Novels2Search

Chapter 18 ** Another **

Another day passed in bliss, before Switch talked about what he had learnt from the Codex.

"One was called copy magic, obviously based on copying. It was another passive kind of magic, as well as defensive, because it could be used as a decoy. The people who have had this magic previously, were looked down upon because they would duplicate money and that is why wizards don't use money anymore..."

Coughing, for a fleeting moment, Switch had indeed once done that in a previous life, but he wasn’t going to ever admit to it…

Switch looked at Anonym and Timothy, before continuing, "The other one was based on illusion. They were able to replicate many things but they wouldn't do anything to harm you and the replications would disappear after a period of time. This was yet another passive kind of magic but the people with this magic were put into the army to become one that can replicate the offensive magic to help scare the opponents."

Anonym just blinked and waited, but Timothy shook his head, "Yet, that wasn't Alex's power. He clearly made copies that were real, but more than one."

Switch nodded and lifted Alex, to put on his lap. "Yes, it was no illusion and it slowly increased beyond one to fifty. Perhaps he could do more because he is still gaining more magic."

Anonym nodded with a blank face, but narrowed her eyes at the child on Switch's lap. The child didn't see it and continued to play with a wooden dagger that she had made for him.

Timothy sighed, then said, "Then you will have to teach him from scratch. Perhaps teach him some of the copy magic and illusion magic."

Switch breathed out in defeat, "Yes, I will look into those two magics more in the wizard world, before we move on."

Anonym slowly took in those words and then looked at Switch, excited, "You mean, we don't have to stay too much longer?"

Smiling at his beloved woman, he said, "Not really, once I have a look around, we should be right to leave. Perhaps we will come back later to see if there is any new information, prior to Alex unlocking his magic."

That meant...They could look for more like them to defeat the old man!

Anonym was excited!

Timothy was at a loss though, "Where would you go?"

"Find more people to kill the old man!" Anonym said, clapping and standing up in excitement.

Looking up at her, Timothy then looked at Switch, "Find more...?"

Switch looked at him expressionlessly. There would be no use to tell this person their plans.

Suddenly, Timothy felt like he was an outsider...

Anonym started to laugh loudly and suddenly, hit the wall of the cave, unable to keep her enjoyment in.

All of them looked at her destruction and Alex was the only one who said something, "Mummy!"

He too, got off Switch’s lap and ran up to the wall, punching it in the same enthusiasm, but not doing even half the amount of damage...

Switch smiled at his silly family. So easily, they both had chosen violence to express their happiness...What was he going to do with them!?

Going silent, Timothy didn't like what was going on. Where they just going to leave him now? After everything, he really was devoted to this family. What would he do without them?

Turning to Timothy, Switch pondered for a moment, "Timothy, we are bound to get into trouble where ever we go, because of who we are. You are probably better off staying here..."

Timothy interrupted him, "Staying here? The Elders probably know that I helped you guys, so that means death! If I stay with the black dragons, I'm still stuck in one spot, only living! I'd rather live with more fulfilment then that! Take me with you, please!"

Anonym turned back, having not totally understood why Timothy was raising his voice. "That's fine, he can just tag along. I want the black dragons to come with us anyway."

Her easily said solution made Timothy smile very happily, but Switch looked at Anonym in shock, "He could get killed!"

Anonym shrugged, "Until he dies, he is useful."

She was thinking of him as a slave, yet Switch didn't think of Timothy that way and was still worried, "Do you care at all?"

Nodding, Anonym said, "That's why I said to bring him."

Again, she said it so easily...

Shaking his head, Switch sighed, "We'll talk about it again later, I'll go to the wizard world and find out if there's anything new about copy and illusion magic first."

Timothy got up and asked, "Would you like me to come with you?"

Frowning, Switch shook his head, "I'm faster on my own."

Looking at Anonym, Timothy saw her looking at him. He had seen her cry that time Switch was ill, he also knows how special Switch is to her. When she nodded at him, Timothy straightened up, "I've been given permission to come with you!"

Wide eyes stared at him, then he watched Switch turn to Anonym, who was smiling happily. "You!"

"Mmm, I give permission. Don't get hurt!"

The order was given and Switch found himself no way out!

...But, the sentence, 'don't get hurt' made Switch smile and nod anyway. "Fine."

