Chapter 13. Regina and Ma'am Ague: Standoff Beside the Marred Moon

Their part-timer disobeyed health protocols again.

There she stood at his office, all sweaty, with an odd-looking book in her hand. Everyone had stopped what they were doing upon hearing her story.

''Do you know where your teacher is, then?'' Sir Tanori was already typing at his screen and signaling orders to the others. They still didn't know anything at all. But seeing the confidence oozing off from Regina, he didn't have any reason to not listen to her and act accordingly. Regina was displaying determination. She had thought this through.

''I have a clue, based on one of her notes.'' She brought out a crumpled piece of paper.

''I found it weird on why they are written vertically and why some of the words don't follow any spacing at all.'' She then pulled another paper. When they squinted closer, they found out it was a rough draft of Jazel. She placed it above the last page of the book.

Regina turned on the flashlight of her phone and lit the papers from behind.

Rituals.

Host.

Immortality.

These three words were directly covering Mifanus, a plain river at the edge of Jazel, not too far from their present location.

''Huh, I was expecting something historical like the Ghost Graveyard, the Temple of Truth, or even the Ravine,'' Amethyst remarked. ''But a dirty river?''

''No, it makes perfect sense,'' Sir Tanori spoke as he projected on the large screen the detailed area where Mifanus was located.

The river was curved like a C with its ends cut by buildings.

''No way,'' Amethyst said.

''Those smartasses.'' Sir Tanori then laughed because he found it funny why he hadn't noticed this a long time ago. ''Mifanus may not be historical but it is astronomical. It forms a crescent moon shape, the basic requirement for dark magic."

''And Mifanus means Marred Moon.'' Regina didn't know much about otherworldly stuff but her mouth suddenly blurted it out. She didn't know how or why but she just felt it and judging by the amazed expression of Sir Tanori and Amethyst, what she just said must be correct.

''Meaning, Mifanus is where the Moonling wants to do the ritual?'' asked Amethyst.

''We can't be too sure but what we know is that we will find her there. And if we do, we'll have all the answers that we want.''

Sir Tanori looked at Regina.

''Go. Head to Mifanus first and see if you can scout for us. I will be organizing a special team while you're at it. We'll go after you immediately.''

Regina raised her hand to her forehead in a salute.

''Copy that, sir.''

***

It was still late in the afternoon when Regina was sent out.

Mifanus river was approximately twelve kilometers from their base. If only it was night where she could be concealed from the people with the darkness, she could have easily jumped from the buildings, better if the moon was out for additional power. But since it was still early, she had to reach the place in the most normal and human way, which is by train.

Regina was looking through the train window as they wheezed past through the city square, the tall buildings, until the skyscrapers were no more as houses and gardens replaced them. It was obvious they were approaching the edge of the city where the boundary between the rural and the urban is located, separated by a huge bridge that connects Jazel, the City of Jubilee to the rest of Rikwani State. 

When she got off, she could feel the eyes of the other passengers, even the driver. They must be curious on what a young girl like her without any bag or a jacket would be doing in an isolated place.

She waited for the train to be out of the horizon before she sprinted towards the trees. Only when she had been running in the forest for ten minutes or so and stopped did she realize that Google Maps wasn't working because there was no signal.

Great.

Regina was about to be frustrated when she remembered the most important rule when it comes to tasks like these–calmness is the key.

She closed her eyes, shutting down any incoming thoughts of unnecessary thinking that would not really help her. 

Then, she heard it.

From beyond the distance, she heard the sound of water, so faint that she might not have been able to hear had she not concentrated.

"See you, Ma'am Ague," Regina said and jogged north towards a clump of rocks.

It was already sunset when she reached the river, its gushing waters turning into a palette of orange and red colors. Unfortunately, nothing was there. No hints of magic. No sign of the missing teenagers. And no Ma'am Ague.

She took one step forward. Seeing that the place was empty, she never expected what happened next. 

One step ahead— that was all it took for the earth beneath her to reveal who she was finding for.

The ground opened and out came Ma'am Ague showing a scary look she had never seen before with a knife in her hand–the blade inching closer to Regina's eyes as her teacher emerged from the earth.

Regina dodged the weapon with the help of her instincts. Her reactions manifested later.

