Chapter 14: Estrangement (Narrated by Abel Lee)
A barrier had been erected on the vicinity. I could feel that once I arrived, but my eyes bugged out when I saw what was in front of me.
Just about a few meters from where I stood, there was a war-zone. I saw a fire dragon, similar with the one we faced last time. It was showering Shyu and Pats with firestorm. Shyu had erected a barrier surrounding him and his girlfriend, while Pats elevated her pitch constantly to drive off the dragon. However, since fire would only get fiercer when it collided with wind, Shyu couldn't help his girlfriend too much. Even his wind barrier worked for the dragon's favour in couple of times.
Not far from those petite lovers, a phoenix and a Kirin were keeping Anthony, Campbell and Alexa busy. Campbell's hands lightened up as he threw geomancy attack spell to the creatures or when he erected a shield for Anthony. The younger man and Alexa were shapeshifting to attack the monsters. Sometimes, their attacks succeeded, but it wasn't a rare sight to see them got slammed to the concrete due to one of the monster's fiery attacks. I could feel my heart was on my throat when I scanned those creatures. I detected a very strong and radiant magical energy for each monster. No wonder my colleagues were battered up.
"Alexa!" I yelled when Alexa's chimera was clawed down by the Kirin. I dashed forward and dragged that girl away from the monster's latent attack.
"You finally came," Campbell sneered, even though he was busy driving the Kirin away and protecting Anthony with his earth shield. That warlock's wide forehead dampened with sweats, as his energy was used up quite a lot.
I was about to sneer back when a loud explosion shook the earth from behind me. When I turned my head, my green world witnessed two energy waves(one blue one silver(clashing. I got a slight hiccup when I saw the extremely high level of magical energy on the two fighting individuals.
"Son of a bitch is very strong!!" Campbell commented.
I turned off my radar vision to see who was fighting. I saw Cody McAllen(in his white sorcery coat(was collecting a silver energy wave on his hands, to be shot to his enemy. He was facing a young man in a black leather coat. I bet McAllen had used one of his strongest spell, but his crew-cut, brown-haired opponent seemed indifferent to return the attack. That young man wore black, long coat with Mandarin collar, quite similar with McAllen and Campbell's, but his coat was sleeveless and no magical patterns were sewn on it. The black coat warlock's bare arms were full with tattoos of Mandalas and other magical patterns, just like Campbell and Cody. On the back of his hands, planted on each hand respectively, there were a pair of light blue orbs that shining whenever he drew an attack. When the man stretched both of his arms sideways, there were three bluish spirit swords, respectively emerged from the orb planted on his hands and chest. After his lips moved to read the chant, he wielded the swords toward McAllen's wave energy, destroyed it in the air.
"Cody!!" Hannah screamed when she noticed that only two swords of Cody's opponent that were broken when the two energies clashed, while the third one thrust forward to pierce The Magellinian sorcerer in magnificent speed. We could only gasp in horror when we saw that McAllen was nearly beaten to within an inch of his life.
However, on the next second, instead witnessing how Cody's body torn into pieces, we saw that the black coat warlock's spirit sword dissolve in the air. Hannah stood firmly in front of Cody. Apparently, that petite girl managed to annihilate the powerful attack in the nick of time and protect McAllen. We all exhaled relieved.
"She's good," Campbell genuinely commended Hannah before returning to protect Anthony.
From my peripheral vision, I could see how the black coat warlock looked extremely upset. He glared to Hannah, whom had been dragged by Cody away from their opponent. The blonde sorcerer took his time to smile proudly toward his partner and pat her head gently before he shot another energy wave to his opponent.
"Who's that?" I pointed the black coat guy.
Alexa was preparing to morph to help Anthony and Campbell, but she shook her head to answer me. "Campbell said he is one of the genius Master Alchemists. His weapons are that three spirit swords."
The explanation struck me. I remembered how the woman who raised me once said that Master Alchemists could develop their power and use their internal spirit fire for offensive attack by transforming the fire into spirit sword. However, normally they could only wield one sword or two, at most. Yet, that man could wield three! No wonder Campbell called him genius and even the great Cody McAllen was having a hard time to gain the upper hand.