***

Another week passed by and Switch had completed anything he thought he needed to know. Again, he specifically went to find out the newest information he could find and didn't buy anything. There were indeed books, but he could materialise them anyway. They also visited two teachers of each magic, to talk to them vaguely about the magic. What was different, was that both copy and illusion magics had used a wand, instead of a staff. So, Switch also looked up on the newest kinds of wands as well. And every time...Timothy was given permission to follow Switch...

On the last outing though, Switch demanded Alex as well, making Anonym want to attend too. But since she had no magic within her, she couldn't go, making her very grumpy.

Switch knew it would end up like this, but it would be nasty if Alex hadn't seen the wizard world at least once, before they left.

He was a terror and Switch slightly regretted putting him down on the ground.

Normally, they would only spend a couple of hours there and come home, but Alex had made them spend nearly an entire day there. He seemed to even use up excess energy to stay awake, as he didn't even have a nap!

Switch found it incredible that this child was just like his mother. He didn't care what he did, didn't care who was who and did as he pleased, with no fear...

What...A disaster.

Having had Alex do all these things, Switch was glad Anonym hadn't come.

The problem was, they started to become known and people were questioning why Switch looked familiar.

Just as they saw officers start to come one by one, to the area that they were in, Switch became serious and got Alex, and then teleported away.

There was nothing to be done, they couldn't go back now...

Looking down at his son, he realised that this wasn't the first time he has felt like this. He was sure that they wouldn't have been invited back to the Hydra Clan, after they had left there too.

Timothy was in a bit of loss as well. Knowing this little boy had roared at a black dragon, he knew he had guts…But, he walked into shops and took items. He would play with this item for a brief period, before he would break it and then he’d put it back. Several shops had now broken items still for sale and several other shops had tried telling Alex off but he had roared at them and took his wooden dagger out!

Many times, Timothy looked at Switch, only to see him dotingly smile at his son! He wasn’t going to stop it!? This kind of behaviour wasn’t something anyone here was used too!

Normally, small children wouldn’t spend much time in shops at all, as they would be guided elsewhere by magic, to a common play area close by. The magic used to entertain the children was quite amazing, as it wasn't bound by the person casting it. The magic was able to detect what would entertain that person, by appearing in that entertainment. So, in the common play area, there wouldn't be one play thing for the children. To each child, they would have their very own magic to entertain them, making it a very large place. Some children would have a large magical object, where as other children might be happy by just wanting to catch a butterfly. It was a very successful magic as the children happily stayed within the common play area. They magic was based on desire and for the most part, they were people who entertained. And in this wizard world they were everywhere, but not there because of parents, they were offered a job, instead, by the shopkeepers.

But, seeing as Switch let Alex do as he pleased, Timothy nearly got the child magic person to take Alex away himself!

As things started to get more and more intense, Alex would dash around and hit people, who would try to harm him, and yell, “Dragon pet!? Panther!?”

When Timothy caught Switch laughing to his son’s yell, he looked at Timothy and said, smilingly, “Haha, he wants his friends. What mischief would happen then!? Haha.”

Abnormal! This family is…Abnormal!

Upon returning this time, Anonym greedily stole Switch from her child and ran away with him, leaving Timothy to babysit.

Alex tried to follow but the door shut in front of him.

Watching the child have his eyes turn into a strange rage, he desperately wanted to laugh. Anonym and this boy were very similar and he found it quite hilarious!

Even after the child had a sleep, the first thing he would do is slam his fists on the closed door, to the room that his mother and father were in.

Timothy then took the child, saying through the closed wall that he’ll get him something to eat.

Taking the chance to gain favour with the little one, he asked him if he wanted to learn some magic.

Alex's eyes lit up and that was it, Timothy gained the favour with one sentence...

Stolen novel; please report.

So, the child started to like Timothy very much, totally forgetting about being abandoned by mummy and daddy...

What a strange family, Timothy thought, while taking the child to a shared area, to teach him a few basics and rules on magic.

***

It may not look like Anonym was serious, but she was able to ready herself to leave within a day after that.

Seeing that Anonym was adamant on taking her pets with her. Switch was a little worried that he wouldn't have enough power to teleport them all.

It was Timothy that come up with a solution to help Switch, and that was to help him teleport by using his and Alex's magic as well. Since he was able to find other's magic, he could also give the magic, it was a magic that he wasn’t very good at though. What he would have to do, is practically steal Alex's magic into himself, and then give it to Switch. It was a roundabout way of doing things, but Switch did give it some thought.

