Willow was silent with a solemn face. She thought about it for a moment. Eckxio had told her the same story. Elves evolved from humans millenniums ago. It was said that Elves were the first mages. In comparison, Elves were known to have more magical stamina than that of a human. They were more powerful in the mystic arts, while humans were physically dominant. However, Willow knew better than to live by ancient stories. Such stories were nothing but gravestones to her. Moyeed always told her to live in the now. The wars of our ancestors are not ours. Those who live their lives carrying the burden of past events will never see the true beauty that is in front of them.
“No,” Willow answered. “Like I told Akielas, I will not allow the events of the past to lead my life. The future is forged by what we do now. I will not live with anger and hate in my heart. I will not look at the world with eyes of despair like you.”
Ember extended both arms out of her cloak, and shadows swirled over her hand. The shadows shifted into swords of black steel. She swung, spreading her cloak open, taking a fighting stance. The Specters surrounded her. Four white-masked enemies. Despite the disadvantage, it was not herself she was worried about; it was Moyeed, still in pain, gushing purple blood from her back.
“I ask for only one thing,” Willow said.
“Pray that we allow it,” Ember replied.
“All you want is me. So then, let my mother flee without further harm.”
“She is useless to us. We will let her walk away,” Ember said.
Willow helped Moyeed get to her feet. With wobbling feet, she stood up and groaned.
“Mother, you must run. You can’t stay here,” Willow whispered to Moyeed.
“I will bring reinforcements,” Moyeed murmured.
“Do not bring anyone else. Just run and go back to Mouah Cross,” Willow told her. Moyeed ran into the forest, leaving a trail of blood. Willow watched her until she vanished from sight.
“Now that the insect is gone, shall we begin?” Ember said politely, yet creepy. She faced Willow and spun her twin swords. Hertha stood holding a scythe that was above her height. Naunet held his spear horizontally on his shoulder, and Jairo wielded a long thin sword. All their weapons were black, forged of kaminyte steel.
With all the strength in her legs, Willow jumped high to a branch of a kapok tree. The Specters followed her. With her claws, she climbed up the tree. Heat radiated from behind, she jumped to the side, grabbed on to a vine and swung across the forest. She glanced back and saw the kapok tree on fire. Ahead came Jairo; already he had cast an air spell. Sharp winds gusted. Willow let go of the vines and fell to a tree below. She landed on its branch then jumped again to another tree. Flocks of parrots, four legged birds, apes, and schools of animals scattered as the battle raged in the Spirituah Forest.
Willow ran to the center of an oak tree, where branches spread like a hundred arms. Ember met her in the center, and they clashed blades. Sparks flew with every blow. Ember parried every attack as Willow swung her Dragontooth with all her might. Then Hertha appeared from behind. Willow dodged her scythe, and a wisp of hair was cut. As Willow spun to block again, Ember wounded her arm. She groaned and clenched her teeth, ignoring the pain, and released her maju, calling upon the plants around her. A branch from the oak warped backwards and slapped Hertha.
Ember set her twin blades on fire. Willow staggered back. She was aware of her weakness to fire and was afraid Ember would burn the forest. I have to drive them out of the forest… but where…ah yes… the glade. The Elves had already departed, so no one would get hurt in the nearby glade. Willow ran and jumped out of the oak tree and onto the grass. She sheathed her sword on her back and dashed through the forest with arms and legs like a cheetah. She felt them chasing her, flying above. Ember unleashed a jet of fire. Willow hopped to the side, and a tree exploded. She closed her eyes, ignored it, and kept running. She looked ahead and saw spikes rising from the ground. She swerved, dodging the spikes. Then the earth beneath her feet began to rise. She jumped onto a tree then fell back on the grass and dashed.
“You can’t keep running away,” she heard Jairo above her. For a moment, she paused. Jairo swung his sword and unleashed a wave of sharp winds that made logs out of trees and injured animals in its way.
“Naturass grotsmo!” Willow yelled, and wood grew rapidly from the ground. Animated plants of strong kapok wood that she summoned with her maju covered her, creating a half-sphere and protected her from the sharp winds.
