Tragedy ✔️

Chapter 17

"Listen everyone," I say, back on top of the rock . I can see some people smiling at the realization that they have magic, but the majority are scared, confused, their faces showing shock toward their new-found gift.

"I know all of you, or at least the majority, are scared," I shout into the megaphone, and everyone quiets down, "I was just like you a couple of weeks ago when I started working at 6x3 and when, I too, found out I possessed magic."

Everyone is attentively listening to me, eager to learn what was the strange surge of power that came out of them. I close my eyes to remember the first time I felt my magic seep out of my hands to try to explain to everyone what is happening.

I recall when Ms. Pudge gave me the potion to see if I was able to wield magic. It made me see my death all over again and I felt my magic tear out of my body to try to save me and my sister, making the train that killed us be thrown over the mountain tops.

"I- you-" I can't seem to make words come out. My memories of Annie, Mom, and what happened to Mandy because of me, flood my brain, bringing that guilt all over again. My magic had Annie and Mom destroyed, and had Mandy sent to a death-like fate where it is not known if she will ever wake up again.

"Because of magic," I begin, holding back tears, "bad things happened, but it doesn't have to be this way anymore. When I first gained my magic, I  was taught to use it for evil, as a menace, to cause pain. I used my magic to do so many horrible things, like destroying my sister, and other innocent lives in the real world. I always blamed myself, and I think everyone from 6x3 felt guilty, but now I know I don't have to be because it was the king who inflicted fear upon us. Upon all of us, to do his dirty work. But I say no longer!"

"Yeah!" shout some people in the distance.

"No longer will we be controlled by some shameless tyrant!" I scream.

"Yeah!"

"Together we will train, work, and think together as one, a family, to overthrow the king from his reign once and for all! Everyone standing here in the square may have been ordinary souls a few minutes ago, but now you are something more. You are greater than what you were before. Not just because you discovered you have extranormal powers, but because what you can do with them. Build a better future with no evil to control us!"

"Yeah!" the entire square is filled with the shouts of everyone.

"No!" shouts a deep female voice far in the back of the crowd, "Long live the king!"

Suddenly, the ground starts trembling and a beam of light shoots up in the sky. That beam of light explodes into multiple beams and rains down on the collection of souls. Everyone runs as the beams fall to the ground and catch flames on the dead grass.

"Colin!" shouts Ms. Pudge. I turn around to her and Richard pointing up, screaming something I can't quite make out. I look up and see a beam of light heading straight to me. I'm about to use my magic to blast the beam of light, but another shot of magic beats me to it.

I turn around to see a woman, her arms extended toward the sky, a glow starting to diminish from her palms. She lowers her hands and turns to me, giving me an icy stare. Her eyes are a deep brown. It's the first thing I notice. She looks like she is in her mid-twenties, a slim body, strong build, and taller than most women. She has dark, red skin, and her hair is dyed a metallic white color. It falls a little beneath her shoulders in silvery curls. She has a stern face, gold eyeliner around her big eyes, and a faint scar across her right cheek.

She lets out a menacing chuckle and steps forward. She then randomly jolts her hand in the air and everything goes quiet. I look over my shoulder and notice Ms. Pudge, Richard, and everyone else is no longer in sight.

"What did you do to them!?" I shout, "Where are they!?"

"Well that's not the proper way to introduce yourself," she says ironically. She has a slight British accent. "Is it?"

She extends her hand towards me and I flinch. I notice she's trying to give me a handshake. I slowly extend my hand as well, not sure if this is some sort of trap. I finally slip my hand in hers and shake it once and quickly let go.

"I'm Starla," she hisses.

I hesitate, raising my eyebrow and finally say, "And I'm-"

"Colin," she smiles, "I know who you are."

I'm startled. I've never seen this person and for some unknown reason she knows my name. I get a sick feeling that something is wrong.

"Colin," says Starla, "I am the king's right hand, his follower, his apostle, disciple. Whatever you want to call me, but I am the one he turns to when he needs help. I will forever be by his side and do for him whatever he desires. And what the king desires now, is for me to destroy you."

The instant my eyes see movement, I shoot my hands up and excrete a blast of magic toward Starla who is shooting her attack at me. We are now in a standoff, both our rays of magic meeting each other in the middle. I struggle to keep my beam up as Starla's magic is extremely powerful, that any second my mind goes elsewhere, I feel my magic being pushed back, my body being beaten.

"You...won't...win," I shout, the wind made by our magic blowing my hair into my eyes, but I keep my hands steady along with my powers.

"Face it Colin," shouts Starla grunting, "Your magic is weak! Just like you, and your stupid dead sister, your weak friend Mandy, and your good-for-nothing-rotting-in-a-worse-hell mother!"

"No!" I cry out, tears escaping my eyes, and I feel my heart hurting at the thought of my mother and my sister who died because of me, and Mandy who opened her heart to me. That is enough to distract me as Starla pushes her hands harder, making a wave resonate across the beam of her magic. She overpowers me, her blast hits me in the chest and I am thrown back. I land on my side, roll over the ground, dirt filling my mouth.

"I told you Colin," she giggles, "You are not powerful. And the prophecy will come to pass and you will lose."

I stand up, feeling stronger than before, even though my body tells me otherwise. I walk up to Starla, wanting to blast that stupid smile off her plastic face.

"What prophecy?" I spit.

Starla leans towards me and whispers in my ear, "A prophecy foretold from the start of time."

I step back and look into her eyes that sting mine, but I won't show my fear. I keep staring at her.

"A prophecy," she says, "That tells of a battle that will be fought between the ruler of the dead and a young man with magic that will determine the reign of good or evil."

"And you think that's the king and I? You think he will win?" I ask.

"No, I don't think so. I know so. I know that you will lose."A wicked laugh escapes from her mouth and the ground starts to shake. The ground starts to crack and a big hole appears to our right, filled with a blue light.

"We'll be waiting for you, Colin," she smiles, "In the real world. The war has begun, and we won't stop until every living being on earth is dead."

"You won't harm anyone! Not if we stop you!"

"Oh, don't bother trying to save anyone. Just come visit when it's time to battle against the king. The time will come for the prophecy to come to pass and I have a feeling it will be very soon. And even then, you'll be wasting your time, but you know how prophecies are. Ta ta!"

Starla runs and leaps into the hole, vanishing back to the living world. The light in the hole starts spinning faster and finally fades out, leaving a big crater in the ground, and another problem for me to worry about.