Emotionless (The Emotionless Book 1) Page 11

  We sat a few seats away from two male mages. They gave me a once over, shook their head in disappointment and looked forward once again. From behind me, not that far away, I heard this loud bark of laughter. Donte, Nixon and Silas were a few rows up from us and towards the left. They waved enthusiastically with both hands. I turned and pretended that I never saw them. I see Hopper had done the same.

  The arena suddenly grew silent. A man walked through the side of the arena wearing a black suit with a red tie. A black cape clipped to his shoulders rippled red while he marched forward, towards the centre of the stadium. He held a grand staff in his hands, and I could feel my interest soar. Unlike my mum’s and dad’s staff, that was rather dull and bland, this man’s staff shined a brightened red. The crystal atop of the staff was in the shape of a round, smooth orb and the colour of sap seen on weeping trees. I couldn’t correctly see the excellent work on the staff. I wonder if it is as textural as the staff itself. Mesmerised by the staff, I hadn’t realised the man was talking until Hopper tapped my shoulder. Removing my gaze away from the staff, I dragged them up to the mage that had a megaphone hovering over his mouth.

  “– Welcome you all to A Mages Guardians War!” He bellowed. Mages shot up from their seats immediately and clapped enthusiastically. “Now, let me introduce the mage that will be participating in today’s war. We have Fiona Marten who is on a six-war winning streak!”

  He raised his arm back towards the entrance to the arena. A woman in a padded black vest and army pants ran out while waving to the camera that was following her every movement. Her long golden locks of hair bounced up and down while she ran. Dark blue eyes scanned the crowd nonchalantly and kind of glazed over everyone as she ran the furthest away from the exit and on the other side of the arena. Straightening up, she looked dead ahead at the commentator and smoothed over her features and turned it into a sneer of a feral and wild animal.

  “Our other mage will be picked by our random generator camera.” He raised his hand and the large screen that he was on changed and showed the crowd. One camera flew up high and then spiralled down to a dip from high in the air. “The camera will spiral to a fall. When it gets close to the ground, it will shoot up and pick a mage at random to participate. Now, you can refuse, that is fine, the camera will go back up in the air and repeat again.”

  The camera flew to the right after its spiral and the gust of wind billowed my hair. The man two seats from me fell back, surprised by the camera in front of his face.

  The man in the arena extended his arm and bellowed, “Will you join us, in the coliseum?”

  “No.” The man, two seats beside me, shook his head frantically. “I know what she can do. My Guardian will die before I can submit.” Fiona smirked, confirming that would more than likely happen. “Sorry. Take the camera back up.”

  “Okay. Camera, up!”

  The camera tried to fly back up, but it was stuck. A vice grip of a hand grabbed hold mechanically. Hopper exhaled an exasperated breath when I stepped forward with the camera within my hands.

  “Do you have a Guardian or a rune that resembles a Guardian?” The man asked. I nodded. “Would you like to participate?” I nodded again. He laughed and waved his arm inwards, towards the centre of the arena. “Well, come on in!”

  “Eileen – I mean my mistress.” Hopper grabbed hold of my arm when I went to step over the silver seat to get to the arena. “I cannot condone this type of behaviour.”

  “Okay.” Hopper slumped shoulders in relief and relaxed his hand on my arm. “Sorry.” His eyes widened when I slipped through his grip and stepped down towards an opening where two mage guards stood.

  I knew Hopper wouldn’t do anything that would cause a scene if I was further away from him. He wouldn’t want to disappoint my parents and be noticed. That’s how I found it particularly easy to slip away from him. Everyone believes that I will do as they say all the time without question. Perhaps the reason was that that was what I have done for years. I always listened and obliged. But at this moment, tasting my Guardian’s presence yesterday, I wanted them to show again and reveal themselves.

  Guards that were on either side of this opening gave me a firm nod. Down the flight of stairs, I felt the sinister glares from behind me and could hear the hushed whispers from mages as well. They were questioning why I was going into the arena. Some may even be curious about what Guardian was the one that killed Timothy. Some may hope that this Fiona woman will destroy my Guardian. Revenge, they would be thinking. Either way, I was confident enough that my Guardian would defeat or force Fiona to surrender her Guardian – preferably that later. I am not a murderer or a killer like everyone thinks. I don’t want to kill Fiona’s Guardian. Her Guardian surrendering will do just fine.

