The Hidden Mages

Oh, no

I broke the shield and Vincent took out the sapphire from his pocket.

"The Sapphire of Zialbirre! How were you able to find that?!" he growled.

"Let's just say, we were worthy enough," Nico answered with a smirk.

"It matters not! I won't be defeated by a stone!"

The 9 of us stood in a line with Vincent in the very middle. Each one of us felt like dropping on the ground, right there and then, but we forced those thoughts away and struggled to stay on our feet. This is our last chance to save the world and defeat Eldor for good and we're gonna use every strength we had left.

"Remember what grandma said?" spoke Leona, making the rest of us turn to her.

"Use your inner strength," she said.

"Not sure if that even exists in me anymore but sure...inner strength," Xavier said with a laugh.

"You children can't stop me!!" Eldor growled before sending a pressure attack right towards us. Without thinking twice I created a shield but this time the attack was stronger than before. It was so strong that when my shield blocked it, the ground shook violently. We all struggled to stay on our feet.

"Listen here, Eldor! We're ending this, HERE AND NOW!!" I yelled.

A screen appeared in front of us and it took me a second to realized that it was the spell we had to use for the sapphire to work.

Power of 9, is all it takes. Our powers combined, both earth and sky will shake.

With the Sapphire of the Dragon God in our hands, we will diminish evil and it's plans.

Together, forever, till the end of life. We vanquish you with this light.

.

.

Green light blinded our eyes and filled the entire universe, well that's what it felt like anyway. The light of the sapphire lasted for at least 5 minutes before disappearing little by little. Once the light had dimmed, I slowly opened my eyes but I wasn't expecting what happened next.

Eldor...

was still standing...with the Globe of Dominance in his hands. He just stood there with a smirk on his face. Then, he laughed.

"I told you mages. You can't defeat me with a stone," he spoke after a while.

"W-what the hell?!" Leona exclaimed.

"The Globe of Dominance. It's able to absorb every magic in this universe," he said tossing the object from one hand to the other, as if it was just another rubber ball.

"And it can make whatever magic it absorbed...bounce back. Unfortunately, the power of the sapphire can't harm you since it sees you as 'worthy'," he continued, using his fingers, air-quoting the word "worthy".

"So, my only other option is..." he then looked and observed each one of us like he was deciding who to kill first. Then, it dawned on me.

He's not choosing who to kill.

He's choosing whose power to absorb. And finally, he made up his mind.

Nico.

"Nightmare does sound pretty fun," said Eldor, his evil eyes glinting with excitement which truly disgusted me.

"Excuse me?" Nico asked with a sarcastic tone.

"Well, then, nightmare it is," he said before pointing the globe towards Nico who was still confused on what was happening.

"W-wait! What do you mean nig-" but before he could speak, he started levitating.

"Nico!" Vincent called out but Nico couldn't answer. It was, as if, a force from the globe was pulling out every ounce of magic that Nico had.

"Vincent!" I heard Daphne call out. I turned away from Nico and saw Vincent running towards Eldor at full speed with his machine gun. And you might be thinking...for someone who has intelligence magic that was pretty dumb. Well, no. Vincent had a plan. Like always.

He ran towards Eldor, firing at the ground around him, making the dirt fly around like crazy. Vincent was a few meters away from Eldor when dirt entered Eldor's eyes which helped distract the immortal...giving my cousin enough time to plant a tiny bomb under his red coat.

Where did he get a tiny bomb?
I don't know, man. This is Vincent we're talking about.

Was he hiding this tiny bomb is his back pocket the entire time?
Most probably.

And yes. It could have activated itself on accident, considering it was in his back pocket the entire time, but you what...I just like to trust that Vincent has thought everything through.

Vincent, then, ran back to us before pulling out a tiny remote with a red button on it which I'm guessing is what will activate the bomb. He was just about to press the button when the globe stopped absorbing Nico's magic. After a few seconds, it fell and so did Nico. All 8 of us rushed towards him and sighed in relief when we saw that he was still breathing.

"A little trick like that won't be able to stop me," he said, brushing off the dust and dirt on his coat. He, then, took the globe in his hands and again pointed it towards us...but this time...

It was facing...me.

I gasped, knowing exactly what would happen if he made Nico's power reflect on me.

I became even more shocked when Xavier stood in front of me, his wings spread out.

"Aww, would you look at that. The demon thinks he's the savior," Eldor spoke with a laugh.

The globe shone and bright light before letting go of Nico's nightmare magic.

My eyes got wider and wider as the seconds passed. I had to think fast. So, I did the only thing I could think of.

.

.

.

Darkness.

That's all there was...even after opening my eyes.

I looked around in hopes of finding any source of light but I couldn't find any...not even one.

'Where the hell am I? Where is everyone?' I asked myself before taking a few steps forward. The more steps I took, the more scared and anxious I became. My body was surrounded with cold air that just didn't seem to go away even after embracing myself with both arms, trying to keep myself warm.

Just then...I heard something. A voice

"Z-Zoe? Is that you?" the voice asked. It took me a while to recognize who was talking to but I soon figured it out.

"Mom?"