The Mystics Of Valenthia

11. The Fire

My eyes opened to utter darkness. The place was cold and the floor on which I was lying down was hard. I blinked to get my eyes to focus and adjust to the shadows. I remembered getting sucked in a non-existent whirlwind  and the feeling of dizziness strike me until I collapsed.

I looked around to see a figure sitting straight, cross-legged, as if meditating. Gut feeling told me that whatever this place was, it wasn't the Warmage Acedemy. Not by a long shot.

Mustering all my courage, I called out, "Where am I?"

I was greeted with silence. I looked at the dark shadow sitting and asked, "Who are you? Why have you brought me here? Where are others? Why am I not at the Academy?"

"You ask too many questions for your age, young lady," a voice growled.

He emerged from the shadows. He was young but looked quite old. His golden hair was past his shoulders and his face was almost disfigured due to scars. The only thing that did not seem to be damaged were his eyes. Sparkling blue. But they too were absent of the warmth that is usually seen in most of others.

"Wh-who are you?" I asked, certainly terrified by his appearance.

He gave a short, sharp laugh which echoed throughout the room eerily.
He turned as he spoke, "They call me Surripio."

Someone had bound my hands and legs with a weird, illuminating rope. I was stiff and bruised. My legs ached terribly and my head felt too heavy for my body.

"What do you want from me, Surripio?" I asked wearily.

He gave me a bored look and said, "Your powers, of course. That is what I do. I capture the most powerful Mystics and steal their powers by a...um..a certain complicated process that your stupid brain won't be able to understand."

It was my turn to laugh. He thought I was crazy. He must've anyway. "You caught the wrong person, then." I said through fits of laughter.

Okay, I'm officially insane.

He eyed me curiously and asked, "The wrong person? How is that possible? When I was in the woods, the area showing highest energy levels was where you were."

"That's not true. My powers are nil or dormant. They don't work. Whatever showed you the energy levels was wrong." I said.

"You're lying!"

"Why would I lie?"

"Fine. Let us check your recent activities involving your powers, shall we?"

"How is that possible?" I asked, frightened of what he might do to me.

"It won't hurt," he said as he pulled out a staff out of nowhere and waved it once over me. A projection appeared through the tip of the staff showing me at the hillside while I slayed the demon. It shifted and there I was again with sparks of fire above my palms.

After the images shift and die, he gawked at me as if he had never seen a girl before.

"What?" I asked.

"This cannot be. How...after all these years...this is not possible...survival..not..." he blabbered like an idiot.

"What?" I asked again, thoroughly confused.

"Are you the Lost Princess?"

"The what?"

I really had no idea what he was talking about.

"THE LOST PRINCESS?" he yelled.

"I can hear you! I am not deaf! Who is the Lost Princess? I do not know her." I snapped back.