Sarah walked through the middle of town, annoyed that she had to make a pit stop at town hall soon. For some reason, the barrier drained more of her magic than anticipated. Even after they left, a specific portion of it had been active almost all morning; she could feel it disturbed by something, hopefully just some animals struggling to walk through. She regained most of her magic during her nap, but after mending the barrier again this afternoon, she would need more than a nap now. Sarah groaned as her steps felt heavy and labored. She hated how much more substantial and long-winded her brother and father's magic were to hers, yet the barrier seemed to drain her first. Semi-sentient spells were always fickle and tedious.
She was barely up the stairs when a sharp pain slapped her whole body. Every nerve simultaneously sparked with sharp pains from the surface of her skin to the inside of her bones. It happened so suddenly that she couldn't help but double over in pain on the step she was on. She breathed heavily, trying to control her breathing to outlast the pain, someone wanted to help her to sit upright, but their touch hurt so much that she accidentally blasted them away with a protective ward that she pushed outward. Involuntary tears spilled out of her eyes as the pain began to subside enough for her to try to diagnose the pain's cause, "Is everything alright?" The stranger asked.
"Yes, I'm fine. Sorry about that." Sarah embarrassedly apologized, "I couldn't control it at that moment." She explained further.
"It's alright. I'll be a little bruised tomorrow, but other than that, no harm done." She reassured Sarah. When the stranger turned around, she gasped, looking at the sky. Sarah looked too, and felt her eyes grow wide in horror.
Large ripples radiated from the northern end of town, with booms echoing throughout the air. Some places even crackled with bright flashes of light. Sarah looked out at the paused town, with everyone stopping to look at the frightening sight. Now Sarah understood why the barrier ate up most of their magic; she grunted to get up, then barged through the double doors.
"Good afternoon Ms. Barrot." The clerk greeted in a slow monotonous voice, "Sadly, all of our charging stations are closed for cleaning at the moment and won't be ready for another ten minutes." She informed Sarah, who didn't care about what she had just been told. Sarah sighed with a light slap on the counter and a sigh. "Does this not work for you? The clerk asked with a sudden sweet change in her voice, but it still made Sarah look at the lady with a frown that battled with the clerk's narrow-eyed glare.
"No, it does not, actually." Sarah challenged.
"May I ask why?" The clerk asked condescendingly, making Sarah want to blast her through the wall.
"Because the barrier is active," Sarah announced. The clerk gasped and ran towards the front entrance. Everyone in town knew her family's role in protecting them, whether everyone acted like it was a different story. The clerk turned around with a paler face and slammed her hand on a panel behind the counter once she reached it.
Alarms blared through the building, and an elevator door slid open with two armored leather men exiting it, "I can only grant you enough time to charge up once." The clerk told Sarah, who nodded. AS Sarah turned to walk into the elevator, the woman pointed and shouted orders locking down the building. It could be nothing serious, but whenever there was an incident at the border, the town center was locked down to protect the obelisk that resided underneath. Hopefully, the Archmage, chief battlemage, and her father would be there when Sarah got out. No doubt all the other North American mage towns would be notified by now.
Finally, the elevator door opened below the ground to a cavernous chamber illuminated by magma snaking below her in wide channels of slow-moving rivers. Heated and powered by the planet's core, the obelisk they protected glowed with various colors. It was taller than a skyscraper, jutting through a dome protecting nonfire mages from the heat. Before advances in mage tech, earth, and fire mages had to collect magic inside certain minerals and stones to take back to the whole populace. Sarah couldn't even imagine the labor of it. Now, they had a structure with charging stations that did the work directly from the obelisk.
Another sliding door hissed open to where the charging stations were. The sounds of hardworking coolers and pressure-maintaining systems outweighed the sounds of moving magma. The chamber was beautiful as the station hovered in the center of the giant crystal that grew from the magma. Her town of Diremoor was one of the most vital catalysts of magic worldwide because of the amount of magma in the area. Only the other oceanic obelisks outcompeted theirs because of the close proximity to the planet's core. Merfolk villages protected those obelisks, and another one in Eastern U.S was made by a meteor long ago.
A trash can-like panel pulsed with a small amount of light. A block of metal trapped a certain amount of energy from the obelisk directly, holding it until someone came to absorb it. Sarah slid her arm into the chute and felt the tingling of the magic flowing into the blood vessels in her wrist. A warm rush swept through the inside of her body, making her slowly feel more alert. It took a few minutes for her body to absorb its limit, but she was ready to rush back to the elevator without any time to admire the underground scenery.
The main chamber of the town hall was now empty by the time she returned to the surface. Her boots clomped on the floor as she raced through the room. She slammed the doors open, running into them at full speed using a ward to throw them open. She held the clear shield before her while looking out at the town. The main street was packed with commotion as the local guards began locking down the streets, escorting civilians to the schools.
Sarah moved the ward flatly in front of her so she could step on it. She threw another one in front of that in time for her foot to land on it. She continued throwing more out in front of her so that she was now running above the commotion. To preserve her magic, panels behind her would rotate ahead of her so she could keep running.
"Need a lift?" A boy named Soyuvnik asked, flying through the air with turquoise strands of magic swirling around his hands.
"Sure," Sarah agreed, already tired of running and wasn't even out of town yet. She wasn't remotely close to being athletic.
On the last panel, she jumped off with her hands held out behind her. The panels thinned, then dissipated into auratic magic that she could reabsorb quickly through her palms. Her body was just about to begin falling when a layer of turquoise charm wrapped around her waist like a thick belt. Soyuvnik flew ahead of her, wearing his usual outfit of black boots, dark blue jeans, and a dark blue hoodie despite not being his favorite shade.
"Do you know what's at the border?" Sarah heard his voice ask since the wind was battering their eardrums with their swift movement.
"I have no idea," Sarah answered honestly. Knowing his determination, she probably disappointed him a little bit. He hated wasting his time with small combat feats since his family was a robust collection of empaths, telekinetics, and telepaths. They could tap into the magical energy around them, and every member of his family could control and change different emotions, each with different colors for their magic.
"Let's go find out then," Soyuvnik shouted, doubling their speed. Sarah couldn't tell if his eagerness was a good or bad sign. However, whatever the barrier was dealing with, she could feel that it wasn't anything too significant. Like he said, they'll find out when they get there.
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kindred Magic
Fantasy"He be a witch." After discovering the mage town of Diremoor, Dimitri learns the truth of his identity manipulated by his employers. Charged with teaching the newcomer the ways Diremoor, Sarah must also keep her town safe. Both have their hands pro...
