Ashes of Fire (#1)

Chapter 24: The Three Words

Chapter 24

Alex’s POV

            Ruby pack her weaponry and change her clothe into one of Essie’s; black vest and a pair of black boots. She groans as she looks at her own reflection. I bet she feels weird without her black-and-white man suit. I travel to the kitchen and grab myself a kitchen knife for protection. Joseph joins with his sword tuck on his back.

            “It’s been so long,” I begin to speak.

            “What’s been so long?” Joseph interrupts.

            “Essie. It’s been so long since I met her, it’s like I can’t keep up with her... extraordinary life.”

            “Hey, it’s okay. You kept up with my extraordinary life,” Joseph cheers me up. I giggle. The fact that I did giggle rather sound disgusting. I quickly shut my mouth and rest on the couch while waiting for Ruby to help Josh up to his fragile feet.

            “I’m scared Joseph,” I sigh.

            “Don’t be,” Joseph assures with a chuckle. “Well... just remember that I— I— I... wish you good luck.”

            “I... yeah,” I clear my throat awkwardly.

            Ruby then goes out from the toilet with Josh’s hand on her shoulders. They wobble out and Ruby make a ‘let’s go’ gesture. We both get up and follow her pace.

            “Where’s the prison?” Josh asks with a weak voice.

            “Where’s the prison?” Ruby laughs. “Paris: center of Holy Warriors, of course.”

            “Paris? You’ve got to be kidding me,” I roll my eyes and slump myself back to the cozy couch.

            “Uhh...,” Joseph gulps, “Josh and I are Wizards. We can teleport there easily,” he states.

            I stare at them and recall that I’m not in my ordinary world anymore where Witches and Wizards are merely fictional. I get up from my comfortable spot and glance at Ruby squinting at Joseph. Joseph eyebrows raise in alarm of catching Ruby’s death stare.

            “That reminds me, why don’t you just cast Josh to be perfectly healthy when he was wounded?” Ruby grumpily asks.

            “I was in a panic attack,” Joseph explains coolly. I snort at Joseph's reply, but soon stop when Ruby’s glare turn into me. “Okay, we better go now.

Tick, tock,

We shall stop the clock.

Take us by glory,

To the place of Holy.”

            Suddenly, everything freezes; the birds’ stops singing, the wind stops blowing, and mostly the clock stops ticking. Everything freezes except us. The whole ground then shakes. Ruby seems calm and Josh looks barely conscious while Joseph who’s standing beside me grabs my cold, shivering hand. The ground then falls and so do we. Everything is dark and the only thing that I can feel is just Joseph’s hand that loyally holds mine. We land in front of the building, clearly not the prison section. It is certainly huge and glamorous.  

            The building is beautiful! The clouds says ‘Holy Warrior’s Manor’ and there are statues of—what I suspect—Holy Warriors with Greek clothing, gladiator shoes and a pair of white wings.

            “We should go in,” Ruby breaks the silence. “Joseph, you should cast spells for us to reach Essie. If we die, then so be it.”

            I clear my throat, maybe for the last time. Joseph suddenly interfere my thoughts by gripping my hands tighter and looked softly into my eyes. He knows too well about me. He knows that I’m not brave, I’m scared to death! “Alex...” I stop breathing, and he— he kissed me. His lips are so gentle yet so soft, the kiss isn’t too fast and not too long. It feels as beautiful as the Holy Warrior’s building.

            “I love you,” I breathe. And for a second, I feel brave.