by Paul Simpson
Chapter 9
3rd Witch / Element of Air
The open air concert music boomed out from the huge stack of speakers around the grounds. Ffion made her way through the crowds of people. Thousands of music lovers had gathered to see their favorite pop, rock, and dance artists throughout the day. This was quite an exciting moment for Ffion, who had never been to a concert before and it was difficult to keep her mind on the job at hand.
With every minute she was there the whole atmosphere seemed to draw her into the songs and good mood of the people. It was in fact the look of the people that brought her back to her senses. As she made her way to the stage, she noticed a young man dancing in the crowd, his chest was aglow as if golden glitter was filling his heart. As she watched more of what appeared to be a shaft of dark light with glowing edges, much the same as a dark storm cloud with a silver lining, it began to shine from his body and rise into the air like a spotlight.
The man looked over and caught Ffion watching him, completely unaware of what was happening. Giving a wink and a wave, he beckoned Ffion over to dance. Ffion blushed with embarrassment at the predicament she now found herself in and lowered her head, disappearing into the crowd around her. But the sight of the ghostly light bothered her. What was it and why could only she see it?
Following the trail of magic, she moved further toward the stage. The glowing symbol on her hand seemed to be picking up vibrations, possibly of magic. It was also the only thing she had to work on so she decided to follow its pull to see where it led her.
At the back of the huge stage, tent people were hurrying back and forth for the following acts when she was spotted by a woman who shouted over to her.
“Hey you, who are you? Are you one of the apprentices helping out?”
Ffion just nodded and played along, putting her hand in a pocket to hide the light coming from it. This was her only shot at getting around backstage and she didn’t want to get thrown out at this point.
“Good,” said the woman, "come with me and help me set up for the next show." They set off into one of the large tents. Inside it was quite warm from the summer sun beating down on the tent roof, and sweat began to form on Ffion’s forehead.
“Over there please, by the speakers,” instructed the woman. “I need you to start stacking the t-shirt boxes so they can be moved for the next performance.”
Ffion did as she was asked but all the time her hand was pulsing with energy as if she’d found where she needed to be. Moving into the tent to start helping, she heard a noise that made her turn and look. The woman had gone, but where? With a high pitch the surrounding stacked speakers all came on with a loud feedback buzz, even though there were no electrical points anywhere. Ffion wiggled her little finger in her ears in order to shake off the noise when another buzz came from the large speaker next to her. In a loud bass noise, the boom knocked Ffion across the room for several metres. She staggered to her feet, but another speaker let off a feedback boom, knocking her over once more.
Climbing up to her feet again all the speakers around her began to turn on, sending out such a strong phonic shockwave that it was like being pushed, pulled and punched from every angle. This time Ffion fell to the floor and stayed down, dizzy from the attack and disorientated from the noise and ringing in her ears. She watched as a pair of shoes came closer and a woman’s voice began to speak.
The woman removed a set of headphones as she stared down at Ffion by her feet. “So, you’re finally here. I thought you’d show up at some point. Surely you must realise that if you’re going to play on the spider’s web, the spider will know you’re there, however carefully you tread. I suppose I know what you’re here for, but guess what? I don’t think you’re going to get it today. In fact, I think I might just finish it right here, right now. Just think, I’ll be saving the world by killing you and the prophecy won’t be able to come true.”
All the while the witch spoke, Ffion gained back her senses and was already looking for a way out of the tent. The sound the speakers made were like a banshee wail and she didn’t know if she could stay conscious if it happened again.
Channeling her magic, Ffion grabbed a cable and brought it to life. Like creeping vines, more cables began to writhe like snakes across the floor toward the witch, grabbing at her legs to cause distraction and keep her in place while Ffion made a break for the tent door. With a slight stagger, she reached outside and ran for cover. Inside the tent the witch tore away at the cables that held her and gave chase, catching a glimpse of Ffion as she headed for the main stage.
Ffion ran blindly away, still dazed from the attack as she caught sight of the witch in pursuit. Up some stairs, pushing past staff, she scrambled for a safe place to get back her focus in order to retaliate. Before she could form a plan she had run out onto the main stage as the rock music played out. The band just stared at her, wondering what she was up to as the stage security formed, ready to go on and get her. The witch pushed through the muscle heads.
