Magi Legend

by Andrew Dobell

  “This is madness, Maya-chan. Have you listened to yourself? Do you know what you’re saying?” Yoh protested.

  “I know how it sounds, but Horlack and I have a history.”

  “Really? And this history means you will happily put yourself in harm’s way to meet with the Scion that nearly killed Amanda?”

  Maya stopped on the stairs and looked back at Yoh. “Yes, it does. I know that sounds crazy, but it’s the right thing to do. I think he really does want to change things.”

  “And what makes you say that?”

  “You weren’t at the nuclear power plant with Amanda and me. I ran into him there. He’s changed, Yoh, I can feel it. Whatever he went through in the Abyss, he’s not the same Horlack who attacked Mandy.”

  Yoh sighed. He searched her eyes for any sign that he might be able to dissuade her from this course of action, but found none. “I’m not going to change your mind on this, am I?”

  Maya pressed her lips together and slowly shook her head from side to side.

  “Then let’s get you up to the roof,” he said.

  “You can’t come with me,” Maya protested.

  “This is my building, and I will not let you do this alone. It’s dangerous, no matter what you think. I’m going with you, Maya, and that’s that.” Yoh stepped forward and unlocked the door to the roof. Without stopping to listen to her, he opened the door and walked outside, looking around. Nothing, the roof was empty, for the moment.

  “He’s not here,” Yoh announced.

  “Not yet. Look, I promise, I’ll be fine. I need to meet him alone.”

  Yoh frowned. “I don’t like it.”

  “I understand that, but seriously, you need to trust me. I’m a grown woman and a Vampire. I think I’ll be okay.”

  “You’re sure?”

  “You’re cute, but yes. I would not intentionally go and meet with a Scion like Horlack alone if I knew he wanted to kill me. I’m not suicidal. Go downstairs, I will be back in a bit, okay?”

  “Alright, be careful,” he said and pulled her in for a hug, holding her tightly and almost not wanting to let go in case this meeting went horribly wrong.

  The heavy crunch sounded to their left causing Yoh to jump in fright. It seemed to surprise Maya as well. Looking over, Yoh saw Horlack’s colossal form rise up from the crouch he had landed in.

  “What are you doing up here?” Horlack growled at Yoh.

  Yoh didn’t like Horlack’s tone. “This is my place, I have every right to be up here.”

  “Get away from her,” Horlack demanded.

  “Why?”

  “I said get away from her.”

  “Horlack, calm down…”

  “Don’t tell me to calm down! I can see what’s going on here,” he bellowed.

  “Oh, really, and what’s that, then?” Yoh goaded him.

  “Yoh, you’re not helping,” Maya scolded him. “Horlack, just relax, he was only walking me up here.”

  “I’m sure he was. What do you take me for? A fool? This is disgusting,” he barked, and with a quick turn, jumped from the rooftop to another building.

  “Horlack!” Maya called, but to no avail. She watched him disappear over the rooftops. “Damn it,” she muttered, and then looked up at Yoh. “And you weren’t much help. I told you to stay downstairs, now look what’s happened!”

  “What? I think you had a lucky escape there, that thing is clearly unhinged.”

  Maya growled at him before stalking off back through the doorway and off the roof. Yoh looked back up to where Horlack had disappeared into the night.

  He had hoped Maya would see things from his perspective. That Scion is a cold-hearted killer and not someone to be playing happy families with. He’d give her time, she’ll come round before too long, he thought, as he walked off the roof and closed the door behind him.

  ***

  “So, that was a disaster,” Maya said as she walked into Amanda’s hallway.

  Amanda had just opened the front door to let Maya in, and they were her first words to her, which could only mean one thing.

  “So, things didn’t quite go to plan?”

  “You could say that, yes. Yoh insisted on coming up to the roof with me and, well, Horlack didn’t seem to like that.”

  “Jealous, was he?”

