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I sit at the trunk of a beech tree. Its autumn leaves are like a blanket at my feet. The beams of light that break through its branches flicker around the pages of my book. Illuminating detailed images of birds and different rodents that fluttered above or skittered below. Whenever I saw the book's living counterpart, I would mark the page. I inhale the soft breeze, allowing it to fill me with energy. I grow still as I allow the flow of my surroundings to seep in.
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The distant chirp of birds calling to return home was clear and crisp, the squirrels scurried around the beech tree crevasse to crevasse depositing goodies before scurrying away, a fox digging deeper into his burrow, in preparation for something to come. I close my eyes and inhale deeply once more the air had grown slightly thicker a new thin film of pressure sat over everything and to confirm it a drop of rain burst at the tip of my nose.
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"It's raining." That is all I manage before the torrential downpour begins. I clutch the book tight to my chest. The remaining leaves of the tree serve as some protection. A crude gust of wind pushes me to my side.
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I brace myself as I feel the abrupt stop of the train, leaving me in the grasp of inertia. "You looked like you were having a good dream." Kairo stood next to the exit doors waiting. I rub the sleep from my eyes and embarrassingly the drool from my face before standing and joining him at the door. My eyes had to adjust to the sunlight when they did, though I could see we were in an open field of grass that was a slight tinge of blue, but besides that, nothing too different.
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"Newbies first." Kairo joked, holding a hand out while stepping out of the way. I confidently march through the threshold and am immediately hit with the familiar electricity flowing over my body with great intensity this time. It was bracing like stepping into a pool for the first time. I take a sharp breath, which introduces the sensation to my lungs, the electricity courses through my muscles and veins, but then it stops. Gone as quickly as it had come, a glorious sensation replaced by longing within mere moments.
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"What was that!?" I exclaimed like a child experiencing soda for the first time. Kairo laughed hard, so hard and long that I was glad for it he had been gloomy and standoffish since we met.
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"That was magic saturation." He replied through tears.
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"So I'm soaked in magic? What is magic anyway." I asked between deep breaths, trying to reclaim the sensation. Kairo went from laughing to downright, giddy.
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"Last ones off!" He yelled over his shoulder. The train kicks to life, closing its doors and beginning its way. I watch the front of the train intensely, wondering where it would lead. at top speed, the car began to dip into the ground as if it was a submarine, its tail sliding into the earth behind it. I was baffled by the image but my attention was drawn over to Kairo who was now creating figures and models out of pure light they all scurried around a stage made of the same taking places and different positions.
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"Once upon a time..." As if following a script, the figures began moving to the narration of Kairo.
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"The world was whole, and beings of all sorts lived amongst each other." The figures swirled each other playfully. From their shapes, I could make out werewolves and faeries, even something that resembled a dragon, but their features were soft and beautiful.
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"Each being embodying the very essence of the rules and energies that went into creating them and the worlds they Inhabit." The figures of light began to spin and merge, creating beautiful scenes of plains scorched by endless flames, seas with the brightest depths, and castles in the sky amongst flying behemoths.
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"And Magic was the bridge between them all. The Light That Lived in All the Lands is how they referred to it." The particles swirled into a star from that star, and a kaleidoscope of light showed down onto figures of each type when the figures interacted with the colors of the light merged, creating something new and shared by both creatures.
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"As the story goes, the light was ever expanding and allowed us to not only interact with each other but also to see each other for who we were." The figures stood next to each other on the stage in a line. Humans in the middle and from there on each side one of each type of mythical creature.
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"To see each other for who we were?" I asked, enveloped by Kairos' story.
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"Humans lived in the light with the most undefined connection to magic and always have made do with that while living in the human realm, but as the legend goes on an entity appears shattering the Light causing the connections to each realm to fade into nonexistent." One by one, the lights of the creatures furthest from the center faded to black.
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"This may have cut them off from us, but it also stopped many from returning to their homes and severing them from their origin of light. Many feared what being trapped in a world with dying light may entail so they fled their homes seeking asylum in the surviving realms, where the light didn't show any signs of waning." The figures on the edges shuffled to the center crowding into the last three realms with light.