"Hey, Lee! If you just wanna day-dreaming there, why bother came?"
That loud-mouthed sorcerer's husky, deep voice snapped me out of my reverie. I cursed him under my breath, but looked at my surroundings, nonetheless, tried to find the best way to defeat them (well, at least to defeat all the Balins). Preferably, if I could do it with one attack, in 15minute time-windows.
"Why didn't Miss B send down the twins? I could electrocute those Balins again if they're here," I murmured.
"There was another case at another place, so the twins had been sent there," Tony explained, before he shifted again as hundreds of small daggers.
I clicked my tongue and finally decided to ask Shyu and Campbell's help.
"Shyu!!" I called. "Could you help me creating tornado with your Wind God's Fist?"
Shyu plucked his guitar to destroy the dragon's attack as he nodded. I, then, turned my attention toward The Vsevolod's warlock.
"Could you make lightning wave or geomancy wave as powerful as the Sebastian's, so we could take care of them in a single blow?"
The hot-headed warlock seemed getting impatient with the fight, thus, he shot a giant geomancy wave that torn the phoenix like it was a mere rag doll. We gawked at the sight and silently acknowledged how powerful this sorcerer really was.
"What did you say?" He asked. Sweats dampened his face and hair after he shot his deadly blow. His dirty-blonde hair stuck on both side of his face and on his nape, and he could barely stand firm due to the exhaustion. Tony immediately lent his shoulders for Campbell to lean on and help the older man to unbutton his purple coat so he would have more room to cool down.
I shrugged my shoulders. "Nah…, I'll just make tornado," I replied. I knew, after shooting out such attack, Campbell would need time to rest himself in order to garner back his energy and assist me to create the desirable attack. On the other hand, if we kept stalling on this battle, the lost would be ours.
Indeed, the Law's satellite erected a barrier around the vicinity whenever we were having our battle. The barrier was intended to protect the 'civilians' from shock due to the exposure of supernatural energy and reduce any damage at the vicinity. However, the longer the time we needed to finish one battle, the more chance for our energy to leak out the barrier and it could be felt by the outsiders. For the 'civilians' who have low energy index, the pressure from our energy could potentially make them pass out, or even worse, comatose.
It was quite fortunate that there were a lot of water sources that I could call out around here. I closed my eyes and started to call the water to be dramatically bursting out at our place. Pillars of water immediately sprang out. When Shyu saw the pillars, he promptly cast out his energy. His body was surrounded by yellowish light, especially on his hands. With that, winds blew forward surrounding him. Shyu clenched his fist and forced the winds to gather on it. With a roar, Shyu aimed his winds toward the pillars that I had gathered in one spot.
Shyu's winds blew so hard and created a tornado of wind-water combination in front of us. I used my energy once more to pull the pillars to enclose the monsters. Both of them now had become broken toys dancing in the centre of the whirlwind. Pats understood my plan and started to use all of her energy to blow the two monsters with her enchanted voice. She raised her pitch, sang out a beautiful falsetto, yet deadly for the opponent. It only took several beats before the dragon and the Kirin were blown up in the whirlwind. I laughed hard to celebrate the victory.
It was on that very moment, when I was about to call back my power, I did not realize that a portal was opening behind us. I had no chance to react when a tattooed, muscular hand stretched out from the portal and held Alexa on the neck. My partner let out a scream before she lost her consciousness when flash of light blue fire stunned her.
"Alexa!!"
Anthony was the first to react. Before we even fully grasped of what had happened, the brunette had discarded his partner and shifted to try to reach Alexa back. However, instead of taking Alexa back, Tony(in his blade form(was sucked into the closing portal.
"Anthony!!" Campbell screamed in horror. He had forgotten his own exhaustion and charged toward the closing portal. It was only as big as a cap bottle now. "Tony!!"
Campbell's hands shone. He shot a Mandala toward the closing portal, trying to prevent it closing, with no avail. His Mandala dissolved just like mist under the sun, and the portal had now closed perfectly.
"Tony!!" Campbell called once more, his hand shooting another Mandala.
When he was about to shoot the third Mandala, Cody McAllen stopped him. He grasped his subordinate's wrist harshly.
