Chapter 21
Taking a Stand
Brandon flew across the lawn. Nimbly, he jumped over every fallen obstacle, narrowly avoiding titanic feet. Even though Brandon was dodging falling debris and other things well his mind was on other pressing matters. He kept running the plan through his head, considering even the tiniest details. He often questioned, would it really work? Brandon shook his head. It will work. The risks were great but what other choice did they have?
So he ran. Until Nabu was thrown into him. Having lost his momentum, Brandon and Nabu rolled across the lawn. When they stopped they untangled themselves and groaned. Brandon looked up. He was even farther from Alfea than before. He swore silently and looked at Nabu. Honestly Nabu had looked better.
His outfit was ripped in several places, his lip was torn and bled and he had a big black ugly bruise over his eye. His staff had been broken many times in many places and hastily put back together judging by the splinters that covered it. The purple gen that topped it was now loose and cracked with hairline cracks. Brandon supposed he looked worse if not as bad. Then something occurred to Brandon.
"Nabu, shouldn't those things be trying to eat you?"
"Yes." Nabu got up. He helped Brandon to his feet. "The keyword being trying."
"What does that mean?" Brandon asked.
Nabu gave a smile and held up a staff. "It may be broken but it can still do a trick or two."
Brandon took one look at the staff. "You tried using that in battle."
"It stopped me from getting eaten." Nabu shrugged. "Even if it deposited me mid-air at one point."
Another Deformity came charging towards them. The arms were waving in a motion similar to a windmill's and he sported a lopsided grin of pointed teeth, shinning in the sunlight. Its knees flew high as if he were a hurdle runner. One thought ran through Brandon's head.
"Run." Brandon said simply.
The boys took off. Brandon cursed his luck, by the end of this he should be a pirate, he thought. Thanks to the stupid thing chasing him, he was even farther from Alfea than before. The giant was relentless in his chase. Brandon glanced back. The monster was gaining and fast. Brandon glanced at Nabu. The jewel grabbed his attention.
"Is that stone giving off magic energies?"
Nabu frowned. "Yes."
Brandon took another glance back. "Pass it!"
His friend looked at him wide eyed. "You can't be serious! Why?"
"Just pass it!" Brandon snarled.
Nabu gave him a look but the none the less obeyed. He tried tugging the stone from its keep but failed. With the monster gaining Brandon grabbed the wizard's arm and dragged him while diving through the nearest window. The boys groaned. Shattered glass covered them and the room like snow. A giant hand came in after them. Nabu grabbed the nearest stool and smashed it on a finger.
A howl like thunder erupted from the beast. Nabu and Brandon scooted back towards the farthest wall. The two of them lay panting like dogs. Brandon wiped the sweat from his brow while Nabu continued to struggle with the stone. Brandon rolled his eyes at the feeble attempts. An enormous eye peered into the room then disappeared. A cracking sound started coming from the room. Brandon grabbed the staff and broke it on his knee. Nabu gave him a steely look.
"I'll take the half with the gem and distract the thing." Brandon tucked his half of the staff in his belt. "You run for the Hall."
"Alright but what about you idiot?" Nabu asked.
"I'll survive." Brandon gave a cheeky grin. "Death hasn't caught me yet."
With that said Brandon ran and dove out the shattered window rolling into a landing. The smell just got stronger, the monster abandoned taking off the roof. He smelt the air like an animal. He slowly turned towards Brandon. Brandon immediately took off like the devil was at his heels. The monster took the bait seeing as its snack was running away. Brandon dared to look behind him. There was a healthy distance between him and the monster and Nabu was sprinting away from the lab. Brandon allowed a proud smile to grace his lips. And that turned out to be his downfall.
