Contains mild violence
Chapter One
Earth – the last planet in the universe still containing magic. For the magic-hungry Nekross, this was the one source of food left in existence, and it had to be taken advantage of.
Unfortunately, it was rather difficult to get their scaly hands on it since the wizard inhabitants were perfectly aware of their presence and had launched an appropriate defence mechanism: a "shrouding spell", which cloaked most forms of enchantment from their prying eyes.
If it wasn't for this foremost obstacle, then undoubtedly the Nekross would be feasting a lot more on the exquisite magic of Earth…
…
Lexi strutted onto the flight deck, smiling smugly.
"What has amused you, dear sister?" enquired Varg, turning away from his console.
"Nothing of the sort, brother Varg! I have completed a stratagem that will at last allow the Nekross to secure our rightful share of Earth's magic."
"And how will this be so, sister Lexi?" The prince's attention was directed to the workstation.
"I have uncovered a technique to defy the shrouding spell."
"What!?" Varg swung his head round.
Lexi smirked proudly. "I will explain my strategy before the king."
She strolled to the closed doors with the Nekross logo on it.
"Father – I request that you hear my strategy. It could put an end to the hindrance in the gathering of magic caused by the shrouding spell."
The doors slid open to reveal the enormous expanse of the king's grotesque face.
"Speak, Lexi!"
"The shrouding spell has long prevented us from locating sources of magic. However, if the scanners were recalibrated to detect the bodies of those who contain magic, we would no longer be obstructed by the cunning plans of Wizardkind."
"There is a fault in your design, dear sister," interrupted Varg, "Wizards and humans have no dissimilarities in their appearances. The scanners would not be able to register any differences."
Lexi ignored his cynicism. "Observe, brother…" She moved over to a computer and tapped several keys. Onto the screen appeared a full picture of a young woman with the head and torso of a human being, and a tail akin to that of a fish. "Located within Earth's few uncontaminated oceans reside the merfolk – humans crossed with water vertebrates. I will demonstrate the scanners in action as they probe Earth's oceans, hunting for such creatures."
A few taps later, the image of the mermaid was replaced by that of the Earth, and gradually small dots started appearing on it, until entire seas were obscured beneath them.
The prince's eyes grew wider and wider.
"With this amount of information on our hands, the Nekross shall truly feast on an abundance of magic with no-one to stop us – not even Tom Clarke!"
WIZARDS VS ALIENS
"The Hidden Amulet"
Tom Clarke was sat in the Chamber of Crowe, up to his ears in studying Stonescript, one of the trickiest of all instruction young wizards participated in.
"Tom!" called a familiar voice from behind him.
"It looks like it's your turn to save the day, Benny Sherwood – turning up just in time before I was about to face death at the hands of a mountain of homework…"
"Do you need any help?"
Tom held up a piece of parchment, covered in wonky squiggles.
"Not unless you're secretly fluent in the language of the ancient ones."
"Oh…"
Benny picked up Tom's textbook and examined it carefully.
"It's a bit like learning formulae," he observed, "You know each symbol represents a letter of the alphabet – but they're not written in the way you're used to writing them. Lots of people don't understand formulae because it's written in a way they're not used to reading."
"Very clever, Benzoid, - but how's that going to help me translate quotes from Shakespeare into a bunch of scribbles?"
"Will you be speaking of William Shakespeare, young master?" said Moon all of a sudden, appearing out of nowhere, "Randal Moon will have been meeting William Shakespeare many centuries ago in the forest of the fainey shee."
"You met William Shakespeare?" cried a startled Benny.
"Randal Moon will not be a-deceiving you, imp! William Shakespeare will have been interfering in the world of the fey, and Randal Moon will have been stopping his foolish prying, else he would have been turned into a pile of tangleweed by pesky faeries. Randal Moon will be a-sneezing at the thought of such creatures!"
I know someone who met Shakespeare, contemplated Benny in amazement. It was pretty tough to get your head round!
