W.I.T.C.H. doesn't belong to me. I'm just doing this for fun.
Many thanks to Aesop for his help in editing and consulting with ideas!
Set shortly after the end of Season 2.
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Kandrakar; Few Hours Later:
After school, the Guardians immediately journeyed to Kandrakar, intending to speak with the Oracle and ask him about Lillian's birth family, but what the Oracle had to say was definitely not what they had been expecting.
"Lillian's adopted?" he said, sounding honestly surprised.
"What?!" Will said in exasperation. "How could you, of all people, not know that?" He didn't foresee Nerissa's attack, he didn't know why the Heart was playing up, and now he apparently didn't even know that Lillian was adopted.
'For an Oracle,' she thought, 'this guy sure doesn't seem to know a whole lot.'
He frowned for a moment, his face looking troubled. "In meditation, I foresee certain events yet to be. I knew that one day a young girl would ascend to be the next Heart of Earth, but I knew nothing of her life before her ascendance. I just assumed that she was of your blood-kin, Cornelia."
"But you're an Oracle," she replied. "Aren't you supposed to, y'know, know everything?!"
"Is the spell that Nerissa put on you still working?" Hay Lin asked, worried.
The Oracle shook his head. "No, it was removed the instant that we were freed from her prison bubble. But even Oracles, such as I, do not see and know everything, Cornelia. There are a great many things in the universe that I know next to nothing about."
"But shouldn't you know about things like the people who are due to be the next Heart of a world?" Taranee queried. "I mean, you knew Lillian was going to be the next Heart of Earth, which is why you made Cornelia the Earth Guardian. We got that. But shouldn't you know more about her past, where she came from and all that?"
The Oracle remained still for a moment. Although he had no expression on his face, the girls could sense something was wrong with him.
"I did try at one time to look into Lillian's past," he explained. "But…I was unable to see anything."
"Uh?" Irma made a confused face. "What does that mean?"
"I mean what I say," he repeated. "I tried to look into her past, but my visions told me nothing. That means that either she had no past to begin with or…someone or something is blocking my sight."
Nerissa was the first thought that crossed everyone's mind, but since she was imprisoned forever, and the spell used to tamper with the Oracle's sight had long since been removed, it didn't seem likely.
"Does anyone else besides Nerissa know how to block your power?" Taranee asked.
"None that I am aware of, but there are a great many powers in the universe, Taranee. Even I do not know all of them."
"Can't you do anything to counteract it?" Cornelia said, frowning.
"Deep meditation has always helped strengthen my power. In time, I am confidant that I will overcome whatever force clouds my sight. Do not worry yourself so."
Hay Lin frowned. "What is it that you do know about the Heart of Earth, Oracle? I mean, Lillian obviously wasn't the first, and since most Mystic Hearts, like Elyon, are all blood-related, then chances the last Heart was obviously an ancestor of hers."
"Doubtful," he told them. "For the last Heart of Earth had no heir, hence no one to pass her power to."
"What was she, a nun or something?" Irma joked lightly.
"No," the Oracle simply replied. "She was killed in battle."
"Ah," Irma, after a lengthy pause, added awkwardly. "Okaaay."
"Who was she?" Hay Lin asked, interested.
"Beata Serce, a young Jewish girl who lived during your world's 'World War II'. Her people were being rounded up by the Nazis and taken to Concentration Camps, so she used her power in an attempt to free them. Unfortunately, she underestimated the Nazis' guns, and received a bullet to the head, killing her on the spot. She was but a young girl of 18 when she died, with no living family."
"Oh God, that's terrible!" Hay Lin wailed. She had never liked reading history about the war, as stories about the Nazi Concentration Camps and the Jews had always terrified her.
"And with no heir then the power of the Heart had no one to pass to," Will deduced. "Is that what happens whenever a Heart dies with no one to claim them? They just vanish."
"Not exactly," he explained. "If the current Heart has no living relatives, then the power can be taken and passed on to whoever slew them, like in a ritual contest where the winner takes all. But the victor first has to lay claim to the Heart's power before receiving it, announcing him or herself as the next rightful vessel."
"So a Nazi soldier got the Heart's power?" Cornelia asked, a bit disturbed. Somehow, she doubted that Lillian would like to know about that certain branch on her family tree.
