“I understand.”
“This case with the Icemaker is certainly the most important the army has been charged with in decades. I don’t want the army to bring him in. I want to bring him in myself, so I need you to bring his head, and the heads of his two friends to me. Do you understand?”
“I do.”
“Intel had me know just hours ago that they’re based only miles away from the prison, the southern campus. There was a break-in only last night, and reports tell they were the ones responsible. Look out for a little blind girl that might be with them. You might want to kill her for your own safety.”
“Hm?”
“I don’t know the full details, but while I was on leave some years ago, there was some freak murder, and she was brought in. She’s probably a witch or something. Comb the area and get them to me. I’ll double your already quadrupled pay if you get them here before tomorrow.”
“Have my reward ready for tonight.”
***
“Wow,” Blade sighed, leaning back in the chair he already deemed his. “I haven’t eaten food this good since boyhood.”
Star grinned.
“Star, what do you say you teach me spaceshifting today?” Clover suggested. “Pleeease!” she pled.
“Alright, alright!” the young woman yielded. “Come along!” She led Clover outside. Blade sighed, hissing under his breath. Kyle looked at him and laughed a little.
“What’s so funny?” Blade asked Kyle, sounding quite defensive.
“You’ve lightened up quite a bit since you’ve woken up here. Can’t help but wonder why.”
“Ha! Have I, now?”
“Yeah! All smiley and jokey and all! Not so dark and grim as you used to be.”
“Dark and grim?!” Blade sounded and looked very hurt. “I wasn’t… dark and grim?!”
Kyle laughed again and stood, drawing his sword from its sheath, holding it up firmly like some mighty warrior of legends.
“Think you can touch me with that thing?” Blade asked daringly.
“Ha! Think I can’t?”
Blade stood. “One way to be sure.”
“A duel?!”
“Ha! Hardly. I’ll leave my sword behind.”
“Oh yeah?! Tryin’ to make me look bad now, eh?!”
“Let’s go!” With that, teacher and student left for the back yard where there was plenty of space for training. “Huh? Where’re the girls?”
“You can just say Star, you know!”
***
“Where the hell are we?!” Clover asked, finding herself in some dark, damp place.
“It’s okay,” Star’s voice came from just beside her. “We’re in a cave in the midst of the Orishan jungle. Mother used to bring me here to teach me spaceshifting. This place has a magical aura about it. I learnt in a mere three days! Alright, this is how we’ll begin…”
***
Lex just looked at Zen. She knew he was there, and could feel him looking at her, but she just hung her head down over her almost full plate. “You barely touched your food,” Lex finally said. Zen made no response. “I… I know you barely know me… but you can talk to me. I’m your friend.”
“You’re not my friend,” she answered, holding her head up. “You don’t know me. You don’t know anything about me.”
“Only you can change that.” Lex touched her hand. She pulled it away abruptly, like his touch was frightening.
“I don’t belong here, Lex… I belong in prison where you found me.” Tears welled up in her eyes again. Lex was silent for a while.
“…Why?”
“Just… Leave me alone, Lex! Go be with Clover! Or one of your friends!” she flared suddenly.
“I’m not going anywhere,” Lex said adamantly.
“Then I’m leaving!” Zen countered, and stood from her chair. Lex stood with her and reached out to her, touching her shoulder softly. Suddenly, a strong, invisible force roughly flung Lex, even the table and chairs away from Zen. There was a sudden loud slam.
“Owww… Oh damn…” Lex groaned after crashing into the wall and hitting the ground, pieces of the wall coming down on him. He could barely move. The startled boy looked up at Zen. She was speechless, and seemed as surprised as he. She shuddered. Lex couldn’t speak either.
The door was opened. Kyle stepped inside, sword in hand.
“What the hell?” Kyle wondered aloud, looking around at the mess in the room. Tables and chairs were flung about, scattered around the edges of the room. The walls were damaged where the tables and chair hit them.
“I’m s—so sorry,” the shaking girl uttered. “I really… didn’t mean to.”
“It’s okay… Ahh… I’m alright.”
