Next Mage
49.Fight

~Narrator

The moon and sun shone in the sky together, their light scattering over the Savannah.

Antelope grazed peacefully, their heads bowed gracefully as they ate their meals. Flies buzzed lazily in the early morning sky. Below, tiny creatures scuffled about in search for food in the tall grass. The small village that the Savannah surrounded was just waking up, a few of the farmers taking their cattle out to graze with the gazelles. The quiet was calming.

Then the marching came.

Sounds of footsteps cut through the peaceful silence, growing louder and louder, seemingly causing the ground to rattle and shake, as if an earthquake was occurring. Panic rose in the village.

Livestock stamped their hooves on the ground, huffing fearfully through their nostrils as dust rose into the air. Chickens clucked in panic, scraping and digging their claws into the dusty earth. Villagers awoke and began to stream out of their huts and houses, shading their eyes from the sun as they stared off into the distance, wondering what in the was going on.

A few of them cried out in shock or gasped as they noticed the moon, but others simply carried on squinting at the gathering cloud of dust.

"Have they come to buy our goods?" Some murmured hopefully. (A/N: in African, not in English. Just saying.)

"Maybe they're here to attack us!" Others fretted. But as the stomping and quakes grew stronger, and the cloud of dust grew closer, no one moved, no one made a sound.

Then they emerged from the dust.

They were all from different countries, different races; they were black, white, Asian, European, American.

African.

But they all had one thing in common: their eyes were red.

A woman screamed in fright and broke down into tears, grabbing and pulling out her dark hair in agony. Others began to scream and shout in fear and horror, their eyes darting about, frantic and crazed.

But that wasn't the only thing. Someone, something, else was coming.

There was a scraping, scratching sound, like claws digging into the earth. Then it appeared.

The villagers cried out for help. They scattered, running for their lives. The Ragnarok grinned with glee, it's gaping mouth opening wide, revealing it's sharp, knife-long teeth. It scanned the village with it's snake-like, red eyes, then settled on a target.

The unfortunate human screamed as the Ragnarok ran after her, drool dripping out of it's jaws and lean muscles rippling.

Finally, when the Ragnarok caught it's prey and devoured it, it searched for a new target to repeat the cycle.

~Oliver's POV

"The Ragnarok was last seen in Africa, right?" I asked Cam.

I tried not to look at Marilla, who had Terra, Carissa and Emma crowded around her and half-squealing, half-planning what to do when we finally met the Ragnarok. Cam nodded.

"But it could've moved, as the last sighting was..." Cam looked at his watch, "About a day ago. But I swear it's been like, a week...oh wait...nevermind. I forgot Marilla's mom was doing all that work. I hope she gets a good rest soon, but with all this happening..." Cam's brow furrowed in a worried expression.

"Yeah..." I agreed. "Well, I should probably make a portal then," I said. Cam nodded and called the girls over.

Feeling the heat rush into my fingertips, I summoned a portal.

This could be the last time I open a portal, I thought miserably. Savor the moment, Oliver.

The portal was overly bright in the eerie darkness; it glowed with a magnificent, colorful light that seemed to light up the whole area.

"Everyone in, one by one," I said. "In an orderly fashion, I mean."

Slowly, mages began to trickle into the portal, their bodies vanishing in the pool of light. Soon it was my turn. I looked behind me, at Marilla and Emma, Cam and Carissa, Terra and even Hanako. Then I gazed back at the portal. Holding my breath, I stepped in, the dark world disappearing behind me into blues and purples and golds.

dashy line thingo (warning: you may get a little squeamish!)

It was hot. Too hot. And the pressure just made it worse.

Flies swarmed in buzzing clouds, but shouts and cries for help drowned out their noise. The tall, dry grass swished in the warm breeze, scratching at our legs with their thin fronds. The arid climate seemed to cause our lips and throats to immediately become dry. Or was that just the fear?

We trekked through the Savannah, the screams getting louder. We were getting closer.

Here and there, flattened patches of grass indicated a herd of wild antelope had scattered. A few trampled lizards lay dead on the ground. One of them had even been flayed apart, its scaly skin torn away from its body. Forgotten bones lay here and there. But worst of all...

I heard someone retch behind me as I covered my mouth with my hands, trying not to gag as well. The smell was just too strong.

Before us lay a pile of carcasses, like someone just had a bloodbath and completely forgot about it mid-way. Flies surrounded the corpses, tiny maggots and other parasites wriggling throughout the torn-up flesh. It was as if we could see the stench floating up into the air.

"Urgh," I heard Marilla say. A trail of blood was spattered in the direction of the screaming. We walked further, realizing that the sounds were coming from a village.

People were dashing about in crazed panic, crying out in a foreign language, some already dead on the ground, others under the Ragnarok mages' spell. Mages were milling about as well, adding to the chaos.

Then, all at once, they turned around to gaze at us with their glowing red eyes.

~Marilla's POV

I shivered and looked down as they turned around to face us. Some of them were Africans, others from all around the world; America, China, Japan, Australia, India, France, England. They were young and old, male and female, some of them even kindergartners and elderly.

"O-Obachan?" I heard someone stammer behind me. Hanako was shaking, her eyes wide as she stared particularly at an elderly Japanese lady.

Her Grandmother. Others gasped in shock as they recognized their friends from school, their second cousins, their great-uncle, the sweet old lady from next door who always brought them cookies. "We can't hurt them..." Oliver said. "They're just innocent people under the control of the Ragnarok...we can't do anything..."

Murmurs began to rise from the small crowd of mages. The Ragnarok mages, rather, the people under the control of the Ragnarok, stayed still, simply staring at us with their eerie crimson eyes.

I looked up to prevent myself from gazing into their eyes, but found that, even though it was a scorching hot morning in Africa, the blood moon still shone eerily in the hot blue sky, along with the sun. I shivered, even through the heat, and looked back down again.

Then I heard a gasp.

I looked at Oliver, whose expression had changed from troubled to shocked. Then I followed his gaze.

There, standing in front of us, blond hair wild and green eyes now red, was Elvira.