By J. TNANGA

Chapter 3: Lightning’s potential

I finally entered inside the underground tunnel, I guess you could call it. Mud was everywhere, and as I go deeper, I started to feel more or less in control of myself again. I finally started to cool my head. I have never experience such tremendous fear and paranoia before.

“Maybe I should see a therapist for a lot more than just self-esteem problems” I begin to think. “I was really acting paranoid like someone was after me and that people were completely annihilating everyone and my life (even with my lightning elemental Magic) was at risk”

I laugh darkly and decided to take a nap next to the tunnel wall, but before I take a nap, I decided to to activate my lightning defense (It turns my body like steel, making it so strong that no one could deliver a punch at me, it only hurt the person that tried, and not even a knife can pierce me when I am in that mode) and then went to sleep. What I realized is, even when I am asleep, my lightning magic is still activated so long as I do it before I fall asleep.

Magic in this world, if you use it and you fall asleep, then the spell will deactivate, but there are exceptions such as mind-control magic. Even when you fall asleep, the person you mind control will still continue to be mind-control so long as the person who use the mind-control is alive and he’s body is still supplying magical energy, then the mind-control will continue.

In my world, scientists have realized that, magic come from an invisible element found in our universe. The element is called: Ethereal. It is not solely on earth but everywhere in this solar system, and we magicians take that energy and sent it in our bodies, which allow us to use magic. Scientists have discovered that as we grow older, our mantra (it is what we call the part in our brain where magical energy is gathered) will no longer increase as we grow older, it will stay the same once we reach a certain age.

Somewhere along our late thirties and mid-forties, our energy quantity will no longer increase. That’s why, every magician is told to train and train, to rapidly increase the amount energy they can contain in their mantra, so as to increase the volume, and by the time they reach their early forties, they will have triple that of a regular magician.

Such new found research is why the All-Stars Competition is so teen-friendly and why most participant are teenagers. The more energy you hold in your mantra, the better your life can be, and a good practice is life and death scenarios. Usually, you would think a parent would tell their children to just practice their magic at home and that will eventually lead them to great lengths, but that is wrong, being at risk of possible death, puts pressure on the brain to work harder and produce more and more magical energy and gather even more ethereal energy.

Only being at such grave circumstances can magicians truly grow in leaps and lengths, which explained why crazy parents would allow their kids to go to All-Stars. Anyway, magic spells once activated would naturally turned off once no ethereal energy is being supplied (Either the person that activated the spell is dead, or he/she stops supplying the spell with energy, thus spell stops, that’s actually how magicians stops their spells, they just giving out energy) but for some reason, my magic is different.

Once I activate my magic spell [Lightning Defense] the spell automatically absorbs a great amount of ethereal and then continues to be active. I tested to find out if that was true with video camera and such, and it stays active throughout the whole time I was asleep until I woke up and decided to turn it off. Also, while I am sleeping, my [Lightning Defense] does not continuously absorb ethereal energy from me, it just stays exactly the same, which is really weird, since a spell continuously absorb ethereal until the magician decides to stop.

Another interesting thing I learned from my magic is, you know how I said, all a magician have to do to turn off their magic spell is to stop supplying it with ethereal energy, well, mine is different, since after absorbing a certain quantity of ethereal from the moment I activated it, it no longer absorb anymore, therefore, you are probably wondering how do I stop the spell then?

Well, it is an annoying but effective way, I activate the same spell I am currently using, and the moment it tries to gather ethereal energy from me (again), I merely don’t supply it, and for some reason that cancel out the previous same spell. (I know, it’s really annoying, imaging having 20 spells activated, all the other magicians would just stop supplying spells to all of them, but for me, I have to do it in a whole other round-about way, I have to once again activated all twenty spells and be really careful about it since once spell activated, it will begin to absorb energy, and that 3 second pause when I activated the same spells right before it starts to absorb ethereal, I stop supplying, then all the previous same spells will be cancel).

That’s the only sure-way I found to deactivate my spells, really bothers me, but I have to endure. So, I activated my [lightning Defense] and went to sleep. I know I should be well protected.

Red-Section:

“I was wondering what everyone was doing” said Darwin sarcastically. “Seems they are doing just fantastic”

“Wow, this is a perfect setting for us, don’t you think” said Darla. “We can enjoy this battle at last”

“So, your ice feet limit is 40 feet right, anyone within 40 feet, right?” asked Darwin with a plan in mind.

“Yes” replied Darla quickly. “I can see where you are going with this”

“HAHAHA, they are so not going to see this coming” laughed Darwin.

“Hummm” said Darla at first quietly, then said in a casual tone. “They will know something is up though”

“Exactly, we will use that” added Darwin as if it was more of an after-thought then anything else.

The two twins then approach the battlefield that was a 2 miles or so near them, and did what they do best.

“Use light magic to heal the people Darla” said Darwin with a straight face full of innocence, purity, and youth. “Don’t keep them waiting”

As soon as Darwin said that, Darla started going from people to people that were fighting and started using light magic to heal them.