Anonym didn't give it much thought at all and just said that Timothy seemed to have upgraded from slave to assistant...

Even though he heard the word slave, making his mouth twitch, Timothy couldn't help feeling a little better to know that he has become a little more important...

After that, Switch, Alex and Timothy practised giving and taking magic and found out how much it could extend too. That gave Switch enough confidence, that if he had too, he could teleport somewhere, then back out again, if they got into trouble, assumedly with all of the dragons as well.

Timothy was the one that they had to wait on, as it wasn't something he was used to doing. It wasn't a main use of his magic, so he had to practise. It was another type of magic but he had inherited from his father. His father had the magic to steal, remould, replace and give magic and it was very well looked upon magic within the wizard world. Lots of people liked the idea of replacing their magic with something else more extravagant and commoners would happily replace their magic, to help get into a better lifestyle.

Upon Timothy practising, Anonym spent that time as a big dragon, talking to little ones and making sure they knew that they were to ride on top of her, when they were ready to go.

It was...A strange conversation of roars, but it seemed to have worked...

Alex, on the other hand, got into trouble for demanded Timothy's attention, when he was trying to practise, and then he was upset.

Switch had tried to entertain him but it hadn't worked. Even 'friend panther' hadn't worked, when Anonym came back into the cave to see her son like this.

Funnily, if Switch had taught him some magic, Alex would have stopped being a brat! But he didn't know that...

Finally, it was time to go. On top of one massive, black dragon, were ten other smaller, black dragons, Switch, Alex and Timothy. Circling the magic between them, Switch used that magic to teleport to an aura that was much like his own and Anonym’s.

Upon teleporting, they found themselves in a desolate place that didn't look habitable at all. In fact, the planet they were on was very small, hardly a planet at all, it was even cold. The sun that was close by, was quite small, and even though it was closer than that of the suns from Roneglaise and Bracabra, it was still very cold. There was only one or two stars in the sky and the planet didn’t look like it had any kind of materials that you could use. What became apparent as well, was that oxygen was scarce, making everyone start to feel slightly dizzy. It was practically a dead place. But, a huge, surrounding, see through 'thing', could be seen in the distance. Discovering this, Switch put a shield around them all, and this 'thing' seemed to have noticed them almost straight away.

The strange 'thing' let out some words, from who knows were, "Food!"

The 'thing' slowly made its way towards them and Switch watched as it looked like some kind of sludge.

Seeing through it, it dominated quite a sizeable portion of space, as far as the eye could see. This 'thing', was a hell of a lot bigger then Anonym as a dragon. Even though it was in the blackness of space, it was still alive!

This was definitely someone like them!

As the sludge, see through ‘thing’ started to slowly make its way towards them, it started to envelope the land not too far away and literally ate it…

As the little planet started to disappear inside this humongous, see through, sludge looking ‘thing’, it slowly still came closer towards them.

Feeling an imminent sense of danger, Anonym roared and Presley said, "Anonym said to teleport away!"

Teleporting, after Timothy circulated their magic, Switch left with all of them.

Then, they found themselves in the huge building that Switch had made for their farewell gathering, before they had left Roneglaise.

Shapeshifting, Anonym turned slowly to Switch.

Without saying anything, they both stared at each other.

What was that!?

Anonym sat down, all the dragons and people went silent.

Even though her memories were quite hard to recollect, Anonym tried very hard to remember when she had been in space.

Who had blown up her planet? What happened after that?

While she was determined to find some kind of explanation to what they had just seen, it was another five minutes before someone came running in, with quite a few others.

Upon seeing what was in the middle of the place, they all stopped in shock.

So...Many...Dragons!

One of the dragons roared and the people started to tremble and step back.

Someone came out from the group, looking scared but still having the courage, and then finally smiled. "Switch!"

He started to walk towards them, but another roar was heard and Switch had to look at one of the bigger black dragons, "It's fine. Calm down."

They lowered their head but still went closer to Anonym, in a form of protection. Another dragon also did the same, making it hard for even Switch to see his beloved woman sitting on the ground, forgetting everyone else.

Sighing, he looked back and smiled as well, "Mark."

Mark slowly walked closer but stopped when the black, scary dragons stared at him. "Ah, we..."

