I would have updated sooner, but I guess nothing can be done about it. I'll be introducing new characters to the storyline. You will understand this chapter better if you've read the Ludmoore saga, but its not a requirement at all. Hope you'll enjoy the new chapter!
Guest Starring: Cedric, Johnathan Ludmoore, Cassidy
Disclaimer: I do not own W.i.t.c.h. comics or tv series along with all the characters related.
Chapter 2: Two Strangers
A storm was about to come, so thought the young girl who was sitting on the edge of a cliff looking at a city. The sun hid behind a huge a mass of cloud, she was glad it did. She removed the shades from her flat round hat, which covered her entire face and hair. Now she had a better view of Heatherfield 'Wish I brought my camera with me.' It was a rare occasion that the coast of Heatherfield could be seen from Mermaid Isle, a heavy fog almost always surrounded it which was not a tourist attraction at all.
A few birds and other people were acompanying her, but she only gave her attention to the birds writing down notes about their behavior. 'Maybe I should have gone with her, these illusions are becoming more irritating by the second.' The girl really had a strong sense of reality as she had been ignoring the enchantment of the island almost half a day, recognizing what was real and what was not. Suddenly the false images disappeared. 'About time, what took her so long?'
A few hours later two girls were on a boat taxi heading towards Heatherfield bay. The driver was trying to keep the conversation alive
"So you girls found anything interesting on the island, something supernatural maybe?"
"No sir, there were no sign of a curse, ghosts or the likes of it, although I found a rather colourful and noisy friend." answered the girl with the shades, petting an exotic parrot, which seemed to be quite connected to her.
"Nice bird you have there, took it as a souvenir, eh? My son is also in Heatherfield University, perhaps I know your professor after all, what was his name again?"
"Professor Ludmoore." said the other girl. She sounded rather bored.
The taxi driver examined the girls. The first thing one would notice about the first girl was the dress that covered her entire body from her chin down to her feet with gloves showing no skin at all, the skirt was practically sweeping the floor. She was wearing a round flat hat with shades that hid her face and hair. She was a bright, polite young lady who had a sweet voice with a Spanish accent.
While the other one certainly had an attitude. She had a tomboyish appearance, purple-dyed hair and black eyes with a piercing on her lower lip. She wore jeans, snickers, t-shirt and a leather jacket on top of it, and she was soaked wet. 'Probably fell into the water. How odd... This two must have been forced to pair with each other. They absolutely have nothing in common.'
"Ludmoore...Ludmoore... I don't recall anyone with that name." He kept looking at the few notes and drawings about the birds, but he also noticed a large number of stones samples, diagrams, charts and notes that weren't related to birds. It took a second for the first girl to understand the problem.
"Sir, that's because we are geology students not biology. Birds are just a hobby of mine."
"Undrestood, my mistake. Ah! By the way I'm Edward Smith, what are your names?"
"Well I'm Esmeralda Alvarez and my friend here is Vanessa Taylor."
The captain and Esmeralda kept talking till they reached the shore. Vanessa stayed out of the conversation, she was only interested in the light blue button sized gem. It was noon when they finally left the boat.
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The house of Rebecca Rudolf was crowded that evening. Two girls were following the news on tv, while a third one was talking on the phone. "Yes, Matt, we're looking into it, Will and Taranee are at Heatherfield Highway as we're speaking ... You don't need to apologize. You couldn't possibly know that Mr. Lair would call you for an interrogation... They're looking for Will too?... Well, they won't find her anywhere soon... Oh, so the police officially reopened the Brown family case and will have a chat with us. Thanks for the warning, bye."
Cornelia collapsed on the armchair as soon as she closed the phone. For the last hour she's been making phone calls telling people the news who didn't know about the accident and trying get every bit of information from those who knew.
Irma and Hay Lin were watching the news trying not to miss anything. This whole thing turned into a major crisis ever since Kevin and Sheila Jensen were reported missing an hour ago. The mayor was about to start the press conference. Hay Lin pointed to the tv screen;
"Irma, do you see what I see?"
