′Little light dancing in the skies. Stars′
Chapter One; Operation Hide the Orb
"Semora Island" My Compass AI alerted me buzzing out frequencies of the geographical location and my exact latitude, weather range, landmarks and other stuffs attached. I switched it off pressing the side button of the tech in my wrist.
"Be fast with the mission, Blac," Commander Hooke said, his voice firm with authority drenched in discipline-- two qualities I emulate mostly from him, well plus his well structured jawline, silver gray hair, thin lips and his eloquent use of grammar made him adored by his peers including me.
I took off in a sprint, my hands clutching the orb to my right, my legs slamming the sharp sand sending acute tingling sensation to my brain. The salty spray of the sea splashes into my eyes so fast even my eyelashes couldn't stop.
Ouch.
My eyes burned due to the salt solution making it hard to see. I continue coursing through the beach until I land on fresh forage grasses soothing my skin from the prickles of those nasty beach crabs or so I thought?
"Damnit!" I cursed under breath as a sharp pain travels through my stubbed toe into my brain once more. I looked down examining the injury. It was deep spilling out blood. I need to cleanse the blood to avoid someone using a spell to locate my exact position.
I could use a blocking spell but that will be later. First thing first Operation: Find a place to drop this orb-ling.
The operation couldn't go any faster as I saw a small area filled with leaves and petals good for keeping or should I say hiding a dangerous material from the eyes of prying Sorcerers who intend in controlling the world just for fame and power.
Kneeling down with the orb wrapped around my hands, I gently gave it a snug on it glassy skin as it shone in ethereal light.
As I knelt there, the orb's ethereal glow seemed to intensify, as if it was responding to my touch. I felt a strange energy coursing through my veins, like the orb was trying to communicate with me.
Suddenly, the air around me began to shift and swirl, the leaves and petals rustling in an otherworldly breeze. I felt a presence closing in, like unseen eyes were watching me from the shadows.
I knew I had to get out of there, fast. I carefully picked up the orb cradling it in my hands as I stood up. The presence seemed to grow stronger, the air thickening with an eerie, electric charge.
"Focus Blac!." I spoke up.
I had to. The orb was deadly, primitive and dangerous. It' power rivals that of Omega level Sorcerers making it a formidable item if used by an enemy of the realm.
I broke a sweat. My adrenaline pumping like I'm running in a marathon filled with top Lightening Flexors or am I?
Pathetic!, I am already losing my mind. I can't do this, it is synonymous to dropping the fate of the whole world in a platter of an island metaphorically filled with sands as sharp as blades and the river as hot as acid which won't even take time for Flexors to penetrate in it.
A shielding spell. Nah, the spell will break off once I pass a three hundred meter radius that won't work and come to think of it, my magic isn't that strong compared to high ranked Sorcerers who work for the Agencies.
So what should I do?--
"Comrade! Come in, Comrade!" I jolt back as my intercom receives a direct message from the ship commander. Mxiu.
I forgot about Comrade Hooke. Shoot!, He is still in the boat waiting for me.
"Zzz" I faked the breaching before cutting off my signal with his intercoms to avoid distraction on what to do with this atomic bomb.
Joking but come to think of it, an Orb with the capabilities of destroying an entire realm with bolts of lightning shooting from the heavens is kinda of like an atomic bomb. Kinda!. Even the elemental archangels who created it fear it existence in the eyes of magicless human talk less of elementals who have divine energy flowing through their veins.
Slightly bending my hands on the blanket wrapped around the orb ever so gently, I dropped it in the blossom of the leaves.
"Filled with crawling insects," A gasp escape from my lips as I caught a bug climbing on top of the orb.
Fritz!
That was the sound the bug made after being shocked by sparks of lightening emitting from the Orb and it made me wonder; why didn't it zap me the way it zapped the bug.
"Because of the blanket you Idiot" Booth floats behind me grinning with his lips and his little paws crossed, his golden strips beam with astral energizes projecting with mine.
I knew someone was watching me.
