Chapter Nineteen – Just An Unfair Battle (Tuesday, January 24, 1995)
The alarm clock rings, causing Ty to open his eyes. He turns over to turn off the buzzing sound and then crawls out of bed. He stretches and makes his way to the bathroom, only wearing blue boxers, to get ready for school.
His orders are clear, watch what I do and report any odd activity to Ozma. He isn’t supposed to engage, attack or help. Despite the warnings, ever since he was a child, he knew the story of the demon that will destroy everything, leaving only darkness and he knows that he must do something to contain it. He wasn’t supposed to use his powers yesterday but he did anyway. It’s unclear if any other of Ozma’s operatives saw him or not but as of right now, he’s in the clear.
Everyone who works for Ozma has every right to fear her. Granted, she is just one woman, but she has the power to control one’s mind, even to break it. Add in the genius mind of Doctor Russell Anzak and you have a powerhouse.
These thoughts tend to run through Ty’s mind often, especially while in the shower and today these thoughts are no different. After getting dressed, he makes his way downstairs to make himself breakfast. At least Ozma and company gave him a nice place to stay at while on his mission. It’s a two story townhome that is small and cozy. The only thing that is missing is a view of the beach.
Ty spent his childhood in Jamaica with his parents and two sisters before the robots came for him. When Ozma spoke of a power entity he knew it had something to do with the stories his mother read to him as a child. He knew that they were more than stories but a warning to those who were willing to look past mere words.
As Ty steps into the kitchen, I greet him with, “Ready to be zapped by that spell of yours.”
“How did you get in here?”
“I can teleport. It’s what I do,” I shrug. “Oh and you’re out of orange juice.”I then reach behind me to take hold of the scanner that Zar-Q gave me yesterday. I point it at Ty and let the tech do its thing.
· Name: Ty Williams (first incarnation)
· Age: 20 (Aug 25)
· Class: Shaman
· Element: none
· Weakness: Dark magic
· Level: 6
· HP: 175
· MP: 155
“Hmmm, we really need to add alignment to the list; it would make it easier to figure out who’s good and who isn’t.”
“What is that?”
“Shows your stats but it’s only in beta right now. So, how about that spell so I can get going?” I persist. Without hesitation, Ty casts the tranquil spell on me and instantly I feel fantastic. “Great! I’ll see you at school.” I then teleport back to my room so Raven can take me to school without even knowing that I was gone for twenty minutes.
I make way to the living room where I see Taryn sitting down, waiting for me, “I told your uncle that you didn’t need a ride this morning, I hope that’s okay.”
“Sure,” I grin. I wasn’t expecting this. “Oh, hey, Z gave me this scanner and told me to zap everyone that I come across so he can add us to the database.”
· Name: Taryn Reed (first incarnation)
· Age: 13 (March 5)
· Class: Fighter
· Element: Ice
· Weakness: Fire
· Level: 1
· HP: 168
· MP: 95
“What does it say?” she asks.
I toss the scanner over so Taryn can read the small text that shows up on the miniature green screen “You can check it out on Z’s computer too. The text is way too small to read on that thing. So, did Celestria send you to check up on me?” I laugh. “I’m fine, you know, I got the lecture yesterday.”
Taryn hands me the scanner after standing, “No, I wanted to see how you were doing after…”
“I’m fine, really,” I smile. Very hard for me to hide that I had Ty cast that spell on me mere minutes ago.
“Okay,” she says, taking a potion out and gently tossing it onto the wall. She makes her way through the portal and my gut tells me that something is off. Taryn isn’t wearing a dress. Taryn always wears a dress. Instead, she’s wearing khaki pants and a flowered pink top. Why isn’t she wearing a dress? I shrug it off as if it’s nothing and skip towards the open portal. It’s so nice of Taryn to stop by to check up on me and head to school together. We really haven’t hung out since we’ve first met save for my math lessons and a few trips to the movies. For the most part, Taryn and Kyle have been training together since Kyle has proclaimed himself the trainer of the group.
