Black Eyes Chapter 3: Genesis of the Exodus

Lex woke early the next morning though he had had quite a night. “That’s right!” the boy exclaimed, jumping off his bed with much exuberance. “Come on! Come on! Get up! Get up! Get up!” the lively boy ranted, running to and from Kyle’s and Clover’s beds, shaking them vigorously, already getting on Kyle’s nerves. Clover sleepily sat up, still under her cream-coloured covers, her eyes still quite not opened yet. “Come on! Rise and shine! It’s a beautiful day!” the boy continued, almost tilting Kyle’s bed right over.

“What in the name of—”

“What’s going on, Lex?” Clover finally asked.

“Today I’m twelve!” the boy finally announced, his secret countdown finally ending.

“What?! It’s your birthday!?” Clover jumped out of bed quickly and ran and hugged him, then released him abruptly, even pushing him off. “You didn’t tell me! I can’t believe you turn twelve before I turn eleven! Our birthdays are closer than you think you know!”

“Yeah, only a few years apart,” the cynical, apathetic voice of Kyle came in as he finally sat up and stretched and yawned and sighed. “Well, happy birthday, kid- before you know it, you’ll be as old as I used to be.”

“Come on, let’s get grandpa!” the now giddy girl recommended, dashing past Lex out of the room.

“Ugh! Come on, keep it down, it’s the middle of the night!” Kyle snarled, going back under the covers.

“Such a lamer!” Lex said, and ran after Clover to get old man Ben. He stopped his running and calmed himself, realizing that the room was quiet and still. The door was ajar. He pushed it slowly, walking in softly. A sudden strong wind whipped the air, and the long painting shifted for a moment, and Lex saw the little keyhole behind it. He gasped, and his eyes grew wide and his heart sped up. “It wasn’t a dream,” he whispered to himself, suddenly noticing little things that confirmed the strange event of last night, though the old man had obviously did some cleaning up, but he couldn’t undo everything, like cracks in the wall that Clover didn’t seem to notice. He grabbed on to his belly, remember the awful thing that had went inside of him. He suddenly felt much heavier.

He noticed that Clover was kneeling at Bengushi’s bedside, staring without blinking for quite some time. He saw tears well up in her eyes and move down her face rapidly, but she said nothing, and her stare, her pale expression became an increasingly scary picture. “No…” Lex whispered to himself, walking up to Clover and the unmoving, sleeping man. He gently and nervously rested his shaking hand on the old man’s chest, but it was still. He moved it up to under the man’s nostrils, and there was nothing. “This can’t be,” Lex told himself unconvincingly. Clover’s weeping had just begun, as the reality had struck her with a deadly suddenness.

“No! Grandpa! Wake up!” she cried, shaking him with the little strength she had, breathing heavily. Lex grabbed her quickly and pulled her from the lying man, hugging her tightly. The crying girl held on to Lex, squeezing him, already soaking his shirt with her tears. Then she pushed him off forcefully, running out of the deathly room. Lex just stood there staring down at the dead man in disbelief.

“Kyle! Brother! Get up! Get up!” the girl blasted, hitting him fiercely. The frightened boy jumped out of his bed, staring at his crying sister in confusion and sudden panic.

“What the hell’s the matter with you?!” he asked with an unusually shaky voice.

“Grandpa! He’s not waking up!” the girl cried. Kyle’s face grew pale and his body grew tense, and then heavy, then numb. He looked at his sister’s face, and he knew she wasn’t joking around. He pushed her out of the way with sudden movement, quickly moving through the door and entering Ben’s room. Kyle grabbed the man like he was about to fight with him. He had already noticed that he wasn’t breathing.

“Bengushi! Grandfather! Get up!” he yelled, shaking him roughly, but the lifeless body could not move more than Kyle could force it to. “You can’t die now, old man!” the boy raved, his teeth clenched, tears crawling down from his wide eyes. “You’re all we have…” he cried, kneeling and resting his forehead on his grandfather’s chest. “… Foolish old man,” the boy cried, grabbing the damped shirt, a thick tone of rue and sorrow in his voice. Kyle wiped his tears in his grandfather’s shirt, then stood up and turned, looking at Lex with a fierce sternness on his face. His eyes were still glistening, but no more tears were running down his face. “Lex, take care of my sister ‘til I return. I’m going to the village chief,” Kyle told him in a voice Lex wouldn’t think of disobeying. The boy walked past Lex, grabbing his grandfather’s brown coat that hung from a rusty nail, flinging it over his back as he left the room.

Lex left the old man’s room and went to where Clover was. She was kneeling at her bedside sobbing. Lex knelt with her and put his arm around her. She rested her head on his shoulder. “So… When’s your birthday?” Lex asked, trying to distract her from the tragedy. Her crying calmed a bit.

“Too weeks from now… I’m sorry yours turned out like this.”

“Yeah, me too… We’ll be alright, you know… Once we’re the three of us, we won’t have much to worry about.”

“Grandpa is gone, Lex,” Clover whispered. Her voice was almost completely gone.

“But we’re still here…We have to make him proud now and put all that he had taught us to good use… The only way to keep him alive in some sense is to do his biddings.”

“… I’m glad you’re here, Lex,” the girl said softly, her voice a little muffled from all her crying. She looked over at him, and smiled a little, but enough that made Lex smile back at least slightly.

“We’re leaving,” Kyle’s imposing voice entered. Lex got up, helping the still faint Clover to stand. “Village officials will soon be here. They will take care of grandfather. If we’re here when they arrive, heaven knows what they’ll try to do with us. Pack your things. We’re leaving the village immediately.”

“We’re running away?” Clover asked, wiping tears from her face.

“…No, we’re pursuing the mission grandfather left us, his legacy— it’s all we have left of him.” It struck Clover how similar her brother sounded to Lex. “We will begin our journeys, and become strong, and until Trium returns, we will defend whatever good we can while staying alive.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” Lex agreed. Clover offered a slight nod of approval.

After thorough searching, Kyle found a little brown bag with stashed away gold coins in one of Bengushi’s drawers. Never before had he held so much money in his hands – it was quite weighty. He stuffed the bad deep down in the pale blue knapsack he carried, along with his best clothes. He carefully rolled up as many of Ben’s scrolls as he could fit in a roll and stuffed them in an old casing Ben had made decades ago. He tossed the bundle to Lex. He had no interest in reading them himself, but he knew Ben would never want such rare treasures to be left behind at the mercy of the ignorant villagers. The boy flung the tight golden-brown strap of his scabbard over himself, and his sword lay comfortably across his back, the handle jutting over his right shoulder. Clover too had packed her bag with her favourite clothes and shoes. She’d also ransacked the house for the best and most durable food she could find. Lex noticed Kyle inspecting his strange-looking clothes— pale blue jeans pants and white shirt. “Don’t fret, there’s enough for us here,” he said, patting his load. Lex nodded, smiling, wondering how he would look in Kyle’s ancient-looking apparel, which would certainly swallow him up. “And we’re out,” Kyle said.

