by Trevor Darby
He grinned as he sent a flurry of his own magical blasts back at me, one for each blast I'd thrown at him. I could feel the momentum of the fight shifting in my direction as my energy blasts burned through his only to continue toward him. It seemed that my magical blasts were officially more powerful than his.
“You’re getting good, Chace!” he shouted, raising a magical barrier to absorb the blasts.
I savored the look of shock on his face as my final blast broke through his barrier. He dropped to the ground, dodging under it, and backed away from me, sending a few scattered blasts to keep me back.
I charged toward him, dodging his blasts with magically enhanced speed. When I was within a few feet, I skidded to a halt. I charged up as many attacks as I had energy for, aiming them at everywhere in the general area he was standing. His charm would be enough to prevent serious injury, so I had no need to hold back. I looked at him triumphantly as I was about to release them, but it didn't last long.
I slipped to the ground, sliding directly toward Tiberius on a sheet of cold ice. He waved his hand to the right. I felt a vacuum-like force on my body, pulling me sideways, directly into a tiny trace of magic in a strange shape that I hadn't noticed until now.
I tried to push myself to my feet, but it was like my limbs wouldn't listen to me. I was totally paralyzed on top of his trap. "Sorry, Chace," he said, walking over to me and blasting me with just enough magic to break his charm, ending the match, before helping me to my feet and releasing his trap.
Raven rushed to my side, hugging me close. “You did so well.”
“Indeed,” Tiberius said. “You pass. I never expected to be pushed so far by you after just a month of training when you started with such clumsy magic use. Your potential was even greater than I thought.”
I nodded, my anger at Tiberius still burning.
"I really am sorry that I had to separate you guys for so long. Even though I knew something was going on," Tiberius said softly, sadness dimming the light in his eyes. “The stakes are so high that I thought it best to use whatever means necessary to make you stronger.”
I nodded, surprised at his rare display of nearly human emotions. It made sense that he did it, but I couldn't find it in me to let it go so quickly.
"I understand," Raven said, pausing a second before adding, "but I'm going to get you good one day as payback." She shot him a mischievous grin that sent my heart soaring.
Tiberius’s face lit up in a grin, and he clapped, "Now, let's get on to the next part of your training!"
“More training?” Raven and I both groaned.
It would be a long while before our hearts would heal, especially hers, but things between us were okay.
We were okay.
I could barely contain my joy.
Chapter 12
We’d done it.
It had been tough, mentally, physically, and emotionally. Still, we’d finally finished the last test in our three months of training by beating a magically simulated version of the Sorcerer of Sumeria.
And this time? We’d done it as a team.
Raven and I lay on the floor breathless and grinning as the simulation around us faded. The fallen golems seemed to move on the ground as the real-life version cave where we’d fought him came into view with Tiberius standing in front of them. It was incredible how much easier it’d been to fight the “Sorcerer of Sumeria” and his “golems” after all of our practice.
"That was a heck of a lot easier than last time," Raven said, laughing. "Hopefully, this time, you have enough strength left to take me back with you instead of letting me get kidnapped by a Troll." Her toothy smile lit up the entire cave.
I exploded into laughter and knew I’d finally forgiven myself for not being able to take her with me last time. The best way to make up for past wrongs was to make sure they didn’t happen again.
Tiberius clapped slowly from the corner of the cave.
“Well done. You’ve both improved to an incredible degree over these last weeks. I had high expectations for the two of you going into this, and you still managed to exceed them. I'll be leaving soon, but I recommend that the two of you spend a final night here to get your strength up before returning to the Human Realm. I made a package of food for you to last through the night.”
My confidence rose with his compliment. He wasn’t one to give out false praise. Despite that, I still couldn’t help but remain a bit skeptical of his confidence.
“Do you really think it’ll be enough to take on the Dragon?” Last time we’d been little more than a minor annoyance to the creature. Could we honestly expect to defeat it this time?
