Battle of the Mages
Wish for Stars
One by one the stars disappeared, dropping from the sky with shapeless splashes of light, and suddenly nothing. Seconds later, a swirl of orange and electric blue danced together in the sky, churning but never mixed. The orange darkened to red, the electric blue became a purple that lined the bright red of the mysterious hole in the sky.
A child hadn't yet gone home, even after the falling sun had set behind the blanket of golden blue water. She stayed to dance the farewell of the sun. She stayed to dance the meeting of the stars. She danced to make the silver of the broken water reach the sky it never could alone. She could make it possible.
A black liquid formed in puddles on the ground, swirled with the same purple and electric blue. No one would dare touch this substance, for fear it might be poison, or it might take a deathly toll. No one would dare be outside that night because all of them were asleep in bed. They wouldn't notice...were they safe?
When the stars came out, she stopped her dance and allowed the silver broken water return to the salty ocean. She stood, feet inches apart, and stared into the sky at the first, brightest star that had appeared that night.
One was out that night, watching the sky. She made a wish, a simple wish, not for herself, but for a friend.
"Starlight, star bright...First star I see tonight."
"You wished the stars away."
"I wish I may, I wish I might...Have this wish I make tonight."
A friend didn't mean to wish the stars away. She made a wish, too, not selflessly for another person like the one before, but for herself that was completely understandable. After her wish, the stars blinked out one by one. "You wished the stars away."
"I wish to always be with my best friend!"
"I wished the stars away," the friend told her, only to be stared at disbelievingly. She wished the stars for her friend, and now they were all gone. The only spots of yellow now were the large, soul boring eyes of those they didn't know about.
One by one the stars disappeared, dropping from the sky with shapeless splashes of light, and suddenly nothing. Tai's ice blue eyes fluttered before she found her feet running off to the mainland where she lived together with Kylie; an even shap, shap, shap, shap on the water's surface.
The creatures had come from the dark puddles. They arose, sometimes two or three from one puddle. Only two were out that night. The others wouldn't dare be outside, all of them sleeping soundly safe in their beds. The creatures only had two targets that stood together on the starless night.
"Tai, where've you been?" Kylie demanded after she heard the door slam shut. She walked into the living room, where Tai stood, heaving breath upon breath for air. She looked up at her dark haired friend, her pupils so small, her eyes so wide open.
An orange flame billowed around them, catching the dark creatures off guard, and even destroying some. There were more flames, and even a fire trick or two. One blade glowed orange in the inky black of the night, tracing fiery patterns whenever it cut through one or several of the creatures at one time.
"I've wished the stars away," the child gasped. She dropped to her knees, knee length hair falling into her lap and between her fingers. Kylie's eyes widened just as much as Tai's did, and in a flash of orangey red light, she was gone and outside the door within seconds.
She was protecting the friend behind her, the one that curled helplessly within the hollow of a tree. A few creatures made it past her, but she wouldn't let them touch her friend, ever. A trail of fire sliced them diagonally and they disappeared in misty darkness. Soon, a scream penetrated the quiet night.
A swirl of orange and electric blue danced together, churning, but never mixed. The orange darkened to red, the electric blue became a purple that lined the bright red of the mysterious hole in the sky. Kylie shook her wide eyed head in disbelief. She recognized it, recognized the exact same colors and the exact same pattern of the hole in the sky. It stood out just as much as it had three years before, and gave the same promise as the last.
She grabbed her arm, feeling the trickle of blood drip down her forearm. How long was it? She traced her finger from her shoulder to her elbow where it stopped. Green eyes flashed red and flames licked hot. The creatures were going to be short lived.
"Tai! Go to the beach, I'll meet you there!" Kylie shouted from outside. Inside, the girl nodded lazily, her skin shimmered a light watery blue. She sank into a puddle of blue, disappeared into the ground, and the rest of the water followed after, leaving the floor completely dry in front of the door.
The ground trembled violently, pieces of their home being picked up into the air in large chunks of land. The girl held tight to the hollowed tree, her friend safe inside as ground around them was lifted away into the sky. Soon she was lifted into the sky as well, holding tightly to her friend's hand. Her friend, concentrating as hard as she could, created a bubble of water around them, in hopes it would keep them safe. Both were lifted away from the tree in that bubble, holding tight to each other and never letting go.
Kylie ran through the town, looking in windows, through open doors for three of their friends that they kept safely close: the Earth Mage Kairi and her two best friends Sora and Riku. They weren't anywhere in the town, not in their rooms, not in each others' or others' houses, they just weren't there. Kylie stopped running and huffed, glaring at the dark and wondering where they were.