***

Silver Town, capital of Metal City, was, on Kyle’s call, the first checkpoint. Kyle claimed he remembered the route from ‘many’ years aback when Ben had taken him and his sister to a business trip into the town. Yakima Village, the calmest place they would probably ever come across, was two already hours behind them. As Kyle led the little group, the scenes slowly transitioned from a deep rural, almost woodland setting to slight semi-urbanization. They were on a defined road, though it wasn’t paved, and houses were on either sides of it, not very clustered, but much less distanced apart than the ones in Yakima Village. People were walking to and fro, and little clusters of playing children became a common sight. With crawling brows, Kyle took out the old torn-up map and looked at it again, turning it to read it from every possible angle.

“Where y’all youngsters head’d?” a kind-faced gentleman questioned before he could reach for his compass, walking toward them with the aid of his varnished stick.

“Silver Town, Metal City,” Kyle answered, coming to a halt at the elderly man. Lex and Clover stopped behind him, panting and sweating in exhaustion.

“So you plan to walk the whole way with all that load?” the man asked, making the idea sound even more ridiculous than it actually was.

“Well, if it’s the only way to--”

“Well it aint! For a tiny fee I could take you ‘cross that dread’l road.”

“You have horses?” Kyle asked.

“Better! A chariot fit for a princess!” the man advertised, eyeing Clover with a slight wink. The girl’s eyes lit up. She had never ridden in a chariot before. She had ridden a horse once, and that was too far back for her to remember vividly.

“How much we talkin’ here?” Kyle asked, hoping bargaining with the man’s offer would make him a great deal.

“You’re only kids so ten gold coins should do it. Twelve is the—”

“Make it eight, then!” Kyle countered. Kyle dug deep in his satchel and brandished eight of the fourteen gold coins he had tucked away. The old man’s eyes lit up, and his heart raced in excitement. “I’ll pay when we get there.”

“Oh, good! Good! Come! Foll’ me! I am Rich… ard… at your service!” the man caught himself, lowering his raised fist of joy into a steady handshake. He shook each of their hands very sturdily, with a wide smile he tried to tame even slightly.

A moment later, brown, thirsty horses dragged the three weary travellers along the dusty road to Silver Town. Lex and Clover peered through the windows with kiddish excitement, laughing uncontrollably whenever the carriage would make an occasionally hard bump, flinging them up wildly. Kyle’s mind was set on far less trivial things though. He was contemplating what he would do on reaching Silver Town. After a while, the chariot reached on a paved roadway, and the thrilling bouncing had stopped. The three ate bread and jam from the food they carried, feeding even the merry carrier. It was well into evening; the sun had cooled down and the tense midday heat had subsided, leaving behind a refreshing breeze that they couldn’t get enough of. There was yawning and there were tired sighs. Kyle, his head on the carpeted carriage wall, quickly dozed away. Clover moved over to the other side of the carriage, where the boys were, sitting between Kyle and Lex. She rested her head on her brother’s shoulder, already easing her tiredness. Lex rested his head on Clover’s lap. She made a slight, weary giggle, quickly drifting into sleep.

***

Lex was enjoying very pleasant dreams, rubbing Clover’s thighs in his sleep, gripping them at sporadic intervals, drooling on her lap. It was probably the most blissful rest he had ever gotten, then suddenly, he woke, forgetting his dreams instantly as usual. “Finally, you’re awake,” he heard a woman’s voice. He got up quickly, looking down at the strange small bed he was lying on, with light-blue sheets. While looking at the woman before him, he saw a number of beds like the one he was on, neatly lined up in the room, but they were empty. “Hello, Lex. My name is Zoe,” the woman greeted him, her friendly tone and smile having a strange fakery about them. “I am a nurse.” He somehow just noticed her unmistakable uniform. “You’re in a hospital, Lex,” the woman told him.

“I can see that,” the boy replied, a very slight but audible tone of annoyance in his voice as he tried to sort things through in his head. “How long…How long have I been asleep?”

“You’ve been asleep from three Sundays ago!” the nurse informed him, looking like she could hardly believe it herself. “Your heartbeat and breathing were perfect, but no matter what we did, you just wouldn’t wake up!” Lex’s face wrinkled itself in thought. He wondered if he could really have been sleeping for that incredible length of time.

“My mother! Where’s my mother?!” the boy asked.

“I’ll go get her,” the woman replied calmly, and slowly walked from the bedside toward the massive transparent double-doors.

“No…” Lex told himself. He felt a heavy sleepiness overtaking him, which he was certain was a dangerous feeling, like he was being pulled away into a dark vacuum. He heard the footsteps of his mother, and somehow recognized them instantly. “Dammit!” the boy muttered, his body being pulled back toward the bed by a strange force. His efforts to keep his eyes open seemed not to be nearly enough. His vision grew dim, and he saw a figure through the glass doors approaching.He was even sure he saw a hand reach the door and begin to push on it. Finally, the strange eerie sleepiness overcame him, and he uttered a sigh, falling asleep on the small bed.

***

Lex opened his eyes suddenly again. He rose out of Clover’s lap with a speedy heartbeat. “Mother,” he found himself whispering. He looked across at his sleeping companions, then looked down at Clover’s lap. It was all wet. I drooled that much? He sighed, annoyed with himself. He had just noticed that the chariot wasn’t moving, and that his face felt too damp and heavy for drooling alone to be blamed. He knew by then that he had been crying in his sleep, and wiped the tears from his face, and rubbed his eyes. He looked outside up at the black sky. The moon was covered by dark-grey clouds. He turned his attention to the door as they were opened. He looked down at the carrier.

“Thought you were all asleep back here,” he greeted.

“Well, I was, but… What time is it?”

“It might soon be the first hour of the day.”

“Where are we?”

“Thirty miles from where we’re headed. Just done rest’n the horses and giv’n them a drink.”

“When will we reach the city?”

“Well… I won’t get my horses movin’ too fast this hour o’ th’ night, but you should be there by early morn’n.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lex said, trying to end the conversation.

“Well, we’ll be on’r way, then,” the man said, and quickly walked around to the horses.