“Naturass thorns!” she cast another spell. Her wood grew thorns and shot them like bolts from a crossbow. Jairo dodged them swiftly, zigzagging around trees.
Willow continued to the glade. This time, she used her plants to propel herself. She would grab onto vines, and like a slingshot, she was thrown through the forest until she reached the glade. She landed on the tips of her feet and rolled, decreasing the weight of her fall. She looked back and saw a pillar of fire rising from the canopy. I can’t allow them to harm the forest any longer.
“I am sorry, my child. I am sorry, Eckxio,” she whispered in prayer before her next spell. It was a spell that would drain a small fracture of her lifespan and could affect the child inside her.
She clapped both hands together, fusing earth and water maju. When she released her hands, two magic circles floated over her palms. The Tattoos on the back of her hands came to life. The two mandaraks glowed, one blue and one green. “Natubos Entos Nie Flora,” she whispered. The two mandaraks merged and expanded. She saw the Specters arriving from the forest. Entos and Flora, please hurry. The mandarak had reached the height of an oak tree. The circle spun with an illustration similar to stained glass. It had filigree with the faces of her Eedahlans. A green beam jolted Willow from the magic circle, taking its toll on the summoner.
Green glitter, like fairy dust, poured from the mandarak. Two arms stretched from the magic circle then two faces and finally two green entities, holding hands, twenty feet tall, emerged. With a sound like shattering glass, they flew out of the magic circle. A female and a male. Their skin green, their hair colorful like a streaming rainbow. Massive butterfly wings extended on their backs with floral patterns. They wore leaves to cover their private parts. Willow stood between them, and her beast form faded. She was back to normal, no horns, no claws or fangs. She breathed hard for she had used an incredible amount of maju.
“Fight with all your might,” she told her Eedahlans. Willow had seen their power when she first made a pact with them. They were no regular Eedahlans from the limbo. She gave a fraction of her life to ensure victory and live long enough to give birth to her child that still needed eight more months.
“Pirara exploda!” Ember launched a spell as she flew towards Willow. A sphere of fire blazing like the sun soared, unleashing a heat wave that burned the grass below.
At that moment, Flora, the female Eedahlan, released a blast of water from her mouth. Like a geyser, it carried great impact, and when it collided with the sphere of fire, it pierced through it, releasing steam. Ember banked left, dodging the jet of water. Then Entos and Flora held hands and flapped their wings, creating a gust that blew away the Specters.
Willow let her Eedahlans fight while she recovered. Her shoulder wound closed quickly as she absorbed maju from nature. Still, she felt herself aging after using her summoning magic. Her sixth sense sent a cold chill up her spine; she spun around and saw Jairo gliding towards her. They clashed blades, and Jairo managed to wound her forearm. She groaned and kept fighting.
“How did you escape the gust of my Eedahlans?” Willow asked and lashed her Dragontooth.
“I can become invisible with the speed of the wind. Watch me,” Jairo said; then, with a thrust of his palm, he cast a rush of wind and disappeared. Willow gasped and looked left and right. She sensed him behind her again, and just before she could block, Jairo’s sword slashed her from the right shoulder to her lower back. She screamed and staggered back, dripping blood. Pain seethed, but Willow clenched her fist and bared
her teeth, refusing to be weak. She did not worry and knew that the wound would heal quickly.
“Don’t worry. I won’t kill you,” Jairo said. “I need you alive so that we can finish our mission.”
Looking behind Jairo, Willow noticed the other three Specters struggling with Entos and Flora. Earth rose from the ground, the Eedahlans summoned killer plants, and fire exploded on the battle field.
“Whatever you are plotting? I won’t let you take me. I will live or take you all with me to my death,” Willow swore. She stomped on the ground, and vines grew beneath Jairo’s feet. They wrapped around his leg; he panicked and quickly tried to fly away. The vines grew thorns as they constricted his lower body. The vines pulled him down, and just as he fell, Willow cast another spell.
“Aquas sphia,” Willow yelled. Liquid manifested from her hands as she molded her maju, calling the element from the unknown. Water burst and surrounded Jairo. He became trapped in a sphere of water, drowning in an aquatic prism.
“Try to escape from that as you struggle to breathe,” Willow said with a scowl and ran to her Eedahlans. She left Jairo drowning in the water sphere, his body spinning endlessly.
