by Casey Herzog
The purpose of the game was to unlock potential and make them work as a team. They were having a great time, and the competitive juices were flowing. Neither side wanted to be on losing side, which forced them to push past what they believed they could do.
My side was a little off, but it was in how they were looking at me. It put them on the defensive quickly. I could tell the idea of a girl with magic was hard for them to swallow. They weren’t the only ones having a problem with it. I didn’t think I was worthy of the gift of the magic eye, but my father thought otherwise. He made sure I found my legacy and didn’t squander the right by disallowing any knowledge of magic.
I was pitted up against Julian. He leapt into the air like gravity didn’t even matter. I let go of an energy burst inside me that was building to dangerous levels. It was nice to relieve myself of the burden. It struck him heavily and knocked him down onto the ground, giving me the opening I was looking for.
There was no way for him to cry foul; it was a matter of who could win the game by any means necessary. I made steps of energy that I scaled with relative ease, not even paying attention to the height. I shot across the sky and witnessed fireworks when I got the last and final point of the game. I left them speechless.
I felt like my father had closed all the doors, but I had found a window to slip in and take what was rightfully mine. I let my potential show through and I was becoming a role model for the other students. I was showing what I was worth with my colors exploding like a lesson to the others not to let anybody hold them down.
I was surrounded by the admiration of those students on my side. There were no hard feelings and everybody seemed to find a reason to let go. They weren’t thinking of the daunting task ahead of them, and it was better that way.
“You do realize I’m going to want a rematch as soon as possible. I think a game of one on one would help to finally solidify my reputation for beating a girl at her own game.” Julian was teasing me and purposely making me laugh on the inside.
I don’t fear going crazy around you, Julian. You are definitely in love with yourself, and there’s no reason not to have a high opinion of oneself. Nobody is going to give us anything if we don't step outside of our comfort zone. I say there’s no time like the present. Let’s put it all out there for our respective groups. You never know, I might’ve been lucky, but I wouldn’t bet on that.” He stared at me with determination; it was a battle of the sexes.
“You surprised me, but that’s not going to happen again, Gillian. We’ve been best friends for a long time, but don’t think our friendship is going to play a part in any of this. I don’t want there to be a mistake about who wins. We are both going to have to give our best; there’s no sense in holding back. I’m sure you’ll know if I am. Our respective groups need this morale booster.”
I understood where he was coming from, but the idea of beating him and leaving him embarrassed wasn’t the highlight of my day. “You have no idea what you’re asking of me, Julian. You don’t have magic eyes and I do. That gives me an unfair advantage, which I will not use in my favor. I will refrain from using something more than natural magic.”
“I trust you more than anyone, Gillian. You’ve shown yourself to be a remarkable young woman. Your father would be very proud of how you have stepped up when you were needed the most. It’s too bad he’s not here to witness this remarkable transformation. He wouldn’t even recognize you as the same little girl you were a few days ago.”
He had me suppressing pride filled tears of joy. I was distracted, and he took flight. It was a nice way to say he manipulated me.
He was flying, and there was the freezing cold breeze coming from his hands to lift him into the air with relative ease. He was near completing a trouncing that was going to leave me cloaked in failure. I shook myself from the effect of his words. I used the fireball’s momentum to cast me skyward.
We met at the top, and there was no way both fireballs were going to fit into the ring of energy. We smiled; knowing one of us was going to stand victorious, and the other to wallow in self-pity. It was counterproductive for either one of us to lose, which meant it was time to compromise. Instead of going for the energy ring, I threw my fireball into his to combine it into an intense orb that burned brightly.
We both had our hands on it at the same time. We pressed it into the ring to make it fit. We clapped hands and lowered ourselves back to the ground without missing a stride. It was a tie: a decision made because of the need to have everybody working with a purpose.
“Since there is no clear winner, we will declare this one a tie. Both sides have fought with distinction and should be proud of their accomplishments. I’ve seen real growth in many of the students. There’s still more to learn, but you’ll have to do that in the real world. I want to be the first to congratulate you on graduating with the highest degree possible. We brought out in you the real power you hold inside.”
I listened to Professor Bethesda and I was waiting to jump in with my 2¢ worth.
“The professor and the rest of the teachers have given you something more than hope. They have given you a real chance to strive for your best. There is no better feeling than knowing you’re doing the right thing for the right reasons. Magic has been condemned for far too long. Life has never been the same without it. Some of you were not around when magic was taken away. You were brought here because your parents were afraid of losing you. They will not agree with this action, but you can make your own decisions. I won’t ask any of you to do anything I wouldn’t do myself. This is a promise I don’t take lightly.” I felt like we had a chance, but only if we could work as one.
“Gillian is her father’s daughter, and we all know what he brought to all of you. There have been no commitments about her staying on to continue his good work. Perhaps, there is a way for all of you to convince her.” I hadn’t agreed to anything, but the pleading eyes of the children were hard to ignore.