Brandon glanced at the fallen piece of concrete that had felled him. He grimaced at the slash in his chest. He felt a trickle of blood slither down his face. He put a finger to the cut and winced. Brandon realized something that could be either really lucky or extremely bad. The thundering had stopped. Brandon looked up. The giant's hand was only inches away. Brandon tried crawling away as fast as he could. Think fingers wrapped around his torso. Brandon screamed from having long dangerous nails dig in to his injury. Everything seemed to slow down. He was slowly raised to the monster's mouth. He stared into the dark abyss. Saliva dripped off the tongue. The tongue slid out slowly. Teeth large like cinder blocks and sharp like talons approached. Brandon closed his eyes and braced for the end with one thought.
"Whelp."
-Line Break-
"What!"
The teachers looked around with haste at Stella's yell. Aisha face palmed while Techna shook her head. Faragonda sighed and Griselda looked uncomfortable, defeated and tired. Stella gaped slack jaw at the headmistress.
"What do you mean Alfea has fallen?" Stella asked. "What are these things?"
The headmistress sighed and covered her eyes. She gestured for the girls to come closer. Griselda opened her mouth to protest but the elderly woman silenced her with a wave of her hand. Griselda's mouth fell into a tight lipped line.
"Those giant humanoid creatures are called Deformities." Ms. Faragonda started. "And there is, was a good reason they were locked away."
The woman looked ready to collapse. Stella's frown and voice softened. She felt sorry for her teachers. She could barely even imagine what Ms. Faragonda was going through. Stella summoned the nearest chair and sat the headmistress in it. Ms. Faragonda looked to her and gave a grateful smile.
"Thank you Stella." She said. "The Deformities are as old as the Magic Universe itself. They walked the planets long before we ever did. They were made without the need to eat anything for the nutritional purposes as we do, actually it was discovered they had no organs to produce excretion nor needed to. But once we came they began feeding on Magical beings. No one knew nor ever found out why. We assumed it was for the fun of the hunt. The Deformities were only stopped by the Populus Pacem who banished them to Obsidian."
"That's great and all," Aisha said, "but how do we stop them?"
Ms. Faragonda shook her head. "I'm afraid I don't know. The only magic able to banish the Deformities were lost long before I was born."
"Do you know if there is a way we can kill them?" Stella asked after a moment of pause. "It may be the only way."
Every one turned to Stella in shock. Her tone was surprisingly cold. Her gazed had become hard with a calm fury. A deep fire burned in her eyes. This look wasn't aimed at them directly. Ms. Faragonda recovered first.
"None that I know of." Ms. Faragonda replied still shocked. "As I said, the only magic that caused an effect disappeared long before I was even born."
"This leaves us with one option," Griselda spoke for the first time, "we have to evacuate Magix or risk everyone's life trying."
The girls looked at each other with worried looks. The five of them stayed in silence. All hope was dwindling with the future looking so bleak. It seemed Valtor just might win.
-Line Break-
With his last moments Brandon began praying reverently. His eyes were squeezed shut. He could feel and smell the hot rancid breath of the Deformity. Brandon's nose wrinkled at the smell. He swore he could smell a faint odour of blood. Brandon peeled his eyes opened. The pearly whites were stained with blood. The urge to vomit was great but Brandon resisted and closed his eyes once more. If he was going to die he was going down dignity and valour. Brandon waited.
It never came.
Brandon opened his eyes and stared. The monster was frozen in a solid block of ice. The Deformity's eyes were wide and mouth gaping. The nostrils were widely flared. The statue started to lean. Brandon tried to break free before he faced real death. The statue began falling. Brandon let loose a scream. The statue crashed into the ground like thunder. It shattered into thousands of pieces. Dust flew like snow while sliver pieces of ice shot like deadly bullets. Brandon rolled to a stop hacking violently.
"Are you alright?" A heavily accented voice asked.
Brandon looked up. It was a woman who looked strangely familiar. "Yeah, I'm fine."
"Good." The woman's accent was unlike anything Brandon had ever heard. It sounded like a mesh between a Russian and British accent. The woman looked him over. "You look terrible."