"Stop it! Your Mandala can hurt any layman once the barrier being lifted up! They're gone!"
Campbell froze. His violet eyes fixed to the barren sky, to where the 'supposed to be' portal door was at, second ago. He stared at the direction bewildered, as if trying to fully grasp the real situation. The next second, the same violet eyes had filled with anger and pain. He yanked his wrist from McAllen's grip and grabbed the shorter sorcerer's coat collar in turn.
"He took Tony!!" He yelled. "That bastard took Tony!!"
"I know!!" McAllen yelled back, "…and they're gone. The Master Alchemist who faced me was also gone using another portal. We can't open a portal if we don't know where it came from, moreover if it was closed from the other end. You did know that, right?!"
Campbell's trimmed eyebrows frowned tightly on the centre of his forehead. Murder and sadness were in his eyes. He clenched his teeth. He did understand what McAllen had said, but he couldn't just resign like that.
His gaze now had been fixated to me. He clenched his teeth again and seemed ready to devour me in spot. True enough, since Campbell's long, and slender fingers had now stretched to reach my T-shirt collar.
"You! It's all because of your inadequacy to protect your partner!!" He yelled.
I was no less upset than he was since I, too, lost a partner. Did he think he was the only one who's worried for their partner's fate? I didn't need him to remind me of my own carelessness. I smacked his hand off and yelled back at him.
"I was occupied by two Balins, you bastard! What about yourself? Weren't you just leisurely leaned on Anthony when it was happening? Why didn't you help me a bit to protect Alexa and your own partner, huh?!!!"
"You~!!"
"Stop it!!" Cody held Campbell's hand. It had shone brightly and was ready to shoot a blow to me. "It's not the right time to blame each other! Let's go back to the Law Inc. first and let's discuss what should we do next. We'll try to find out where they took Alexa and Anthony, as for why!"
Campbell dropped silent. He clutched his fist so hard until the whites were visible. He cast his face away from our sight while nodding to McAllen's instruction. In a glimpse, I thought I saw the corner of his eyes were reddened and tears started to gush out from his eyes, but he wiped them with one rapid movement. That was an odd sight, since he was hot headed and normally gave no crap to anyone beside himself. I dropped silent too. Knots started to spin in my stomach from anxiety. I couldn't wrap my head on why they were attacking and kidnapping Alexa. I kept praying silently, prayed that those two awesome colleagues of ours would be able to return home safe and sound.
**
We returned to the HQ battered. Miss B and the Brains each gave me a consolidation hug, while the twins, Aeronwen, and Scarlett patted my shoulder. They were about to pat Campbell's too, but the said man glared at them. He radiated murderous aura that could be seen clearly even without vision like mine. It was as though each cell of his body was screaming to everyone for not to try to make any contact(verbally or physically(with him, or else. He, then, seated himself at the far corner of the room like a sulking kid. His face was painted with anger and pain, and the hands he circled around his stiffened body were still clutched so tightly. We peered at McAllen for his opinion whether we should try to ask Campbell to join our meeting, as we circled down in the middle of the room, or not. The warlock answered our inquiring glance with the shake of his head. I was kind of agree with him, since an angry and sulking Campbell seemed better to be left alone.
"What should we do, Miss B?" Hannah was the first one to speak. She just managed to compose herself and stop crying. She had been Anthony's partner for four years, before they finally being teamed up with the two sorcerers. I knew she had seen Tony as her own little brother. She had a good relationship with Alexa too. That's why, I understood why'd she being so worried. Cody McAllen sat beside Hannah and diligently rubbing her back or her wavy hair whenever she broke down to tears. He even deft enough to zap out tissue papers to wipe Hannah's tears.
In normal state, I would definitely hungry for gossip for the sight before me. However, now was not a right time to pay attention to the intimacy that Cody and Hannah displayed. My mind was preoccupied with Alexa's safety, with where should we go to find her and why did those sorcerers kidnap her.
"That…," Cody spoke to give response for my inquiry, "Was probably because Alexa is an animorpher."
"What does it have anything to do with all these?" Lior asked, befuddled.