“I doubt that there are many Dragons that could compete with you two now, especially with some support from the rest of your squad,” Tiberius said.
“Can you give us any suggestions on how to manage this thing?” Raven asked.
"Don't try to just teleport it away this time, for one," Tiberius said, rolling his eyes. "You'll need to weaken it significantly before anything like that would work, and they have huge stores of magic, so play for the long game. I don't really have anything to add, so, if you don't have any more questions for me, I’ll be taking my leave.”
"Wait!" I said, sitting up from where I'd been lying on the ground as Tiberius was gathering his magic to leave the Magical Realm.
He paused in his motion, meeting my gaze, “Yes?”
"Why don't you come? With you on our side, the Dragon wouldn't stand a chance," I said hopefully, somehow knowing what his answer would be even as I asked. Raven nodded in agreement, giving Tiberius a pleading look.
Tiberius laughed. “That’s not in the cards, my boy. You’ll never get any stronger if you keep relying on me, and you still need to improve a lot to live up to the great things your little squad is destined for.”
“What do you mean by that?” Raven asked, frowning.
“Oh, it’s just a little hunch of mine. You’ll understand what I mean soon enough if I’m right,” Tiberius said, flashing us a final silly grin and an exaggerated bow before vanishing into nothing.
“What was that about?” I asked, turning to Raven.
She shrugged, “He’s a weirdo. I wouldn’t take it too seriously.”
I nodded, still wondering what Tiberius knew that we didn’t. Surely, he wouldn't risk lives in the Human Realm on a hunch. But by now, I knew him well enough to know that pushing him wouldn't help. He'd tell us when he was ready and not a moment sooner.
I sighed and shifted my attention to Raven. “We might as well check on Professor Uwyn since we’re already here.”
“Sure, I want to see the stone prison or whatever it is that you made for him,” Raven said, leading the way toward the back of the cave.
I formed a swirling red ball of magic in my hand and let it float ahead of us. It lit our path as we moved into the back chamber of the cave where I'd fought The Sorcerer of Sumeria AKA Professor Uwyn.
I walked up to the raised stone prison and put my hand on it, feeling the incredible power that lingered inside of it. "I can feel Uwyn's presence in here," I said, straining my ears to listen to the soft thumping on the inside of the stone. "I think we should try to find a way to do something to reduce his power so we could let him out."
Raven turned and gave me a snort, “Are you crazy? He’s evil to the bone. We can’t just let him go.”
“I can’t imagine how awful it’d be to get stuck in a rock like that forever. Nobody deserves that,” I said. “He survived while imprisoned for thousands of years in the past. I bet we’d become a little crazy if we went through something like that, too. Once we finish dealing with this Dragon, we'll talk to Tiberius about it.”
Raven shrugged, “Okay, if you insist. I still think it’s too risky, but we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it.”
I nodded, stepping away from the rocky jail, “He really was powerful, wasn’t he?”
“His control was exceptional,” she said, agreeing, “I’ve neve
r heard of anyone controlling so many golems at once.”
“Right? I-,” I said, cutting off as vibrant colors painted on the far side of the cave caught my eye. I pointed as I began to walk over to inspect the wall, “Check this out.”
Raven hurried over, beating me there. “Cool! It looks like people," she said, scrutinizing the wall. "That girl almost looks like... well, me."
She was right, I realized with a start. I shuffled closer to the wall and inspected the fading painting. “And that guy looks like an older version of me. Could it have something to do with the Sorcerer?”
“I don’t think so,” Raven said, “because, if I’m right, that’s Taz and Maps too." She pointed to two of the other figures on the wall. Sure enough, the girl in the front was looking down at a paper that must've been a map. Just behind her in the painting stood a chubby boy with a bow and arrow. Strangely, he appeared to be riding the lizard creature like a horse.
I paused, dumbfounded. What could possibly explain this? “Then who is that last person?” I said, pointing to a small man at the back of the group whose face wasn’t visible due to a chip in the stone.
