With incredible precision, Gappy darted at me. My heart froze in my chest and time itself slowed as I watched him propel his sword forward. Reacting instinctively, I kicked up the table in front of me and his sword got caught in the wood, buying me enough time to flee from the tent.
My heart raced as I zoomed out of the tent and into the crowded streets. The streets blew past me like a cloud of red, in that very moment, all noise had vanished from the world except from the thud of my hammering heart. There was not a single thought in my mind other than getting out of that town, the people had turned on me frighteningly fast, and I still had no idea why. But it was clear they had no intent of sparing my life, so my will to live pushed me forward.
A loud horn echoed through the air, immediately followed by orders.
"CLOSE THE GATES!" the voices shouted repeatedly.
Panic surged through me and I lost my concentration, I crashed into a sweets stall and tumbled to the ground. It took me some seconds to recover, the sounds of angry shouts and thundering footsteps neared. I made the mistake of peering back, the fear in my gut intensified as I caught sight of the furious mob that was relentlessly pursuing me. Their faces were an endless sea of scowls, they clutched their weapons and jewelry tightly as they hurled threats and accusations at me. Gappy led the swarm of people; his eyes were laced with a smoldering vengeance as if I had offended him in particular.
As I got up and got ready to continue running, I soon noticed that I had been blocked from the front and back by the mob. They slowly but surely closed in on me and my mind struggled to come up with a solution to my current ordeal.
"ALISTAIR!" I heard a voice scream for me in the midst of the angry crowd, I turned around to see Penelope being held back by a hefty woman. My heart pumped with worry, but she on the other hand was brimming with determination.
"Do something!" she mouthed to me.
She did not need to elaborate further, her eyes said it all, she wanted me to use my magic. She had witnessed first-hand what my magic could do, how dangerous it could be, but she knew that it was the only way I could save us both. I had sworn to myself after the death of my family never to use magic again, but I had already broken that oath once, and it was about to be broken once again. I chewed my tongue with hesitation, even though the mob wanted me dead, I still did not want to hurt anyone.
If I was going to use my magic, I needed to be careful; from what I had observed, the results were only catastrophic when my emotions were all over the place. Despite the obvious chaos, I closed my eyes and started to take deep, calming breaths. It had been years since I had properly used my magic, I would have to recollect memories from my childhood for help.
Waves of energy rushed through my veins as my mind wandered back to the cottage I once lived in with my family. Laughter would fill the air as my sister and cousins played our silly little magic games, I also could not forget the occasional screams from my mother and aunt telling us to stop. I broke into a smile as I recalled those fond memories, magic back then was simply an extension of my very being, it flowed endlessly through me like a stream. For too long I had neglected my abilities, over the years, I had even come to fear and despise them. But in that moment, all those negative emotions disappeared without a trace and my body started to sizzle from within.
I opened my eyes once again and mouthed to Penelope, "Run!". She nodded before she yanked her head backwards and crashed it into the head of the woman holding her from behind. As the woman momentarily lost her grip on her, Penelope swiftly ducked into an alleyway to her left, right before I set forth my palms and unleashed a hurricane of wind on the crowd.
The raging wind swept across the crowd and the open air like a beast, people screamed as they were blown away by the powerful gust. Dust and debris danced in the air after the wind had settled, and the eerie silence was interrupted by objects that started to fall from the sky.
I stared in disbelief; "Did I just do that?" I asked myself. An indescribable joy tugged at my heart; even after so long, my connection with magic had not been severed. My cheeks heated with pride, and a soothing nostalgia washed over me. I looked forward to assess my damage, every trace of the grand celebrations that had taken place previously were all blown away; the music and dancing had stopped, and all the stalls had been destroyed. The mass of people that once stood in front of me now lay on the floor, several feet away from where they once stood. Their hair and clothes were disheveled and the bewilderment and horror were clear on their faces. The terrifying mob that pursued me was nowhere to be found, instead I found a group of frightened individuals lying on the ground. They all got up and started to run away and I sighed with relief, but I was alarmed once again as I saw Gappy pull Penelope out from where she was hiding.