Kyle helped Lex up.
“You?! You did this?!” the stupefied Kyle asked, just noticing her apology, excitement and discovery in his voice. They stared at the shaking Zen.
A green blur of mana appeared in the midst of them. “Yay! I did it! I did it!” Clover shouted joyfully and proudly, jumping about, helping the waste mana to disperse.
“You did!” Star rejoiced with her, hugging her tightly. “What the--” Star pushed Clover off in fright. Lex caught her so she wouldn’t fall. Clover’s eyes widened as he just noticed the place. “What’s going on here?!” Star raved, more anger than wonder in her voice. Her eyes and Clover’s soon steadied on the girl standing in the middle of the room. “You did this?” Star asked in a different tone.
“I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to!”
“She just blasted everything away without moving a muscle! It was amazing! I knew she was special! That power! It slammed me into this wall!”
“Oh Lex! Are you alright?!” Clover ran hugged him. Lex noticed Zen fold her fists tightly, but only for a moment.
“Yeah, I’m fine,” Lex said, almost pushing Clover off.
“You must tell us of this strange gift you have!” Star said excitedly. She rushed over to Zen and took her hands.
***
“Alright, scrubs, listen up,” the masked assassin said to the six men the supreme general lent him. “This is my mission. You are my tools. I usually work alone so consider this a privilege. Our targets are just up ahead. I know you’re specialists in your fields, but I’m the boss here. You are under my command. Understood?”
“Yes, sir,” the men answered.
“Hm. I’m beginning to like the sound of that. Heh. We’ve wasted enough time. Let’s move.”
The class-A steeds took off with great speeds.
***
“We’re waiting, Zen,” Star reminded, “I believe you owe it to us.” Everyone but Blade was sitting on her bed. The bed was quite grand compared to those in the other room. Blade remained where he could keep visual contact with the front door and outside.
“Alright,” she finally conceded, and sighed heavily. “Mother died while giving birth to me. I don’t even know when my father left. People that knew my parents took me away from my birthplace, Tin Tin Town, to Sansuri, where they knew my mother’s grandmother lived... She was the only family I had left… So I grew up with my great-grandmother. She was a witch, a very powerful witch, but she was old and feeble. Sometimes I think she was even senile. She lived for over a century. When I was eight I believe… I noticed something about myself that frightened me. Whenever I tried hard enough, I could… emit a force from myself with my mind. I told my great-grandmother about this. She was quite accepting and excited about this power I possessed. She told me that I was special… She was an evil woman who had hundreds of enemies. She used to tell me many stories of people she killed or cursed, even for petty reasons.
“She told me that she could use her magic to raise my mother from the dead. I had no interest in seeing father again. She told me that if I did as she said… she would bring her back.... She had me kill people for her… I was eight…” Tears freely ran down her face as she spoke. “My power had grown to destructive levels. She took me to her enemies… I killed… entire fami
lies… The more I killed, the stronger my power became. In a split second, I could slice anything… anyone in half with my power. I was a murderer… One of those days, the woman sent me to a small family – a man, a woman and their daughter. She was about my age. She told me that she wanted to curse the man and woman, but not with sorcery. I was to kill the girl…I couldn’t… I cried and cried…” She could barely go on. “For all that I did… guilt nearly killed me. Still, the witch would not give up. She told me that if I didn’t obey her, she would make me blind. She told me that no one but her would ever… love a girl like me, and only a kiss of real love would make me see again… At eight, I went blind. She told me that only she could love me, and she would kiss me and break the curse if I obeyed her again… I killed her.
“That day, Magmalian soldiers raided my house. They were searching all over for me. I had killed one of their high ranking officers on a mission. They took me away… I convinced them that it was my grandmother that gave me my power, and it died along with her. I was sentenced to a hundred years in prison… I accepted my punishment. I vowed to myself never to use my power again.”
Star could not restrain herself from crying. “Zen, you cannot undo what you have done,” she said. “I know you blame yourself… but you were eight.”
