Flames and Starlight

23🌘

Peter

"Rise."

My eyes snapped open at the sharp command. They widened as my body lifted and sat up on its own accord. I blinked my eyes rapidly, trying to clear away the fog that was covering my mind as I struggled to understand what was happening.

The same hooded figure stood in front of me. They lifted the hood off their face and the same man with those strange yellow eyes I encountered that night of Ruben Erikson's car wreck peered down at me.

A cruel smile widened his lips as those yellow eyes brightened. "Greetings, Peter August Lewis," he said, his voice low and seemed to echo continuously off the trees that surrounded us. It was as though multiple voices were coming out of his mouth at once, not part of this world. "You have finally awakened."

I looked around and saw that we were in the middle of a forest instead of the alley we'd been in just moments ago. Or was it only moments ago? I had no clue how long I'd been out and how long it took for this psycho to get me here.

The man turned away and I saw a small cabin that looked like it was about to be knocked down at the slightest gust of wind. As the man walked inside the cabin, I took that moment to read his aura. His pale green aura read that he was a sorcerer, but it was tainted with thick, shadowy darkness that left me gasping in shock. I'd never seen any soul tainted with so much evil and darkness before. There was also an ancient air around the aura, as though this sorcerer had been around for a very, very, very long time.

I connected the dots as I thought about his blackened aura and his eyes. He had to be using Black Magic, something that had been outlawed for hundreds of years. The penalty of using Black Magic would result in having your powers stripped away and imprisonment for the rest of your natural life, a punishment that would have magic wielders begging for death rather than trying to get through their existence.

I narrowed my eyes as the sorcerer walked inside the cabin. He shut the door behind him and I was surprised the broken-down building didn't collapse.

I tried to stand, but something yanked me down. I looked down and was shocked to see iron shackles cuffed around my ankles and wrists. There was a slight green glow swirling around them, indicating it was cast by Black Magic. The chains connected to the shackles were nailed down to the ground and didn't budge as I pulled at them. I grunted as I pulled at them with all my strength, panic, and desperation setting in when they refused to budge even as I continued to pull.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes, and tried to cast an unlocking spell, praying that this would work. I had no idea what this sorcerer was planning, but I wasn't going to stick around to find out.

I opened my eyes when I didn't hear or feel anything. The shackles were still cuffed on my wrists and ankles. They hadn't budged at all.

I tried again. Still didn't work.

Okay, I said to myself, trying not to panic, to stay calm. My mind raced as I tried to think of something to do.

An idea formed in my mind and I closed my eyes and focused on shapeshifting, hoping that I could shift into a form that would get me out of these shackles. My muscles strained and pulled until the point of pain exploding all throughout my body.

I gasped and opened my eyes, breathing heavily as my heart thudded heavily against my ribcage, sweat soaking my skin. I tried again, but the same thing. I couldn't shapeshift.

The sorcerer came out, holding a long, curved knife in one hand and a small vial of dark velvet liquid in the other.

He raised a mocking brow as he stood in front of me again. "Trying to escape already? Such a pity. You'd be missing all the fun."