She struggled against him but he easily overpowered her and held her in a headlock before he speedily grabbed his knife. His hands started to move across her neck and he glared at me with his hate filled eyes. I was not sure how I did it, but one second, I was where I stood and in a split second I was in front of Gappy. I thought the world had stopped but it had not; time just moved slowly. Everything around me moved unusually slow, but my mind and body moved quickly, very quick. I pushed Penelope out of the way and her body sluggishly started to fall to the ground, I summoned another wave of wind that propelled Gappy's body upwards and then with a great force, I brought him down to the ground.
Time moved normally again and Gappy's body met with the ground with a loud bang. Penelope fell gently, her head immediately whipped back and she looked around with confusion. Only a moment ago she was being held by Gappy and now she was a couple of feet away from his injured body. I wasted no time, I grabbed Gappy and held him by the neck; his chest heaved slowly as he coughed up blood. Despite being badly hurt he still scowled at me and tried to claw at my eyes, but he was too weak to do anything.
"RELEASE MY SON YOU MONSTER!" Missus Zheng demanded from a distance. While I was distracted, her husband hurled a ruby necklace at me that barely missed me but managed to scrape against my shoulder. As I hissed from the sudden sting, Gappy tried to escape my grip; my anger had started to climb once again, so I furiously pulled him back by his hair.
My lightning threatened to resurface, dark clouds started to appear in the sky and it took everything in me to keep it down. I had done nothing to these people, and yet they wanted me dead.
"Penelope was right" I thought to myself, it really was too good to be true, all the doubts I had earlier that night were confirmed. Though I was enraged, I had done enough damage, I did not want to hurt anyone else. I dug my nails into the palm of my free hand to control myself, and the wind that swirled around me came to a halt, as well as my lightning.
"If you want your son back, we need to talk"
...
The walk back to the tent was long and silent. Some ran away as I neared, but most stood their ground, still armed with their weapons; the only reason I had not been ambushed was because I had Gappy. He weakly kicked and struggled as I dragged him against the ground behind me while he went in and out of consciousness. Penelope bravely walked alongside me while Gappy continued to mutter curses at us.
We eventually reached the tent and the old couple had not removed their eyes from us from one second. My path was cleared as I made my way to the stage, the air was thick with tension but it did not faze me, I needed answers. The deafening silence was my cue to speak, so I boldly asked,
"What happened out there?"
"WHAT HAPPENED OUT THERE? HOW DARE YOU ASK THAT AFTER WHAT YOU HAVE DONE?!" Missus Zheng screamed back at me as she lunged for me. Her husband quickly held her back and tried to reason with her.
"Bao! Stop it! We need to be careful, he has Theodore" he said to her.
"I only retaliated. You attacked me first and I want to know why"
"Because you are the very evil that we have tried to keep out for years!" Mister Zheng replied.
I could not understand how they managed to know about my powers before I even showed them, but then Penelope touched my hand lightly and started to put things together.
"Remember the other night, when Gappy killed that beast?"
I raised my eyebrow as I tried to follow.
"He killed it with his sword, the same sword that burned you. The sword has rubystone infused in it Alistair, and I have been touching rubies all night and nothing has happened to me. You on the other hand..."
"Are you saying I am some kind of beast?"
"No! But you and that beast must come from the same kind of magic"
She turned to the crowd, "It's sapphire, isn't it?" she asked.
Penelope's theory instantly made perfect sense to me. The story that was told earlier that night mentioned something about Ruby and Sapphire, and how their clash created magic on earth. If the story was true, then there was a possibility that Pure ones originated from sapphire, what I could not figure out was why ruby harmed me or any being born from sapphire.
The crowd remained silent after Penelope's claim, a clear indicator that there was some truth to it. But regardless of what the truth was, I needed to get the people to understand that I meant no harm to them, so I told them everything. I told them what happened to my family, I told them why Penelope and I were on the run, I explained to them that I had no reason to hurt them and that I really just wanted somewhere to stay.
I looked to the crowd hoping that I might have won them over, but they were still all on defense.