"I don't know," Raven said. "But look at this," she pointed to a spot in front of the group of people. A huge circle stood in front of the group, like a globe filled with blue and green paint swirled together. “What do you think that is?”
“Maybe that’s what they thought the world looked like?” I said speculatively. “Could also be the Magical Realm.”
“We have to assume that whoever painted this was able to predict the future somehow,” Raven said, a look of awe on her face. “It’s far too worn down to have been painted recently. I wonder what it’s predicting.”
"I don't know, but I bet it has something to do with what Tiberius said earlier," I said. "I wonder if he saw the cave drawings before we did." What great destiny was the cave drawing suggesting we had? I strained my brain, trying to figure out what it was all about, but it was no use. There just wasn't enough information.
“Yeah,” Raven said distractedly, clearly trying to reason it out as well.
"Did you bring your phone?" I asked, "We should get a picture of it."
“Yea,” she said, pulling it out and snapping a picture of the wall. “We’ll ask Twee Twyla about it.”
“Let’s go back to the front of the cave to spend the night,” I said, “I’d rather not share the room with old Uwyn here.”
Raven followed me out of the chamber, “agreed.”
My mouth began to water as we approached the collection of food that Tiberius had left for us. I grabbed a bottle of orange juice, that was somehow as cold as if it’d just come from a refrigerator, and chugged the whole thing.
"Let's enjoy it while we can," Raven said, stuffing half of a big bar of chocolate into her mouth.
We spent a well-deserved fun and relaxed night eating and talking together. We'd been through three months of brutal training, and we were about to get ourselves into something even worse. This time, instead of fighting simulated lions or sparring with Tiberius, we’d be fighting a real-life Dragon. If that wasn’t bad enough, the fate of the world would be on our shoulders...
Chapter 13
“Well?” Twee Twyla demanded from down the hall the second we stepped through the open the door to her house.
"It went awesome!" Raven said enthusiastically as Twee Twyla came into view. Twee Twyla was clacking away at her keyboard. Raven continued, "I don’t want to brag, but I’m pretty sure we’re going to kick that Dragon’s butt.”
At least one of us was still filled with confidence. Mine had faded in the short time between saying goodbye to Tiberius and transporting us back to the Human Realm. Images of our horrible defeat flashed in my mind. We had done a great job in our training, but had we come far enough? Were we lying to ourselves to think we could actually fight that thing?
I pushed away from the grim images and focused on reuniting with the Myth Squad. It felt like we'd been gone for three years rather than three months.
Twee Twyla and Maps sat at the computer together while Taz sat on the couch, shoving a chocolate chip cookie into his mouth.
“You guys even look different,” Maps said, looking up.
Luckily, they didn’t.
"How long were we gone on your end?" I asked tentatively. It was pretty clear that, however long it had been, it hadn't been long enough for my parents to call the police, which was an improvement over last time.
"We saw you two yesterday," Maps replied with a grin. It may have only been a day for them, but the way she sat close to Twee Twyla’s side made it clear they’d spent all that time together, and a bond was forming.
That was good. The more Twee Twyla invested in our success and well-being, the better. As the oldest and wisest of us, and the one with the most knowledge about the Magical Realm, she was an essential part of making this work.
“Yeah, Chace,” Taz teased with a chuckle, “you really need a haircut, bud. You look awful.”
“I’m not sure it works that way,” I said with a laugh, putting a hand through my still-short hair. I was more excited to see his goofy face than I’d ever imagined being as I walked over, pulling him into a hug. “I’ve missed you guys.”
“I didn’t mean like that,” Maps said, rolling her eyes. “It’s the way you carry yourselves, you look so confident.”