"You nasty little Foxsyer!" I said to him standing upright. "What in heaven damsel are you doing here?"
"I should be asking you that question, Blac?. What are you doing with a glowing orb in the middle of nowhere?" He asked rolling his eyes like if they were badminton balls.
"I'm doing me super top secret agency job." I sucked my teeth at him. Booth has always been my little annoying spirit palisman which I had since high school. He has been a pain in the butt since then.
"A pain in the butt, really Blac?." He asked wiping me with his tail. "How dare you, I have helped you millions of time but you just called me in a pain in your bony ass. That's it, I quit."
Me too, if elementals were allowed to disengage with their spirit palisman but the thing is; we are bonded for life "till death do us part" that part of the Summoning palisman magic stings after twenty two years of keeping, feeding, protecting, cleaning up his dung [Yeah, Spirit Dung], normally he was the one supposed to be doing all of this, well except from the cleaning of dung process I can handle that myself but it is the opposite.
"How many times have I told you to stop using mind reading magic on me." I groaned at him pushing him aside reading to flex out a little bit of magic.
Yes, Flex.
"Its fun though with a lot of things going on your little brain of yours," He snorts. "But your head is always spinning like crazy-"
"I get it" I cuts him short. Booth let out a growl before calming down, he hates when someone interfer when he's speaking and I draw joy in making him angry.
Via?
"So what are you intending to do now because it is getting dark," The Foxsyer reminded staring at the gloomy skies. "And you know that the south is dangerous at night because of those nasty pirates."
"Shut the fuck up." I shouted at the top of my voice.
"Language dear."
I let his voice melt down in the air for me to concentrate on the spell, I am still thinking if casting on the orb for protection.
Ugh, why does working with a high top governmental agency fill so hard, deforming and brain racking.
Tactically, an illusion spell will be good since what I am about to illude is small, round and the leaves have a evergreen singular coloration but the hard part is when one of the leaves change color the spell disintegrate leaving the orb open.
"What of a Rim spell?, It will hid the so-called orb in plain sight." Booth suggests after a moment of silence. I guess.
"It requires a lot of magic. Where can I get an ounce power of magic, I'm exhausted" I laid back resting my body on the bark of a tree.
Booth floated above.
"What about moon magic?."
My brows twitched up. "Moon magic?."
"Yeah. Its the full moon." He leaned back, gazing up at the moon still hovering in the sky "You need plenty of power to cast a rim spell; draw power from the moon."
The fox was right...it was my only assest up my sleeve but... "Drawing power from Yin/Yang is banned throughout the realm." I was just stating the obvious. Lunar loots are known to be dangerous due to the immense energies they possessed thanks to one of the greatest entities laying rest there;
Yin/Yang. Twin entities who was rumoured to have gave birth to the moon hundreds of centuries ago---even before the formation of the Earth as we know it.
But I am drawn to only two options; draw a little of the moon powers to hide one of the most powerful artifact in Astoria history. Pros; Saving the realm from dangerous Sorcerers, saving my job at the agency corp---which I am going to lose if I don't get the job done in ten minutes or less. Cons; get caught drawing moon magic and that will eventually cause penalities like elemental exorcism, in that condition your powers will be ripped out of your soul leaving me magicless. I shudder at that thought.
After examining the Pros and Cons involved, I decided that in the best of the realm interest flexing a little bit of magic from Yin/Yang doesn't sound like a bad idea. Uh?
"Just do it!," Booth said out loud already tired of my mind pep talk. "That's why I hate elementals bunch of lousy impotent creatures-"
Vines shot up from the ground beaming with greenish hue similar to the one emitting from my palm. I flex my hand into a V shaped symbol drawing all my power from Mana realm to from a distortion to the astral plain where the moon powers resided in. The plant emblem on my wrist corresponded to the ethereal color of my green iris energizing me like a turbo charger.
My afro hair, styled in bob cut, flowed loose, framing my back and giving me the bad-ass warrior look I aspire to be.
