Mistakes and Magic (Book 1)

Chapter 13 - Marvin's Magic!

Anti's POV

"You know you won't win." Marvin calls out as he teleports behind me and kicks me to the ground. So far in our fight, he's only used the basics he taught me early on.

Using balls of light to distract me while he teleports around, only sometimes attacking. As I finally got hold of my knife again, I attempt to land some blows when he gets close enough, but he seems to know every move I'm going to make.

Now, as the silver metal skids across the ground from my fall, and much too far for me to reach it in time, Marvin stomps down on my back. "Ugh-" I reach forward with weak determination. Marvin leans down, foot pressing further and straining my spine.

"Give up yet?" Imagining Marvin tilting his head with a smug and satisfied smirk on his face makes me want to keep going, but his tone halts my thoughts. His normal confidence is dimmed, making way for a slightly tired edge.

I crane my neck to look back at him, my shoulder digging painfully into the rocks and dirt, but I catch a peek. Marvin is definitely looking worse for wear, eyelids drooping heavily as he struggles more and more to keep his head up.

If he can read my thoughts, I need to do this quickly ... though I doubt he's paying any actual attention right now.

"Never." I answer loudly as I drop back down to my front. Gathering a ball of light in my hands, I quickly pull them back for momentum, and toss the orb down the road.

Marvin's weight shifts slightly and he chuckles a bit as the ball disappears over the hill. "Was that supposed to distract me?"

"Uh huh."

"Didn't work."

"I know."

The magician yawns and forces more pressure down and I groan. "Just," he yawns again, "give up." The repeated sentence along with more added weight causes me to sigh in frustration.

"No." I tell him stubbornly. He lets off and walks over to grab my knife, hiding it away once more. Just as he turns around, I jump up and tackle him to the ground. He struggles beneath me for a second until I grab his hair and knock his head against the ground. His eyes roll back and close as he passes out. "Damn." I look around the street. "Hmm ... probably shouldn't just leave him in the open like this-"

My words are cut off as I look surprisedly down at Marvin's now glowing body, falling apart bit by bit.

"Hey, hey, hey! No!" I scramble to my feet as the pieces turn to sparkling dust and accumulate into a ball of off-purple magic, which then takes off /zooming down the road. I follow on foot, realizing which direction it was going, and suddenly a feeling of anxiety washes over me.

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Jackie's POV

"Ngh- Noooo, make it stop. Please, make it stop!" My voice is hoarse from crying and screaming for who knows how long and cracks numerous times trying to get my pleading sentence out.

There's no worded response and the high pitched buzzing doesn't cease at my pleas either. It's driving me insane!

After a few more minutes, a voice comes in.

"I didn't think you would last this long." I recognize it almost immediately as Marvin; he sounds genuinely surprised, though I find it hard to focus as he continues talking. "-you're proving yourself worthy. Of what, you may ask? Why, living! There is so much I could do with someone of your mental strength. Of course, it will always be more fun to see how I could break that down, but maybe, just maybe, we could see how hard it will be to ... fix you."