CRITICAL POINT/ THE BLACK KING (MAGIC CHRONICLES #1)

Prelude For The Next:

            “Hey, sexy, wanna come with us?” a delinquent-looking man said.

            “Come on, no need to be shy!” another added, “We know a good place downtown. It’s our treat.”

The pair of men was talking to a young woman walking down the street. They were bored and wanted to have a good time. It was still a bit early for the evening, but the woman could already smell the soju (Korean liquor) from their breaths.

            “Please, leave me alone,” she quietly answered.

            “Come on, miss,” the man said again, “we’ll have a really fun time.”

            Veins began to pop out of the woman’s forehead.

            “If you really value your bloody lives,” the woman’s eyes flashed, “I suggest you bloody get out of my sight!”

            “Oh?!” the second man sneered, “What are you gonna do, huh? Scream?”

            The next thing they knew, their heads were flying off their necks. It was so swift they never saw it coming. As the men’s bodies slumped to the ground, the woman glared at them with her white-hot eyes. She was holding a blood-stained sword made of ice.

            “Bloody fools,” the Queen of Ruin Freya muttered, “Men like you should know their place. Never, ever, insult the Witch-Princess of the Mystic Roman Empire!”

            She looked around, checking if there were any witnesses. Finding none, she let out a long sigh. Her last match with Juris back in the United States was irritating. Even though she had changed her game format, she was still at the losing end. By her last count, Juris now has thirty-seven wins against her paltry nine.

            “Ah, never mind,” Freya muttered to herself, “this time, it is surely my victory. Niebla, Petrificar (Fog, Petrify)!”

            Thick mist came out of her hands. It covered the corpses and turned them to stone. Casting a huge metal hammer, Freya pounded them to dust. The magician sighed again. This was all too easy for her, a boring task. She needed more excitement.

            She began to walk again, searching for her prey.

            “Now, now,” Freya looked around, “where could you be, little lamb? Come out, come out, wherever you are. I am itching to Mark you.”

            As if on some cue, a girl came out of a grocery store, her arms full of groceries. Freya smiled. There was no mistaking the black-haired teenager. It was another Vessel.

            “What a wonderful gift you are me,” Freya said with glee, “Desactivar (Deactivate)!”

Freya turned back into her normal form, Sheila Vera. Walking along the adjacent street, Sheila quietly estimated the moment she and the other woman will meet. Her plan was to bump with the girl and scatter her groceries. This will give Sheila time to cast the Marking spell on the Vessel, which required her to touch the intended target.

“This is going to be fun,” Sheila smiled.

It was the Queen’s Game, once again.