“What on Earth are you doing crouching like that in front of the window?” Amy questioned her strictly as though she were on patrol for suspicious people.
“None of your business actually,” Vanessa smiled at her and saw the fury enter Amy’s eyes.
“You were late,” she started changing the subject, “last night you were late on your test, didn’t you get degraded?” She mocked but Vanessa had her answers with her.
“I wasn’t late… I was just in time, actually… and I completed my mission successfully as well. The headmaster gave me my favorite chocolate. So how’s that for acing it?” Vanessa was enjoying this conversation now and Amy could see that. She knew there was no point arguing with the master’s favorite student and so just walked away angrily.
That night, Brawley was feeling excited. He was going to sneak out of the house and into the northern woods to face the kid off in a one on one match. He felt a bit humiliated from being dragged out of danger by the enemy and so wanted to prove that he was strong and could take care of himself; and the funny part was that he wanted to prove all of this to no one but himself.
That night, Vanessa waited for Brawley to get out of the house. When he did, she found her chance to sneak out as well. Vanessa kept her senses alert so that she could catch even the slightest bit of energy from a distance and know where the fight is taking place.
“The headmaster had entrusted me with the duty of keeping both, Shang and Brawley out of trouble. Shang hasn’t told his father about this match but the headmaster already knows what his son is planning… strange. And even stranger that instead of sending an academy teacher, he sent me to make sure the boys don’t take it too far.” Vanessa shook her head in disappointment as though she were a grownup, and continued walking silently through the woods.
Brawley was still as restless as before. He was running around in circles, ending up at the same spot every time. He was searching for the kid to settle his score with but he could only do that if the kid showed up.
After a while of running around wildly, Brawley felt tired and came to sit under a tree. He had been unsuccessful in locating a kid inside a forest in the middle of the night. “What a bummer…” he said to himself as he took out a can from his back pack opened the lid and started drinking the apple juice. It tasted cool inside his mouth. He loved apple juices which is exactly why he carried small cans full of them.
Suddenly, there was a sound of leaves crumpling. Brawley put the can down and stood up in one fluid motion. He cocked his head on both sides to hear small footsteps. He peered into the darkness on his right. The trees there looked surprisingly taller; overgrown while the small weeds and bushes looked as though they would come out of the ground and jump up at Brawley. He didn’t focus on anything but the person hiding in the shadows. If he were to win, he had to ignore the forest around him or else it would just scare him and wear him down.
“You’re late…” Brawley told the shadow person.
“I’ve been here for a while now and it was fun watching you run around in circles like that…” the boy said, finally coming out of the shadows. He still had his face masked but Brawley was curious.
“What’s your name?” He asked, not really expecting the boy to answer that but to his surprise, he did.
“My name is Shang and you are…” Shang looked straight into Brawley’s eyes as he spoke, “I guess I could call you my rival.” He smiled at him. Brawley, on the other hand, was getting irritated by this conversation.
“Enough talk. Let’s see if you’re even worthy of being my rival,” he told Shang and the fight began. They were doing hand to hand combat, without using any weapons and they were both pretty good at it. Brawley knew that if it had come to weapons, he might have lost because he could remember the time when he was told to master weaponry and he had snuck out to get some ice cream instead. It was scorching hot that day, Brawley thought, trying to defend himself.
As they fought, they went deeper into the forest and it kept getting darker every second. The trees were completely blocking the moonlight and without light, they couldn’t fight. It was only a matter of time before Brawley realized it was a trap when Shang had stopped fighting and disappeared somewhere all of a sudden.
Vanessa was running through the forest. I could’ve sworn I’d sensed two white dragons in combat a while ago, she thought, they must’ve gone this way. Cold wind was blowing Vanessa’s hair backwards and her breathing was uneven from all that running, yet she still continued to run.
“I have a bad feeling about this.” Something had been bugging her about the northern woods. There had been a strange ache at the back of her mind as if telling her not to go any further. Vanessa could sense something dark here. It was hiding behind the trees, following her as she ran. Something was after her; the thing her mother had warned her about perhaps. She couldn’t be sure of anything right now. All she could do was ignore the ache in her mind and the fear in her heart, and head towards the spot where the two careless boys were combating.
