Magic remains a free to read work scheduled for release in October.
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*ML2020 holders please refer to your usual link to access episodes*
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New chapters will be made available once i am done editing them.
4/12/2020 – updated
11/12/2020 – updated
I could feel an energy barrier go up, summoned by a man that looked like he’s African. The barrier is huge, bigger than any other I ever felt. I’ve grown accustomed to the fact that wild hags and gluttons are never far away but the moment the barrier is up, it feels like more and more of these creatures start to venture our way.
It’s like the barrier is calling out for them. Inviting them in.
His skin is as dark as charcoal and he shaved his head bald. There was an intensity in his gaze that would make anyone looking at him uncomfortable. He young, probably in his early twenties.
I looked at the gathering of other space users around me.
I counted 15 including Yingzi. Their age group varies, some looked young, like a student, a few looked to be my age. The oldest looking one is a lady that looked like she is in her mid fifties. Yingzi must be the oldest among them all but he looked scarily youthful.
Asians, Caucasians, Africans, there’s a couple of lookers that I assumed were either Korean or Japanese. They looked like they would have fit right in a girl band or pop group.
Everyone was dressed in white. It could be a simple pants and top, or shorts and singlet. A dress, a Skirt, one of the Korean looking babe was wearing just a white sports bra with white tights and white shoes.
All of their eyes were on me.
Yingzi : This is all there is Joel… this is what’s left of the clan…
Yingzi spoke casually but the wrestle of energy continued between not just me, but with every present member of the clan. Everyone may appear to be stationary but we were all grabbing what we could.
Air, water, the earth beneath our feet, and what’s left of the heat from the charcoal stove.
It’s like a constant tug of war. Imagine going to a buffet restaurant. Just when you loaded your plate with seafood, someone comes along and take it away, and before he can add the seafood to his plate, you deprived him of his dessert and add those to your selection.
Now imagine this happening with 15 others at the same time.
You take mine, I take yours.
And this just keeps repeating.
It kept repeating as Yingzi spoke.
Yingzi : Out of 7 billion people on earth, 0.1% of us have the ability to manipulate the elements…..That is 7 million people. …… 7 million magic users and here we are. Only a handful of us left….. why Joel ? Why ?
I maintained my silence and Yingzi went on.
Yingzi : Because of jealousy Joel …. Jealousy…. The other clans are jealous of what we can do….
The other families hunted the space users like dogs.
Yingzi : They hunted us down like animals….do you think this is fair… ?
Joel :What do you want… ? You came all the way here to give me a history lesson ?
Yingzi replied and say he’s here to teach me everything I want to know.
Yingzi : There is a lot you don’t know about our clan…. And without proper guidance… you will never reach your full potential….
Joel : Full potential for what…. ?
Yingzi chuckled and avoided my question.
Yingzi : How does it make you feel…. If I tell you …. Through no fault of yours….. you were condemned at birth…. Condemned by people who should have known better…. Condemned and cast aside by those who preach for peace and tolerance….
Yingzi looked around the coffee shop and he got up.
Yingzi : I travelled the world… saving other space users like us….if not for my effort…. I might well be the only one left….. you see….. Jealousy is a very strange motivation for some…. Knowing that there are space users left in a particular area….. scares the other clans….. it strikes fear in their heart…. Especially the Fire users…. They always want to be on the top….
Yingzi painted a picture of how close some of his members were to death before he swops in to rescues them.
Joel : so you’re the saviour…. Is that it… ? You want me to pray to you….? To worship you… ? build you a temple…
Yingzi : Hahahha…. I like your sense of humour Joel….we could use that in the team….
Joel : I’m not part of your team….
Yingzi : you are a space user…. If you are not part of the team…. If you are not with us… then you are against us…..
Joel : And what… you’re going to kill me….?
Yingzi : hahha….i….
Yingzi looked towards the sky as if he was trying to recall something before he spoke.
Yingzi : I forgot how old I am this year…. I have lived through 2 world wars….memory starts to get a little fuzzy when you get old you see… but there is something I remember clearly….about your father’s death….
The table I was resting my hands on shattered into pieces as Hector’s GBM cloak appeared around my body. Like a spark that ignites the burner on a stove, the cloak activated on it’s own.
All of the other space users backed away and conjured up their respective shield as Hector’s energy burned and seared the immediate ground my feet was on. The sand was charred black and the wooden bits of the wreck table started burning like someone held a blow torch to it.
The wooden chair turned black with soot and Yingzi was the only one who did not deem necessary to put a shield in between me and him. He chuckled like he has seen it all before.
He dragged a toppled wooden stool in front of me and as he sat down, I watched with my own eyes the radiating heat from Hector’s cloak burned small holes on his clothes, searing the skin below.
It’s like he didn’t give a shit about the pain. It didn’t affect him.
Joel : My father…. Was driven to his death…. By scammers….
I said.
I remembered that was what happened.
Yingzi : That was what your mother wants you to think…..
Yingzi revealed that my father concealed the fact that I was one of them from the day I was born.
He knew the kind of danger I would be in. Imagine being born a Jew in a Nazi occupied Germany in the middle of a war.
Yingzi : Your father first manipulated the energy that you emit…. Changing it to water….. similar to that of your mother……. And then he went a step further…. He blocked it totally….
Yingzi withdrew an old photograph from his pocket. Hector’s cloak disappeared as I felt myself tremble as I looked at the familiar face in that yellow photograph.
It was my father.
Beside him stood a few of the other familiar looking faces that are now perched along the narrow alleyway.
Yingzi : Your father was part of the team Joel….and then he left… he left…and we spent years, years Joel…. Years… looking for him….he was that good at hiding…
Joel : what… ?
Yingzi : you have no idea the kind of atrocities your father did…. He was one of the best I’ve ever met….but things change….The story always end the same way…. A woman…. It is always because of a fucking woman….
I threw a punch at Yingzi’s body without warning.
I went at him so hard that the resulting impact sent a horizontal column of energy slicing through the alley.
Yingzi remained sitting even though my fist was resting on his chest.
Aside from what appears to be a bruise, he did not seem affected at all.
That punch was strong enough to rip a hole in the ground. I fell hundred year old trees by accident while training in the jungle. I shattered rocks and granite, I demolished abandoned factories with that punch and here it is, causing a bruise on Yingzi’s body.
Behind him, it looked like a tunnel boring machine cored a hole 1m across in diameter through a series of walls and old buildings.
That woman he was referring to is my mother.
Yingzi : Your father could have lived a life of luxury… he could have given your mother everything she wanted but no….no… no… no… NO… NO….it always has to be the hard way….
Yingzi began to lose his temper and questioned why my father chose to give it all up.
He gave up his old life, his old friends, his old team. He gave up his magic, his abilities. His gift.
Yingzi : He fucking gave it all up !…. for a chance of a normal life…hahha
YIngzi laughed loudly at first before his laugh grew softer and it became something that resembles the growl of an animal.
Yingzi : He had gifts bestowed upon him….. and he wants to give it all up… hahaha…… can you believe it ?…hahah… a fucking retard… that’s what he is…
Yingzi stood up and laughed, brushing away at the spot I just punched him at.
Yingzi : Here’s the funny thing Joel… you see… your father….. is possibly the only man that could have killed me….he was the one I hoped would take up the leadership position…. But no… he did not want all this…. All he want is to hide at home, lead a simple contended life with his family….
Yingzi told me that he threatened to kill my mother and me if my father did not rejoin the team.