Cody sighed. "Yuspov's life time obsession was to bring every mythical creature ever exist into life. I heard from Campbell that when you guys fought Yuspov's Balin the first time last month, Alexa morphed into combination of many animals that made her look similar with mythical creatures…"
I struck with sudden enlightenment.
"The son-of-a-bitch wanted to make Alexa as his experimental object!" I jumped from my seat, before fell down on it again when I felt the knots tightening in my stomach. I felt sick and frustrated for the thought. I yanked my hair harshly to vent out some of my frustration. Every curse word that I ever learned in my life were dancing out from my lips to honour the maniac who should've rotten six feet under long time ago.
"Then…, what'll he do to Tony? He doesn't need him, right? Would he…," Lior said abruptly, made everyone shower him pointed glare in the same time. That kid really did not know how to flush clean that toilet mouth of his. We turned our sight to Campbell, crossing our fingers that he did not hear Lior's words, while Erwann was busy silenced his brother.
Unfortunately, despite his sulking attitude, Campbell was all ears. He'd been following our conversation from where he was sitting at, a distant away from our conference. We heard loud crash when Campbell stood up and kicked broken his chair. His combat boots heels tapped loudly on the marble floor when he was approaching Lior with wide steps. His lips stretched into a line, murder was in his eyes, and his right hand was ready to shoot a geomancy wave to the raven-haired boy.
Hannah and Cody immediately stood up to stop the reckless sorcerer who had been clouded by his anger. Hannah stood firmly in front of Lior, ready to annihilate Campbell's attack in case Cody failed to calm down his subordinate. The Magellinian sorcerer tried his best to push back the taller warlock and stopping him from throwing tantrum toward Lior. However, Campbell's violet eyes were fixated on the raven-haired boy. Lior himself had now already as pale as a sheet of paper. He became even paler when he saw how Campbell's hand glowing even brighter.
"Campbell, calm down…!!" McAllen yelled and panted.
"Mr. Timofei, Lior didn't mean anything. Please, don't take it by heart!!" Miss B interjected.
Campbell turned a deaf ear toward his 'superiors' words. He kept pushing forward, pushing McAllen back like a bulldozer. His hand kept on shining, anytime he could shoot out the deadly blow to Lior.
"Timofei, instead of fighting against ourselves, isn't it better to think how to find those sorcerers?" Aeronwen added on. He and Scarlett also had stood up, ready to protect the twins.
"Hey, Timofei!" I finally spoke. This bloody bickering better be stopped now, since we had no time for this. We needed to find Alexa and Anthony ASAP! "That bastard Yuspov was from your order. Is there no one who knew him when he was still alive? If there's anyone knew him, they may know where he liked to conduct his experiment or something…"
Campbell stopped. The magic on his hand had stopped glowing too. The murder in his eyes was gone, as if he was snapped back from a trance. He blinked repeatedly and stared me sheepishly for a while.
"What'd you say?" He asked.
"I said…," I repeated, relieved that my word got into him. "Is there no one in your order that knew Yuspov quite well when he was alive, so they may be able to tell us places where Yuspov liked to visit? Balin always carried their lifetime's memory, so if that Yuspov needs place to conduct his experiment, wouldn't he, in all likelihood, go to somewhere familiar to him? I think he is likely will took Alexa and Anthony to that safe place he used to visit when he was alive."
Campbell blinked rapidly again. His thin lips had now stretched from ear to ear. His index finger pointed at me, as he assented with me. Without bothered to explain further, he dashed back to his broken chair. He reached for his coat that had been tossed on the back of the chair when we got back and pulled out his 'match-box' from the pocket.
"Campbell, what do you know?" Cody asked as he padded over his subordinate.
Campbell ignored McAllen and kept looking for something in his 'match-box', until he finally pulled out a pebble-sized something, which happened to be an orb. With one rapid movement, that tall warlock sliced his fingers and dripped his blood on top of that green orb. Once the blood dripped on its surface, the orb got bigger, until it was in the size of a tennis ball. The orb was glowing brilliantly and dancing in the air above Campbell's palm.
"Who are you looking for?" McAllen asked again.
This time, Campbell was willing to answer. "Give me time," he murmured. Eyes fixed on the orb. "I'll find Viktor."