Back to drawing the power from the moon thing. The tip of my plant tendrils shift color from Green to white meaning that I have already tapped current into the raw energies of the moon.
This is when things get tricky. Yin/Yang powers were amongst the strongest of the eight supreme entities, meaning that any mishap with drawing a little bit of energy could result in catastrophic events such as the collapse of the entire island, shifting of the tides and the most possible one; my own death and that of Booth, my spirit palisman who is glowing too since we are connected to each other.
Well, death is inevitable. But am not planning dying. Dying now isn't even an option.
The Full moon made things worse. When the moon is at its peak, Moon looters are advised not to draw power from its since the energies are combined in the same way amplified to the max but I had no other option in my plate this was the only way.
I think?
One of the tendrils withered into the ground, fear gripped me as the Vines losses materialistic form turning into dust.
Booth said, already drained of energy "We can't do this Blac. The raw magic is already burning my core." He was right, I too was feeling the burn but my adrenaline calm the tension in my chest from causing a cardio-arrest.
"But you suggested this plan." I strained my voice out pointing out that he was the one that brought up the branch under the bush.
"Oh, and you decided to draw power from the moon because you listened to an spirit animal. Good explanation, Blacce Lockwood." He deadpanned. Sarcasm is one of Booth flawless level, his sarcastic nature made me wonder why I summoned a fox in the first place.
What was I thinking?.
"Focus Blac, we need to get out of this. Let give up and go home. Some herbal tea won't hurt." He cleared up. One thing I simp Booth was his tea making prowess he is a mastermind in tea brewing and baking.
"Blac, Blacce Lockwood!" a recoginized voice called out to our exact spot...
Commander Hooke!. If he catch us extracting lunar magic I'd will toasted like a salmon fish on bikini Friday. I was left with two option-- Stop the spell or continue and bear the upcoming consequences that lay ahead.
Another tendrils materialized into dust leaving me with only two Vines to extract the moon magic. Reminder: Booth fur is burning and my so called adrenaline is fading quick.
Am feeling the heattt
"Blac, are you there and what is with that lights. Hope your are not toiling with the orb." He said approaching our direction with a step.
I had no other option. "Sorry, Commander Hooke." I form little petal strings around my fingers working like gears with a swivel around my index finger, a huge Vine sprout out the ground under Commander Hooke knocking the old sailor unconscious.
I tore my gaze away, my only escape route. Well, I could heal him up with healing magic since I am a Plant Flexor.
To add salt to the sore, the second to last Vine fell off withering to.....dust and ashes.....that reminds me of...
"Booth" I turned at him. He was already beaten off, his golden fur already turning to silver meaning that he is drifting into Limbo. No not now. I had to do this extracting fast.
I stretched my hands forward flexing the vine to the moon, the moonlight danced around my brown chocolate skin. I shift all my energies into the vine to make it faster. A handful of air escaped my lungs making it hard to breathe.
Fuck, I forget the second rule of Moon looting "Save air and don't breathe." In the astral plain, air is not really a common residue in the atmosphere--which is mostly composed of Star vials, Ryk's and other things, that's why it's better to send your spirit projection there but I have not mastered that skill yet.
A beam of pinkish lunar energy shot right from the moon sphere right into the tip of my vine. I flex my index finger trapping it in. Moon energy is unstable so I need to be careful in handling it.
Super-Careful
The little sphere of moon energy jolt with spark threatening to wither the plant. After much pampering. The spell came to an end after a series of disengaging tryouts. My body came back to its normal "Black Skin Under the Moonlight hue" so did my eyes, emblem and my palm.
"Fuck" I rushed down to catch Booth who was hovering down lifelessly. He laid in the bossom of my laps.
A tear flowed down the streak of my eyelid into my face and finally landing on his fur. I massaged his fur smoothly. My face filled with tears mainly from Booth death and the heat on my chest.
"Pur!" Booth let out purred as cunning sly danced on his lips. His golden fur popped back to life, his electrifying eyes beaming with light opposite of what he was a minute ago.