“OUT OF MY WAY, YOU IDIOTS!” she cried, as she too stood out on stage before the crowds in a standoff with Ffion.
Before everyone’s eyes, Ffion, realising she had nowhere to go, powered up her hands with a deep glow beneath her skin, ready for a fight. The witch put on her headphones and took in a deep breath, ready to scream as all the onstage speakers began to crackle with energy. The band played on, shaking their heads at each other, thinking the organisers were putting on a show for them. Meanwhile the crowd cheered on, enjoying the show and special effects from the two women about to fight on stage.
The witch let out a scream as the speakers sent out a shockwave knocking Ffion into the air. With a sparkling flash of magic Ffion turned into a cat and twisted through the air to land against a speaker's side and jump back into the air, turning back to her human self, as she fired off a volley of blasts toward the witch in retaliation. The blasts fizzed and sparked as the witch sent another set out to deflect the shots. The crowd went wild as the fight took place in front of them, and the next round of shots were fired at each other.
Ffion had now come back to her senses and was looking for a way to finish this fight quickly before it spread into the audience, putting them in danger. The witch used her power to levitate the large on-stage speakers, sending them flying toward Ffion who dived to the floor with a knee slide to avoid them. Grabbing a microphone cable she swung the cord and whipped it around one of the passing speakers, pulling hard to cause it to swing back toward the witch. The witch quickly used her powers to lift herself into the air and out of the way as, in the background, the band were finishing their song. With the witch distracted, Ffion grabbed one of the spare bass guitars and swung it hard, hitting the witch square across the face as she was coming into land. The blow to the head knocked her across the stage, leaving her the one who was now dazed as to her surroundings.
Ffion walked over to the front of the stage area where the crowd was going wild at what they thought was the show. Leaning over the witch, she thought there was something odd about the headphones she was wearing.
“You know, I’ve just noticed your headphones don’t have a power source but they seem to be working fine for you. That must mean you’ve cast a spell on them?”
Ffion grabbed the headphones from the witch's head and began the spell to trap her soul as the object lit up with power. The witch began to scream as her soul was ripped from her body and into the object. Ffion continued chanting and, as before, the body broke down into sparks and twirled around as they were pulled into the headphones until there was nothing left.
Ffion took a deep breath as the silence of the stadium surrounded her. She lifted her head and looked around. With a huge roar the crowd went wild at the show they had just watched, even the band came over and shook her hand.
“Hey if you’re free I’d like to ask you to tour with us and do your amazing show. How did you do all that?” asked the lead singer in disbelief, thinking he’d just seen a magic show.
; “Sorry, it’s a onetime only gig,” replied Ffion kindly. “But while I’m here I’ll take a final bow before I leave if you don’t mind!” The band all joined hands and took a bow to the audience before the next act came on stage.
“THANK YOU AND ENJOY THE REST OF THE SHOW!” shouted Ffion, who was high on the excitement of it all as she took her leave of the stage and gave a last wave to the band. As she placed the headphones around her neck she could hear the voice of the witch's soul screaming from inside them.
She made her way back out around the edge of the crowd. As she walked back to the portal area she came across a group of people shouting for help. From among the group shone the dark light that she had seen before upon arrival. Pushing through she saw the young man who had asked her to dance earlier, clutching his chest and gasping for breath. As the medics arrived and the people made room for them Ffion noticed another figure approaching, that of a Reaper.
Watching it move closer, Ffion stood and watched as the Reaper stood over the man and waited with its hand hovering over the chest area where the light formed from. A shining soul orb rose out of the young man into the hands of the Reaper as his body gave one last breath and slumped flat on the floor. The Reaper moved past and even looked over her way, not recognising her, as a shaft of light came down and the reaper extended its wings and flew up, disappearing into the light.
“It didn’t recognise me, which begs the question of how many of these things are there?” she thought. But the question would have to wait as Ffion made her way back to the village with the third soul in her possession.
