Eyes of Baltasar

As they walked in they saw him, Baltasar, the great wizard, sitting at the end of the room, behind a brown desk.

He had his face down in his hand, he was massaging his forehead, and he seemed a bit tired. The door closed behind them, and he looked up.

"How are you Baltasar," Mr Lorde said with a bright tone. "Not very well, I'm afraid." He saw the kids and furrowed his brows as he looked closely at them then he gestured for them to take a seat.

Mr. Lorde moved first; as William took his first step in, he felt an overwhelming pressure, an impulse; it made him look to his left.

When he did he saw a white door on the side of the room. It was parallel to him and he felt a bit nauseous, he was sure something in there was making him sick, he looked visibly disturbed and Baltasar took notice

Ruby turned to look but all she saw was a blue plastered wall. She tugged on his shirt, and he jolted back to his senses; he looked back at the wizard and felt like he was being scanned. They walked up and cordially took their seats.

"Well, here he is," Mr Lorde said, "your successor." he finished with a light laugh, and Baltasar raised his bushy gray brows.

"Yes, it's as I remember, he's my successor. After all, I couldn't forget that.

He looked deeply into willaims eyes and Williams looked deeply into his own.

"Yes, it's just as I remembered it. They still stared into each other's eyes. William was trying to see if he knew something was off. He thought he could feel it in his eyes, just like with Ruby, but he saw his eye turn a burning yellow; it frightened him, so he looked away.

The wizard let out a deep exhale, he looked at them while he reached for a golden ball by his side. "I hope you don't mind," he said. "It's herbal, it calms me."

He dipped his pinky finger into the ball, it had several holes on top and around it. Bright yellow flames burst out of the tip of his pinky finger and he dipped his finger into the top hole of the ball and white smoke came out from it

Don't worry, it smells just fine," he withdrew his finger and it had no fire.

"Now let's get down to business."

"Alright William," Mr Lorde said. "tell the minister what you know

William was a bit afraid of looking him in the eyes again, so he tried his best not to. "Sir, I feel something terrible has happened. You may not believe this, but I feel someone is altering reality," he paused, but the great wizard said nothing; he just stared at him, his eyes piercing like daggers.

"Everything has changed from how we remember it"

"We?" The wizard said; he looked at Mr Lorde, who pointed at Ruby.

"My great grandfather Skarsgard was alive yesterday as we remembered it and he'd had given his grimoire, the rule book as you know to Blackzad,"

The wizard scratched his rough beardless chin. "Skarsgard huh? So it's as I remember it. The ceremony, you say, you felt the energy, didn't you?"

"Yes sir, we did"

"You believe him? Mr. Lorde asks

"Yes, I was only here at the time the energy came merely on coincidence, fate, call it what you want. We sat here, me and the minister, we were talking when it happened, we could sense it coming, but what could we do? It's at the fabric of everything, I can't quite explain it"

"When we turn we looked at that picture,

"he pointed at it," we saw it changing and archer?*

"Who's Archer?" Mr Lorde said. Baltasar glanced at him and said, "I see you're affected too, my friend."

"Archer's the reason we're all alive, he and Skarsgard created the new world they put down Imu and someone is trying to take that away from us, they're forcing us to forget them"

"I have images, memories I never experienced attacking me, but they feel all too real"—Ruby's eyes welled in tears— "I can't feel this hand, he raises his right hand. And this eye, and the things I see from this eye I don't trust. We're all being affected but Archer…"

He shook his head, pausing for a moment to let out an exhale, and then he spoke, "Everyone thinks I'm the minister slowly, and slowly, it's all happening; things are being replaced."

An alarm rang in his office, and immediately he got on his feet; they all followed suit, and he walked out from his desk and towards the end of the room. To them, it looked like he was walking toward a plain blue wall, but to William, he was walking to the white door.

He tapped on the door, and it became visible to everyone; the door opened, and he turned back at them.

"Come, there's trouble"

He went inside and they went after him. When they all got through the door closed on its own. They were in a long dark room deep down in the recess of the room was a blinding blue light, there could see pipes and wires above them, that ran from where they were down towards the blue light, the floor was grey, and it looked like a room out a power plant, with running pipes and tubes.

"Don't worry," Baltasar said. "You'll get used to the light; it's only magic; let's go." He led them down the narrow room. As they got closer and closer the whole room seemed to twist and turn, it was winding and coiling into itself

"What's going on!" Wiliam said.

Effects of strong magic, Mr. Lorde said, "it's disorienting you, carefully watched your step"

The light got even more powerful. William felt like closing his eyes, but he remembered the wizard's words, and a new feeling of trusting his words dawned on him, and it felt strange.

Then he realized it, they were false feelings borne out of this aberration in reality where he is Baltasar's successor and apprentice. Of course, he'd feel such confidence in his words, but those thoughts left him with a bitter taste.

He looked at Ruby; she seemed deeply troubled; the effects of the magic were getting too much for her, he suspected; his vision became blurry, and the whole room began to spin. Ruby slipped but Mr Lorde grabbed hold of her just in time.

Batalsar looked back at them with only a glance, then he continued walking even faster this time. The light got even brighter. William felt his eyes would pop and just when it became too much for him to handle, he wanted to shut his eyes. Then the light became soothing and warm, its brightness didn't decrease, their reaction to it had been altered, they had adapted.

He turned to Ruby; she seemed alright now; the room wasn't spinning anymore. Baltasar made it to the light, and he went inside it, and they followed. As they walked into it all he saw before him was a blue wall, it felt like he was constantly walking towards it without it moving an inch closer but at the same time it was at his face

Soon, his eyes began to adjust, and he could see people take form in the blinding light; he could hear them talking; it was Baltasar.

"Sister, how is he doing," he said. "I'm sorry, Baltasar, he won't be here much longer," he could only see the outline in various colors, and the room looked entirely white to him, but his eyes slowly adjusted, and after a little while, he could see them all clearly.

He realized what he was seeing was their magic, it was too much to handle and formed the bright light. These are healers, he thought.

There was a large bed at the end of the room, a man with flowing blond hair laid on it, and by his side were two old women, knelt as if in prayer, their hands clasped and they were speaking with their eyes closed.

From under the covers, a pulsing blue light became visible; it got brighter and brighter, larger and larger, the more the women prayed. The brighter it got the more their voices became audible.

"There's nothing we can do," the old woman said to Baltasar. She had a golden veil over her face and her hair was covered with a blue cloth that fused in with her blue gown. The other healers were dressed in the same way but only they had no veil.

Batalsar buried his face in his hand, he turned to his friend and saw the light dying.

"We can't hold him here for much longer; we don't understand this thing; in my two hundred and fifty years of service, I've never had a patient that, to me, felt like they did not exist."

The healer by the bed raised their head in unison, "Mother," they said. "We can't hold him any longer."

"Leave him," the mother said with a cold sternness, they got up and walked towards the exit.

"Baltasar I suggest you tell his family"

What? His family? He has no one. Not anymore. His voice became shaky, it was difficult for him to continue speaking without bursting into tears. "The woman by the door, the secretary that's his wife but she doesn't remember that anymore, she doesn't remember him, she doesn't remember she changed her name"

"Baltasar!" Cried a weak fading voice. Baltasar raised his head and so it was his friend, he ran to the bed and sat by his side

"What is it, old friend"

"Hold me," he said. "I feel like I'm breaking away." Baltasar shuddered with a deep sadness, his face melting into grief. He grabbed his friend, pulling him up to embrace him, but then Baltasar's right arm faded away, leaving behind a sharp pain; he gasped in shock as Archer Grey fell on the bed and vanished completely.