Behind the pair the form of the jester woman appeared with a large staff in her hands. Pointing it at the pair, she sneered, “The only way you two could avoid the curse on that ride is if you’ve gone on it before.
Her eyes narrowed, “No one ever rides twice.”
“Never seen your crazy ride, lady,” Herro said.
Razor reached his hand down to his belt and grabbed something that appeared to not be there. As his hands wrapped around the hilt of a sword, the entire thing appeared, revealing he is wearing a scabbarded sword attached to his belt. Letting his hand rest on the hilt, he glanced the woman up and down, his eyes watching her posture as she started to draw energy into herself.
“You will both die!” She screamed and the energy draw becames visible, making several passersby recoil at the sight and many more scatter - some pulling out phones.
“Not today,” Razor said, shoving Herro towards a clearing in the center of a main walkway. “Let’s get there. You’re not supposed to be on the grass, meaning less casualties.”
Herro nods and they darted towards the greenery. They lept over the small cordons into the grass. Herro staggered as he landed. Getting his balance, he pulled what appeared to be a sword with a gun mounted into the hilt. Herro mumbled a word and a pair of fireballs that were headed towards them flew passed and exploded, as though they hit a wall a few inches behind Herro. Iead of him, he could see Razor was already on the grass - standing from a roll, and spun to face the crazed Magia. Herro dove passed and slashed his sword, causing an arrow of green energy to shoot into a food stand off to the far edge of the courtyard.
The mad mage flickered and appeared closer to the two men. She stood on the stone bench just outside the park’s grass. Razor leveled his now unsheathed blade at her, “Surrender, mage. I will cut you down.”
Her smile went nearly head-splittingly wide again, “You’ll try, Amazon scum.”
Razor rolled his eyes and looked at Herro. “Do you believe her. Amazon scum? Can you get any more clichéd villain?”
Growling, she spread her left hand wide and pointed towards the guys. Words in the magic language spewed from her mouth and the wind suddenly picked up. The gale started to whip Razor’s long ponytail behind him and he felt himself start to be pushed back. As the wind sped even more, he launched off the ground and flew backwards. his cry of pain He cried out just as his back smashed into a marble column near the entrance, now lost in the wind.
Herro could feel himself slipping and pushed his hands out in front of him. A wall of force spread the wind around him as he watched Razor careen through the air. Even with a force shield up he could still feel the wind beating at him. Saying the words to a spell of his own, a bolt of plasma shot from his outstretched hand and was only barely dodged as the female mage threw up a shield of her own.
With her concentration broken, the winds died down and she glared daggers at Herro. She could see Razor back on his feet, sword in hand, charging back towards her. Her immediate concern though was Herro, who was chanting a spell that, from what she could make out of the words, was not one she could survive. Throwing her hand up in a claw motion, a geyser of water shot from underneath Herro. As the water retreated, she noticed the blonde girl version that she’d seen earlier.
Smirking, she mouthed: “Right. They must not be used to their curses.”. With the Blonde girl temporarily shocked breaking her concentration on a big spell, she needed to worry about the charging Amazon with a sword. Stepping back, she pushed her right hand forward and a spear of ice cold water shot from the ground and into Razor’s chest.
Razor grimaced as he let out a cry that shifted in pitch even as she finished the scream. The pain didn’t stop her, and the change in form was easily compensated for by extending her arms and bringing the sword higher. She swung the sword down in an arc from the left shoulder to right hip of the female mage.
The mage howled as the blade bit into her. She backed up just enough to not get her innards gouged but the pain still drove her to her knees. Razor, standing in a stance with her tang dao sword in front of her at the ready, glowered down at the other woman. “Why attack us?”
Herra had walked up with a small ball flame in her hand and pointed at the crazed mage. “Uhh, because she’s crazy?”
“Ha!” The woman grinned a tooth-baring, manic smile. “You really want to know?”
Razor nodded, “Yes, and if you even try mouthing the word to a spell I will gut you.”
“We need to hurry,” Herra said softly at Razor. The taller woman looked at her, an eyebrow raised. She continued, “I can hear a fire alarm in the distance. Someone called the cops.”
Glancing back at the downed mage, Razor scowled. “You want to live? Give us some information worth saving yourself.”
“As if,” the crazy mage shouted before blinking out of existence.
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“Damn,” Razor muttered, looking at all the scared faces in the crowd. “How’re we going to find her now?”
“She went deeper in. I can feel her icky aura from here,” Herra said looking up at Razor.
Sheathing her sword, Razor turned towards the center of the park. “Back down the rabbit hole, eh, Alice?”
Following after Razor, Herra smiled, “I’m not Alice, I am totally the White Queen. Do feel free to lead the way though Cheshire.”
“Damn Straight I’m the Cheshire cat,” Razor said turning her head with a wicked grin on her face, “You can’t help it. We’re all mad here.”
Herra started the pair down the path and which led deeper into the park. The panic started dying down as they got further from the point of their incident, but people still looked at them with wide eyes, shying away from them.
Reaching a spot where a high fence split the path into two circular paths that led off to the right and left, Razor glanced at the blonde. “Any indication which way she went?”