  “I think that played a part, yes. I’d just convinced Yoh to leave me up there alone, so he gave me a hug before leaving, and predictably that’s when Horlack turned up,” Maya sighed.

  “That sounds about right. I should have been the one to go up there with you, not Yoh. He wouldn’t have been jealous then,” Amanda suggested. Clearly, Horlack had seen the hug and thought there must be something between her and Yoh. To be fair to Horlack, Amanda had thought the same thing for a while as well, so it wasn’t surprising that he’d make the same assumption.

  Maya screwed up her face at the suggestion. “No, I don’t think so. It should have just been me alone.”

  “Maybe. I do think it would have been fine with me there to keep things in check, though, make sure he didn’t act like the ejit he is.”

  Maya rolled her eyes.

  “What? I could have. I am the Chosen One, you know.”

  “And that, right there, is the problem.”

  “You’re jealous?”

  “What? That’s ridiculous, how could I be jealous of my…”

  “Your what?”

  Maya sighed. “Nothing.”

  “No, come on, your what? Your inferior? Your boyfriend’s ex, maybe? What? Ever since I got this tattoo and became the Chosen One, people have been acting really weird towards me. All these snide comments and shite are annoying.”

  “You need to calm down, Amanda. We should talk about this,” Maya suggested, keeping her voice calm.

  “I’m sick of talking and of people disrespecting me. I’ve had it with this crap.”

  Suddenly, a telepathic Link opened up in her mind with a feeling of urgency attached to it. Recognising Shaun as the sender, she opened the Link.

  ~What?~ she mentally barked through the Link.

  ~It’s Edge, I think he’s in trouble,~ sent Shaun.

  - London

  Hearing the front door get broken open upstairs, Matt checked his computer screen again and the instant messaging conversation he had been having with this “Father Time”. He guessed he was linked to his online friend Chronos somehow, but he wasn’t sure what the connection was.

  On the security camera footage, he watched two figures, a woman and a young girl, kicking his door in. Suddenly the image from the feed distorted for a fraction of a second, and a third person appeared, apparently out of thin air. It was Angel, or Seraphim, as he knew her.

  She raised her hands and with a moment of flickering light and static on the video, the signal from the camera died.

  Matt looked back at the message thread.

  “Come on, come on…” he muttered to himself.

  The little icon next to his message had changed, indicating that it had been seen, and then, a second later, a reply.

  “Help is on its way,” it read.

  “Yes!” he exclaimed and tapped a reply into the keyboard.

  House Invasion

  London

  Amanda appeared on the dark London street outside the address that Shaun had given her. It was the early hours, the street appeared quiet, and apart from the broken-in front door of the house before her, nothing seemed out of place.

  A crunch came from within the residence. It was a small house in the middle of the terrace. Looking at the building through her Aetheric Sight, she could see the remains of a curious Aegis around the building. It wasn’t very powerful, but it felt strange to her, not quite the same as most Aegises that she’d come across before. It had also been ripped apart.

  Not wanting to waste any time, Amanda quickly made for the door and looked inside, finding herself in a hallway. Ahead, stairs went up to the second floor, while here on the first floor she could see
a living room through a door to her right, and three doors further down the corridor that continued on beside the stairs.

  The doors further along, sat on three sides of the hallway. One on the left, leading under the stairs, one to her right leading to whatever room was behind the living room, and one facing her, which stood partially open and led to a somewhat messy kitchen.

  Sneaking into the hallway, she looked around. Sensing movement and Magic from above, she looked up in time to see a woman with wavy auburn hair leap at her from the top of the stairs.

  Amanda dodged to one side and used her Magic to increase the woman’s downward momentum tenfold. The female Magus slammed into the floor with a bang.

  Multitasking, Amanda hit the woman’s Aegis with an overwhelming Essentia attack as she groaned from the fall and Amanda’s Magic destroyed her Aegis.

  With a quick follow-up effect, she Magically knocked the woman out.