Two men that were fighting with both darkness ability and fire momentarily stops fighting to look at their wounds disappearing. Out of all the things that could have taken their attention, it had to be healing. Something they did not expect at all. So, they stopped fighting and look at the girl sending ethereal energy at them.

“What do you think you are doing, girl?” asked the bearded one of the two fighting. “Why are you helping us? We don’t even know you”

“Because we are good people, wanting to form a team” said the girl so casually that it made the two men laugh at her purity and innocence.

“What is a cute girl like you doing here? Did your parents or government pick you and made you come?” asked the one without beard.

“Something like that” said the girl with tears forming from her eyes.

“Ok, sorry, did not want to hurt your feelings, but this is the All-Stars, and you know how it works, and we are having a battle of men, of honor, so please leave us to it, we do not want any distraction” said the man with no beard.

“Ahh, come on, we can battle later, we were about evenly match anyway, don’t see a little harm taking a break” said the bearded man.

“Ok, fine, but don’t forget our battle of honors” added the beardless one.

“I will not forget”

The little girl then in quite a cute way, go to other people that were in battles, and heal them, and using her pretty and innocent looks, made them stop fighting to take a break. After a good half-hour, they were all gather in the same area more or less with a couple of feet apart. They were all keeping their guards up since no one knew the others magic. So, when the two siblings came and started talking about teams and stuff, they all tried to listen attentively.

“We understand where you are coming from” said one man that look like he is in his fifties. “But this is All-Stars, stop wasting your ethereal to heal us, you know it takes time for your body to naturally absorb the ethereal energy from the atmosphere, you should be watching out for yourself”

“Yeah, exactly, like the old man just said” said one of the younger individuals there. “You should just be keeping your eyes open and don’t do the things you just did, that’ll get you kill, and also, I feel like I know you two, or at least seen you somewhere”

“No, I don’t think that’s possible, this is our first time in All-Stars”

“Is that right? well, that kinds of make sense, but still doesn’t changes anything” said one of the middle age men, as he raises his guard and is keeping his distance from the rest.

The rest of the group starts to distance themselves a little bit noticing the body language of the person that just talked and remembering this is the All-Stars competition and not a game.

“No, no, don’t worry, even though we can kill teammates like they said at the building, I don’t think any of us is going to do that, I am willing to trust all of you, and as sign of us trusting you all, we will do a group healing” said Darwin with the brightest, purest, and holy smile you have ever seen, making him look benevolent and angelic as if he was God-Given and God-Sent.

The moment that Darwin said that, because of his smile, everyone felt at ease, the tensions in their muscles ease greatly, they felt relaxed and was even starting to clear away any thoughts that those two might bring malice to them, and completely relaxed as they wait for their complete light-ethereal-heal.

Magicians are remarkable individuals, they are able to sense when ethereal energy is gathering from someone, they just can’t tell what spell is being used, unless it is a voice chant spell but those are rarely used, except in the case of highly effective high-rank spells. (Which is why that individual from last time, that was behind Darwin and was about to use fire-elemental Magic to capture Darwin, turned around behind him because he sensed an ethereal energy gathering behind him).

So, when Darla started to gather ethereal energy no one kept their distance and kept their guards up, because of that, they all turned to ice. It was as if they were blue-ice-sculpting. Their facial expression didn’t even have time to change to a look of worried, since for water elemental magician, the closer they are to the target the faster the spell works, and the spell is Darla’s favorite, one she trained with constantly, so before anyone realized it, they were all dead (well, frozen is the technical term, but yes, dead, no coming back from being frozen unless you are a dark elemental magician).

In the group there were three individuals with dark elemental magic, so they naturally became unfrozen after being frozen for two minutes. But Darla and Darwin were waiting for them, and Darla merely re-used the same spell on them. Naturally, those individuals after two minutes started to use shadow to melt the ice off their body slowly but surely, from the top of their head to the rest of their body, but as fast as they start to melt the ice off the head, it was frozen once more.

“I can’t keep going, you know that, don’t you?” asked Darla. “What are we going to do?”

“Don’t worry, my spell is right about finish now, since after I finish my speech with them, I started to recite in my mind this wind-elemental and darkness curse I memorized, I was fussing the two together, it will take time, just give me 30 seconds more”

“Ok” said Darla weakly as her face starts to turn pale. “Just hurry, I am right about out now”

As soon as Darla said that, one of the three individuals’ head started to melt the ice, the ice them starts to crumble and turn to water, then water vapor, then he could start to blink, and was looking at his kidnappers with a questioning expression, since he doesn’t know what just happened. To him, it felt like less than a second have passed, and doesn’t realized that his darkness elemental magic automatically activated when he was frozen multiple times by now, which would explain why he was feeling so tired.

“What just happened? You were about to heal us and then….then…I am here frozen right now, what’s going on? Only my automatic unfrozen darkness that all darkness elementals learn saved me from dying in that ice.” Said one of three men, still uncomprehending.

