The Truth

The sweat that stung their eyes, their lack of oxygen that made their heart bang and their stomach to ache. Panting as the magician's cape fluttering at front of them, they ran through the hallway that stretched endlessly into the darkness. The straight hallway illuminated by the only flickering light source above Tony’s palm. The fire that looked like the light of hope at the end of the tunnel for those who followed him, causing them who sometimes stumbled and those who did not to wonder, why aren't we there yet?

For Tony and Rin, it took around one minute from the crossroad to the underground nave. Yet, even with the back of their clothings wet from sweat, they had still not even seen the crossroad. Had they lost their sense of time as they wandered through the hallways infested with spider webs and filled with broken furnitures? Or have they already passed the crossroad without anyone noticing the difference? Questions filled the runners' mind, a few would have even given up hope if it was not for their friends encouraging them to continue running. A few even suggested that the beast was not to be feared, just to get slapped on the back of their head by their friends.

This cannot be right… Have we somehow passed the crossroad or have we been thrown into an illusion? But then... the beast should have already caught up with us unless the beast have also been caught in it?

Wondering how they ended up in an endless hall, Tony took a look behind them, at the magmatic beast that was nowhere to be seen, nor did it give itself out by illuminating the surroundings. It was a unique characteristic that warned other creatures of this world that it was a beast to be avoided, but also a characteristic that gave Tony a sense of relief. Has the beast left us alone? Nevertheless, it is best that we get out of here before it changes its mind.

A shriek like the one at the start of their escape caused pain in his ears whilst a chill behind his back made him shudder. Nevermind I guess...

At his next step he stomped the ground, creating a wall of stone behind the group of runners, hoping that the beast would not notice the difference and turn back at the dead end. If not, he repeatedly created walls after another with each step, hoping that it would help.

After around fifteen walls that would hopefully slow it down, he then checked on Rin who ran beside him.

Her panting wavered, her fingers started to lose its grip while her legs slowly dragged her pace down. She might have a strong physical strength, but without exercise her struggling lungs could not keep up with her beating heart after the sprint.

Stopping with the group for a second he extinguishing the torch like flame and created another one that hovered next to him. Just so he could carry her on his arms instead. But as her light body weighed on his arms, he flinched and nearly dropped her onto the floor that shared its cold surface onto the back of his hand.

He sighing heavily as she grabbed his long sleeves tightly, tears fell from her blue iris that met his eyes and wavering words from the gasping came out of her tiny lips.

"Tony... Your arm..."

As he stood straight up with soaked sleeves, the sweat left a salty aftertaste on his tongue whilst the pain made his arm wobble. Trying to save his breath by not answering. He gazed straight into the darkness and continued with the rest, the rest that had already lost their proper running form, yet still had energy to carry the other girl as they followed the trail of blood.

It's not a deep wound, I know that I can last longer, the problem is those behind me... If the beast catch up with us, should I stay and help them or leave with my apprentice?

Sweat stung his eyes as they entered a large room with at least the height of three adult length. The room was filled with dusty shelves placed in rows like a library. Some had fallen onto the others, while the rest was not. Between them there was also a few pillars holding the ceiling in place, the pillars also held a few torches that were left to the dust.

Pouring more mana into the fireball, the fire grew and the other end could be seen with yet another dark hallway where the light could not reach. Guessing from the size of the shelves the length of the room had to be at least 30 meters long and around 20 meters wide.

Putting Rin back on her feet, he said "Everyone, take a short breath and don’t forget to grab one of those unlit torches on the pillars! I’ll light them shortly after the break."

Though everyone other than he and Rin fell onto the floor, barely licking the dust as they gasped heavily. Smiling as they had finally left the long hallway to someplace different. Yet still filled with sorrow and regret for venturing into a dark place like this.

Tilting his head, he had second thoughts, maybe he should not have used the wind boots?

Gazing into the hallway behind them, the beast was still nowhere to be seen, but a twitch on his red cape turned his gaze towards the source. It was Rin who nodded towards his arm, signaling him that he should heal the wound whilst he still had the chance.

Nodding back a mutter nearby caught his mind instead. It was a boy at around his teens, gasping while muttering something between, tears wet his pants as a girl around the same age patted his back.

What circumstances had taken hold of the boy or most of those who lived in the slums, Tony had no knowledge of nor did he feel any pity as the boy could always choose a different path and start a new, like the path of an adventurer. But he did know that most of them would have already given up if it was not for those close to them giving them a new bright light.

