The White Chronicle

Chapter 34 - The Relic within

Before Atlas and Gil's fists reach Jasmine, Nyx's remaining sands nudge the shoulder and elbow of Atlas and Gil toward each other. No matter how hard and fast they try to punch Jasmine, the sands push their arms towards the other.

Gil could not comprehend what was happening and gave into the rage. Frustration, anger, and the spell that captivates his mind have finally broken him. He grew more extensive and robust. His teeth sharpness and his eyes turned bloodshot red. This was Gil's form when he and Kulog tried to take on the figure back in Antrian. He tried to hide it then, but this was something that his body could not contain anymore.

Gil then punches Atlas as he thinks that Atlas is intentionally hitting him. Atlas retaliated with a powerful blow, and the two ensued into a brawl that began to decimate the frozen sands around them.

Taking advantage of the confusion between the two giants, Jasmine makes a break for it. Jasmine jumps between alleys, across multiple buildings, and jumping between windows, narrowing and escaping the rampage from Tala's barrage of icicles, firebolts, and lighting.

The White Chronicle's bookmark also redirected Tala's attacks from hitting Jasmine, resulting in those fatal attacks to a near miss.

Nyx knows her sands cannot help anymore and waits to trap Tala. Once Tala lands on the ground, her sands will be ready to snatch her up. But as she was gathering her sands for the trap, she was disturbed by the building collapsing around her.

Gil threw Atlas across houses and collapsed near Nyx. Gil looked more like a monstrous merman than a gentle soul that Jasmine and the guardians knew of him. His teeth and claws grew sharper than before, and his skin turned from light blue to a darker shade, like the ocean's depths.

And a few moments after that, Jasmine was just around the corner, still running away from the Tala's attacks.

"Nyx, commence the second phase of the plan!" Jasmine yells while running fast as she can toward Nyx.

Nyx opened her bag so wide that purple, gold, and brown sands began to swirl around her. Jasmine then jumps inside the sand as she takes refuge from Tala.

Tala quickly reacted and cast her ice magic to freeze every surrounding sand. The sands began to shimmer and freeze before Nyx could use them. Gil then breaks the sand and grabs Jasmine and Nyx from within. He squeezes them tightly in his large hands and holds them up for Tala to deal a finishing blow.

Seeing that victory is at hand, Tala then points the wand at Jasmine and fires a powerful incineration spell to end her. But as she cast her spell, no magic emanates from her wand. Tala vigorously shakes her wand to no avail.

As she turns her sight toward Gil, they are all gone. The village, the sand, and even the town are gone. All she sees is darkness and the deafening silence of the world.

Unbeknownst to Gil and Tala, they are in a trance beside the other guardians. Jasmine remembered when she first met Shamir; she had to use these purple and gold sands that had the power to make the aswang fall asleep and change their memory.

"It has a range for its effectivity," Jasmine recalled what Nyx said when they discussed their plan of attack. Nyx doubted that Jasmine could lure them in, but she was glad that she was wrong.

Despite the hurdle they faced, Jasmine's plan worked! Nyx cannot put the guardians to sleep due to the brainwashing magic, but they are vulnerable to mental attacks. And those too powerful, like Atlas and Gil, are to be put into a trance.

Nyx then put all the guardians inside her sand and connected them with her mind. Jasmine joined Nyx inside the mindscape and began to unravel the mystery of the magic that holds their friends.