My father refused. He knew Yingzi would never stop harassing him.
Yingzi : we followed him everywhere he goes….we appear out of nowhere…..yes, we want to provoke him…. We want him to lose his temper….call it a trigger if you like… we want to trigger his baser instinct… to remind him of who he really is….because you see…. imagine a big fight breaks out…hahahahah…
The resulting destruction would have ensured a ticket right out of the place he calls home.
Yingzi : I thought I knew your father Joel… hahah…I thought he would choose to fight…. But he didn’t….
My father killed himself.
Yingzi : And for some reason, you and your mother disappeared…. Your energy signal just…. Sort of…. It went away…it’s like you don’t exists…until…. Sometime ago when I was in a bamboo forest in China …. I felt it.
He described it like a stab in his heart.
He felt it.
The appearance of another space user. One in his infancy.
One that was not within his own team.
Yingzi : It got me curious… and when I started to search for that energy…. My oh my…. I brought me to Singapore….and imagine my surprise when I saw you…hahaha….you have your father’s eyes….
The GBM energy cloak disappeared and Yingzi told me he can spend days, months in fact telling me the adventures he had with my father. The places they went to, the things they did.
The kind of monsters, gluttons, hags and even the GBM they fought together.
Yingzi spread his hand and told me he can tell me all about my father.
Yingzi : join us Joel… join us… and together… we can revive the space clan to it’s former glory….
Hector : yeah Joel… join a cult…I bet he’s going to let you fuck one of those girls you are looking at next… haha…
Hector chuckled and I burst out laughing much to Yingzi annoyance.
Yingzi : Hyuna… come…
Hector : What did I say bro…. what did I say… hahahaha…. She’s hot… look at those legs and boobs…
For a second, I wished Yingzi could hear what Hector was saying.
Yingzi : Just like blood types…. The child of 2 magic users takes on the one with the dominant gene….. in your case, your mother is a water user…. There is a 50/50 chance you could turn out to be both…. However… if both members are from the same clan with the same element…. It’s a sure bet that the child will be a space user….
I looked at Hyuna, one of the younger girls among those present.
Yingzi : Hyuna just turned 16 last week Joel…look at her… she’s matured…she’s a grown woman… ready to breed…
I stood up and Yingzi pulled Hyuna behind him like a farmer protecting his sheep.
Joel : You’re out of your mind…
Yingzi : Oh… you think 16 is too young for you Joel.. ? Miko… come here…
Yingzi revealed that Miko is 23 but she is currently pregnant.
Yingzi : you will have to breed with her after she gives birth to the child by Thomas….
Joel : You’re mad….
Yingzi : why ? why am I mad… ? in which way am I mad… ? I’m offering you 2 young, pretty and fertile mates…. You think you can find a 16 year old girlfriend in Singapore ? hahah …someone who will carry your baby ? hahaha….these are real young girls… unaltered…unlike some of they rest…
Yingzi revealed to me that some of the members are almost 60 years old but they have mastered the art of changing their appearances.
A skill that he would love to share with me in time to come.
This is madness.
I looked at the rest of his team and I spoke to them directly.
Joel : Is this the life you want !….is this the madness you are going to live with…!?
I shouted and I could see Hyuna tremble in fear.
Yingzi laughed and shook his head.
Yingzi : you must be one of the first that rejects a hot 16 year old virgin who would willing lie beside you Joel….oh wait… I forgot… you come from the same dumb genes ..
Joel: argghhh!!..
I tried to send an explosive volume of air towards Yingzi but Miko was faster.
She pulled enough air to erect a barrier in front of the 3 of them before a solid fist made out of earth punched out of the ground I was standing on, striking my chest and sending me back.
Yingzi shook his head and he brought Hyuna in front of him.
Yingzi : You’re scaring the youngest member Joel… you’re scaring her… hahhaha….
Using her as a shield, he walked slowly towards me.
Yingzi started to touch her breast, cupping and kneading them. He commented how firm they are. How well developed they are for her age.
Yingzi : An au natural Korean beauty, no surgery. No enhancement…you sure you don’t want ? hahaha…
Hyuna was crying by then and Hector was asking if I was ok with destroying the entire neighbourhood.
Hector : I will level this place together with all of them Joel…
Putting his arm around Hyuna, Yingzi kissed her on her cheek before sighing loudly.
Yingzi : alright… I made the offer…you have some time to think about it…..
Joel : I’m going to kill you Yingzi….
Yingzi : I cannot be killed…. Hahah..
Yingzi nodded to his team and he smacked Hyuna’s firm butt as she scurried away.
Yingzi : I will give you time to think….as for how much time…. it depends…. My offer stays until the point I destroy the rest of the families in Singapore….
Joel : What ?!
Yingzi : you see… tomorrow is the annual clan meeting…it’s a good chance to get rid of what’s left of all the elders together….i have matters to attend to so I’m sending some of my able helpers here to do it….and by the way Joel… I hope you know…. you are not the only special ones among us…hahah..
I did not know what Yingzi was trying to say and I kept quiet.
Yingzi looked at his team and suddenly I felt the sting of a strong ginger smell.
Looking at the group gathered outside, I saw 3 GBM emerge from 3 of the space family.
They are of different age and size. All of them are smaller in build than Hector.
They appeared for a brief moment before disappearing into their host body
Yingzi : You are not….. the only space user with a GBM Joel… hahahah….. I have gathered many ….hahahah… and honestly, they make killing so much more fun and easy….
Joel : how dare you!
Yingzi : I will stop killing…. At the point when you decide to join us…hahaha…
Joel : aHGHHH!!!
Just when the jaws of a earth boring worm the size of a train carriage pushed though the ground where Yingzi was standing, he disappeared. I had been moulding that for a while.
I felt a strong gust of wind and he’s gone, along with the rest of his team.
The worm retreated and disintegrated back into grains of sand and soil as I walked briskly out of the coffee shop.
Hector : what now ?
Joel : Time to go home…
Hector : You haven figure out how to move at speed like theirs using air yet…
Joel : I can drive a car….
Hector: We’re 205 Km from Singapore… you should get back in 3 hours give and take….
Just when I ran out into the main road, I saw one of the space users from earlier. The African man.
He bit his finger, drew a streak across his palm and when he clasped them together, summoned 5 gluttons in a row.
Joel : Oh wow… 5…. How much blood is he feeding them…?
Hector : That’s nothing… I can take them…
Joel : He’s not sending them to us….
The 5 gluttons split in different direction and I immediately took off after the one closest to me.
Hector : Where is he sending them… ?
Joel : The other magic users in the area…….I can feel them…. Mostly kids and teenagers….
Hector : What a fucker….
I punched though the zinc panelled wall of a old dwelling and came face to face with a glutton that although looked like a human, but it had 6 fingers on each hand.
Those sharpened into claws and it went straight for a 10 year old girl who I could tell was from the earth family.
Hector : oh fuck… I’m coming out….there’s another one 3 street down….it’s a pregnant water user…. Get your clones out Joel…!
Hector burst out of my body and disappeared while I dealt with the glutton in front of me.
I closed my eyes for a second as I summoned an earth clone of myself. It’s easy to get a clone out but it’s hard to control them.
Try writing with both your hands at the same time and you know what I mean. I regret not taking piano lessons when I’m young. One of my brain is now underdeveloped.
I don’t know how long this is going to take but the annual clan meeting starts tomorrow.
I still have time.
