How the Emperor trapped a Witch

Chapter Eight: Impending doom

"Your doing really well." I praised Alaric as he casted a shield over himself. "But, how long can you keep it up?"

I send a few small fireballs which burst once they hit against the shield and smirked as it held strong. I increased the strength, speed and heat of the fireballs until I sensed that his shield had weakened and with a wave of my hand: I sent a creeping vine through it which wrapped around his ankle and pulled him off his feet.

"I give!" Alaric laughs and shakes his head, his long dark hair swayed in the breeze. "No fair."

"Anyone who attacks you won't be fair." I shook my head and released him. Alaric manages to flip mid-air and landed on his feet instead of his back, a result of his years of swordsmanship training. 

"I don't think that I will ever win against you Celestia." He grins at me. At some point he started to call me Celestia, which made me miss the cute boy from a few years ago. Alaric was now 18 and it was getting close to the time when the novel was supposed to start off. 

"You will." I patted him on the back, looking up at him. He was really no longer the small boy that had survived a harsh life- he was now a adult who has mastered swordsmanship, archery, governing, alchemy, and now magic.  "Right now, I have more experience than you. I have no doubt that you will succeed in the future."

In the novel, it was said that the evil witch was killed during the fall of his eighteenth year, just before the leaves started to fall. 

 Alaric seemed to of noticed that I was on edge these past few weeks but he never questioned me. I had to think of an excuse to send him off to make sure he didn't come into contact with the demon and start on the path of the novel to his future.

"Alaric." I sat down at the kitchen table as he hands me a cup of tea. "There is one more thing that you need to do to complete your training in magic- you need to gather special ingredients to make an elixir.

"What kind of an elixir?" He asks.

"The elixir is actually isn't the main goal, its the gathering of the ingredients: some of which are in very dangerous areas."

"I see." Alaric nods at me while I give him a scroll with the list.

"You should leave right away." I smile at him. "And make sure to study each type of the ingredients, since some have a specific way to be harvest."

"Are you not coming with me?" Alaric gave me a puzzled look and grabbed my hand, looking like a kicked puppy.

"I can't. You need to complete this trial by yourself- with no help from me." I laughed. "Don't worry, everything will be fine. You learned everything that I could of taught you, trust in your knowledge."

He finally let me go after I patted him once more and left to go pack. I sighed once he was out of sight. This elixir mission was actually a high level task which most apprentices would not do, but I had no doubt that Alaric would be able to do it; my main reason for it was that it took almost a month to complete.

Plenty of time to deal with the impending demon attack.

^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^*^

It's been a few days since Alaric had left. I gave him a spatial bag which would freeze time for any plants and food while storing everything else- a staple in isesaki novels.

I smiled and waved as he left, the trees hiding him from sight to which my smile disappeared. I turned inside and grabbed my scrying ball.

"Quinn." I say as she appeared. "I need you to do something for me."

"Of course Master." She replies

::::::::

"Is everything alright Celestia?" Captain Kimbra asks me after I finished installing the last barrier in the town. "You still haven't told me why you needed to put barriers."

"Captain." I sighed and stood up to admire my handy work. "Something is going to happen soon and I'm not sure if the town will be involved."

"What's going to happen?" She asks then sighs deeply when I don't reply. "Let me know if you need help."

"Don't worry so much!" I tried to reassure her but it clearly didn't work. "These are just in case- me being over cautious."

I laughed it off as Captain Kimbra shook her head. I wasn't sure if the demons would come to the town while they were here, but it was better to be overprepared then under.

::::::::

I list off all of my preparations, making sure that I did every one: I double checked it then sighed.  

'Please let this be enough.' I think to myself as I glanced out the window at the red and orange leaves of the trees.

I hadn't had much sleep due to the anxiety and nervousness at what was to come. I decided then that it would be better if I tried to sleep so that I would be ready-not realizing that my fear would soon be realized.