Chapter 35: Magic Is A Mystery

Cornelia brought her hands close to the long white ear, and clapped her palms so hard that it echoed. Mokona shot up from its sleep, tumbling back down onto the hard table. It took some time to get itself to stand up, and rubbed its closed eyes while it faced Cornelia. “Wha.. What?!” Mokona said in its cutest voice.

Kiara, then, kneeled forward and easily turned Mokona’s whole body in the direction of the tower that David was in through the window. “Wake up! We’re getting David out,” Kiara said, almost pressing Mokona against the glass panel, “Tiadora says that you’d know what to do. So now, what to do?”

Mokona looked out to the tower and scratched its furry head. It pouted back at the two girls and frowned at Gaia, who had transformed into its original form instead of staying the size of its miniature form. “Back in Anastasia, Sir Galahad divided his special ability and passed it to me, because he felt that both of us must be equal. I can make the tower intangible for only five minutes, which is all. Get David out during that time. Don’t waste time dilly-dallying.”

“Five minutes is enough, right?” Kiara looked back to Cornelia for assurance.

“Well like I told you just now, two scenarios,” Cornelia made a two-sign on her fingers, “Let’s go. Mokona get ready. Gaia, guide the wind, so that it’ll direct other people’s attention to other things beside the tower. Give us a signal if something goes wrong.”

Both sacred animals nodded, as Cornelia shut the door behind her after Kiara walked out. The girls wasted no time and ran down through the staircase, out at the empty foyer where the clock tower once stood. It was clear. The debris of last night’s attack was no more, but the clock tower still didn’t look that perfect. Gone, was the analog clock. From afar, it’d looked like it was as fragile. But standing beside that clock tower was another tower. Brown, mixed with black stains, like as if death had gone by, Cornelia and Kiara approached it closer. Cornelia leaned her ear closer to its walls, trying to sense something.

“Do you hear snoring?” Kiara asked her.

“Why should I?” Cornelia answered not hearing anything.

“Because David snores when he sleeps,” Kiara said, “I’m not sure whether he does that if he’s a vampire.”

“We’ll find that out soon enough,” Cornelia moved away and glanced back up to the girls’ dorm, trying to search for her room. She quickly spotted Mokona, and gave her the thumbs-up. Mokona didn’t seem to do anything indifferent, but soon, Kiara called out, “Cornelia! The walls!”

True enough, Cornelia could put her hand through the tower. She looked back at Kiara and nodded. Together, they phased themselves inside.

Dark, pitch black, small and narrow, were the simple descriptions of what Cornelia saw. When they walked it, it was so narrow that they almost stepped onto David’s body. David’s unconscious body. He was there. Slumped over the end, David had his eyes closed as if he was lifeless and dead. Kiara broke into silent tears and crouched beside him, stroking his jet black hair. She leaned closer, and hugged him, not fearing whether he’d wake up. Cornelia was about to pull her away, when she realized that it may not be so necessary, as David did not seem to be moving.

“David?” Kiara brushed aside his fringe from his eyes, and rubbed out the dirt from his pale face, “Can you hear me? Wake up, please…”

“Shush, Kiry,” Cornelia crouched beside her. “Tiadora said that it’s better that he’s unconscious in the mean time. C’mon, let’s get him out.”

Cornelia slung David’s right arm over her shoulders, but froze. “What’s wrong?” Kiara said, doing the same thing.

“His body feels so cold,” Cornelia confessed, “It’s like the same coldness as my Uncle Jones when he passed away two years ago. Do you think…”

“No, I do not want to think. Let’s just bring him to your room,” Kiara said almost in a whisper, and slowly lifted David with Cornelia up, his arms slung over two shoulders. Carefully, they began walking towards the wall, and --- nothing happened. Their feet didn’t get phased through. Cornelia placed her hand firmly on the wall. It didn’t pass through either.

“Wha…what’s happening?” Kiara did the same, only to be surprised herself. “Can you telepathically ask Mokona what’s going on?”

“I can’t talk telepathically to sacred animals. Only us guardians,” Cornelia gasped at the trapped thought. “Crap! What’s up with the puffball?”

