ONCE UPON A WARLOCK ✓

HE SLICC, HE LICC & HE THICC

JULIUS SULLIVAN CAN FEEL IT! Eating at the rails to his train of thought, and a thorny rose blooming in his ventricles, literally.

When an unseen force rams into him on that spot, it's far worse than scores of years ago when he got smacked in the face by the blades of a Nazi copter. The impact from this invisible source displaces the food tray from his famished hold to kiss the floor; mashed potatoes, eggs, juice and pudding.

"Oh fuck! Not the pudding. Ah, why me?" whines Julius, considering the chocolate confectionery is highly anticipated, a semimonthly special on the school's menu. They cascade with a splosh and now drench the tiles in the most uglily artistic way.

Julius bends to his knees, reaching for the pile of his lunch now rubbish with a pained stare. Well, he almost did when his body is jerked upright and rather violently. He does a double take.

"The fuck?"

The calls and cries from his friends are blocked out as the only question hovering his being like an halo is- "how the fucking way did my legs get a mind of their own?"

Then‚ it clicks.

He's being compelled.

No.

No‚ this is way stronger than compulsion. It's as if millions of invisible tentacles are reaching out to snag at his conscience, little fingers wiggling towards the core of his cerebrum. He puts two and two together to realize his body has been fending off the sorcery, hence, the sweating, heaving and dizziness since morning. That was the moment he stepped onto school grounds.

"I swear to Zeus, if--"

He tries again to reach out for his Airpods that were once in the tray but now sliding across the tiles, but his outstretched hands pull themselves backwards, one of them slapping his own chest and heaving him straight up to his feet. His shoulders then draw him and the rest of his body out of the cafeteria.

There's no getting out of this...thing for sure, but Julius gritting his teeth, neutralizes the aura choking his body with his own.

The culprit and puller of these strings doesn't seem to notice the deflections because it keeps being consistent and right now‚ it has managed to work.

Well‚ almost. His conscience is still intact, thankfully.

Julius pushes open the glass doors of the main block and heads to the back of the school like a missile locked on target. Had this spell--whatever this is--been casted on a mere human‚ they won't even realize themselves shitting in their pants.

There's an ill throbbing right in the centre of his heart too. Like something‚ someone is struggling into his pericardium. Apart from the goddamn flowers, of course.

A very good question is how this warlock managed to effectuate cloaking their essence all this while, breathing the same air and walking in the same school with Julius. Yet, he never sensed the extraordinary. Has Julius gone slack with his magic? Does Elijah, his twin brother know of this too? Could this be a trap he's being conjured towards? Maybe Elijah has been captured already?

He still can't feel his body though and is pretty sure all his hair when he combs or saliva on the cafeteria's public spoon is completely gotten rid of so there's no chance of a voodoo doll of him being poked at.