  Poking her head into the rooms, she quickly confirmed this floor was devoid of further life. As she hunted, she saw an ornament on the coffee table that glowed with Magic. The Aegis on the house was clearly generated by this Artefact, which explained its strange feeling. Who was this Edge?

  A quick scan upstairs with a Magical set of senses confirmed it was empty, so Amanda sent her senses down and saw Angel. She was confronting Edge with one of her coven. In the second that Amanda watched, she saw Angel Magically bat away a katana that he’d been brandishing at her. Angel’s Magic knocked the blade across the room while she simultaneously lunged and grabbed him by the throat.

  Amanda pulled on the threads of Magic and Ported into the room, catching the katana from mid-air as it passed her.

  “There’s a traitor in your coven,” Edge said as he stiffened in Angel’s grip.

  “What?” Angel cried, before quickly turning to face Amanda. Angel’s coven mate, a young girl who looked no older than about seven, stood in the room with her hair in pigtails, wearing a floral dress. She also turned to face Amanda with a look of pure hatred on her face.

  “Amanda, such a pleasure to see you again. Come to save your friend, perhaps?” she asked as she extended her Aegis around Edge.

  “Something like that, yeah. Let him go, and I promise to go easy on you.”

  “Really? You’re threatening me?” Angel asked. “Cherub…”

  Clearly already Multitasking, the girl let off a flurry of simultaneous Magical attacks at Amanda. Essentia strikes slammed home, followed by arcs of lightning and searing blasts of fire that played over her Aegis.

  Amanda raised her arm to shield her eyes from the flares of light and energy.

  Gathering her Magic, Amanda lashed out with a wave of Magical energy. Cherub’s attacks faltered. Amanda ran at her and flooded the sword with Essentia. It crackled with golden energy as she swung it and the enhanced blade cracked Cherub’s Aegis in a shower of sparks. The Nomad raised her arm in an instinctual act of defence, getting her hand severed in the process. Blood sprayed over her floral dress as she screamed and dropped to the floor clutching her bloody stump.

  Before the rift in Cherub’s Aegis could seal, Amanda reached into the crack, and with a force of will that made Amanda grunt with effort, she pulled it apart.

  Cherub’s Aegis faltered and cracked wide open, leaving her defenceless. Stepping in, Amanda kicked Cherub in the head as hard as she could, knocking her out cold.

  Amanda looked up to see Angel staring at her in surprise. She glanced down at Cherub and then back up at Amanda.

  “You’ve come a long way these past few years,” Angel said, her arm hooked around Edge’s neck, keeping him between them.

  The situation before her looked almost ridiculous. Angel looked like some glorified secretary tottering about in high heels and a mini skirt, holding this forty-year-old man in a headlock. Amanda knew better though, she knew how dangerous Angel could be.

  “I’ll take that as a compliment,” Amanda said as she stepped steadily closer to Angel.

  “Stay where you are, and don’t even think of trying anything, or this little man dies.”

  Angel had brought him into her Aegis, meaning that even if she could break through Angel’s Shield, the Nomad would have precious seconds to do what she wanted to Edge before Amanda could reach him. Amanda stopped and took a step back in a show of trust with her hands raised.

  Inside Amanda’s head, Shaun opened a Mental Link, which she quickly accepted.

  ~Let her take him,~ he sent.

  ~What?~ she sent back.

  ~We have leverage,~ Shaun explained.

  ~You’re sure? What leverage?~

  ~I’ll tell you later. Just let her go.~

  ~You’re the boss,~ Amanda replied and shut off the Link.

  “Go then,” Amanda said.

  Angel raised her eyebrows in mild surprise.

  “Go, I won’t stop you,” Amanda repeated.

  “Very well,” Angel smiled, and with a quick working of Magic, Ported away, taking her two coven mates and Edge with her.

  Amanda immediately reopened the Link to Shaun. ~She’s gone.~

  ~Okay, great.~

  ~This better be good, Shaun,~ Amanda warned.

