Spellcrafter-Delta

by Christopher Kirkland

  Chris still remembered his intense expression. He laid his head on his pillow and turned so he was laying on his side. His mind was racing at the thought of the Empire being nearby. No one had reported them or detected them, which meant one thing: they were killed. No one had noticed due to festivities and the influx of new students. Things were so tense that some of the guards seemed more fearful than the students.

  Victoria and the other mages were instructed to help the teachers. They would not only guard the schools, but they were also to patrol near the homes and restaurants. They were more advanced students, and in the case of an emergency they were the most capable of saving lives due to their studies. She had told Chris to stay with Penny at all times, and if an attack did come to stay in the dorm. She also told him that if he had to fight to make it as quick as possible, and watch for multiple attackers.

  He remembered what she had said before she left. “Chris,” One last very important thing. “If you see a man that even looks like he’s wearing a black coat or red mask,” she started. “Run. Don’t fight. If he even looks like he has a sword with a red blade I want you to run.” She looked away for a moment. “Every time he draws that thing someone dies.”

  “Red like blood?” He asked slightly unsettled.

  “It’s not blood. Its attacks tend to suck the mana from targets so their fast healing becomes useless, and their magic becomes limited. He can change its properties to envenom targets, paralyze, and a few other things. My point is stay away. That is their leader…”

  “Stay away from the scary guy.” He said to assure her he was listening.

  “He’s-- also my father. He’s one of the reasons Penny and I aren’t sorcerers among other reasons. “

  “Your father?!” Chris stared at her, his eyes widened a little.

  “Yes,” Victoria let out a sigh and slowly nodded her head. “He’s extremely dangerous. Few people can match him. He’s an expert sword fighter, and his Fire magic is also extremely dangerous. Armor is extremely useless and I’ve seen it burn through the most reinforced doors. Please... promise me you’ll stay away.”

  “I will.” Chris hugged her and nodded. “You have my word.”

  “And Chris?” she spoke again, softer this time and more urgent. “Don’t let Penny fight him either. I know she’ll try if she’s near. It’s probably best to avoid his generals and top guys. I can match their combat ability, but you probably can’t. Even for me it'll be a challenge,” Victoria paused for a moment. “We’ll be okay.” She smiled as confidently as she could and left.

  That was the conversation. He was slightly unsettled by it actually. Penny’s father sounded like he could take anyone who went against him. His generals could be coming at any given time and just anticipating the damage their commands could bring made Chris shiver. He took a deep breath and reminded himself that he was more capable than before; if a situation required him to fight he would be able to protect himself.

  He glanced at his sword given to him by his sister. You won’t let me down. Chris thought in regard to her. You haven’t just yet; I’m still alive. It’s going to stay that way, and I’ll protect whoever I can. Then...Maybe we can be a normal family again, he thought.

  Penny had gone out to get something to eat for them, and to check on her sister. She said she would be back in thirty minutes, and it had only been twelve. He wasn’t worried at all. She’s a badass. If anyone could handle them she could. I’ll still keep her from her father if they do show up. Penny seems like she can do anything. Maybe she just isn’t afraid of anything. He stared over at the clock and went into a slight daze. It was eleven o'clock. It couldn’t hurt to close his eyes for a moment, right? He drifted to sleep.

  ‘Get up!’ a male voice boomed from outside; Chris shot up like a lightning bolt. “Get up!” he repeated. He did not fully register the voice until someone began violently banging on the door to get his attention. “Get up! We’re being bombed! We’re being bombed! Get up!” The booming voice broke suddenly, and grew more powerful.

  Chris quickly swung out of bed and grabbed his sword. He opened the door. It was one of the guards. “The alarm isn’t working! Tell everyone you can!” And with that he sprinted as fast as he could to the next dorm over.

  He was right. Chris’s eyes widened as he saw the beautiful city lit ablaze. There were black and red planes flying overhead, and some were currently bombing the guard station. Embers and screams filled the air. Chris ran as fast as he could to where Victoria was stationed. He had to find her and Penny.

