All Is Fair In Love And War

Chapter 3

March 15, 1943

Things started going wrong when a gunshot rang out outside and people started shouting.

The small group of soldiers looked at eachother before they started booking it down the hall. Douxie wanted to run back outside and check on Carter, but he couldn't do that. Vera would have his head.

"Where are we even going?" Marcus shouted as they ran.

"Laboratory!" Vera shouted back. "We need to get information on what kind of weapons they're building!"

"Well, do you know where it is!?"

Douxie felt a tug at the back of his mind. He stopped and stared down a hallway. "This way!" He called to his comrades.

They followed him down the hall, the soldiers moving as fast as they could. Douxie led the way, feeling like something was pulling him, calling to him.

Finally, they made it to a set of doors, and the buzzing noise Douxie was hearing grew louder. He felt his magic stir in his chest, tingling under his skin. Then he felt a tug, like somebody had tied a string around his ribcage and was pulling him forward.

"In here." He said quietly, brushing his fingertips against the door.

"How do you know?" Marcus asked, fingers twitching against his gun as he glanced behind them.

"I just know." Douxie insisted. "It's a feeling." He pushed open the doors and stopped, face paling. "Oh gods..."

Immediately he knew what it was. They'd found a miniature Heartstone and had plugged into some sort of machine. Coils of cable and wiring ran around the room in thick rubber tubes. Small lights that had been placed around the room lit up in intervals like fireflies. The Heartstone was pulsing weakly from its place in the bulky machine.

Douxie took a stumbling step forward, the tugging feeling getting more intense. Vera caught his arm.

"Woah there!" He firmly gripped Douxie's wrist. "You okay?"

Douxie couldn't even answer him. He stared at the Heartstone, his head spinning as the waves of corrupted and tarnished magic washed over him. Then, the machine lit up, sending pulses of electricity through the rock. It seemed to screech in anguish and Douxie screeched too, staggering forward like someone, or something, was yanking on the invisible string around his chest.

He held his head as his vision doubled. He couldn't breathe and everything hurt. The string was tugged on again, sending a jolt through Douxie's body. He was vaguely aware of his squadmates yelling, but he couldn't make out what they were saying over the ringing in his ears, and the screaming in his head.

The machine powered up again and Douxie screamed with the Heartstone, being yanked forward again and again until he'd reached it. Only now did he realize his magic was physically reacting to it. He was glowing, magic radiating off his body in wisps of light. As the machine went off again, Douxie felt like something was being torn straight from his soul. He screamed again and lurched forward, his hands finding the Heartstone, sticking to it like glue. His magic pulsed down his arms, flowing freely into the stone... no, into the machine. They were draining the Heartstone of it's magic. And now it was going to do the same thing to him.

He was vaguely aware of gunshots ringing out behind him, but he could barely think through the pain. He let out a weak cry of agony as the machine lit up once more, sapping more magic from him.

Through his haze of pain, Douxie had one clear thought. They aren't taking my magic.

He grit his teeth and pulled, focusing all his energy on taking back what they'd tried to steal. The two opposing energies pulling against one another felt like the most extreme game of tug-of-war Douxie had ever played. But he refused to lose. As greedy and as hungry as this machine was, it didn't have the right to possess magic. But Douxie did. He was a wizard. He was Merlin's apprentice. This magic didn't belong to these greedy, bloodthirsty thieves. It belonged to him, and he was taking it back.