I walk through the portal as I normally do (unless I am teleporting without a potion) and before I can check my surroundings or utter a word, a blast of cold air warps around me, causing me to lose my breath. Unable to speak, I search the area and soon release that I’m not at school. I can see Taryn, several feet in front of me, ice circling around her body.
“I’m sorry, but this wasn’t my idea,” she finally speaks. “Celestria and Kyle didn’t believe you when you said that you wouldn’t go back to Ty. They knew you wouldn’t meet him at school so you would have to go early. They told me this would be a lesson for you.”
The air around me starts to warm up and allows me to speak, “Are you freaking serious? How is this…and you agreed…?”
“I’m sorry.”
Celestria said that Taryn and I couldn’t fight each other because of our elements. Even though Taryn is a weaker fighter than I am, my weakness is cold. Celestria mentioned that if we ever did fight each other, the person who shoots off the first spell will have the advantage. Well, we’ll just see about that.
Laughing, I can feel the ice loosen around my arms and pushing against it, I break free, causing shards of ice to scatter in all directions.
Taryn immediately summons the ice that has been spinning around her body towards me, such an open and obvious attack; I have to wonder if Kyle is really teaching Taryn anything. If you want to attack someone, you need to be faster and unpredictable. How can Celestria and Kyle think that I can’t fight while under the influence of Ty’s spell? The only thing it does is makes me happy and content and then a nasty headache once it wears off.
The ice turns into icicles as they get closer to me. Taryn’s first spell wears off and I’m finally able to speak again. “I don’t see how this is a fair fight. I’m clearly faster than you and you’re weak to fire. All I have to do is teleport to a safer location and shoot a fire ball at your head. But oh my God you are too cute to attack! Maybe for Halloween this year you could dress up as an Elf. I’m just saying,” shrugging, I laugh at the thought.
I then feel a sharp pain in my chest; then on my right side, just under my armpit, another on my left and finally in the middle of my back. I look down to see a medium sized icicle sticking out off my chest, sides and back. The pain of my skin being torn open by an ice spell is great. I start to feel cold throughout my body as my head begins to throb. I know that I need to attack Taryn to stop her from attacking me, but I just can’t. My thoughts are conflicting at the moment and the only thing my mind wants to do is to find a simple and polite solution to the situation. When I try to counter that thought, my head bangs in pain. Combined that pain with the icicles piercing my body, it’s enough to make me fall to my knees. I need to focus and as I try to do so, another blast of cold hits me in the forehead, thanks to a snowball spell, I assume. I don’t have the energy nor will to look up at Taryn. All I know is that I need to get out of this situation. Why won’t my mind allow me to defend myself? Ty’s spell: it makes me content in any situation. Even though I’m being attack, my body and mind is content with this? This isn’t helpful at all and now I’m doing monologue to myself again. The icicles push deeper into my skin as my thoughts trail off again. My hands sink into the ground as I deal with the pain, wanting so much to cast myself on fire to warm my body. I look at my hands, sinking deeper into the ground and my mind wanders yet again, this time to the book that I read not long ago about my past life. She was able to produce an earth spell, could I do the same? I dig my hands deeper into the ground as Taryn now continuously throws ice and snow spells at my body.
“Do you think I should tell Taryn to stop?” Celestria asks Kyle from a safe distance.
Kyle hesitates before answering. It’s clear that he would like to call off Taryn, but doesn’t. “Not yet, Anya needs to learn that Ty’s spell isn’t the answer.”
Within the dirt, I start to see a glow. Despite my mind not wanting to do anything, I push the spell, underground and towards Taryn, in hopes to knock her off her feet. Taryn notices something heading towards her and panics. She then produces a large icicle, at least three feet long, and throws it towards me like a javelin. Taryn is unable to dodge the spell in time as the Earth under her feet opens up as fire shoots up, engulfing her. Celestria quickly stands and begins casting healing spells on Taryn.
Earlier that morning, Celestria gave Taryn a bottle to drink that would protect her from fire based spells but to be safe, Celestria is now casting several healing spells on her.
