The Land of Magic

It Begins

Denuis was the last person in line. When he reached the top of the staircase, he found everyone standing in front of a door, including Claire. "Ugh, you finally came up. That took forever. We don't have all the time in the world, you know." Pearl rolled her eyes. "Seeing as how you're trying to take over it, I'm pretty sure you do," she said. Claire stared at her, angrily at first. Then, she smiled. "Oh yes, you just reminded me. Thanks for that! Here's something I need to remind you about too! My father and his friend will be second-in-charge. You had better watch what you say, now!"

Claire turned around and reached for the door handle. "Good luck, my daddy doesn't like showing mercy," she said, before opening the door.  

Behind the door sat a man, elegantly dressed. He was sitting in a chair, facing the all-glass wall, a really big window. Alex expected to see his father, but he didn't. "Daddy, they're here," Claire said, her voice clear and loud. "Thank you, Claire. You may leave," the man spoke. Claire left and shut the door. The man stood up. He turned towards them and smiled. He opened his arms and said, "Hello, my friends. Nice to see you all. I am Gabriel Chanviel, the owner of this building, and soon, this land." Emerald snorted. "Why not cut the small talk and get to the chase?" The man raised an eyebrow and didn't stop smiling. That made Alex feel really uncomfortable. 

"Well, a feisty one, aren't you? Okay then, I'll get right to it." Gabriel turned to face the window. "As you all should know, we will soon be the ones in charge. We've already resurrected Lord Eldritch. Once he regains his power, you will perish. We're so close, it would take only a week left." Alex got a feeling of devastation. They had only one week. And they were still captured. He wondered whether did the other part of the team, the ones who weren't captured, had a plan. "By the way, Alex. So sorry your father couldn't be here. He had some urgent business to attend to," he continued. Alex frowned. "I don't even want to see him. I will never accept him as my father." 

Gabriel smiled. "That's good. He'll never accept you as his son neither. I can see why, now." He turned around. "Well, that's all I wanted to say. Guards! Bring them back!"  The doors opened and two guards, wearing armor identical to the one earlier, came in.  All of them walked out as Gabriel sat back down in his chair.

"Well, what do we do now?" Alex asked when they returned to the room. "We have been trying to think of an escape plan for so long, but nothing works!"  Sylvie shouted. "We can't give up!" Pearl said. "Why should we even bother?"  came a voice from the corner of the room. It was Emerald, sitting alone, again. "We've been trying for so long already, nothing ever works. We should just give up."  

"She's right," Marcus said. "Well, maybe if we just submit, they'll make it easier on us," Mason said, hopefully. "Maybe, and maybe they'll give us some pizza too," Fayre agreed. Everyone sighed. "Stop with the pizza. It's all you've been talking about for the last 6 days." Marcus groaned. "Well, I can't help it. It's my favourite food." "Let's focus on getting out of here first. Then we can focus on pizza," Pearl said. "Fine," Fayre said, grumpily. 

"Well, we certainly can't just sit here and await death," Alex argued. "We've done everything we could. What else can we do?" Emerald asked. "There's people guarding the door, there's no hidden rooms, and the fireplace is enchanted to stay lit. We can't do anything." 

Alex realized she was right, again. He looked around. Everyone had already given up. He sighed, went to his own corner, and sat down.