“Flora!” Willow called the female Eedahlan.
Flora spun around, her butterfly wings spread and her rainbow hair streamed. Flora flew towards Willow. She grabbed the girl and placed her on her right shoulder.
“Let’s finish them,” Willow said.
Flora spun and flew back to their enemies. Ember and Naunet came their way, shouting their spells, while Hertha fought against Entos. Ember summoned a dragon woven of fire. It coiled towards Flora with yellow eyes like suns. The Eedahlan burst a jet of water from her mouth; the dragon snaked around her attack, evading it, and bit her arm. Flora screamed and slapped the dragon away with an aquatic shot. The fire dragon roared and wrapped its body around Flora, burning her green skin and wings of a butterfly.
“Do you think my Eedahlan would not protect herself from an obvious weakness?” Willow said on the shoulder of the giant entity.
Flora manifested more water as flames engulfed her. From the unknown, a globe of water expanded, pushing the fire dragon away. The globe exploded, showering the glade, and ceased the dragon. A rainbow appeared from the illusion of rain.
Naunet launched a blue beam. Flora smacked the beam, redirecting it, and it froze an entire field of grass. Then Flora spat green fluid. Naunet spun in the air, evading it. When the fluid touched the ground, it burned through rocks and created a hole.
“Don’t think your Eedahlan can win this battle for you,” Naunet yelled from afar.
“War has no rules,” Willow replied, holding onto strands of Flora’s colorful hair.
Like the flash of thunder, something pierced Flora’s heart. The Eedahlan screamed and blood gushed from the gash. Willow gasped and saw what had speared through Flora’s chest. It was Jairo. He flew faster than an arrow. He was so rapid that Willow had not sensed him. Flora tumbled from the air, and when she landed, she fell to her knees with her hands pressing on the gash of her chest. Willow did not worry about her Eedahlan for she had faith in Flora.
Jairo descended, cloak ruffling with sword at hand. Ember and Naunet joined him, floating by his side.
“You know, the interesting thing about water is that it contains air,” Jairo said and laughed.
“What?” Willow was confused.
“Of course, you did not know. I am not sure if you noticed, but I am an air mage. Air is my dominant element.” Jairo swung his sword and unleashed a wave of razor winds. In the nick of time, Entos, the male Eedahlan, appeared and blocked the winds with his body covered in various rocks and gemstones. The wind was able to push him but made no damage. Entos compressed a boulder then shot pebbles, like bolts, at the enemy. The Specters flew away unsteadily like injured birds.
Entos helped Flora get to her feet. Already, the gash in her chest began to close. She healed herself with her own maju. Her healing abilities were beyond an ordinary mage.
Willow looked at the Specters. She saw Hertha and Ember standing on a mandarak, glowing on the ground.
“They are summoning,” Willow realized.
A roar echoed from within the dimension of the mandarak. The arm of the Eedahlan reached out of the magic circle. An arm woven of stone and lava glowed red in its fissures. It emerged from the magic circle. Its arms were bigger and burlier than its legs. It walked like a gorilla, arms in front, hunched and eyes burning red.
“Your butterflies are no match for our creature of rock and lava,” Ember challenged.
Entos and Flora flew towards the monster. It was twice their size and embodied the element of their weakness, fire, but the green Eedahlans were not afraid. They joined hands and combined their maju. Flora was water and Entos was earth. When they combined their maju, wood rose from the ground towards the sun and plants bloomed. As thick as trees, wood grew from beneath the rock and lava creature, wrapping around its legs and arms. The volcanic creature spewed lava on the wood and set itself free. It then burst a column of fire from its mouth. Entos and Flora evaded it; they dared not touch the monster.
When wood failed, Entos tried terramancy. Earth sunk beneath the volcanic creature.
“Dig their graves,” Willow said, and her Eedahlan performed the spell.
The rock creature tried to escape, but Flora pushed it down to its grave with a jet of water like a geyser.
“That’s it. Don’t let him get out.” Willow cheered on the shoulder of Flora.