  ~Oh, it is,~ Shaun sent back. ~There’s something in that room that you need to find first, though.~

  ~Tell me more.~

  - Nowhere

  Kez stalked into one of the Portal rooms, a dark and cave-like space, and waited for a few seconds until Magic flared before her and Yasmin’s lithe form stepped through a Portal which snapped closed behind her.

  Kez bowed her head in greeting to her mistress and waited for Yasmin to speak first.

  “Kez,” Yasmin said in brief acknowledgement.

  “Greetings, my Baal, I trust that your trip was successful?”

  Yasmin lifted her hand to show a rolled-up scroll of ancient-looking papyrus.

  “The Lazarus Scroll?” Kez asked.

  “Correct, my dear, and it really wasn’t all that difficult to find on the atoll.”

  “That’s excellent news, my Baal. Also, may I be so bold as to ask how things went with Amanda? Did your plan go as expected?” she asked. She had a pang of jealousy as she said the words. She loved her mistress and the idea of Yasmin indulging herself with someone else always made her anxious. Even though it was part of a plan, and did happen from time to time, Kez always disliked the idea.

  “Everything went as planned, including the Magi Legion spy,” she answered.

  Resistance

  Milan, Italy.

  Light flashed behind his eyes, and for a brief moment, he had no idea which direction was up and a wave of intense dizziness hit him. It stopped as suddenly as it began, and the world was back to normal again, but he wasn’t in his basement anymore. A wave of nausea washed over him. He clamped his mouth shut and attempted to keep the contents of his stomach where it was as he looked around.

  They were in a modern, but bare-looking grey room. There were a few chairs and a table, but that was about all.

  Angel, who was freakishly strong, shoved him away and his legs gave way and he hit the floor. Glad that the world made sense again, he relaxed, rolled onto his back, and took a few deep breaths, savouring the cool concrete against his skin.

  A moment later, he had the strange feeling that something was wrong as the shadows in the corners of his eyes seemed to shift.

  He pushed himself up into a sitting position as the sensation of unreality came and went. Nearby, Angel stood over her two friends who’d woken up, the bruises and cuts on their faces fading in mere seconds.

  Magic.

  That must be the unreal sensations he’d experienced, he thought. It was the only explanation for it, but seeing the effects of this invisible force at work felt both wondrous and unnerving.

  As Angel’s friends got up, Angel herself straightened her mini skirt and blouse while still facing away from him. If it weren’t for the fact that he felt sure she was about to hurt him, he’d be admiring Angel quite happil
y. She was a real beauty of a woman with her long golden hair and slim physique.

  Enjoy it while you can Matty, he thought to himself, because her attention will soon be on you again.

  There seemed to be only one door into this room, which was on the other side of Angel, not that he had any delusions that he would be able to escape.

  As her two friends left the room, Angel closed the door after them and then turned to face him.

  An invisible force suddenly hauled him up from the floor and unceremoniously dumped him into a chair.

  “So, Edge, or should I call you Matt Walker?”

  “Either is fine,” he said, a little defiantly.

  “Okay, Matt, you’re alive only because you, very quick-wittedly I might add, said you knew of a traitor in my coven. But depending on what I find, that could be a very temporary situation.”

  “You know, I really don’t understand all this. What’s changed? You contacted me initially and helped me find the Magi. Why do you suddenly want to kill me? It doesn’t make any sense.”

  “That is unimportant. What is important is what’s in your head. So, let’s see what we can find so we can all move on with our lives.”

  Matt knew where this was going, but he felt quietly confident, providing everything had worked as it should. So, he closed his eyes and waited for the Magic.

  It felt like the world tipped and fell over sideways. Suddenly, everything felt like an illusion, until a split second later when it felt like something was forcing itself into his mind which brought reality crashing back. He got the distinct impression of someone else being in his head and he could only grip the sides of his chair while the mother of all headaches blossomed inside his skull.