  Violet was taking cover behind a building. 'She was firing a yellow pistol with blue lasers for ammunition.

  “Chris! I need you to help me get to the airfield! I need to get to my plane so I can get those bombers out of here!” She took a shot to the arm, but her pilot suit produced a shield that protected her.

  He sprinted forward, running on the wall of the building and began tearing through the soldiers. They couldn’t keep up with him. He had cut them in as many places as he could so they would fall to the ground.

  They continued on their way. “I saw Fairyhorn up ahead. They dragged her out of her house, and she made the ones that attacked her pay dearly,” Violet fired a few times in the direction of two soldiers wearing black and red that fell to the ground. “I don’t know if she’s still there, but I’m not worried.”

  Then Chris saw her. Megan was fighting three sorcerers at once. She spun her sword and slashed low, tripping one by cutting the back of his leg. She spun, blocking an attack coming from behind, sidestepped and roundhouse kicked her assailant, he staggered back a few feet. When she held out her hand, a strong burst of wind erupted from the palm of her hand. A scream came from her attacker as they were flung into the lake. Megan turned and saw Chris and Violet approaching.

  “Chris, I’m glad you’re okay,” she said. She didn’t look tired at all, but she was slightly injured on her knee.

  “Are you okay?” he questioned.

  “I’m fine. I didn’t even really take many hits. I was lucky that I wasn’t killed in my sleep.” she dusted herself off. “I was about to go find Ian.”

  “It can wait. I really need to get to my plane. None of the planes have launched. I don’t think any pilots are nearby. I can handle everything if you get me in the sky.”

  “I don’t think finding my partner comes second.”

  “We’ll be bombed to ashes if I don’t make it to my plane,” she argued. Stepping closer, she urged, “People are dying, Megan”

  “I see that.” Megan scoffed. Chris took note of Violet's attempt at guilt-tripping. "I'll help you, Violet, but I won't be nearly as effective."

  “You and Chris will be good enough. Clear a path,” she ordered.

  The three made their way to the airfield only to see a firefight had broken out. “I don't think you’re getting to your plane…” Chris told her.

  “Like hell,” she said as she began running in. “I’ve got this!” Other pilots were at the airfield returning fire at the invaders. Violet joined them.

  “Violet!” one pilot cried.

  Violet quickly shot one of the soldiers in the head and two in the chest. She turned just in time to dodge a magic attack. The other pilots began firing at the magic user who Chris could not see from where he was, but he assumed he had fallen when he saw them hurrying to their planes. An enemy plane began to descend rapidly and fire on them. They dodged as best as they could, but some of them were shot and fell motionless to the ground. The plane came back for another pass.

  “Shoot him down! Shoot him down!” Violet ordered. The aviators began to focus fire on the plane. It took damage, but it still managed to take out at least seven more pilots that fell to the ground hard.

  “Megan?” Chris asked, concern in his voice.

  “Violet is a show off, but she is capable. All of those pilots have over two-hundred hours of combat experience. They’ll be fine. Trying to help now would be a hindrance. I don’t think I can take any o
f these planes down without being in one myself. I would never get in my plane without Ian,” she replied, her gaze pulled from the battle for a moment to address him, but then went back to watching.

  The pilots that were remaining got into their planes. Each plane was a different color. Chris could see Violet quickly buckling up and then beginning to take off. The plane was coming back again. He could see Violet duck down and cover her head as the plane fired again across all of them. The plane in the very back of the line exploded and flew up and into the air. They began to take flight. The Imperial plane tried to retreat, but Violet and another pilot pursued it. The rest went immediately after the bombers and attack planes.

  The plane that was with Violet peeled off and tried to cut off the Imperial aircraft. The air cracked as Violet flew over them. A few shots were fired from Violet’s plane and with that, the enemy plane was no more. It exploded mid-air. Megan smiled, “See? Training.”

  “I don’t know who’s more impressive, us or them!” Chris cheered, watching the parts fall to the ground in awe.