Arriving home, Ffion could see in the distance that her mother was once again under attack from a group of Reapers and she hurried from the webbed mansion to aid in the fight.
John was defending against two Reapers that were keeping him distracted while another set about trying to crack the barrier around Jodie. To the side, George was chasing down a further Reaper, his extra leopard size and shape giving him the power to take them on.
Ffion ran into the fight and immediately ran at the Reaper attacking her mother. With magic in her hand she punched it clear through the air for several feet. The Reaper got back up, collecting the scythe from the ground, and turned its head to Ffion, who was searching for a weapon. At the same time, John had just knocked out one of the Reapers and picked up its scythe to fight the other while he threw his axe over to Ffion, who he could see was about to have trouble. “FFION, CATCH!” he shouted over, as she reached out, grabbing the axe.
To her surprise the axe’s power came alive in her hands as she felt it run up her arm. From under her skin she could see a dull blue glow in her hand and past her wrist. She gave a swing of the axe and the blue blade of energy formed in the air with each swing around her body. The Reaper charged and so did she. Aiming low, she swung under the Reaper’s scythe and hit her target across the waist. As she turned she watched as the Reaper flew toward the barrier of the stones and split into two halves, the parts bouncing off the magic surrounding Jodie and falling to the floor. The remaining Reapers turned and became almost scared of what Ffion had done. Picking up their unconscious comrade they made a quick escape into the sky.
George and John looked at Ffion, in awe at what she had done. John walked over to her.
“Wow, I didn’t know it could do that,” he said as Ffion handed the axe back to him. It's power began to dim and the blue glow under her skin seemed to spread and absorb into her arm. Ffion watched as her arm returned to normal.
“Dad, what’s happening to me? How did I do that? It was like something just clicked and I could focus what I wanted it to do.”
John was also bemused. “I know the feeling you speak of, as if your skills are amplified and the weapon becomes a part of you like an extension of your own body. Maybe it’s because of your power it allows you to wield it or maybe because you are also a part of me and look at what I’ve become."
Suddenly a shooting pain caused Ffion to cry out as the blue energy glowed from within her arm again, stretching up toward her shoulder before fading as quickly as it started. Ffion looked toward her mother. “What’s happening to me, do you know?”
“I don’t know" she said. "I can guess that you’re somehow absorbing the different energy from the axe and it’s changing you so you can contain it, it's growing in you. I guess only time will tell if it fades or not? I’m sorry, now the stones are opening I can’t see anything the way I used to and when I could it was limited to what it allowed me to see at any given time.”
She smiled and touched the barrier where Jodie stood “It's ok, Mother, thank you.”
Ffion took the headphones from around her neck and held them toward the stones, she could already feel the pull of the magical energy's tugging at the witch's soul within them. With a scream of agony and hate, the witch's soul was dragged into the nearby stone as the barrier around Jodie weakened.
She turned back to her father again. “The thing you called the Dark Light, I think I’ve seen it. I’ve never seen anything like it before and it all seems to be stemming from when the axe shocked me. At the last site when I visited the witch, I saw someone die and a Reaper came and took his soul away into the light.”
John looked puzzled. “Traveling as an orb I could sense and see what the Reapers came to do. I’m not sure why you can do that, it’s a power of the Reaper. The Imps can sense the death and see the soul but even they can’t see the pillar of light. Let me know if anything else happens.”
Ffion felt no more reassured but the next witch was waiting to be found. George nudged against her leg.
“Hi, I don’t mean to be rude but you look like you’ve been having a rough time. There’s some food in that nearby house. You need food and a rest or you’re going to be too tired to be of any use to your mother.”
Ffion smiled as George’s words rang true. “Ok my friend.” She gave him a fuss and scratched his head. “To be truthful it is not going as easy as I’d hoped and I could do with a drink and rest in this heat.”
John held out his hands as if to push both of them to rest. “You both go as I don’t need to rest. I’ll keep guard over your mother, you’re only a shout away if I need you back here.”
Ffion smiled and did as her father asked. Changing George back to his normal size, the duo set off for a break and a rest while the area was clear and safe from attack.