"No, no one ever got the power. Since the German officer who killed her had no idea what she was, let alone anything about her power, he made no claim to it, nor ever received it."
"So what happened to it then?"
"It remained in a state of what I believe you humans call limbo. A place set between this world and the next. It remained there in what you might call a state of hibernation, waiting until it was called upon by the next heir."
"But no one ever did?" Taranee added.
The Oracle shook his head. "No, and with the death of the officer who killed the former Heart, who apparently had no heirs himself, the power of the Heart was forever lost."
"So how did Lillian come to have it then?!" Cornelia all but demanded.
"That is an excellent question," the Oracle replied. "Unfortunately, it is one that I cannot answer. I do not know how Lillian could come to possess the Heart of Earth's magic, when all rightful heirs to it have long since been dead. It is a complete mystery to me."
"Swell," the Earth Guardian muttered.
"Do not trouble yourself though, Cornelia. For it matters not where your sister came from, but where she is now that truly matters." He looked deep into her eyes. "No matter what her origins, she is now and will forever be your sister. Never doubt that."
"I know," she muttered, and she did believe that, Nevertheless, she couldn't help but have a bad feeling about the whole situation. Why did her parents know nothing about Lillian's birth family? Neither of them came from big families. Why had they only found out about this branch of the family after Lillian came to live with them? And why wouldn't the Social Services give them any information about the birth family?
If Lillian had been adopted the usual legal way, then she could understand that, as it was technically illegal for families to know anything about the birth parents of their adopted child. But Lillian had already been family. Both Lillian's parents, birth and adopted, had been related, so why shouldn't her folks have been told about them?
Well, Cornelia decided, if the Social Services and the Oracle weren't going to help them, then she would just have to find out the hard way.
She remembered that her mom's sister, Aunt Lorna, had once done a big family tree investigation, going back several generations all the way to the 1700s. If anyone knew anything about these so-called distant cousins of theirs, she would.
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Two Days Later; Sheffield Institute;
0800AM:
Over the next couple of days, the girls went about their personal business. While the rest of them were busy with school and family, Cornelia had contacted her aunt, asking her if she could look into those so-called long lost relatives of theirs, Lillian's birth parents.
Her aunt had been hesitant at first, not wanting to go against her sister's wishes or do anything without her or her husband's knowledge, but Cornelia had always had a way at getting her aunt to do what she wanted. She had pleaded with her in her ever so sweet voice, saying she would be doing it for Lillian's sake, and before long she had her aunt eating out of her hand. Her Aunt Lorna had said that she would see what she could do, and would get back to her niece in a few days.
Cornelia had been satisfied, and had spent the next day getting ready for her dreaded Algebra test.
As the five Guardians met up outside their school, they were greeted by an uncommon sight outside the gate…an ambulance.
"It was real, I tell ya!" the disturbed cries of Mr. Jenkins, their school's janitor, yelled out. "A demon, straight outta Hell! It damn well near killed me, if I hadn't run for my life…!"
"Alright, old son," one of the paramedics said, trying to calm the old man down. "We'll have some guys check out the school to see if it's still there." He looked at his fellow medic, rolling his eyes to indicate what he thought of the old man's ravings.
"Hey, guys!" Alchemy, an old friend of Cornelia and Elyon, said as she ran up to them. "You wouldn't believe what's been going on around here lately."
"What's happened?" Cornelia asked, eyeing Mr. Jenkins as he was carted away by the medics. "I know old Jenkins was always a crackpot, but I didn't think he was that far gone."
"Happens when a ghost tries to take a bite out of you."
"Huh?" all five of them said, staring at her.
"You remember when that so-called ghost was leaving all ectoplasm over the place?" Alchemy explained.
The Guardians suppressed a smile at that, as the so-called ghost their friend was referring to had actually been a Meridian beast called a Hermeneuta, a large boar-like creature that could make itself invisible. It had come into their world by accident when a portal opened up, leading to their school.
"What about it?" Will asked.
"Well, apparently, it's back!"
"Huh?" they all said again.
"What are you saying?" Taranee said, her face a blank. "I thought it was Uriah and his guys who did all that stuff. They were caught red handed."
