Chapter 4

The sound of swords clashing rang through the air as Kai watched the Juno army train beneath the sun’s last rays of heat. Several sweaty Conjurers practiced their dance of combat with various weapons ranging from sabers to double-sided swords, the traditional weapons of the Juno clan. They were well-known for their swordsmanship and skill in combat and were the protectors of Melgaesia. Even though the Juno region was reigned by a simpleton, they were still the most revered army in Melgaesia. How ironic that the region that had the most responsibility was the one ruled by a man who could not take anything seriously.

“Kai,” Enid called as he approached.

“Enid.” Kai greeted in return as the two young Sybils stood before each other. Just like the rest of the Sybils, Kai and Enid didn’t really have much of an acquaintance. The five clans mostly kept to themselves, only ever converging if absolutely necessary, therefore, most of the Sybils never really got to know each other well enough to even consider the term ‘friend’.

“I’ve been doing some thinking.” Enid said, “Land shifts are not a common occurrence in Juno City, in fact, there hasn’t been one in centuries. The rock from the Mountains are just too sturdy, which means--”

“Someone caused the land shift.” Kai completed.

“Exactly.” Enid licked his lips in anticipation, “I went down to the village earlier to ask the villagers as to how much damage they experienced during the land shift, and they told me there was no land shift. Whoever created the land shift must have been skilled enough to make it concentrated near the palace.”

“I had the same thoughts.” A voice in the declared. Enid and Kai turned to watch Nyla and Rowan walk up toward them. “I was in the throne room to try and find some trace of the magic used and detected traces beneath the throne. That must be where the thief conjured their magic to cause the land shift. Unfortunately, I could not find any traces of their Spiritual Energy. The Natural Energy was just too powerful.”

Enid sighed. “How did they manage to pull that off without attracting attention?”

“I was training when it all happened,” Rowan said. “And my father had a meeting in one of the villages.”

“So, the palace was empty.” Nyla let out a frustrated sigh, “Just like the rest of our palaces.”

“I wouldn’t worry too much, Petal. I doubt the thief would have made it far. If anything, they might still be here.” Rowan said. As though on cue, a loud explosion broke through the air. A yellow glowing firework dissolved in its wake.

“That’s the Sage warning signal,” Nyla muttered.

“Where’s Ezra?” Enid asked.

Several of the training Conjurers rushed over to where the Sybils were standing. “Sybil?” One of them addressed Rowan.

“To the village,” he commanded.

Within the village, all hell had broken loose. In between the screaming of the villagers and the destruction and burning of several of the buildings, the Sybils spotted Ezra helping an old lady get away to safety while the Juno Conjurers formed a wall between the Sybils and whatever was causing the chaos.

Several crazed-looking villagers were destroying anything they could get their hands on. They screamed in hoarse voices as they bashed their fists into the building walls and clawed at their faces while dropping to the ground where they struggled with an invisible force.

“Ezra!” Nyla called, catching her attention. She made her way toward them. Unfortunately, Ezra’s attention wasn’t the only thing they caught. The crazed villagers stopped raging and turned their heads in their direction.

“What’s wrong with them?” Enid asked as he received Ezra. Pushing her slightly behind him.

“I don’t know.” Ezra answered with a shaky voice, “I was taking a walk through the market when suddenly some of the villagers began attacking and destroying things.”

Upon close inspection of the oncoming villagers, Nyla noticed their completely blacked-out eyes, sullen cheeks, and pale complexion, as though they were dead and possessed.

“I’m no expert, but they definitely do not look okay,” Rowan said.

The panicked screams of the villagers who ran from their fellow villagers, who were once normal, rang throughout the air as Nyla watched children grab their mothers’ clothes in fear whilst trying to get away. Villagers who were unable to get away fast enough or who were too scared to try, hid and cowered behind tables, wagons and just about any large object that could obscure them from the view of the raging villagers, but that did not stop the possessed villagers from attacking them and destroying everything in their path.

The Guarde rushed to protect the unarmed, helpless villagers by restraining the pale and rageful ones. Whips of red magic lashed and whipped the possessed villagers making them fall to the ground, a horrid stench wafting from their now lifeless bodies. Black smoke drifted from the wounds the whips had made before travelling to their next victim, possessing another innocent villager.

“What was that?” Enid asked as he took forward to get a better look.

Realising what was happening, Nyla pulled magic from the axes that were strapped to her back, before she plunged her hands unto the earth. Her green magic surged and cracked the surface of the ground until a shockwave hit the possessed villagers ahead of them, making them drop to the ground. The remaining villagers finally had the chance to get away and wasted no time in doing so.

“How’d you do that?” Rowan asked. Nyla didn’t have the strength to answer as she caught herself from falling further to the ground, out of breath with sweat glistening her brow. A wave of fatigue hit Nyla like a bag of bricks. The amount of magic she used had drained her immensely. Kai and Rowan rushed to her side to steady her and help her stand.

The downfall of magic was that you had a reserve of which to use. It was not an infinite source of power. It had limits. One could train to extend your limits, but even then, there was only so much extending you could do. Using all your magic at once was considered dangerous. The aftereffects could sometimes be deadly.

“You’re welcome,” Nyla breathed heavily as she shrugged them off. Rowan rolled his eyes.

“They’re Faite,” Enid knelt beside one of the fallen villagers.

“Faite?” Ezra asked.

“People transformed into obedient beings by the Althea Sphere, but with only one piece of the sphere, the magic is incomplete, thus driving them into crazy, mindless, uncontrollable beings,” Rowan explained.

“How cruel,” Ezra whispered, clutching her elbows.

“We should get back to the palace.” Enid said as he turned Ezra away from the horrific scene of twisted, pale bodies before them. Rowan nodded and moved over to help Kai support Nyla once more, this time she did not resist.

Together the five Sybils retreated to the palace to tell their parents what they had witnessed: an act of cruelty and evil. A form of forbidden magic. Even though the Althea Sphere was in pieces, it didn’t render it completely powerless, if anything it made the artifact all the more dangerous and unpredictable.