The carriage moved rather slowly and smoothly compared to how it was bumping and speeding during the day. Lex sat up for an hour, maybe two, thinking about his mother, then he dozed off on Clover’s shoulder, not dreaming of anything. When his eyes were open again, it was already daybreak, and his friends were still asleep. “Kyle… Clover! Kyle!” After some shaking, the tired souls finally woke.

“Are we there yet?” Clover asked drowsily.

“That’s right, fellas!” Richard shouted, waking them to full consciousness, giving them a hand out of the carriage. Clover jumped out gleefully, leaving behind her portion of the load, stretching and spinning around in the warm rays of morning sun. Lex grabbed her stuff and his and headed out. Kyle walked out slowly, yawning and taking out the bag of coins. Richard grinned as Kyle paid him the promised amount. Richard shook his hand firmly.

“I do hope to do more business with you,” he said, grinning. Richard, maybe fearing that the morning sun would somehow bring Kyle to the sense that he was grossly overcharged, jumped in his horse and sped off into the distance.

The three turned and stared at the huge metal city gates. About a dozen guards were lurking around there. Two of them had already made their way up to the three pilgrims. “And what business do you children have in my city?” the fatter of the two overweight men asked with a rough, hairy voice. He was in a full khaki suit that looked quite natty on the other guards, but his was distractingly untidy. “Planning to run off, eh?” he presumed, “Well I have some bad n—”

“We’re just passing through,” Kyle interrupted, the guard’s voice irritating him.

“Mhm now? And where’re you head’n?”

“Magma Town.”

The guard made a hiss, then started laughing. The slightly less obese guard joined in the laugher, further getting on Kyle’s nerves. “Hey roaches, these kids are heading through to the big city, Magma Town!” the first guard shouted back, obviously in a tone of jeer. A few more of the guards walked up to the three, looking curious.

“Hey, whacha got here, kid?!” one of the lanky guards with sleek tight trousers grabbed at Kyle’s scabbard. He jumped back quickly, uncasing his sword in aggravation, pointing it at the handful of guards again. The standing guards drew their swords quickly, instantly surrounding the kids, wily and menacing looks on their faces. The remaining guards at the gate just sat there watching keenly. Kyle looked around at them in confusion and panic.

“Listen, kid, if you wish to live through this grave mistake of yours, hand over your weapon,” one of the more serious-looking men warned.

Lex quickly assumed the stance that his master had taught him, forming that hollow space between his palms. In just a moment, ice energy sped through his veins, and the thick, cold mist began to gather in his hands. “Look!” One of them exclaimed in warning, slowly backing away from Lex and the others. The slowly retreating guards stared at Lex in astonishment. By now, a well-dense iceball was formed in the boy’s palms.

“You idiots!” One of the guards from back at the gates broke the silence of awe and wonder, “You stand in awe at a bit of juvenile magic?!” The man stood, and three others stood with him, and there was no look of fear or wonder in their eyes. One of the just now rising men dashed at Lex, swinging his sword at him without mercy. Lex raised his right hand at the incoming blade in reflex and fear, and the sword clashed into the orb of ice energy Lex was now holding in his right hand. Instantly, thick ice ran its way along the length of the sword, soon grabbing the guard’s grasping hand. It moved quickly along its victim, and like a hungry parasite, had completely encased the man. Thick, solid ice had coated his entire body. The ice ball was gone from his hand, and the boy, almost as frightened as the watching guards, stared at the frozen lawman.

One of the shaking guards dropped his sword in fright. Clover looked about, and the pathetic look of fear and desperation on the men’s faces was all she needed to get her going. “Y’all wanna see some real magic?!” she blasted in a swaggering tone, a devious grin on her face.

“The girl! Her hands! They’re glowing!” the fat guard cried, toppling over as he stumbled against one of his peers. The guards stepped back until they were upon the gates. Kyle, Lex and Clover walked past the frozen swinger with poise and confidence, Kyle holding his sword firmly, Clover sporting mana, and Lex condensing another icy mist. The guards, almost in complete unison, dropped their swords and raised their hands up high in defeat. The pungent scent of urine drew everyone’s eyes (and noses) to the fat guard. His pants were dripping wet. One of the guards could barely stifle his snickering.

The three wanderers roamed though the busy city. To the surprise of Clover and Lex, the buildings there were not made of metal; as a matter of fact, for such a named place, there were hardly any metallic structures at all. The city crowd seemed to grow denser as they progressed aimlessly. They’d never before seen so much people packed in one place. Kyle dragged the whining, almost crying girl by her arm so she wouldn’t get lost in the crowd. Lex lagged behind, struggling to keep up with them. “Where the hell are we going?!” Clover enquired, shouting over the noise of the busy street. The place was just chaotic. People were everywhere walking in every direction. Vendors of all sorts walked about, shouting in advertisement. There were buildings of all sorts; the plazas and shops were very many, and it was clear that they were in a commercial area, as there were no houses around.

“Just follow!” Kyle declared, leading them through streets, where the crowd seemed to grow less and less dense, till the sweaty heat and chaos seemed to be behind them.

“We’re still in the capital, but here’s much calmer,” Kyle said, “we seem to be entering a housing scheme – there might just be a grand swordmaster here I can pay to teach me some real advanced—”

“What?! It’d be more useful if we found a witch instead!” Clover argued.

“Or an Icemaker!” They walked through the community – the road was paved and the houses were spaced at regular distances; they were all white and fancy-looking, but not bigger than the house they left back at Yakima village. Clover gazed about, admiring the yards and picket fences and flower gardens.

“Wow, this place sure is grand!” she finally gave out, but Kyle wasn’t feeling as easy as she was. He felt edgy, seeing people looking at them with strange expressions, even peeping through windows.

“So are we just gonna walk about all day? Shouldn’t we be asking around for—”

“Children!” A call came from behind them, interrupting Lex. They turned around, seeing an aged woman with fluffy white hair and notably white teeth briskly walk out from her veranda. She was pretty, but definitely not youthful.

“G’day, ma’am,” Kyle greeted her as they walked up to her on her front yard. She seemed to be interested in Clover in particular, looking at her in a rather critical manner, like she was inspecting her.

“Ah, yes, goodday, goodday,” she replied apathetically, her eyes still fixed on Clover.

“Well what is it?!” Clover finally asked, feeling quite uncomfortable and awkward. The woman laughed insincerely,

“Oh nothing! You three look hungry!” she pointed out, finally looking closely at all of them, “Would you spare a moment at an old woman’s house?” she invited, smiling, but Kyle was certain that something wasn’t quite right about her. They looked at each other and nodded in agreement.

“Many thanks, miss,” Kyle accepted, and she led them inside.