They hadn't intended for Uriah and his gang to take the fall for the Hermeneuta antics, but it wasn't as though they could take the blame themselves, at least not without revealing their secret. At the time, it had seemed like the perfect way to conceal the truth about the Hermeneuta's visit. Plus, aside from their parents, Miss Knickerbocker was one of the people they least wanted to discover their double lives.
"You, me and everybody else," Alchemy muttered. "But something got into the school again last night. Mr Jenkins saw it, and he swears it was some kind of monster."
"Could have been Uriah again," Irma said, shrugging. "He and his group aren't exactly known for being original. They're probably just repeating their old tricks."
"That was the first thing Miss Knickerbocker thought of, too. But she contacted their families, and according to their parents all of them have been at home for the past week. Seems they got themselves grounded for something, and none of them has set foot outside their houses, except for when they went to school. So it couldn't have been them."
Will hissed under her breath. She wasn't worried that Uriah and his gang had now been cleared of the business with the Hermeneuta, as it had been over a year since then, so she doubted that anyone would find anything concerning the invisible Meridian boar. But what concerned her at the moment was that if the school was getting vandalised again, then there was a chance that the creature had returned.
"We'll see you later, Alchemy!" she said hurriedly, grabbing Irma and Cornelia's arms, dragging them off, and indicating the others to follow them. "Miss Knickerbocker wanted us to do something for her this morning. Better not keep her waiting. See ya!"
Hay Lin and Taranee quickly followed them around the corner and out of sight, leaving Alchemy blinking after their abrupt departure.
"Was it something I said?" she wondered aloud.
"What was that all about?" Cornelia asked, snatching her arm away from Will's steel grip.
"You heard her!" the Guardian leader replied. "Some…thing has invaded the school again. The last time that happened, we found ourselves battling a 1000 pound boar with the power to make itself invisible."
"But that was over a year ago," Hay Lin remarked. "And besides, we sent that beastie and its mother back home to Meridian."
"Yeah," Will admitted. "But who's to say they didn't come back, or maybe one of their relatives?"
"Doubtful," Taranee said, frowning. "The Hermeneuta came to Earth through one of the portals that opened because of the Veil. But the Veil's gone, and the only way a portal can be opened now is if someone deliberately opens it. And only Elyon, the Council and we can do that."
"What about Blunk's Tooth?" Irma suggested. "And don't forget the time when he got hold of Phobos's Seal, and went around opening portals all over the place?"
Will shook her head. "Blunk's Tooth doesn't exactly create portals, it folds someone directly from one place to another. And once they get there, the Fold closes right behind them."
"The same thing for the Mage Ring, too," Cornelia added. "And even if it weren't, the Council has it now, and I seriously doubt they'd be opening portals for monsters to trash people's schools."
"There is another possible explanation," Taranee suddenly said, hesitantly.
"Which is?" Will asked, looking at her.
Taranee took a deep breath. "Well, it's only a theory, mind you, but… When we drove those Hermeneuta back home… What if we didn't drive all of them away?"
"What do you mean?"
"Well, you know that film with the giant Japanese lizard?"
"Godzilla," Irma offered helpfully.
"Yeah, that. You remember what happened at the very end of the film, when they thought they had destroyed it?"
"Oh yeah, that was one of my favourite scenes!" Irma laughed. "When everyone was all left feeling relieved that Godzilla was dead, the scene switched back to where all those eggs were and showed one of them still alive and hatching."
Will's eyes widened, as she got what Taranee was suggesting. "You think the Hermeneuta mom might have had another kid, which she left behind?"
Taranee shrugged. "Like I said, it's just a theory. It may have come through the portal with her, or with its older sibling, and got separated."
"Why wouldn't the mom have taken it back with her, like it did it's other one?" Hay Lin queried.
"Maybe it didn't know it was there or thought it was dead, I don't know. Some animals abandon their young right after they're born, and remember that this is a Meridian creature, one that we know next to nothing about. Who knows what its instincts are?"
"Even if that were true, why has it only just started showing itself? Why now?" Irma added.
"Maybe it was too young and afraid to try anything before, or maybe perhaps it was in some kind of hibernation cycle. We'll have to ask Caleb everything he knows about them before we can form a hypothesis."
