Day Nine - Aunt Marge's Big Mistake

SpaceWizards
(Another SpaceWizards Action/Adventure Mystery)

Like Halloween, Earth names and titles are also on a lot of other planets in the universe. It’s not as many as Halloween is. But there are several hundred that use one or them both. Most of them only had the Earth names, but there are quite a few that use titles like Aunt and Uncle. There are also several that just use those titles but not the name. The planet of Navish is one of those that use both. This is the story about that planet. But it’s not set in the present. It took place thirty thousand years ago.

“Aunt Marge's Big Mistake”

A Short Story

Remembered By

Jacci

     One Fire Ball after another struck the already damaged wall that Jacci hid behind. Each Fire Ball explosion destroyed another part of that wall. It was getting harder for Jacci to hide behind. Jacci sat scratched behind it with her left against her chest. Each explosion sent more pieces of the wall flying over her head. A little bit of it fell onto her head. Jacci waved it off. Each explosion got closer to her head. The last ball only a few inches above her.

     Where is everyone? Jacci laid flat on the ground and peered around the edge of that wall. She looked up at about twenty-five of the dead. Five of them had just fired two Fire Balls. Those five stepped aside to let five more step forward.

     As they were raising their palms, Jacci turned on her side and fired two Fire Balls of her own. A few seconds later they exploded right in front of those five dead. The dead behind them were pushed back by it. But they weren’t killed too. I’m getting killed by the dead.

     Jacci peered around the edge of the wall again. She quickly ducked back just as a Fire Ball zipped past her head. Then she looked over the top, brought her hands parallel to her head, and fired two Fire Balls back at them. Only now they weren’t bunched up in groups of five. Now they were spread out along the flat boards in front of the house. They used the small trees in front of them as cover.

     So, am I. The dead are all around me. Jacci scooted still on her side behind the wall again and mumbled something. A few seconds later an image of Pacill appeared in a jagged circle against that wall. He hid between three trees in the middle of the back part of the house in front of them. The dead did surround him.

     They aren’t all around me. But there are twenty-five of them. And they are firing electrical strings at me. Jacci mumbled something, and the image of Pacill got replaced with Angoria. Several strings passed all around her as she kept mumbling something.

     Jacci returned to the wall every time someone thought something. Then she would return to the fighting. She laid flat against the wall then peered out the opposite side of it. Jacci stood up and started firing electrical strings at the dead. The strings came out of her fingertips one at a time as though her finger was a weapon. One at a time the dead got hit. And least most of them did. But it only shook them up a little.

     The dead are using both Fire Balls and electrical strings at me. If you think it’s hard on you, it’s twice as bad for me. An image of Mairon appeared in the jagged circle. He was staring at Jacci in a similar circle on the side of a Death House.

     Horrald has surrounded this large house with a couple hundred of his best dead. That’s why we decided that we should split up to get to him. Borrele appeared in the jagged circle next. She shot two Fire Balls at a group of ten dead. They exploded seconds after six of the ten fired about twenty electrical strings at her.

     Jacci stood up and started firing one Fire Ball after another at the dead. Each ball was aimed at one of the dead. And one after another they were killed when the balls exploded. But the dead were also fighting back. Most of them fired Fire Balls, but some chose electrical strings. Jacci kept ducking behind the wall every few seconds. Mostly because of the other SpaceWizards. But also because of the dead trying to kill her.

     What we don’t know why he did it. It can’t be the female who lives here. She’s not even a SpaceWizard. Stavon’s image appeared in the Jagged circle. A few seconds later he shot several electrical strings at a group of twenty-five dead. He followed that with four Fire Balls.

     Marge is barely a wizard. And she’s not even a very good one. Why is Horrald so interested in her, in protecting her. Yena appeared in the jagged circle after Stavon’s image disappeared. She also hid behind a falling apart wall. Her wall was a little bit better than Jacci’s. But there was also a tree next to it with a large in between. That’s where she was hiding at now.

     Jacci closed her eyes and mumbled something. Then she fired two Fire Balls ten times their normal size at the dead. A few seconds later they exploded and took out almost all the remaining dead. The few that survived were shaken up by it. She killed them too with some electrical strings.

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     “What are you reading? Is that your diary, again?” Yena asked as she entered Jacci’s Sleeping Chambers and saw Jacci at her desk reading something.

     “Yes, I was reading something. And yes, it was my diary again.”

     “It’s your turn in the Control Chamber. When you didn’t show up or respond to Pacill’s thoughts, he asked me to check up on you.”

     “Sorry, I lost track of time. I’ll be up there in a few minutes.”

     Yena walked up to stand behind Jacci. “What are you reading?

     “I like to read my diary. Especially after a battle with Horrald. It helps me to calm down too. I also like to read it in between battles too, to compare the last battle with a similar one from the past. It also helps me to write about the most recent battle.”

     “Did you find a similar battle from the past for our latest encounter with Horrald?” Yena asked.

     “No, I didn’t. And I did a search for it twice. While I was doing it, I did come across another battle that I couldn’t stop myself from re-reading. Do you remember the battle of Navish?”

     Yena didn’t say anything for about a minute. She just sat down in the chair next to Jacci and stared at the Data Monitor. “Isn’t that the one with the wizard that was named Aunt Marge?” I remember that one because for a long time we thought Aunt Marge was a thing instead of a name.”

     “That’s the one. I don’t know if you all know this, but I give all of my entries a title. When I came across the title, Aunt Marge's Big Mistake, I just had to read it again.

     “Did we ever discover what that big mistake was?” Yena asked.

     “The big mistake was easy to figure out once the battle was over and we confronted her. Her big mistake was getting involved with Horrald.”

     “Oh, that’s right. She was feeling down because she wasn’t that good of a wizard like the rest of her family, friends, neighbors, etc. were. Horrald saw this during one of his planetary recruitment and took advantage of her to make her one of his living wizards.”

Word Count = 1,174