Chapter 4
Evan immediately stepped in front of Maddie, extending an arm in front of her protectively.
“You’ll have to get to her over my dead body,” he declared. “You even think about touching her then I’ll have no choice but to fight you. Magic or no magic, no one touches my sister!”
“I never said I wanted to hurt your sister,” General Spring replied. “At least not directly, but it seems you’ve already figured out my intentions.” She sneered. “How adorable that you think you can protect her. But, you’re of no use to me.” She threw out her arm and a boulder shot out towards him, hitting him with a sickening smack as he grunted.
“EVAN,” Maddie screamed, extending an arm out to her brother before a wall of Earth shot up in front of her.
“Your precious brother can’t save you now,” General Spring said as she landed on the ground, Maddie turning to look at her. “Once I annihilate you, then my master can finally rest at ease, and so can I.”
“What’s so important about me,” she asked as she backed up against the wall.
“It’d be no fun to tell you,” the general replied with a smirk as she put a finger underneath Maddie’s chin, pulling her head up. “Oh, it’s so funny to see you like this. You have no idea what you’re even here for, do you?”
“Cut the ominous bullshit and get to the explaining,” Maddie said with a glare, almost completely unafraid. “Who the hell are you and why do you seem to want me dead?”
“Just call me General Spring,” she replied. “As for why I want you dead, well, I can’t very well let their guide to Earth live, now can I?”
“Their… guide to Earth?”
Leo was clawing people out of the Haranti, pulling them out with his free hand.
“Get your family to safety,” he said. “Get away from the park as fast as possible!” Even though they couldn’t understand him, they seemed to get the general message and started to run off.
“I think you’re scaring them,” said Kozui with a snicker as he hosed a pile and watched soaking wet people run away.
“Well excuse me if I don’t know any other way to tell people they’re going to get killed!” Behind Leo a tendril of earth rose up, slashing him across the back and cutting through his clothes. He howled out like a lion in pain as it.
“I’ve got you,” said Sialei as she closed her eyes. “Arala toh kana ya shar!” The cut on his back started to close up as he turned around and slashed the tendril to shreds.
“This sentient rock is tough,” he growled out. “Why can’t we ever face an easy opponent?!”
“I don’t know,” said Kozui, “maybe Ceteha just really hates us and wants to destroy us all!”
“Goddesses don’t do things without reason,” Sialei said as she scrunched up her face in concentration.
“Hey, maybe you could lend a hand in the fight,” said Leo with a grunt as he pulled out a man. “We have no idea what we’re dealing with here!”
“I can’t heal, wipe memories, and fight at the same time,” she yelled back, throwing her arms out to the sides. “It’s hard enough wiping this as they’re running away screaming, let alone healing them and you two while you free them! I may be good, but I’m not that good!”
“Why are you even bothering wiping their memories,” Leo yelled back in anger. “What’s the point?!”
“Maddie said magic doesn’t exist here,” she argued. “If that’s the case then we can’t let people remember us!”
“Sia, how do we stop this,” asked Kozui as he turned and threw water at a tendril that was about to hit him.
“I don’t know,” she said as she scrunched up her face in concentration. “Haranti have never been created before! No one knows how to stop them!” Right as she finished her sentence, Evan and the boulder went flying past her as Evan screamed. “… What just happened?”
“That idiot,” growled out Leo. “He must’ve tried getting in the fight like a moron!”
“I got it,” said Kozui with glee as he directed the water to meet with Evan, halting the boulder. It landed on the ground with a thud as Evan, now soaking wet, peeled himself off.
“That hurt,” he groaned, rubbing his face before shaking his head. “Maddie!”
“What about her,” asked Kozui with a frown.
“She’s alone with that insane lady with the green hair,” he replied as he started running back towards her. “I have to help her!”
“Insane lady,” Sialei repeated. “Could be one of Damien’s minions. He had plenty of people working under him who agreed with his methods.”
“I’ll go help her out,” said Leo as he ran with Evan. “Just focus on saving everyone!”
“Dammit Leo,” Kozui growled out as he freed a small family. “Just hurry up and get her out of the situation!”
“Haven’t you ever wondered about that,” asked the general. “You just happened to be the first people they ran into, and then when you touched the Book of Flight, it spoke that prophecy and suddenly a map appears. Then it disappears into your necklace, and you think what, it was a coincidence?” She laughed. “I have never met anyone so stubbornly stupid in my entire life!”