"Or maybe," Cornelia then spoke. "Maybe it's not the Hermeneuta at all?" She looked at them. "Up till now we've all been suggesting that it's something we've faced before, but what if it isn't? What if it's another creature altogether?"
"Something that came through with the Hermeneuta?" Hay Lin said, cocking her head thoughtfully.
"Whatever," Will said. "It doesn't matter how it came here, but what does matter is what it's doing here now, because right now it's trashing our school. And if something's not done right away, the school is eventually gonna start calling experts to come deal with it, and eventually they'll come face to face with this thing, whatever it is. And considering what we know about Meridian's wildlife, chances are this thing won't be friendly, and the authorities won't know the first thing about how to deal with it."
"Another late night stakeout?" Cornelia moaned.
Will nodded. "We'll meet up tonight at around 10:00. We'll track this thing down, and when we do then we'll pack its backside back to Meridian ASAP."
"Should we call Caleb?" Hay Lin asked.
Will shook her head. "No need. The five of us should be more than enough to take on whatever this thing is."
"After what happened the last time?" Taranee said, near shocked.
Their leader shrugged. "Hey, we didn't have even half of our powers back then. We should be able to take out some dumb beast."
The rest of them looked doubtful, considering how the Hermeneuta had whipped their backsides the first time they fought it, but Will was correct in saying they hadn't had their full power back then. In the end, they all agreed she was right, and even if it wasn't a Hermeneuta, the five of them should still be more than enough for any beast.
"So, 10:00 tonight, okay?" Will said. The others nodded. "Meet you at my place then."
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10:00 PM:
"Just tell me why these stakeouts always have to be done in the dead of night, please?!" Cornelia moaned, as the five of them exited the Fold into the school. They had met at Will's apartment, as planned, claiming to their parents that they were there for another sleepover, changed into their Guardian forms and then folded over to the school via Meridian.
"Oh, quit your whining," Irma replied snidely. "It's not like the rest of us aren't missing our sleep, too."
"Quiet down, guys," Will whispered. "Part of being on a stakeout is not talking and giving ourselves away."
"I think its fun," Hay Lin said, smiling brightly.
"You would," Irma moaned. "You find everything fun."
"Cut it out, will you?!" Will told them, using the Heart of Kandrakar like a torch, shining it over some dark corners.
"Ugh, I forgot how spooky this place was at night, with no one around," Cornelia shivered noticeably. "Gives me the creeps."
"You've fought crazy sorcerers, moving sandpits, a giant snake-man and spider-woman," Irma said incredulously, "and an empty school at night freaks you out?"
Cornelia sniffed. "Hey, you were afraid of a giant pickle." She said, referring to the time when Nerissa invaded their dreams, making them live their worst fears. Irma's was where she was forced to stand in front of a large crowd in a goofy dress with Martin Tubbs, as well as a giant pickle-man (she never could stand pickles!).
"That was the dream!" Irma insisted.
"Knock it off, you two!" Will hissed through her teeth.
They made their way down to the school's cellar, as that had been where they had last faced the Meridian creatures.
"Nothing seems out of place," Taranee speculated. "There's no monster goop or anything, like there was last time."
"That seems to confirm that whatever this creature is, it's definitely not the Hermeneuta then," Will figured. "So either Jenkins did truly go bonkers, or your other theory about there being a second monster was right."
"Nothing against Mr. Jenkins," Irma revealed, "but I seriously hope he's a few plums short of a pie."
"Don't count on it," Taranee said, snorting in amusement. "Knowing our luck, we'll be…"
A high hissing sound suddenly vibrated off the cellar walls, echoing all around the five Guardians. The girls all stared about nervously.
"Do you ever get tired of being right all the time?!" Irma asked through her gritted teeth, immediately shifting into a battle-stance, her powers at the ready.
"Sometimes, but not often," Taranee replied, two flame-balls igniting on her hands. The rest of them were just as ready to meet their new would-be prey.
They remained still for a few moments, standing in a circle with their backs to each other, staring with their eyes wide open at the shadows of the room. For a very long minute and a half, nothing happened, not even a whisper.
"There!" Hay Lin shrieked, pointing at a corner on the far end of the room.
Taranee was quick to act, as she threw one of her fireballs into the air, making it hover high in the air, illuminating the room enough for them to see. But what they saw did nothing to ease their anxiety.