There was a loud crash as the land gave way in a big chunk. Kylie was forced to her knees as she watched the chunk get sucked into the sky, and into the big red hole that doomed their little island. Kylie's eyes watered as she watched, her hand holding tightly to pictures and letters of a past lost by that same stupid hole!
"No..." she hissed, "Not again...This can't be happening again!" There was another crash, and the ground gave way under her. She looked around. Where there were pools of dark liquid, she watched them shrink until there was none left. Kylie glared at the ground as it gave way once more. "Okay, Kylie...get up!" she yelled at herself. She forced herself on her feet, and ran away from the edge of the land. It started to rise, almost taking her with it, but in a burst of flame, she was on safe ground again, for now.
All around her, she saw the world flash white, and suddenly she was upside down in the air. Her green eyes fluttered, her mind concentrating on getting away, to get safely down to safe land, but her magic stopped working as soon as the hole had locked on to her. Though she knew she'd be fine on the other side, just like last time, she couldn't help feeling guilty that this time she would be leaving Tai by herself.
"Tai, I'm sorry!" she screamed into the air. "Tai, don't die! I'll see you soon! I promise!" The world around her flashed again, and she was gone.
Tai stood on the beach, curling her bare toes into the still warm white sand. Around her, dark puddles of liquid surrounded her. She didn't dare go near them. No, several pairs of big, yellow, foreboding eyes stared up from these dark puddles, moving slowly out from beneath the ground and onto land.
Did something like this happen before?
Tai pushed one bare foot back into the sand, twirling a magic staff in one hand. She could only face one section of the yellow eyed creatures at a time, so she picked the ones in front of her.
Should I remember this?
She swung the tip of her staff down, hitting one, then swinging it right to hit the other. She spun, stabbing one behind her with the one end, and jamming the other end into the one in front of her. She spun, holding her staff out from the bottom to hit all of them at once, but they jumped high into the sky, sprawling in the air like flying squirrels. Tai bit her lip, tracing a half circle in the sand with her toe. A stream of water came from the ground, started to swirl around her, but before she knew it, she had ten or fifteen of those great yellow eyed creatures on top of her, pinning her to the ground.
"Tai, I got you!" Sora's voice shouted. Tai looked up at silver and gold confetti light that knocked away the creatures that had pile drove her into the ground. She stood, safe with Sora attacking dark creatures with...a gigantic key shaped blade? Tai blinked, eyes wide at the blasphemy of it all: creatures from the dark being destroyed by a...magic key?
Yeah, I don't remember this.
"You okay," Sora asked her. She nodded quickly, still staring wide eyed at the key. She wanted to know what it was, but she didn't think Sora knew what the heck it was, either. "Awright, come on, we gotta go find Kairi!" Without an answer, he took her hand and pulled her across the beach, towards the Secret Place where he hoped to find Kairi.
Sora...
Sora stopped and turned around, facing the shore where the ocean should be. But, the ocean was gone! Tai felt a sense of loss, seeing no water that had so safely kept them. And there, in front of the shore where the ocean should be, was Kairi, her short red hair waving in the windless air.
"Kairi!" he called to her, waving his hand. She didn't move. Sora's mouth deeply frowned. If she wouldn't go to him, he'd go to her. So he ran, letting go of Tai's hand, and stumbled to a stop in front of Kairi. "Kairi. Kairi, listen -" he reached out to touch her, though, as soon as she did, she disappeared, in a dance of gold and green bubbles. They swirled in the air, and then flew straight at Sora, hitting him full in the chest, but never using any force at all. His brows furrowed, and he turned to look at Tai.
He opened his mouth to speak, but there was a loud crash. Tai stumbled, tripping over her foot, and fell face flat into the sand. Sora was quickly beside her, pulling her up by her arm. Another crash and he was holding her protectively. The ground all around them shot up into the starless hell hole in the sky.
In the end, I was glad I held on to her.
Sora was floating into the sky next, upside down because he was still holding to the little brown girl, who didn't seem to be moving at all. He looked up, then looked down, nearly gasped in surprise when he saw how either mortally devastated or afraid she was. Though all seemed bleak, he gave her a comforting smile, assuring her that all would be alright. As he did, he wrapped his arms around her under her arms and locked his fingers together.
Because if I didn't...
Tai didn't hold onto him in return. Instead, she formed a bubble around the two of them, with her own magic. Still, she felt safer with him holding on to her, so she wrapped her small arms around his neck. In return, he tightened his hold around her, grabbing his elbows instead of locking his fingers.
...I knew if I didn't...
There was a white flash, and both were gone, just like Kylie before them.
...she'd probably still be there...alone with nothing.