The One

The third sorcerer

"Along with power comes responsibility," said Ms. Yarbrough, the instructor in Ethics of Witchcraft and Alchemy. "This semester flew by, but you must have already acquired many new skills, formulae, and spells. As we've discussed throughout the course of these months, magic is a tool you must use with care and for a good cause. In today's class, I would like you to go outside—go into the world—and do a good deed with your magic. Come back with a verbal report."

This was how, a few minutes later, Waylon and Feray walked side by side outside the campus, partly anxious and partly relieved. They were anxious because whether they would come across a situation where they could use magic to do a good deed was unknown; they were relieved because they had an opportunity to step outside of the classroom for their schoolwork.

"Hm...where should we go?" Feray wondered out loud. She used her wristwatch to bring out a map of the area they were in. "Maybe somewhere with fewer classmates? That way we don't have to compete."

Waylon nodded in agreement. "Though you wouldn't have to worry about a thing even if there was competition," he added. "You're technically beyond the level of a Grade 1 student, with your...mentor, and all."

"It's not like I would use that magic just anywhere," she protested.

Still a few minutes after that, the siblings walked into a department store. Coats and scarfs were on display in clothing stores, along with summer clothes on discount. The two stayed on the ground floor for a while, looking about. If they were to do a "good deed", this would be an ideal place—it wouldn't be that hard to find a situation that could use some help, would it?

"It doesn't look like...mm?" Waylon stopped himself.

Just as he was about to point out that there didn't seem to be anything happening, there came a sound of doors locking—all of them, all at once. Everyone stopped what they were doing and looked around, baffled by the sound.

"Doors are all locked!" shouted someone near one of the exits.

People began murmuring amongst themselves, yet nobody was starting to use magic just yet.

"Eyes..." came a hiss on the top floor. Feray and Waylon lifted their heads. "...on me." The speaker was a man in a suit, a staff in hand. The getup looked out of place, but he didn't seem to pay it any mind. Right after saying those three words, the man raised his staff. Chains appeared all around the department store; they could only see the inside, but one could safely assume that the chains also bound the outside of the building.

"He's showing off his staff," Feray whispered to her brother. "A sorcerer."

"You know..." Waylon whispered back, "Something always happens when you're around, Feray."

"Yep," she confirmed lightly, then shrugged. "I've met the d—my mentor. What could be worse?"

"All of you witches," declared the sorcerer, "Don't even try to fight me. Do as I say, or everyone in this mall dies."

"He's taking us hostage," Waylon noted, "But for what?"

"Everyone go to the lowest level and sit on the ground," the sorcerer commanded.

To the siblings' surprise, the witches obliged. Logically speaking, if the witches united against him, it wouldn't be too difficult to drive out a singular sorcerer. Yet, on second thought, the siblings realized that witches did not work together.

They sighed simultaneously.

A light shone from the sorcerer's staff, making a screen out of a wall on one side of the department store. At first, it was blank. A few seconds later, Odessa's face appeared on the "screen".