"Yeah, a wide bald man in suit and dozen of reporters, what's new?"
"The man near the Midgale Daily reporter... No the one to her left."
"Is that Ralph Sylla?!" Irma couldn't believe her eyes.
"Yes, it is him." Cornelia calmly confirmed. It wasn't that suprising for her, afterall Sylla specialized on supernatural phenomenons.
"Alright, now we know who will be our new chemistry teacher." said Irma.
"No, I don't think so. Oracle may have erased his memory about us, but Knickerbocker and the school records clearly remember him as an informatics teacher with a background not suitable for teaching chemistry. It won't be that easy this time, principle will surely consider other options first." Cornelia replied without turning her face from the screen.
Hay Lin wasn't convinced yet "We still need to be prepared. They can always send another agent, Sylla is not alone in this case."
Irma decided to change the topic "Have you all noticed the connection between the disappearances and that they are pretty much similar to Elyon's case."
This time she managed to get the attention of both Cornelia and Hay Lin "Like what?"
"First, all of them are girls with ages ranging from 15 to 17. They all vanished in Heatherfield or close to it, their parents disappeared along with them and they all have no other relatives including siblings. And as Medina said their official documents and records are all fake, even Kevin Jensen's, who happens to be a world known celebrity. Not to mention the weird way of disappearences of Mandy, who vanished with a bright light in a moving car and Sheila, who gone out of sight in the ladies room of the dance academy according to Tara."
It took some time for Hay Lin to absorb the information, "Irma, are you suggesting that all three girls are princesses from other worlds!"
"It may be, with Sheila acting all high and mighty."
Cornelia didn't know which was more dangerous; the possibility that there was an enemy unknown to them and even Kandrakar, just like Phobos's last attempt of becoming Oracle, or Irma's hatred for Jensen (she didn't liked her much either). "Don't be ridiculus Irma. If it were the case Kandrakar would have gave us a mission already."
They all returned to their posts. Hay Lin following the news, Cornelia by the phone making other calls, and Irma looking outside from the window in hopes of seeing Orube.
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She was walking on white cotton silently, well on a cloud actually. ' A few steps more...'. Vanessa hid behind a column of cloud and peeked at the white behemoth before her. The eternal guardian of air proved to be difficult foe. Vanessa tried to approach the lumbering beast of ice several times, but each time she was repelled by volleys of ice shards. Now she waited for an opportunity to sneak behind it. 'Turn around you fool, turn around.'
The eternal guardian turned. Vanessa lunged forward, running as fast as she could. She was several meters away from it, when the guardian produced ice spears on its back. This stopped her dead on her tracks and she was now in the open. She stand her ground courageously as the beast turned to face her. She looked straight into the supposed location of the eyes of the behemoth (it had no eyes at all). The eternal guardian send hundreds of ice shards at her.
To the surprise of the beast, all of the ice shards missed the target, who didn't even try to dodge them. The creature raised its huge hand which consisted of a single claw, ready to smash the puny intruder. 'Thanks for the gesture!'Vanessa had awaited this, for the beast had dropped its guard by raising its arm, and by experience she knew it would take awhile before it could shoot any ice shards again. She closed her eyes while running towards the guardian, raised her fist and punched it somewhere in its chest, which she didn't see. She must have found its soft spot.
The once mighty eternal guardian of air began to shatter into pieces and soon it collapsed as a pile of rubble. Vanessa opened her fist, on her palm there was silver pearl like gem.
Later at Golden's that afternoon, Vanessa was eating a free meal, she was the ten thousanth customer of the diner, passing time till Esmeralda came in and sit in front of her.
"Where were you? I've been waiting like forever."
"Now you understand how I felt this morning. You got it?"
"It wasn't easy but I got the job done. What about you?"
She took out three gems from her purse in response.
"Wow!... How did you get your hands on all three of them, and only in three hours?"
"Unlike you I don't depend on luck, I work systematically and efficiently, one hour for each one them."