“I’m not stupid,” she growled back. “Things like this don’t normally happen to people like me. It’s just not a thing that happens on Earth!”
“Well you’re not a normal person,” Spring replied as she stepped away. “Think about it. Ceteha makes a prophecy, send three champions to Earth to find what’s needed to carry it out, and she doesn’t provide them with some means to make sure it happens? What kind of a stupid goddess doesn’t supply her warriors with a guide dog?”
“Compare me to a dog again,” she challenged, “see what happens.”
“I will admit,” said Spring with a chuckle, “I admire your fire. It’s nice to see someone ready to fight back against me. You may be their guide, but you are still powerless. Remember that much.” She held up her hand as it morphed into solid, sharp metal.
“That doesn’t mean I won’t go down fighting,” she replied with a grunt, throwing out an arm to punch General Spring, who merely stepped out of the way.
“You’ve never had a proper fight a day in your life, have you,” observed the general. “You held your arms up too high and your thumb is in your fist. Punching like that could give you a broken finger.”
“Thanks for the advice,” she said as she adjusted, “but you probably shouldn’t help me out.”
“It doesn’t matter.” General Spring threw her arm out and pinned Maddie to the wall by her throat, making her grunt and struggle to breathe. “You’re not going to live for very much longer in the first place. Why should I care about whether or not you learn how to fight?”
“Get… off…” she struggled out, her hands pulling at the one around her throat.
“You’ve never done anything on your own, have you?” Spring chuckled. “At least not anything real. No muscle, no proper reflexes. Does brother dearest have to save you all the time?”
“Shut… up…”
“May as well,” she said as she held up the arm shaped like a knife, “since you’re going to die anyway!”
“MADDIE,” called out Evan. The two looked up and saw Leo jumping over the impossibly tall wall with Evan on his back. He shot his feet down, aiming at General Spring’s face and landing on it, knocking her down.
“Are you okay,” asked Evan as he went over to his sputtering and coughing sister.
“I’m okay,” she managed to say, “but I wouldn’t have been if you guys hadn’t shown up when you did.” Leo was thrown into the wall as General Spring stood up, glaring at the two of them.
“Don’t try to interfere in things you don’t understand,” she hissed out.
“Well,” started Evan, “it looked like you just tried to kill my sister, so yeah, I’m gonna interfere.” He took a wide stance as Leo growled and got up.
“I may not know this girl well,” said Leo, “but like hell if I’m gonna let you kill an innocent person!”
“Of course,” said General Spring as she brushed off the dirt. “You always have to play the hero, don’t you Leo? After all, you couldn’t save your mother. You couldn’t save your guild, hell, you couldn’t even save your world!” She started laughing once again as Leo growled. “Finally, you see someone you can save, a weak, pathetic human who’s helped you out of the kindness of her heart. So of course you feel the need to help her, even after having only known her for a little while.”
“Shut. Up.” Leo’s eyes became wider and his whites disappeared into the pure orange of his eyes as he lunged at her. “You know nothing of my struggles! You know nothing of my life!”
“Of course I do,” said Spring with another chuckle as she stepped aside. “After all, in this world, your entire life is written in black and white. It’s all there in ink.” Leo slashed at her wildly, but she just kept dodging before grabbing him by the hands and floats upwards, holding him up by his wrists. “I’m getting quite bored of you Leo.” She threw him against the ground. He cried out in pain as he landed on one of his legs at a strange angle.
“Leave him alone,” shouted Maddie with a glare as she moved out from behind her brother and in front of Leo protectively. “He’s been through enough!”
“Cute,” said Spring, “you’re willing to protect him. But you’re only human.”
“And this human is gonna stand up to you,” she replied.
“Maddie get back,” said Evan as he ran towards her, but a wall of earth shot up and stood in his way. “God dammit!”
“You don’t need to get involved,” hissed the general before turning back to Maddie. “I am glad you did that though. Now it makes my job easier.”
“Get away,” said Leo as he started to get up. “I can handle myself perfectly fine. I have for-” he hissed in pain when he tried to support weight on his messed up leg.