"We cannot have talks of peace while you still hold our son captive!" Missus Zheng angrily spat. I looked to Gappy who's hand I still held unto while he sat on the ground, he looked more awake and a bit stronger; I sighed with frustration as I pulled him up. "Don't try anything stupid" I warned as I pushed him to his parents, they immediately caught him with relief and started to check his injuries.
I waited impatiently for a response from the couple, Missus Zheng finally spoke.
"I am sorry Alistair, but you have no place here. Not only are you a danger to us, but this place is also a danger to you". I ground my teeth together as I realized that she was right; If rubystone harmed me, then I had no business in a place like Monstriel. But I was not ready to leave such a perfect place behind, it was everything I could have hoped for, I would rather take the risk.
"You should go" Gappy said as he glared at me. He wiped some blood from his nose as he spoke, guilt crept into me as I realized how badly I had hurt him. I knew that he attacked me first and that he tried to hurt Penelope, but it made me feel even more like the monstrous version of myself that I desperately wanted to run from. It seemed like my powers had become inseparable from pain and hurt, and that they could never be used for anything good.
"Wait! We can help each other out. We can earn our place here" Penelope suddenly said. The people and I waited curiously for her explanation, she eyed Missus Zheng as she began to talk. "You told me yourself Missus Zheng; Monstriel is going through a rough patch". The room erupted with murmurs as soon as she spoke, I could see the old woman shrink with embarrassment. Penelope added, "But I know how to help, just look around you, this town is covered with rubies. Precious stones even the tiniest of fragments cost a fortune!"
The people's eyes wandered around the tent and even their own bodies; rubies truly were everywhere, it made me wonder how I managed to not get hurt much earlier that night.
"You have no idea that you live on a gold mine. If you were to sell just one of these stones, your town would be swimming in riches!". Penelope surprised me yet again with her confidence, she grabbed everyone's attention with her gestures and she was very convincing, she had also managed to craft an intelligent plan in a few seconds. Somehow the people of Monstriel were not aware of the worth of rubies outside of their little bubble, if Penelope and I made a lot of money for the town then they might have allowed us to stay.
"How do we know you are telling the truth?" a random person asked.
"We have no reason to lie to you. We will take some rubies with us, sell them, and bring our gains back here"
Gappy suddenly scoffed at her statement. He sat on a table while a girl dressed his wounds with ray dust, his parents told the girl to leave and hurdled around him, I could hear them whispering and arguing among themselves. Missus Zheng finally turned to me again,
"We hear you Alistair. The truth is, we really are desperate" she admitted as she looked around. "Most of us here have not left these walls in years or have never even left at all. I do not know if that is good or not, but I do know that it has kept us safe this far"
Her husband added, "We grow our own food and share everything we have with one another. We have depended on no one else but ourselves for so long, but we need some help now"
She cut back in, "We'll let you do as you propose, we will give you some rubies, we have more than we could ever use. You will do what you promised and bring every single thing back here" she sighed, "If you do that, you can stay"
I almost jumped from joy as soon as she said that, Penelope and I glanced at each other and broke into relieved smiles.
"But I'll come with you" Gappy jumped off the table and menacingly made his way towards me. In a second, he was in front of me and he pulled out his ruby dagger and pointed it to my throat.
"We'll do the job quickly, and if things go well, you'll make it back here alive" he brought the blade even closer to my neck, "Remember, this town's existence remains a secret, or I'll cut your pretty little throat before you even think of telling anyone". Instead of backing away, I inched even closer and edged him on; we stared at each other head on and his anger burned brightly behind his green eyes. Penelope got between the both of us before things could escalate any further, she pushed us away from each other and took my hand and we followed the couple out of the tent.
We walked behind Gappy and his parents to another location, from afar it appeared to be a garden that was guarded by a low fence. Just as the rest entered and I was about to step in, I was halted by the couple.
"What's the matter?" I asked confused.
