Chapter 19: Countdown

‘What are you going to do now?’ The words resonated within Trip’s mind. He did not know what to do, if he attacked then they would hurt Alex, but if he surrendered then the two of them might be executed anyway. There really wasn’t a good solution for him.

‘Why don’t I have the strength!?’ Trip thought. He simply couldn’t do anything at this point, and he hated it. He felt so vulnerable. There were a hundred soldiers in front of him, and there were even more at the camp. How could he survive this situation?

Trip could do nothing. He had always been very calculative and he realised that unless if he was willing to flee and leave Alex behind, then there would be no option. Everything that he had done up to this point, all the hard work he put in would be for nothing if he was captured by these people. Even if they got lucky and they managed to become slaves, what would come of it? Years would be wasted in a bad environment. Trip felt tears welling up in his eyes. Just before he was about to cry he looked at

Alex, who gave him a slight nod. Almost as if to say that he should leave.

This pissed off Trip, how could he ever leave behind Alex? He thought of a plan. ‘In order for them to let us go then we must give them something in return.’ Trip thought. If he could think of something that might be worth something to the soldiers and Pinta then maybe they could be let go.

Pinta was currently watching this kid doing nothing but stand there for a few minutes, and he was getting incredibly frustrated by it. It was the middle of the night and he wanted to get this over with.

Angrily he screamed “GREGORY! I AM GIVING YOU TEN SECONDS! IF YOU DON’T SAY SOMETHING NOW THEN I WILL PERSONALLY SLIT HIS THROAT!” He pointed his sword to Alex.

Trip panicked and thought as quickly as he could. He then said “I have a proposal!”

Pinta was clearly confused, his friend was about to die and he wanted to make a deal with him now? However he was curious to see what the proposal might be so he replied by saying “What might this proposal of yours be?”

Trip was relieved that he reacted this way. He had always seen Pinta as an annoying, but smart person. No smart person would refuse to listen to a potentially profitable proposal when they were completely dominant.

“You let us go, and I’ll tell you the secret locations of all the spies in the area.” Trip said. While it was not great proposal, it might still seem profitable to Pinta. At this point he would do anything if there was even half a chance that it would succeed.

Pinta looked at him with a dumbfounded look. Trip was hopeful at first, but then Pinta opened his mouth. He said “Are you stupid? We have already found other spies and milked all the information out of them. We received reports that there were 8 spies in the area and we have found 6. You two are the last ones.”

Trips heart sank as his vision started to blur. His entire body was shaking, his lips were dry. He felt dizzy as he realised that this time there was nothing he could do other than give in, but he couldn’t say they words. He could only stand there.

Pinta looked at him and felt satisfaction come over him. This was the most beautiful thing he had seen in a while. It was a look of a defeated person, knowing there was nothing they could do. He looked at Trip and said “I’m starting the countdown!”

“10” he said.

Trip’s heart pounded. It was not a regular pound, but an incomparably powerful one. It was like a drumbeat. He felt a strange feeling come over his body. It was incomparably comfortable. He felt something slowly expand through his body, starting from his heart.

“9”

To others Trip seemed stationary with a miserable look on his face, but on the inside Trip had a feeling unlike any feeling he had ever felt before. It felt as if he was bathing in the light of the sun.

“8”

Trip’s eyes closed. He continued to feel a warm power surge over him. It went into every vein. Indescribably it felt like something that even though he had no memory of ever feeling before, he still knew what it was. It was a hug from his mother.

“7”

Trip’s eyes opened. There was no pupil though, neither was there an iris. His eyes were white, and they were glowing. All the other people there somehow felt a shiver run down their spine. Pinta immediately stopped with the countdown as even he could tell that something bad was about to happen. The soldiers instinctively moved backwards. Alex could only look at Trip in wonder, simply thinking: ’cool.’

Trip was not actually in control at the moment. He could see what was happening, but he had no control over his body. He saw himself raise his right hand and point it at the soldiers. A large ray of light hit the ground, bathing anything that it touched with its beauty. The moment the light fell on the soldiers, they collapsed. For a second foam would come out of their mouths, and then they would fall on the floor with tears streaming down their face. This continued for all of the soldiers, but the ray of light actively avoided Alex.

Eventually the ray of light hit Pinta. He managed to last a bit longer than the others, but he eventually fell. Looking quite pathetic for a man who was normally so high and mighty. Only after all the soldiers had fallen did the ray of light disappear. At this point Trip’s vision turned black.

When he opened his eyes he realised he was not in the real world. ‘Did I die?’ Trip thought. He was surrounded by pure, white clouds. In front of him stood a large manor. It was pure white. Well everything except the garden. Which had the clearest water and the greenest trees. It looked so perfect it seemed fake, and yet it felt so real.

Trip walked into the garden and saw a beautiful woman standing in a summer hat and a white dress. The woman was blonde and had bright blue eyes. For some reason the moment Trip saw her tears welled up in his eyes as he screamed “Mother!”

The woman turned to his direction, with a light smile on her face she said “Hello Trip, you’ve grown so much.” She pinched his cheek and said “Aaaw, you’re so cute.”

Trip was crying, he could barely speak. This was his mother. He had never had a family, but now he did. After many lonely years he was reunited with his mother. He felt like he wanted to stay there forever.

Seeing that the Trip couldn’t even speak anymore the woman said “Ok Trip, we don’t have much time so I’m going to explain a few things to you very quickly. We are from a family called Levis. We are from a faraway continent. 9 years ago there was a war with another family called Tene. We were light mages and they were dark mages. Even though both families fought to a draw we took heavy damages, and one sneak attack from the Tene family killed your father, because of this I decided to send you far away. You were meant to go with your uncle, but you were separated.”

She smiled at Trip and continued “You must live your life how you want. Without the constraints of family. However I believe that if you put your mind to it then you can become the strongest in the world. If you want to become strong and search for answers, you must seek out your uncle, he probably has already found you, but he is not one to approach. You must find him if you want to learn the ways of the Levis family, and if you want answers for any questions you might have.”

Trip wiped away his tears as he looked into his mother’s eyes “I’m so confused. How can I find my uncle?”

“I will give you this.” She touched Trip’s head lightly “When you wake up you will know how to learn very basic light magic techniques. With this you should be able to find him.”

“Will I ever see you again?” Trip asked

His mother teared up a bit, but she eventually managed to say “I… I am no longer a part of this world. There was a small amount of my soul left in you, but now… I am gone. However I will always live on within your mind.” She pointed to Trip’s head smiling.

“Goodbye now, son.” She said

Trip reached out to touch his mother, but she was no longer there. She was really gone. Trip couldn’t contain his tears. He had just found out that both his father and his mother were dead. He only hoped that Alex was alright.

As Trip’s vision turned black again he stopped crying. He now had a new goal, which he was determined to fulfill. He would find his uncle.