by JC Dameron
"Be careful, Vel," Aaron rushed to the telepad next to me, kissing me on the cheek before returning to Ethan's side.
Seles, having seen the exchange, grinned from ear to ear, as she handed me the spell blade. Grimaldi stood in the corner, behind the agents, and I noticed that he wielded a staff which was identical to the one that I had seen in my dream, and my heart sank into my chest. Seconds later, we stood in a room filled with boxes. I could hear the sound of guns firing outside as we walked from the building. Russian UTF agents joined us, and they spoke to one of the agents with us, whose name was Ted Rollins. Ted, was one of the agents who frequently accepted kitchen duties, and had struck quite a bond with most of Ethan’s team.
"On the roof," Ted said, pointing to a building across from us.
I looked to the roof, and I saw The Dragon standing near the edge of the building. She was facing another building not far from us, and she wielded a blade in her right hand, whilst extending her left hand to the sky. I stepped out from the building, and I looked to my immediate left. I saw a fiery void opened above the street in front of the building where the Russian President was trapped. Orange fire pummeled the brick building, and gunshots rang from inside as the men protecting the President, fired their guns at The Dragon. Their bullets proved useless, as they flickered off her barrier and fell harmlessly to the ground. Though the brick building seemed to be somewhat holding up against the flames, the ground in front of the building was set ablaze, and the building itself was in fact starting to catch fire, which indicated that it wouldn't hold together for too long. I wondered why, if The Dragon wanted to kill this human, she would manifest such a weak invocation to accomplish her task.
"Grimaldi!" I called through the deafening sound of gunfire, as the agents began to fire at The Dragon.
"Majesty?" He questioned, walking to me.
"Put out the fire, but don't use a water invocation," I shouted, still surprised how much his staff resembled the one he held within my dream.
Seles looked to me for instruction as Grimaldi walked to the building.
"Seles, if I draw her attention, can you flash through the building to get the President and his men out?" I asked, knowing all too well that she could.
"On it, Vel," she answered.
I felt Ether rush into me, and she invoked her speed enhancement. The Ether that flowed into me was multiplied as Grimaldi held up his staff, invoking a void which acted as a vacuum to choke out the flames, successfully countering The Dragons fire invocation. I walked into the street and I saw The Dragon turn toward me. She slid her blade into its sheath, and she kneeled on the edge of the building. Seles flashed in and out of the building, carrying the President and his men to the telepad from which we had arrived.
The Dragon stood upright suddenly, raising her hands to the sky. A great shadow covered us as a dark void opened above. From the void came an army of Spirit Reapers, known in our world as Umbra, as though The Dragon had reached into our world and brought them here. I stood amazed at the sight for a moment; there were hundreds of them. In our world, Umbra would occasionally be found during the hunt, mostly at night, but usually only one or two at a time.
They were beings made up entirely of raw Ether; in fact, it was a common belief that they were a physical manifestation of the Ether left behind from those who had perished but weren't accepted into the Land of the gods. The Umbra didn't speak, they just attacked any living thing in their path, siphoning it's Ether and blood, leaving behind nothing but a hollowed out corpse. I encountered the fiends during a hunt once when I was just a young girl, and I knew that they were susceptible to light. Grimaldi and Seles, seeing the Umbra emerge, walked beside me, and I could hear them chanting a familiar invocation, to which I joined in.
"Fons Lucis," we chanted in unison.
We placed our hands together, and a fountain of light appeared before us. From the fountain, innumerable rays of light erupted forth, striking many of the Umbra, and causing them to vanish. Though the rays of light were numerous, the Umbra's numbers were greater still, and more poured out from the void with each passing second. The first wave of Umbra passed by, ignoring us to stay clear of the fountain of light, flooding into the building that Seles had taken the President and his men to.
"Seles!" I exclaimed, as I felt a large surge of Ether.
"On it," Seles said, preparing to flash into the building and destroy the Umbra who had escaped the fountain of light.
