The Shadow Of Magic

Chapter 9

Eiran pulled his attention away from packing up the wagon and looked to the house to find Lola walking towards them, closely followed by Annalise.

Lola stopped in front of them , turning to face Annalise. "I'm going to miss you." Lola stated, wrapping her in a hug. "I'll miss you too. Promise to write." She said, pulling away, looking at Felix now. "You too." She told him firmly.

Felix nodded and hugged his sister as well. When they pulled away from each other, Eiran faced her.

"Annalise-"He started. "Call me Anna. Also, make sure to write too. I'd love to have something from the Shadow with a kind heart. Those are very rare to come across." She smiled at him.

"Oh and by the way-" She made some gestures with her hands. He turned to Felix, who was blushing. "What?" Eiran asked, confused. "Don't worry about it right now. You'll understand soon enough."

She walked off back to the house, smiling. Felix was shaking his head, still blushing. He looked to Lola who was clearly just as confused and they all just laughed.

It was nice to just have a free moment when everything wasn't focused on death or hidden secrets.

They quickly finished packing up the wagon and agreed upon a schedule on who would steer the wagon. First was Lola then Eiran then Felix. The other two would always sit in the back of the wagon with the luggage.

They continued this for a few days, only stopping for water or sleep, sometimes not even that.

They finally arrived to a small village that would,no doubt, not be too caught up in the latest news.

Lola and Eiran still stayed in the carriage just in case while they sent Felix out for new supplies and possibly passage on a ship.

Eiran didn't really know what to say to Lola but he just started talking. "You know, I heard somewhere that humans didn't always have powers." He stated.

She looked at him like he was crazy. "Well obviously. Did you learn nothing in school?" She asked, practically laughing at him. He just gave her a blank stare.

"I didn't go to school after the age of 13 so..." He said, looking to the sides of the carriage. "What? Why?" She questioned, still visibly confused.

"My parents died when I was 13 and there was no one else to look after my little brother so I did it." He responded casually.

She started in shock as if it was the craziest thing she had ever heard. "So you don't know any of history?" She questioned, gaining a vague head shake from Eiran.

"Wow. Well, about a century ago there was this big nuclear blast. It wiped out all civilization. Humans and animals were practically the only things left and that was just because they had cement bunkers." She told Eiran.

"That explosion set back man kind centuries. Some surviving relics have been found. My father wishes to find people who can get them to work again and to replicate them perfectly. He hopes to put technology back the way it was supposed to be. The explosion gave humans their powers. Over years, people experimented, scientists trying to find all the powers and put them into an organized chart. The magic chart we know today. Most people, including the scientist who knew how to make the old world technology got caught up in the explosion. All the information they studied from, everything was lost. We had to rebuild the world from the ground up. The only reason we aren't living in a wasteland now is because of Earth users." She explained.

Eiran listened closely, trying to absorb the new information quickly as she continued. "Some say we were granted power by some Divine power who was watching over us to help us. We ended up destroying ourselves through our creation. We as humans were our own downfall. We got lucky we were granted powers. Something in the universe decided to take pity on us weak, fragile humans. Mortals." She finished.

"I never realized-" Eiran started, then shut his mouth again, not being able to find the words. "What? How fucked up humans are? We created a nuclear source that could kill millions then expected it to just do what we wanted. That's like finding a new species of animal that quickly becomes known for killing, then expect it not to kill people when it's poked or put in danger." She said quickly.

She was right. She was completely right. Felix poked his head in the flap of fabric hiding Eiran and Lola from the world. The two jumped slightly then glared at Felix, causing him to laugh.

"Good news. I got us passage on a ship. They didn't ask any questions or anything. They're willing to take us wherever we need whenever." He explained smiling. "Good. We're one step closer to the Red Caves." Lola stated, gaining a weird look from Eiran.

She took note of this and said, "I'll explain later. One history lesson a day my child." Felix looked at the two, confused as well. Lola simply rolled her eyes at them. "One day I'm going to die because of you two. If I do, I'm coming back to haunt you though. Don't think you'll be getting off without the guilt eating you up for the rest of time." She said, very nonchalantly.

While Felix and Eiran were both secretly terrified by her, they all laughed it off and Felix steered the wagon to the port, where he quickly found the ship they would be traveling on.

Felix pulled them into a nearby alley, leaving Lola's horse behind for a bit while they went and talked to the captain.

Lola and Eiran were still taking precautions so they put on cloaks that covered their heads and masks to cover their faces.

Felix lead them into a small pub and over to a table of about 2 dozen men, all with a drink in hand and being very loud.

"So you're back. I see you have your friends with you." A woman's voice comes from behind them. Lola and Eiran turn to see a tall woman with vibrant orange hair and a decorated brown pirate's cap.

Eiran's first thought was the sword she was resting her hand on and the fact that her face had a few nasty scars. What scared him most was the fact that she was staring into his sould like she wanted to kill him and he knew that was a fight he would definitely lose.

"Lily, Ethan, this is Captain Josephine." Felix said, gesturing to the woman. He must have told her their names were different to make them less noticable but 'Ethan and Lily' was the best he could come up with? Really?

"Oh no need for the fake names. I know exactly who these two are. You can go ahead and take the cloaks off Lola Sullivan and Eiran Amos. No need to hide on my ship." She stated confidently.

Eiran couldn't explain it but he had a feeling he would be able to trust her. He was grateful because he honestly didn't want to have to fight her. She was very intimidating in his eyes, even if he did have every magical power known to man.