“Urm, Corny, I think that the least of our problems,” Kiara nudged her towards David, who flexed his back at the same moment and clenched his hands into fists. Immediately, both Kiara and Cornelia put him back down, and leaned against the unintangible wall, waiting for the next reaction. David shaked his head slowly, stirring. Panting, could be heard from his mouth, which Cornelia saw the fangs almost to the sides.

As if in slow motion, David stood up, making no eye contact and continued looking to the ground. And when he did, Kiara made eye contact with a right green eye, but a red left eye. He had the same fury filled in them, and nobody breathed a word for that long moment. Then David smiled at them, “Delicious.”

Both girls didn’t answer back, but continued staring at David like some alien. He gave one of those evil smiles and lifted his hand above his head, and snapped. All of sudden, the whole tower tumbled and exploded, like as if there were bombs within, but the chunks of rocks fell outwards instead, making lots of noise. The hot Sun let its rays warm them. When the falling stopped, David just walked past them onwards. “Wait, David, where are you going?” Kiara grabbed onto his wrist.

David tilted his head sideways and just smiled again, “To feast.”

“Oh no, cow boy, you’re not going anyway,” Cornelia held his shoulder back, and nodded to Kiara. She switched her hands from left to right onto the grip on his wrist, and hold onto Cornelia’s left hand, concentrating. She felt the cool breeze moved past her, flowing around them and suddenly felt her right hand leaning against something ice cold. When Kiara opened her eyes, David was still at the same position but there was a light blue outline surrounding him. It must be the ice, Kiara thought, looking to Cornelia, who sighed in relief. Then a question popped in Kiara’s mind, “Wait, so how to we carry him now?”

“I’ll do it,” Cornelia placed both her hands together, right below her chin, as if she looked like she was praying, and a yellow glow surrounded around her instead. Instantly, the David icicle floated up slightly and began moving on its own in the direction of the girls’ dormitory. Kiara gasped and followed the floating iced-David to the staircase, while Cornelia walked with her hands still in tact. Together, they managed to walk to the mouth of the staircase when out of the blue, the ice began forming cracks, and slowly it broke off from David, crashing to the ground. Cornelia and Kiara froze literally.

“Shit,” Cornelia cursed. David stretched his arms, like he was doing some warm-up exercise and turned back to the girls.

“Is it so difficult to get food?” David said, and suddenly, he ran past them away from the staircase in lightning speed, in another direction.

“That was fast!” Kiara commented.

“Let’s not waste time. After him, before someone gets hurt,” Cornelia commanded, and they, too, ran in the same direction.

★

Thud. The barrel slammed on the grass hard, right beside the spectators' stairway. Coincidentally, after trying to virtualise the so-called secret door passage and expected to find himself lost, but he managed to land himself right outside the situated place. Jason sighed, relieved and held his left hand on the knob, visualising the heat melting down the metal sphere. The sticky silver substance stream in between his fingers and immediately hardened on his hand after the flame died out. Jason shook his head and imagined an even stronger intensity on his left hand. Slowly, instead of dripping on the ground, the mercury-like metal vanished. "Metals evaporating?" Jason wondered aloud, "I should have take note of the temperature, and fly of as a scientist someday."

With that, Jason kicked the ancient red door open and grey clouds of dust flew out, making him cough hoarsely. He couldn't see anything inside. It was so dark that there wasn't a single live light bulb in the room. With his right hand, Jason threw a fireball at all four corners of the room (he predicted that the room was just a normal rectangle). The fireballs floated in midair, lighting up the room just enough for him to see...nothing. It was empty. The walls looked stained with splashes of dried red paint, and only the floor seem sightly. He then dragged the barrel till the middle of the room before closing the door behind him. "Alright! Back to..." Jason shut his eyes and found himself back in the basement with Tiadora.

"C'mon. Take all these there--" Tiadora stopped short when she heard the bells of the door chime. Her eyes widened as she gasped, "Ms. Hermoine! Hurry, teleport me back to her room."

Quickly, Jason held her hand and teleported to the green living room. Tiadora dashed out, leaving Jason to transport himself back to the basement. "Tiadora?" Ms. Hermoine called out, "What are you doing in the collection garage?"

"Uh... I was returning a misplaced tulip. Poor thing was among the azaleas," Tiadora made a fake smile, glad that she took the liberty to read about flowers.

"Honey, I don't have azaleas in my shop," Ms. Hermoine spoke calmly, walking past Tiadora by and into the opening of the green living room.