I think.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
2020 Annual clan meeting
1st day of the lunar 2nd month
23rd February 2020
Sunday
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
I never expect that by the time I was done dealing with the 5 glutton, it was already well into the wee hours of the morning.
I had no choice but to steal a car.
Driving all the way down to Johor, I went back to Danga Bay and searched for a good spot to enter Singapore.
It’s probably going to rile up all the coast guards again.
I could see 2 Malaysian vessel in my sight. No telling how many more from Singapore is going to come charging in when I go in.
Hector : You’re a wanted man Joel…. This may not be that good of an idea….
Joel : I have no choice…
Hector : You cannot just barge into the clan building…. the threshold guardians will not allow you to get in…
Joel : Why not… they should be dealing with Yingzi and his men instead… not me…
Hector : You’re a wanted men by all the families Joel… no one is even expecting Yingzi and his men to show up… I know for sure you probably won’t make it past the main gate unless you can take care of those 2 giant…
Joel : We’ll worry about it when it happens.
I decided to scout for another point of entry. Racing against time, I kept close to the coastline as I tried to find another way into the country without causing too much of a ruckus.
I broke into a industrial park that had a view of Seletar island. I could make the jump from Malaysia to that island for a start. From there, I can go along a channel of water before reaching Khatib Bongsu Nature park.
I’ll be in Yishun by then.
Making my move at 5.30am, I reached Seletar island without trouble.
Just when I thought things were going smoothly, I saw the patrol crafts approaching. Their lights came on and they were racing towards the island.
Joel : Oh shit.
To make things worse, I could see an entire line of military assault boats racing towards my direction as well. I must have fucking stumbled into some major exercise.
If I don’t hurry, I’m going to have a company of men searching for me.
To keep my footprint small, instead of a boat, I used a wakeboard shaped out of water as I streaked up the channel to the nature park.
The moment my foot touched dry land, I started running as I heard sirens in the distance.
This is going to be a hell of a shit storm.
I hid in a nearby industrial estate before stealing another vehicle.
How do I steal a vehicle with no keys you ask ?
Simple. I break the fucking window and instead of using a key to start the engine.
I ignited the combustion engine of the vehicle with a fire flea.
First rule of thumb though, I stand real far back because I blew up about a dozen vehicles in Malaysia while doing this.
One the engine is running, I waited a minute or so before I get in.
Pulling out of the estate, I made my way towards the clan building.
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
I floored the accelerator of my car as I swerved to overtake a slower vehicle.
A delivery van hit the horn and kept his hand on the horn angrily as he showed me the finger when I cut dangerously in front of him.
A louder horn from a sand carrying truck blast at me when I beat a red light to turn into the industrial estate where the clan meeting is held.
The familiar road came into view and I pushed my car’s engine to its limits as I sped down the road.
I felt a sense of dread creep in when I saw the security booths unmanned.
The containers holding the sand and water were toppled over and the flames no longer burn on the candles.
The cement truck did not even have time to move into place to block the roads.
I turned and looked at the open truck parked at the side. The last time I was here, there was a menacing looking fire Hydra inside it.
It’s not here today.
Aside from the burning interior of the truck, there was nothing.
Hector : Are you sure you’re doing this Joel ?
Joel : Yes.
I continued to the entrance of the industrial building and everything looked ok and peaceful on the outside.
20m before the main gate, I passed through a magic barrier and the true state of the building reared its ugly head.
I could see flames burning through several window and the water feature by the security booth is no longer working.
Stopping my car by the severed head of a stone lion, I got out and saw it’s body strewn 5m away.
There were blood stains on the ground but no bodies of the other clan members.
Instead, I saw the remains of the dead hags and gluttons. Bits and remnants of their energy were everywhere.
Sections of their former body parts laid scattered throughout the compound. Hands, fingers, spine, chunks of head, bits of teeth.
It’s like they went through a blender before being spat out.
Every chunk of it is still fizzling with the remains of their energy.
Walking into the atrium, I could hear shouts, screams and grunts of pain.
A flaming arrow flew straight at me.
I did nothing, looking at it head on.
5cm from hitting my flesh, the flaming arrow fizzled and dissipated into nothing as Hector took care of it.
That arrow was not meant for me.
Another dozen more was shot, passing through the body of a hag, they lodged themselves near the exit sign of the entrance I just walked in. The arrows burned and seared a dark hole into the aluminium cladding before disappearing into a puff of smoke.
Walking over to the member of the fire clan who was bleeding on the ground, he could barely muster up enough strength to speak. He had shot those arrows in a desperate attempt to stop the hag from eating him.
His shoulder looked like some beast took a bite off it and he was missing a ear while bleeding profusely near his thigh.
The fire user tried to lift his hands, but they were literally ripped to shreds. 2 of his fingers were dangling off bits of flesh.
He looked towards the upper levels with his eyes before closing them forever.
They’re all up there.
Walking towards the stairs, I saw a glutton feeding off the body of a clan member. That body belonged to that of a child.
It was chewing and gnawing at the body.
Turning it’s attention towards me, the glutton stood up to it’s full height.
It’s legs twice as long as the average man and it had one hand that is enlarged abnormally, like the claw of a hermit crab.
Screaming and baring it’s teeth, it started to scramble towards me.
I did not stop walking.
I kept walking.
Raising my right hand to face the sea, a giant octopus the size of a car made out of sea water crashed through the curtain wall of the lobby.
The creature rammed into the glutton with such force that the 2 of them flew towards the walls on the other side of the lobby.
Latching itself to the glutton, the octopus wrapped it’s salty tentacles around the glutton, pulling and dragging it out of my way.
The glutton screamed as all 8 tentacles wrapped around it’s limbs and body before the octopus’ head moved to cover it’s head.
Reaching the top of the stairs, I tightened my fist and I felt a pop.
The octopus I conjured squeezed and pulverised the glutton into nothing as the salty spray of sea water flooded the lobby.
Turing into a corridor, I felt sick at the carnage that greeted my eyes.
More severed parts of hags and gluttons laid beside 2 bodies of clan members.
From around the corner, I saw a teenager carrying a younger child, both of them covered in blood as they ran towards me.
A hag twice the size of the usual one we see crashed onto the side wall at it charged out into the narrow corridor the 2 young padawans just ran into.
They were shocked to see me but between me and the Hag, they made the obvious choice. They started running towards me.
The Hag’s flexible limbs held onto the walls as it pulled itself backwards building up tension. It’s going to launch itself at the kids.
With a sharp shriek, the hag flew down the corridor.
Joel : Hector…
A burst of energy shot out from within me as Hector literally blink forward, covering the distance of 10m without effort.
Hector, in his full-grown state is 2.2m tall.
His body is sculpted and if there was a body building competition for GBM, he would easily be in the top 3.
Hector grabbed onto the hag with his left hand, allowing it to struggle and winced in pain from the burn of his energy cloak.
Turning to make sure the 2 kids were well out of range, Hector grabbed the hag with his other hand and removed it’s head from the body like a child decapitating a toy doll.
Throwing the hag’s body over the side, Hector re-entered my body as I reached the end of the corridor.
Pushing the door to access the staircase, I realised I can only go up 2 floors. The rest of it were blocked by fallen chunks of concrete. Those were too heavy to move.
I took the steps 2 at a time, coming up to the 4th floor.
I’ll need to take the corridor back down the other direction to access the other stair.
I felt a spray of water hit me as screams from a nearby room reached my ears.
Hurrying over, I saw a member of the water clan blocking 2 gluttons with his shield as the 4 kids behind him scrambled to get to safety.