McAllen frowned. "Viktor? Your brother? Ah…, I see…"
Campbell tuned out Cody again and focusing on his orb. However, that short conversation had succeeded draw our attention.
"What did you say, Mr McAllen? Timofei's brother may know that Balin's hiding place?" Miss B approached the two sorcerers.
Cody McAllen knew that his subordinate would need time and some space to conduct his search, hence, he dragged Miss B away from Campbell. They returned to our meeting spot and McAllen explained in low voice.
He stared at me. "Your words reminded me and Campbell. His baby brother, Viktor Timofei, is also an apprentice of the same warlock that taught Yuspov. Therefore, as that Balin's fellow apprentice, Viktor may know a thing or two about Yuspov that we are not yet know."
We nodded in harmony. A shred of hope raised in our heart. We now gazed toward that dirty-blonde sorcerer(who stood at the end of the room(expectantly. Not long after, Campbell Timofei turned his face and stared at us. His violet eyes filled with satisfaction.
"Got him," was what he said.
Chapter 15: Best of Friends (Narrated by Danzel Lee)
Meng stared at me bewildered. I hope his brain cells would be able to process every single piece of information I just shoved him. We were sitting at one of our favourite spot at our favourite café, Nusantara Brew. The place was decorated like a loft, with elegant touch of Javanese arts for its interior and it offered the archipelago's best coffee beans with reasonable price. Besides that, they were also selling Indonesian traditional snacks and food. We frequented this place to hang out, since it was nearby our school. I glanced over my watch, it was almost four, and Megan would be here shortly. I asked her to go on a date with me today and I planned to take her to the movie. However, she still had another extra hour to finish her science project for the school's science club, so I said yes when Meng asked me to have a 'talk' with him, to resume our previous talk.
"Are you alright?" I asked and sipped my coffee.
"Yeah, why won't I?"
"You look stupefied."
"'Cause I am," Meng chuckled dryly. "So, let me get this straight. You and Megan are now officially dating."
"Yep," I made a toast with my cup of coffee.
"And she's a witch? Ken too?'
I sighed and threw a sympathetic glance to him. "Look, I'm sorry to break things out like this to you, Man. I know you have a crush for Ken."
Meng's face got red. He gawked at me as if I was some sort of alien. "Wh-How did you know?"
I gave him a pointed look. "I'm neither blind or stupid, Meng. I could see how you look at her, how you introduced her to me, as if she is a goddess of some kind… Please…"
My best friend blushed even more.
"But it's ended now," he sighed. "There's no future for us. Not that she knows my feelings toward her, anyway."
"Is it really impossible between you two?"
Meng nodded. "There's no way a Shaman and a witch could be together, unless I'm ready to be ex-communicated and would become a Necromancer, which I don't. It was one-sided love, anyway. When we were kids, we were close, Ken and I. And then she left abruptly, so that's maybe why the feelings linger. When she suddenly returned, I still see her as the little Ken. I should've notice her true self, actually. They're not that hard to spot."
"What's this Necromancer you mentioned? How's having a romantic relationship with a witch make you become a Necromancer?"
"It's the shaman thing. You do know that we are basically mere vessels for sacred spirits and gods, right? That's why we are the personification of 'my body is my temple' thingy literally. We are required to live a clean life, with all the healthy lifestyle. No drugs, smoke, free-sex, et cetera. And of course, for mating condition, we do need to mate with someone who's acceptable by our guardian spirit. Therefore, witches are certainly out of the question. If we insist, then our guardian spirit will leave us and the shaman community, too, will ex-communicate us. What's left for us? Our summoning spirit talent. That would be with us until the day we take our last breath. However, since we now couldn't call any sacred spirits, we could only call the impurity ones. We, then, became a Necromancer. Necromancers are feared and resented because sometimes the impurity spirits they called are malicious and would likely take control of their soul, make them turn evil."
"I see…"
Meng stared deeply, straight to my eyes. "Are you sure you're okay with a witch? They are complicated and smell of trouble, D'."
Say that again. I knew I've accepted Megan and decided to help her carry her baggage. I might lay down my life in order to do so too, but I don't care. I knew my heart and it wanted her.