As they entered the exquisite house, they awed at the beauty around. The place was in perfectly fine order, and expensive figurines and paintings lined the walls and shelves. Sweet smells of caramel, freshly brewed coffee, toast and hot butter lit the air. “Hungry?” the woman asked.

“Very!” Lex answered quickly.

“Good! Come, come, all of you!” she invited, sounding excited. She led them through stylish peach drapes and a curtain of brown beads. “Take your seats,” she told them, and they sat at the elegant, well-set table before them. The woman them went through another curtain of beads into the kitchen. “Just a minute, dears!” she bade them.

“Wow, I’m definitely a fan of hers!” Lex whispered excitedly. Kyle and Clover looked at each other with similar expressions of mistrust and scepticism.

“There’s something strange about her,” Clover whispered to her brother. The woman burst through the bead curtain, two plates in her hands. She rested them on the table, returning quickly for a third, resting it with the others. Then, she took for them mugs of boiling-hot coffee. In the plates were fluffy loaves of freshly baked bread, and what looked like minced chicken.

“Sweet! Thank you!” Lex expressed his gratitude, not hesitating to start on the delicious meal. Kyle soon followed, then Clover, being hungrier than she was sceptical, began eating as well. The three crowded plates of food vanished quickly from before the hungry visitors, and the mugs of hot coffee were emptied. They leaned back in their chairs, unable to rise – they had never been so full since had they left the village.

The kind lady asked them to stay a while longer, and cleared the table for them. Again, she was looking at Clover in a strange way, making her fidget uneasily. The woman’s eyes flashed to and from Clover and Kyle, then she looked at Lex, then at Kyle, then at Clover again. “You two, brother and sister, right?” she asked, pointing at Clover and Kyle.

“How’d you guess?” Clover asked, sounding impressed, “Don’t tell me we look alike!”

Kyle hissed and laughed a little. The woman laughed as well, and Lex. “No, not really,” she answered. “And you?” she asked, pointing at Lex. Suddenly, he felt a sense of exclusion he had never before felt around the siblings.

“Long-time friend,” Clover answered, “grew up together.” Lex smiled. The old woman seemed to disbelieve Clover, but said nothing of it.

“And your names?” the woman questioned.

“My name’s Clover. My brother’s name’s Kyle, and our friend’s Lex.” In everything, the woman seemed to be having a fight in keeping her attention from being fixed on Clover.

“Do you know what you are, child?” the woman finally asked Clover. The siblings exchanged glances. “What do you mean? Am I not a girl?”

“Oh, you’re much more than that!” the woman sprang up, her excitement seeping out in her expression.

“What am I, then?” the girl asked nervously, glancing at Lex and Kyle, wondering if the old woman could have possibly known that she was a witch.

“How old are you, my dear?”

“Ten.” The woman’s eyes widened, then she smiled like she had found a pot of gold. Hurriedly, the woman grabbed the chair opposite to Clover and sat on it. She looked deep into Clover’s eyes, frightening her.

“Are you sure you are just a girl?” she insisted.

“… I am a witch,” the girl finally conceded. Kyle flashed a sharp glance at her. She spoke it with a pride that the woman sensed and understood. Clover realized that the woman had somehow known, and was trying to figure whether she herself knew what she was.

The woman’s grin widened until she appeared mad. “You are ten… My spirit started to render mana at age twelve,” the woman told Clover in a low, almost secretive voice. Clover’s eyes widened, and she jumped up gladly.

“You’re a–-” The woman grabbed Clover quickly and covered her mouth, stifling the incoming word.

“Sit down now, sit down, and quiet down!” The old woman looked stern now, even worried, but traces of excitement could still be seen on her face and on her fidgeting hands. “Firstly,” the woman said, drawing nearer to Clover and keeping her voice down, “being a witch isn’t something you go around boasting about. Being a witch or a warlock makes you into a target!”

“What do you mean?” Kyle asked, obvious concern and even worry on his face.

“It’s not exactly… legal… At least not here. There are societies out there that make it their duty to get rid of us… Prevalent in these parts is what’s known as witch hunting.” The old woman expressed the danger and menace of what she was warning about with distinct facial expressions, like she was telling a ghost story around a children’s camp fire. Clover’s heart raced as she imagined barbaric men chasing her down with battle-axes and machetes.

“Anyway!” the old lady continued, her tone suddenly changing from the scary warning tone to the excited, even giddy personality. “You, Clover, are a rather peculiar witch.”

“What do you mean?”

“When and how did you discover your powers?”

“Just days ago… My grandfather, Charles Bengushi, after years of training me, it finally happened! My hands began glowing…” The woman suddenly looked frightened.

“Charles?... Bengushi?” she asked, as if the name had great meaning to her.

“You knew him?” Clover asked. Her cheeks reddened just a little, but enough, and strangely, her puffy hair turned pink as well. Lex jumped back in fright, almost toppling from his chair. Kyle just stared with wide eyes and a wrinkling face. Clover giggled. This strange occurrence seemed not to have frightened her at all.

“Charles Bengushi…” the woman called his name with a kind of reverence and esteem as her mind travelled decades into the past. “We were friends back in our day… close friends,” she said, being quite suggestive with her facial expressions, which seemed as alive as Ben’s were when he was excited about anything.

“Wow! Really?!” the fascinated Clover squeaked.

“Yeah… Many many years ago…” she tilted her head up a few degrees, peering into a pleasant past she would have given anything to relive. “There was one thing about him, though… He was always obsessed with this prophecy… about Trium, this powerful force of darkness, who would return to attack the earth, and this boy…” She looked down at the smiling Lex, staring at him in deep thought, “… a boy who would use the power of the ‘seventh spirit’ and stand against Trium with his unbending friends by his side.” Suddenly, she seemed to become very interested in Lex. Clover growled, instantly jealous of her new fascination with Lex.

“You’re not just an average boy are you?”

“I am an Icemaker,” the boy answered proudly.

“Hmmm…” Somehow, she didn’t seem very impressed, and this puzzled Lex. He remembered how excited and proud Bengushi was to discover that the boy in the prophecy is an Icemaker, and he remembered how petrified his power made the guards at the city gates not long ago. “An Icemaker saving the world? Impossible,” the woman declared in a forthright, matter-of-fact tone of voice, like she didn’t even have to give thought to it.

“What?!” Lex stood up firmly, ready to defend his position of might with a demonstration.

“Yes, you might see yourself as powerful now, little boy, because you haven’t seen anything yet! Icemakers are ranked amongst the lowest of super humans. Sorcerers, on the other hand, are easily in the top tier!” Clover’s eyes glistened, and Lex’s dimmed. If Charles was in any way correct about a child saving the world, it would have to be this girl!” Clover grinned with a new esteem of pride and self.