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"Trapped in foreign lands with even stranger magic and inhabitants was already hard enough, but something unforeseen happened next, without the lights of each creature's origin being with them it left them plunged into darkness humans now saw them as monsters the things that plagued their nights and what most humans see as mythology is the endless war between the lost creatures that are just trapped in your realm." The figures warped and changed into the menacing beast I was more familiar with fighting human warriors clad in armor before the ethereal curtains shut and reopened to show the figures resembling people of today walking the street looking at their phones as they wait for a bus or train.
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"Now though since the waning of light has seemed to have completely ceased in the three realms we magical folk left alive live right amongst humans who have forgotten and replaced their arcane history with a more logical and science-based viewpoint. Which actually helps us hide in plane sight rather than shivering in the darkness." Certain figures' features seemed to glint and flicker, revealing hidden ears or tails.
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"So we all live in peaceful coexistence then?" I asked, invigorated by Kairo's presentation.
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"Uhh... it's coexistence at best humans on mass can't handle the truth about what they live next to, and the humans who can and do are inimical at worst." The light show disperses, and Kairo begins his way downhill toward the sunset.
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"Hurry up. I wanna make it back by sunrise." I quickly shuffle behind him, keeping my footing down the steep hill. As we walked, I noticed the chirps of birds that were unfamiliar and colorful bugs that lept or flew around our feet. Kairo stops short at the bottom of the hill using one hand to shade his eyes from the sun he squints at something in the distance.
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"Alright, walking will take too long so here." He holds a hand out for me to grab, which I hesitantly take.
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"Try not to hold your breath, alright?" Kairo said as he took regular deep breaths and squinted once more at something in the distance.
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"Hold my breath for wh- " Before I could finish my question, I felt a tug from the center of my back. My feet felt as if they were swept from underneath me. the image before my eyes changed rapidly. as I registered the image I could tell we were now standing at the edge of a forest, but the image was inverted I look down to see a clear blue sky, and above me, the blue grass slowly waved in the wind. With a single blink, everything was upside right again, and my feet felt solid against the ground.
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"-at holy shit what was that!?" I greedily take deep breaths because it felt like I had just surfaced.
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"That was There I can pretty much move anything from Here to anywhere I want There as long as I've seen the There." I was amazed it was an incredible power, and I couldn't wait till I got to try my hand at it.
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"You'll never be able to do it." He crushed my dreams as if he saw them growing in my head.
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"Wha!? Why the hell not? Are you saying you won't teach me?" I stomp my feet at him in anger while folding my arms.
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"No I'd gladly teach you, but it's one of the many Familia Magics that can't be taught and only given by birth it's what separates a Sorcerer from a Magician the Magic realm is governed by a hierarchy of families that all have strong ties to the elemental magics or conceptual magics the current being my father and his is space the last one his father was time and for as far back as anyone can remember it has been those two families switching places on the throne."
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"Two families?" I ask, not meaning much by it, but again, the dreary look he's held all day threatens a return.
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"Alright, one more jump, then we'll be at the tree line." I take his hand without hesitation I think startling him out of his thoughts. I keep my eyes open wide for this jump. I take in the topsy-turvy feeling, seeing tree trunks stretching into the sky, which makes me giggle as we reorientate my feet returning to the earth.
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Kairo smirks at me, enjoying the blips through reality. I assumed seeing someone brand new to magic had to be refreshing. He hunched over his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath.
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"Sorry, moving myself is nothing, but I'm not used to you or how crazy heavy you are." He takes ragged deep breaths. My face flushes red. I was on the thicker side, but I didn't think a magical jump through space would take into account weight.
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"I'm so sorry! I didn't know I was so heavy!" I pull my hood over my head and the strings tight. This made Kairo burst into laughter, and the embarrassment slowly stoked the anger that replaced it.
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"Explain the joke and explain it soon..." I growl, which brings his laughter to a halt.
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"You're not heavy physically silly you've gone through magic saturation meaning your tank's been bloody fueled and because you're a fledgling you've been just gushing it out as much as you're taking it in." I peek from my shell of confusion, taking hold of the anger. I didn't feel like anything was leaving, and I was for sure not feeling the bubbling sensation from earlier.
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"So I've got a crazy amount of magic?" I ask, fully removing my hood, hoping I might get to learn something I could use.
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"Yeah, it's ginormous, which I would think is odd if it weren't for your grandmother." Kairo says, cocking his head to the side as if he started crunching numbers in his head.
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"So my grandmother can build up a lot of magical power?" I asked curious about what my family may have passed down to me.