My best friend raised both of his hands, surrendered to my strong-will. "Fine, if you're sure. And since you're my best friend, I certainly will not gonna let you get killed by any sorcerer, so I'm with you. We're in this together, 'Kay? What can I do?"
I smiled. "I knew I can count on you, Man. I only wanted to know if you have any information about Megan's Order, The Trevelyan? What happened to them? It's not like I could google it you know…"
"Trevelyan? You said they're from Western Europe? I'll try to check it with my Shaman friends from that region. They may have heard something… But dang, aren't they bold enough to come here for protection because they knew this archipelago have the most Shamans in comparison of any other region in the world?"
"That's make sense, you know. They're counting on your numbers, so their enemy would take that into consideration too, in case they're gonna go wild-wild west…"
"Yeah, but still… 'Kay D', I need to report this to my father, alright? I mean, I'm not gonna expose Megan, but I need to tell him that there're some refugee sorcerers came here for protection. We may get something faster about The Trevelyan too, if we let my dad in the loop."
I pondered. Meng was right. We couldn't do this without alerting the Han family. I couldn't let Meng cross-path with his family in order to help me and Megan. Moreover, as he said, I might get the information I needed faster if Uncle Han acknowledged the situation. Not to mention, the Hans could provide help if Megan's enemy ever got closer. Hence, I nodded.
"And there's your damsel in distress…"
The sound of the bell hung on the café door rang when Megan and Kencana walked in. They cast their gaze around, before they finally found us. Megan's smile flashed so radiantly when her eyes met mine. I smiled back to her and squeezed her hand gently once she reached our seats. If we weren't in public, I certainly would kiss her ever-inviting lips.
"Sorry, I'm late…," she whispered.
"It's OK, we still got time until the movie. Come, let's sit with Meng first. Do you want anything? How's the project, by the way?"
"It's a success. I can put it for exhibition by the end of this week. But I'm not gonna show up, I'll let Ken do that on my behalf. Right, Ken?"
Kencana was standing awkwardly next to Megan, before I realized that she was there. I glanced to Meng and found my best friend was looking at her rather intensely. Apparently, someone was still torn for his one-sided, platonic love. The tanned-skin girl nodded to Megan's words. She looked at me fiercely, clearly still disliking me and distrusting me with Megan.
"Megan said you two will go on a date?" She interrogated me.
"Yep, you got any problem with that?" I too, disliked her with all my beings.
"What time will you go back?"
"You're not her mother, Ken." Meng interrupted. "And D' has always been the responsible one. He'll take a good care of your best friend. I think you should start to accept that those two are dating now and we are the third-wheelers. So, why don't we go back home. I'll give you a ride back. Unless, you like the idea of double dating?"
Kencana glared at Meng, as did I. Megan seemed fine with the idea of double date, but I didn't want that tall and rude tanned-skin girl be around me for another minute. I didn't care if she was Megan's best friend or Meng's childhood friend. I just disliked her. Therefore, the idea of double dating was just horrifying. Fortunately, the feeling was mutual. Ken seemed hate the idea as much as I did, so she followed Meng.
"Call me once you get back, 'Kay?" She said to Megan. My girlfriend nodded. "Take care, Megs…"
"They're only going for a date, for heaven's sake…," Meng jeered from the distant.
"You knew nothing," I heard Ken hissed.
"Oh, try me," my best friend smiled smugly.
I tried not to smile. I could always count on Meng. Even after he knew there was no future for him and his childhood friend, he still offered himself to distract the girl so I could have a nice, alone evening with Megan. I would treat him with something nice after this.
"Did you tell Meng about me?" Megan pulled me out from my reverie.
I stared at her cognac eyes. "I need to, Megs. His family could help us…"
Megan sighed. "Okay, I trust you. If you say so, I'll trust you. But don't let Ken know that Meng knew, okay? She'll freaked out. I think she sees this whole hiding thing way too serious. I mean, yes, it's serious. My life is in danger, but I think she's over-reacted sometimes. You, on the other hand, keep it cool. I wish she could be like that too."
I laughed, couldn't help myself not to kiss her hand.
"What?" She looked bemused.
I shook my head. "Nothing, I just love you so much, Megan…"
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