“I wish I could slap both of them back to their senses but for that I’d have to catch up to them. They’ve gone way too deep inside; to the darker areas where the moonlight does not touch…” Vanessa thought a little about it but just then, something caught her eye. There was a tiny flash from the trees on her right and she stopped dead, right at the spot. The dagger went past her, in front of her eyes, just a few centimeters away from her face, and hit a tree on her left with a ‘thud’.
Vanessa gasped and turned slowly towards the trees at her right with shocked eyes. Somebody had just attempted an assassination; a kill and the victim had been no one other than Vanessa Aden, or whatever her real name was. Vanessa still couldn’t believe that somebody would want to kill her. There must have been a misunderstanding. It is dark here but this person had been following her for a while now and Vanessa had sensed its presence several times but had never really thought of doing something about it. Now she really wished she could run away without noticing anyone. She was scared but didn’t want to show it or else the enemies take it as a sign of weakness.
“Who are you? Show yourself.” Vanessa was surprise that her voice sounded more confident than she felt. There was a tiny sound of leaves crumpling and then, dead silence. The only sounds Vanessa could hear were the rushing of the wind, and her own heart pounding. Who was after her? Who wanted to kill her? She wasn’t even sure whether she was more frightened or more curious.
Suddenly, Vanessa sensed something, “he’s coming at me from behind,” she warned herself in a whisper and whirled around just in time to see another tiny flash and then the dagger was about to hit her.
“Come on out, Shang!” Brawley shouted. He was getting tired of waiting in the dark for the boy to appear or attack, “Where are you hiding coward?” He mocked but that didn’t change a thing. What was that Shang boy up to? And where was he hiding?
Just after a few more seconds of waiting, Brawley heard something move in the wind and then next thing he knew, he was tied to a tree by a rope. He tried to struggle out of it but it was too tight. “Man that boy’s fast… and he plays dirty too. That cheater… Wait till I get out of this, he’ll be sorry!”
“Oh but I don’t think you’ll ever get the chance…” Shang spoke from behind the tree Brawley was tied. There was something about his voice; about the way he spoke which sent goose bumps all over Brawley’s body. Shang’s voice seemed far away; like he was under a dark spell or something.
“What do you mean by that? I can get out of this easily…” Brawley tried to move his arms a little but they wouldn’t budge, he sighed, “It will take a while though…” He felt ashamed being tied up by his own rival so quick and easily that it surprised him. Sure Shang was a good fighter but Brawley had never seen him move this fast; ever. Something was wrong here, and although he wasn’t as good of a darkness sensor as his elder siblings, but he could still detect scent of evil here.
“I mean,” Shang was suddenly in front of Brawley. He was so fast, he would’ve made him jump if he weren’t tied so tightly, “that you’re not going to be able to get out of the rope in time before the fire reaches you…” again the mystic and far away voice. More goose bumps, “What fire?” Brawley had to ask. Shang suddenly lit a match and Brawley could see his eyes… they were of a pale color. Strange. And what was even stranger was that he wasn’t wearing his mask anymore. Brawley could see the pale face but somehow he had a feeling it hadn’t always been that pale. And the eyes that looked at him were… so unseeing…
“What’re you trying to do? Start a forest fire? You do know that’s dangerous. It could kill somebody.” Brawley was saying but Shang spoke as if he’d heard nothing.
“And once you’re out of the way, I can get one step closer to killing that black dragon owner… Vanessa, wasn’t it?” He seemed to be talking to himself and had no idea how it infuriated Brawley. Brawley had always been good at controlling his anger but when somebody talked like an idiot about killing other people and he was helpless to stop that person, it made him mad.
“Look kid, you have no idea about what you’re getting yourself into–” Brawley started but it was already too late. Shang had dropped the matchstick and as burned, creating a circle around the tree he was tied, Brawley realized that there must have been oil spilled there. That’s why Shang had stayed hidden and taking so long to commence with his plan; it was because he had been waiting for him to stand at the right spot, inside the oil circle.
“Enjoy…” was all Shang said before disappearing.
“Wait! You can’t just–” But Shang was already gone.