Brandon rolled his eyes. "Well, I haven't been fighting man eating giants if that's what you're thinking." Brandon winced and held his injury. The woman stared.
"Allow me." The woman frosted over the gash. "The pain has dulled, no?"
Brandon nodded and the woman gave a small smile. Suddenly a Deformity came running in their direction. The arms were waving like a flag in the wind. Brandon immediately shot off like a bullet. The mystery woman followed behind at a much slower pace. Brandon looked behind purely surprised. That woman could not be serious. She was walking as if she was on a Sunday afternoon stroll.
"You may want to run, sprint, skip or anything!" Brandon yelled exasperated. He got a smirk in reply.
The monster was right on top of her. Brandon didn't want to watch but felt the need to. Just as the giant's hand was about to reach for her a ray of bright silver white light shot from her hand. The results were instantaneous. The giant turned blue, frozen stiff from the spell. Ice slowly encased the feet and slithered up. Soon the giant was frozen solid, then it exploded into tiny pieces. Brandon gaped at the mysterious woman.
"We need to get into Alfea." The woman announced.
Brandon turned. He could've sat on the battlefield and cried. He finally made it to building after he had been through. The woman was already half way up the stairs. Brandon zoomed up and ran past her. He burst through the doors, the woman close behind him.
"Deidre! Deidre!" The woman's voice was now panicked as she yelled. "Deidre! Deidre!"
Brandon looked at her. "You risked your life for someone."
"I'm all she has now." The woman replied. She sighed. "I hope she hasn't run off or something. Deidre!"
A squeal came from somewhere in the crowd. Shortly afterwards was a chorus of people voicing annoyance and discomfort. A tiny blur sped forward grasping the woman's leg. Soft sniffles and sobs joined the din of the Hall.
"Aunt Eevul you came!" A little girl, Deidre, cried.
The woman was suddenly recognized in Brandon's mind. Eevul Screech, one of Magix's top anchor persons. It was strange, Brandon thought, to see her in a black skinny jeans and a purple T-shirt, face void of makeup and her accent. He couldn't recall her using that accent on television. The little girl who had had a Magix accent was now starting to use it as well. Eevul knelt down to her niece's level.
"And why wouldn't I have come?" Eevul questioned.
"Because of what Mommy did." Deidre replied softly.
Eevul's face tightened. She looked behind and seemed to remember Brandon. "Even though want she did was wrong the sins shouldn't fall on you." She hugged the little girl. "Besides why would I leave my favourite niece to fend for herself?"
The two of them giggled. Brandon, who had felt awkward for the entire conversation, started to walk away but felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned. Eevul was holding a broad sword out to him. It looked as if it had been conjured from ice. The blade was silvery blue with in scripted words. The hilt was frost blue and a six pronged snowflake rested in the middle, a white colour. Bothe Deidre and Brandon looked at the sword in awe. Eevul handed him the sword.
"You'll need it." She stated. "Your plan can't work without the right tool. You'll be walking straight into the hands of Death."
"Thank you." Brandon replied as he took the sword.
A hush fell over the hall. Ms. Faragonda was standing atop the stair case trying to silence everyone. She took a deep breath.
"Everyone," Faragonda started, "I'm afraid I have unpleasant news. Alfea and Magix must be evacuated. We cannot hope to combat these primordial creatures so it is best we leave immediately as the Specialists distract them. The teleportation stations have been set up in the adjoining hall."
Immediately people started to bustle and get to the Dining Hall. People shoved and pushed past the three persons much to Eevul's annoyance. Eevul turned to Brandon. Her hand tightly held on to her niece's smaller one.
"Good luck in battle. Use the sword wisely and follow your instincts." She said briefly.
"I will, don't worry." Brandon reassured her.
With those final words said, the two of them parted way. Brandon went on his way to the tallest tower in Alfea; Eevul and Deidre to their specific path.