November 2022, Paris- France

“Hey Liam, pizza or burger tonight?”

“Mhh, not gonna, lie either of ‘em sounds good to me…”

“Aight bet, see you tonight then, tell Yura to come too!”

“Sure. Although I doubt she’ll come…”

“My name is Liam Llunga. I'm 20, a university student in France. I’m half French, half Congolese. Since I lost my parents when I was young, I don’t know much about my background but it doesn’t matter cuz uncle Rayan took me in and thanks to him I can live a normal life. All in all, I’m a pretty average guy, except for one thing...

“I have supernatural powers, hehe.” he giggled as he slumped on his chair.

“You sound so stupid, as usual.” A voice came from behind.

“Huh?” he said while looking back. “Oh, it's just you, Yura…”

A girl with long black hair and dark green eyes was standing behind him, staring with a demeaning look.

“What are you doing here sitting alone in the library, talking to yourself?”

“I was ju—”

“Ugh, I don’t really care after all. And by the way uncle Rayan wants to tell us something tonight so be there by 8.”

“Aww damn I was planning on going out, what is it even about.” he mumbled in an annoyed way.

“I don’t know the details but he said something about a new technique or something”

“Why is he so eager to teach us all that? He’s been teaching us the Arts for 15 years and I've never had to use 'em once. It’s such a pain!”

“I know, I know it seems useless, but don’t forget everything he has done for us Liam, we can’t let him down.”

“Yeah yeah I know, I'll be there.”

“All right then, I have a lecture now so I will see you later.”

“K see ya. Guess I'll head back to the dorm before going there.” he thought while gazing through the window.

Later that day in a house in the Paris suburbs…

“Hey Yura, when did you get here?” Liam said while entering the house.

“I got here a few minutes ago, uncle is waiting in the living room let’s go”

“So you said it’s about a technique?”

“I don’t know exactly, anyway he will tell us more in a minute.” she said while they walked through the house.

“Hey unc, what’s up?” Liam said as they entered the room.

“Hi you two. I hope you had a great day” he spoke in a calm voice. “I called you two out here today because I need to speak about something.

As you know, I don’t have much time to live, that curse is eating me day after day. I’ve been looking for a way to save myself for years now without any success. However recently, I finally found the solution, but I need you two to do it for me. Do you think you could help me with that?”

“Of course”, they both said optimistically, as their faces brightened up.

“Thank you” he said in an endearing tone. “I’m glad I have you two as my children and I will always be no matter what happens.” he proudly said while sitting down on a seat.

“Jeez uncle, when you say things like that it sounds like you won’t make it” Yura said with a worried voice.

“You sure your thing’s gonna work?”Liam asked.

“Yes I am certain of it, though it will require you to perfectly know a few incantations, I’ll give you some notes and all you need to know, so please be ready for next saturday. I’ll be counting on you two.”

“Incantations?” Liam asked

“Don’t worry about that, I explained everything you need to know.” he said while handing them some sheets of paper with notes written on them. “Now go before the trains stop running.”

“Sure see you soon” Yura said while the duo left the room.

If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it's taken without permission from the author. Report it.

A few moments after, Yura and Liam were on the train headed back to their dorms.

“Hey Liam, didn’t you find him a bit strange?”

“In what way?” he said while stretching his arms.

“I don’t really know I felt like something was off, like his behavior was weird.”

“Mhh?”

“Never mind, it must be my imagination.” she said while sighing.

“Anyway we’ll see it soon enough, when are you free this week? Like that we can work on it together.”

“Tuesday?”

“Nah I have work that day.”

“Wednesday then, be sure to start learning beforehand.”

“Aight let’s go with that. By the way, had he ever mentioned incantations before?”

“No that's true, the only thing he taught us was to infuse energy in our body to make us physically stronger, it's weird that after all those years he’s never told us about it.” she said, looking concerned.

“Well there is no use in getting worked up now, there was probably no reason for us to use that kind of technique before.”

“You’re right, we’ll simply ask next time we see him” she whispered while they got up and exited the train.

