by Andy Nadir
Laxus stood idly in the battle ring. His gaze drifted of his opponent. It was a boy, who had the speech magic. Essentially, the boy spoke matter into existence. A useful skill, but nowhere strong enough to beat him.
A single whistle summoned the boys own shadow to strangle his feet, and gag him. When the boy fell to the ground, and didn’t move for ten seconds, The instructor called the match.
The rest of Laxus’s opponents fell just as easily. “I announce Laxus the winner of the competition! As a reward, he will be able to participate in the next mission, in which we are stealing an expensive orb from Daletum’s bank! Laxus, you and the two others who placed in second and third, will meet with me in three days. Good luck.”
Laxus strode out of the room, and sat down on his bed. With a soft hum, he summoned a sheet of shadows from the ground, and it covered him. He fell into a dreamless sleep.
Three days later, Tabitha jumped out of bed. She sprinted to the appointed meeting spot, almost an hour early. When her instructors arrived, she was almost bouncing around. One of the instructors glanced at her. “Tabitha, what in the world are you wearing?” He asked, surprised.
Tabitha looked down at the armor made of light. “It’s my Light magic… It will light up dark places, and provide me armor!” She said.
“Well, don’t you think you should wear more than just leather armor? I mean, if your concentration brakes, you won’t have any defense, left…”
Tabitha shrugged, and sat down. A few minutes later, Blue Phoenix’s carriage pulled into the road. The four got in, and it rumbled off toward Daletum.
“Here it is.” The older wizard said.
Laxus looked at the small building. “You’re kidding. This small? Well, I don’t care. You guys go in; I’ll get rid of anyone who tries stopping us.”
The other two Wizards nodded, and ran into the building. Laxus sat down, and put his head on his hand. “The others shouldn’t need more than a few hours.” He muttered quietly.
Laxus sat on the stone patiently. After almost an hour, he heard rumbling. “Ah, there they are… The guild that Daletum must have hired to stop us from terminating the true evil guilds…” He said.
He slowly stood up. Then his mouth dropped open as a Blue Phoenix Carriage pulled up next to the bank.
Three instructors got out of it. “Tabitha, You stay in there for now, we can handle these weak mages.” One of them said.
Laxus burst out laughing. One of the Blue Phoenix mages glanced at him, but didn’t say anything. Laxus dropped into a fighting stance, and thought of a fitting tune for their death.
Then it came to him. He had recently discovered a new way to manipulate his magic, by making the shadow of the person widen, and wrap around the person, before melting into the ground, and taking the subject with it.
Laxus grinned, and began a long, slow tune. The notes rose and fell, and the wizard’s stood frozen, as their shadows were rooting them in place. “How… How can he make so many notes just by whistling? Not eve Tabitha can do…” One of the mages started.
Laxus whistled the final note, and the shadows launched up, and surrounded the mages. Right before the shadows dragged them down, A beam of light launched out of the carriage, and pierced Laxus’s shadows. A girl climbed out of the carriage.
She had rather childish features, with a rather round face, and only standing about four foot five, she looked like a kid. Laxus looked at her, and burst out laughing.
“This is the Best Blue Phoenix can cook up? Three old men and a little girl?”
The girl pouted. “I’m not little! I’m fifteen! And I just defeated your magic, so you should just surrender to me, and I won’t hurt you too bad!”
Laxus burst out laughing. “You? You’re not fifteen, I am! And, I won’t ever surrender to Blue Phoenix! You monsters killed my parents! Feel the wrath of one hundred shadows!”
Laxus whistled a sharp note, and the shadows of all the buildings near him jumped up, and turned into spears. They all launched at the girl.
With a note of her own, they were all enveloped by light. Laxus hissed. The looked at him for a moment. “You look really angry… but behind your mask of anger, I sense your sadness. Don’t even bother denying it, I can read emotions if they are strong enough.”
Laxus growled. “Shut up! He whistled three notes, and a humanoid made of shadows rose form the ground. The girl did the same, and a golden warrior rose from the ground.
“What would you have me do, Tabitha?” It asked.
“Defeat the shadow golem, and capture the Black Mage.” Tabitha said.
“Don’t ignore me!” Laxus roared.
The golem lurched forward, and its arms flew forward. The golden knight raised its shield. The shadows struck the shield, and suddenly stuck to it. “Myron! What’s going on, why aren’t his shadows burning away from the light?” She cried, worried.
Laxus laughed. “It’s a Secret art, the Shadow corruption!”
Laxus let hissed through his teeth.
The black shadow spread through the shield. The warrior threw the shield onto the ground. He raised the sword, and threw it at Laxus’s shadow golem. It struck the golem, and burnt it to a crisp.
Laxus whistled again, and the corrupted shield launched towards the knight, spinning so fast it looked like a disk. It struck the warrior, and instantly cut through his sword. It then hit his armor, and began to slowly cut away at it. The warrior screamed in anguish.
“Myron, No!” Tabitha screamed.
Laxus looked coldly at the glowing warrior, and then at Tabitha. His eye’s briefly softened. He sighed, and waved his hand. The shield stopped spinning, and collapsed to the ground.
The glowing warrior fell to his knees. “Why… Would a Black Mage show mercy?”
Tabitha ran towards Myron. She knelt by him, and put her hand to his chest. Light began bending around her hand, and entering Myron. Her back was turned to Laxus. A perfect opening. Laxus raised his hand, and quietly hummed a light note. A shadow snaked its way towards Tabitha. Myron saw it, and his eyes widened, but he couldn’t move his mouth because of his immense injuries.
The shadow snake made its way behind Tabitha. It rose to strike, and launched forward. Suddenly, it froze right at the back of her neck. Laxus was trembling with confusion. “How… I know I need to kill her… but I can’t! I can’t bring myself to land the finishing blow…gah!” He thought.
He released the shadow. Myron relaxed, and gave a barely perceptible nod at Laxus. Laxus sighed. Tabitha finished healing Myron, and turned to Laxus. Rage covered her soft features. “You monster, how could you do this to Myron! I’ll kill you!
She charged at Laxus. He raised his hand, and a pole of shadows rose in front of her feet. She tripped over it, and landed face first in the grass in front of Laxus. He sighed. He reached down, and grabbed Tabitha’s hand. He pulled her up.
“Why… Why aren’t you killing me? I thought Black Mages are merciless and evil…” She whispered.
Laxus shook his head. “I should kill you. But…” There was a loud crash from the bank.
Laxus hissed. “My partners are coming. Look, I won’t do this again, but I will let you live this time. Don’t move, ok? Tabitha nodded hesitantly. With a wave of his hand, and a light whistle, shadows wrapped around Tabitha, and her teammates, and sank into the ground.
Just as Tabitha was sinking, he felt two weights in his pockets. Before he could go to find what they were, the two mages that came with him ran out of the bank.
“We did it. Now quick, grab on, let’s head back to base.” One of them said.
Laxus grabbed one with his left arm, and one with his right. The older student used his magic to summon his transporting mist. It enveloped them, and when it left, they were gone.
**********
Guild master Viekus nodded happily. “He fought and killed four mages from Blue Phoenix, and you got the treasure?”
The instructor nodded. Viekus grinned, and waved the instructor out of the
room.