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"Oh, on another level, your grandmother and mother. Ya, see humans after saturation doesn't receive much magic. Most people aren't sure why but only halfbreeds and title holders get to push the limits of human magic, your grandmother and mother hold the title summoner." Kairo seems to somewhat catch his breath, but sweat still poured from his brow.
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"So that means I'm a summoner, too." Kario's mood grew pensive he shifted his weight heel to heel, not wanting to make eye contact.
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"What?" My chest tightened, feeling a but coming from Kairos' lips.
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"Titles aren't family based they are granted through ritual or circumstance, but your mother pulled it off through circumstance and is considered the strongest summoner to ever live so..." He tried his best to give consolement but pretty much said if I wasn't a summoner...
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"I'd be whatever my father is, and no one knows what my father is besides Joker." Kairo tried not to shy away, but it was obviously not the best news to hear that your magical identity was a coin flip chance of being summoner or question mark.
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"What are the rituals or circumstances that get a human the title summoner?" I ask, trying to keep hope in my voice.
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"From what I can tell reading all the books Joker has stolen over the years the rituals take an obscene amount of sacrifices with a final act of kindness that allows you to bind magical creatures to you or allow one to bind themselves to someone and the circumstances normally consist a life or death situation and a magical being or creature with an empathic demeanor that you can make a pact with." The confusion didn't dissipate. I wasn't sure how either of those things would come to pass or why we stood at the edge of a forest.
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"Joker thinks that the circumstances part of achieving the title doesn't necessarily need the life or death situation to be on the human side so we are going to show you how to express magic today and hopefully something replies." Kairo steps a little closer to me closer than he's been all day. I got whiffs of smoke and lavender. I didn't realize how short I was compared to him he seemed to slouch most of the time, but now he straightened his posture, and I could tell he had a full head over me.
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"I'm going to let some of my magic seep out. it'll overtake the magic seeping out of you, and that may make you dizzy or feint, so I'll catch you if you lose balance." Kairo seemed to begin to radiate a heat it was warm and enjoyable.
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"Nothing?" Kairo asked, seemingly exerting a little more.
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"No, it's got a bit warmer, but that's about it." He seems to get a little exhausted before releasing his posture, and the heat dissipated.
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"Jesus, that was almost fifty percent, and all you felt was the warmth." He seemed out of breath again, and the embarrassment from earlier poked at me again.
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"Fine, a hundred it is." The heat was back, but it was unbearable, and now a new weight on my shoulders appeared, making my knees buckle. With every breath, it hurt like breathing in steam, and then it was gone.
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"You stayed standing at my hundred that's insane." I barely heard what he said over the ring in my ears something wasn't right I could now feel something seeping out of my body and quickly and uncomfortably back in like I was exhaling infinitely while trying to gasp for breaths simultaneously. I hunched over, wrapping my arms around myself, trying to keep whatever was leaving in.
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"Whoa, you alright?!" Kario goes to place a hand on my back when he makes contact I feel the exhaling stop and the gasp taking over and I pull all I've lost and all there is extra around us greedily holding it hostage. The boom of my heart was deafening. Kairo was screaming something, but all I could make out was, "Don't!" I couldn't take it anymore. The exhale was necessary and crucial to survival, and the gasping had grown full like a capped bottle of soda filled with mentos. I uncapped the bottle, and it burst. Making the easiest I release everything I could, this sent Kairo soaring through the air a couple of yards away from me. The force of the blast made the old treeline slightly bend and violently shake once the wave had passed.
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Kairo sat on his knees, dazed but seemingly unharmed, but his focus wasn't on me but on the forest. I quickly snap my head in the same direction to catch a pair of eyes belonging to a dark figure now watching us from the shadows.
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"Don't move a muscle, Willow." The golden amber eyes flicked to Kairo, slits like daggers analyzed him for a moment, then flicked back to me.
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"Was that you, little one?" A voice boomed in my head, something I was growing accustomed to way too fast for my liking.
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"Yes?" I thought, hoping this was how I must reply.
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"Hmm I will not beat around the bush child I am hunted but I am strong and with you, we will be stronger I offer you my plight, and in exchange my power, and you will allow me to inhabit your shadow." I look to Kairo, who seems to be left out of the conversation. I wasn't sure if this was a part of being a summoner or not, but I didn't want to miss out on my chance
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"Okay... you can live in my shadow." Right after my reply followed a noise that I could only compare to a large feline purring. The dark creature bounded towards me through the shadows. From the shadows, a hulking feline body nimbly broke through the treeline as its body hit the sunlight it warped and changed, taking a smaller form. A black cat with two tails sat at the edge of my shadow, licking its paws clean.
