Teenage Sorcerers: Prophecy Foretold

Chapter 7: New Loss

It's been about a week since the Midnight Crusaders ran into Lulu and had left the sorcery realm, and thanks to the ointment, Lucius was able to have a speedy recovery afterwards. The group spent the past week training with Lucius and developing a closer bond with their companions. Despite the group caring about their companions deeply, it was clear that out of everyone, Andre cared about his companion the most. He would do just about anything with Tempest, whether it was training or just eating their lunch together, he refused to do anything without Tempest by his side. One of the only times he would put Tempest away was when the group was heading back home. Everyone else would summon their companions, but they wouldn't do it as much since the companions would still need time to rest in the objects the group chose for them to embody. Sabbi chose her lock and key necklace, Chaz chose her golden bracelet, Bryan chose an old watch, Andre chose a silver chain necklace, and Kennethn chose his zodiac sign necklace. The group decided to take a day off from training and spend some quality time with Lucius, all of them agreeing on making a nice dinner together while also talking about their mythical abilities. The group kept asking how Lucius managed to get more than two abilities, but he kept saying he'll explain when the time is right and kept asking them to focus on cooking. It took them a while to decide on what to make since the group kept going back and forth on different dishes, but they all eventually decided on making personal pan pizzas. Once the pizzas were in the oven, Lucius asked one of the teens to go to the store to pick up some drinks, Andre being the one to volunteer. The group gave Andre the money he needed to buy the drinks before he made his way out of the forest with Tempest and to the nearest store, already having Tempest go back into his chain necklace to not be seen by others by the time they got there. He picked up the drinks that his friends and Lucius picked out and got something for himself. As he walked through the entrance of the forest, he summoned Tempest again, having him follow close behind. When Andre and Tempest were halfway through the forest, the scurrying of footsteps were heard from a close distance. Andre quickly stopped in his tracks and turned to where he heard the footsteps. He was frightened for a brief moment, thinking it was another creature, but it appeared to be a human. Before Andre could fully process anything else, the person began climbing onto a nearby tree, climbing at an abnormally fast pace. Andre wanted to leave, but he couldn't once he noticed that Tempest was missing. "Tempest?! Where did you go?!" Andre called out, scanning through the trees in desperation. It didn't take long for him to see Tempest standing by the same tree the person had just climbed up. He was pointing up the tree while looking at Andre, trying to tell him that the person was still up there. Before Andre could even walk over to Tempest, the person jumped out of the tree and launched themselves feet first onto Tempest, causing him to fall over and whimper in pain. "Tempest!" Andre called out, going to Tempest's side and helping him sit up. The person was now standing in a clearer lighting, Andre being able to see who hurt his companion. A girl with blonde buns in her hair and now dirty overalls was standing before the two, flashing a metallic slingshot in her hand. "What the hell is wrong with you?!" Andre yelled at her as he quickly stood back up. The girl didn't say anything as she created a small ball of pixie dust in her hand and placed it against the band of her slingshot. Before she could aim at them, Andre quickly pushed Tempest to the side and pulled out his plastic sword, whacking the girl's hand with it. She dropped her slingshot from the hit and grumbled. "You jerk!" She scoffed as she threw the pixie ball she created at Andre, hitting him directly in his face. This caused Andre to spit out some of the pixie dust and swat it away, giving the girl enough time to rush over to her slingshot. Andre managed to get rid of the pixie dust before holding up his sword and transforming. He held up his sword to fight just as the girl stood before him, slingshot in hand with another pixie ball, but it looked different compared to the first one. This one had lines surrounding it, circling around the pixie ball. "Put the sword down and I'll leave..." The girl spoke lowly to him as they both kept their focus on one another. "I'm not putting shit down!" Andre yelled at her, getting ready to swing once she made any sudden movements. As they both continued to stare at each other, Tempest gathered his strength and put his hands up to the sky, maintaining focus on the clouds. The clouds slowly began turning gray and rumbling could be heard echoing from them. The teens looked up at the sky and then at Tempest, who was still keeping his focus on the clouds. Before Tempest could create his storm, the girl switched her aim from Andre to Tempest, launching her pixie ball at him. Tempest fell back from the impact and felt the pixie ball pierce into his chest. Andre immediately swung at Tempest's attacker, but to no avail. She had already jumped out of the way and created several pixie balls around herself. Andre tried to use his teleportation on her, but his mind was too clouded with rage, he couldn't focus on his ability properly. He gave up on using it and decided to rely on just his sword, running at the girl with full force. Every swing he took, the girl would dodge with ease, making Andre build up more anger inside. When he tried to swing at her again, she managed