“Clover, the rate at which a sorcerer becomes more powerful, even the maximum potential power they possess is directly linked to how early they start to generate their own mana. The average ages are sixteen to probably eighteen… I started out at age twelve, and was extremely powerful by the time I was sixteen, even hunted down, as the state of Magma Town saw me as a threat to national security.” The listeners marvelled at this, Kyle being sceptical. “You, Clover Bengushi… are only ten years old…” Clover stared in her mind, her thoughts running wild. She was just beginning to see her own potential.

“The woman who is said to be the most powerful witch on the continent is the wife of King Aragan, and rumours have it she started to generate her mana at age eleven.” There was a bit of thoughtful silence. Certainly, everyone was bright enough to do the math.

“Could you teach me?! Please, please, please! I beg you!” Clover clasped her hands and bowed before the woman, finding a new fiery passion to unlock her potential.

“Alright, alright! I’ll show you a thing or two!” Clover’s face lit up in indescribable excitement.

“First up, a little bit of theory! Mana… Well, simply put it’s just magical energy, magic in its rawest state. What makes you a witch is the fact that your sprit produces this rare energy. Well, mana production usually begins in the teenage years as I said, but you are clearly not an ordinary witch. Now, there are various levels of sorcery – each coupled with a different grade of mana.” She held her right palm out over the table so the viewers could see clearly. A faint yellow enveloped it. They watched keenly. “Grade one mana – this is the weakest level and is almost useless. The pale yellow then phased into a rich, thick gold colour. “Second grade mana… it can manage a few simple tricks, but nothing fancy.” Then, the mana took on a green that was well familiar to Clover and her friends. “Real power begins here,” the woman declared, smiling a little. Lex turned his stare to Clover for a moment. There was a look of confusion on her face. “Moderately powerful spells can be used, and the basic combat commands are unlocked. Third grade mana is a milestone in a sorcerer’s life. It’s attained after say… nine, ten years of training if you work hard enough.” Kyle stared at the wide-eyed, gasping Clover. She slowly brandished her hand, and in seconds, green mana, resembling that of the old witch’s, surrounded it.

The old woman stared at the girl in disbelief, even shaking. Clover looked up from her glowing hand, smiling at the woman. “Impossible,” the veteran said under her breath, “it took me seven years…”

“I’m guessing Clover’s a fast learner,” Lex broke the silence of wows, laughing a little.

Truly implausible,” the woman said to herself, still finding it difficult to believe that Clover was already wielding third grade mana.

“Tell me more! The other stages!” the interested girl reminded.

“Right,” the woman snapped, and fired up the same hand with a bright, flaring blue mana. Clover’s eyes lit up. It was so bright, they could hardly look at it directly. “Grade four mana, fourth grade sorcery – reached after around twenty years of training usually.”

“That’s around two days for Clover, then,” Lex joked, patting her back, making her laugh proudly. Then, the witch’s hand turned red, and flared like an extremely bright fire.

“Fifth grade mana,” the woman introduced, a sound of particular pride and accomplishment in her voice, “this is where the girls and the women are separated. Almost any spell can be commanded into being with this high level of sorcery. This kind of power is quite a rarity.”

“Amazing,” Clover mused, knowing that one day she would be as powerful as this witch.

“Ha!” the woman rose from her seat abruptly, and grabbed the wrist of her glowing hand tightly. Veins wrinkled her face, and it was obvious she had her teeth clenched as she strained to demonstrate the next stage of mana. Her hair took on a red glow, and was lifted up, fluttering, as if in a great wind. The spectators got up and stepped back from her as the space around her grew tense, and the table and chairs began shaking. Her clothes fluttered, and her strain could be seen in her eyes. The redness of the mana grew darker and richer, until its colour changed to purple. The purple mana shone brightly, and Clover imagined how powerful it was. The woman began laughing like mad, a genuinely witchy laugh, and an evil-looking expression on her face. “Sixth grade mana! Only the very elite of sorcerers can attain this kind of power! This power took me sixty years to achieve, and it is the ultimate pride and glory of old age!”

With suddenness, the mana and tension in the air dispersed, and the woman sat, breathing heavily, the veins in her forehead and arms just settling. She took another deep breath, and laughed a little, like flexing such power gave her quite a thrill. “Wow! Sixty years?!” Clover blasted, sounding frightened.

“Sixty years,” the woman repeated proudly.

“Fear not, though! You’ll get there before you’re an old woman like me if you keep at it!” she encouraged.

“So, six stages of magic, huh?” Lex recapped.

“Well, not exactly… Legend has it there is a seventh stage of magic… Black Magic.”

“Legend, eh?” Kyle said, sounding quite sceptical already.

“Yes. Your grandfather must have told you about this. The stories tell that the sorcerers of ancient time were much more powerful than the ones today. Even so, only the elders and a few prodigies managed to master the seventh stage, and could use godlike powers to even distort time and resurrect the dead… Hahahaha!” Her burst of laughter frightened the intrigued listeners. “If there’s anyone who could possible unlock this kind of power, it is definitely you, Clover.”

“So what about us?!” Lex finally asked, “Can you… teach us anything too?”

“Don’t be ridiculous, Lex, she’s not a swordsman or an Icemaker.”

“He’s right,” the woman agreed, “I’m only a sorcerer… but that doesn’t mean I can’t teach you a thing or two,” she said, holding a finger up with a slight simper.

“But first!” she said, like she just remembered something gravely important, “Let me get to know you just a tat more… By the way, I doubt I mentioned my name – Herriot… Where’re you children headed?”

“Well, we’re searching around for teachers.” The woman’s face lit up with ideas.

“I suppose you’ll leave Clover with me and be on your way, then!” she said, then laughed, making it unclear as to whether she was joking. “So… You’re an Icemaker… What about you, Kyle?”

“…A swordsman,” he answered, not sounding too excited about it. He pulled his chair back from the table a bit.

“I see, I see,” she said, sounding like she pitied his misfortune.

“Don’t feel out of the place, though! Some of the greatest men in history were plain swordsmen like you’re aspiring to be! You’ll find a teacher in Magma Town or Hercule, no doubt.” Somehow, Kyle wasn’t as excited as before to find this teacher he was seeking. He took out his map and read it for Hercule, almost totally dismissing it quickly, as it was almost twice the distance away as Magma Town.

“And me?” Lex asked, anxious for an answer.

“Iceland…”

“So there are other Icemakers!” he confirmed excitedly.

“Maybe,” she replied, not sounding very hopeful, “and that continent is about as far from here as you can get!” She rose from the chair. “Excuse me for a minute!” She left hurriedly, and before the three could start chatting, quickly returned with a small ball-like object.