  The man went to grab my arm to shuffle me beside him when I stepped slightly back and out of arm’s reach. Not overly bothered by my reaction, he pushed away from the megaphone and spoke, “If you win against Fiona you will be our new champion, but uh, if that happens, I don’t want you back in here. Your family is not well-liked. I don’t want this to turn into a thunderstorm. I will lose viewers.” I nodded in agreement. “Good. I know your family well. I’d still back them, believe it or not, if you are ever considered to be part of Organisation and our ruler. I don’t want another family in. I don’t want another Victor Malloy.”

  “Okay. My family and I appreciate your unyielding trust in us. You will be remembered.” The words from years ago that I used to say to every mage came to mind, and I spoke mechanically. The man was flattered by my words and turned a bright shade of red. “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome… anyways, Eileen Frost, if you are too weak to summon your Guardian, you can use runes that have something similar. It will be weaker against a Guardian, but we do encourage the use to use mage magic from mages themselves. It spices things up, you know?” He then winked at me.

  “Okay.”

  “Right. Stand over there, and we will begin shortly.”

  I did as he said and stood on the other side of the arena, opposite Fiona and where she stood. I felt nervous and touched the black gem on the back of my hand. I needed to summon my Guardian, somehow – but I wasn’t sure how I am supposed to do that. Every other time it was like they were laughing at me whenever I tried to summon them. But now, in a crowded place, with my life on the line, I feel their presence, like they were standing beside me, ready to protect me.

  “Ladies, gentleman, children, I would like Fiona Marten and Eileen Frost to summon their Guardians and prepare for this war!”

  “Frost?” Words became clearer around the arena. “The one that killed the mage in A Mages War?”

  “Why is she back?”

  “Who let them back in?”

  “Get her out of the arena!”

  “Slaughter her Guardian, Fiona!”

  “Destroy her!”

  I wanted to ignore them and pretend that I was in a room of silence, but they screeched irritatingly loud within my ears, and it was overwhelming. I know what I am doing is wrong. I know that I would more than likely be in every mage magazine and tabloid and newspaper and article online to any mage known. My parents will read about me and think that I was particularly stupid and ignorant in the situation that I so happened to place us in – But at this moment, I didn’t care.

  Fiona Marten decided to summon her Guardian first. I decided to let her considering I was still figuring out how to summon my own.

  Her slender hand raised and the gem on the back of her hand glowed yellow in colour. The Guardian must have been aware that she needed them for a spark of electricity and static rippled in the air. Pricks of hair rose and frizzed by the static that surrounded her. The sound of awe and surprise-filled the air around the arena. Everything heightened, and my skin glowed, suddenly on edge when a bright yellow flash blinded me for a second. Blinking away the bright spark of light, beside Fiona, and behind the large static that zapped around them, was a Chimera.

  Chi
mera is the largest of the cat race. Ferocious, with a roar that could destroy an entire city, wiping out electricity for hours. They hold so much power within them and around them that whenever a Chimera was near, mages would know for a power outage would randomly come within the radius of that Chimera. They usually live on their own island, content to live out their days there until they were summoned. This Chimera looked young. His body much slimmer, so I am assuming if he ended up morphing back into his human form, he would be no older than twenty-five. The Chimera’s face narrow, slender, not that much of a mane and their eyes were a bright yellow that complemented his dark brown fur and cream coloured hair.

  A deep and thunderous roar vibrated the arena. Mages stood in awe, with their open-mouthed stares.

  It was now my turn to summon my Guardian. I raised my arm and glared right at the gem that was a steady black. No spark of gold was to be seen and no hint of a presence, or anything that would make me believe my Guardian was going to come. There was nothing, but I needed to force them out if they weren’t going to appear willingly.

  “I summon you, my guardian,” I murmured.