  “We fly planes and we fight on the ground so... us,” Megan answered. “I’m going to find Ian. You better find Penny. She’ll probably be where Victoria is.” She began to run away full speed. “Stay alive!” She called back to him.

  Chris began to run back the way he came, occasionally stopping to fight. He saw his teacher using her wand to block other magic attacks and redirect them. She then fired a flurry of hail in their direction. He debated if he should help her, but when he saw her take out ten at once he figured she would be fine. She was protecting a man who had wandered outside before the attack. He saw the Life teacher healing an injured woman. Emily was with them.

  “Emily! More incoming!” The Life teacher warned.

  “They’ll pay,” Emily hissed.

  She ran directly at two Sorcerers, then she summoned her weapon. Emily’s weapon was a green and blue halberd that could change forms to any weapon she needed at the time. One was wearing grey armor over his clothes, and another was wearing a red hood. She began relentless strikes on both at once. She tripped the armored attacker and tried to finish him, but his garb protected him. She used magic to tie him to the ground with vines. Emily then changed her weapon to nunchucks. She held her ground as the Sorcerer charged, sword at the ready. She quickly corrected by changing her weapon to a flail, wrapping it around his weapon, and yanking it from his hands violently. She then changed her weapon to a metal bat and hit him as hard as she could as he stumbled forward. Her weapon returned to halberd form.

  She happened to glance over and see Chris. She looked relieved, but also bothered. She had a wound on her arm, on her stomach, and her leg looked bloody. She ran up and took him by his shoulders and asked him if he was okay, he explained that he was.

  “Where’s Penny?” he asked urgently.

  “She ran by a while ago looking for you. She went to the dorm, but when she couldn’t find you she ran by again.” Emily told him. “Don’t you dare try going that way. We’re losing control over there.”

  “If she went that way so am I,” he said looking her straight in the eye. “I won’t let her go alone.”

  “Fine,” she reluctantly agreed. “Myra! I need you to help my brother!” she called to a girl with her hair dyed a teal blue.

  Her hair was curly and long, her eyes were grey, and she had a very serious expression. Myra wore a blue shirt with white sleeves, white shorts with a little blue, leggings, and black shoes. She ran over and looked Chris over for a moment. “Your brother?”

  “Help him get to his partner. She went toward an area where Sorcerers and Imperial Soldiers are everywhere,” she explained. “Get him to her by any means.”

  “Yes ma’am,” she said with a gleam of confidence in her eye. “I’ll eliminate anyone who gets in his way.”

  "I'm counting on you to keep him alive, Myra," Emily told the girl. “Go Chris. Myra will make sure you have an easier time. Don’t expect her to be in the middle of the fighting though.”

  Myra dashed off and Chris followed closely. He noticed her reaching for her dagger. She stopped and took cover behind a crumbling wall. Chris joined her. There were five sorcerers and three soldiers all talking. Myra looked at Chris. “Stay,” She told him simply. She climbed to the top of the destroyed wall, leapt to the next building, and moved to the one closest to them. She leapt down, pulled two soldiers into an alleyway and killed both. She then crept over to one of the Sorcerers and stabbed him in the back quickly, then threw her dagger into the other Sorcerer. He screamed in pain. The remaining sorcerers and soldiers turned to see her standing there calmly.

  “Gonna have fun with this one. She thinks she’s tough because she can sneak up on us.” A female Sorcerer said. Chris couldn’t quite see their faces.

  Myra used her Storm magic to strike the soldiers with lightning. The Sorcerers engaged. Myra rolled quickly and retrieved her dagger.

  She’s amazing. She took out most of them before they knew it. I don’t know if she can handle the others though, he thought. I should help.

  “Hey over here!” Chris shouted as he charged in. Two of them looked away to focus on Chris. Myra’s lip curled. She drew throwing knives from her belt and tossed them into both of their backs. They didn’t get up, but they also weren’t dead. Paralyzed, he thought. The remaining Sorcerer lunged forward with a strong swing. Myra leapt into the air, doing a slight flip. She landed on his back, plunged her dagger downward into his back as her feet landed. He let out a yelp as she leapt off of him and replaced her dagger into its sheath.

