CHAPTER 9 – JOHNY’S TRIAL

The orc tormented poor Johnny in the ball of magic. Every time Johnny made an insult the shaman would either shock Johnny in the ball of magic or shrink the ball. Johnny had said so many insults the ball magic was now uncomfortably small. Johnny was in severe pain from the shocks and being crammed. The orc had the ball of magic follow him through the prison.

The orc looked at Johnny who saw his face was now a loss of all hope. “So, you’re giving up, eh,” The orc said.

“Not without my last dying breath,” Johnny mumbled in pain.

The orc led Johnny down narrow hallways that split off in different directions. He saw many other prison cells as they passed by. It was dark and gloomy. Johnny tried to get a look at the other prisoners but couldn’t get a look from being balled up in the magic prison. They soon ascended a staircase that spiraled upwards. The stairway went up about 3 floors. It was illuminated with dimly lit torches. Finally, they reached a door.

The orc stood at the door for a few moments. Johnny couldn’t see why the orc decided to stop. Johnny had to painfully crane his neck to see why. The shaman was pulling out a medallion of sorts. It was black and covered with a black inky substance. The orc whispered something that Johnny couldn’t hear. The medallion then glowed a dark crimson red.

The orc then spoke to Johnny as he began to slowly open the door. “Ready for your end?” The orc said in a dark voice.

As the door opened. It revealed a big courtyard. Johnny looked in awe and fear. The courtyard was crowded with people of all races. The crowd was standing there still. Johnny couldn’t understand till he got a better look at their eyes. Everyone’s eyes were glowing red. He noticed that everyone was wearing a medallion just like the shaman. The orc saw Johnny stare at the crowd and then to him. “Funny how people will do anything in desperate times. Don’t you agree?” The shaman smirked at Johnny.

“What do you mean?” Johnny asked.

“The world’s economy is crashing thanks to The Loathing One. So we were able to gather followers who had nowhere to turn. It is easy to influence those in despair.” Said the orc with a tone of pride in his voice. The shaman just kept on ranting again.

Johnny wished the orc would stop talking. Johnny thought to himself. If I were free from this. I would shove one of my sweaty socks in his mouth then duct tape it shut.

Johnny then turned his focus to the background to clear his head. He got a even better look of the red crystal palace as it overtook the courtyard. It is a pity I might die here. I would like to have visited that place. He looked one last time. He needed to think of an escape plan.

Johnny then focused on where the orc was taking him. Johnny soon figured out he was heading towards the platform in the center. There were columns of red crystal on each corner of the platform radiating off red crimson magic. The shaman orc placed Johnny inside of the stone platform.

In his last-ditch effort Johnny began hitting the barrier of the ball of magic. The orc just looked at Johnny with a cruel sadistic smile. “You will never escape,” The shaman said as he activated each pillar on the stone platform. A barrier then formed in the shape of a cube.

The orc then faced the crowd who were still as statues. He reached for his medallion as it radiated off red crimson magic. He then spoke up. “This heretic has been guilty of conspiring with The Loathing One. He has used unholy magic to make himself look like our ruler.” The shaman continued to rant.

He then snapped his fingers triggering the radiant magic within Johnny. He screamed in agony as his body changed. Johnny couldn’t see what he looked like, but the crowd gasped which made Johnny feel uneasy. The orc snapped his fingers again, cancelling the magic. Johnny turned back to his normal self.

The orc then continued his rant. “He had plans to assassinate our leader,” The orc said.

The crowd began to boo and say insults at Johnny. Their eyes were now glowing even brighter. “What are you doing to those people?” Johnny said still in the magic ball.

The orc shouted to the crowd with another lie about Johnny. “He said he is in league with the Loathing one.”

The crowd began to get restless. Some people in the mob began to hit the barrier shouting out Johnny. Others through objects at the barrier.

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That's not what I said. I better just keep my mouth shut, Johnny thought to himself.

The orc decided to have fun with Johnny before he would kill him. He spun the ball Johnny was trapped in like a spinning tire on a car. Johnny threw up all in the magic ball after a few moments of spinning too fast.

The shaman then canceled the prison spell. Johnny was sent flying into the air. He slammed his back into the barrier behind him. Johnny cried in pain from the impact. He felt a few bones crack and break from the hit. The force of the impact crippled Johnny.