Taz sat back into his seat and gestured for Raven and me to take the other places on the couch with a laugh. "It's kind of weird how we feel like we saw you guys so recently where it feels like months to you. Oh, by the way, here's your phone back. Everything's all cool with your mom. You could've been a little more careful with sending the phone my way like that, though," he said, tossing my phone over and rolling his eyes. “It poofed onto my bed right next to me while my mom was doing laundry. She accused me of having a second phone to talk to my secret girlfriend. I barely managed to convince her that my phone had always looked that way."
I laughed, glancing from his white iPhone to my black Android. “Old people, huh?” I said, trying to imagine a story that represented precisely who Taz’s mom was better than that one.
“Speaking of old people, what was the Master like?” Maps said, rolling her chair over to face us.
“Brutal as always,” Raven said, grinning.
"It was the hardest three months of my life. He pushed us both past our limits, but we're both stronger because of it," I said, nodding. "You guys should meet him, though. He's super weird.”
“What’s weird about him?” Maps asked, clearly interested.
“Well, for starters, his name is Tiberius. But even weirder is the big pointy wizard hat and robe he wears," I said. "He seems really laid back and carefree when you first meet him, but he's actually a really harsh and serious guy."
“Was he strong?” Taz asked, leaning forward.
“Even though Raven and I have gotten a lot stronger, I doubt the five of us would be enough to take him on at his full strength,” I said, shaking my head as I held back a shiver. The man was a beast, and I was glad to count him as a friend and not an enemy.
“Is he going to help us with the Dragon?” Twee Twyla asked, turning away from her monitor to face us.
“No,” Raven said sadly, “he said that we’ll never get stronger if he does all the hard work for us.”
I opened my mouth to bring up his cryptic words about the great things the Myth Squad were destined for and the cave paintings but stopped short, thinking better of it. There would be plenty of time to figure all that out after we stopped the giant Dragon that was wreaking havoc on the Realm.
“Seems like kind of a jerk if he’s willing to risk the destruction of the world just to give you guys a bit more training,” Maps said, rolling her eyes.
Raven opened her mouth to speak, clearly annoyed on her master’s behalf, but I cut her off. “He’s a strange guy, don’t put too much thought into it. He just wants what’s best for us, even if it means the path is hard.
”
They’d understand once we told them about the Myth Squad’s supposed destiny. Until then, we had more urgent matters to deal with.
“Twee Twyla, have you heard any reports about the Dragon’s whereabouts?”
"My sources spotted it an hour or so ago in China, but it can move hundreds of miles in that amount of time. I've seen some strange weather patterns happening over a mountain called Mount Pobeda, which lines up with it being in China an hour ago," she said. "Last time we got lucky because it was just sleeping it that one spot, but we might have to do some serious searching this time."
I nodded, “Do we have everything we need?" I had a desperate urge to visit home before rushing out to fight the Dragon. I had no idea if I'd be able to make another excuse to leave so shortly after I got back from my "sleepover."
Taz nodded solemnly, grabbing his bow and quiver from next to the couch and throwing them over his shoulder. “As ready as I’ll ever be.”
Twee Twyla and Maps rose, speaking in unison, “Ready.”
“Let’s get going then,” Raven said, reaching out to grab my hand and gesturing for the others to grab on.
“Don’t you need an image on Google maps or something?” Twee Twyla said, grabbing onto Raven’s hand.
“That won’t be necessary,” I said, looking around to be sure that everyone was holding on. The colors around us shifted from wooden brown to snowy white and the blue of the sky as we arrived at our destination over a jagged mountain range.
Taz squeezed my hand, frantically, "Woah, we’re falling!”
“Look,” Raven said calmly, poking the bubble behind her with an index finger. “It’s like when the Lamassu saved us.”
“Awesome...” Maps said, spinning around in a circle from where she floated in the see-through bubble. “How’d you learn to do all this?”
"It came surprisingly easy once I improved my magical control," I said.
"You really have gotten better," Twee Twyla said approvingly. "Now, we just have to locate our target."
“That shouldn’t take too long,” I said, putting my hand out.