Then one of the waitresses changed the radio channel. It was 5 pm, news time. Soon they heard all about the car accident and the disappearences.
"It has started. So what do we do now?" Vanessa said uneasily.
Esmeralda thought about their current situation and made a schedule of the week in her mind, then "We won't have enough time tomorrow and until weekend. The sooner we do this the better. Lets go and pay a visit to Ludmoore in his mansion, now."
"Thought you'd never say that." said Vanessa with a huge grin.
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Taranee put her hand on the wrecked car. The spot she touched glowed for moment, then faded away. The flames weren't magical. She took two steps back, now examining the car as a whole. After five minutes she sighed with defeat and turned her attention on reading the minds of everyone nearby. She didn't like it, but it had to be done in order to find a clue.
Will held the Heart close to the crash site in hopes of finding some residual magical energy, she covered 50 meter squares before she saw some partially burnt photos on the ground. There were pictures of Mandy with her parents, Matt and her. Will never knew they were this close as friends. She picked one the pictures and thought about the things she had done to her when they first met. Her heart filled with guilt. 'Where are you Mandy?'
Taranee's thoughts reached her 'Don't lose your hope yet Will. We will find her. And try not to pick objects from around, everyone's already speaking of the supernatural.' Taranee was right of course, both of them were invisible in their guardian forms. Yet, Will couldn't resist the the temptation of slipping a shot of Mandy, Matt and her self into her sleeve.
Will was getting desperate, two hours ago they were at Jensen's dance academy looking for clues, and now as the sun was setting, they were at Heatherfield highway with no results at all. The others were keeping them informed through telepathy, but none of the news were good. Communication and passage to Kandrakar was somehow blocked, which added to their fears about an enemy of magical nature. Will sat down on the pavement her back leaned on a light post. She was tired and sleepy. Up in the sky a star shined.
Suddenly, for Will everywhere became dark. Normally, she would have freaked out, but now she was aware that this was her only chance to find out something. Beams of light tore the darkness in an unstoppable tide. It was all too familiar, then a figure of a guardian appeared in front of her. Will's heart rushed with joy, because she knew who was coming.
"Cassidy, I'm so glad that it is you! I... I have so many questions to ask."
"Your questions will have to wait Will. I...We don't have much time left. A lot has happened during the last few days... The world of Arkhanta has fallen into darkness."
"What!? How did it happened?"
"On the day we met, I mentioned about the chaos that reside beyond the skies of Kandrakar, and within there are threats with power unimaginable. One of those dark entities has awaken and its destination is the fortress of Kandrakar itself, bringing darkness to every world that lies on its path including Earth. Arkhanta was the first step."
"But... It can't be... when did this happened?"
"It began yesterday, and Arkhanta gave in just recently."
"This is not possible, Arkhanta inhabits countless magical creatures and some of them are very powerful like Yua, they couldn't have lost the battle in a day!"
"Do not underestimate the power of this abomanation Will. It blackened the skies, corrupted the land and tainted the waters of Arkhanta, and all its inhabitants were cursed to walk in a living nightmare. It was even able to conjure a Veil of Darkness around the fortress of Kandrakar, isolating it from the infinite universes."
This explained their loss of connection with the fortress. Will forced herself to think logically. She knew the next few questions were of critical importance. She tought of the words 'my realm', 'reunion' and 'farewell', words that she heard in her dream.
"Cassidy, please tell me, were you the one who spoke to me last night in my dream?"
"It wasn't me Will." This confused Will even further. 'Then who was it?'
"What did you mean by you don't have much time left?"
"The darkness is also affecting the realm of spirits, the afterlife. The waters of the Fountain of Life aren't flowing anymore. Every spirit, every soul is sinking into Oblivion. Soon... I'll cease to exist too."
