PART TWO
His friends had been pounding on his door for two hours now, shouting for him to come out. But his ears were negligent of their frustrated yells; he was concentrating—as he always have since that day—on conquering the dark sphere; to force it to crack and feed him the magic it held. Today he was using his previously learnt spells to destroy the protective barrier of the sphere.
"FIRE BOLT! FIRE PILLAR! LORD OF VERMILION!"
It was a futile attempt. His powerful spells did nothing except to make the sphere's barrier sizzle. But other than that, there was no damage done whatsoever. He fell to his knees; his eyes bulging to give him that maddened look as he stared at the sphere on the floor. He screamed in agony—and started to destroy his own laboratory.
There were loud crashes as he knocked down his bookshelves, his tables and his observation platforms. Bottles of potions smashed, their liquids mixing and causing thick dark clouds of smoke to emerge. Some of his books caught fire. He yelled yet again and grabbed the delicate instruments for potion making and hurled them to the wall, smashing them to bits.
The door gave way with a loud crash. His friends immediately rushed inside the room. The Lord Knight and the Hunter among his friends quickly restrained him. He struggled against the Lord Knight's nelson fiercely. The Priest was begging for him to stop—telling him that he shouldn't have taken this path—telling him that what he was doing was madness.
"GET OUT! LEAVE ME ALONE!" He yelled at them. "LET ME GO! LEAVE ME ALONE!"
The Priest quickly had a hand on his forehead. "I must Silence you now before you destroy yourself further!"
"NOOOOOOO!"
With a sudden burst of manic energy he was able to throw the Lord Knight off him. His hand quickly found the Priest's neck—his fingers closed in at once. The Priest gasped for breath as he lifted him a few inches above the floor. His other friends were panic-stricken. He was…never…like this…
"DAMN YOU!" He howled as he flung his Priest friend to the wall.
There were cries and gasps next. His friend had knocked head-on into the wall and lost consciousness. He turned to the women, who were now looking at him with horror. Grinning insanely he pointed his staff at them.
"Frost Diver!" he yelled triumphantly.
They didn't have the chance to get away. He threw back his head and laughed like a crazy man, his voice ringing in his laboratory. He scooped off the dark sphere from the floor and pocketed it. He smashed his window apart and made to escape, but he remembered something.
A small fire had started in his lab. He seemed to struggle with himself, but in the end he put it out with Water Ball before jumping from the window.
He didn't notice that the sphere's barrier cracked.
He knew he couldn't stay in Geffen anymore. It was easy to find him there. He had to go somewhere else—somewhere he wouldn't be disturbed. He had to leave Schwarzwald for another continent—he would go far—to Amatsu or Gon-Ryune maybe…
The sun's rays irked him for no apparent reason. He couldn't bear the heat and was angry with it. Was he going mad, then? Was he going mad like many Wizards before him—his predecessors who also tried to solve the mystery of the spheres?
But no, two people have managed to triumph over the spheres—to break their indestructible barrier. And now, these two hold the highest form of Magic in their hands. One chose White Magic—but the other chose the Darkness like himself.
He stopped in his tracks, his face suddenly illuminated by understanding. What he had to do…the answers that he seek…
He had to find them, these Sorcerers of renown…to find them and seek the answer to his puzzle…to his path…