30 minutes later they arrived in front of the dorm building.

“Aight good night, and take it easy just relax”

“Yes I know, I know. See you tomorrow.”

He waved his hand as they both went back to their apartments.

As she was walking back, she thought

"I am skeptical, I don’t want to do this. Just like Liam I was separated from my family at a young age, all though I still have faint memories of them, I believe I come from an old traditional clan in Japan, but I don’t exactly know what happened to them they probably part of some sketchy activities, uncle Rayan said he found me unconscious on a street alone, so he doesn’t know about them either and nothing can be found on the internet. Anyway I don’t really care. He raised us and took care of us. He's the only family I need, and I don’t want to lose him, that’s why this weird feeling worries me."

The following Saturday around 6 pm, the wind was strong and the rain was slamming down against the ground, while Yura and Liam were arriving before Rayan's house.

“Don’t stress out Yura if we follow what uncle said it should be alright”

“I know,” she said in a worried voice, as they slowly entered the house.

“Good evening you two,” Rayan said with a comforting smile. “Let’s go to the cabin.”

The storm was roaring and the wind gushing as they went through the door.

“Did you understand everything I told you to learn?”

“I think so.” Liam said hesitantly, “all we got to do is recite the incantations while infusing our energy into some kind of object right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“What kind of object is it? Yura asked

“You will pour your energy into the pieces of this broken object. I put them there in the middle of the circle.”

A large white circle was drawn on the floor, with a cracked up medallion in its center, the room was filled with an unusual pressure and the air was humid.

“Are you really sure about this? I sense a weird feeling coming out of that thing.” Liam said while looking at Yura who seemed uncomfortable.

“He’s right I don’t think it’s a good idea! we should find another way.” Yura yelled.

“Doesn’t it look like a small clock?” Liam thought.

Rayan sat down next to the object, with a gentle smile on his face and said:

“There is no other option. My children, do you trust me?”

“Of course we do!” they shouted simultaneously.

“But-”

“If you do believe in me then please save me and do what I ask you. I will die soon anyway, we might as well give it a try.”

“What is that curse anyway? Why won’t you tell us more!?” Yura said with a frustrated tone.

“If you do it, I will tell you everything about myself ! I will answer every question you might have! Now go ahead and do it please, why would you doubt me? I consider you two as my own children, I am completely relying on you right now.”

“Alright let’s do it already.” Liam said, “I have a bad feeling about this ritual, but uncle gave us so much, if it weren’t for him I would’ve died alone years ago, he’s the only person who made me feel safe, who made me feel like I could count on someone, that I wasn’t on my own. If there is a chance we can save him I want to give it a try.”

“Okay.” she whispered to herself. “Something’s off, he isn’t acting like himself, I don’t know what it is but I don’t like this.”

They both sat next to one another in front of the medallion and their uncle was laying right behind it, facing them with a serious face. Yura and Liam both looked each other in the eyes with a mixed expression of worry and determination and then started reciting the incantations while pointing their hands toward the item. Dark blue aura was flowing out of Yura’s arms while Liam’s was gray. After 30 seconds the object’s parts started glowing and slightly shaking, a faint sound was coming out of it.

All of a sudden Rayan started mumbling some words in Latin, at the same time the circle started glowing in a bright white color, the air in the room became unbreathable and the whole vicinity started shaking.

“What the heck is going on? This can’t be good.” Yura clenched her fists, tempted to interrupt the ritual, but hesitated.

Outside the storm seemed to intensify. Rayan was speaking faster and faster, looking completely disconnected from the world with his eyes seeming soulless. Worried, the two disciples continued regardless, until the medallion's shards stuck together, started levitating, the light and sound it emitted started getting more intense after every second that passed. All of a sudden the sound of a clock bell rang loudly and everything got blown away by a powerful shockwave.

As Yura and Liam got their heads out of the rubble, Liam froze while hearing heavy footsteps getting closer, his breath stopped as a swirling void had appeared in the center of the circle.

“What the hell have we just done?” he whispered, glancing at Yura, whose wide eyes reflected the portal's eerie glow.