“Zen, keeping from the world the power to help rescue it is a greater evil than all the crimes you have committed,” Kyle said. “Join us, Zen, in payment of your debt to this world.”
Chapter 29: Horror Behind the Mask
“Star, come!” Clover demanded, “We didn’t finish our lesson last time!”
“Come on, Clover! We just had lunch!” She sighed. “No matter I suppose,” she yielded quickly.
“Come! Shift with me! Show me the world!” Clover pushed back her chair and ran around to where Star was sitting.
“Alright, alright!” Star got up. “We’ll be back in an hour!” With that, they vanished in a cloud of blue mana.
“And off they go again,” Blade grumbled to himself.
“Wish I had a teacher too,” Lex said, summoning up an iceball in his right hand.
“Well you could take a trip to Iceland,” Zen suggested.
“Iceland?”
“Mhm. A continent way up north. I think there’re a few Icemakers there.”
“Yeah?”
“Mhm!”
“Sounds cool!”
“Except it’d take half a year to get there,” Blade came in. “There’s an old ice fortress right here’n Libson, but there’re only relics there from an old ice village I believe.”
“Think I should check it out?!” the boy asked with excitement and optimism.
“As I said, there’s really no one there to teach you... Come, Kyle!”
“Huh?! I just ate!”
“Not my problem. Your stamina needs a lot of work.”
“Stamina training again?! Damn, I’m tired already!”
“Quit whining, little girl!” Blade grabbed him and dragged him outside.
“Alright, alright!”
“Don’t you have some place to be too?” Zen asked Lex.
“You know what, yeah! I’m leaving right now!” He got up and made some skilfully successively softened steps that to Zen, certainly led him outside. Lex watched her, trying successfully to breathe inaudibly. Zen sighed again and again. Her eyes brimmed with tears, like she was holding them back all through lunch. She stood and stretched her hands out before her and turned. She slowly walked until she reached to the door that led to the room with the many beds. She felt for the knob and opened the door. Lex, on his toes, stealthily followed her.
“Huh?” Zen stopped suddenly. “Who’s there?” she asked loudly. Lex made no sound.
“Is anyone there?” … Still no answer. She made a sudden, even fierce spin, flinging her fist where Lex’s head was just a tiny fraction of a second before. Lex remained as still as a rock, his heartbeat almost loud enough for Zen to hear. Zen cast her eyes directly at Lex’s.
What?! Is she looking at me?
She turned and continued to walk slowly, her hands going before her. She walked until she was up to the first pair of beds. She turned around again and walked back to the door. Lex quickly slipped inside the room and lowered his head as Zen nearly touched him while closing the door. She went straight to her bed, slowly climbing up on it. She rested her head on the pillow. She lay there. Lex went up a little closer. Tears just came from her eyes and shot down her face.
“I don’t… I don’t deserve this life…” she said to herself, “It is way too good for me,” she sobbed. “This curse of blindness isn’t punishment enough...” Lex took two silent steps, reaching closer to her. “Goodbye, Lex… Thank you… for everything… for giving me another chance… But I don’t deserve all this.” She slid her hand under the pillow her head was on. She was shaking. Lex’s eyes widened as the girl drew out a long knife. She raised it above her chest with sharp, deathly suddenness.
“Zen!” Lex blasted, and grabbed firmly to Zen’s wrist. He felt the serious force of her hand. She was not joking with herself. He suddenly twisted her wrist so the knife fell from her hand. He grabbed it before it landed, tossing it on another bed. She sat up quickly, hugging her knees, gasping, too startled to speak. “Are you mad?!” Lex blasted.
“L-Lex!”
“What the hell?! Are you crazy, Zen?!” Lex grabbed her fiercely. She could see the anger and fright and fear and worry on his face through his voice.
He released her quickly, just noticing he was probably hurting her. He gently took in his hand her reddened wrist that he had a moment ago twisted harshly. She was sitting up against wall, curled up in a shivering ball on her pillow. Lex climbed up on the bed with her. “Does it hurt?” he asked in an apologetic tone, caressing the girl’s wrist. He massaged it gently, trying to get rid of whatever pain he might have induced. “Zen, how could you--” She flung herself on him suddenly, hugging him so tightly he struggled to breathe. She cried freely. Lex just held on to her, knowing that was what she needed. Her tears soaked his shirt quickly. He sighed heavily, glad he was there to save her from herself. They knelt together on the bed holding each other.