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"We don't have long child, me and my pursuers are not the only ones you've caught the attention of." I sit confused. Kairo was now eyes wide at the scene and still not offering much help. A rushing noise in the distance caught all of our attention.
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"Quickly child the exchange of true names and then gift me my new name hurry." An angry mew escaped the cat alongside the booming voice
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"My name is Rose!" I think as loud as I can, but instead of a name, I'm given a guttural growl.
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"I said your true name, girl." I felt my heart drop to the base of my gut at these words.
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"This... name... is... mine..." An exhausted voice in the back of my head strained to make it clear before fading with a laugh.
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"Willow..." I admit defeatedly.
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"Well met Willow I am Dawa daughter of Dawon what shall my new name be." I looked over the creature in front of me two tails wagged independently of each other one had a ballish lump nearing the tip while the other was long its eyes were pools of amber with black slits like thorns. It was odd that the name I was going to give her was already on the tip of my tongue it came from the back of my head as soon as I said, Rose.
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"Rugosa." A third eye appeared on Rugosas head it focused making eye contact with each of my eyes then the center of my forehead a pressure seemed to sit where it looked and after a moment images flashed over my eyes moments that weren't mine. Emotions flooded me, pain suffering fear and the need to survive gripped me tightly, and then it passed. Rugosa gave me a warm smile before diving into my shadow.
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"Rugosa, I like this name. I hope our journey is long, Willow." The voice was quieter and much sweeter than the gruff growls from earlier.
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"It may not have seemed it, but I was severely wounded before our encounter and will sleep for some time, but I'll leave Rose a portion of my power for you while I slumber." Before I could object, the sound of soft purring and snoring filled my head before fading softly.
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"I got a cat?!" I say out loud to Kairo, glad to be using the voice outside of my head for once.
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"Right... that was more than a bloody cat love that was a Helion an abyssal native-
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Before Kairo could finish his thoughts a bright ball of light zipped out of the forest line beaming me in the center of my forehead, sending me prone I felt no pain though a low vibrant hum filled my ears and a second magical saturation overtook me but before it could hit full force that voice at the back of my head calling herself by my first name whispered in my ears.
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"I'll take that." The voice was clearer, less muffled somewhere in my mind. My body felt heavy like I was glued to the grass. I stared at a sky that was a mesmerizing otherworldly tinge of green.
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"It's beautiful, isn't it?" I was startled out of my awestruck and straight into discomfort. Did she hear what I was thinking?
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"I did and have been since that dinky little shop." My mind snapped to the voice I heard climbing the stairs of tricksters trinks.
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"No, not her, and I would rather you kept her far from mind." I felt the memory be yanked way out of my reach. The discomfort evolved into a panic.
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"Calm yourself your teeth, and claws weren't stolen now, were they?" The tone of the voice was condescending and far from hostile, which did help ease my concerns.
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"I'll be borrowing the gifts of that little birdie and clever kitty to fashion new ones, though." An image of a golden hummingbird fluttered in my mind it zipped back and forth before changing into a bunny and then a fox all with golden fur before shifting into an egg of the same color a devious flick of tales caught my attention as Rugosa appeared from behind it curling its body around it to keep it warm as it naps.
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"Seeing as the bird needs a name and you are at your limit, I'll be naming him, Digey." The image of Rugosa and Digey faded into the background of my mind, but I felt them nestled safely within me. This Rose in my head grew clearer. An image of myself appeared looming over me, analyzing my face, and I couldn't help but do the same. Her face was mine it was as if a mirror was being held in front of me except for her hair and eyes both running deep with red.
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"Are you going to lie there forever?" I watched my doppelganger's lips move, and my voice formed words I wasn't saying. My body was still heavy. I tried to do anything, but it felt like trying to move lumps of lead.
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"I can't move." I finally say, realizing it wasn't difficult to speak.
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"Right... you did just go through essentially two summoning rituals." Her tone still not hostile was less filled with disdain she looked over me as if she was trying to gather a list of symptoms for a diagnosis.
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"You will be unable to move for the next three hours or so." Her matter-of-fact tone annoyed me, but trying to sit up to defy her was out of the question.
