With my eyes closed I can hear it, I can hear men and women moving tables, laughter, and cheers, and the smell of freshly cooked meats wafting through the air. With hesitation I open my eyes, the things I hear, the things I smell they were not alone. In the center stood a circle, the same circle used to execute demons in rituals. The same circle that I had seen before when the town gathered for the execution of five demons, rounded up by a single wizard. Why was I here though; shouldn’t I be at a hospital? Or at least my bedroom being watched by my mother? Looking around I noticed candles lit all around the room, each of them using a rusted metal base to keep it upright. In the corner sat a long table with refreshments, but everyone I saw wore a mask I finally saw someone who did not have a mask, who would have the answers I sought, Brandon the guild master. Locking eyes with him made me shiver, why was I scared, why am I freaking out after seeing Brandon? Mom, Dad please help, I’m scared.
The realization hit me, I was not in the hospital because I was in a cell. Did my friends betray me? No way right? Even if I went a little bit too far with the fight they would be punished too, right? But I don't see them. No matter how much I look around I don't see them. All I see is Brandon looking at me, making me shiver more and more. The shivers never stop. Clasping my hands on my dirtied face, “Wake up. Wake up. “PLEASE WAKE UP!” Suddenly everything stopped. All the noise and flashing lights stopped, a dream, thank God it was a dream. Opening my hopeful eyes I began crying. It wasn’t a dream. Instead, all of the adults gaze at me. All of them gave me faces of pure disgust. Scanning around I found my friends, making eye contact with them, and instead of them looking guilty, they had smirks on their faces. These fuckers were pranking me. This is some elaborate prank to just teach me my lesson. When I get out of here I am going to give each of them a black eye and a broken arm. Better yet, how about two broken arms? That sounds better. This is beyond a normal prank, this is pure torture. Every single adult here should be ashamed to be participating in this stupid prank. I will make sure they will. Every single adult here will feel my wrath.
Ding Ding Ding. The sound reverberated throughout the room. A man with a hypnotic voice begins to preach, “I want to thank everyone today for coming to this celebration. I want to thank three young heroes, Michael G, Michael L, and Tommy for bringing this foul demon to the attention of the wizard guild. As everyone knows, if we allow demons to run rampant they will infect the next generation with their false promises, their contracts, their lies, and their violence. Today’s sacrifice is to ward off these demonic creatures. To show them who are the alpha predators. To show them that we are not a town to be tampered with. Raise your glasses today in thanks to our glorious leader, Brandon the Blessed.” An unnatural moment of silence sweeps over the room. The silence is broken by Brandon himself, “Thank you all for your faith in me. Let us begin the sacrifice. Bring the demon born named Jack to the altar. Would any of the young children present tonight like to help with preparing the body?”
Michael stands up, with a wave from Brandon he walks over to the stone altar and is given a silver-bladed knife. The dagger is studded in glossy green jades that emphasize its shiny blade. The handle of the knife on the other hand is covered by a thick leather wrap which seems to be stained a deep red from continuous use. A turgid adult walks towards my cage. Grabbing a rope he heaved it over his shoulder. Pulling my cage closer towards the circle’s center. My mind snapped out of the gutter waking up in sheer panic. This is a prank, right? RIGHT? No no no, it is not a prank. Yelling at the top of my lungs, “MOM, DAD HELP ME.” My desperate pleas fell on the laughing crowd of adults. They began laughing in unison. There wasn’t an offbeat. All at the same time. Every single one. All laughing monotonely and in unison.
The dragging stopped with a heavy thud. The turgid man plopped me right in the center of the circle, the front of the cage staring right at the altar. I do not know what's happening. What is this torture? I remember the night of the five demons. That was the only night we had a feast for executing demons and there was no ceremony like this. We did a simple prayer and then killed the demons with a quick beheading with a quick dinner afterward. This is unreal. My eyes are staring at Brandon and oh so slowly he is moving his mouth almost like time has slowed down. What am i going to do now? Mom, Dad, did I live a good life? No, I didn’t. I am an older brother and I have done nothing to mentor my younger sister. There is nothing good about what my life accomplished. I try to move my arm, it’s going so slowly, so slowly, time is not slowed down. My mind is just moving so quickly. My body won’t work. There is nothing I can do. All I can do is think about how pointless my life has been. How little I have accomplished. How depressed my family will be when they find my dead body. Will my family be sad? I know they love me but would they even think I am Jack, the son my mother bore? I am being hailed as a demon, an imposter to their son. I am just leaving this world without anything huh? May God grant me a spot in heaven. Who am I kidding, I’m an asshole, I wouldn’t be welcomed into such a place. Well maybe the devil will go easy on me, maybe he’ll have a good laugh about how I died because they thought I was a demon. Yeah, that's what’s going to happen. I’ll have an ok life in Hell because the devil will pitty my existence. Hahahahaha that would be something huh? Time really is slow. Wait, why is Brandon crouching behind the altar with his hand making a magical circle? Is someone interrupting the ritual?