to jump over the sword and launched all of the pixie balls at him, making him feel numb all over his body. He dropped his sword and collapsed onto the ground, forced to let the feeling of his body slowly drain away. He still had a bit of feeling left in his hands, but it felt unnatural. He watched as the girl slowly walked up to him, forming a pixie ball twice the size of all the other ones she had made. All Andre did was look over at Tempest, who was still on the ground, his body too numb to move as well. Seeing the display before him, the feeling that Andre felt in his hands began to grow stronger. He didn't notice it yet, but his hands were now starting to glow a bright yellow color, sparks starting to spray out. The girl seized fire and noticed Andre's hands, slowly backing away. When seeing this, Andre finally took notice of his hands, seeing the sparks his hands were making. The shocks from his hands began to circulate throughout his body, causing the numbness to subside. He slowly got back up and began walking towards the girl who was just threatening him now cowering against a tree. Andre's anger was causing the electric sparks to fly around in different directions, some of the sparks landing on the nearby trees. The trees caught in the crossfire began to be set ablaze, some of the trees falling over. The noise from the fallen trees caused Lucius and the rest of the Midnight Crusaders to leave the hut to see what was going on. It didn't take long for them to find the source of the commotion, seeing Andre towering over the girl with his hands raised and filled with electricity. The girl decided to take her chance with Andre being up close and got her large pixie ball ready, aiming directly at his heart. Kennethn was first to see her do this, about to call out for Andre to move, but instead could feel his body move forward. He moved his legs to catch himself, but instead of just stopping himself from moving, he felt the urge to run. He didn't fight this urge, now running at full speed towards Andre and the girl, but he was going at a supernatural speed. It only took him a few seconds to be at Andre's side, pushing him out of the girls line of sight. Kennethn managed to do this just in time, the girl launching her pixie ball a mere second after Andre was pushed out of the way. What they didn't know was that Tempest was still laying numb behind them, forced to remain on the ground as the pixie ball went into his chest. Tempest stared at Andre and the others as the pixie ball began to grow in his chest and soon exploded into a burst of dust, taking Tempest along with it. Andre could only watch as his companion perished before his eyes, Tempest's blood splattered against the trees and his body blown to bits. As everyone except the blonde bunned girl stared in shock, a small sphere of light emerged from Tempest's lifeless bits before going up into the sky, never to be seen again. The girl took this opportunity to escape, managing to climb up the same tree from earlier and running off through the branches. Andre gently pushed Kennethn off of him as he moved towards Tempet's remaining corpse. He was in too much shock to feel anything, all he could do was collapse onto his knees and stare down at his lifeless companion. "Andre..." Sabbi walked up to him, crouching down to his side. "I-I'm so sorry..." she rested a hand on his shoulder. "It's not your fault..." was all Andre could say as he stared down at his knees. It took Andre a few minutes before he was finally able to express how he was feeling, bursting into tears. Kennethn approached him and tried to comfort him. "Andre, I'm really sorry that-" "Why did you do it?" Andre glared up at Kennethn, making him step back a bit. "H-Huh?" "Why did you do it?! Why did you move me out of the way?! I could've saved Tempest! He would've been alive right now if it wasn't for you!" Andre yelled at Kennethn as he stood up and pushed him away. "B-But that girl could've killed you! If that thing was able to kill Tempest, it could've killed you too!" "What, you thought I wasn't strong enough to protect Tempest?! Is that it?!" Andre continued yelling, tears streaming down his face. "That's not what I'm saying! I'm saying that you could've died! It was either you or Tempest!" "Guys, stop it!" Sabbi tried to keep the two boys apart before Bryan chimed in. "Andre, don't be stupid! Are you saying that you'd rather be the one to have taken the attack than Tempest?!" "Yes! I'm stronger than him, I could've taken the hit!" "But that girl aimed right for your heart, you wouldn't have stood a chance!" Kennethn added, making Andre stop talking. He didn't know that the pixie ball was aimed at his heart, he wouldn't have been able to dodge or block it with how close he was to the girl, so Kennethn and Bryan were right. Andre shut his mouth as he went back to Tempest's remains, kneeling in front of him and continuing to cry. The entire time this was playing out, Chaz was staring up at the sky, trying to pinpoint where the sphere of light from Tempest went. "Lucius?" She looked behind her to Lucius, who was looking down with sorrow for Andre's loss. He picked his head up a bit when he heard Chaz call him. "Yes..?" "Do you know what that light was? The one that came from Tempest?" Lucius sighed before answering Chaz's question. "Yes, I do..." He walked over to the rest of the group. "Everyone, please come back into the hut...there's something I need to tell you all..." "What is it, Lucius?" Kennethn asked as Bryan and Sabbi helped Andre calm down a bit and stand back up. "Remember when you all kept asking me why I have more than two mythical abilities..? Well...I think this is the time for me to explain..."