Balthazar immediately helped Veronica up as Dave reinforced the defensive spells. The woman nodded her okay and Balthazar turned to Dave.
"You better call up Becky."
Dave nodded and then went in the back to make the call. Once making sure that Dave was gone, Veronica started off.
"Likilia...," she said in an whisper.
"I know," Balthazar said in a low voice.
"What happened to her?"
Balthazar sighed, "Much has changed when you were imprisoned Veronica."
"What happened?"
Balthazar closed his eyes and felt Dave's aura around the corner talking to Becky about a date for next Saturday. HE looked at the ground, then at Veronica who had a weak look in her face. He looked away and said, "It was after Likilia had made an oath under Penkral, the Merlinians heard that she was terrorizing Lyon, France. So I went there….."
Balthazar turned around the corner to see a small girl dancing in the ashes of a burnt down building. Her black dress and cloak followed her swift movements and more tendrils of fire shot out in every direction. Balthazar clenched his fists and felt them go cold. He waited until another burst of fire shot out of her hand before making his entrance. He raced up and extinguished the flames just before they could burn down anything else. Balthazar could feel the girl's aura drop and he watched her turn slowly towards him.
The cloak hood covered most of her face so he only saw her thin mouth and her pale skin. Her hands were thin and bon and her clothes fit loosely over her thin frame. Her green emerald drop pendant castor glowed menacingly.
"Who are you?" Balthazar asked, he placed a shield around him.
The girl only looked at him from beneath her hood.
"Speak!"
Suddenly, an invisible force smashed through Balthazar's shield as if it were never up, and Balthazar was sent flying into the air. The girl turned away from the Merlinian and was ready to take up her duty to destroy when Balthazar sent rock spheres towards her. The girl quickly turned and smashed them to dust and sent thorns towards Balthazar who placed up a shield just in time.
"Where is Penkral?" Balthazar demanded.
That got the girl talking as she looked straight at him through her hood.
"He isn't here, but I can be of service."
Without warning, the girl threw back her cloak so that it opened fully around her and millions of daggers shot towards Balthazar. The Merlinian sent a tidal wave of wind that smashed through the daggers but died once it got to the girl.
"Is that all?" she asked.
Balthazar was ready to attack again when Likilia suddenly disappeared in a mist of black and then reappeared as a raven. Her wings were great, her body was sleek and her red eyes stared Balthazar down.
Transfiguration, Balthazar thought.
Balthazar knew some techniques and spells against sorcerers morphing into animals, but he didn't know much. Likilia nose dived him and she opened her mouth. A column of flame burst forth and scorched Balthazar's clothes.
And she can use her powers, great.
Balthazar got up and looked as Likilia's form expanded and she shifted back into human.
"From a Merlin apprentice," the girl stared, "Very poor."
Balthazar punched the ground and thorny vines shot at Likilia, slicing and dicing through her. Likilia sent a blind shot of flames that destroyed the vines easily. But she was bloody and hurt extremely bad. The thorns were also poisoned.
"Where is Penkral?" Balthazar asked, "I'll heal you if you tell me."
The girl gave him a nasty grin and Balthazar's eyes widened. The clear poison oozed out of her wounds and onto the ground before her. The wounds on her whole body started to heal as the skin intertwined and stitched together. She took in a breath, then exhaled slowly as the large gashes and cuts healed within seconds.
Expert healer.
The girl pushed down towards the ground, and she shot towards the sky. In mid-air she shifted into a raven and flew at the speed of light towards Balthazar. Balthazar knew that his energy was draining and he couldn't keep up with this.
"I'm sorry," he muttered.
The raven had sensed Balthazar's aura as it came to a halt and then looked at Blathazar with wide eyes. A tingling feeling went through its whole body and red tendrils wrapped around the raven's body.
"Chwenizek."
The raven fell to the ground and twisted in the tendrils wrapped around it, but nothing worked. The tendrils eventually faded off the raven and it got up, infuriated. It flexed its wings and tried to shift back to human form.
"You can't," Balthazar said simply, "You can't do any more harm to the human world, you will remain in you own world until you are free of Penkral's deeds."
The raven cawed furiously and it flew off in a disoriented fashion.
Veronica was silent and so was Balthazar.
"I didn't know that killing Dave and imprisoning me was going to be part of Penkral's deeds," Balthazar said, "I thought that if Likilia was in raven form she would only be able to do limited things under Penkral's command."
"Why wouldn't Penkral just kill you and Dave?" Veronica asked.
"So that Likilia could have her revenge no doubt."
Veronica was about to say something when Dave walked in. He noticed that Veronica and Balthazar were a bit more quiet then usual and asked, "You guys okay?"
"Yeah," Balthazar lied quickly, "We're fine."
A/N: Short yes, next chapter will be longer. This chapter was mainly a brief history about Likilia and how she came to be a raven. Spitfire47