One of the glutton had his skeletal spine exposed and it was flaying towards the group like whip while it balanced itself on it’s 2 hands.
The other glutton look normal in every aspect and it was very athletic.
Like doing parkour in a small space, it leapt onto walls and bounced off furniture as it launched repeated attacks at the weakening water shield.
I focused on the water shield in front of the man and I grabbed it, wrestling control from the user. Pulling it towards me, I crashed the 2 gluttons backwards towards where I stood, buying time for the man and the 4 kids to get away.
They scrambled out of the room as the 2 gluttons turned their attention towards me.
I did not give them the chance to get near to me.
The floor was wet and a layer of water covered the entire floor. Stretching out my hands with my palms faced down, I changed the properties of the water around the glutton’s feet into a solid sheet of ice.
I could feel the biting pain of the wind beneath my palms as the temperature of the room dropped rapidly.
The gluttons tired to move but their limbs were frozen to the ground.
Struggling and cracking the layer of ice, the gluttons began to break out from my grasp. In order to do that, they needed leverage. One limb supporting the other while it pulled, however the moment one limb comes into contact with the ice, it froze over rapidly.
They shriek angrily, the frustration evident on their faces.
When the ice sheets were hard enough, I stopped the wind and turned my palms to face each other.
There was a series of soft cracks followed by a loud one as I clasped my palms together.
The floor of ice lifted and shut like a hard-covered book, smashing the 2 gluttons into nothing before breaking into chunks of ice.
Just as I was about to exit the room, my nose felt the hit of a familiar smell.
I turned to face the room I was in again as that smell of ginger got stronger.
I saw the head first, the bald head appearing from beneath the floor in the same manner Hector first made his appearance to me.
A GBM.
A young one, maybe in it’s teens.
It smiled at me, revealing a row of eerie looking teeth as I felt the room heat up from it’s energy.
Hector : You need my help ?
Joel : No . I can handle it…
The GBM’s cloak appeared the same time Hector cloaked my body with his.
We trashed the room and blew out all the windows as the young GBM and I got into a savage fist fight. Every punch and kick, though absorbed by the cloak of energy, was enough to damage whatever that happens to be near.
We chipped concrete walls and knocked tiles off the ground.
I put the GBM in a chokehold but it slipped out from under my arms as it shrunk it’s body for a split second before returning to it’s full size.
It charged onto me, slamming my body against the wall and loosening more bits of sand and concrete.
I saw his fist come for my face and I used the loose sand to stop it. Springing out of the ground like a trap, the sand took the shape of a 3 fingered hand, grabbing onto the wrist of the GBM as it hardened.
It stopped the punch but it was not enough to stop the GBM.
Breaking the hold on its wrist, he attempted another punch but I was faster and it took one to his chin, sending him reeling back and onto the floor.
It’s hard to think barely 30 seconds had past since we first started.
Clasping my hands together, a gust of wind build up around me, instead of sweeping the dust, sand and water away from where I stood, I pulled everything towards me, churning and mixing them into a thick muddy mixture.
Forming the mixture into 2 large fist that mirrored what my hands were doing, I smashed it onto the GBM.
As the sludge spread outwards from the point of impact, I saw the GBM is gone. It got away.
He’s the least of our problem.
I left the room and started down the corridor.
20m away from the staircase I want to get to, Hector warned me in time to stop as flames erupted through the glass windows facing the corridor.
The flames burned intensely for a few seconds before stopping.
Ashes and bits of cinder remained in the air as I looked inside that room.
Sanhuo. He was panting and struggling to remain on his feet.
In front of him, is a woman. A woman dressed in white. One of the space women I saw the day before.
She looked eerily young because of her smooth complexion but I know she’s much older. While it may appear that she is barely 20 years of age, she has to be at least 3 times that age.
She turned to look at me as I walked into that room and she smiled.
Sanhuo : I’m THE ONE YOU ARE FIGHTING !!! aGHHH!!
Sanhuo punched his fist with his arms raised and parallel to the ground. The tinder still burning on the floor around him ignited and from the flames rose a fire cobra twice as tall as Sanhuo.
The neck ribs of the cobra flattened into a hood as it rear up and got ready to strike.
Instead of concentrating at the giant cobra made out of fire, that woman came straight for me instead.
Sanhuo : WARHGHHHH!!!
Before she could get close, Sanhuo’s snake slammed her into wall, punching through the reinforced concrete and exposing the metal bars within. The force was so strong that the woman was pushed into the next room while the heat from the snake melted the metal bars within the wall.
Liquid steel dripped onto the chunks of concrete on the floor like melting ice cream as Sanhuo collapsed onto his knees.
A year ago, I would not have believed if you tell me anyone could survive that.
Yet from beneath the rubble, the woman rose. Pushing aside chunks of wall and furniture, the woman stood back up.
The closest sprinkle above my burst open and it started to mist up the spot with a 2m radius of fine water droplets.
I expanded the water on purpose to burst it from the pipes.
Sanhuo : NO !. She’s mine !…
Sanhuo tried to stand up only to fall back down onto the ground.
Forming a triangle with both my index finger and thumb, I placed the woman in the centre of my makeshift crosshair.
She clasped her hands and an air shield expanded outwards, knocking debris away from where she stood just as I fired the 1st burst of water bullets at her.
There are no propellent, no combustion, but the hail of water bullets streaked towards the woman like the M230 chain gun on an apache helicopter.
She flinched for a second, unsure if the air shield can stop my water. It could.
The water bounced off the air shield initially but as I concentrated my energy and focused on a single point, it began to crack the shield.
The woman pull fire from the burning cinders and furniture towards her but was stopped by Sanhuo.
Sanhuo : Oh no you don’t ! aRGHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
Like a tug of war, the flames were pulled rapidly towards Sanhuo instead of the woman.
By then, I had built up enough energy to change the properties of the water again. Splinters of ice shot through the air shield and the woman barely had time to shift a block of concrete in front of her.
The moment that piece of concrete came up, it was shot to shreds by the needle sharp ice that I sent her way.
Realising that she is outmatched, she pulled up an air shield after realising I was holding a monopoly on the water around us.
She charged sideways towards the parapet and dove straight down to the ground floor as I directed my angle of fire at her.
Joel : aRGHHH!!!
The ice peppered and drew an angry line of destruction across the internal atrium of the industrial building as I tracked her descent to the ground floor.
Suddenly I was hit by a large chunk of concrete, sending me sprawling backwards and onto the floor.
It would have been fatal if not for Hector’s shield.
I shook my head to clear my blur vision only to see Sanhuo shoot 3 pythons towards the woman who somehow was still on the same floor as us.
The earlier one was a clone damm it.
She cloned herself when the block of concrete came up to block my ice. From there, she put the shield on her clone to draw my attention as it dropped to the ground floor.
This in turn, gave her the opportunity to recover and attack me while I was distracted.
She blocked and kicked Sanhuo’s python away before trying to reuse the fire as her own.
Sanhuo got back on his feet and he was bleeding from his nose as he clasped his palms together. Veins popped from his forehead and neck as he opened his first gate, wrestling the fire from the python back to his side.
The woman charged towards me so fast that if not for Hector appearing to pull me back, I might have been seriously hurt.
She blinked with the same speed as Hector as a 1m huge fist of concrete slammed onto the spot where I was sitting on earlier.
I thought things moved in slow motion as debris and sharp chunks of rock flew up into the air.