“You know you’re not playing fair. I found something to believe in, and it’s hard to walk away knowing the potential of these children could be enhanced by my presence. I need some time to think about my future, and what kind of role I will have in the continued development of magic within children.” I found myself fascinated by a child’s mind and how easily they could be led astray by a bad influence. With me, they could be assured of having their best interest at heart.
“What do you think about magic becoming a mainstay?” The professor wanted to know my opinion.
“Magic is not a curse. Some of you may differ in this opinion, but I’ve come to learn it’s more a blessing in disguise. You are all treasures of your parents twinkling eyes. They want you to grow strong and become the man you’re supposed to be. I have this desperate need to give women the same rights when it comes to magic, but that is a crusade for another time. I’m sure I will have more than enough resistance.” I was surrounded by the children, and I draped my hands around those I could reach.
“The students are not the only ones working with you. The teachers have talked about this, and they have come to an understanding of what they need to do. We will be your second line of defense with the children feeding on our magic. I just hope they can refrain from taking too much. It will render us useless in the fight. You’re going to need all the help you can get.” Professor Bethesda gave me a reason to break free of the chains of indecision around my ankles. I was feeling the weight of having these tiny lives in my care.
There was more for them to learn, but it didn’t look like we were going to have time. There was a break in the reality of existence. I could hear the screams of the children and the cracks breaking like ice on a warm day.
“I told you I would be back. You can’t get away from me that easily. It’s nice to see you have gathered them all here to witness this.” Jasper appeared in a vortex from which he stepped forward, making our safe haven a battleground.
Chapter Twenty-Four
“I’m not going to give in
to you and I’ll be damned if you get anywhere close to these children. I should’ve realized you would find a way in.” I actually found it fortuitous he was here, not surrounded by the Guardians and the Elders. It still wasn’t a fair fight, but it could’ve been a whole lot worse, given the circumstances.
“It’s amazing to me you think you have a choice. There are many phases of existence. I only had to narrow down my choices, and you helped. I concentrated on those with power exuding from within, and it wasn’t long before I zeroed in on this place. Your father has done himself proud, but I’m going to take it as a personal victory to ruin whatever plans you have. This world is not going to survive..” Jasper had lived up to the moniker of the hunter.
“.I don’t know what your game is, but you have done something foolish by coming here. You might be strong, but here we can still use magic, which makes us willing and able to defend ourselves.” I had the children behind me with my arms outstretched hoping to protect them from whatever danger the hunter was going to throw my way.
“The children are inconsequential; the real power is in the magic eyes. It’s your fault I found this place sooner than expected. By confronting me in my own world, I was able to look inside you. I didn’t see the magic eyes, but I do now. They are around you in a multicolor aura only I can see. I want the power and I don’t care what I have to do to get it.” His face shocked the children..
“I’m not going to hesitate; there’s not much time left for your precious Elders to hold the power. You will be the perfect test to find out if we are ready for this. Be prepared for a fight. Competition is in my blood and vengeance for my father drives me to do insane acts just to know I’m alive.”
“I don’t care about your blood lust for vengeance. You have no idea what real pain is, but you are about to find out.” He thrust out his hands and it felt like a brick wall was crashing into me. I fell to my knees, breathing heavily and feeling like I had asked too much of the children. “That is just a brief taste to give you a basic understanding of what you’re up against. I don’t see Damien. My child was taken away from me with no remorse and I want him back. He will be mine. It’s only a matter of time before I track him down and bring him back into the fold.”
I still didn’t understand his statement about being Damien’s father. I looked around and Damien was nowhere to be seen. He had somehow slipped out without being noticed. I felt a pang of regret for putting him into the line of fire. I should have known he wasn’t ready to face the hunter and the pain of being underneath his control. I couldn’t hope for miracles, not when this had something to do with his psychological makeup. It was all in his head; I should’ve reminded him of the hunter’s unwillingness to kill him.
“You might consider Damien your child, but everyone you see here is my child. They deserve my respect and kindness. I will not let you get to them through me.” I managed to stand on shaky legs, but I felt like all the energy had been drained from my body.
“You’re foolish to think you have any right to stand against me. Your father was a worthy opponent deserving of my respect. Before I turned him into vapor, he gave me a fight which I have been unable to duplicate.” He was purposely putting the blame for what happened to my father on his shoulders. He wanted me to make a mistake, which I would never do.
“I don’t know if what you’re saying about my father is true, but it really doesn’t matter. These children are in my care and getting to them will be over my dead body.” He conjured something unseen, but a shimmer of something exploded in a blue lightning bolt streaming from where he was standing to where I was standing.
The pain was unimaginable as electricity exploded into all of my limbs. I arched my back and forced out my chest with my eyes on fire and a blue flame spewing from my mouth. That flame was being extinguished. I had to concentrate to bring back the full power of the magic eyes. I gritted my teeth and expelled a burst of power.
