Forbidden magic

chapter eleven

God's not dead,

He's truly alive.

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Cyrus studied the blue liquid that swiveled in the glass beaker before reaching for a chalice and pouring the potion into it. Phoenix watched silently as he transferred the dark blue substance from one cup prison to another.

"You sure about this?" Cyrus asked, his eyes firmly fixed on the magical drink in his hand. His crass tone was devoid of any sort of concern, which of course was nothing new to Phoenix. The blonde nodded, masking his reluctance and displaying full courage.

"Are the side effects fatal?" Raven asked.

"Very," Len nodded as she approached, her eyes specked with assailing dominance. "He's most likely to die a slow agonizing death, the pain will eat him away molecule by molecule until nothing's left." Her cold words adhered a lump in Raven's throat.

"Stop being arrantly absurd, Len," Tezrah warned, chuckling dryly. "Dizziness is expected for the first few minutes, probably a bit of puking but other than that he'll be able to do it."

"Do what, exactly?"

"The potion will help him muster hidden strength and summon his full potential, however he can only use it for a limited number of times. Too much will result in losing his teleportation ability altogether," Cyrus explained before handing the chalice to Phoenix, who took it with great austere.

"No big deal," Phoenix huffed as he tipped the golden cup into his lips, the burning liquid calamitously slithered down his throat. He gulped down the drink that left a malty taste in his tongue and a congealing presence of heat in his throat.

As Cyrus had said, the world began to spin vigorously around for Phoenix. His sense of balance slipped away as his legs turned to jelly, a nauseous feeling crept into him as dread devoured his insides.

"Wow, that stuff is intense," he conceded, the empty chalice slipped out of his fingers as he staggered to the left. Tezrah instinctively stabled him by gripping his arms tightly in effort to steady him. Raven slid a chair under Phoenix, into which he sank, faintly chuntering under his breath.

"Okay, here's the plan," Tezrah announced as he moved away from Phoenix's side to the center of the room. All eyes burdened him with attention as he cleared his throat and quirkily wet his lips with a flick of the tongue.

"The portal leads to Torra, it doesn't matter where we land ourselves because we have Layard on our side. We go north from there teleporting all the way, once we reach the dark lair slash evil fortress, we get Edmund and Cassandra. From there we transport ourselves here again, then we all live happily ever after. Capisce?" He looked around at a handful of blithe nods.

"What makes you so sure that this plan will work?" Len asked, clearly unimpressed.

"Nothing really, but let's just hope," Tezrah smiled ebulliently.

"Hope is for the weak," Cyrus commented, a bestial note lingering in his cold voice. Raven watched Len raise her fierce eyes, meeting her brother's for a brief moment. She shot a mental cipher to Cyrus, who dismissed her sudden rage with a scoff.

"So that's it? We just swagger in and pick my aunt and uncle up and return, just like that?" Doubt laced Raven's voice.

"Well that's one way to put it flatly," Tezrah nodded, very sure of himself.