Vanessa jumped to one side and fell on the ground. She had moved just in time for the dagger to pass by her. She sighed with relief as she sat up and frowned at the dark figure standing in front of her.
“Who are you?” This time when Vanessa spoke, she was mad instead of frightened. How dare anyone try to hurt me, she thought, and to try to kill me…I will not allow this.
“You’re fast… I thought you might go down with the first one but you seem well aware of where I am… Gale might have been right about you then… If the protection spell has faded off you, then your senses are sharper than ever before… I should’ve thought of that before.” It was a boy’s voice; not much older than she was but to think that someone so young could throw a dagger in the dark with such accuracy and strength, it was almost scary.
Vanessa just glared at him while standing up. She didn’t have time for this. Brawley and Shang had been fighting for a while now and things could have gotten serious between them. She had to know where they were. They had gotten so far into the forest that even her expanded senses couldn’t pick up their trace.
Vanessa hadn’t realized she was losing her focus by letting her mind wander elsewhere. The kid had thrown two daggers this time and Vanessa tried to jump back but the tree hit her spine and she knew she was trapped. With both daggers coming towards her she had nowhere to go.
“I was supposed to be asleep… what am I doing here in the middle of the night. I don’t even have a class today at the academy… I don’t remember coming here… Had I been sleep walking?” Shang asked himself, wondering how he’d ended up sitting on top of a branch of one of the tallest trees deep inside the northern woods, “And its midnight,” he complained drowsily as though he really had woken up from a deep sleep. Shang looked around blankly, trying to recognize the area but it was too dark where he was looking.
Suddenly, he turned around and that’s when he saw. It was a forest fire. It was so huge but who had started it? Shang wondered. He climbed down in an instant and ran towards it. Somehow, even in this thick smoke, Shang could sense someone breathing here.
“Hey!” Shang called but that person seemed too exhausted to reply, “Where are you! I can’t really tell in all this smoke… my senses are limited here.” Shang tried walking through the smoke but he knew it was no use so he tried something else. He thought of using his dragon to cool down the fire. His dragon did have the element water and besides, the person inside the fire would be too tired to notice what is going on around him. “So it’s safe I guess…” Then Shang stood completely still and closed his eyes. He concentrated on thinking about water as he summoned his dragon.
It always felt warm whenever he summoned his dragon; like heat being released from his body. Shang didn’t fully summon his dragon, though. It seemed too risky so he just released a fraction of its power to flow through the fire and extinguish it.
It felt cool after the fire had died down and all the smoke was gone too. Complete silence took over. Shang could now freely sense the direction where the breathing human being was. He ran towards him and in the dark, he couldn’t see the guy’s face but it looked like someone about his own age.
“Hey…” But when Shang tried to pull him away from the tree, he realized that the guy was stuck. “He’s tied up. I wonder who did this to him. Somebody must’ve tried to trap him.” Shang said as he cut the rope with his pocket knife he always carried for situations such as this. The instant all the ropes were cut, the person’s body just fell to the ground limply.
“Oh no. This isn’t good,” the person was barely breathing. Shang knew this was a very critical situation, “I have to take him to a hospital but… it’s too far away. I know. I’ll take him to my house. At least that’s one place I can easily teleport while carrying something with me.” And after making up his mind, he took hold of the person’s hand and the next second, there was fire around them, and after that, both of them disappeared.
A blue flamed hurricane started and ended right after countering the two daggers that were heading straight for Vanessa. She was inside the hurricane, under its protection and she had no idea how she’d been able to do that. She had surprised not only herself but also the one who had attacked her with the daggers in the first place. He just stood there frozen; shocked by the power displayed before him.
And then there was a smile on his face which of course Vanessa couldn’t see since she was still inside the hurricane and it was too dark to see anything. The hurricane finally ended and the moment it did, Vanessa jumped instinctively before realizing why she had done it. It was a long rod which hit the tree behind her. The same boy held it from one end. So he’s finally come down to this, Vanessa wondered.
The boy swung it at her, aiming for her head but she ducked. A few more swings but Vanessa kept dodging them and even did a back flip. The boy smiled again and this time, the rod started glowing red. It was radiating a lot of heat. Uh oh, Vanessa thought as she backed away slowly. Then she jumped onto a tree branch but she’d already guessed it was useless because this time when the boy attacked, he hit the whole tree!