Cassidy looked behind her, gazing at somewhere beyond Will's perception. In a second her eyes were opened wide. "Will, stay here, I need to check on something. Do not try to follow me." She slowly walked forward concentrating on her senses to locate the disturbance. A magical shockwave hit her as she tried keep her balance. 'Someone has followed me here! I can't let it reach Will's mind.' Cassidy put her hands together and chanted a spell. A mental shield now denied access to the intruder or so she hoped. Now Cassidy was standing in a different realm of existence outside Will's mind. She a dark figure in front of her, its features couldn't be seen.
"So you decided to face me in a sub-dimension of the material domain. A wise choice indeed, didn't expect less from the previous water guardian."
"Whoever you are, stay away from Will or else-"
"Or else what? The only purpose you confronted me in this place is that you want me to fight in physical terms, isn't it. Let's see how you fare against me!"
The creature sent a beam of dark energy, which was instantly blocked by a wall of water.
"I am the former water guardian and keeper of the Heart of Kandrakar. You'll find that I'm no easy prey."
"I'm well aware that you're a worthy opponent, but you are still no match for me."
Cassidy brought down large column of water on her foe. The dark entity easily evaded it only to be blasted by a rain of bullet speed water bolts. Cassidy had carefully chosen the battle field; there were no obstacles around, only plain flat ground, large amount energy existed in the surroundings convertable into raw matter which enabled her to conjure water. Her opponent didn't seem to absorb any external energy, it was definately using a different kind of magic. This also provided her a vast amount of reserve energy and the ability to use it directly, if water based attacks weren't sufficient. Which were not...
The dark creature rose up as though nothing had happened, there were no sign of injuries. It ran with inhuman speed getting behind her in an instant. Cassidy's body couldn't keep up with its speed, but her eyes could. A sheild of water formed in mid-air absorbing the impact of the creature's punch. The old guardian quickly turned around while moving the shield and slamming it on her enemy. The creature lunged forward trying to keep their distance at minimum, then attacked Cassidy with a series of punches and kicks. 'Martial arts!?!' There was no time to raise another barrier so she tried to block the attacks as they were too fast to be dodged. She simply couldn't belive the sheer strength and precision in its blows. Not only each and every attack bypassed her defences, but also the impacts were devastating. Her vision started to become blurry and her reaction time slowed down not to mention tons of bruises and a few broken bones.
Cassidy came up with a quick plan. She closed in defense like a turtle and concentrated on her magic. Water filled the battle field with a depth at least 60 meters. Her wounds slowly healed as she swam in her element with little effort. Cassidy saw the creature jumped out of the water, she shot a few water beams at it, but it dodged them all airborne with amazing agility. The dark creature then landed on the water surface as if it was solid. 'Showoff... This won't save you from me.' Cassidy caught her opponent by suprise, by forming a whirlpool beneath it. With her enemy brought down into the sea she created, Cassidy only had to wait till it die from lack of air.
To her suprise it seemed that it didn't have to breath at all, just like the water guardian. The creature attacked her again, but this time the presence of water had decreased its speed allowing Cassidy to keep her distance (the water had no effect on her). She then started to increase the depth of the water while holding the creature at the bottom of the sea. The creature of darkness slowed down with increasing pressure. After a few minutes it finally fell on to its knees, Cassidy could hear its cracking bones. It was now crawling in pain; she knew it would be over soon or so she thought. The creature slammed its hand on the ground and lift itself up. It swam towards its foe with an incredible effort, Cassidy could see the new determination in its eyes. She desperately tried to increase the pressure as the dark one reached her. It grabbed her arm and snapped it. The pain broke Cassidy's concentration and with it the sea disappeared. Both of them fell onto the ground, the creature quickly stood up while Cassidy was holding her broken arm.
"You fought well guardian, but it ends here."
The creature loaded its fist with dark energy and landed an immensely powerful blow on Cassidy leaving her practically incapacitated. Then it took a few steps back, its hands filled with dark energy. Cassidy smiled, she knew what had to be done now. She stood up facing the dark one. Her mind was fixed on one thing, protecting Will even if it mean her end. 'Well, I guess this is it. At least I have a chance of doing something good before I'm destroyed.' She summoned her element for the last time using it to merge herself and the mental sheild she created for Will. The creature saw what she was doing and immediately fired an extremely powerful beam of dark energy. As the beam hit her a light shined from her, she was still smiling despite the pain.