Suddenly, Willow felt something covering the sun. She realized that she was under a shadow. She looked up at the sky and found Naunet under a purple sphere, pulsing energy and sparks. Her eyes widened in surprise. It was a globe of purple energy thrice the size of her Eedahlans. While she was busy fighting two Specters, another one plotted from behind.
“What in Odealeous is that?” she asked the unknown. “Entos, Flora, watch out!” Willow yelled, and her Eedahlan turned their attention to the purple sphere above.
Naunet swung his arms down, pushing the globe with his own maju. It began to fall on the two Eedahlans. An unknown force pressed down on them and ceased their flight. Willow felt it too. The purple sphere somehow increased gravity. As they were forced down, the volcanic creature grabbed Entos’s leg and pulled him, bathing the entity in flames.
“No!” Willow screamed, watching Entos in an inferno.
Flora blasted water on the rock creature again, but this time, the creature punched through the pressure and grabbed Flora, as well. The Eedahlan grabbed Willow from her shoulder, put her in an aero sphere, and tossed the girl out of the way. Swirling winds carried Willow out of danger as she watched the purple globe chirping sparks and falling upon her Eedahlans. Once it touched Entos, Flora, and the volcanic creature, it detonated, causing a blinding flash, greater than sunlight.
Willow landed far away from the explosion. The aero sphere released her, and like a cat, she landed on hands and feet. She fixed her mussed blonde hair off her face and gazed at the explosion. Tears ran down her cheek, and Willow felt hollow.
“Entos, Flora…how?” she murmured. They were sure to return to the limbo, but never had she seen them lose. She was sure that their power was enough to defeat the Specters, but that purple energy was beyond anything she had ever experienced. It had caused a crater on the glade, and all the Eedahlans had disappeared.
“How can I win this fight?” she asked herself.
Willow had used an incredible amount of maju summoning Entos and Flora and did not expect to be defeated. Fighting the Specters all at once was a mistake. They are too strong. What am I supposed to do now? Will I live to give birth to my child? I can’t run away. If I do, then they will hunt me down and hurt the Greamos again.
She stood up and drew her Dragontooth. Death is near, she thought. She clutched the rose quartz necklace that Eckxio had made for her. Eckxio, my love, if you can hear me, I am sorry that I could not deliver your child in time. My spirit will
live on.
Smoke billowed from the crater. A cloud so large that seemed to touch the sky. The Specters emerged from the smoke and flew towards Willow. When they reached her, they orbited her like vultures flying over prey. She refused to go down without a fight.
“Odiams suz!” the four Specters yelled. Four beams of dark maju shot towards her.
Willow spun, forcing the earth to rise with her maju. Rock walls shielded her, but the dark beams pierced through her defense and shocked her. It felt like her soul was being tortured, like a thousand knives had gone through her body. Black steam left her eyes, and she collapsed. She curled into a ball on the floor and heard fiends screaming and screeching. Her body and mind weakened and she trembled like winter cold.
“Remove the curse,” Ember ordered.
They all withdrew their maju and released Willow. The girl lay on the dirt, trying to reach for her Dragontooth. Jairo kicked it away. Naunet and Hertha lifted her, one on each arm. Jairo pulled an object from within his cloak. When he held it up, it looked like a lantern. Inside it was a grey light that reminded Willow of the realm of the limbo. A colorless world.
“Any last words before we extract your soul?” Jairo asked.
“You can take my soul, but you can never destroy it. When you least expect it, I will be the one to stop you. I swear it. I don’t need my body to defeat you.” Willow’s last words only made the Specters laugh, but she was confident. At that very moment, before Jairo began to tug her soul, she had a vision. She saw herself using the power of the Emerald Cosmo Jewel at the top of a skyscraper on a small island. She saw herself reversing Ember’s plan and watched her lose her magic powers and her tower tumble.
Eckxio
In the Quariras Mountains of Verday, Eckxio and Akielas walked up a rocky trail, seeking the fairy king. Akielas had said it was because of the fairy king that he had changed his old ways. Eckxio knew it had to be more than a coincidence that both had met the fairy king. The holy entity did not allow just anyone that wandered the mountains to be in his presence. Eckxio believed that their paths had intertwined for a reason.
Sin of Mages_An Epic Fantasy Series Page 25