“You’re already hurt and I’m not letting you get hurt even more for me,” she responded. “You don’t even know me, you shouldn’t have to! Besides, it’s one thing when I know they can win, but I don’t know! This isn’t like Adrian, of General Khan, or even Alistair! She can use magic without spells, and fly without wings! No one else can do that kind of stuff from your world and you and I both know we don’t know how to stop that! I won’t let someone get hurt because I didn’t know!”
“How sweet,” said General Spring. “You’re willing to die for a character that until a few hours ago was fictional to you.” She cackled as her arm changed to a knife again, thrusting it towards Maddie and Leo. Maddie closed her eyes, bracing for the impact that never came. After a few moments she opened them and gasped as she saw a magical shield around the two of them. General Spring was hissing as her knife arm started to dissolve into light.
“How did you do that,” she hissed out.
“I-I don’t know.”
Sialei looked around as what seemed to be the last of everyone ran off.
“I think that’s everyone,” she shouted over to Kozui, who was using whips made out of ice to slice through the mud. “Do you sense anyone else?”
“Nope,” he replied, “just us, and-” He stopped for a moment, turning towards the edge of the meadow and looked towards where Maddie was facing off against the general. “I sense magic, like from the Book of Flight!”
“Is it the map,” Sialei asked as her wings came up and she started to fly up and away from incoming attacks from the Haranti.
“No,” he said, shaking his head. “At least I don’t think so. It’s strange. It feels like the Book but at the same time not. And Maddie’s reki is a lot stronger, but it still doesn’t feel like magic.”
“We can investigate once we finish off this Haranti,” she said as she threw her arm towards it. Vines erupted form her hands and started twisting around it like it was trying to suffocate the moving earth.
“It’s so strange,” said Kozui as he went back to fighting, slicing up the Haranti with his ice whips. “I just hope they’re alright.”
“They’ll be fine Kozui,” Sialei assured him as she sliced a tendril in half right down the middle. “Leo’s one of our guild’s best fighters.”
“Oh, I’m not worried about him,” Kozui replied as he whipped around and snagged a tendril that was sneaking up on Sialei. “Well, not him per say. I’m worried about the fact that he’s fighting against some strange opponent with strange magic and he’s fighting with two people without any magic at all.”
“When you put it like that,” Sialei admitted. She started to mutter, her eyes glowing softly. Out of the ground sprouted what looked like a giant Venus Flytrap that started to eat up the ground. “Once we can get rid of the Haranti we’ll go help them out.”
“I’ve never seen anything like this,” said Leo as he gently touched the shield. “I’ve never seen someone make a shield of pure energy without a selected form.”
“Well I don’t know how I did it,” said Maddie quickly. “I just didn’t want to die!”
“Lord Damien never told me anything about this,” hissed out the general. “I’ll be back, believe me. Until then, you can fight my pet.” With that, she disappeared in a cloud of dust.
“What the hell,” said Maddie with an annoyed noise as the shield she’d created disappeared. “I don’t get this! Why would she just run off like that?! Because I had a magic shield?”
“It’s not magic,” said Leo, making Maddie turn to him. She held out a hand to him.
“Here, let me help you up,” she said, expecting him not to take it. “You’re hurt.” He gave her hand a look before grabbing her hand. She almost fell over, but managed to lift him up and support her weight with her shoulder. “So if that wasn’t magic, what was it?”
“That was pure energy,” he replied. “Magic takes a form of some sort. It has to be made into something to be magic. Even healing spells make something. This is just pure energy. It’s not lightning, not fire, not light. You didn’t use a spell to make it either.”
“Then how did I do that,” she asked as they started to walk around, trying to find a way around the long walls General Spring put up.
“I have no idea,” he replied with a shrug. “That would be something you’d have to bring to Sialei. She’s the one who knows all about this kind of weird stuff.”
“Alright.”
In the shattered tower, Damien sat on the window sill like he had been before.
“I see you didn’t come back with my Haranti General Spring,” he said as a cloud of dust appeared behind him and turned into General Spring, who was glaring at him.
“You didn’t tell me she’d have any powers,” she fumed. “You just sent me into battle without telling me something so vital?!”
“I didn’t think you needed to know,” he replied. “You’re not exactly the best at keeping information to yourself. And I was right to keep that from you. You already told her about her role as their guide. Did you not stop to think about how that would affect our plans?”
