Stranded in a land forever foreign, it was only fitting to join forces and confront the leeches of life that sought to sap their souls dry. Alicia knew all too well what it was like to have her head marked as a target for raiders, and Wisesa's predicament was no different, having been hunted for even longer. But, their mutual lack of acceptance for each other had the potential to spell disaster.
That hunch of earlier apprehension manifested as reality. The sun slipped away too quickly, leaving a dark indigo sky in its wake while heavy clouds cast an even deeper shadow over the world. Wisesa had been expecting them every night, apparently. He must have known this time would come.
Both juveniles were surrounded by seven Leyaks—the black shamans, loyal followers of Calon Arang—who followed the path of Mrajapati or Durga, an Aspect of Sang Hyang Sukra who dwelled in graves. Alicia could not fathom why the Grand Magus of the East, the famous one in the history of thaumaturgy, would be associated with a Sukra’s aspect, not to mention the one who dwelled in graves. And also, why did magical criminals love to wear such eccentric face coverings?
One Leyak had its lizard crush dry leaves with its foot as it crept towards both of them. "Gusti Pangeran Harya Wisesa Rukmamenggala," a somewhat muffled call intoned from the shaman due to his face covering. "Your father is expecting you home. Come with us to Alas Purwo Sunanate at once!"
"Huh?" A disgruntled look overtook Wisesa's face. "If joking is your intention, at least take off that cloth mask first so that people can at least laugh at your stupid ass faces! I'm not an idiot to think that old man is sending troops from Girah to gracefully take me home!"
"This is the order of Ratu Lojitengara, ²Prabhu Panggaraknagara The Third himself, Gusti Pangeran!" The Leyak retorted. "You must return to the sunanate!"
The faux-painted gaze then shifted towards Alicia, who held Orb. Behind the mask, he appeared to be flabbergasted. One thing was certain: the owner of Kalimasada was as much a threat as Alas Purwo's favourite beast they kept calling Gusti Pangeran.
"And you, the wielder of Kalimasada!" the Leyak added in common language. "You too must come with us!"
Not a friendly invitation, Alicia knew it well. The girl was already wary. She had no qualms about fighting the Leyaks if the entire Magisterium personnel watched her back. Even if it was just Nadine and Gilmore, she would be unfazed. But how the Divine had cursed her, for behind her was the child of the prophecy, the owner of the immortal entity but with immoral animosity to have the lass torn apart by a flying monkey. How could Alicia's doubts ever be dispelled? Who knew what Wisesa's next ploy might entail; perhaps ensnaring her with the rope while he fled into the forest.
"I have no obligation to come with you!" Alicia's response was firm.
"Is it because you are the holder of Kalimasada that you feel entitled to spurning the emissary of the Prabhu himself, the Mover of Lojitengara, and the Sunan of Alas Purwo and All Yawadwipa?"
"No!" the lass refuted. Orb stared at the black magi with its glowing white dot glare, barking at them. "I have no obligation to obey a mage from a foreign land outside the jurisdiction of the Duchy of Pulomas!"
"This very land is the legitimate sovereignty of the Sunanate of Alas Purwo! You and Gusti Pangeran have the choice to come voluntarily, or by force, we shall take you!"
Orb poised between Alicia's palms. "I choose to finish you all off!"
Just as they were about to have a cast and clash, Wisesa suddenly grabbed Alicia's shoulders from behind. "Wait a minute, brothers!" he snapped quickly. "I have another option! You take this Kalimasada woman and let me go, then we can all return to our families in peace. Her might is technically stronger than Barong, so whatever you're thinking about resurrecting Rangda, building a fascist Yawa state, or whatever, she's a more fitting option!"
At that, Alicia flew into a rage. She shoved Wisesa's hand off her shoulder. The shamans were forced to watch them fight once again as entertainment.
"What in the bloody Hades do you mean by that?" Alicia seethed.
"You heard what I said, missy! I'm literally right behind you—"
"You want to set me up again, don't you? You're the most lowly, cheap, pathetic man I've ever met!"
Wisesa hissed for her to be quiet. "Listen first! I have a plan—"
"A plan? A plan to leave me to die in someone else's land, that is," Wisesa still persisted in trying to keep Alicia's voice down, “quit asking me to whisper! Let them know so that you'll be forced to fight with me!"
"Of course, that's not what I meant, you moron! I was planning on taking your ball first before leaving you to die in someone else's land!" Wisesa countered.
Alicia slapped him across the face.
Wisesa's eyes bulged at the audacity of her actions.
The bespectacled girl preceded Wisesa with her magic orb, anger in her eyes as she glared at the shamans. Orb grew brighter and its voice shriller. "Sorry for wasting yer time. As ye ken, we have no desire to come with ye!" Alicia insisted, like the little girl she was. "Away to yer state or I might as well purify all of ye and drag ye to Pulomas authority! Wisesa, you better be ready as well!"