“What’s that?” the curious Clover asked, getting her head closer in inspection. It reminded Lex of the Zarium vessels he saw in his dream, and the one he saw in the black chest. It had the same colour, and had tiny inscriptions engraved on it. “This thing you’re looking at is called a subdimensional ball. It is rarer than flying pigs and can easily buy this city.”

“What does it do?!” Lex asked.

“What is it?!” the curious Kyle came in, rubbing his hands against its cold surface, made rutted by the tiny writings on it.

“Inside this ball is a subdimension,” the woman began.

“You mean a world?” Kyle asked, almost laughing.

“Yes – a world I created and customized myself.” The three became very puzzled at this, their faces not hiding their incomprehension.

“I don’t understand,” Lex said.

“It is made partly of Zarium and partly of Sapphire. In it is a world that doesn’t exist, a world that is not confined by principles of reality, like time and space. These things were created by the first generation of sorcerers after Lord Oga, and were made to accommodate timeless training to explore power limits.”

“So that’s how those sorcerers became so strong!” Clover theorized.

“Quite probably. According to how rare historians say that Zarium was, no more than a dozen could have been made though.It’s a real pity that I got my hands on this treasure only two years ago. I’ve spent a few hundred years in it, nevertheless, so I am sure that I am now at my strongest. Sixth grade mana is certainly my limit.”

“Incredible!” Clover blasted, imaging reaching her very limit in a only second of real time.

“Impossible,” Kyle muttered to himself.

Hundreds of years? Lex wondered.

“Get ready,” Herriot warned, and turned the top half of the little ball in her hand.The top lifted about a centimetre from the bottom half and a black mist diffused from it and formed a thin wall of blackness before them. “Come,” she told them, and walked toward the black portal. She went right through the near two-dimensional arch-shaped door, and was taken in by it.

“She disappeared!” Lex exclaimed in fright.

“What in world??” Kyle looked on, unsure of what to believe, of whether to believe his eyes.

“Let’s go!” Clover said, sounding excited, and ran through the black arch. Kyle and Lex looked at each other, then ran into the wall of shadow, the vortex to a strange world. The portal disappeared into a black mist.

***

A frightened Clover grabbed on to Lex, and Kyle uncased his sword quickly. Soon, they were standing back to back to back, facing three primary directions, slowly alternating, each trying to get a wholesome view of the strange place. There were two huge full moons in the sky which offered a green glow that could hardly combat the solid darkness. There were no clouds, no stars, there was nothing else in the dimly green sky. As far as their eyes took them, there was only wasteland. The ground was rough and rocky, and there were no buildings or trees in sight. “Herriot?!” Kyle called out.

A frightening laugh came down from the skies. The children looked up quickly, seeing nothing but the moons, which seemed to be one moon apart. They looked like giant eyes peering down at them. “I will be with Clover… You two are on your own! Remember now, there’s no need to be afraid, little girl; this is all make-believe.” She laughed again, sounding quite thrilled.

“Herriot!” Kyle bellowed again. Clover released Lex and powered her hands with mana that shone brighter than the moons, consoling herself with the idea that the world wasn’t real, and was ready to take on anything that came her way, or so she thought. Seeing Clover’s readiness and confidence, Lex followed suit, taking his fighting stance, ice energy coursing through his veins, quickly forging an iceball. Lex stared at what seemed to be a massive wolf approaching from the distant darkness. He stared into its bloodshot eyes, the only things he could distinguish clearly, the iceball in his hands growing denser. The three turned and faced the dangerous thing. Lex turned suddenly at the sound of a frightening roar. Kyle and Clover only glanced back at the iron-toothed lion with a thick orange mane, returning their eyes to the slightly nearer wolf. The earth seemed to shake at the heavy stomps of the third approaching beast. Clover stared with even more fright at the ox-like thing with four deadly-sharp horns of steel on its head. It was even bigger than the other two.

“This is how we will proceed!” Herriot’s voice echoed through the place loudly, consoling Clover and frightening Lex even more. “Each of you will choose your enemy! There are three classes as is obvious; Feline, Canine, and Bovine – the cat family, the dog family and the ox family. Amongst the three of you, all three classes must be chosen. You have half a minute to make up your minds. The clock is ticking away!” Their backs still together, the nervous tree began reasoning.

“I think I would best handle the lion,” Kyle began, “it will be a battle of speed – the other two seem slower and less agile and should offer more leeway for your ice and mana to regenerate.”

“Alright, what about you, Clover?” Lex asked. She switched glances a couple of times to and from the huge ox-like monster and the fierce, red-eyed wolf. Lex and Kyle could feel her shaking.

“Relax, sis,” Kyle whispered, a heavier tone of annoyance than encouragement in his voice.

“You choose, Lex,” Clover said.

“No, make your choice!” Lex insisted.

“Alright, alright… I’ll take the ox, then! No, no, gimmie the wolf,” she decided.

“Fine by me,” Lex answered, “the cow’s mine.”

“Time’s up!” the witchy voice came down from the skies, “Utter your choices!”

“Feline!” Kyle shouted to the moons, then casted his eyes back on the lion. There was a strong confidence in his voice that Lex wondered about.

“The wolf is canine, right?” Clover asked to be sure.

“Right,” her brother answered. She sighed heavily, trying to rid herself of fear.

“Canine!” she declared.

“Bovine!” Lex shouted, staring at the bloodcurdling beast, a vibrating iceball in his hands.

“Take a step towards your opponent!” Herriot ordered. Kyle bravely took three steps toward the lion, sword in hand, ready for action. The lion made a threatening roar at him, but his confidence was not swayed. With a timid heart, Clover took a small step toward the wolf, which almost seemed to wear the slight smirk on Kyle’s face. Boldly and readily, Lex took a solid step toward his enemy. There was now some amount of distance among the fighters. Suddenly, the earth began to quake ferociously. The frightened Clover stooped reflexively, one hand behind her and the other before, both offering useful light. Kyle took yet another step toward the lion, showing it his mental position. Lex stood his ground, staring at this monstrous enemy. Massive cracks ran through the ground, separating the three pairs. Then, frightening Clover and Lex, the land separated and began drifting apart where the cracks appeared, until each landmass was quickly meters away from the others. Clover, Lex and Kyle now stood with their backs to an endless abyss. “Get ready!” the voice from the skies declared.

