Talis spotted wizards from the Order of the Dawn flying high above. Sprouts of fire erupted from their palms, spiraling across the sky, engulfing a cloud of shadows.
There, in the sky, were dark sorcerers like the ones from Master Holoron’s stories.
As Talis craned his neck up, searching the skies, he wondered how he could help. He heard a voice behind him.
“Over here,” said Rikar. His hair sprung out in all directions under his nightcap. Mara stood next to him, staring at the sky.
“What are you doing here?” Talis said, frowning at Mara.
“The explosion woke me up…I know you’d be here-”
“But your parents will kill you if they know you’re here…”
“Who cares! Our city is under attack. Let’s do something to help.”
Talis shrugged and motioned towards the entrance. “Let’s go up and get a better view.” They climbed broad, marble stairs leading to the top of the temple. Torches lined the stone walls. As they neared the exit, brilliant flashes of orange and blue and golden light flooded through the shafts.
Outside, a shriek stopped Talis in his tracks. A wizard from the Order stood paralyzed, a shadow mist enveloped her form. Faces of demons rose and fell inside the mist, and when she sank to her knees, he spotted a dark sorcerer hovering in the sky fifty feet away from them.
“Over here.” Rikar tensed his fingers and a luminescent blade, as long as a man, appeared near the flying sorcerer. As Rikar swung his arm around the blade lopped the man in half. The cloud of shadows evaporated, and the two halves of the sorcerer thudded on the streets far below.
“Help her,” Talis shouted, and bent down next to the woman and held her wrist. She still had a weak pulse.
Nikulo pushed Talis aside and lifted her up so she sat. Placing his hands on her upper back, golden light filled her body in waves. Her eyes surged open and she gasped.
“She’ll be alright,” Rikar said. “We have to keep going.”
They stalked towards a group of young apprentices clumped together, facing the sky. Fireballs and lightning and wind shot from their palms.
“Cassis!” Rikar raced towards the group. Cassis turned and flashed him a terrified smile.
A thundering crack singed the air between them, pulverizing a twenty-foot stretch of wall. Talis smelled electricity and sulfur. When the dust cleared, he noticed the wizards huddling together.
Rikar stretched his fingers towards a sorcerer flying above the group. A shimmering hammer formed in the sky, and he swung around to strike him, but it reflected off some invisible shield, and knocked Rikar back ten feet, slamming his head against the stone wall.
Nikulo darted towards Rikar and bent down, lifting his chin. Rikar shook his head, staring bleary-eyed around.
“Behind you!” Mara tapped Talis on the shoulder.
Whirling around, Talis noticed an invader diving at him. Cassis reacted, sending blast after blast of fireballs at the sorcerer. The sorcerer turned, palms facing her, pressing the fire back. Her body lit with a orange glow.
“Be careful, Cassis,” shouted a boy next to her.
She stopped her casting and the enemy used the pause against her. He fired off a wave of shadows and electricity, and the blast sent her tumbling across the ground. She swung her arms around, repelling the attack, igniting the air in front of her. Locked in battle, Cassis and the sorcerer pushed against each other until her face glowed red. Steam swirled above her long, black hair and her body pulsed with some tremendous internal fire.
“Stop…stop it!” yelled the apprentices. One grabbed her arm but recoiled in pain. She was burning.
When Talis saw the fire running through her, he could feel it circulating inside. Sweat flushed from his pores. Hot as an oven. Raging. He gazed at her, palms feverish. He wanted to help, so he kissed the amulet dangling from his neck and made a prayer to the Goddess Nacrea.
The sky suddenly paled to a silver gray. Cassis’s eyes were locked in terror. The cowering apprentices frozen like statues. The sorcerer’s face was fixed in a hideous scowl. The explosions and shouts and cries stopped. A crack formed in the sky and a golden light blossomed amidst the blackness. Now the fever inside Talis rose into a maddening intensity. It was too much. He stared at the sorcerer, knowing he had to release it.
With a hissing breath, he shot a powerful blast of fire from his palms. Since the invader had focused on Cassis, the attack sent the man somersaulting through the air. Smaller streams of fire had shot near Cassis and the apprentices. Talis gaped. Was that magic? Had he done magic for the first time?
“What did you do?” Rikar yelled, fury spilling from his eyes.
Cassis screamed, panting, flapping her fingers wildly, like she was trying to cool down. Her face gleamed red like embers.
“Water…water,” she gasped, glancing around. The scintillating glow of fire raged inside her body.
Talis shielded his eyes from the intensity of light pouring from her. The sorcerer flew back towards them, and scowled at Talis. He curled his fingers, ready to strike. Cassis lifted her hands as if in a grave struggle.
“No, Cassis, stop!”
Rikar ran towards her.
She released an enormous fireball at the enemy, incinerating him into a cloud of ash. But she couldn’t contain the power. It burned stronger inside. The light rose to a frenzied brilliance as many apprentices around started running away from her.
Her neck dropped. Her flaming, brilliant body exploded in a powerful wave, burning chunks of fire and flesh searing everywhere.
Those fleeing were cut down by the blast. Some were knocked against the stone walls. Some catapulted over the edge and plummeted to the ground far below. The ones refusing to leave her side were incinerated where they stood. Talis felt his stomach twist and flip around, and he vomited, coughing, choking on his own bile.
Gasping for air, for life, he tried to expel the image from his mind. A primal fear burrowed its way inside. What had just happened? Was this the terror of magic? He still felt the fire burning inside. Why would he risk his life and the lives of his friends? The power roared so strong. Could he ever learn to contain it?
Rikar balled up his fists and pounded the ground, sobbing. Nikulo came close and tried to comfort him, but Rikar just pulled away and curled up. A lightning bolt shattered a nearby tower, jolting Rikar to attention. He raised his head and stared blankly in the direction of the blast.
“She’s gone,” he whispered.
“We’ll be dead too if we don’t get out of here.” Mara pulled Talis back.
“Why of all times did you choose now to practice magic?” Rikar glowered at Talis, crawling towards him with murder in his eyes.
“It just happened-”
“Just happened? You just cast a wild spell and hit the sorcerer and your allies? Your inept, ill-targeted spell caused Cassis to lose her concentration, killing her and her friends? How does that just happen?”
“I didn’t mean to hurt her…I was trying to help.”
Mara turned Talis away from Rikar. “That spell you cast was amazing! I can’t believe you actually cast Fire Magic. Just ignore Rikar, it wasn’t your fault. Cassis went too far and lost control. Let’s get out of here.” She pointed at hundreds of black shapes charging across the sky. “Every moment more come-we’re outnumbered. Let’s go.”
“Cowards,” Rikar said, “I’d rather fight and die then run away like a dog.” He motioned to Nikulo and they jogged off towards the tower where a group of wizards were fighting a larger group of invaders.
“We can’t compete against that kind of power.” Mara sighed. “Let’s at least try to find Master Viridian or one of the other masters.”
But as they turned, a sorcerer with flame-red hair flew towards them, his long black robe fluttering behind.
“Let’s go!” Talis dashed after Mara and they raced towards the stairwell.
“Little mice, don’t run away,” the sorcerer said. “The Master has sent me to collect you.” He pointed a ruby- tipped staff at Talis and issued a flood of black tangle-vines.