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"So what am I supposed to do?" I asked, frustration seeping into my words.
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"Well, I would advise you lied here for the three hours so your body can acclimate to such power, but..." My mirror image turns her gaze towards Kairo. I used all the energy I had to turn my head and put him in view when a pit grew in my stomach at what I saw. A pair of silver wings flapped violently, and a razor-sharp beak lined with teeth dug deep into Kairo's arm. What made the scene even more horrifying was the speed it was in all of it moved in slow motion like a bad dream.
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"What's happening?! What is that?!" I screamed.
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"The creature is referred to as an Owldile it's a symbiotic predator that renders its victims paralyzed with its bite, allowing the Shear Bak to feast on stronger prey." Rose seemed to become more mechanical in behavior. Its answers were clinical.
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"I need to help Kario. What can I do?!" I pleaded.
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"You can't do anything." A devious smile and devilish tone made all my hair stand on end.
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"But if you allow me to have your body for those three hours, I'll make sure you live." I finally realized her detached demeanor came from the fact that she was more occupied with making a deal. From the corner of my eye, I could see something slowly breaking the treeline. Another bird was diving at me, its eyes trained on my chest, and another two figures behind following its trajectory.
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"No deal." I firmly say, staring down at the birds slowly closing the gap.
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"Are you a fool? if you don't get help, you'll die, and your babysitter has already been bitten, so he won't be of any use soon. You're out of options..." Rose hissed through her teeth.
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"And so are you if I die you die you have to help me so I don't need to bargain with my life." Rose's eyes narrowed, and I swore a growl seemed to ring in my head.
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"One wish I'll grant it for those three hours in return fair?" She knelt closer to me, her head now hovering over mine.
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"Fair." I say without hesitation, eyes darting from Kairo to the birds who seem to be multiplying in number and emerging from the shadows.
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"Speak your wish then." She barks at me, and my mind spun in turmoil, trying to avoid the obvious monkey's paw.
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"I wish to keep Kario unharmed." I say, peering into the crimson pools of my shadow eyes, a concerning amount of time passes as Rose seems to contemplate my wish.
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"No." She says before standing back up and facing the tree line.
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"No? You can't say no, you'll die!" I scream.
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"Yes, and I could also perish trying to protect a total stranger." I couldn't believe what I'd heard the memories of the day ran through my head, and at this point, Kairo was beginning to feel more like a friend.
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"To you maybe, but he means nothing to me. I'll risk my life to save yours or even my own, but for not him." A callousness that I'd never known came from my lips, but I knew it was how she really felt. All of a sudden, time seemed to speed back to its appropriate speed.
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"Things are starting to speed back up." A smile formed on Rose's face as she watched the onslaught gain speed.
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"You just gained a level of magical sense that most magicians would massacre for and you'll have full access to it in three hours and you're experiencing the acclimation process without any baseline magical sense or abilities of course the world seems to be moving in point five-speed, but really it's all business as usual so if I gave you what most magical infants are born with then you'll catch right up." I felt a stirring in my mind that seemed to speed everything up more and more until the birds were dive bombing and the hum had changed into precise separate tones coming from the trees and grass and even though the wings of the talon terrors were silent a sound came from them as well unique and distinct from all the others. The birds closed in quick beaks like lawn darts aimed for my center mass. I close my eyes tight, waiting for sharp pains and gnashing teeth.
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Instead, a warm liquid drip slowly poured from above. I slowly opened my eyes to see Kairo holding himself over me. Blood dripped from his mouth to my cheeks and forehead.
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"Sorry, I only could manage another there, and I used the rest for stop." He coughs up more blood between each word, trying his best to act as my shield, but I see his arms buckle.
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"Soon my spells will end, but before that, if you could manage another blast like earlier, it'll scare them off." His eyes weren't focusing, but he swayed, fighting the urge to fall unconscious.
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"Okay, you have a deal. I will protect this stranger." Rose grunted spitefully.
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"Thank you, Rose." I say out loud. Kairo hearing this while barely conscious still seemed confused.
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"You're welcome Willow enjoy your rest." I slipped into sleep, finally letting the weight my body was feeling drag me deep into a state of unconsciousness. The last words I heard from Rose reassured me to rest.
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"Sweet dreams."
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~End of Chapter 4
Thank you so much for reading chapter four of Devil's Advocates, and I hope you read the next one.
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