Ballad of Souls (Book 1/4)

Part 1 Chapter 3: Rose

Rose crouched on the ground, her eyes trained on the road within the opening of the forest she was in. It was a quiet night, cars sparsely passing by Rose. The road led to the city on one end and the suburbs on the other. She heard rustling in the forest behind her. Rose clasped her dagger, a silver blade fixed to a leather handle with an opal gem hilt. She heard it get closer. Rose spun around swiftly and slashed her dagger. The man evaded the attack and grabbed the dagger.

"Pretty dagger, Deveraux," a man in a hood giggled. "Where'd you get it?." He let down his hood and it was the last person Rose expected to see. Samuel Bane.

"That's none of your business, Bane," she responded as she turned back around to scout the road. "Why are you here? Aren't you supposed to be on a farm with your mommy?"

"That's for you to guess," he replied, crouching down next to Rose. "You of all people know I like to play mind games, Deveraux."

Rose became irritated "Fuck off, Bane."

"Feisty as always." He started playing with the dirt like a child. Rose always thought he was too young at mind for a 19 year old guy.

They sat silently until a white car passed by. Rose heard Samuel make a sound like he had finally seen what he had been waiting for. She looked at him and a glint in his eye twinkled. Samuel stood up and dusted himself off. He clicked his fingers and the wind started howling almost instantly. Rose was dumbstruck. She did not know that Samuel had gained magic. As far as she knew, he was not born a witch or had any history of magic in his bloodline. He was completely human. Where had he gained it, Rose thought.

"Now Rosie," he said, turning to Rose. "I want you to try and save the boy that is on the end of the road there." Samuel pointed to a boy with golden hair standing under a street light. "If not, I will make that car with his parents in it go up in smoke. With that fancy-pants magic of yours."

Rose was confused. Samuel wanted her to save the boy so he would not kill his parents. It was clear to Rose that he wanted to play a game with lives, like he did long ago. He obviously wanted to kill the parents in the car. Then it hit Rose. It was bait.

A few years ago, Rose and Samuel were friends but then Samuel gave Rose choices that ended what friendship they had. After what she did with her magic that day, she vowed to never use her magic again. She would only use weapons and her fists to do things. That is what Samuel was playing on. He remembered what Rose promised herself. 

"Forget it, Samuel," Rose put her dagger to Samuel's neck and started pressing. "You know what I promised. You made me hurt people with my own magic. She is dead because of you."

Samuel backed up with a grim look on his face, like a somber memory caught up to him again. "We both know that if you had just kept your emotions from clouding your thoughts, she would be with us right now." He pushed the dagger down, staring at Rose with those eyes, evil as ever. He touched his neck and realized his neck was bleeding slightly from Rose pressing her dagger against it.

"I am not using my magic for your fucking games anymore, Bane."

"Then I guess the boy's parents die. Who knew? Whether you use your magic or not, someone dies?" He laughed and raised his hands. The wind picked up. He looked at the car and pointed at it. Rose heard a tree start cracking. He wants to crush the car, Rose thought.

"No!" Rose tried to grab Samuel. He caught Rose's hands and threw her on the ground with an unearthly strength. Rose took her dagger and jabbed it in Samuel's arm. He yelped in pain and tried stepping on Rose's arm that held her dagger. Rose crawled out the way, dagger at the ready. "Stop it unless you want another hole in your chest this time."

He clenched his arm and stared at the wound. He looked at Rose. "Bring it, Deveraux." Rose ran towards him. Samuel summoned a large ball of white hot fire. Rose went down and swung her leg and tripped him. Rose shot up, ready to jab her dagger into Samuel's heart. Samuel caught the dagger with one hand and twisted Rose's hand to get the dagger. He used his magic to push Rose away. Rose fell on her head. When she tried to stand, she became unbearably dizzy and her vision was blurred.

"Stay down, Rose, for your own safety. I don't want to kill you just yet."

"Just do it. Wouldn't it be easier?" She tried to make her vision clear.

"It would be less fun," he said. Rose could not see much but she could make out that Samuel had released his fireball. She heard a large crash.

"No!" Rose stumbled over to Samuel and grabbed him by the throat. They were on a ledge in the forest. The impact would definitely injure someone. Rose would break her fall if she throws herself off with Samuel, him hitting the ground first. "Like you said to her," Rose whispered to Samuel. "together we will fall." Rose threw herself and Samuel off the ledge. The wind slowly died down.

"Bitc--" he tried to curse but he hit the ground. Both of them grunted. Rose heard a crack. She was not sure if it was her or Samuel. Rose's senses were still not operational. "Get off me!" he yelled and used his magic to shoot Rose off of him. He forced himself up off the ground. Rose's vision finally cleared and she noticed Samuel's arm was twisted outwards. He groaned as he fixed his arm. Samuel did not have his playful, sadistic joker face on. It had shifted to pure rage, which made his glare that much more intimidating. She had never seen it before.

Rose got up and stared back at Samuel and for the first time in years, she was completely terrified and did not know what he would do. Samuel raised his hand, hands spread. The wind had caused a tree from the forest to fall and unfortunately hit the car. The car's tyres screech at an ear-bleeding frequency. Rose put her hands to her ears, trying to muffle the noise, but I was no use. Samuel closed his hands into a fist and a cellphone tower fell onto the already crashed car, that was set alight on impact.

"You forced my hand, Rose." Samuel sternly said. "The game is over. I gave you a chance to save the boy, and I have to admit, this is less fun." He made the wind stronger than before and completely out of nowhere, a tornado had formed. The tornado had picked up a few flames. More flames. More.

Rose was stunned. The tornado was not made of swift wind bursts anymore, it was made of fire. Samuel manipulated the monstrosity towards the boy.

"My job is done here. So is yours. Do what you please." He walked into the forest. Rose tried to follow him but as if when he broke through the tree line, he vanished into thin air. Rose cursed silently.

She ran towards the boy, trying to get to him before the tornado did. She tripped over a stone and fell flat on her face. She cursed again. She was running out of time. She could not get to the boy in time. She had no way to help him from here. Fuck. I'm so sorry, sister. Rose thought.

She stretched her one arm out towards the tornado. She felt magic coursing through her rapidly to her hand. The sensation was overwhelming. She had almost forgotten what it felt like. She dug deep into her thoughts, pulling out a powerful emotion to amplify her magic, like she had been taught, the day that Samuel had betrayed her and when she realized how much of a psychotic, manipulative asshole he was. A burst of magic shot from Rose's hand. She wanted to slow down the tornado but with her luck, she completely missed. Fuck! The tornado had gotten close to the boy that he had passed out. Rose started panicking. She got up and ran towards the boy. She could not lose another person, Rose would not give Samuel that satisfaction. She now had something new to fuel her magic. She grasped tightly on that feeling and let out a blinding green burst of magic that blew Rose back very far away.

Rose was amazed. For the six years she has not been practicing magic, he let out a massive burst of magic that put ten year old Rose to shame. I shouldn't be this happy about breaking my promise, she thought. She got up and ran to check on the boy. She got to him and he did not look hurt. Looks like he just overheated, she thought. He had bronze hair. She put her fingers to his neck to check his pulse. Still alive. Thank God.  Rose was so relieved. She wanted to take him home to his parents, but they of course died. It would be too insensitive. She picked him up and walked into the city, to the police station. Hopefully they could help.