It was a huge snake, not as big as Cedric, but way bigger than anything they had ever seen on the wildlife channel.
"As if we hadn't had enough trouble with snakes already," Cornelia whispered frantically.
"Surround him!" Will ordered. "Stay off the ground, so he won't be able to get to us!"
Using their wings, her friends did as they were told, but no sooner had they reached the giant snake, it immediately turned tail and began to slither out of the cellar, faster than Blunk at bath-time.
"Oh, well, that was a welcome change," Taranee joked. "For once, we have a scary beast that's more scared of us than we are of it."
"We can't let it go free," the Guardian leader said, immediately setting off after the overgrown python. "Who knows what damage it could do if we let it stay here!"
Cornelia groaned. "Just once I would like to meet an animal from Meridian that doesn't pose a threat to the rest of the world, is that so much to ask?"
Irma, meanwhile, had been staring at the huge snake with a curious expression on her face. As they all began chasing after the creature, Hay Lin noticed and hovered a little closer to her.
"Irma, what is it?"
Irma frowned, thinning her eyes at the snake, which even now was still slithering away at incredible speed. "I'm not sure, but… I think I know that snake from somewhere."
"You do?" Hay Lin's eyes widened slightly. "You mean from Meridian?"
Irma shook her head. "No, not from there… I can't recall where it was, but… I know I've seen that snake before! I just can't remember where."
Hay Lin was about to say something, but Will interrupted them.
"Guys, come on! It's getting away!"
The girls tracked the creature through a few alleys, over the bridge and across a park, until it eventually made its way into the back of an old warehouse. From the state it was in, it looked as if the building hadn't been used in quite a while. They wasted no time, as they burst into the building through the shattered windows near the roof.
The snake was there, seemingly waiting for them, as it lay curled up on the floor, its thin eyes never leaving them.
"Okay, everyone surround him," Will spoke in a hushed tone. "If he tries to make a slither for it again, grab him with whatever you can. Hay Lin, you suspend him in the air, Taranee, you block his escape with a wall of fire, Irma… Can snakes swim actually?" She looked blankly for a moment, wondering. "Well, even if they do, just… are you listening?!"
Irma shook herself out of her reverie, deep in thought. "Sorry, Will. Yeah, I get it. I'll shoot at it with some water-blasts, keep it from getting away."
"What's with you?"
Irma frowned again. "Sorry, but… Every time I look at this guy, the more he looks familiar to me."
Will was about to ask what she meant, when Cornelia interrupted. "Hey, I got a great idea. Why don't we stay hovering here for a few more hours, talking about Irma's deja vu, and that way he's sure to escape."
Will gave her a snide look. "No need to get snarky, Cornelia."
Taranee hadn't spoken in a while, mainly because she had been studying the snake. Partly because she didn't want to risk losing it, if it made another break for it, but also because…
"Will?" the fire Guardian said to her friend and leader. "Correct me if I'm wrong, but this snake…"
"Never mind the chatter, let's just do it, I'm wasting beauty sleep here!" Cornelia said impatiently, and instantly summoned up a small earthquake to aid her.
"Cornelia!" Will yelped, as she felt the tremor even from up in the air.
"Relax," Cornelia told her, holding out her right hand, clenching it before her. The second she did, the floor of the warehouse broke, and dozens of small vines began growing out of the cracks, gaining in size and strength.
"Let's see how this guy deals with some of my own snakes," the earth Guardian said smugly.
"Cor, wait!" Taranee tried to tell her. "That snake, it doesn't…"
The vines grew to surround the giant reptile, each mimicking the snake's own movements, before they snapped up, rushing to envelope it in their coils, but instead…
"What on earth…?!" Cornelia said, shocked. Irma blinked in surprise, Hay Lin merely gasped, while Will just stared, and Taranee simply looked as if she were not even surprised.
The vines had gone right through the reptile. Not piercing its body, but literally right through it, as if it were not even there.
"That's what I was trying to say," Taranee spoke up. "That thing, whatever it is, hasn't got a shadow!"
"Say what?"
Taranee sighed. "While you guys were all busy planning to take Cedric Junior here down, I noticed that it didn't have a shadow. That could only mean one thing…this snake isn't real!"