Hector kicked her back but she blocked with a shield of water around her stomach, preventing a burn from his energy cloak.
I got back up but Sanhuo slid in front of me and reinforced his statement from earlier.
Sanhuo : I’M THE ONE YOU ARE FIGHTING !!!! ARGhhhhhhhhhhh
Hector cloaked my body with his energy shield a split second before Sanhuo’s body erupted into flames as he opened his 2nd gate. Hector pulled me to the side as the area near Sanhuo got charred soot black with that eruption of energy.
Sanhuo : aRGHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!
The woman smirked in a condescending manner as if what Sanhuo did was futile.
She started gathering rocks and debris, pulling them towards her as I watched Sanhuo swept both hands in opposite direction, clockwise and anti clockwise at the same time.
Both hands connected with his palms facing outwards towards her.
I never expect Sanhuo to do it but he opened his 3rd gate and a blinding light flashed as a figure of a flaming thousand hand Bodhisattva appeared behind him.
Sanhuo : aEGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!
The expression on the woman’s face changed and she tried to react but it was too late.
She underestimated her opponent.
Something she shouldn’t have done but there was no time for regrets.
The Bodhisattva’s hands moved like the blurry mirage you see in the desert as it’s palms reared backwards.
Sanhuo’s eyes gleamed with burning fury and before his opponent could counter, he sent the flaming fists and palms towards her, striking and destroying entire floor slabs in a modern building.
The hands and fits pummelled the same spot with such speed that I could feel the shockwaves in my throat.
A shield of air I put up in front of me did not lessen that shockwaves as Sanhuo’s shouts were drowned by the absolute carnage from his attack.
Sprinklers in the whole building activated all at once but the water had no effect on the relentless strikes that seemed to stem from the wrath of god.
While keeping the shield up, I sent a horizontal sheet of air shield over the atrium to stop the chunks of debris that were being thrown up from falling into. There are still remnants of people running and trying to escape the carnage.
The thousand strikes were completed in less than 10 seconds but the rumble of the damaged building continued to echo from that powerful skill.
The fire disappeared like magic and when Sanhuo collapsed onto his knees, his body was smoking and steaming. The immediate area around him sizzled like someone took a flame and went over each surface.
The spot where the women was is now a giant hole with red hot steel still melting from within the concrete slab it once supported.
Hector : She’s dead….
I blanketed Sanhuo’s body with water to cool him down. His pulse is weak and he is slipping away. His hands, looked like he pressed them onto hot iron that could cook a steak and the clothes on his body were burnt on several spots.
The hair on his head were almost all gone, singed to bits by the heat. His eyebrows too were charred and burned and his lips cracked and bleed.
He was shaking like he had a spasm as he looked at me.
A thin line of water stab into the bubble of liquid I put around Sanhuo’s body. It kept feeding cool water into the bubble as I tried to keep him from overheating.
Sanhuo : Joel…..you…
Joel : Shut up… just shut up… your body is burning… you’re going to fucking heatstroke yourself to death….
That was the amount of heat Sanhuo’s body was emiting. I could feel it raise the temperature of the water I used to surround him.
It’s not enough.
I used more water as I cradled his head from below. I covered his neck, the back of his head right, his cheek, by the time I was done, only his eyes, nose ears and mouth were exposed.
The water circulated fast, trying to cool his body down.
Joel : Stop moving… just stop moving….
I could tell Sanhuo was having difficulty breathing. Every breath he took felt like he was burning up his own lungs.
Joel : Just cool your body down first…
With trembling lips, Sanhuo told me Fong was forced up to the roof.
Joel : Where are the rest of the elders… ? why are you the only one fighting here… ?
Sanhuo : The…Earth …. Family…was ambushed on their …..way… way.. here.. they’re …. Hold up….. in… in a building …. A few… few streets away….
Peppered with breathless gasp, Sanhuo told me his brothers and Heshui, together with Yeow engaged Yingzi at the same time. The group of them took the fight somewhere else to minimise damage.
He could not tell where they are right now.
Sanhuo : Fong…. Fong and daughter…. They… they… they were shielding the kids….the kids…..kids…. together…. With… with the …Menshen….they… they are … up on roof….
I heard a few kids scream as I saw a column of wind bring 2 of them down from the rooftop to the atrium below.
They landed softly and quickly ran towards the exit.
Several clan members ran into the building to help and I could hear them trying to coordinate rescue efforts. More of them are coming.
Just when I thought things could not get worse, I heard 2 loud thud.
Sanhuo : The Menshen were helping Fong against the gluttons and the people in white earlier…
Joel : Then why is it here… ?
Sanhuo : They feel you are more of a threat…. Than the ones left on the roof….
Joel : great….
I sighed as I sent Sanhuo in the bubble of water down to the ground floor where a few other clan members had gathered. Making sure they took over Sanhuo, I looked back at the 2 massive being who jumped down onto the terraced balcony from the top floor.
Two fully armoured threshold guardian, or Menshen, I cursed under my breath.
They raised their weapon at me and stood up to their full height and it looked like there’s no way I am getting pass them without a fight.
Hector : ok… this is going to suck…
Joel : It’s a miracle we made it this far…. At least we didn’t meet them at the gate.
Hector cloaked my body with his energy as he exited my body while remaining tethered via a series of thin silk like strings of energy.
It was a trick Hector and I found out while practising in the jungles of Malaysia.
Hector can still cloak my body with his energy when he leaves me but it was not as effective and he was limited by range.
Beyond a 10m radius, his energy cloak is practically useless and it felt like a flame struggling to stay alight when there was not enough oxygen.
Tethered to my body by lines of silk like energy, Hector could maintain the flow of energy that kept the cloak fed.
This essentially increases the effective fighting radius for both of us. There was no limit to the distance for this method where we can operate but it’s not without it’s downside.
The lines of energy feeding from Hector’s body, now amplified the GBM’s signature to a point where everyone within the vicinity will know where we are.
It’s like taking a loud hailer and shouting to the world where our location is.
Letting others know there’s a GBM at the clan building now is the least of our worries.
Perhaps the only purpose it would serve is to warn the rest of the hags and gluttons around the area to stay clear.
Hector : I’ll find you an opening….. you get to the roof.
Joel : ok.
Hector put himself in between the menshen and me.
A GBM can draw the same magic from it’s host, this includes magic similar to the GBM it was an offshoot of. Some GBM can use a single element, some can use 2.
Hector, can everything because of the blood he feeds off is mine. Unlike me, who started off with water and end up getting more comfortable with it, Hector’s progress with the elements is pretty much balanced.
There’s isn’t a favourite element, nor is there one that he doesn’t like.
Hector clasped his hands together and in the blink of an eye, expanded to the same height and build as the 2 menshen.
I smiled as I marvelled at how much he has grown. He used to take a few bites before he can swallow a hag or glutton. Now he can swallow them whole.
The Menshen, is without the armour of the earth family because they did not make it into the clan building, but it doesn’t make them any less intimidating.
True to their name, they remained unfazed by the sight of a giant GBM.
They stood tall and steadfast, unyielding to a being that they deem beneath them despite the massive energy it is emitting.
The 2 Menshen started to make their way towards Hector with their spears raised.
Hector slowly backed away.
With each step, chunks of armour cladded themselves onto each part of his body. A cape comprising of pure GBM energy caught the updraft of the wind power that Hector was pulling towards him and it flew magnificently behind him.
Joel : I’ve never seen that before…. What does it do… ?
Hector continued backing up while keeping his eyes on the 2 menshen who might strike any moment.