“Left,” Herra said, uncertainly glancing both ways. “It feels like she went right, but looped around towards the left.”
Razor rubbed her chin, “This is a giant circle. It is possible she went around one side to the other. But she teleported.”
Herra shook her head, “She did, but without any sort of aid it had to be a short one. Maybe it only took her to here and she is trying to lose us.”
“Then we go right.”
Eyebrows bunching, Herra asked: “Why? If we know she’s on the left, let’s go left.”
“No,” Razor said softly, starting right. “I am assuming she put some sort of traps along the way. If she senses our presence without the traps going off, she’ll panic and flee. Maybe farther than we can track.”
“Why are we even going after her?”
Razor started to answer as a ball of plasma shot from the hand of a man in a Hawaiian shirt and sandals heads towards the pair. Herra move her hand and the ball went careening into a wall of the enclosed space within the circle beside them.
Other onlookers scattered as the man held up both hands and started to fire a barrage of plasma balls towards the two. Herra threw her hands forward and another wall of energy formed between them and the man. Razor scowled and put her hand to the ground.
A rumble sounded beneath the man, causing him to jump back and interrupt his stream of magic. From the spot where he’d just vacated an inch thick tangle of vines shot out and grabbed his foot. He started screaming and throwing fireballs into the plant which blackened and started to pull away. He smirked as the plant crumbled to ash at his feet. Turning back towards the pair, the last thing he saw was Razor’s sword cleaving into his neck.
Flinging her sword sharply to the side before using the edge of her shirt to wipe any remaining blood off the blade, Razor looked around the crowd. A few Magia had spells of their own ready and she saw a few Amazons and the Demoan girls she’d seen earlier getting ready to defend themselves.
Razor raised her voice, firm and commanding: “Everyone should head for the exit. I can’t guarantee your safety if you stay here because it’s about to get messy. If you are able, help the slower and weaker people out.”
Half of the Amazon’s headed towards the exit as if on instinct, towing some of the scared families with them. Nodding to the ones leaving, Razor started onward again, her sword now drawn and at the ready.
“Aren’t you going to make sure they get out safely,” Herra asked, her gun-blade at her side too.
With a shake of her head Razor responded, “No. There are way too many people here for us to do that. Most of the Amazons I saw are from my tribe, so they at least will attempt to do what I asked, the rest
She sighed, “We aren’t their babysitters and we need to stop that psycho before she hurts someone else.”
“Oh,” Herra said with a nod, taking long steps to keep up with the taller Razor. “You did say this place had no incidents. How did you not get word of the cursing?”
“One of the many reasons creepy clown lady needs to be caught.”
After what felt like an hour later, the two finally rounded a bend. Both had cuts and some bruises. Razor’s hair was now hanging loose around her, the scrunchie giving out from a near miss with an energy blade. Herra’s palm was still smoking from a power to power scuffle with the final pair of assassins, both of them channeling their magic at her.
“She’s in this building,” Herra said, pointing at the ‘Reflections of Fate’ sign, which appeared to be the resident hall of mirrors, “And it feels like she’s drawing a lot of power. I think the minions were to give her time to complete a ritual.”
Razor grinned, pulling a lock of hair behind her ear. “Well let's interrupt anyway. You lead with a shield in front of us and I’ll guard our rear.”
Herra nodded and started walking, her blade horizontal in front of her. The interior of the house of mirrors was dark and labyrinthine, causing Herra to stop for a minute before almost walking into a reflection of herself around a sharp corner. She drew back, bumping into Razor’s chest and knocking her back a step.
“Hey,” Razor muttered. “Watch the elbows.”
Herra raised an eyebrow and glanced at Razor’s tight top, “Well, if they weren’t so massive and in the way.”
“You’re just jealous,” Razor quipped back, seeing her reflection in the first mirror. “The hell?”
Her reflection had green skin and pointy ears. Her lilac hair was instead a near-platinum blonde with streaks of green thrown in the mix.
Herra glanced at it and her’s was similarly shaded, just a deeper green skin tone and her hair was multi-colored. “I think that’s what we’d look like as dryads.”
“Huh, that’s weird.” Razor glanced down the row and saw all combinations of odd reflections bouncing around of them. Her eyes narrowed as she spotted a glimpse of a third person's reflection and darted towards the end of the aisle, stopping before a reflection that was surprisingly accurate. It showed Razor in her normal male form and behind her it showed Herra as Herro, albeit missing the swoop of bangs.
“Hey, girlie,” Razor grinned. “You look good without the bangs covering half your face.”
Beside her, Herra looked at it before raising an eyebrow at Razor. “Girlie?”
Razor glanced out the corner of her eyes away from Herra and grinned wider, “Yeah. Girlie. But look!” She pointed down to the reflection where Herra noticed fair representations of both their male forms and a third male form slightly reflected in the corner.
The two started walking through the maze-like amusement, seeing the various reflections of their target darting to and fro, like she was passing through the mirrors.
At a fork, they each went down a different path and the strange mirrors reflected the other as if they were still side by side. Unknowingly separated, the pair continued on - the eerie what-if reflections following along.