"You, sneaky little asshole!" I cursed under my breath wiping the tears off my face sternly looking at him with disgust as he burst into.the night air floating around with joy. I could have expected better from a fox spirit. "It's was all pretense."
He turned. "No it wasn't, I just helped you to extract moon magic, duh?."
Allegedly.
"No you didn't. You just used an illusion spell. I should have smelled foul play from the start. Sneaky little Booth."
He snorted, "I've got a good idea! Let's draw moon magic from Yin/Yang." He said, I scented a hint of sarcasm. "Oh brilliant, nothing say 'good idea' like tapping into ancient, powerful magic that could kill us all."
I rolled my eyes on him throughout his statement. He was just saving his own life at the stake of mine. "But I did it. I drew moon magic."
"You looted,"
"No, I drew" I pointed the sphere wrapped around the vine. It still stand out with it's otherwordly hues. If this is a fragment of Yin/Yang just wonder how powerful it will be all together.
Wondering the impossible. Their presence in the moon is much alone to reverence than in the whole presence of the whole world as powerful white and black fish.
"So we have a unconscious man on our right and one the most powerful artifact in the whole realm at the right in the middle of the night. I'm starving!" Booth pointed out the obvious.
"Ugh, must you be a dumbass. Hold up I thought you were going to the spirit tree to look for another owner." I replied to his irrelevant comment.
He faced the tree avoiding my glare. "Vookk explained fo me that I can't ok. We are bounded forreve..." He found it hard in pronouncing the "forever" word.
"Told you. Now let get this over with." I stood right beside the orb. I flex my thumb into my palm wrapping the other finger around it.
Activating my power once more, the vine boosted up with energy. I had to make this work or else back to phase one.
I diluted all the energy into the vine but first a barrier was made to neutralize the effect of lunar magic from burning the vine like the rest. I should have done it to the rest but it escaped my mind.
The vine burst in a glimmer of black and white colors. I thrust my hands forward controlling the vine to curl around the orb like boa constructor around its prey. With another flex of my magic, the plants dissolved around the orb like a translucent material. I matched my two thumbs together slightly bending it. The lunar magic around the orb flick and in a poof of hue. The orb was hidden in plain sight.
Rimmed.
"It worked" I glee throwing my hands flying in the sky. "I can't believe I did it." I couldn't hold the excitement. Knowing well its around two pm. The only thing that gave us light was the bloom flowers planted all around the island giving it that semora look.
Semora; filled with lights
"Yay yay. You did it. Let's go home." Booth said rubbing his tummy still hovering around like a cunning looking fox that he is.
As I stood up, brushing off the dirt and leaves from my pants, I felt a sense of relief wash over me. The orb, now hidden from prying eyes, lay nestled in the underbrush, its secrets and power temporarily safe.
"Time to get out of here," I said to Booth, who was busy sniffing around the area.
He looked up at me, his eyes sparkling with mischief. "Finally, let's get some food. I'm starving!"
I chuckled, shaking my head. "You're always hungry."
With a flick of my wrist, I summoned a small, glowing portal. The air seemed to ripple and distort, revealing a shimmering pathway back to our ship.
"After you," I said, gesturing to Booth.
He bowed, his tail wagging, and stepped through the portal. I followed close behind, feeling the familiar sensation of being pulled apart and put back together again.
As we emerged on the other side, I took a deep breath of the salty sea air. The ship, anchored offshore, bobbed gently in the waves. Commander Hooke, now awake and looking a bit worse for wear, stood on the deck, eyeing me sternly.
"Blac, what happened?" he asked, his voice firm but concerned.
I grinned, feeling a sense of pride and accomplishment. "Mission accomplished, Commander. The orb is hidden, and we're ready to head back."
He nodded, a small smile playing on his lips. Knowing nothing of what happened "Well done, Blac. Well done."
With a final glance at the island, now receding into the distance, I turned and followed Booth onto the ship. As we set sail for home, I couldn't help but feel a sense of excitement and anticipation. We hid the orb or so we thought?
The End Of Chapter One
Scroll over to Chapter Two