Moon picked up the skull that sat on the nearby table. "Alas, poor Yorick," he quoted, "Randal Moon will have been thinking Yorick should have never ventured forth onto the Netherside!"
Suddenly, Tom's attention was drawn to the scrying mirror, which was behaving very strangely.
"Who's that?" he exclaimed.
Upon the mirror had appeared the face of a woman, perhaps about forty or so, with light brown skin, slightly slanted eyes and black hair, which probably would have been about shoulder length if it wasn't for the fact that she seemed to be submerged and it was billowing around her head.
"Who are you?" asked Tom, getting up from his seat and striding toward the mirror.
"Madeline Lim of the magical line of Barangan," replied the woman.
Tom felt a shiver run down his spine as he realised the woman hadn't actually opened her lips.
"What are you contacting us for?"
"My young daughter…she has been taken by the monsters from beyond the stars."
The lady had an accent Tom didn't recognise. He figured she must be from a far-away country that he did not often meet the inhabitants of.
"Where are you?"
"Boracay. The Philippines."
"And…I suppose you need us to help you?"
Tom realised the lady was probably aware who he was and how he had defeated the Nekross before on a number of occasions. It was pretty strange being famous sometimes!
"Should I get Mrs Crowe?" asked Benny.
Luckily, he didn't need to, as the mistress herself had already scurried into the Chamber.
"This can't be good!" she cried, "Did I hear you say that your daughter has been kidnapped by those…spiky-headed monsters?"
It was impossible for Madeline to cry underwater, but a hand flew to her eyes anyway.
"Help me get my daughter back please, Mrs Crowe!"
None of the onlookers made any reply but all of them were thinking the same thing – how could they possibly help this poor woman be reunited with her child?
…
Meanwhile on the Zarantulus, a Filipino girl of about 15 clad in a dark brown t-shirt and knee-length denim shorts was dragged onto the bridge by two guards, and dumped upon the floor.
Varg eyed her in disgust – partly because of his dislike for humans, and partly because of his annoyance at his sister's self-satisfaction.
Lexi stepped before the king. "Observe how this half-form has altered her appearance that she might blend in amongst humans when she is no longer submerged in water."
"Hayaan akong pumunta!" cried the petrified girl, tears streaming down her face.
"Silence, halfling! You are the first of many to feel the magic sucked from their very bones."
"Hindi ko pa tapos kahit ano upang saktan ka!"
Lexi cackled at the girl's terror.
"It appears already my strategy has gone according to plan."
"Any strategy expressed in the presence of the king becomes my plan," her father reminded her sternly.
"I apologise, father," responded Lexi, hiding her irritation, "By means of your strategy, we shall be able to scan for the bodies of an abundance of magical creatures without any obstruction from the shrouding spell."
Scan for the bodies? thought Miss Lim curiously. She decided not to let the Nekross know she spoke English. It was possible they might reveal even more of their intriguing strategy.
"Prepare the extractor!" cried the king.
The girl was seized once more by the guards.
"Itigil ang ito, mangyaring!" she pleaded.
Lexi gave a horrid chuckle and strode to a nearby console, which had the picture of Earth on it, with a smaller picture of a mermaid in the corner.
"Each and every mark upon this map represents one more source of delicious magic that will soon be ours," she boasted to Varg.
The mermaid halfling examined the image. It looked as though the Nekross had managed to locate many of her people via…what had they said? Scanning for the bodies?
The merfolk were really in trouble…
"The Nekross shall truly feast!" said Varg with a cruel smirk.
The three royals cackled to their hearts' content as the poor young girl struggled in the clutches of the two henchmen.
…
Ursula rifled through the wisdom of Crowe.
"I haven't done a spell like this in years," she thought aloud.
In front of her was a piece of paper with the birthday, full name and some other details of Madeline's daughter. The enchantment they were about to use was akin to that used when they were trying to find Chloe Martin, but slightly different, as they knew roughly where to find the mermaid girl, and most certainly they didn't want to join her there!