  Nothing. Silence. No golden light. Not even a slither of magic sparked.

  Fiona snorted a laugh.

  “I summon you, my guardian,” I said once more.

  I wonder if the fact that I can’t speak with an urgency that my guardian doesn’t believe that I was in any grave danger. That complicates things, considering I have a curse that keeps my face and my voice rather bland and emotionless.

  “I summon you, my guardian.”

  Laughter filled the air. Heat then radiated off of my skin and burned. I knew that I must be red, and that made mages laugh harder. As much as I wanted to run away, hide and ask Hopper to take me back to the Ordinary-Human world, I could do something else, something perilous.

  “Activate, defence level two,” I spoke softly.

  The rune activated along the inside of my wrist, and the rune on my wrist appeared before me, round and as tall as a first-floor building. A stone foot landed outside of the rune, and the sandy ground shook. Hands came out next, pushing their body outwards until what stood before me was a monstrous stone knight. The second defensive rune I created stood proud and tall, and he looked kind of blocky: Stumpy legs, muscle builder arms and a huge belly of a stone knight. Not the best nor will he ever be as strong as a Guardian Knight, however, he was very honourable and faithful. I could tell that those blue gems that resembled eyes were set on Fiona and he was determined to make sure that she doesn’t come close to me at all. If that ever happened, I had another trick up my sleeve. That commentator mage said we were allowed to use magic and that’s all I needed to know, to make sure that what I might do won’t break any sort of rules.

  “Because Eileen Frost is too weak to summon her Guardian, and more than likely won’t be able to until the age of eighteen, she will use her, uh, the stone man instead. In this case, the war between the two will end when either Fiona’s Guardian surrenders or dies or if Eileen’s rune and stone man get destroyed by the onslaught of Fiona and her Guardian.” He looked between the two of us and asked, “Do you both understand?”

  “Yes,” Fiona shouted sneering.

  “Yes,” I agreed, nodding.

  “Alright, let the war begin!” The commentator announced.

  The Chimera moved without a second thought. The deep rumble in their throat echoed out, and static moved and zapped towards my stone knight. Weary myself, I let the defence level one activates, and my protected bubble formed before me and circled around for my protection. My knight raised his thick arm, and the static electricity slammed into it. Sparks flew away, smoke simmered, and my knight stayed firm and unmovable. Electricity doesn’t work against rock. There were no mechanics nor anything that could spread electricity through him. Fiona seemed annoyed that her Chimera didn’t do anything. Her blue eyes narrowed and then she raised her arm and her veins illuminated. I shuffled my foot back, to keep my body stable in one place and was ready for anything. My stone knight looked back at me, nodded, and the gravel along the edges of his groves ground when he did so. He always sounds like two bricks rubbing together.

  My stone knight is very defensive. He doesn’t necessarily look for kills nor goes out and attack. He enjoys when they come to him and then he attacks. But it worries me because Fiona’s Guardian also looks like he can be both. However, I can see the look in her eyes. She’s contemplating on if she should attack yet or –

  A flurry of attacks came forth through her hands. Ready, I felt the defensive rune level one activates and wrap around my stone knight. A thump and an echo of a sound blasted against the shield. Sparks of orange light zipped and zapped. I concentrated hard on keeping that shield from breaking that I didn’t notice the Chimera until he was halfway towards my knight. Fiona smirked, and I then knew that they must have done this type of distraction move before. We were both allowed to use mage magic to attack, not only defend. She also seems like the type to attack more than support, which makes this situation interesting.

  Releasing my hold on the magic defence, my knight raised his arm when the Chimera slammed into him. I took a few paces away from them and off to the side before they squashed me. Long, sharp claws of the Chimera dragged along the stone, and white lines streaked up the side of my stone knight. He stumbled back and then stone hands grabbed the Chimera and with the strength that he has, hurled the Chimera back and he went flying. Sand flew upwards when he landed and picked up and suffocated our surroundings. A low angered rumbled came from the Chimera. He was angry. Who wouldn’t be? My knight practically hurled him across the entire arena. As happy I was with that, the arena crowd went silent.