His words went silent. Having already come here in a race for time, then seeing someone that made him happy…Mark became conflicted and wasn't too sure on what to do next.

"What's wrong?" Switch said, walking towards Mark.

"...Oh...We, us...I was recruiting more soldiers to help us against the war."

"War?" Anonym stood up very quickly and her eyes glistened with excitement. Forget about memories, this was way more important!

"Great Master Belwin!" Mark yelled with happiness, upon seeing her come out from behind Switch.

"Tell me! What's going on?" Anonym asked in a rush. The dragons behind her all grunted out, making it hard to have a conversation, so she turned to them, and yelled, "Silence!"

The dragons bowed immediately, they hadn't seen Anonym like that before! They shut up so much, that Anonym was even able to hear her light breathing, "Better!"

Mark looked at Anonym with reverence. Due to the respect he had for someone able to tame such big dragons, he had gone silent once again.

"Quick! Tell me about this war!" Anonym said impatiently.

Mark happily told them about Parched Badlands declaring war upon the Murkcloud continent, due to their allegiance to the 'powerful person'. He said that the decree to kill her and her body to be in front of the Emperor of Parched Badlands, was enough to initiate war, not even sending a delegate to negotiate.

They had marched towards them about a month ago, and now they had completely destroyed two clans and their townspeople on the Murkcloud continent, and they were still continuing.

Then, Mark said that they had focused first of evacuating the people, while their army was to be dispatched, so they hadn't even collided in combat yet.

Anonym nodded eagerly, this sounded so great that she could hardly contain her excitement.

Upon seeing his mother like this, even Alex started to get excited, even though he didn't know why. Seeing this, Switch picked him up and pinched his cheeks, "Calm down!"

Not having much more to say, Mark then ended the conversation with him coming here with these other people to train, so to help defend against the Parched Badlands army. They had been in quite a bit of panic because the Parched Badlands army has nearly twice the amount of people, compared to Murkcloud continent’s army.

Showing a devilish smile, Anonym looked up and then started to laugh.

"Ah, ha...I owe them payback!" Wiping her hands together, she laughed again. “How convenient!”

Being so overwhelmed in excitement, Anonym couldn't come up with a plan. Haha, what am I to do!? So fortunate! Now to think of something!

Nothing worked, she was just too excited!

Switch laughed at her and walked to her side, "Calm down!"

Now he had said it to both his beloved woman and his beloved son! Even Mark let out a chuckle to the strange family.

Upon knowing that Anonym was on his side, Mark was also getting excited! He wanted to report that they had their 'Great Master Belwin' back. But then, he didn't want to leave his hero just to report!

Switch looked from one to the other and thought they were both idiots!

Without telling anyone what she was planning, she just suddenly transformed into a big dragon and roared.

Mark fell back onto his bum in total shock!

Even Switch was stepping back hurriedly, making him a little angry!

Presley came out to be in front of Mark, and said, "She said to get on."

Mark turned to the huge dragon, that now had other dragons surrounding it. She...Wanted us to get on?

Another roar came from the huge dragon and Presley looked back at Mark, "She said, get on, if you don't get on, she'll leave without you."

After Mark breathed in deeply, he got up and walked determinedly towards the huge dragon. The others close by didn't move at all!

But Mark, he trusted Anonym and he happily climbed up onto the huge dragon proudly! Followed by Timothy, who had no idea what was going on…

The dragon let another roar out and Presley looked at Switch, "We'll be back later."

Then they flew off, not letting Switch respond.

His shoulders slacked and his eyes held a little bit of lonesomeness and Switch looked at his son and sighed.

He wasn't going to miss out, smiling, he teleported in the direction all the dragons went...Leaving all the people that were supposed to be 'training' behind in complete shock, horror or confusion.

***

With Anonym and the other dragons flying, and Switch teleporting, they only took half an hour to get to where they had to go.

With Mark showing the way, Anonym didn't get lost this time...

Timothy though, couldn’t take it anymore and asked about where they were and who this other man was!

He found that no place here looked at all familiar and all of the people he had met here, so far, had no magic in them!

Upon meeting Mark, he asked him what was going on, even though he had heard it all just before…

Once Mark had said that Anonym was the ‘powerful person’ that had left Parched Badlands, and they had wanted her dead, Timothy suddenly found himself angry!

