The Dark Witch's Insignia

Chapter 08

<< AYIN REPULSE >>

And so, Ayin walks forward, and his insignificant magick appears in his palms. No more testing. He will need to give his all on it. He rushes towards the barrier and presses his aura into it. It didn't budge. No cracks either. Instead, it pushes him off a meter away.

He groans. His arms are shivering from that alone. His magick is at maximum but it is still hard for him. Yet, he knows that he is the epitome of hard work. So, he strains as he attempts to increase his output. Every bit of his magick is important–all his might just to break the barrier. His feet press on the ground, and to create the most powerful effect, he runs towards the barrier and presses all his weight on it. It pushes against him, but the more it is rejecting him, the more he pushes through.

Sweat appears on his forehead, his muscles complaining, and he is getting dizzy from too much use of magick. And suddenly, his magick disappears. His head hits the barrier, and he almost falls unconscious.

He knows Fon might be laughing by now. But when he raises his head to look at her, her eyebrows are only raised sky high as she glares at him. With that, he finds the strength to stand up.

He smirks. Right, hard work is all he has. He focuses on his magick again, but it is sputtering like a fading flame that's being blown away. He snorts. This is his last and final chance to break through the barrier. He will not give up now and he will put his all into it. It's not like it will kill him. The worst it will do is to make him unconscious of too much use, or probably some painful magick strain tonight.

Instead of Fon, he hears Prim's laughter. "Enough Ayin. You are just wasting your magick," she says loudly.

He groans. She might be pretty, but somehow he finds her laugh annoying. "Silence! I am concentrating."

Then he sees it–a visible aura forming on his palms again. It is more pronounced than the previous. He wonders how much pain he will suffer later to gather this much magick. Yet, more, he needs more.

"You! Stupid! Don't tell me you are planning to release all your negligible magick?! You should conserve your energy for the other tasks! She cannot be defeated. Stop fantasizing!" she scolds and approaches him. He just hopes that it's not to force him to stop.

"Prim!" Sven and Cesky shout simultaneously.

He grins. They must have known how dangerous it is to stop a wizard who is about to release his magick. Without proper control, his magick can go berserk and he will be at the worst end of its whip of pain–but they will too.

Finally exhausting his magick, he releases everything he got into Fon's barrier. He will break her barrier without a doubt. He will erase that smug look on her face every time she looks down on him. She will acknowledge him and she will stop abusing him! And so, he presses his magick against her barrier. This is his last chance.

"What an idiot! Did he join the Search with the sole purpose of defeating her instead of winning?!" Prim shouts and releases her aura to interfere with him.

Thankfully, Sven takes action and nullifies Prim's magick. "You cannot interfere, Prim. It is his decision," Sven says. "He knows of the pain that will follow right after."

But Prim struggles against her and tries to interrupt again. Cesky comes forward and helps pin Prim down.

"Are you on Fon's side? Or are you trying to stop me so that Ayin would be one less candidate in this Search?!" Prim suspects. She is trying to escape from Cesky's grasp.

"Why are you interfering anyway?! He will be the one who will suffer from it! Not you!" Cesky retorts.

And so, to take the opportunity of the situation, he pushes through Fon's barrier. It's not breaking, not a dent either. Still, he continues. This time, he is pounding on it, each thrust has more force in it than the previous–if that matters at all. But he hopes that soon, her barrier will give out and she will have no choice but to let him win this time.

And in one surprising moment, he catches her smiling at him, and on her lips; he reads a 'Congratulations'. He frowns, confused at the way she looks at him.

"It can't be." He hears Prim say.

Then, slowly, everything becomes clear to him. He doesn't know it at all. He's certain that none of the participants know Fon's plan either. He is just pounding on her barrier like a man possessed by ambition, even if he's aware that he is the weakest of all the Great Search candidates.

The barrier disintegrates in front of him and then, he hears Prim's frustrating laughter. Yet, he freezes at the situation he finds himself in. Fon still has that smile on her face. And he knows that his expression is a mixture of confusion, delight, and disbelief.

Fon stands up from inside the crumbling barrier. Then she approaches him and says, "I forgot to take into account that weak people had a different way of handling things."

He steps back from the incoming confrontation. This sweet smile might be poisonous to him. He might be into another round of her abuse. Even in front of the judges, he knows that Fon is uncontrollable. And she never failed to show that to him.

And so, he prepares himself to defend against her, even if he's already faint from too much use of his magick. But he didn't prepare himself enough for the next to come.

Surprisingly, Fon places her arms around him, and then she embraces him. It is the same hug that his mother always gives to him for a job well done when she was still alive. Is it Fon's maternal instinct, if that even exists? Or is it another way of shaming him in front of everyone?

To say the least, he is surprised, but not in a bad way. In fact, he realizes that he likes it and his chest starts to make small thumps of joy on his ribcage. But probably, it's just the adrenaline rush, or probably because his magic exhaustion is about to kick him in the gut.

But if that is the case, does that mean that she sees him as her equal now? He brightens up. If she says it, then he might find it hard to resist not to forgive her. He will also allow her to be his friend. He will be like that red-haired girl who's always with her.

He is about to smile when she leans closer to his ears and whispers, "Too bad, I lost. I'm going to make you pay for this."

And his little jumps of joy are completely replaced with anxiety.