XF → Harry Hook [2]✔

Magic

Within the entire country of Auradon, there were only three people who hadn't been reduced to stone:

Mal, whose familial connection to the scepter was keeping her temporarily safe.

Audrey, who was the caster of the spell, and was slowly losing her sanity to the power of the evil artifact.

XJ, one of the most powerful magicians the world had ever seen, and although she had suspected that this might be the case, had never been able to confirm it.

And now, the former two were fighting with enough magic to tear the sky apart.

XJ could feel it – crackling in the air like electricity, making the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She absorbed the magic around her as she ran, energizing her the closer she got to the battlefield. It had been a while since she had felt that kind of power that would have been otherwise impossible for Audrey and Mal to produce on their own.

Now, the strawberry scent had vanished, replaced entirely by smoke, and Mal's violets smelt singed as the Hades ember did its work. Experience and bloodline were overpowering Audrey's stolen artifact, based on the small burst of magic Maleficent had cast upon Sleeping Beauty so many years ago. If XJ didn't hurry, her plan would go wrong, and she couldn't afford that, with time slipping through her fingers like water.

At last, XJ drew close enough to hear Audrey's strained shouts and the roar of a dragon. The sky ahead was lit with purple, a strong magenta glow dyeing the blackness of the heavens. The smell was so pungent that XJ thought she could see its traces in the form of dark and light purple, winding around the trees.

She burst into the edge of where the forest ended, and the school's campus began. XJ looked up at Audrey, who was standing on the tallest tower of Auradon Prep's main building. The scepter shot purple blasts at Mal, who had transformed into a dragon, her wings flapping with such a force that the branches of the trees nearby swayed from the wind.

Mal dodged Audrey's attacks easily, and Audrey was growing too frustrated to be able to concentrate her magic. Audrey let out a shriek of indignation when another blast failed to connect, and Mal used the opportunity to blow fire at her opponent.

The scepter acted of its own accord as Audrey ducked. A purple beam of magic fought against Mal's flames, resulting in an incredible lightshow that made XJ shield her eyes. The two columns of energy met in the middle, ferociously pushing against each other, and XJ couldn't help but be mesmerized by the shifting colors.

Mal was about to run out of breath, but she stubbornly kept her dragon's jaw open, the fire propelled by her own magic. Meanwhile, Audrey's scepter trembled with the effort it was drawing from the orb, and Audrey was holding it towards Mal, like King Arthur holding his sword.

However, as the seconds went by, Mal's flames slowly inched forwards, and Audrey was being physically pushed backwards, struggling to keep her footing.

Audrey was an inch away from falling off the tower when a blast of golden light hit Mal in the neck. The flames dissipated as her pained roar made the ground tremble. She dropped from a height that would have killed a person, but would thankfully only lightly wound a dragon, and XJ knew that Mal would wake up with more than a few bruises.

When Mal hit the ground, it felt like a mild earthquake. The shaking made Audrey's heart lurch once more as she scrambled back to the center of the tower. She gingerly, stood up, leaning on the scepter for support.

"XJ?" She called, still slightly out of breath, her voice echoing through the night, which had returned to its previous dark blue. "Are you there?"

There was no answer, and Audrey was beginning to think that she had been mistaken as to the identity of her savior, that the golden light hadn't been gold at all, when a blast of the color came from below.