“We should have asked Miles to help us,” Celestria says.
“You doubt your healing ability?” Kyle asks, shocked.
“Not at all but I would like to have the extra protection for Taryn.”
Thankful that my attack reached Taryn, I sigh with relief, however forgetting about the giant icicle heading right towards me. Before I have the chance to stand or to even look up, the icicle slams into the top of my right shoulder. I scream out in pain as I fall on my back, forgetting about the icicle back there. It shatters into several pieces, into my skin. I feel weak and my body refuses to move. I’m unsure if this is the spell or the fact that my body feels extremely cold right now. However I feel content here as I close my eyes.
I slowly reopen my eyes, thinking that it’s only been a few minutes. I try to stand, but can’t. I can’t even move my head as everything feels like lead.
Taryn is the first to stand. She is a little shaken but otherwise alright thanks to Celestria’s heals.
“I think that’s it. I don’t think we should push Taryn any further,” Celestria says, who begins making her way towards the ice magic user.
“I hope you’re right,” Kyle remarks, more to himself than to Celestria. He hovers off of the ground and files over to my location.
Here I am, still on the ground trying to figure out why I can’t move. The only things that i can do are blink and breathe and even breathing seems to be hard to accomplish right now. I try to at least sit up but there is a sharp pain pressing its way into my brain and then nothing.
My mind searches for something, anything within the darkness. However this darkness is different than before. I don’t feel empty nor do I feel the presence of Saturn. I should be grateful but I’m not, I’m worried. My best assumption is that Ty’s spell has worn off but that takes at least eight hours for me to wear off. How long has it been?
I slowly open my eyes and they can see a grey ceiling made out of stone. I try to move my body but it refuses as my head and eyes throb.
I then see Kyle, who is upside down, looking down at me. “Your body has locked up in an almost petrified state. I hope you understand why you can’t have Ty use that spell on you. What if it wasn’t Taryn who attacked you?”
Great, now I get to have a lecture from Kyle. I bet this was all his idea. I would reply back, if I could speak that is.
“Is she awake?” I can hear Celestria say.
“Yea,” Kyle says over his shoulder. “She’s still petrified though. Any idea how to dispel it?”
“All I can do is heal her, which isn’t what she needs right now. Hopefully it will wear off soon.”
Are they serious? They don’t know how to fix this? With those fancy computers and magic, they can’t figure it out? Or is this another ploy for them to make me realize that using Ty’s magic is wrong?
“Have you learned your lesson, at least?” he asks. I can tell that he’s genuinely worried.
Lesson learned: use Ty’s spell, get ambushed equals not good. However there has to be a way to get out of said situation. Even if I’m not under Ty’s tranquil spell, what happens when an enemy uses a spell that I am weak against and there is no one around to help me? I can’t simply reach back and summon a potion if I can’t move. Wait, what if I can use fire to heal myself? I close my eyes and scan my memories and mind of any indication that this could be possible.
“I think she passed out again,” I can hear Kyle say.
My left pinky finger twitches as I can feel something deep within trying to push itself forward. I can feel a warm flame building in my chest. I try to push it outward in order to heal myself. Suddenly my eyes open and I lift my left arm up. My eyes move to see it in flames.
“And why is her arm on fire?” Celestria asks who walked over while my eyes were closed.
I focus on the flames that have engulfed my arm and I try to move them to cover my entire body.
I can feel a warm energy building within my chest, then instantly my entire body is engulfed in red and green flames. I focus, trying to not light the couch on fire as well.
With my left hand I grab a hold of Kyle’s shirt and I pull him close to my face and say, “Next time, you face me instead of using Taryn.” I release Kyle’s shirt as the flames slowly fade away.
“Next time you should listen to us,” I can hear Kyle mutter as he walks towards the door.
Rolling my eyes and taking a deep breath in, I teleport to the doorway.
“Not in here,” Celestria says.
My arms and fists light up with fire.
“I’m not healing the both of you.”