Will frowned. "What do you mean it's not real? We're looking right at it, aren't we?"
"And we were looking right at Elyon when Phobos tricked her into creating a hundred illusions of herself, back in Meridian. Who's to say…" Taranee suddenly stopped.
"What is it?" Hay Lin asked.
"Will, the Heart!" Taranee pointed at the mystic gem, which even now was beginning to sparkle a bright light, like it had done a couple of days earlier, only now it seemed to be glowing even more fiercely than it had before.
"What the…?" Will started to say, but was interrupted by Irma.
"I just remembered!" the water Guardian squealed, making the rest of them jump.
"What?" Will asked.
"That's The Giant Anaconda!"
Will gave her an odd stare, before looking at the snake and then back to her. "Thanks, Irma. But we kinda figured out that's what it was already."
"No," Irma shook her head. "I don't mean that. I mean that's what it's called! The Giant Anaconda from The Black Swamp!"
"Huh?!"
"The Giant Anaconda from The Black Swamp," she repeated. "It's an old classic. One of my all time fave movies."
"Wait a minute!" Taranee suddenly interrupted. "You're telling me that thing's a prop from an old monster movie?"
"Not exactly, Miss Cook," a voice replied from the darkness. "It's merely a hologram."
The five of them turned sharply to face the source of the voice, but thanks to the shadows and the night, all they could see was pitch-blackness.
"Who's there?!" Will demanded.
"Merely someone aiming to collect his rightful property."
"Stop hiding and come out!"
"Who's hiding?" the voice commented, and a bright light shone out of the darkness, illuminating the shape of a man.
The Guardians squinted their eyes at the man's form until they adjusted to the new light. The man appeared to be in his late twenties to early thirties, Asian, rather handsome, with a tall and well-built body, and a firm set face.
He didn't look menacing, but just the sight of his eyes was enough to make them shudder. There was just something about them that indicated that the man was more than what he seemed. Although they had not noticed it at the time, they had seen the same look in the eyes of Phobos's right hand man, Cedric, when he had been posing as a simple bookseller and met them seemingly for the first time.
"Who are you, buddy?" Irma asked.
The stranger gave them all an annoyed look, seemingly insulted at having been questioned. "As I said, someone who merely wishes to reclaim that which rightfully belongs to him. And I have little time or patience for little girls, even if they are Guardians."
The five of them were insulted at being referred to as little girls, but his last words gave them pause. He knew who they were. What they were.
"I must say you're a bit younger than the last group who wore those colours," the man commented, while adjusting his cufflinks. "Does Nerissa think that I will go easy on you, just because you still have a curfew?"
Will froze then… Nerissa?
"You know Nerissa?" she asked.
At that point, the man laughed loudly. "Know her?" he said. "I made her!"
The Guardians were already wary when they met the stranger, but if he knew Nerissa as he claimed, then this revelation focused their attention on him like a laser. They tensed up, each readying themselves for battle, as they circled him.
"Tell me," he continued. "How is my favourite little dark-haired beauty? Does she still think of me on those dark, lonely nights?"
"Wouldn't know," Will replied, her eyes hard. "How about I give you the chance to ask her yourself!" With that she lashed out with her power, letting loose a bolt of lightning from her hand.
He didn't even move, as the energy came crackling at him, nor even when it struck him, bursting into an explosion of dancing electricity. He merely waved the light's tendrils away from him, as casually as he would a fly.
"If you think to defeat, or even fight, me with the power you possess, then Nerissa has obviously not trained you well enough, young Guardian," he remarked. "Either that, or you are more stupid than all the past and present Guardians put together."
Will stared at him in shock, but her shock didn't last, as she quickly instructed the others to follow her attack with some of their own. "Guardians attack!" she yelled.
Taranee was the first, as she sent a huge ball of fire straight at the man's feet, hoping to get him off guard. The man, however, seemed to sense her attack and flung himself out of the way; tumbling head over heels away from the fire. The second he touched down on the ground, he reached into his pocket and threw a small grenade-like object at the fire Guardian, and unlike hers, his aim was perfect.
The canister hit her square in the chest and burst upon impact. It released a heavy white substance, similar to fire extinguisher foam, covering her from head to toe. It also got onto her wings, making it impossible for her to fly.