Immediately following the surge of Ether, I felt myself begin to sink. I looked down and found that the street had become a sand-like texture and was drawing us in. Seles and Grimaldi also were trapped, unable to free themselves from the invocation. I looked to the rooftop, where The Dragon had stood, but she was gone. Above us, another wave of Umbra closed in, this time, coming for Grimaldi, Seles, and I who were all slowly sinking into the street. The fountain of light had dried up, having used all of the Ether we had placed into the invocation and had dissipated.
"Hastam De Lumine," I chanted, holding my hand open beside me, pouring all of the Ether that I had absorbed into the invocation.
A spear of light materialized, floating just above my hand. The light, which emanated from the spear, was so brilliant that the Umbra who closed in upon us were vanquished from a great distance. I thrust my hand toward the void, and the spear launched at great speeds toward it, destroying the Umbra as it passed. Moments later, the spear was enveloped by the void, and I closed my fist to shatter the invocation. The resulting effect was an explosion of light, which forced me to cover my eyes, and destroyed all of the Umbra that remained, effectively closing the void.
I could feel myself continue to sink, and once the light dulled, I looked to find that the entire street, as far as I could see, was subject to the invocation's effects. I heard one of the Russian UTF agents call out from the sidewalk, speaking in a language that I didn't understand. He tossed a rope toward us, which we grabbed onto, and he pulled us out of the street in which we were trapped.
"The Umbra in the building, Vel, I couldn't free myself," Seles said, lowering her head.
"It's not your fault, Seles, there wasn't anything that you could have done," I said, placing my hand on her shoulder.
All around us, the corpses of Russian UTF agents lay on the sidewalk where the Umbra had drained them of all of their blood. The UTF agents who had accompanied us still lived, however, for which I was thankful, if not a bit surprised.
"Okay commander, we'll ensure that he gets to the capital safely," Agent Rollins said, speaking to Ethan through a communications device.
"Who will we take to the capital?" Grimaldi stood to his feet, addressing Agent Rollins.
"President Popovich, somehow he survived with only minimal injuries, and he is inside now," he replied, entering the building.
Seles and I stood to our feet and joined Grimaldi.
"How could he have survived?" Grimaldi thought aloud.
"I don't know.” It was a great question. "Maybe the light from the spear reached the Umbra inside somehow," I said, thankful we had succeeded, even if the cost was great.
I turned my head, looking back before entering the building, and I noticed that the street still continuously caved in on itself, only to push itself back up at the edges of the sidewall, creating an eternal ebb and flow where the street had been. I knew that The Dragon had used this spell, a Forbidden Spell, as a means of escaping unnoticed, not as an attempt on our lives. Having now seen the effects of Forbidden Spells first hand, I knew there was a good reason why this kind of reality altering invocations were forbidden and the fact that she possessed the knowledge to manifest invocations of this magnitude, truly terrified me.
CHAPTER THIRTY
The Debrief
We arrived back to the UTF headquarters, the Russian President and a handful of Russian UTF agents alongside us, just as Ethan entered the room.
"YA proshu proshcheniya za zaderzhku, gospodin prezident. My budem imet' vas obratno v stolit
su v kratchayshiye sroki," Ethan said to the President, walking to the platform.
I was impressed that Ethan could speak another language, especially one as different from his native tongue as Russian. The Russian President looked at me and smiled. Something about him didn't sit well with me, and I felt a shiver run up my spine as he spoke.
"Thank you for your help," he said, quite clearly, as he stared at me.
I simply nodded in reply as Ethan initiated the transfer.
"Did that creep you out as badly as it did me?" Seles asked.
"Yea, something about him was off for sure," I answered, watching Ethan as he passed by us, and indicated for us to follow with a wave of his hand.
We walked through the halls until we came to a large conference room, whereupon we entered, and we were seated. Leaha, Aaron, and the four agents who had accompanied us on the mission arrived shortly thereafter, and they were seated as well. Ethan stood in the front of the room near a monitor, which he turned on before speaking.
"Well done in providing the cover needed for President Popovich to arrive safely at the Capitol. If he hadn't been briefed on the caster situation before, I'm quite sure that he is aware of it now," Ethan said, pointing to the monitor.