Kyle pulls back his arm and as soon as he shoots a ball of electricity I fire off two fire balls from my fists. Unfortunately the fire balls connect to a shield and not Kyle. I look to my right to see Miles, who has used his bubble shield on me. As for Kyle’s attack, it gets absorbed by the bubble.
“I’m happy that you’re finally awake. Are you feeling better?” Miles asks who makes his way towards me.
“Better thanks. How long have I been out?” I ask.
“Twelve hours,” Kyle says without emotion.
“Miles,” I turn to face him. “You can let me out of this bubble, I’m fine.”
“Outside,” Celestria repeats.
Kyle slips pass me and makes his way down the hallway.
“I think I need to get started on that virtual training room,” Miles slowly says, still unsure if he should drop the shield.
Kyle stops walking and turns around, “It’s okay Miles, we don’t need the shield up.”
“Am I not here?” Celestria sighs, defeated.
Miles walks into the room and wonders what he’s just walked into. Without notice, the shield on me drops.
I pat Miles on the top of his head, “Don’t worry, everything is okay.” I then walk out into the hallway, feeling Celestria’s eyes on my back as I leave the room.
The instant I step into the hallway I am hit with a ball of electricity. I sigh deeply and shrug it off. “Really?”
“Yep.”
“Why didn’t you come at me before instead of using Taryn?” I take a few steps towards Kyle before stopping.
“Wanted to use your weakness against you. Since you didn’t want to listen to us, we didn’t have much of a choice.” His fists light up once again. If it’s a fight he wants, then so be it.
My entire body lights up with a blue and white fire and for a second time, I fire off two fire balls from each of my fists towards Kyle. This time around the spell moves quicker and connects with its target. I then fire off two more fire spells which causes Kyle to lose his footing and he goes crashing through the wall of the castle.
I just know that Celestria is cursing up a storm right now.
I break into a run, jumping over the debris that is now on the ground. However, with all the smoke from my own spell and the destroyed wall, it is hard to see. A closeline to my gut surprises me as my fire shield drops. I turn around to see a fist infused with lightening coming right for my face. I duck and uppercut with a fire infused fist of my own.
Kyle falls on his back and I’m half certain we’re finished with our little fight but I should know better.
A bolt of lightning strikes from above, connecting with my right shoulder. Then another. The sky seems to be raining lightning down on me. I teleport in and out to avoid the strikes but some do make their mark.
“I’m done,” Kyle says, standing.
“Huh?”
He starts to walk back towards the newly made hole and adds, “You’re supposed to be the leader, and we need you to be ready for anything.”
I slowly take out the scanner and with his back towards me; it’s the best time to see Kyle’s information.
As I scan him, I think on what he just told me. All this time i thought he and Celestria were the leaders, since they seem to know more than me.
I look down at the scanner and I’m shocked, to say the least.
· Name: Kyle Roberts (unknown incarnation)
· Birthday: 15 (July 15)
· Class: Fighter Mage
· Element: Electricity, power (energy)
· Weakness: unknown
· Level: 12
· HP: 614
· MP: 384
Has he been holding back the entire time? Kyle did tell me that he’s been running from Ozma since he was young. If he’s more powerful than any of us, why am I supposed to be the leader? And how isn’t the scanner not picking up on other stuff about him? I know this device is still in beta but it still strikes me as odd.
“Wait,” I call out, before I can stop myself.
He stops but doesn’t turn around.
“I get your point, no more happy spell from Ty but why me? You’ve seen firsthand that I can switch over to Saturn. I don’t think that qualifies me as the leader. Plus you and Cel know a heck of a lot more than I do.”
“Because you’re stronger than you were in the past and you have people who care about you that can help you along the way. There’s always a way out.”
“I’m sorry.”
This makes Kyle finally turn around.
I look to the right and then to the ground, “I’ve been an idiot lately. I’m an only child whose only friend was a babysitting charge. I don’t do well around others, especially when they’re trying to help me. I wanted to try to fix this problem on my own, for all of you.” I can feel my cheeks going red. I hate having to admit that I’m wrong. “If I plan on doing something stupid, I’ll let you guys know first.”
