Next Mage
47.Preparing for War-2

"So, a kind of twin power thingamabob--whoops--Ultimate?" Marilla said skeptically, a hint of her tinkling laughter still in her voice. Cam and Carissa nodded in unison. It never appeared to me how much they were alike. "Basically, Carissa gathers the storm clouds," Cam explained. "I mean, hopefully there will be storm clouds, but when we left Earth there already was a storm happening, right?" The rest of us nodded. "And it would probably keep going, due to the--ahem--" Cam faltered, a shadow of emotion crossing his face before disappearing. "--R-Ragnarok's disasters. A-anyway--"

"I gather storm clouds, which would probably be full of lightning," Carissa interrupted her brother. "Then Cam puts it all in a huge whirlwind and sets it free on the Ragnarok. The end," she finished. I nodded thoughtfully.

"And if there aren't any storm clouds, we can just ask Destan to make some," I said. "He's pretty good at that, I have to admit."

Carissa and Cam nodded in agreement.

"Great," they said. "Now Emma, what's your Ultimate?" We all turned to look at Emma expectantly. She nearly turned as red as her hair.

"Well--um--I kinda want to--keep it a secret," she spat out, before looking at us sheepishly. "It's not that I don't trust you guys or anything, it's just that, well, I kind of want it to be a...um...a surprise? A-also if you did know what it was, Marilla, you'd probably go 'DON'T USE IT OR I'LL KILL YOU' or something... But my Ultimate is really cool, I promise--"

"Well, once you say that, I kinda already feel worried about you, Emma," Marilla smirked. "But it's okay. I trust you," Marilla looked around and we nodded. "We trust you."

Emma let out a relieved sigh.

"Thanks."

~Marilla's POV

My head was still pounding by the time we had gathered the rest of the mages.

It was at this time when I realized how few mages there were. I squinted and rubbed my temples, feeling drained. Everything was just too much.

Mom, the whole world basically being destroyed, Oliver, Emma, the Spirit Mages, the Ragnarok, my Ultimate...

"Marilla, are you alright?" I looked up to meet the loving brown eyes of my mother. Dark shadows circled her eyes and made her face look sunken in and weary. She looked tired, so, so tired.

For the past two days, she had been training, stopping time on Earth for hours on end and then pausing to strengthen her time-stopping skill. It was all she had done besides eat, drink and catch a few rare wisps of sleep. Once she had even passed out.

"Sorry you've had to put up with all this," I whispered apologetically. Mom shook her head.

"It's alright. I'm willing to give up anything to save Earth. If it meant that we could spare some time for you guys to prepare your Ultimates, while all the disasters on Earth are stopped, then it was worth it," she said. A wave of emotion overcame me as I hugged her.

"Thanks mom,"

dashy line thingo

The sky was dark and full of screams.

Shadowy clouds thundered across the heavens, bolts of light appearing in brief, bright flashes, the only source of light in the black sky besides the blood-red moon.

Blood-red? I thought, cold sweat trickling down my neck as I shivered. A blood moon.

It's a year early.

We ran, a flask of lightning illuminating the sky once more before drops of cold rain began to pelt at us, urging us to move faster.

Frightened cries for help reached out towards us like the clawing hands of Ragnarok mages, but we reluctantly ignored them. I noticed Emma looking back multiple times; I took her warm hand in mine and we ran together. Soon the small crowd of mages was dispersed, each once-normal-human mage off to say goodbye to their families.

And when we finally reached Emma's house, everything was dark.

The expensive furniture had been torn apart, precious stones and remnants of crystal chandeliers lay forgotten on the floor. Pieces of antique vases and beautiful china were scattered here and there. The mansion was a wreck. But what was worse, was that Emma's mom, dad, brothers and servants were nowhere to be found, except for a frail, bloodied Alfred.

"Th-they were taken, Miss," he wheezed, his face marred with scratches and bruises. "I was in the cleaning cupboard when they attacked. I tried to defend the Young Masters, Mistress and Master, but..." Alfred trailed off. He slumped to the floor in a faint, his face pale and his chest barely rising and falling.

I frantically looked towards Emma, tears stinging my eyes as emotion and anger welled up in my chest.

Emma's usually fiery green eyes were hollow, her expression devoid of any emotion. Her face was pale, her fists shaking in silent rage.

"Emma..." I whispered, taking her shivering arms and steadying them.

Finally, she leaned into me, giving way to her tears, and we sank to the floor, sobbing.