Rather, they were going to try and contact her via the scrying mirror. Moon was scrambling around, grabbing ingredients from nearby shelves, whilst Ursula cast them into the cauldron, until the potion was complete.
"Wroth meeche shane dah!" she chanted, "Show me Angelica Lim, of the magical line of Barangan!"
…
It's useless begging for mercy, reasoned Angelica, hurriedly coming up with an ad hoc escape plan.
"Extract the magic!" shouted the king.
The guards were about to shove the girl into the machine, when without warning she whispered an incantation, and vanished before their very eyes!
"The prisoner has escaped!" cried Varg.
"There is no need to worry, brother," assured Lexi, "The shields are fully operational. She must remain somewhere on the ship."
"Find her!" Varg ordered the guards.
The princess was right – the mermaid had not transported herself off the Zarantulus, or at least not yet. She had used the passing charm to make it to the transporter room.
How are you supposed to work this thing? she worried, terrified of pressing anything in case she made a mistake.
Just as she was starting to panic, upon a nearby screen unexpectedly appeared an image of a young man about her own age, with dark brown hair formed into a sort of quiff, wearing a red polo shirt.
"Angelica?" he called, "This is Tom Clarke of the magical line of Crowe. Your mum said you got taken by the Nekross."
"Tom Clarke?" Angelica instantly recognised this as the name of the warrior wizard who had conquered the Nekross before on a number of occasions. "How do I beam myself down?!" She kept turning her head round frantically to see if anyone had entered the room.
Benny came to her rescue. "You see that panel in front of you? Try pressing the symbol that looks like the logo on the Nekross' chests."
What logo? Angelica desperately tried to remember what uniforms her captors had been wearing.
Benny figured out what she was thinking. "Look! I'll show you."
He grabbed a piece of parchment and scrawled a drawing of the Nekross emblem upon it with a nearby quill pen. He held it up for Angelica's reference.
The mermaid could hear footsteps coming down the corridor.
Where is that symbol? she fretted. All the keys on the panel looked the same!
The footsteps were drawing nearer. She would have to act fast!
Finally, she caught sight of a key that matched Benny's sketch. The doors to the transporter area swung open – right before Angelica vanished into thin air.
"There is no escape, mermaid half-form!" bellowed Varg, before discovering his statement was rather inaccurate.
"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT!?" he exploded.
There was no trace of the girl anywhere!
However, there did seem to be someone on a nearby computer screen that he knew all too well…
"Tom Clarke!" he shouted, "How dare you defy the might of Nekron with your wizard trickery!"
"I'm afraid it wasn't wizard trickery this time, Varg."
…
Madeline Lim became aware of a strange blue light spontaneously appearing behind her. She turned, and her face transformed into a massive smile.
There beside her was Angelica – still in human form, but gradually changing back into her mermaid shape due to the presence of water all around her.
She grabbed her daughter in a tight embrace, and would have wept with joy if it wasn't for the fact she was already submerged.
Realising she should thank the wizards who had helped her, she held up the enchanted hand mirror she had been using to communicate with them earlier and an image of the Chamber of Crowe re-materialised upon it.
…
Varg's face faded from the looking glass, and once again Tom could see that of Madeline, this time with part of Angelica's head in the picture.
"Well done, Benny!" cried Mrs Crowe, seeing the transporter had worked, "You're a genius!"
"How can I ever repay you?" said Mrs Lim.
"Wait!" Angelica snatched the hand mirror. "There's something I need to tell you. While I was on the ship, I heard the aliens talking about a plan they had to scan for the bodies of magical creatures – like mermaids. Remember the shrouding spell stops them from finding magic. I think they have found another way of finding it!"
"What?" exclaimed Tom.
"I do not understand…" said Ursula, her tone dropping to a low volume.
"You're mermaids…" Benny considered, "Unlike wizards, you don't look exactly like humans. If the Nekross have programmed their scanners to find your shape, then they won't be stopped by the shrouding spell."
Madeline's hand flew to her mouth.
"If the Nekross have discovered how to find you," observed Tom, "Then every mermaid on Earth is in danger…"