The Incredibles

☆ Chapter 17 ☆

The world that stood before me was dark and eerie. The trees that bore rainbow-colored fruits looked as though they were dead. There was no horizon, just a blood-moon(eclipse) hanging in front of me. The scent of this place smelled rotten and sour. The grass patch consisted of dried grass that was hard and crispy. There was no sign of cheerful life. This was a different place than the Paradise Meadows.

Isaac was beside me, and regained consciousness at about the same time as me. Both of us were sitting on the dried, hard grass and panting.

Was the Meadows we saw just a moment ago an illusion?

"Hey... Did you hear the abilitials' voices just now?" I turned to Isaac, who seemed as traumatized as me.

"Dan was there." He replied coldly.

It was then I figured out that he must have gone through the same kind of fight that I have gone through just now. Just as I was about to open my mouth to clarify my assumption, I heard footsteps approaching us. I was certain that Isaac had also heard them as he immediately stood up, pulling me along.

"Who are you guys?" Isaac was intimidating.

As the footsteps came closer, 2 levitating abilitials could be figured out appearing in the midst of the darkness.

"Delphene! Dan!" I could not help but shouted across the distance between us and the strangers that accompanied the abilitials.

"Heh... Who are you guys.... It should be me to ask you guys that question." One of the 2 strangers answered.

"You don't need to know who we are, just know that we came here for the 2 fairies that the 2 of you have with you." Isaac shifted his sight to Dan and a look of determination flashed across his face.

"Wow. So the 2 of you must be the owners of these 2 abilitials." The other stranger deduced.

"These 2 abilitials are of great powers. Besides, the two of you cleared the Meadows entry trial so easily. I'm sorry, but I will be taking the both of you along with us to the King. He would be so pleased. Oh, how disrespectful of me, I'm Jasper and this is Asper, Incredible Priests." The stranger who was the first to speak to us among the 2 spoke wryly.

Did he just call us Priests?

How I wished I had the telepathy ability; I wanted to speak to Delphene so much. I had an uneasy feeling about this. The King? In this context...the King of the Meadows?

"How do you plan to take us along?" I asked. It wouldn't be that easy to subdue the both of us.

"Heh... We could just cuff you at the hands and.....what?!" Jasper was quick to doge the sudden punch by me.

It seems that we would have to depend on our combat abilities since George had told us not to reveal our abilities to anybody. Isaac also understood that and fought Asper using his pure strength.

As I got closer to Delphene and Dan in the midst of fighting, I realised that they were handcuffed and taped at the mouth to prevent them from speaking. So that's why they couldn't do anything. If that's the case, the voice I heard in my slumber must be Delphene communicating to me through....the mark of contract!

"Isaac... Look at your palm!" I mouthed the words to Isaac when his gaze met mine.

Following that realisation,I looked at my palm and saw the 'SD' mark of contract shining dimly. I pressed my other hand on top of it and thought of the things I wanted to say to Delphene, while professionally dodging Jasper's attacks.

S: Delphene!

D: .....Sherrie?!

S: Who are these people?

D: Bad people! They teleported me and Dan back to the Meadows forcefully upon finding out that we have not registered to be back by midnight!

S: You didn't tell me that you have to be back by midnight!

D: It's scary here... The darkness that enveloped the Meadows had me paranoid about returining.

S: So they're guards of the Meadows? Serves the King and not to forget, evil?

D: Yes. Sherrie, they had dark powers implanted inside them... Don't get hit by one of those.

Speaking to Delphene made the situation clearer to me now. Better not get hit by one of those they call the dark powers.

As I dodged and punched in the middle of my fight with Jasper, I had realised that this was not going to get anywhere until one of us starts to fight with our abilities for real. I was definitely not going to be the one to start the attacks.

"Hey...what is your ability?" I tried to lure Jasper into revealing his ability. I wasn't thinking much.

"Hahahahaha. Nope." He laughed that topic off.

"But you know... This fight is not going to get anywhere unless you start using your ability."

"Not that I care." Jasper smirked which made me want to punch him hard, in the face.

"K." I immediately made use of my fast leg movements and sped to Jasper, a knuckle held tightly with my hands. This man needed some good beating. On the face, of course.

"Shield." Jasper whispered calmly. In an instant, an ominous dark aura surrounded himself.

'Don't get hit by one of those, Sherrie!' Delphene's warning rang repeatedly in my ears. But I can't stop myself! I'm heading straight for the dark power! Urghhh!

"Sherrie!" I could hear Isaac's anxious voice. Dan must have also told him about their dark powers.

My legs won't stop running!

I was only 1 centimeter away from the dark aura.

Beads of perspiration trickled down my cheeks.

Suddenly, a bright aura that formed a shape of a man appeared in front of me.

I gasped.

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This chapter might sound weird cause' I had some problems with italics. Some of the sentences here were supposed to be italic, but the system wouldn't make them italic! 😤 *sighs*
-magikyoshin