Johnny then fell to the stone floor face first. He heard a cracking noise as his nose broke. Johnny moaned in pain. I must have broken a lot of bones with that hit, Johnny thought as he groaned in pain.

Johnny managed to sit back up, only to cry out in pain as he did. He saw stars dancing around in his head. The pain was too much as he almost doubled over about to fall on his back. He managed to keep himself up right somehow, trying to remain conscious. He managed to labor his breathing before he began to cough up blood in a frenzy, falling on his back.

The orc then turned to Johnny. “Time for your judgment.” The orc said to Johnny with a sneer before turning his head back to the crowd.

“He shall face the white box of judgment.” The orc cried out. The crowd erupted in cheers and applause.

That doesn’t sound good at all. Johnny thought. Now sitting covered in his own blood.

For some reason the bloody coughs had stopped. Which puzzled Johnny, but he still was in too much pain to think more about it.

The shaman touched the barrier, and it began to glow a solid white. The barrier on all sides changed at the same rate spreading out in a circular motion. Before the whole barrier had blocked the crowd from seeing Johnny.

Back inside the barrier it had turned void black. Johnny couldn’t see a thing. He couldn’t even hear the crowd or the shaman anymore.

Suddenly, the pillars each shot out a blast of dark magic at the center of the platform. It created a black portal that swirled like a whirlpool in the middle of the platform. It only grew in size before stopping after taking up half of the platform.

Johnny scooted back in agony getting anyway from the portal as it grew. This isn’t good. Johnny thought, looking at the portal. He heard a low growl causing his heart to race. Something made its way out of the portal so that he could see yellow eyes fixed on him. Johnny could only see a soulette.

The beast could see him though. It jumped at Johnny who barely managed to dodge it by rolling over. He cried out in pain from his broken bones.

The beast leapt at Johnny again. This time he was in too much pain to move. The beast slammed into him pinning him on his back. Johnny screamed out in more pain from the hit. He had more to worry about trying to figure out why his skin was burning. He figured it out as he tried to push the beast off. The beast's jet black fur dropped a corrosive substance onto Johnny's skin thay caused the burning sensation.

It let out a chilling howl staring at Johnny with its yellow eyes knowing it had won the hunt. Johnny could only stare into its eyes in horror thinking. I’m dead. Before the beast could make the kill, the ground began to shake. The beast sensing danger began to whimper, jumping back into the portal as fast as the portal had appeared.

Johnny just looked on in puzzlement. That was weird. Johnny thought as the ground began to shake even more violently.

Johnny fell over from the shaking as it got more violent. The pillars began to crack and fall apart. Slowly the barrier fell apart. Right as it shattered, Johnny heard a loud explosion. Johnny could hear the outside again from the deafening explosion that wad followed by people running in terror.

Johnny got a good view of what had caused the explosion. The shaman was fighting others in white mage robes. The robes had hoodies to cover their hair and ears. Some had their hoods down while others had theirs up. They were also fighting guards from the city.

What is going on? Johnny thought in confusion. As he tried to sit up.

The orc then spotted Johnny, who then ran through the attackers, getting wounded in the process. “For the Loathing One!” He let out a war cry as he shot a powerful beam of dark magic towards Johnny with his medallion. Unfortunately, the orc’s attack was interrupted from one of the attackers. The blast made the orc and others stumble as it hit one of the crystal pillars.

“Oh crap,” Johnny said as the pillar fell.

It had shattered into pieces that Johnny did his best to dodge by rolling out of the way. Unfortunately, a chunk of crystal pillar hit Johnny crushing his stomach. He cried out in pain as his vision doubled as he coughed up blood again. He tried to sit up only to fall flat on his back.

Johnny heard the shaman cry a final death cry. “He cannot be stopped…” The shaman said before he was cut off, falling with a grunt into silence. He heard an explosion as looked over where the shaman once stood. His medallion was fizzling with sparks and creating mini explosions. It kept up until the last bit of power caused it to shatter.

Even with the shaman down the fighting continued all around Johnny. Johnny then heard footsteps coming his way. He turned his head towards the approaching footsteps expecting danger. Only to see the blond-haired elf in a white robe running his way. That was the last thing Johnny saw with his vision, before it began to blur as he passed out from his injuries,..