On the screen, Ethan turned on a video of the street that had been affected by The Dragon's Forbidden Spell.
"This is an example of the kind of thing that we are commissioned to prevent," Ethan declared. "I have been assured by the powers that be that they are working on something to resolve this situation, but in the meantime, there is an entire city block that is uninhabitable. Businesses will be closed, and people will be moved to shelters; furthermore, fourteen Russian agents were killed during the encounter," Ethan said, changing the picture on the screen to show the corpses of those men who were drained by the Umbra. "Don't mistake me, I am very happy that you all survived, but those were agents of our organization as well. What the hell happened out there that prevented you from keeping them safe?"
"As the commander on the field, I take responsibility for those deaths," Grimaldi stood to his feet to address Ethan.
"Grimaldi, the video clearly shows that you were caught up in the mess with the street alongside Seles and Vel," he said, releasing Grimaldi from guilt. He pushed a button on the controller in his hand, and the screen changed to a live feed from a camera on the street at the time of the battle. "Watch closely," Ethan said, turning to watch the monitor. "I know first hand that in the heat of battle, you may not notice minute details, but the video shows something that is pretty disturbing.”
The video showed the fountain of light invocation emitting rays to destroy the Umbra. Moments later, the Russian UTF agents stopped firing, lowered their guns, and began to walk to the building where the Russian President had been taken. The Umbra swept in seconds later, and through the mass of Umbra which clouded the camera's focus, I could see the Umbra trying to assault the American agents, but seemed to be unable to touch them; however, the Russian agents were consumed entirely.
"Can someone explain to me how you all were not injured, but those men lost their lives?" He asked, not accusingly, but as baffled by the incident as we were.
I continued to watch the video play while Ethan and the agents present spoke. From the edge of the camera's viewpoint, I saw a light flash, and in the same moment, the street was affected by The Dragon's Forbidden Spell. The flash of light, however, shined from the same side of the street than our agents were positioned.
"Stop the video and rewind a few seconds, Ethan," I said, interrupting their heated debate.
Ethan stopped the video, and he rewound it, as I requested.
"Now watch closely," I said, standing and moving to the monitor. "We are here, and based on the direction we are facing, The Dragon is on the building, here," I said, pointing as I spoke. "There!" I said, pointing out the flash.
"That could be anything," Ethan said. "There are more corpses than this camera's angle shows. It could be something as small as a gun being fired just out of sight by one of the men who died, or it could simply be a bursting light bulb."
Something about the flash just didn't sit right with me.
"Are there other camera's that could have had a clearer view of that zone?" I asked.
"There are, however, the Russian Government keeps their surveillance footage under tight wraps; truthfully, they sent us this video as a courtesy. Besides, it was their men that perished, and their President whom was under attack. If they had anymore working knowledge of anything unusual, I am confident that they would have let us know. The UTF is independent of any governmental body, so our agents are not subject to the restraints of their homeland's laws. If any of the surviving Russian agents suspected something wasn't right, they would go to their commander, and we would know about it. Although the loss of those men is terrible, I'm proud to say that you succeeded in our mission. Great job today team, that is all," Ethan said, as he turned off the monitor and walked out of the room.
"Vel, I'll see you at dinner, and we can talk," Leaha said, following Ethan.
The UTF agents all exited the room, Grimaldi, and Seles alongside them, leaving only Aaron and me in the room.
"So, what do you think the flash was?" Aaron asked, moving to the chair beside me.
"I'm not sure, to be honest," I faced Aaron. "I just feel like something more happened there than what we are seeing," I said, placing my head in my hand, which was propped on the table. "There is no way the President could have survived unscathed while all of his men inside were killed by the Umbra. That alone is cause enough for question, but when you consider the flash from the camera and the fact that the Umbra didn't seem to be able to drain our men, it's clear we don't have all the facts.”
Aaron propped his head on his hand as I had, looking into my eyes.
"You know, you're even more beautiful when you're thinking really hard," he smiled.