▽

Cornelia found David at the corner of the cafeteria, sucking his fingers after devouring a full red bloody lobster. His mouth was stained with streaks of the lobster's juice, and his shirt was filthy. Cornelia brought her hands to her waist and shooked her head, "Did you get that from the aquarium?"

"Wanna guess from which one?" David smiled smugly, flicking a leg into a trash can.

"The Treasury Chamber?" Cornelia suggested, thinking about the academy's secret treasure room that has been kept secret for decades.

"Bingo!" David shouted before standing tall. He was always taller than everyone in the gang. Another lobster leg was pointed in her direction, "Want one?"

Before Cornelia could say anything, David instantly slashed the lobster leg on her left bare arm, the one without the mystical silver band. Blood immediately gushed out, dripping down on the floor. Cornelia moved back before grabbing a fist full of tissue from one of the cafeteria tables and pressed it onto her wound. In a split minute, David was already on the move towards Cornelia, but this time, his fingers grew long again and he hurled it towards her. The claws slid through her stomach and for a moment, Cornelia froze in fear.

She staggered back and hurled, “Air, come to me!”

Her left hand materialized energy of Air before she threw it in David’s direction, knowing him off guard. Cornelia ran all the way to the end of the cafeteria so that she was further away from David. The wound, she saw, seeped in deep, and most of her strength depleted because of her attack. “Damn!” she cursed when she saw David standing up and walking towards her with that murderous look in his face. “God, David, I’d prefer if your eyes were green and your humanity back.”

With that, like how she had practiced in their guardian training, Cornelia concentrated the air around her. It took a while, but she knew that the Air obeyed her. The atmosphere grew heavy, and a mist of faint green spread across the cafeteria. Cornelia made sure that her breathing range was clear, and that the green mist were to focus on the crazed human vampire.

“What are you trying to do?” David howled and practically sawed the table that she was hiding behind with his long killer fingernails. “Reduce the oxygen so that I’ll choke? Hah! Forget it! Vampires no longer need to breathe!”

“But you still inhale…” Cornelia said it in a whisper soft enough for him not to hear. David sneered and smelled the air to insult her, taking in the green mist around him. Instantly, he coughed, and clutched her throat as if it was literally choking him. He crouched at an awkward position, stabling himself at a wall, but collapsed near Cornelia. The hoarse coughing continued and Cornelia still concentrated on a thicker mixture to the green mist around him.

After what seem to feel like a millennia, David stopped coughing. He didn’t move either. And when Cornelia thought that it was finally safe she wiped off the green mist, and the air became clear once more. Who knew that the movies she watched about vampires be related to this? All I did was to think of garlic, Cornelia wondered curiously.

Cornelia closed her eyes and thought of Kiara. Kiara, I need your help. I’m injured and in the cafeteria. Please hurry.

She heaved a sigh of relief and leaned onto the corner. The pain in her stomach still burned, and the wound was bleeding real fast that she thought the scent of her blood might awaken him. As her feet was outstretched and near to David’s unconscious body, Cornelia gently kicked David in the head, messing up his black hair. Once she saw no movement, she relaxed and thought of more on the pain.

Running footsteps that sounded like heels, alerted her that Kiara was on her way. But Cornelia felt too weak to even open her eyes. The pain was unbearable, and for a moment, Cornelia thought that she might die of blood loss instead.

The moment Kiara slide the door, Cornelia allowed herself to sleep.

♥

Gaia’s mini form, a keychain-sized zebra, sat on Kiara’s shoulders as they rounded up the perimeters around the auditorium. Kiara felt slightly weird that Gaia was following her instead of its owner, Cornelia. She had previously questioned him about it, and the little thing made a surprisingly cute angry expression.

“Of course, I’d rather be with Cornelia!” it squeaked in an unglamorous voice. “It’s just that she said that I’d stay with you.”

“Huh? Why? When?”

“Before both of you went down to help David escape from his cell. She said that if both of you separate, I have to be with you.”

“Why not Mokona?” Kiara had to turn to her left shoulder for the ‘proper’ conversation. “I mean I feel like giving it a piece of my mind since she wasn’t able to make the ‘prison’ walls intangible.”

“Tiadora sent a telepathic message for her to assist the guardian of Fire.”