“There were some complications” said Darwin with a straight innocent face. “Some guy came and froze us”

“What? Then you know darkness elemental magic, then?” said the man.

“Ul Cardwitch” said Darwin.

“Wait….that spell is….no, no…..no..” responded the man with panic in his face.

Darkness energy left the hands of Darwin and gather in mid-air next to the man’s face, and the dark energy then continues to gather from Darwin’s hands, and form a dark circular pitch-black orb, with a tornado wind surrounding it to make look like it’s capable of destroying and of causing massive obliteration.

As the man, still haven’t finish being completely unfrozen, and his melting of the ice was right at his shoulder level, he tries to move and break free with panic showing in his face, but the ice was too strong.

Darla and Darwin starts to move away from the group by using wind tornado magic at their feet (Or to be exact, Darla already ran out of energy, Darwin is the one using magic to carry his sister with him). After reaching a good mile away in less than 7 minutes, Darwin then, turned his face to the direction the three individuals were at.

“Obliterate, Ul Cardwitch”

As if on cue (which it was), the dark orb with wind swiftly moving around it in a circular motion, then, completely change shape and the darkness then covers everyone both frozen and those currently in unfrozen process, then, exploded. It was a big explosion, with pile of lands being lift up in the air, and body parts falling. Leaving no life left.

“Wow, so beautiful, you can see the explosion all the way here, and it’s red, or is it the pile of earth that got life up (the soil) that makes it red, the blood, or just the explosion itself” asked Darla with a wondering facial expression. “It is so beautiful, brother, I’ll do something as amazing to show you too”

“I can’t wait to see it, oh, right, guess it’s about time to order some food even though it’ll take them a hour or two to bring it. We should take a break right here, I’ll use wind elemental magic to create a camp (well kind of, I’ll just cut some trees and see what else I can find, maybe we’ll run into a lion, that would be delicious)” said Darwin.

“But you use a lot of magic to create that orbie thingy thing?” asked Darla. “You shouldn’t exert yourself”

“Darla, you always knew I had more ethereal capacity than you since birth, for some odd reason even though we are twins, I am so strong now, I should be able to use that dark-wind-orb at least twice in 24 hours, and as long as I don’t use it again, using regular wind-elemental magic is just absorbing a little of my ethereal, so no problem, I am good” explained Darwin.

“I am so happy” said Darla with a kind-hearted smile.

“You are strong too Darla, freezing a total of 150 people in the first 3 hours of the game, if that’s not strong, then I don’t know what is. And you are probably stronger than me Darla, since all you need is a couple of hours to regenerate your ethereal magic completely, you really are abnormal” explained Darwin.

“But you managed to fuse together both wind and darkness to create a spell mixed with both, even hard-working Ph.D. magic professors can’t even do that all the time, you can do that 2 times in 24 hours and probably can use regular wind-elemental magic after that, you are too powerful, there’s noway you’ll lose, brother” explained Darla.

“well, I am a genius, seems to me I have become too famous, even random people are starting to know my face these days”

“well, you are Darwin after all, the 16-year-old genius that have managed fuse three spells together”

“Yeah, but the moment I fuse three spells together, I am completely depleted of magic and will take 12 hours before I start to regenerate, so it’ll probably take me 24 hours to fully have 100% ethereal magic again”

Lear-Bane:

“Whoa, what in the world is going on? Was that an earthquake? Maybe I should start to make my way out of this cave, do not want to end up locked in here, like the tunnel crumbling and rocks blocking the exit” I said as I was startled awake by the big vibration.

I awoke and exactly as I knew, my [lightning defense] was still on. I got up and started to make my way outside, except I couldn’t see anything, it was completely dark.

“Has it been this long already? A whole day passed?” I begin to think as I check my ASD’s time.

[Connection lost, time cannot be display, map still available, but exact location unknown, signs of life: Alive and healthy]

“What in the world?” I began to panic once more. So, All-Stars know I am alive, but I just can’t communicate with them, so, technically, if someone was passing by and they do a scan from their ASD device to check for any participants (players), I will not come up? Wait…..That’s kind of cool, I don’t have to worry about that.

As I begin to calm down and think this was probably a good thing and that I just needed to find a way out and that I needed light, I remembered one thing. Food. I was really hungry, now. I only ate that breakfast I had before I left my island, only that cup of water at the airplane, and that was it, and that was about it.

My fears that started to disappear, started to reappear, as I create an electric light by using lightning elemental magic from my hand. I am using my right hand as a flashlight by using lightning. I named this technique flashlight (And yes, I know, it is exactly like a flashlight and it is made from lightning, by creating lightning in your body, then send it to your hand, then continue to condense it until it glows, that’s my flashlight).

“OMG” I said as I start to see who or to be exact, what was in the cave with me. “I am so screwed, so this is what the cave (tunnel was for), damn”