"YEEOW!" she shrieked, as she slammed down to earth with a loud crash, landing on a pile of old trashcans. "Eww, swell! Now I smell like Blunk!"
Irma was next, as she created a flood of water from her hands, shooting it at the stranger. Her aim was exact, striking the man directly where he stood, but for some reason he was not thrown back against the wall behind him.
She stopped the onslaught, releasing her control of the water around her. Once it had all gone, she found the man exactly where he had been standing right before she had hit him with the water-blast… only now he was a statue of stone!
"Nice aim," he spoke, his voice as heavy as the granite he was now made of. He waved his stone hand over a small pendant he was wearing around his neck, and the second he did, his body quickly changed back into flesh and blood.
Irma immediately renewed her attack, but he was quicker, as he took out a gun, took aim and fired upon the water Guardian. The gun was loaded with chemical pellets. As he fired, Irma was already beginning her assault, and when the projectile reached her, she had already half-formed the water needed for it.
The second it passed through the water in front of her, it burst open, causing a chain reaction, making the water as thick as jelly, and sticky as paper mache.
"Hey!" Irma yelped, as the stuff surrounded her, forcing her to join Taranee on the ground with a loud thud.
"Oh no you didn't!" Cornelia yelled indignantly, and with her telekinesis she moved several box-crates from the ground and mentally threw them at him.
He quickly moved out of the way, leaping from side to side, dodging the crates with a speed and agility that would have made Jackie Chan green with envy.
"Nice moves," Cornelia had to admit. "But I'm far from finished!" She raised her hands, once more summoning the vines from beneath the concrete floor, in order to entrap their enemy.
The man wasted no time, and raced straight towards her, and, jumping onto a few trashcans and crates, he leapt right at her, slamming his elbow into her stomach.
"OOF!" Cornelia groaned, her vision blurring as the air went out of her lungs and she fell back down to earth. Her attacker fell with her, but as he fell he swung his legs around himself, turning his body around so that he did a perfect 3/60, landing straight on his feet, like a cat.
Meanwhile, as all this was happening, Will watched as her friends fell out of the air, one by one, defeated with shocking ease by this unknown assailant. Whoever he was, they knew two things about him… One, he knew of Nerissa, which meant he knew of them. And two, he was one hell of a badass fighter!
Hay Lin was now trying her luck, but although Will had the utmost faith in her friend's abilities, judging from their friends defeats, she had the sinking feeling that they would be unsuccessful in this fight also.
Irma and Taranee had managed to get themselves out of most of the gooey stuff that the stranger had covered them with, but they were still grounded. Cornelia was still unconscious, but Taranee and Irma were trying to rouse her.
Whoever this man was, it was clear he knew of them and their power's weaknesses. And they knew nothing about him. They were left with one alternative.
"Taranee! Irma! Help Cornelia and get over here!" Will called over to them. Raising the Heart of Kandrakar before her, which was still sparkling brightly for some odd reason, she summoned a Fold, opening it before them. She looked back to call Hay Lin, but when she did she saw she had been too slow.
"Oh no," she breathed out, as she saw her friend lying in the man's clutches, her arm twisted at an odd angle. "Hay Lin!" she called out.
The man looked over to her, seeming to notice her for the first time. Despite his lack of concern over her presence, he gave her his full attention when he saw what she had in her hand.
He dropped the fallen Air Guardian and raced over to the Guardian leader. "Give me back my heart, you brainless whelp!"
'His heart?' she thought, narrowly escaping his grasp, but he was even quicker than she had suspected. Even with her wings and experience flying with them, this man was not one so easily evaded. He leapt from one stack of crates to the next, keeping up with her without losing a single step, a mere inch barely separating them. She noticed he wasn't even breathing hard.
She soared through the air, making sharp turns with such speed they would have driven the breath out of anyone seeing them. Until finally, Will took another sharp turn, heading back to the Fold her friends had already painfully limped through. Will's distraction had worked perfectly.
The man figured out what she had done, and was rushing after her with a speed that would make a cheetah seem like it was crawling.
"See you later, alligator!" Will called back mockingly, and fled through the Fold, closing it after her. She didn't leave however without first hearing the man give her one last word, or in his case…a promise.
"We will meet again!"
To Be Continued…