Hector : Nahh… it just makes me look good…haha
I got ready to bolt pass the 2 guardians but it appears they knew what I was up to. Both of them dual wield weapons on both hands.
They extended their main weapon at Hector and continued moving forward while the hand holding the sabre lowered itself, forming a cross in between their 2 bodies.
The flames of the burning sabre licked the ground, making anyone think twice about running in between them.
Hector stopped backing up and each step the 3 unearthly giants each about 2.5m tall shook the concrete slab we were standing on.
Hector opened his arms in a relaxed manner.
Drawing the flames from the Menshen’s weapon, 2 flaming sabres appeared within his grip.
Joel : It’s 2 vs 1 bro… be careful…
Hector : I’ll be fine…. Just don’t die Joel…..it’s troublesome to find another host…
I did not wait for him to finish. I ran towards the 2 menshen and they reacted immediately.
I could feel the humongous blade of one of the guardians come towards me as I ran forward.
Before it could reach me, Hector stopped it with his spear.
I felt the entire building shake as the 3 godly giants went into an all out brawl.
There was no time to look, to marvel or to spectate the fight.
I slid below the sweeping blade of the menshen on the right and just before he could plunge his spear onto me, Hector parried the strike away.
I got past the menshen but it’s not the end of the fight yet.
One of the Menshen jumped and clung onto Hector, holding him down while the other came for me. Hector’s cloak fired up like a burner, but the menshen, although taking damage, had no intention of letting go as the 2 traded punches.
I would need to deal with the one coming for me.
The ground vibrated as the guardian’s blade sliced the parapet wall cleanly into 2 as it ran along the corridor. Chunks of concrete fell off into the atrium below like butter being sheared.
Just before I got to the stairs, I turned to see the massive blade of the menshen coming at my skull.
I clasped my hands together and moulded a shield of air immediately.
The blade hit the shield and the flames burned brighter and more intense for a couple of seconds before it weakens.
Before the guardian could ready a 2nd strike, Hector appeared out of nowhere. He grabbed onto the wrist of the menshen, stopping the strike before striking the guardian’s legs 3 times in a row like an angry muay thai master, causing it to lose its balance.
Just as the guardian found it’s balance, Hector’s well placed elbow strike to it’s face bought me the time I needed to get off that floor.
Hector: go !
Running up the stairs to the roof, I turned to see Hector perform a superman punch by faking the shift in his weight that would make any MMA fans cheer.
I ran as fast as I can to the roof. My foot barely left the last thread of the concrete stairs when the entire flight disappeared. Hector was thrown against it with such force that the impact accompanied by his energy melted concrete and reinforcement bar like ice cream on a hot summer day.
Leaving the stairwell, I felt the force of 2 gluttons colliding hit the wall beside the door.
Kylie’s extended fingers were buried inside that of another glutton who was screeching in pain. Kylie herself looked injured as well.
Almost immediately another glutton jumped onto Kylie, putting her in a rear naked choke to get her off.
The water that I had been pulling from the start of the fight with the menshen is now ready to be deployed. Restless would be the word to describe the water waiting for my instructions.
Kylie was not the only glutton on the roof. There were hags as well as glutton coming at us.
Kristin and Fong were on the other end of the roof.
I crossed my fingers and formed a fist with my hand.
My eyes tracked the position of the enemy on the roof as the tentacles of a giant octopus started grabbing each one. I swatted them like flies, smacking, grabbing and throwing them into oblivion as I cleared the roof as much as I can.
The tides of the fight turned almost immediately as my giant octopus exploded like a popped balloon.
A Leviathan snapped my magic like a snap of the finger before it crashed onto the ground below. The leviathan is also moulded out of water but not from the sea. It was from fresh water.
If I didn’t know better, I would have thought the coast was just hit by a tsunami.
The pull of the water going back is so strong that cars, chunks of concrete and debris were dragged into the straits of Johor after the 2 giants disappeared.
The source of that Leviathan came from the space user in front of me.
I immediately started to wrestle control of all the water energy around me.
That space user is one of the older man I saw with Yingzi.
Behind him, I could see Kristin and Kylie holding back what looked like a zombie horde of hags that seemed determined to push Fong and family off the roof.
To make things worse, I counted at least 16 screaming kids that the adults were trying to protect.
There were a few air shields overlapping each other from what I could sense.
Fong was trying to keep one up around him and the screaming kids. On top of sustaining that shield, he had another one up that is obviously much weaker encompassing a wider radius. It might be too much to call it a shield. It’s more of like a net.
It stopped most of the hags but a few still kept pushing though despite the damage it was doing to their bodies.
Those that got through, Kristin and Kylie were trying to deal with them.
I searched for the source of the hags and realised that perched on the roof was a lump of mud like sponge. Every couple of seconds, a hag would fall out of that magic lump like it was grabbed from somewhere else and dropped into the fight.
Joel : This is madness…. !
A hail of rocks fell above me but Hector’s GBM cloak took care of it, reducing it to dust.
I sent 2 water barracuda at the space user but a giant toad the size of a car appeared and ate both of them. It’s dusty tongue shot out twice at the speed of a bullet, pulling my water creatures into it’s dry earthy mouth.
I sent more barracudas at my opponent, but the frog ate them all. As more water gets mixed into the earth, the frog turned wet and muddy before it became too heavy. It moved slower too.
Like a bomb falling out of the sky, a whale the size of a car I had been secretly moulding fell right above the space user.
The muddy frog changed shaped and a cave like shield took shaped just as I slammed the creature down towards it’s intended target.
The space user rolled away as both the whale and the mud shield exploded like someone just had a massive diarrhoea, sending mud and grime falling beyond the roof and onto neighbouring plots of industrial land.
An earth shield came up almost immediately when the guy rolled away.
Joel : There is no need for us to do this….
Space user : Join us… join us and all this will stop…
Joel : you expect me to believe you… ?
Space user : hahaha….you are not our match Joel….you have yet to see what Yingzi can do…..
Joel : I am not interested in what he can do…
Space User : Why are you helping the ones that slaughtered our clan…?
Joel : Who are the ones doing the slaughtering now ?
I could feel the man pulling more and more earth energy towards him.
There’s no nearby heat source on the roof.
Fong and his daughters has a monopoly on the wind and air.
I know I have control of the water. This leaves my opponent with earth.
The moment Hector comes up, this will be over.
Dust, earth and bits of concrete started to take clump together as I could feel the increase in the intensity of magic taking shape.
I hated that arrogant smirk on the man’s face as he moulded his next move.
I saw the legs of the horses first and a strange sense of familiarity overtook me.
The 4 horsemen. A skill unique to Marie’s family. It makes you wonder how much magic and skill these people have stole.
I was wrecking my brains how to deal with the horsemen when it stopped forming. The magic stopped just before the body of the horse is completed.
It just stopped.
The space user stopped moulding the magic out of the blue.
It’s as if he received a message, a call, or rather a new order from Yingzi. Not by phone or whatsapp definitely.
The magic started to change.
The muddy lump perched by the side stopped spitting hags and it just dried up and fell off the side.
Instead of horsemen, the earth and dust divided into 2 section.
One section rolled towards me as clay soldiers made out of dust started to form. The other section move towards the hags that were still clawing like zombies at the wind family.
The space user stood at the edge of the building and clasped his hands together above his head. The intensity of earth magic amplified itself like someone tensing up their core muscles. What ever he’s doing, he’s giving it his all.