“I didn’t think it mattered,” she defended. “She was going to figure it out sooner or later!”
“And for our purposes, it would’ve been best to leave it to later.” He smirked. “But, I suppose the damage has already been done. Sangster is partially aware of her abilities. And now we have even more information about her abilities. Now we know that, like I, you won’t be able to harm her one bit, let alone kill her as I intended.”
“Ceteha has never made anyone invulnerable,” Spring argued. “There must be some way that we can kill her!”
“Neither of us will ever be able to kill her,” he asserted. “If I could kill her, don’t you think I would’ve gone there myself? It would’ve been far more efficient.”
“This is uncharacteristically kind for Ceteha,” said Spring with a grumble. “Why would she make someone who’s just supposed to be a guide so invulnerable?”
“Do you really want to know,” asked Damien.
“I demand to know,” she replied. At that, he stood up, and in a flash she was pinned against the wall by her throat. A flash of red was seen underneath Damien’s hood, showing off his sinister eyes as he clenched his hand around her throat.
“Do not presume to demand anything of me,” he warned. “After all, you are mine and belong to me. Remember what you would be if I had not saved you!” General Spring quickly nodded, struggling to breathe. “Good.” He let go of her as she fell to her knees and gasped, coughing from the temporary lack of air.
“I’m sorry,” she said timidly.
“Good,” he said with a smirk. “Now, I’ll ask again, and you had better give me a respectful answer. Do you really want to know why Ceteha is so fiercely protecting her?”
“Yes my lord.”
Maddie and Evan were both supporting Leo as they mad their way over to Sialei and Kozui.
“What happened to you dude,” asked Kozui with a worried expression when he saw Leo, rushing over. “That looks really bad!”
“I’m fine,” Leo hissed. “If you even THINK of coddling me or touching it, then I will rip out your bones.”
“Looks like you aren’t too badly hurt,” said Kozui with a laugh as he pat Leo’s shoulder. “You don’t make threats when you’re hurt badly.”
“Let me see,” said Sialei as she landed gently on the shifting ground. Cover me Kozui. He nodded and with a few words, there was a shield of ice around them as Sialei got to work on healing Leo’s leg. “What happened?”
“Well,” said Leo as he stretched his leg before letting go of Evan and Maddie, “a crazy lady with green hair tried to kill Maddie.”
“She didn’t seem to be in much of a hurry to do it though,” said Maddie. “She seemed to want to draw it out and enjoy it. But she was helpful.”
“Uh, guys,” said Kozui, “you might want to check this out.”
“How the hell is trying to kill you helpful,” Evan asked, face full of disbelief as he completely ignored Kozui. “You almost died!”
“I was surprisingly fine for most of it,” she replied. “Well except when she choked me. But now I know why the map is stuck in my choker, and I know why the Book did what it did. But I think we should try and fight this thing off first.”
“Yeah,” said Sialei as she turned back around, only to look on in shock. “Huh? Why has it stopped?”
“That’s what I want to know,” said Kozui as he looked at the Haranti, which had now curled up into a rather large ball.
“I bet it stopped because General Spring left,” said Maddie as she started to walk up to it. “Hold on,” she narrowed her eyes, “it looks like there’s something in there.”
“Get away from there,” shouted Evan as he started to head towards her, but Leo grabbed her wrist.
“Let her do it,” he said as he carefully watched her. “She has a reason for what she’s doing.”
“It’s almost like,” she trailed off a bit as she slowly lifted up a hand, “like there’s someone in there.” She placed her hand on it.
“Well it is sentient,” said Sialei. “A Haranti is a living, thinking thing.”
“It’s suffering,” said Maddie with sad eyes. “How can we help?”
“I don’t think we can,” said Kozui. “Either we destroy it and the soul inside it, or we just leave it there.”
“I vote to destroy it,” said Leo.
“No,” argued Maddie. “There has to be another way! I refuse to think there isn’t!” The hand on the rock glowed softly before the hunk of earth started to shatter. As it cracked it started falling apart. Once it completely fell apart, two lights started to fly away. One flew up into the air while the other went into Maddie’s choker.
“What is she,” asked Sialei in awe as she watched. “I don’t think anything like that is possible.” Maddie smiled and turned towards Sialei.
“Welcome to Earth. Here anything is possible.” With that, her eyes rolled back and she passed out.