However, Wisesa remained silent. Too angry and humiliated after the girl’s slapping, perhaps. Alicia rebuked him once again without looking back. "Wisesa! I dinnae feel anything from you! C’mon, I-I apologise for earlier, but this isn't the time—"
The Leyaks jerked back. It was as if their illustrated eyes were struck by a heart-exploding epiphany. They began speaking animatedly among themselves in a foreign tongue, leaving Alicia gaping like a bewildered fool.
"You!" The Leyak from earlier represented all their agitation. "Where...? Where is he?"
Alicia grumbled while glancing behind her, "Where’s, who? Wisesa? He's right here..."
But Wisesa was nowhere to be found.
The girl's eyes widened to the size of her glasses. From a distance, Alicia could see that damned lad running off into the forest bushes, wiggling his hips as an insult to her.
Alicia withdrew her apology. A raising white flag from her.
Now the Girah shamans were not in favour of peace. Epilepsy lashed out across their limbs, and Alicia thought the shamans were throwing a tantrum. She was wrong.
The Leyaks clutched the edges of the face cloths and stretched them taut. White pictorial cloths were flapping in the wind like wings until a plume of smoke billowed forth, and a circular burst of light appeared behind them. They tossed the cloth aside, and their mouths were now aglow with an otherworldly fire! The living, breathing manifestations of their mask carvings, they were now. Deafening roars thundered from their throat, and Alicia could do nothing but stand there in terror, forced to witness the horrifying change unfolding before her.
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"After him!" The yelp of the leyak their mother's tongue sent the three others and two airborne monkeys chasing the escapee lad.
The four remaining lizards snarled at Alicia. As they lunged forward, the Leyaks’ fingertips elongated, revealing long, black claws twice the length of their fingers. Nails too bloody long for even the most neglectful of nail trimmers to reach.
The words served them no purpose, now their desperate malevolence did the talking! The Leyaks' spokesman leapt from the lizard steed, ready to rend Alicia's flesh with his long blade nails. Yet, Alicia proved to be no easy prey as the freshly minted Arcane shield sent him hurtling backwards. Meanwhile, two ahools flapped their wings and dove, snouts grinning and primed to feast on her sweat-drenched face. Such fearsome visages instilled a deep sense of dread within Alicia. Not to mention their impromptu screeching never failed to stomp her heart!
Arcane force fields had fully forged, privy to Alicia's own inability to flee the grasps of lizard-mounting Leyaks and their ahool companions. But it was not as if they had run out of tricks either.
One of the Leyaks' eyes and jaw twitched, his serrated tongue lashing out to ensnare an ahool. With a swift gulp, he devoured the winged monkey whole. But the earth trembled with the girl's scream as the monkey reemerged from the ground, wriggling within the confines of her force field!
The Arcane Dome flickered and vanished. The ahool seized its opportunity and sank deep its fangs into the girl's forearm! Alicia fought back with wild abandon with Orb smashing against the creature's skull until blood gushed in torrents. With a final, mighty blow, the monkey released its bite and the raw might of Arcane blasted through its chest, putting an end to its heart.
Alicia clutched her arm, blood deluging between her fingers. How did that ahool suddenly emerge from the ground like a risen corpse?
She observed her foes. Four lizard-riding shamans and an ahool still remained.
A regain of understanding. The Leyak had swallowed the monkey, but did not eat it. He provided the way. The Girahite shaman's mouth was a portal to infiltrate the girl's Arcane fortress.
There was no time for the Crimsonmane lass to mourn the ravaged flesh of her arm. She steadied her shaking left hand and cloaked her fear with faith in the Divine Grace. Her veins pulsed with a blue light as she reentered the fray.
One Leyak flew in a stiff grace. When the tip of his fingernails came close to Alicia's glasses, he swirled around, attempting to give her his wicked black fingernail drill. Alicia managed to dodge and duck, seeking to crush the Leyak's shins with Orb, but the Leyak soared upwards. From the sky, he came plummeting down, his foot aimed for a crushing blow. Alicia reflexively parried with both Arcane-fueled hands and let out a tormenting screech as the force of the Leyak's kick seemed to tear the flesh of her left hand even wider!
All five enemies charged at her at once! Alicia wasted her very essence to hurl a giant boulder and smash the winged monkey in its path! The Girahite shamans flocked and advanced, long razor nails drawn to slice her to ribbons. Yet again, her aptitude summoned the Arcane Shield to block multiple nail stabs that came her way, then with all her might Alicia pushed the divinely round shield into a massive projectile! A Leyak was flung away by the hit, crashing his spine against a tree trunk.
The three shamans became even more unforgiving! They raked their claws at her from every direction, causing Alicia overwhelmed and slip. She quickly got up and padded her feet along the line of towering trees. Her steps were faltering, but she did not care as long as it put some distance between herself and them.