The rod sliced through the whole tree trunk sending it falling down. Vanessa jumped at the right time to land on solid ground.
What had she gotten herself into and how was she to get out of this? It was frightening to even think about.
“You’re good…But is that all you’re good at? Blocking or mostly dodging all of my attacks? Don’t you know how to attack?” The boy mocked and then laughed an evil laugh which made Vanessa feel a little bit uneasy. Sure she should feel that way because the boy was with Gale; he must be as much evil as his master but… what worried her was that through her expanded senses, she could sense something wrong with the boy. She could somewhat sense his mind and it all felt jumbled up; like nothing fit there… nothing belonged there.
Vanessa didn’t know why she felt that but she just did and now she was going to end it. This guy wants to get beat up, then that’s what he’s going to get, she thought as she braced herself when the boy came at her with the rod gripped tightly in his hand, ready to swing it at her but it never happened.
Vanessa was about to give him the punch of his life when suddenly, he tripped while running and that was when Vanessa felt his mind. She felt all traces of evil departure at once. She didn’t know what was going on or why evil was leaving his mind but she had a faint clue. The very next second, Vanessa got out of the way and the rod slipped from the boy’s hand as he fell. The rod hit Vanessa, catching her off guard. She hadn’t been looking in that direction and now she was falling too.
The rod had hit her pretty hard and bounced off the same place she was about to fall. That’s when Vanessa rolled down the rough hill. It was full of tiny bushes which scratched her arms and legs but she was lucky not to hit any rock or stone in the way. The whole fall took only seconds before she was still on a level ground, after bumping into a tree.
“Ow… that hurt… pretty……bad…” Vanessa whispered to herself as she sat up, trying to stop her head from spinning. She moved her arms up and down to check whether they were functioning alright. Then she clenched and unclenched her hands; it hurt a little but other than that, she was alright. Vanessa tilted her head towards her left, then towards her right. Her eyes focused on something long and thin in the dark as she squinted. She got up and went a little closer to it; just to get a better look, and realized that it was the same rod which the boy had used. It had cooled down the minute he’d let go of her.
“That is why luckily I didn’t get burned by it…” Vanessa said as she looked around, “There’s no sign of that boy… he must have fled.”
She thought for a second and then suddenly it struck her, “Oh yeah! I just remembered! I have to find Brawley and Shang before they actually hurt themselves…” Vanessa waited for a few seconds before realizing that the two were no longer in the forest since she couldn’t sense even the tiniest of their presence. “Now what?” She said and sat down on her knees. She was still thinking with her head bent towards the ground a bit.
Then an idea came into her head. Vanessa got up slowly and spoke once, “This is a little risky… if I don’t do it right, I might end up somewhere else.” Then she closed her eyes and concentrated. She thought about Shang, picturing him easily inside her head. Then, the next second, there were flames all around her and they disappeared, taking Vanessa along with them.
Shang reappeared inside his house; in the living room where he could sense his father’s presence. There was light in the room and he could now see the person’s face; the one he’d saved from the fire, but when he looked down, he was shocked. Shang backed away from the unconscious boy.
“What’s wrong, Shang?” It was his father’s voice, the headmaster of the night academy. Shang turned around to face him. His eyes were wide with shock and fear; as though he’d done something frighteningly wrong.
“Dad… that-that boy over there…” Shang stuttered.
“What about him?” His father asked gently.
Shang explained everything about how he was asleep in his bed and the next thing he knew he was on top of a tree branch in a forest. He told his father about the forest fire and how he’d found this boy tied up with rope.
“So you don’t remember anything about walking out this door?” Shang’s father asked.
“No… I don’t… should I?” Shang sounded confused.
“Well at least you know that Brawley doesn’t know where he is. He wakes up and he’ll know all about you…” His father nodded towards the couch he’d laid Brawley.
“At least Vanessa isn’t here. If he saw her, he’d know everything.” And just when Shang said that, someone appeared out of cold flames from behind him and fell on him. They both landed on the floor. Shang’s father just sighed while shaking his head.