  “I said stay,” Myra said simply. She pushed her hair behind her ear.

  “You were in trouble so I tried to get them off of your back.”

  “Sweet,” she said as she smiled. “And selfless I see.” She’s extremely short spoken, he thought as he ran with her. It made sense, she was the stealth type.

  Myra stopped and looked at the sky. She smiled and said simply, “Mages.” Chris looked up at the sky and grinned. She was right. The mages were hovering above the city watching and seeing who needed help. They were standing on what looked like a spider web above the battlefield.

  One of the mages was Victoria holding her arm beside another mage, Morgan, who confidently beamed with her hands on her hips. A boy with short black hair and a yellow overcoat was squatted down, holding the web together beside them. Next to him was a girl with curly, dark brown hair holding a flute to her lips. Behind her was a tall, blonde-haired mage with a magic staff behind his back and a girl with long brown hair juggling a fireball. Another mage with red hair walked forward and lunged off to a section of the city as soon as he saw her, her cloak flapping in the wind. Finally, there was a girl with white hair and blue skin. The girl with white hair began pointing down at the battlefield and saying something to Morgan. In response, Morgan leapt off and rejoined the fighting.

  Those are the mages? Wow, Chris thought to himself. Though out of all of the mages, he couldn’t help but notice Victoria who seemed to be staring right back at him. He couldn’t see her face very well from this distance, but he felt it. This must have been the sector she was told to guard. That’s so cool…

  “Chris there are more coming. We’ll need to deal with them quickly,” Myra’s voice came suddenly, snapping him back to reality.

  “Uh-huh,” Chris agreed. He held his sword in reverse grip and made his way forward.

  A sorcerer with a polearm swung at him. He blocked it, but was knocked back a bit. He winced. He hits hard. I’ll need to just avoid those. He swung again but this time Chris jumped back to dodge it. He charged in and got a good hit in and as the attacker fell, he continued on his way. He could see Myra fighting in a crowd. She needed help. He had remembered what Emily said about her not handling crowds very well. “Hang on Myra!”

  “Behind you,” she warned. The polearm user was back for more. He dodged out of the way of his blade. The pole of the weapon came around to hit him; he had no time to do
dge. He barely blocked it, but it still caused him to fall over. His sword fell out of reach. This guy is really tough and annoying. One of Myra’s daggers came from seemingly nowhere. She was getting overwhelmed, but she still prioritized him. He retrieved his sword and brandished it. The Sorcerer attempted the same attack as he did before. Chris dodged and elbowed him as hard as he could in the stomach and when he saw an opening. He cut the man across his chest. He saw him fall and knew he would not get up. He was in too much pain to move.

  “Myra!” Chris called to her as he turned. “I got him hang--” He choked slightly as he saw her get pierced deeply by a blade. Then another. Then another. He charged forward to help her. “Myra!”

  “Save your partner,” she whimpered. “I can hold them.” She threw out more daggers, backed off. Her wounds weren’t healing fast enough. She retreated for a moment to evaluate her next move.

  “Myra! No don’t!” She began to cut through as many as she could to clear a path for Chris, but she was slower now.

  She knelt down and tried to catch her breath. A cold steel sword pierced into her chest. Her eyes widened.

  “Myra!” She fell forward. Myra hit the ground with a ‘thud’, she was gone. Chris’ jaw dropped and his eyes widened. Myra died right in front of him in seconds. She was doing just fine a moment ago and now she was dead. He couldn’t help her.

  Victoria’s orb of energy flew through the crowd and knocked them all back in different directions. It was like a car had crashed into them all at once, causing them to topple over. She landed down beside Chris and gazed down at Myra’s unmoving self.

  “What happened?” she asked, anger was in her voice as she watched a group of Imperial soldiers approaching.

  “She protected me and then she got overwhelmed and--” he struggled to speak.