"Not safe for you to come in here" Mister Zheng explained. As he spoke, I noticed the strange plants that grew inside the garden, weirdly misshaped and crackling with red lightning. Taking a step into that garden would have probably killed me on the spot so I gladly hung back. Penelope and I looked at each other,
"Wait here, I'll be in and out in no time" she said to me. I nodded slowly, Gappy gave me an unreadable stare before all four of them turned around and walked into the garden.
PENELOPE'S POV
I trailed behind Gappy and the old couple; the beauty of my surroundings left me spellbound. The garden glowed with a radiant red, peculiar plants with the same hue littered every corner. I suddenly felt something cold press against my bare shoulder, I turned to find Gappy placing a small ruby on me, he raised his hands up in a mock surrender as soon as he caught me staring.
"Just checking" he giggled. I rolled my eyes,
"What's the matter, dumpling?" he added.
"Dumpling?!"
"You like?"
"Stop it! Do not even try to brush off the fact that you tried to murder me a few moments ago!" my temper spiked.
He sighed, "Fair enough, but I wasn't actually going to hurt you! I just needed to get your beast to calm down before he caused any more damage. And clearly, that didn't work out like I planned"
"First of all, he is not a beast! Alistair is the kindest person I know" I pushed my finger into his chest. "Secondly, you all attacked him first, he just fought back"
"Whatever you say, just be careful"
I was about to jump to Alistair's defense once again but I was blown away by the sight in front of me. A colossal tree stood tall in the center of the garden; its robust stem seemed larger than life. I was further astonished by the fact that the tree wasn't adorned with traditional leaves, rather, vines hung from the branches, covered in sparkling rubies of varying sizes.
"Pretty, right?" Gappy asked me.
"It's more than pretty" I admitted, I was lost for words.
"This is the very tree that gave Monstriel life, a gift from Ruby" he described it as. Gappy left me as I admired the tree, when he returned, he held a large ruby in his hand the size of his head. He quickly handed it to me and I almost dropped to the ground from the weight of the precious stone.
"So...will that fetch some real money?" he asked as I steadied myself. I stared back at him with disbelief, I could not believe the question he just asked me.
"How are you a thief and not know what pure ruby is worth?!"
"YOU'RE A THIEF?!" his parents asked at the same time.
"Alright! We're done here!" Gappy said as he practically forced me out of the garden and left his parents puzzled. We rejoined Alistair outside and he shifted backwards as he saw the large ruby in my hands. His eyes widened at the size of the stone, just then, the couple returned with a bag for the ruby, inside it were a few other pieces of jewelry. Gappy and his parents left us to gather a few essentials that he would be needing on his trip, Alistair and I also left to get our belongings and change into our regular clothes.
After that, we went to the stables where Alistair and I saddled our bags unto Galorian and mounted him; Gappy picked for himself a strong and handsome stallion with chestnut skin. We slowly rode out into the streets and the whole town trailed behind us as we headed to the exit gates, a cloud of skepticism still hovered over them all. The townsfolk cried out to Gappy and begged him not to leave with us, and I could not blame them completely. Alistair and I were two foreign strangers who had stumbled into their town and caused a load of trouble in that very same night, and now we were stealing away their most trusted hero. I could see why the people were doubtful, but I was determined to earn their trust and to also clear the assumptions that they had about Alistair.
The sky had been tinted orange by the impending sunrise, the entire night had whisked by right before my eyes and I had not caught a moment of rest since the chaos began. For some reason, I was very much looking forward to the hopefully short trip. It might have been because of my eagerness to experience anything I deemed an adventure, but it could also have been that if we were successful, it would be the first step in rekindling the friendship I once shared with the people.
The wooden mechanisms that kept the gate together began to move in unison and eventually opened up a space big enough for our horses to pass. Gappy glanced back at his parents with a smile, "I'll be back before you know it" he reassured them.
"Please, find Griffin if you can" Missus Zheng pleaded with teary eyes, Gappy's face suddenly turned serious.
"I'll find him, I'll bring him home" he promised as he placed a hand on his heart. We rode through the crack and the town wished Gappy safety and an early return while they completely ignored Alistair and I. As we crossed the gates of Monstriel, I instantly asked the most recent thought in my head.
"Who's Griffin?"