But, to a degree, it sounded a little similar to Switch’s case. Switch was well known to also be a ‘powerful person’ and Timothy wondered why Bracabra hadn’t heard of Anonym before now.

What he found out next, made his mouth open in shock. Of course! They weren’t on Bracabra anymore! They were on a different planet altogether!

That explained a lot for him, as he remembered never seeing magic inside of Anonym. That this place was instead for ‘cultivation’…

After Mark had told him a small amount of where they were, Timothy was quiet and looked around in even more enthusiasm. Another planet…So what happened earlier…When they had seen that ‘thing’…That too, was another planet! How many are out there!

When they were at the encampment, where the Murkcloud army had put up their defences, Anonym flew around a bit and roared, before coming down to the ground in front of them all.

Whatever they were doing was stopped. Eating, drinking...Pooing...Urinating...

They were all flabbergasted at the sight of such a huge, monstrous dragon coming down, closer and closer towards them!

Their pants would drop, what they were eating would drop and their cups would drop, and in this case making Anonym unhappy!

Upon landing, she shapeshifted straight away and went towards some freedom elixir, before it too also fell, not caring about Mark and Timothy, who fell from a height that hurt their legs upon falling...

Gulping down the freedom elixir, Anonym breathed out and smiled.

Mark, unable to get up for the moment, looked around and hastily said, "Don't be afraid, she is 'Great Master Belwin'!"

The people stared at Anonym with blank expressions. They had all come from different places from Murkcloud continent, but they have all heard of this reincarnation of 'Great Master Belwin'.

Some of them had even attended the farewell gathering and had seen her before…

After a moment of silence, one started to cheer the name. Then others joined in happily.

It finally became obvious to them that they might be able to fight back and even win this war!

Anonym had forgotten about the dragons, and even Switch, as she continued to gobble up freedom elixir. She hadn't even said a word all this time, as she happily sat down at one of the places very close to a barrel on the ground.

After a minute of cheering, people went quiet again, and that's when Switch appeared as well.

There was no surprise to seeing Anonym happily guzzling down freedom elixir and Switch put down Alex.

The black dragons saw that their master was currently indisposed and they landed as well...They heard in her roar earlier and how excited she was…But, it seemed she had completely lost that at the moment, and so they just come to the ground and grunted at close by people.

Presley then came up to Anonym and said, "They are wondering what is going on, are they to kill these people?"

Anonym looked at Presley happily...She nearly nodded her head, due to her happiness, but stopped herself in time.

Laughing she said, "Tell them to stay for now, we will fight soon! Switch give them some treasure for now, keep them happy!"

She was not going to move just yet...She was happy sitting here right next to her freedom elixir!

Wanting to shake his head to her attitude, Switch still walked towards the dragons and did as he was told.

Initially, she had wanted to fight straight away!

But, the event of the potential falling of freedom elixir had totally changed her mind and Anonym forgot all about the upcoming war!

Mark had stumbled up to her happily, even though he was hurt, and started to talk to her.

They chatted and Anonym seemed happy to explain how to cultivate Power to him, since she had already said she would, but a long time ago. Mark was exceedingly happy that she had remembered her promise to him.

After the army saw this, they started to relax and remembered that a few months ago, Switch, Presley and the 'Great Master Belwin' were indeed special people and treated them accordingly.

They seemed to relax...

The enemy wasn't far away, yet they were gathering with kind, happy words that were excited. Anonym had wanted to spar a few hours after sitting down, but was unable to get up...

Switch helped her sit back down comfortably again, and wondered if she had missed this place. Having her take as much freedom elixir as she wanted, made him wonder if he had tied her down.

But the night still continued, as she sat in her beloved's arms.

Alex became the next star of the show, as he was told to fight in her place!

What made some of the army stare in bewilderment, was because of how much this little three-year-old could hold his own. They knew he was much below them, but this one didn't take defeat!

Alex took them all on and would look at his mother on the occasion, to see her smile and nod.

Taking it easy upon this little one, they could tell he would take advantage of your weakness and would rile you up to try harder. Yet, on two occasions this little boy was hurt because of one putting more effort into their attack that they had hurt the little man. But not much was needed, he would get up and glare at his opponent and if he needed healing, Switch would click for him. Then they would continue to fight…

The army was just about to fall asleep when General Clish came, and suddenly, everyone was awake again!