"Well thank you, Mr. Briggs." I returned his smile.
"Maybe, for now, we should just let things play out how they will," he advised, taking my hand into his free hand.
"I guess you're right," I sighed, unable to make any connections. "Without the video from the other cameras," I said, stopping mid-thought, remembering that Lucas was great with computers. "I have to go!" I jumped to my feet.
"Go where?" Aaron asked with a confused look on his face.
"I have to go see Lucas," I replied. "He is able to do a lot of things with a computer! He may be able to find a way to obtain the footage from the other cameras, and possibly shed some light on what really happened," I said excitedly.
Aaron's face dropped a bit as he heard me mention Lucas's name, but he lifted himself out of the chair and stood beside me.
"I'll come with you then, maybe you're right, and he may be able to find something.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Lucas vs Aaron
When Aaron and I walked into the lab, we found Lucas and Vesta seated side by side at the table. It looked like Lucas and Felix were starting to reassemble one of the transport devices.
"Aunt Vel!" Vesta yelled, turning her wheelchair when she heard the door to the lab open.
"Hello, Vesta," I replied, in kind.
"I knew you'd be back sooner or later," Lucas said, turning to face me with a smile, but his smile instantly disappeared when he saw Aaron behind me.
"Wow, Mr. Frownie needs a brownie, huh?" Lucas said, referring to Aaron's gaze, which looked as though it could melt steel beams.
"Lucas Wright, you don't deserve to be in this building," Aaron replied. "Your presence here is simply a byproduct of being the son of a highly esteemed inventor and a series of unfortunate events. Do not allow yourself to become too comfortable; your stay will be over once we no longer need you," Aaron said, speaking harshly to Lucas.
Lucas's mouth moved to speak, but he looked to Vesta, and simply turned around.
"That was uncalled for," I whispered to Aaron before approaching Lucas.
; Vesta stuck her tongue out to Aaron and turned her wheelchair to face the table.
"Lucas, I need to know if you can do something for me," I started, touching his shoulder.
Lucas, never turning around, sighed before answering.
"What can I do for you, Vel?" He asked in a sarcastic tone.
I felt Aaron brush by me, and I watched as he grabbed Lucas by the arm, and lifted him out of his seat.
"Do you really believe that it's okay to talk to the woman who saved you from your time within your cell like that?" Aaron asked, drawing Lucas face-to-face with himself.
"Stop this right now, Aaron!" I put my hand between Lucas and Aaron to create some space.
"Is Captain Unprepared upset because of how I spoke to you, or that I kissed you?" Lucas laughed out loud, seemingly unintimidated whilst taunting the much larger Aaron.
"He kissed you, when?" The expression on Aaron's face changed from angry to confused instantly.
I began to speak, but before I could say a word, Lucas interrupted me.
"Last night, but you were in the tank, so you couldn't have known. To be clear, we kissed each other, big guy. I guess that makes you less of a Captain Unprepared, and more of a Captain Unaware," Lucas said, laughing in Aaron's face.
Aaron reached back and drove his fist into Lucas's face, knocking him to the ground, and pushing me back as well. Lucas stood to his feet, blood dripping from his already broken nose, grabbed Aaron by his shirt, and pulled him to himself. He dropped to his back, as he placed his foot on Aaron's stomach, and launched him backward using Aaron's own momentum against him. Aaron stood to his feet and the two charged each other, exchanging blows. Lucas was faster, and he was clearly trained in hand to hand combat to be able to stand up against Aaron's military training. For every shot that Aaron landed, Lucas landed three, but there was no comparison between them due to the difference in their size and build. Each hit that Aaron landed slowed Lucas's speed a bit more, until he wasn't able to dodge Aaron's strikes any longer. Aaron grabbed Lucas by the hair, turning his head sideways, and drove his knee into Lucas's ear, leaving him unconscious on the ground. All the while, I screamed for them to stop. I felt a great rush of Ether flow into me, and I turned to see Vesta encompassed in a dimly glowing red aura. I hadn't realized it during the fight, but she had been watching the whole thing and had begged them to stop as well.