Will had been watching the entire battle from the beginning. She tried to help Cassidy but they were in some other dimension. She prayed for her as the battle went on. And then the creature launched its final spell. Will saw Cassidy smiling at her while she started to fade away. Will tried hold on to her, but her hands just phased through. Will heard her last words as she dissolved into nothingness.
"Will... always remember that... the Heart... belongs to you... and only you..."
Cassidy was gone...
Light left, as darkness returned. Tears dropped from Will's eyes, she just couldn't bear the tought of it. Fear consumed her, fear of the unknown and sorrow for all she had lost. 'Why did it had to be this way? What did that creature wanted? What had become of Maqi and Ari? Why did a whole world and the afterworld had to suffer? Why it had to happen to Cassidy? WHY!...Why...why..."
"Your theatrical performance is rather amusing guardian. Weeping for those who have passed away, instead of readying yourself against my arrival rightful owner of the Heart."
Will wiped her tears, snapped out of her fear, stand tall and strong with fury in her eyes "I'm not afraid you..."
"Ha ha ha HA HAHA! Now thats more like it! I like to face my opponents at their best. No matter how weak they are."
"Who or whatever you are we will stop you. DO YOU HEAR ME! WE WILL SEND YOU TO BACK TO THE HELLS YOU CAME FROM!"
"Shout and threaten me as much as you like you insignificant worm. Not even the ultimate sacrifice can hold me back completely. I'll get rid of you here and now!"
Darkness poured into Will penetrating all the magic barriers she summoned. Her heart started to beat slower, she felt an excruciating pain in her mind and darkness corrupted her soul. Her perception of life started to change; sorrow swallowed happiness, desperation replaced hope, determination shifted to fatalism, and love became hatred... only the Heart remained. A white light burst out the pendant piercing through darkness banishing it and cleansing everything it tainted. Now Will could see Taranee at last.
"Will are you alright?"
Will tried to pull herself together. Although the Heart saved her, she knew it wasn't able to defeat the creature of darkness. And Cassidy...
"Yes Tara, I'm fine. Lets return to Orube's house, we have a lot to discuss."
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Villa Ludmoore, an old mansion on outskirts of Heatherfield, once owned by the alchemist Johnathan Ludmoore. The mansion would be demolished within a week. It was the last chance of Cedric to find a way out of his imprisonment. The Oracle had binded him with a spell that stripped him of his powers and let him live on Earth, there he was supposed to go through rehabilitation. Cedric hated his current state of existence as a manager of a bookstore. Long weeks he seeked books about magic to regain his former glory, but all of them turned out to be worthless. As he walked in the garden of the mansion, he hoped that he would be more fortunate here.
Esmeralda and Vanessa entered garden walking swiftly over the flowers to the doors of Villa Ludmoore. They both noticed Cedric at the same time.
"Vanessa do not let him in, the last thing we need is a witness. I'll get to Ludmoore."
"As you wish, but I warn you I'm not good with words. This might end ugly."
They went their seperate ways. Esmeralda quickly reached the back door. She put her hand on the lock. The door opened with a small explosion. She then entered the mansion holding a small bag in her hand. A man blocked her passage to the library "What are you doing here, young lady? This building is off limi-". Esmeralda paralyzed the man by just looking at him. When she reached the library, she almost instantly spotted the Book of Elements written by Johnathan Ludmoore, only to be his own prison. The eye of the book curiously watched Esmeralda as she put the book on the table, and took out five coloured gems out of the small bag. She then carefully placed the five gems on its cover opening all its locks. An evil laughter came from the book.
Note1: Next chapter is 'Searching the Enemy'. I'll update within a week.
Note2: Please review, please. I need to know how I'm doing so far! Waiting for your constructive critisms.