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Waking up to reality I spun around and saw them. My saviors.
As if it was rehearsed ahead of time, my parents barged through the wooden door, cracking the frame in the process. My Dad opened with his magic, going on the offensive with a lunging motion, he tossed a giant icicle, no that’s not right, not an icicle but an ice javelin. The javelin glided through the air, skewering the turgid man, the same one who once hauled my entire cage by himself. The man was a behemoth, the strength needed to send that man not just to the wall, but pinning him into the wall is just supernatural. However my Dad’s offensive strike did not end there; without even slowing down, Dad took another lunge but with his other leg, tossing a second javelin aimed at Brandon. With a shattering noise, the javelin pierced itself into the altar, missing Brandon, clearly, Dad was right-handed. Still in one fluid motion, Dad took another step, this time sprinting toward me. While I watched him inch closer, he revealed my mother behind him. My eyes were entranced by the way my mother’s magic worked. Her Hands spread towards her shoulders making a miniature box shape, a blue magical circle appeared within. The circle pulsated with just pure man. Clasping her hands together a flash of light spread across the room. All of this I witnessed from my iron prison.
“Everything will be alright Jack,” Dad said while placing the palm of his hand on the rusted lock, unleashing a pulse of ice. My Dad grabbed me by the waist and yanked me over his shoulder. As my eyes began to adjust to the world around me, I marveled at the power of my mother. Ice everywhere. The man my Dad skewered? Frozen. The altar? Frozen. Every patron, every candle, every object, every fly all frozen in an instant.
“Rebecca, how are you doing?” While running up to Mom, Dad asked.
“I’m fine luckily the air here was damped so my vapor magic didn’t get too stressed.”
That's right, Moml used vapor magic. It can change the temperature of the water molecules in the area. Making it such a versatile and strong magic as you can make ice, steam, and water, just appear wherever your mana can reach. Virtually no limitations except your mana pool and the air quality. On the other hand, Dad used elemental ice magic, which lets him teleport ice from a different location straight out of his body. You can teleport any shape or size depending on your mana pool and your mana efficiency. Dad tutored me in this magical study, teaching me to use mana to enhance my physical abilities as elemental magic uses little magic to teleport the ice. I so envy Angel, she made the right call to learn from Mom instead of Dad. Wait, why am I thinking about this right now? Snap out of it Jack. Focus. Stop letting your stupid ass brain steering off course. Mom and Dad are here now but they’re sprinting down a corridor, fast. Just look at their faces, I'm not safe yet.
“Rebecca, take Jack and get to Angel. She should be at the house still,” Dad said.
“No,” Rebecca said in a hastened reply, almost as if she predicted Dad to say this.
“Stop being an idiot, you’re low on mana. There's nothing you can do but get in my way. This is how we work and you know this. Just do what I say otherwise everything will be for nothing.”
“I can help and you know this! How many missions have I been low on mana yet saved your ass?”
“Doesn’t matter. We are fighting wizards who know a good chunk of our abilities and you just
used a mana-draining spell below. These aren’t monsters and you know that. That's final.”
My Mom says in between quick breaths “Don’t tell me that’s final when it involves not just our lives but the lives of our children.”
A composed response from Dad, “I know. Even if we were to stay together and win everything, we would not have enough time. Fighting our way out, will end up costing us time and make a ruckus. Right now we have some time as the wizards downstairs are frozen, but once other mages hear us fighting they’ll look for Brandon, who is in the guild’s basement. It wouldn’t take a fire mage long to burn that thin layer of ice, especially if Azrael is the mage melting the ice. Now you take Jack, grab Angel, and grab some quick supplies. I will meet you at the fallen tree about one mile out of town on the East side.”
With a sigh, my Mom lets up, “Just promise me you won’t die.”
“I don't plan to.”
We stopped a few feet in front of a door. I can feel the tension in the air, a single needle would cause everything to spiral into mayhem. Dad leans down, giving me the distance to place my feet on the ground. Standing up he prepares himself. My Mom on the other hand reaches down and grabs my left hand. She squeezes it, her way of trying to tell me it will be ok, I have some doubts about this though. My Dad starts a countdown;
“On three, one, two, three.”