  I ignored the crowd and scanned the area and tried to look for where the Chimera or Fiona’s attacks would come from. She seems very headstrong enough and in tune with her emotions adequately to react crazily when something happens to her Chimera. Slightly on edge, I let the first defence activate around the knight. Sand simmered down, and like a veil, it dropped to the ground. Fiona was still where she stood before, but her Chimera was nowhere to be seen.

  My stomach dropped, and throat tightened at the roar from behind me. My reaction was to defend myself without knowing. My shield wrapped around me instead of my knight. My knight tried to turn, but he was too slow, and the Chimera clawed at my knights back. Electricity zapped through the Chimera’s body and even knowing it cannot do too much with the electricity, my defence negated and couldn’t wrap around my knight due to the static that made my defence waver, and it rejected defending my knight. My knight tried to reach out to remove the Guardian, but the Chimera manoeuvred in a position that was hard for my knight to grab and throw him away.

  Worried for my knight, I went to use my attack when I noticed Fiona raising her hands from the other side of the arena. A swirl of orange came into the focus of a spear, long and sharp. She raised it high and aimed it towards my knight. I knew that if I tried to attack the Chimera, it might not do anything, but I can try and stop my knight from being destroyed and have a broken, dead rune on my wrist. I should bring him back, but it is hard when something is on him. If the Chimera jumps off, I can bring him back to me and give up, but the set look in the Chimera’s eyes makes me think that what they were both doing was suicide.

  I don’t know what to do. Defend or attack? Either option, I could lose my knight. The spear then shot towards my knight, and I reacted defensively. I was best on defence more than attack.

  I raised my arm and felt my veins throb brighter as it consumed my mage magic. The third level defensive shield appeared. It was more of a netting, weaker than the second level shield, but I couldn’t wrap that one around my knight while he was being attacked. I had to have faith that this one will hold. The spear touched the netting, and the red, square mesh stretched with the spear that tried to force its way through. However, relief flooded when I realised the orange, sharp spear was not strong enough.

  I looked over
to Fiona, and my relief turned into worry. She smirked at me. Fiona raised her finger and twirled it around and around. This zipping, wire sound charged nearby me. The spear was spinning, and burning smoke engulfed the air, and my protective netting snapped. Wires broke, and my level three defence retracted back into my arm, weak from that attack. Now, the spear shot forward, directed to the chest of my knight and there was nothing that I could do but watch my knight be obliterated.

  Suddenly, I stumbled back when the ground shook. Sand burst upwards like a torpedo crashed into the ground right before my feet. I looked on with awe at this golden light that shimmered through the hurricane of sand and dirt. Within a blink of an eye, they shot forward towards the spear. My heart lurched, and I went to raise my hand to defend my guardian when there was no need. The spear hit into something. A shield of their own, perhaps, but something firm, for it thunked, deflected, and spiralled away and sunk into the ground near Fiona’s feet. She stumbled back and screamed. My guardian then shot towards her. A whirl of gold and sand still covered my guardian enough that I couldn’t tell what they were.

  Gasps and shouts filled the arena. They screamed that Guardians were not to harm the mages in this war. Before I could summon my guardian, Fiona’s Guardian retreated and shimmered and appeared right before Fiona. In my ears, I heard this breath of laugh, soft and sadistic. A moment later, a wash of yellow blood sprayed out, and the hurricane of dust and gold disappeared. The gem that throbbed gold moments before dulled back down black once again.

  “Jacob!” Fiona wailed.

  “Defence level two, deactivate,” I murmured.

  My knight that was battered and bruised shimmered out and swirled to life back into its rightful place marked on my skin. Fiona was not so lucky. From here I could see, her yellow gem fade, the light and spark fading. Her trembling fingers touched her Guardian. Blood oozed out of his yellow silk shirt on his chest, where his heart lay. A sword, knife or spear, one of those types of sharp weapons pierced through him, and he was dying. The Guardian with the vibrant yellow hair and eyes and tanned skin landed on buckled knees. Before he could collapse to the ground, he turned into nothing more but yellow dust. The gem on Fiona’s hand dropped off, a dead colour now.