Then the Leyaks decided to set afoot on the horizon. Alicia abruptly halted her steps and surprised them with mortars of Arcane plasma; a rain of Divine Grace, but the befallen curses for those swerving like flying ships. It was only when one of the vile shamans took a hasty step that the Arcane volley finally took a hit at him. His mundane armour disintegrated, overwhelmed by the divine might. He fell in a cloud of smoke, truly, like that of the crashing flying ship!
Two more Leyaks remained. They lowered themselves so that they could deliver the most painful lashings with their tongues. Sharper than any razor Alicia had ever known, the tongues of the Leyaks cracked through the earth, slashing like the grooves of a living dagger. Ragged gasps escaped the Crimsonmane witch as she continued to zigzag away from them.
But in the end, the lash of a Leyak's tongue managed to scratch through the fabric, then into the skin of Alicia’s left arm. She stumbled, her concentration crumbling, and Orb, succumbed to the laws of nature, was thrown some distance away.
"No, Orb!" The Crimsonmane lass cried out. "No, no, no! I just found you!"
The second strike from a Leak's tongue landed true again; this time the tongue twisted so tightly that fresh blood seeped from under Alicia's shirt. She was dragged closer to the two vicious mages. Her left hand was numb, wounds upon wounds, not to mention the jagged tongue tie that prevented blood from flowing to her wrist.
Alicia's eyes were already alight with horror as the Leyak's glaring eyes loomed closer. When his hand reached for her face, she trembled even more. With a desperate move, she reached into her pocket and pulled out her right hand, striking the shaman in the face.
A plume of yellow smoke filled the Leyak, and in an instant, the tongue coil in Alicia's left hand went limp. She then slammed the shaman's face into the ground! Hades would have greeted her if the mana-wasting ammunition she made with the girls had not saved her! It turned out that Alicia had taken the liberty to claim Cahyaningrum's xixin bullet rations while she was unconscious. It was already too bad that she did not bring her magical cape with her.
Alicia immediately crawled even though it felt like there was a hole inside that made her life force seep heavily. She approached a rock that was almost the size of her fist.
Seeing his friend lose the will to rise, the last Leyak dashed towards Alicia. She was about to reach for something in her pocket, but the enemy had already intercepted her right hand and squeezed it hard. The last leyak had bared his other hand, his long black fingernails were closely aligned in such a way as his fingers were pursed. Just before he was about to carry out his vile deed, Alicia applied the remaining strength in her left hand, picked up the stone, and smashed it against the head of the unsuspecting shaman!
Alicia’s scream echoed through the forest. The muscle tissue and nerves of her left hand were sizzling and melting like butter in a hot pan. Her eyes locked at the grotesque sight of her left hand, veins bulging and a sickly blue hue overtaking her flesh. The Leyak lay motionless at his feet, yet the Crimsonmane witch could only focus on the unbearable pain consuming her own body.
Alicia lost her hope. "Clipe, clipe, clipe! I’m dead! Ahm absolutely deid!"
A realisation of Orb made the girl even more frantic. She rolled over to get it and walked as fast as she could, though her steps staggered. She dared not look back.
But how the Divine had cursed Alicia. A Leyak behind her—the first one whose spine crashed against the trunk—got on his feet! He was approaching with claws poised to snatch her head.
Orb seemed like it had seen everything. It then called out loudly, Alicia, Get down!
Fortunately, Alicia was quick to respond. Perhaps because her body was already weak, she could duck to the ground at any time. The Leyak landed in front of her. Alicia knew the others had not woken up yet. She chose the reckless path instead.
Alicia, most of your mana is depleted! Orb warned her.
"My mana isn't depleted!" Alicia insisted. "Mages only use forty-five per cent of their mana for magic."
Orb chastised her again. Do you think it's time to use the rest of the mana? Your mana cultivation isn't even proficient yet!
"I dinnae care, Orb, I have to try!" Alicia panted. "Death awaits me anyway if I don't stop all those Leyaks! Besides... y-you promised not to let me die before its time, didn't you?"
Orb did not answer further. Alicia did not think much of it and strengthened her concentration on the Orb. Perhaps it was too early, but this was all that rang above her head, as attempting escape was futile. The shaman was taken by surprise as Alicia cast her Arcane net. Blue light engulfed the girl, and it extended to the armoured shaman. She then burned all the Khaos power in the being of the shrilling Leyak! The Leyak collapsed a second time after its Khaos core was consumed by Arcane.
The wails of the shaman brought the lives of his fallen comrades back to their respective bodies. The fervour to eradicate the bespectacled Alicia intensified. Alicia was already exhausted, a few grey hairs were visible, and her face appeared gaunt. It was certain that she could not cast Arcane magic now. Unless, of course, she was willing to sacrifice all of her vibrant red hair to white, and her once-plump face sagged without flesh. All in the name of saving the Leyaks from the misguided Khaos. It was noble, but it would be foolish of Alicia to even consider it.
One of the risen Leyaks slammed Alicia with a blast of inner force, sending her crashing helplessly against a tree while Orb was in her arms. Alicia was too weak to even feel fear. She struggled to pull herself away from the three omnious shamans, dragging herself... []