Majia Showdown ~ Chapter Seven

         Sounds came from the room previous the Crystal’s hall. Diem spun around just in time to see two young men ran out of the door as the room collapsed; a second more and they would have been crushed.

         “What the…?” said instinctively Diem, surprised.

         The two men ran towards Diem, and she started to focus the majia energy in the air, just in case they attacked her. Suddenly, from the ruins of the collapsed room, behind a curtain of dust appeared a red-haired man. Diem noticed the Crystal behind her glowing eerily.

         The weird man had several cuts throughout his body, but walked over the destroyed ceiling of the room and jumped down into the Crystal’s hall as if nothing had happened. The other two men stopped running right in front of her and spun around to face him, breathing heavily. They too had several cuts and wounds, combined with the sweat that oiled their bodies.

         “You should go hide,” said the shortest of the two, as he faced her, seriousness showing on his black eyed gaze. “This guy’s no joke.”

         She looked at him with a “mind your own business” face. He may be preoccupied about her safety, but she could take care of herself. The impudence of this guy!

         The red-haired man walked slowly towards them. He put his hands in front of him and Diem felt as he started sucking majia from the air. She was startled by this man’s nerve, absorbing majia from the Crystal’s hall was forbidden. He would soon learn the consequences of his foolish actions.

         “This Majia Magno is unbelievable,” said the man to himself.

         Magia Magno?, thought Diem. This was what people often called places with vast amounts of concentrated majia in the air. However, this place was no magno. Crystal energy was the type of majia that lingered in the shrine, very different from magnos mainly because this energy had a master. The man stopped walking and pointed his palm at the three people standing several paces in front of him.

         “Release,” he screamed and from his hand a jet of water blasted towards where Diem, Raph and Marcelo were.

         “Move!” yelled Diem at the two men, petrified in place. She pushed them to the sides and prepared to release the energy that she had absorbed earlier.

         “Form!” whispered Diem as she spread her arms wide and a shield of energy shaped in front of her, protecting everything behind it. The attack smashed against the invisible wall but it could not overpower it, weakening until it was nothing.

         “Hide behind the crystal, it’ll protect you,” ordered Diem to the two young men, standing amazed behind her.

         “But Agairan will…” started Marcelo.          

         “Yeah, we’ll do that!” said Raph rapidly, interrupting Marcelo and hauling him behind the enormous reddish crystal. Marcelo, who didn’t thought that hiding and leaving the girl to fight Agairan on her own was a nice and manly thing to do, started to protest at his friend.

         “Shut it! We already tried our best and failed but she was able to deflect his weird attack. She has more of a chance than we ever did, and if we try to fight now, we will only become an obstacle for her,” argued Raph, convincing Marcelo of his logic.

         The red-haired man looked at them and with a sudden jerk of his hands he sent bolts of lightning out of his hands. Diem used her majia to alter the course of the bolts and they went back to their creator, however, he moved out of the way.

         Time to go on the offensive, thought Diem, taking a deep breath. She ran forward, taking impulse, which ended in a sudden stop and her hands jerking forward.

         “Incendario,” she screamed and from her palms, energy burst in a scorching column of swirling flames. The blistering tornado of fire danced, heat filling the room, the odor of molten rock heavy in the air. Agairan eyes widened, taken aback by the power of this young girl. However, he remained unworried, confident of his own skills.

         “Silly girl,” laughed the man as he vanished within a wisp of smoke. Diem used her abilities to feel the energy traces of the man. She grasped his position and when he appeared, several feet to her left, she directed the towering inferno towards him. It caught him by surprise, the full strength of her majia throwing him through the room, until he smashed against a wall on the far side. Diem, confident of her victory, stopped the majia assault, feeling her reserves faltering. She directed her attention to the two men watching her from behind the Crystal, strutting slowly to them. Suddenly, she saw their eyes widened at a sight she herself could not see, and she spun around releasing majia bursts to where his enemy had crashed. The energy exploded against the wall, but the man jumped high into the air, obviously aided by majia, dodging her attack. He landed several feet away from her and looked at the girl sternly.

         “No more games!” exclaimed Agairan, his fists closed tight. Diem started absorbing majia energy from the air again, readying herself for the unavoidable clash. She felt her reserves filling bit by bit, majia running through her body like the blood through her veins. The red haired man threw his hands forward, releasing a majia blast from his open palms. Diem counterattacked by releasing a majia blast of her own.

         The blasts crashed against each other furiously. Brilliant sparks flew and from the colorful screen of light the blasts left behind came a ray directly to Diem. She raised a shield and the beam crashed against it, deflecting bursts of majia all around the room. Blasts flew everywhere, destroying walls, pillars and severing the roof. Diem felt her majia draining and her shield weakening. Unexpectedly, the majia battering against her shield dissipated. She raised her eyebrow and sighed, while keeping her shield up.

         “Release Enterom!”

         Diem’s majia shield shattered. A violent shockwave of energy traveled through the room, sending Diem rolling through the air, breaking the stone slabs covering the floor and even pushing the Feuer Crystal a little. Diem fell to the floor while Raph and Marcelo, unscathed and protected behind the Crystal, watched it as it shined even more deeply.

         Diem tried to stand. She spat blood, trying to get rid of the sour taste. She was shaking, but couldn’t point why. Then, Diem noticed the shining Crystal and her opponent closing on her step by step. She took a step back and understood why she was trembling: fear. Diem gulped. She felt her minimal reserves of energy, but knew that it was useless; this man was too much for her. Help me, please!, she thought, hoping that the Crystal could hear her. The red haired man stopped paces away from her and pointed his palm at her. This was it.

         Then suddenly, she felt an unexplainable gust come from the entrance of the room, reduced to a pile of rubble. Through the floor, four wisps of shadows moved swiftly through the cracks in the floor and positioned themselves before her. Then, they rose from the floor taking form of their own and becoming dark imitations of the four High Sorcerers of Fire.

         “Enough!” said a serious, deep voice that appeared to come from the walls themselves. Agairan released a majia blast to where the four shadows and Diem where standing but the energy vanished before it reached its objective. The shadows became wisps again and flew to where Agairan was standing. He moved his hands quickly, trying desperately to avoid the shadows but they tied his hands and feet like ropes and he fell to the floor with a grunt. Then, they enveloped his whole body into a big dark mass, where he lied like suspended in time and space.

         “Desterros,” said a severe voice and the black bubble with the man disappeared from existence in a black and white implosion of light. Diem recognized the voice; it was Lasko’s. She looked around for him but did not see him. Suddenly, she felt weak, her knees failing, the taste and smell of the blood inside her mouth becoming stronger. And as she feel, the last thing her blurry vision saw was the two boys running up to her aid and the reddish Crystal shining behind them.