It pushed against the lightning bolt. I’d seen something in the hunter that gave me a reason to think that defeat would be hard fought. His mouth was curled in concentration, and there was sweat soaking through his clothing. The only part of his face I could see was the expression of pain coming from his grinding teeth. He was preventing himself from screaming in much the same way that I prevented myself from giving him the satisfaction of letting him close to the children.
“You will give me the magic eyes; I don’t care what I have to do to take it from you. You’re naïve to give these children any consideration. They are your weakness and my greatest strength is not caring about life in general. It’s time for you to make a decision; I hope you can live with what it is.” He once again found the necessary strength, but this time there were multiple blue lightning bolts coursing from his fingertips in ten wide arcs. There was no way for me to protect against all of them, which meant I was going to have to treat this like a triage.
I protected the little ones, taking the blunt end of those lightning strikes and watching as the other five were left as sacrificial lambs. The other older children over were screaming in agony, but they weren’t going down without a fight. They dropped to their knees, but then they held hands and united for one time only. I saw them stand up against the lightning sending whispers of smoke off their bodies.
“We are as one; you are nothing compared to us. We stand together where you stand alone.” Their voices were in unison like they were connected telepathically to one another. “We can withstand anything. We cannot say the same thing of you. There’s no way for you to prepare for the might of five. We won’t give up and won’t surrender to the likes of you. You should be ashamed of yourself. We are ashamed for you, but we sense this is not your own doing. Reveal yourself and let us see the face of our tormentor.” These five children were showing amazing strength under fire, but there was no way I could join them. I was depleted, my energy barely able to withstand what I was fighting.
“I wasn’t expecting this, but I have come prepared for every eventuality.” Seeing that I was out of commission, he was able to pull those strains of electricity back and then unite them with the five in an even more explosive force. The children screamed again and there was blood coming from all of their noses. Their eyes were straining and droplets of blood began to flow down their faces in tears. Their hair had become white as snow. I wasn’t sure what was happening to them, but it couldn’t have been anything good.
“I won’t… I won’t let you get away with this.” I tried to amass some kind of defense on behalf of the children, but it was nothing more than a temporary fix. It wouldn’t last for any longer than 20 seconds. Those 20 seconds felt like an eternity, the magic eyes seeking out and eventually breaking them free of the blue lightning.
“I admire your desire to protect them, but it won’t make any difference in the long run. They are destined to die by my hand, one by one. My mission is clear: those with magic must be eliminated for the sake of the continued survival of the Elders.” It sounded like he was brainwashed, speaking words that would never come from anybody who possessed magic. I could use that against him if he were willing to listen.
“What you say doesn’t make any sense. You want to destroy anyone with magic, but don’t you have magic? What do you suppose happens after all those with magic have been destroyed? Do you really believe they will let you live risking a revolt against them? You say I’m naïve, but have you ever looked at yourself in the mirror? Have you ever seen the real face of evil staring back at you?” I saw him swallow with a type of confusion. His power waned and his concentration was on the puzzle I had just given him.
“They wouldn’t dare do anything to me. I have been their weapon, cutting down those with magic and bringing their power into myself. You’re just trying to keep me occupied, but it’s not like you can prevent what is inevitably going to happen.” The magic was strong inside him, and there was a darkness that filled me with dread. There was something else. There was a vestige of the man he was before the Elders got a
hold of him.
“I’m going to go out on a limb and say you weren’t born like this. Something changed inside. It has corrupted your mind and your magic. It doesn’t take much to realize you saw the inside of the rehabilitation walls. Give me a chance, and I can help you find your way back out of the darkness and into the light. I will never stop until you are free of them. Stay with us and fight for something that makes more sense than taking magic away from us all.” I was trying to get through to him, and he was listening. I wasn’t sure what he was hearing or how much was actually making any sense, but he was stopping his attack for the time being.
“What you say does not make any sense. I have killed in the name of the Elders. There’s no way for you to condone those actions. You sound sincere, but how could you have compassion for someone like me. I don’t deserve any kind of pity. Let this be a message to all of you. The Elders are strong and those with magic will fall into their hands courtesy of the magic I have taken from others just like you.” He returned to knocking those five to the ground with enough force to make them throw back their heads and scream. It was the ungodly noise of an animal being torn apart.
The constant threat against the children made it necessary for me to tap into the darker part of the magic eyes. It was not a place I wanted to go. I felt the tendrils of evil reaching out to claim another victim. The dark arts were not something to be feared unless, of course, you had ideas to use it in the most extreme way possible. Something clicked inside me and I stood up, my whole body glowing from the power within.
“You will stop what you’re doing or face the consequences for your actions. You are facing the darkest magic; this is where we find out what kind of magic you have. You’re right; I shouldn’t care about what happens to you, but I do. You can stop if you want to or I can stop you for good. One way another, this ends here and now between you and me.” I felt like I was imbued with a deeper understanding of the dark arts. This was the darkest of them all, and I wanted desperately to destroy him and rip him into pieces never to be put together again.