With a frightening abruptness, the door banged open. Lex released Zen quickly and pulled away from her, looking at Clover, his eyes even wider than the witch’s.
“I can’t believe you!” Clover shouted redly. She folded her fists and shut her eyes tight. As quickly as Lex noticed the tears falling down her face, the young witch disappeared in a green cloud.
“Clover!” he yelled, jumping from the bed, reaching to where she stood just a second ago.
“I’m so sorry!” Zen cried, “Oh God! I didn’t mean to-- Lex!” she sobbed. A blue cloud of mana appeared just before Lex.
“Please! Find her!” Lex begged, worry coming out in his voice. “She was here just now, and she disappeared!” With no ado, Star shifted off. Lex coughed and stepped back from the clearing cloud of blue mana. “Dammit,” he hissed at himself, holding his forehead. He pulled his hand back over on his hair, grabbing and tearing out a few strands.
“Lex! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to!”
“It’s not your fault, Zen.”
***
“Oh… Oh hell! I’m dying!” Kyle panted.
“Come on,” Blade sounded like he wasn’t even warmed up yet.
“Huh?! Hey, we can see Star’s place form here!”
Blade looked down where Kyle pointed. What the-- He noticed an inconspicuous group of men heading toward the house, about half a mile from it. He quickly realized that they were armed, though their arms weren’t obvious. They look like trouble. Kyle judged the group he just saw on Blade’s expression.
***
“Lex! Will you forgive me?! I didn’t mean to ruin things with you and Clover! … I know you love her…” Lex turned and looked at Zen. She could feel his stare. He went over to her and sat on her bed. She fixed herself to sit beside him, clutching to him almost inv
oluntarily. “How could I make this up to you?” she asked, tears still falling down her cheeks. “I’ll do anything.”
“Alright.” Lex turned and stared into her eyes. “There’s one thing you can do. Make me a promise… that you’ll never try to hurt yourself again… I need you to do that for me.” Zen held her head down. After a few seconds, she stopped crying and began to smile.
“Promise,” she said almost in a whisper, nodding. “Thank you, Lex… You saved my life… I owe it to you.”
“You owe me nothing, Zen. That’s what friends are for.” Zen could almost see the warm smile on Lex’s face. She rested her head on his shoulder snugly.
“She’s a lucky girl, Lex…”
***
“I’ve figured out a way to intercept them. The masked assassin is with them so they can’t be pleasant news. Run back to the house and warn the others.”
“Are you sure?”
Blade flashed a stern glance at him.
“Right!” Kyle took off toward his objective.
***
A massive streak of electricity jetted out toward the Ionide. There was no escaping it. The bolt blasted Mike and he was thrown back a few meters, landing and rolling a little. He groaned as he rose to his feet. “That didn’t even tickle!” Four spikes headed for Electron at destructive speeds. His defence was faster though. Four streaks of bright bluish white shot out from his palms and arrested the spikes. “It’s no use, you idiot!” Mike shouted at Electron, “Your power is futile against me!” Mike dashed toward Electron, sending a fast fist at him. Electron caught the fist with an electrified palm. Sparks lit their hands, but Mike, being in the Ionide state, was unhurt. None of the electricity was pushed beyond his armour.
Electron charged up another sphere of electricity and slammed it in Mike’s belly. Current rushed through the outer layer of Mike’s armour. Mike dealt three hard blows to Electron’s head with his terribly hard fists, even creating mild dents. Mike blasted Electron in his chest, extending from his fist a spike that tore through his enemy almost easily. Sparks flew wildly. Electron blasted Mike off with a rush of high voltage. Mike barely skated back. Electron stepped back, then crouched slightly and jumped up. He took off in quick flight, his feet looking to be on fire. Mike gazed up in wonder.
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