The red-eyed wolf made a sudden dash toward the timid witch. Reflexively, she flung her hands toward the beast, and the bright green mana went toward the wolf. “Abingush!” As the mana hit the fast-moving enemy, it enveloped him even more quickly than Lex’s ice would. There was a huge blast, and the wolf was blown to bits. The force from the explosion sent Clover backward toward the infinite abyss. Looking back at the gap in the earth, she crouched quickly and regained her balance. Clover summoned up more mana on her hands, lighting the place effectively. Black sand? What is this? she wondered, noticing that instead of blood being scattered about, there was this dark, sandy substance. She looked about frantically, seeing this strange black thing begin to move about like a great wind had suddenly appeared. The black matter swirled about, gathering together before Clover, and somehow morphed itself into two wolves, each more massive than the original.

A well-rehearsed sidestep and a swift, powerful swing beheaded the wild lion, sending it over the abyss easily. “What?!” Kyle readied himself as he saw a pride of lions rushing toward him from the darkness at unreal speeds. Lex hurled the ball of elemental ice at the monster than was moving toward him at a speed too unimpressive to dodge the attack. On contact, the iceball quickly diffused and imprisoned the helpless beast in a thick layer of ice. The huge block of ice rushed toward Lex. He jumped and landed on it, quickly pouncing off before it fell off the land.

*

“Abingush!” Flashing her hands toward the two wolves, she managed to rid her sight of them, but she felt a sudden faintness as her mana was running low. She lounged over with heavy breathing, feeling dizzy and lightheaded.

“The repetitive use of a single attack is the single worst way to fight!” Herriot’s voice descended, “Each consecutive time you use that spell, it eats up twice as much mana as it did before. Try this weak-level suspension spell, ‘azanath’.”

“What?!” Clover asked in a panic, seeing another wolf rush toward her from the distance. Veins stood up in her forehead as she conjured up as much mana as she could find.

“Putting all your eggs in one basket is a risky move, Clover!” Clover relaxed a bit, saving just a bit of mana. She made a sudden forward step after stepping back slightly and realizing she was almost over the cliff.

“Azanath!” the witch commanded, flashing her mana nervously at the wolf not even a meter away. The mana created a sudden flash of green that quickly faded, leaving behind a sight that made her stare and wonder. The wolf had made a great leap, ready to devour her, still in the air with an opened mouth of long white teeth. Its claws seemed ready to strike, but defying the laws of physics, the beast was motionless, suspended in the air.

“Your enemy will not be suspended forever!” Herriot’s voice came down, waking the girl from her stare of awe. She got up nervously, and stepped back a little. She made a dangerous backward fall, heading down into the pit. With desperation and survival reflexes, she grabbed on to the edge of the cliff, too frightened to scream, still staring up at the unmoving wolf. Suddenly, the wolf resumed it motions. Clover screamed on top of lungs as the wolf nearly grazed her, diving down into the hole in the earth.

Kyle was having quite a hot struggle fighting off the vicious lions though he handled his sword quite skilfully for his age. With desperate roars, Kyle dodged an attack, putting to use all his years of training. He wedged his sword into another of the lions. Like the others, its body turned to the sand and fell at his feet. On turning to the right, Kyle saw another fast-moving lion coming to have him for dinner. It reached up to him much faster than he had calculated – his tiredness had begun to warp his judgement. With an outcry of bravery and fright, determination and lots of adrenaline, the boy shoved his sword toward the lion, plunging it straight through its mouth. The lion sunk its teeth down on Kyle’s arm with its last portion of life. Then, the lion became as black sand. Kyle looked down at the bloody wound the blade-sharp teeth of the iron made in his arm. The pain was agonizing, but it thrilled him. He laughed almost crazily, holding his sword to combat the approaching beasts.

Lex had no time to observe the other battlefields. His next enemy – enemies anyway – were already approaching. Four massive oxen marched up toward him, and the large gap in the earth wasn’t even two steps behind him. As the beasts puffed threateningly, what seemed like a black smoke came from their nostrils. “Bloody hell,” Lex muttered, gripping his cold, vibrating, well-charged iceball, but there were four enemies to take care of. Then, an idea struck him that would probably solve half his problem. Still gripping the orb tightly, he pulled the sphere apart slowly, and the iceball had become two. He discharged ice energy into them, bringing them each to three fourths the size of the original. Suddenly, the oxen began running toward him with a scary speed. The boy quickly hurled the spheres he held at two of the approaching enemies. The other two oxen blasted past the slowly moving slabs of ice, one enemy moving a bit faster than the other, maybe being a bit more bloodthirsty. Lex had calculated that after freezing two of them, he would have had the leeway to make a quick run to avoid the others, but before he knew it, the faster was already upon him. He made a sudden high jump, powered by fear and adrenaline. He landed on the horns of the swift ox. His eyes bulged as he realized the bull had made a stunningly powerful jump off the land. He quickly made a fast two-step run across its back, making a jump toward the next bull, which was coming toward him with both threat and salvation through the air. He landed on the bull’s back, and without hesitation, which could have been fatal, made a desperate jump toward the land, barely clinging to the cliff. His heart beat like it would burst through his chest.

Kyle’s stamina seemed to be that of a hardened soldier. His will to survive had empowered him beyond his normal strength. He knew that the second he yielded to exhaustion he would literally be dead meat. The fierce lions rushed at him by the second, and so he killed them. Clover had just managed to rise to her feet. She tried with all her strength to conjure up even a bit of mana, but she only ended up hurting her head and feeling fainter. Slowly, like it was in no rush, no temper, a nastily-sized six-horned creature walked toward Lex. All he could manage to summon up was a cool, bluish mist. At the same time, a red-eyed wolf, much larger than the others closed in on Clover. Clover looked about in panic. She saw her brother battling the unending pride of vicious lions, pushing his endurance, his sweaty, bloody body, to its very limit. Lex too was looking about desperately, searching for a miraculous idea. His eyes, even from the distance, met Clover’s, and he saw her fear. She was shaking like a leaf in a hurricane, and tears of fright and dread ran down her face.

The Icemaker clenched his teeth with a new determination, certain he would kill the old hag the next time he saw her. “Clover…” Again, he struggled to find some ice energy to make even one last sphere. He formed the gap between his palms and uttered a cry of strain. He felt a strange energy run through his veins, and an unfamiliar presence with him. He had managed to create a small iceball. He looked down at his pulping veins. Usually, they would glow a faint blue whenever he was draining the last of his ice energy, but this time they were glowing a much darker blue. This energy… He noticed a vivid blackness swirl through the iceball, and mixed itself in, darkening its colour significantly. Still turned toward his own enemy, he fixed his eyes on the shaking Clover, who was at the very edge of the cliff. He saw her glance over at him. Without even looking down at the sphere, Lex could see a strange black aura surrounding it. It felt much heavier than a regular iceball, and much more energetic, and he knew that whatever this strange energy was, it was in his favour. The boy shook as he was sure he heard a faint, eerie voice speak to him.