He opened his 1st gate and a staggering amount of energy get injected into the earth heading towards Fong and family.
4 clay soldiers came at me while the rest of the earth magic cladded themselves onto the hags.
The magic in the 4 soldiers in front of me is weak. It was meant to stall for time but that doesn’t mean they are easy to deal with. They started jabbing with their long spear and I avoided the attack while planning my next move.
A school of fishes appeared from above my head, formed by a mixture of water in the cloud, atmosphere and the sea. It’s a small school but enough to deal with the soldiers.
I shot them at the soldiers like a hailstorm.
1 of them broke and snapped immediately while the rest bought a few seconds more with their large shield.
While the clay and sand in front of me turned to mud, I kept my eyes on the hags that were being reinforced by the earth.
The magic is a lot stronger on that end.
There must be a reason why.
I thought the earth were cladding the hags in armour but I was mistaken. It’s not armour.
The earth enveloped the hags like an organism with a life of it’s own. It’s eating them whole.
I watch a hag get stopped by the earth as it screeched and crawl towards Fong and daughters. The earth covered it completely and it stopped moving. Something is happening to the hag inside that lump of earth.
Like a clay oven, I could feel the energy of the hag being taken apart and put together again. The lump of earth is now turning into a pressure cooker or sort for the unfortunate hag.
I smashed the last of the clay soldiers and by then the space user had finished what he wanted to do.
He mouthed goodbye to be before jumping off the side of the roof.
He disappeared. I could not feel his energy anymore.
The zombie hoard of hags outside the barrier Fong put up were all engulfed by the moving earth.
One by one, the hags got pulverised into pure energy inside the makeshift oven.
The zombie hoard has been reduced to a bumpy lump of pimple like sacs sitting on the roof of the clan building. I started to make my way towards Fong and his girls when I felt the lines of energy connecting Hector and me disappear.
He’s detached from me totally.
I heard a loud explosion as I saw a huge chuck of concrete fly out from the floor beneath me into a neighbouring lot.
I can still smell and feel Hector in the vicinity. He should be able to handle himself.
I will just have to make do without the GBM cloak.
The earth that rolled and engulfed the hags penetrated the barrier and I could see it has gotten hold of Kristin and Kylie as well. Not only that, it has penetrated Fong’s own barrier and grabbed several of the kids.
Joel : fuck !…
With the last of the hags eaten by the blob of earth, Kristin and Kylie turned their attention to the earth on their feet.
Fong : arGHHHH!!
Fong opened his 1st inner gate and I felt the tremendous shockwave from the vibrations in the air.
I felt a powerful wave of wind erupt from Fong. It was so strong that I instinctively pulled what I can from the remnants of dust around me to form 2 muscled arms reaching out at a 45 degree angle.
I held onto the 2 arms as Fong’s energy expelled his girls and half of the kids he was protecting. The wind was powerful enough to lift my body horizontal for a couple of seconds as I gripped onto the arms from the ground.
Without that anchor, I would probably be blown a few metres away.
Kristin fell flat on her face and so did the other kids who managed to get free. It was not a gentle landing. Almost all of them scrapped themselves and are bleeding. Kylie was not so lucky, badly injured from her earlier fight, she lost her left foot to the carnivorous earth.
Kristin shouted for Kylie to get back inside her and her sister disappeared almost immediately.
Fong would not have done this if he had no choice.
The moment Fong’s barrier disappeared, the earth that was already engulfing Fong and the kids picked up speed, eager to swallow them whole.
Instead of dealing with it , Fong tried to save the other kids that were still trapped.
Fong put his hands together calmly and I could feel the temperature around me drop as he opened his 2nd gate.
Fong : 2nd gate of pain…. KAI!
The moving wind revolving around Fong might as well have been a hurricane.
I anchored myself on the roof and clasped my hands together, moulding a massive amount of water from the sea to my left.
Several octopus the size of a car jumped out of the water and attached themselves to the clan building before crawling rapidly up the sides.
Appearing on the roof, they used their watery bodies and tentacles to grab, to hold and to shield the kids that Fong is sending away from his end.
To give you an idea of how strong the wind blast is, each octopus only had the use of half their tentacles. The other half is needed to anchor themselves to the surface.
The swirling wind reminded me of a lathing machine. It spun fast and like an invisible chisel, it chipped away at the stubborn earth that held onto the feet of the trapped children.
With each one freed, Fong sent the kid out into the arms of my Octopus as more of my watery allies appeared on the roof.
The kids screamed as my octopus picked a couple of them up and started to crawl down the side of the clan building. It was hard trying to control so many of them at the same time.
It’s multi-tasking on an another level.
With each passing second, I could feel the pressure build up inside the earthen pimple. The hags energy increased 2 folds and it showed no signs of slowing down.
It’s a pressure cooker with the necessary ingredients and recipe for disaster.
If one explodes, it would blow a section of the building. If all of them goes together, It might level the whole neighbouhood. There’s 20 of them on the roof.
Fong sent the last kid out and I caught hold of her. I was having a really bad headache. My left hand is trying control the octopus on the roof while my right hand trembled as I held on tightly to the kids that are going down the side of the building.
If I fuck this up, the kids are going to plunge face first onto concrete ground below.
I felt a change in wind direction, and I heard Kristin scream
Kristin : DADDY!!!
Fong is pulling all the earthen jars of energy towards him. The jars of condensed energy rolled like heavy boulders towards Fong. He’s sweeping everything towards him.
Kristin : DADDY NO!!!.
I could hear Fong speak to me clearly in my head. It’s like he could use the air as a direct channel of communication with me. That must be how Yingzi communicate with his team.
Fong : Joel……. Don’t let Kristin come near…
I felt a shiver in my spine as I looked at Fong. The wind ripped at his hair and clothes and the veins on his neck and forehead looked like they were about to pop. The energy from the 2nd gate is peeling away the wall and floor finishes on the roof. I could see the dark water proofing membrane on the roof start to peel.
The wind also picked up whatever that was not fastened to the ground.
Dust, debris, everything.
Kristin tried to run towards Fong but was stopped by another Octopus of mine who just crawled up from the side.
Kristin : DADDY !!! STOP.STOP!!!… DON’T YOU DARE DO IT… DON’T YOU DARE !!! JOEL….JOEL… GET THE FUCK OFF ME !!!
I was shaking as the latest octopus hugged onto Kristin gently. It’s tentacles embraced her arms and body as it tried to pull her back from Fong.
Kristin : DADDY!!!
My octopus got ripped to shreds as Kristin opened her 1st gate too.
I managed to combine 3 octopus climbing up into 1 big one and I penetrated Kristin’s shield to hold onto her.
Fong spoke to me again and I could hear the tremble in his voice as if he was shivering when he spoke them in my head.
Fong : Joel…. The energy from one of this…. Can level the whole building….If everything goes off together, we’re all going to die….
I released the 1st batch of kids onto the ground and immediately worked on getting the next batch down.
The energy in the sacs have gone up 5 folds from the time I first felt it. It’s like each fold of increase took shorter duration to build.
It’s terrifying.
Kristin was trying to open her 2nd gate but she was overwhelmed by emotions.
Kristin : DADDY !!… DADDY PLEASE… PLEASE… NO… DON’T…DON’T DO THIS….!!
I could hardly hear Kristin’s screams as the wind picked up speed and intensity.
If not for the direct line of communication via magic, there’s no way I could hear Fong through that barrier of moving air.
Kristin : DADDY..!! PLEASE… STOP !!!
