Hidden Magic: The Call of the Prophecy

Chapter 5: Convergence of Chaos

Today the news is having a field day over the cemetery fiasco and the theories they're reporting are ridiculous. It ranges from the zombie apocalypse to magicians creating optical illusions. Some are even trying to blame vandals for creating an elaborate scheme for fame. The police can't explain it and have no suspects.

I bet the employees are having a hard time with the cleanup and placating the victim's families. Each of us go into work to put in our requests for a leave of absence. We need a few weeks off to focus on whatever is happening and I pray it's enough time. As we set up the office space for a place to train, Buranath walks into the room.

He gives a small nod, "Good morning, ladies. It is time to get started. We've already established that you're fighting is good. It has also improved since we first met. You even learned to summon your powers at will. Now you have to learn to control them and use it to your advantage while fighting. Master Demons are brutal and my brethren will not have mercy on you should you encounter them."

Well, this sucks because we barely managed to kill the other demons. Now, if we encounter their masters, we'll most likely have to fight using magic. This is just getting better and better.

"We'll start with defense. You'll need to learn how to protect yourself against magic," Buranath says before he attacks Miranda.

He starts with throwing a punch. She blocks and returns with a punch of her own. I watch as they move around the room throwing punches and kicks until suddenly, Buranath summons the largest double-edged long sword I'd ever seen. I gasp as I watch him swing it at Miranda's head. She ducks while red smoke surrounds her hands, and she summons a butter knife.

"Goddammit," she cries before dropping it and running across the room.

Buranath follows, swinging the sword wildly as he goes. "Come on, attack me."

She ducks and blocks his attacks as she continues summoning different objects to fight with; a book, a spoon, a cup, and then finally she summons a sword.

"Yes," she shouts before swinging the sword at Buranath.

The sword she summoned is a flamberge. It's a long wavy double-edged blade. She swings around and blocks his next attack and I watch as they fight with a mixture of swinging swords, throwing punches, and wild kicks. He blocks her next swing before kicking his leg out, and sweeping her off her feet. She hits the ground hard, and he directs his blade straight down toward her chest.

"No," I shout in horror.

However, a red portal opens underneath Miranda, and she falls through. The portal closes just as the tip of Buranath's sword hits the floor where Miranda used to be. It opens up on the opposite side of the room where she falls through. Miranda lands hard on the floor.

"Oomph. Ow," she moans in pain.

I stand there muted as I realize she just conjured a portal.

"Good," is all Buranath says as he helps Miranda up.

She yanks her hand away from him. "You were going to stab me, you asshole."

"Nothing brings out your powers more than the will to live," he says without an ounce of remorse. "Now, everyone pair up and start attacking."

I'm paired with Miranda, Sydney pairs with Stephanie, and Annie pairs with Ashley. The first thing I do is create an illusion of spiders crawling all over Miranda and I laugh as she screams. In the next instant, I'm hit in the face with a shoe.

"Ow, Miranda. What the fuck?" I ask in outrage.

"Get serious, Mary. You won't scare off demons with spiders," she replies equally outraged.

On one side of us, I can see Sydney and Stephanie. Stephanie is trying to attack Sydney, throwing ice daggers, creating strong winds, and even throwing snowballs but Sydney is blocking each attack by summoning a force field. Stephanie gets frustrated and runs toward Sydney but just as she gets close, a wall appears, and she hits it.

Stephanie grabs her nose as blood gushes out. "My nose! You broke my nose!"

She looks angry as blood pours out of her nose and the room starts shaking. Green smoke is forming around her hands as she lifts them in the air. Lightning strikes different areas in the room and grows more intense as her anger rises.

"I'm sorry, Stephanie," Sydney cries.

Just before the lightning strikes Sydney, she cages herself in brick walls on all sides. This training got out of hand faster than I thought it would. We all have tempers and even though we love each other fiercely, that doesn't mean we don't get mad at each other every once in a while. 

Stephanie bursts through the brick walls and Sydney pushes her back. She waves her orange smoke-covered hand in front of Stephanie's face and her nose is fixed instantly.

"I said I was sorry. Now back off," she screeches before turning away.

I can tell Stephanie is still mad, but she backs off anyway. Unfortunately, not without creating a rain cloud over Sydney's head first. Eventually, she wills the cloud away, and they resume their fighting. Annie and Ashley are on the other side of Miranda and me and I can't help but laugh at what I'm seeing. 

Annie is controlling Ashley, making her slap herself repeatedly while yelling at Annie to stop. Annie's laughing hysterically before suddenly freezing in place. A cold breeze blows through the room before she drops to the floor with a yelp.

"I told you to stop, Annie!" Ashley screams.

Her eyes are once again white as she starts to float in the air. She looks at Annie as she waves her hands in front of her and Annie starts rotting right there on the floor.

"Ashley," Miranda says in a warning tone.

She turns her white eyes toward Miranda, and she too starts to wither right where she stands. Ashley is out of control and I don't know what to do. Buranath moves quickly toward her and I think he's going to fix the situation. 

Maybe he can knock some sense into her, but she's not even worried about his advancement. She throws an arm out, sending Buranath flying through the air. Now I am really at a loss over what to do. Buranath is no help and Annie stopped her the last time.

"Sydney?" I whisper to get her attention. "You can enhance power. Help Annie."

She nods in understanding before turning very slowly to avoid drawing Ashley's attention. Sydney looks at Annie in deep concentration as orange smoke covers her hands and arms, glowing brighter as she directs power toward Annie. 

Soon, Annie begins to regain color and stands up just as she connects mentally with Ashley. They both cry out in pain as Ashley starts to glow brighter, using more power to fight off Annie.

Miranda falls to the ground. "Hurry up, Annie."

Annie lifts her arms sluggishly, thrusts out her hands, and sends Ashley sailing into the wall across the room. She hits hard before falling to the ground. Sydney ambles over to heal Miranda as Buranath quickly approaches Ashley with his sword drawn.

He raises it above his head. "No one should have the kind of power she has." He swings the sword toward Ashley's head.

"No," I scream out in horror.