You aim…I will fire, the voice told him. In obedience, holding the darkened iceball in one hand, he pointed it toward the wolf that was nearing Clover. He glanced back at his own enemy, his hand stretched to attack Clover’s. With an unexpected suddenness, the wolf took off toward Clover fiercely, like its senses had finally kicked in. She stared into the face of a terrible death. Like he had hoped, the iceball jetted out from his hands at a mighty speed, a small black tail of energy trailing it. The ball cut through the darkness with unbelievable velocity and precision. As the mighty wolf pounced to kill Clover, the iceball struck him. The orb’s impact was so powerful, that the wolf’s own momentum was treated like nothing. The ball blasted the wolf away from Clover. It shot off in the direction of the ball’s flight. By the time the wolf had hit the ground, it was frozen solid. Ice crept from the cold blue slab to the ground beneath it.

The frightened girl looked over at the frozen enemy, then turned her head to look at the panting Lex in the distance, his hand still stretched out toward her, a dark blue mist rising from it. Herriot, who was holding back Lex’s horrid foe the whole time, finally released it upon him. Clover stared as the mighty beast rushed toward Lex with a malignant speed. He heard it coming and felt the earth shaking, but he couldn’t find the energy even to attempt an escape. The girl watched as the beast shoved its deadly horns through Lex mercilessly, and shoved him, along with itself, over the cliff to a dark peril. She was rendered mute by what she had just witnessed. Kyle was now weak until his knees wobbled. Oh shit… I’m dinner now… Three lions pounced toward him from three varying angles. Still not giving up, he flung his sword forward to kill the one directly before him, while the other two ripped him apart viciously.

“And we have a winner!” Herriot’s voice blasted down from the skies, then a truly witchy laugh followed, and the dark world faded away, and the four of them were standing unharmed in the house. “And not a second had passed,” Herriot said to the still mesmerised, even traumatized children.

“Holy crap… It all felt so real…” Kyle marvelled, “The lions, the pain, being ripped to meaty shreds!” He sounded more excited than frightened. Clover was still shaking, like she was standing between the cliff and the giant wolf. Tears still ran from her eyes, and she struggled to breathe. Lex had just gotten his mind together, remembering that it was all make-believe.

“Come on, Clover! It wasn’t real!” he tried to comfort her, resting his hand on her shoulder. She grabbed him suddenly and hugged him tightly, crying on his shoulder, like she really owed him her life.

“Are you serious, little girl?!” Herriot blasted in obvious disdain, “You’re a bloody witch! A witch of your potential will face much more horrible things in real life! Now stop disgracing—”

“Hey, relax!” Lex blasted in her defence, “She’s just shaken up, okay?! If you had made me watch her die, you’d be a sorry block of ice right now!”

“You watch your mouth, child!” Herriot blasted back, red mana flaring around her hands.

“It wasn’t real, Clover…” Lex kept telling her. Kyle hissed and sighed, and walked away from them.

“It was real to me, Lex,” she finally spoke, the temper of her breathing calming somewhat. She finally released Lex and stopped her crying. He smiled at her.

“Come, girl, let’s get you some water,” Herriot offered, her tone changed to a much softer one as she saw the girl’s reddened, slightly swollen eyes and her tear-soaked face. She brought the girl from Lex into the kitchen.

As Lex was about to sit, a loud crash brought him running into the kitchen. Kyle followed closely, sword drawn and ready. The boys stood still in fright, not wanting to make things as dire as they could be. A masked swordsman was holding Clover from behind, a long, glistening sword under a millimetre from her neck. “One wrong move and the girl dies,” the man declared calmly. He wore a black mask that seemed to be made of some sort of metal; it was tightly fitted to his face. Already, mana was glowing about Herriot, and Lex had an iceball in his hands. “Interesting,” the masked man said, not sounding very surprised, and certainly not sounding afraid, “a witch and an Icemaker…”

“How’d you know?! And what do you want with me?!” Clover asked nervously, pressing toward the masked man to get even a bit of distance from the cold sword that breathed against her neck.

“You’re a witch too?” the masked man asked in a subtly excited tone. “Heh! Seems I’ve hit the jackpot here.”

“So you’re here for me, then,” Herriot said, “let the girl go – it’s me you want!”

“Settle down, now,” the masked man said, bringing the sword closer to Clover’s neck, “I’m sure we can work something out here, but first thing’s first.” He took out a length of black rope from his pocket with his left hand. Herriot’s eyes narrowed at the sight of it. She knew exactly what it was.

A professional witch hunter, I see.

“The girl’s no witch,” she told the man as calmly as she could, “release her and I’ll go willingly.” The man tossed the black rope to Kyle. He caught it quickly, already understanding.

“Herriot Tyler… Heh… What a bounty you’ll fetch me. Tie her up, lad!” he told Kyle. Kyle looked at his crying little sister. The woman put her hands behind her. “Tie her up real good now. No smart moves, lad!” Kyle nervously and quickly tied the woman’s wrists together tightly. “Now turn her around.” Kyle did as told. The man holding Clover made a keen inspection. The fact that Kyle couldn’t see the look on the man’s face made him even more uneasy and jittery.

“He’ll take Clover,” Herriot whispered to Kyle, “Magma Town – Magmalian Prison. I’m sorry, Kyle.”

“No chitchatting!” the man snapped. Clover gasped and her shaking became even worse.

“The witch is tied up! Now please release the girl!” Lex begged, sounding as nervous as Clover looked.

“You best keep your mouth shut, little boy! Now power down. You, floor your sword!” the man commanded, tugging on Clover’s hair harshly, like he was a thought away from slicing her head off. Lex relaxed his muscles, and ice energy seeped back into him. Kyle dropped his sword reluctantly, feeling now totally powerless.

“Come, witch!” Herriot slowly walked toward the masked swordsman.

Why the hell doesn’t this woman do something? Kyle wondered, clenching his fists in annoyance, she doesn’t have one spell in the bag for situations like these?! If anything happens to Clover, she and that bastard are dead alike. The swordsman reached into his pocket and brandished a small black and red ball. Herriot hissed. He stretched his hand out and squeezed the ball. Kyle reached down for his sword quickly. What seemed like a red beam of light sped from the little object, and stopped after about half a meter of journey through the air. Then, with the length of the red beam being its radius, and the object its centre, a sphere of red light surrounded him and the witches. Then, in an instant, the man, the witches and the strange red light disappeared.