She screamed at her father and I could feel my nose bleeding after dropping off the 2nd batch of kids.
Looking at the number of them left on the roof, it’s going to take another 3 trips to send them all down.
Kristin fell to her knees and I could feel Fong building up to his 3rd gate. My octopus moved to shield Kristin from the shockwave with it’s body.
Fong : 3rd gate of blood…. KAI!
All the earthen jars of bomb were by now assembled by Fong’s foot. Fong’s nose and ears were bleeding and I could see the skin on his exposed arms, necks and cheek starting to crack and bleed like he was getting a hundred papercuts at the same time.
He’s going to try and contain the explosion within his shield.
Kristin started to communicate with her father using the same means but instead of directing it at Fong to keep it private, I could pick up their conversation.
The swirling sphere of air grew in size. It’s almost double the height of a double decker bus.
I could clearly hear the heart breaking crack in her voice as she pleaded with her father.
Kristin : Daddy… please… I can’t… I can’t live without you …. Please don’t do this….i really can’t….
I could feel Kristin’s body weight on the octopus that was holding her. She was on the verge of a total breakdown as she pleaded with her father.
Fong : This is the only way….
Kristin : There must be another way Daddy… please !! we can go.. we can go somewhere else… we’re faster than anyone else … DADDY!!
Fong smiled and he replied gently that if they did that, many others would die.
I dropped the 3rd batch of kids and I could feel a cramp in my fingers and my abs concurrently as I desperately held on to the magic I moulded.
Joel : Fong !… let my octopus take them…. I’ll bring them all into the sea….
Fong : you can’t Joel….they are rigged to blow if they come into contact with any other magic…. I pulled them with the brute force of the air I moved while keeping my energy away from them……, the only thing we can do is to contain the blast….
Hector burst through to the roof and I felt an immediate relief to my body aches and cramps when the GBM cloak came back up, engulfing my body in pure energy.
It was also then, I felt the energy inside the earthen jars stop building up.
It has reached the peak.
It has finished building up to it’s full potential.
I think Kristin felt it too and she gave an agonising scream at her father, hoping it would change his mind.
Kristin : DADDY !!!!!!!!!!!…HOW COULD YOU…..!!!HOW COULD YOU DO THIS… HOW COULD YOU !!! DADDY!! ARGHHHH!!
Kylie must have regained conscious or something because I could hear her crying alongside Kristin.
Kylie : Daddy no please…. Opening the 4th gate will rip you to shreds….Daddy!.
I could feel the tear rolling down Fong’s face as clearly as I could feel all the watery octopus I was controlling.
Hector : fuck…. it’s going to blow…
There’s still 8 more kids on the roof and Hector surrounded them with water before putting a later of GBM energy cloak around all of us including the giant octopus holding Kristin.
I felt the 1st crack of the jars when Kristin & Kylie bade their farewell to Fong in her breaking voice.
Kristin : I love you Daddy….
Kylie : Daddy….i love you…
There was a ripple of cracks on the other jars when Fong replied.
Fong : I love you girls too….
In that split second, I felt for the first time, the pure, innocent, unadulterated, and unfiltered love of Fong for his daughters.
Kristin : how could you Daddy… how could you….how could you do this….
Kristin wept openly and Fong spoke for the last time as he got ready to open his final inner gate.
Fong : because ……… this is what daddies do….
For a split second, the wind stopped.
Everything cleared.
Fong gave one of the most handsome and warm smile I have ever seen as his final parting gift to his daughters.
Fong : 4th gate of death….K..
I saw a blinding flash of light.
Then there was silence.
It’s like someone hit the mute button. Or rather someone hit the mute and the pause button together.
I could not see anything but I could feel I was flying through the air.
There was feeling of free fall. I landed on hard ground but Hector’s energy took most of the impact.
I opened my eyes to see dried leaves and a millipede crawling in front of me.
I was surprised to see we were all transported to a different place.
We were in the middle of a nature reserve right by an abandoned quarry.
Kristin was there. Fong laid unconscious and injured to the side.
Several of the kids were crying.
Hector was standing and looking at the quarry and the calm water.
Then there was this explosion so huge, it shook the entire island.
It blew the water from the quarry a hundred metres up into the air, raining fishes, terrapins and any other unfortunate creatures that happened to be in the water down all over the nature reserve. Nesting birds took off into the air in droves like some ancient predator is after them.
Older and weaker trees fell over and I could see and hear the animals in the trees take flight to safety.
Joel : What happened ?
I asked Hector.
Hector remained standing by the side of the quarry and he was looking down into the water or rather what remained of it.
Then I smell it.
I could smell it.
Ginger. A strong pungent ginger smell.
It’s a smell I had almost forgotten.
The GBM from before.
The very first one we came across in the park, the one we fought at Jingshui’s place.
Having disappeared for a full year, it suddenly appeared again.
The larger and older GBM blinked and appeared in front of me.
Hector immediately appeared between us and cloaked me with his energy. He threw a punch that was caught by the GBM with one hand. The penetrative energy of Hector’s punch blew a hole into the cliff face of the granite quarry as it went through the larger GBM.
Chunks of rocks the size of bicycles fell off the side and into the quarry, pulling with it the unfortunate plants that were living on them.
The heat from the energy of the 2 GBM burned and charred the foliage around us as they faced off silently. I could see fresh leaves curl up as if someone applied a flaming torch to it.
Then the larger GBM stopped his energy cloak first.
Hector followed suit.
Kristin was attending to Fong. He was still alive.
She kept calling out to her father as she hugged him tightly to her chest, grateful that Fong is alive.
It suddenly dawned on me who saved us all.
It was this larger GBM in front of us. He appeared, grabbed us all including all the jars of hag energy about to explode.
Like magic, we moved halfway across the island to an abandoned quarry.
It shoved Hector aside gently and he looked at me with an intensity that made me feel uncomfortable. He looked at me from head to toe.
When he spoke, I felt goosebumps appear all over my body.
GBM : you have your father’s eyes….
I felt my knees go weak as I looked at the older GBM in front of me. It had so many scars on it’s body. It looked like it has been through hell and survive to tell the tale. His torso bore the marks of countless battles.
There were deep cuts on it’s face and head. Hector, standing by its side, looked like some fresh grad model from a talent school.
I could hear the sirens in the distance.
I could also feel the different energy converging on our location.
There’s no way any magic users will not know there are now 2 GBM in the middle of a nature reserve in the centre of the island. The energy they are emitting is so obvious and the smell of ginger engulfed the entire nature reserve.
We need to go. We can’t stay there like this.
We’re too exposed but I had to hear his reply.
His reply to my question that had found it’s way to the edge of my lips.
I have to.
I have to hear it with my own ears even though I have an inkling who he is.
With trembling lips, I asked;
Joel : Who are you….
GBM : I ….. was your father’s GBM…
End of Season 2
Magic was planned and conceptualised as my maiden foray into the fantasy genre. It has expanded into a whole lot more along the way in terms of character and plot development.
I only planned for a 10 part series with about 3-4000 words each but here we are at the end of season 2.
There are many genres of works I want to explore and find my bearing, Magic and fantasy is one of them.
I want to try crime, supernatural, romance, science fiction and even comedy.
One thing you can be sure of, there will be more work published for your reading pleasure.
Thank you for reading my work
James S
Bro, magic might be your maiden foray into the fantasy genre, but i say it’s on its way to a masterpiece ! Great job.. I love it 🙂 keep it going man!
Thank you 🙂