Magix

Chapter 8: Light At The End Of A Tunnel

I woke up to a shrill scream cutting the otherwise silenced air. Then a series of other screams followed, the unnerving sounds seemingly unending.

I leapt out of my bed with my heart in my throat. All the tiredness seemed to have left me within a blink as the adrenaline kicked in.

"Locks! Are you in there?" David's shout was barely audible.

"Yes! Give me a second!" I yell back at him from behind the door.

I throw on a robe and and put some slippers on, then dash to open the door.

David stares at me, his eyes bewildered.

"What's going on?" I ask over my rising panic. The screams only seemed to grow louder.

Then I notice the smell of smoke lingering in the warm air. It was still very dark, the light from the moon being the only light source.

"There's a fire, we need to go find the others," he tells me before grabbing my wrist and pulling me down the hall.

Guard fairies flitted from room to room, their wings flapping like a hummingbird's. One of them stopped before us and signalled for us to go further down the hall where the other fay people were.

We jogged past the chaos unravelling from all sides. People rushed out from rooms dragging others, while some guard fairies entered the rooms to quell the fires with their magic. Dark smoke started gathering at the high ceiling, seemingly coming from invisible vents. The tree groaned, and its branches crackled. The temperature only seemed to rise with each passing second.

I found myself wishing that David and I had wings too so we could move faster like the fairies moving past us. The hall had never seemed so endless.

With our chests heaving and lungs aching we finally reached the end of the hall opposite to the infirmary, gasping for breath. The doors were wide open and the sound of hushed chattering reached our ears before we could see the maids and other fay people gathered around.

"Locksetta! David! Oh thank the rains, I'm so relieved the both of you are alright," Misty rushed forward to give me a brisk hug, but I could barely react.

"We had sent some guards to bring you here almost half an hour ago, but they never came back," she said after pulling away, "I was about to go and find you myself."

"Where's Nora?" I ask, still trying to catch my breath, my eyes scanned the white tiled room we were in, not unlike Professor Lee's lab. But I couldn't find her in the room buzzing with discomfort and unrestrained anxiety. There was barely enough room to move.

"She's in another room here, giving orders to protect our fay citizens in the Prairie cities, this is a large scale attack-"

"An attack?" David asks before Misty could finish.

She turns her eyes brimming with terror towards him, "the Evils, they've set fire to everything."

I stare at her in horror. Bystanders overhearing her also shifted in fear.

"They must have sensed a change caused by your arrival," she added casting a glance around and bringing her voice to a whisper so the others wouldn't hear, "we've had several attacks happening at the border of our lands around the same time the both of you arrived. I overheard Nora say the guards there were overwhelmed by them. The Evils must've slipped through the magic barrier."

"We need to meet with Nora, now," David says urgently.

Misty nods and starts to lead the both of us to a single door with no guards flanking it. She casts a final glance over the crowd before entering the room behind us and closing the door.