She couldn't move in shock. If she was even a second late in responding, she was sure her eyes would have been plucked out by now. Most of all, she was frozen with Ma'am Ague's deadly look. Her teacher stood in front of her, her flaming auburn hair reflecting the blazing sunset and her face impersonating that of a serious killer.

"So you are here," Regina growled.

"Is that any way to greet your teacher?" The Ma'am Ague in front of her was not her teacher anymore. Her voice was neither warm nor flirty but dangerous and death-dealing.

"A criminal has no right to call herself a teacher." Regina swiped her arm in the air as she released her power. Her right arm burst into white flames. Slowly, a thick iron rod materialized itself on her fingers until she was holding a four-foot battle ax shining in the purple color of moon iron. Pulling out her weapon this early while the moon was not yet out was risky. She could already feel the huge amount of energy being drained from her body. She had to settle this quickly or at least hold on until Sir Tanori and his team arrived.

"That's rich. Coming from a kidnapper," Ma'am Ague spat.

That put a huge question mark on Regina's head. 

"What?"

Regina cut off the power that she was enveloping her weapon with.

"Oh come on, my sweet student." Ma'am Ague's fists smoked. She was pooling magic as well. "Isn't that why you are here? To keep on taunting the teenagers which you will use for your stupid ritual?"

Regina wasn't able to reply because her teacher charged at her at lightning speed.

"No matter what you do, you will not touch the humans!" Ma'am Ague screamed.

Regina wanted to shout that she didn't want to. She was human herself, only one with the moon's blessing. She wanted to voice out that her teacher seemed to mistake her for someone else. It dawned upon Regina. She came here in hopes of rescuing the teenagers. Regina wasn't the kidnapper. Neither was Ma'am Ague.

There was a misunderstanding.

But her teacher attacked like a ferocious lioness and Regina had no time to breathe. Ma'am Ague, despite her sexy body that seemed to exist only for pleasure, was pretty good in martial arts. 

"Wait! I—"

It was in vain.

Every time her fists lunged at her, she could only use her weapon to block it. Regina couldn't find her position. She only needed one second to swing her weapon but her teacher wasn't giving her not even a millisecond.

Fine, if she doesn't want to hear me out, I will have to force her.

Regina sucked in her breath and deliberately took a direct hit on her cheek. Blood erupted on her mouth but Regina gritted her teeth. Ma'am Ague made the mistake of smiling in early celebration. That one second of her satisfaction gave Regina the opening that she needed. 

Regina swung her weapon.

She had meant to use the dull back blade but for some reason, faint red blood, almost pink, splattered on the grass. Ma'am Ague backed off away from her, holding her wounded arm.

"Ma'am Ague, listen—"

"My answer is the same!" Ma'am Ague raised her voice. "You will have to kill me first before you get to lay your filthy hands on the humans!"

Kill what?

Before she could even ask, Regina saw the area in front of her teacher was being distorted. 

Oh, crap.

"Burn this into your head, you monster."

Ma'am Ague put both of her palms in front and the ball of fire she was forming took form. The surroundings darkened as it stole any remaining light around and compressed in front of Ma'am Ague. It was getting bigger with each second.

Regina had no choice. There was a huge misconception between them but her voice couldn't reach her teacher. First things first, she had to protect herself from being obliterated.

Regina also pooled power at the tip of her battle ax. She had the favor of the moon. She could neutralize Ma'am Ague's attack though the impact of two balls of power would surely blast both of them and cause damage.

"Eat this and get away from Earth!"

Ma'am Ague and Regina paralleled each others' actions. Both of them prepared to launch their attack. Regina knew she had to back down as a sign that she didn't really want to fight her teacher over some misunderstanding and to show that she wanted to talk first. In the first place, she was only ordered to scout ahead and even before that, they had this creed not to engage in unnecessary fights.

Put your weapon down, Regina scolded herself.

But for some reason, she didn't. Her body was already charged up with too much power that she could no longer contain it.

 "Help…," Regina stammered.

Destiny must have turned its magic wand on that place at that moment. For just when things were about to go wrong, a white eagle saved the day.

It came out of nowhere and flew over them. It screeched and both Ma'am Ague and Regina dropped to the ground as their powers were suddenly cut off–their attacks nullified.

A helicopter appeared, the trees making a ruckus with the passing of its twirling blades. On its doorway, Sir Tanori stood, one of his hands stuck out towards them like he had just released something.

"Both of you! Stand down!"