all lie in Nordic lands. Take Ju Long with you. Time is of the essence. You will need to transport the items back here for protection. Unfortunately, they cannot be transported magically or they will wither and die. So you must return by mortal means - over land, sea, or air.”
Elric walks to one of his many bookcases; his right index finger touches the spine as he observes the titles of each book. He locates the one he is searching for and takes it out carefully, blowing on it hard to clear the dust from its surface. Flipping through the pages, he stops about midway and as he is touching the page he whispers into the air. A spark of blue light appears in front of him forming the shape of a quill, followed by a piece of parchment underneath it. The quill frantically writes upon it, copying the contents of the page that Elric is touching.
Elric blows on the quill and it fades out of existence as quickly as it appeared. The parchment then hovers towards Olof.
Atticus watches in awe.
Elric notices his gaze, “Party tricks, Atticus,” he smirks before returning his attention towards Olof, “The second site on that list could well be close to the location of Mjolnir.”
Olof’s eyes widen, his attention is sparked, “Are you sure?”
“It is very likely my dear boy. Your research was thorough enough for me to analyse, and I feel this is the most likely location. Ju Long can help you, as I’m sure there will be tasks where both of your talents will be needed,” says Elric.
“Thank you Master Elric, I will bring it back with me to help us win this war,” Olof says with a smile. He and Ju Long both bow their heads to Elric, and then to Atticus, before exiting the chamber to prepare for their journey.
Atticus, surprised at the fact they lowered their heads to him in the same manner they did to Elric, turns to Professor Morgan and whispers, “Why did they do that? I mean… bow to me?”
“Because you are destined to be their leader, Atticus,” replies the Professor.
Before Atticus can respond Elric beckons to Professor Morgan.
“Benjamin, are you ready for tomorrow’s mission?” he asks.
“Yes, although, losing Olof and Ju Long may mean we will need to tread a little more carefully,” Professor Morgan hands a piece of paper to Atticus, “This is for your parents, Atticus, just to let them know that we are going on a little field trip tomorrow,” he winks as Atticus takes the note.
“Thank you, Joyce. I will continue to tend to Mage Callan and Serenity,” says Elric, “You should get back to your training, Atticus. It is important that you are at least minimally prepared for tomorrow.”
The remaining members of the Majjai Six, along with Professor Morgan, leave the chamber and return to their duties. Atticus, eager to learn more about his abilities, ta
kes the lead back to the training room. He knows this part of the Manor now, almost instinctively taking the right direction.
They bump into Olof and Ju Long with their packed bags ready to leave. Ju Long fidgets with his backpack, trying to find a way to carry it comfortably.
“Good luck my friends,” says Ju Long, “Come back safely”
“You, too,” replies Khan. With that, Ju Long settles his backpack over his shoulders and he and Olof disappear in a flash of blue light.
Atticus spots Elric rushing up behind them, thinking he was probably hoping to say a quick good luck to Olof and Ju Long, but slows down once he realises that it is too late. Atticus waves back.
Elric stands next to Atticus and places a reassuring hand on his shoulder, “Do not worry about Mage Callan, Atticus, he will be fine.”
“What did that to him?” asks Atticus.
“Something very dangerous; hopefully you won’t need to find out the exact nature of this enemy for quite some time,” replies Elric, “Anyhow, Mage Callan will have a gift for you, something that has been the chosen one’s destiny to receive, and Mage Callan’s destiny to protect.”
“What is it?” asks Atticus excitedly.
Elric chuckles, “You will find out soon, dear boy, and hopefully, when you hold it, any doubts others may have will disappear.”
The Majjai Journals:
Chosen one? Is that who I am supposed to be? I know I’ve always felt a little different. These dreams I’ve had are a pretty good indication of that. Mum and Dad know more than they are letting on as well. It was good to finally hear the truth about the accident and how I was found, but why did they hide it from me in the first place? Knowing what I know now, it would have helped me through this. I could have told them about all of it.
I suppose one good thing has come out of all this, Joyce. Wow, she is so nice, easy to talk to, and she is a Majjai, too! Will have to grill her tomorrow, though; she didn’t let anything on even though she knew so much. I wonder if she knows about my crush? Should I ask her out? Is it too soon?