“That’s ironic,” Kiara chuckled. “Mokona doesn’t exactly adore Jason so much. Hey, wait…Tiadora sent a telepathic message? I thought only Cornelia could do that.”

The zebra beady eyes stared at Kiara’s with confusion. Gaia finally sighed, “Looks like Tiadora didn’t tell you all about magic and magix, huh?”

“There’s a difference?”

“Yes!” the zebra slide down her arm, so that Kiara held the small thing on her palm. “Magix is the power within oneself! Magic is the power conjured by the elements of reality and nature.”

“Wow! That sounds incredibly cool if you had said that in English,” Kiara said sarcastically.

“Then our language must be too sophisticated to let that immature mind understand,” it boasted and continued. “In the kingdom, only the five guardians have magix. It is power that already resides in you. The strength is from the body of the elemental holder. But you see, our kingdom has wizard and powerful sorcerers, and they use magic. To use magic, one must require a stone called Amerix, and of course, the ability to speak the language of fairies.”

“There’s such a thing as fairies?” Kiara raised a brow.
“You’ve already encountered Merlons, vampires, a Balistia that is now sleeping under your school auditorium, dwarves such as Figis, sacred animals like myself and you can’t believe in fairies?” this time it was Gaia’s turn to raise a brow and puffed. “The people believe that before our time, fairies roam the lands and were powerful beings of the Earth. But they grew weak, lost their powers, had their wings dissolve and walk the grounds as humans.”

“People who weren’t gifted with magix, which was practically everyone except the five, needed to use magic if they desired it. The powers that are discovered in magic are all capable in conjuring up by those with magix as well. But those using magic will not only require Amerix, but also the command of what energy or spell they want to cast in the language of fairies.”

“I know it’s a difficult memory, but do you recall your time with Oberon?”

“That fish dude with weird-looking wild red hair who claims to be the King of Oceanatic?” Kiara mimicked the outlines of the Merlon’s hair. “Yeah, I remember. So you mean when he cast that black-smoke spell at us when Tiadora shielded us, he spoke in the fairy language?”

“Yes.”

“What was that word?” Kiara knocked her head to try and recall. “Es…esker… No, it’s…escar…Yes! I think it was Escatus”

“Escatus means flames of hell. You sure?”

Kiara nodded, but she didn’t remember the attack looking like flames at all. Gaia then broke Kiara’s train of thoughts, “Anyway, even though you possess magix, you guardians can make use of magic, which means that you can cast fire spells even though you’re the guardian of Water.”

“Awesome!”

“But!” Gaia sighed, and Kiara realized that her expression was sad. “You need the Amerix with you, and honestly, magic was a calamity.”

“What? Why? I don’t understand.”

“Amerix are stones that absorb energy from the Sun,” Gaia rubbed its hoofs together. “With the high number of citizens carrying out magic, it weakened the Sun. There were even days when it was night all the way. That is why we had the time of Veex.”

“The time when your kingdom’s time stopped?”

“Yes,” this time, Gaia covered her eyes with her hoofs. “If you recall, the time of Veex was the time where the Sun recovers. It was because of magic, and the jealousy of many that caused it. This is also partly why Tiadora is here.”

Kiara scoffed, “This is also why Xana and his goons are here as well.”

“Tiadora must have not wanted to hurt this time’s Sun,” Gaia spoke again. “No wonder she didn’t tell you.”

“If she didn’t want to hurt it, then why did she make that telepathic message to Mokona?” Kiara almost screamed. She was getting angry by the second.

“I…” Gaia started to say but Kiara interrupted angrily.
“Who does she think she is? An angel in disguise?” Kiara spoke with that hint of fury. “Oh sure! Jason’s in love with her! The school’s saying she’s the good side of Sally, and everybody’s nice to her because she is nice! You know, I never quite like her ever since she got here! She’s been giving us nothing but trouble. You think we can live normal lives like this?! In my opinion, everyone’s oblivious including the sacred animals! She’s no angel. No one is perfect, and that is how everyone is seeing her! It’s making me puke. What kind of a –”

Her words were halted with an extra voice that boomed in her mind. She recognize who it was since it was the only person who could do it, with or without magic. The voice seemed frail and weak. The message was short and simple, but Kiara understood the emergency right away.

Kiara, I need your help. I’m injured and in the cafeteria. Please hurry.