Smiling the smile nearly turned into a scream, someone grabbed his arm and made him shudder, staring at the once delicate pale hand now dyed in his blood, the fierce burning eyes made him recollect that he had to heal his arm.

That he did, extinguishing his fireball, he closed his eyes and recalled a spell that he used in the past. Imagining a green swirling ball alone in total darkness. He opened his eyes and gathered mana into a ball between his open hands. It took a while, causing the tired people to question if the mage had left them in the dark underground place alone, after all they could not see the mana that seeped through the walls and furnitures, gathering between Tony’s hands. Neither could they scream or speak up, their panting prevented them from talking properly, leaving them speechless whilst the darkness shrouded them.

But it was not until he gave the ball life and its green color. Scattering a green glowing dust towards the surroundings like an erupting volcano, it left the spectators with glittering eyes as if they saw the stars. The green ball slowly swirled around Tony towards the ceiling, illuminating the surroundings as it threw sparkles behind its trail.

Watching the ball with something warm grabbing hold of their hearts, they gulped down their saliva. Gazing at what seemed like silent fireworks, they forgot that they were still in a pinch as they sat on the dusty floor.

The ball that had caught their eyes were pulsating with green rings, piercing through them, giving them tickling butterflies on their skin and rejuvenating them with new burning energy.

As they stood up, they checked their body, finding that their heavily gasps was now gone, they also noticed that their recent or old wounds started to regenerate themselves. Wounds that was not life threatening, yet would have taken a few days to heal unless they paid a small fortune no matter what tiny wound it was to a healer. Smiling towards each other, they then nodded and separated themselves as a few went towards the other girl to pick her up while the other went towards the unlit torches on the wall.

Satisfied Tony flicked his finger and the green ball that gave light to the room vanished, whilst the once unlit torches now blazed with fire. The citizens started to form a line instead of sprinting head first through the other hallway. Watching them, he wondered what they were really thinking as they stood there staring at him with a smile that curved creepily.

He shuddered, but then pushed Rin forward. Rin who tried her best to not use her Royal eyes on anyone else but Tony as instructed, now looked at him as she were forcefully pushed forward towards the row of men and woman. “I’ll be stayin here, please take my apprentice to the surface and call for reinforcements.” He said, turning towards one of the shelves filled with dusty books.

Leaving Rin with wide eyes, hand reaching out for his fluttering cape, yet held her burning red fist tightly, she turned her gaze towards the floor. What are you trying to prove Tony? She pondered as water welled up in her eyes, she then shook her head and turned around, pushing through the row of people, leaving them speechless but soon after followed her in the end. She knew that he would not change his mind or feelings for what he was trying to do. Her eyes told her that and it also told that he did not do this for her or anyone else, but rather for himself.

Casting another ball of fire, he watched the glowing torches that eventually got consumed by the shadows. If this is an illusion or some kind of trick, I do not know how far or how long we have until we reach the stairs… But even I do know that even I cannot last forever, especially if I know that someone is watching me.

He shrugged, might aswell check one of the books whilst I wait...

Venturing from one shelf to the other, a peculiar dusty book from one of the toppled shelves caught his eyes. It was mostly the leafy brass design of the book that resembled of those from the elvish, except it was also the familiar part of the title that urged him to pick it up. Brushing off the dust with his sleeve that was not dyed in red, he could clearly read, “My Diary”.

The title was nothing special, rather it was the familiar and different language it was written in, the language he had not seen for years. Latin alphabet? Opening the first page, his eyebrows raised as he read the text that were written in English. He then shuffled quickly through the pages, scanning for something that did not write about the daily life of John Pager in the world of Earth. It seemed that Pager had accidentally broken his old diary cover and placed the old pages in the new elvish cover.

Nevertheless with a smile he started to read, 1959 February 12 I believe? It seems that I have been teleported to another world. How? No idea… The day I arrived in this world, I panicked, throwing glances as I held my M16 aimed towards those… Those human with long ears. Few dressed as if they were in a party, while the others equipped with armor of steel?

With fingers shaking near the trigger, they walked towards me with bows aimed towards my body, as if they did not know that my M16 were far more advanced than those old wooden sticks.

Still… They kept talking gibberish and I would have opened fire if it was not for one woman with long ears, ordering them to throw down their weapons. Or so it seemed at least. It is kinda embarrassing but when I glanced at her, I nearly popped my heart out of my chest, I do not know how I did not notice it, but their beauty excelled in every proportions, even the men with their cold swords behind my neck and arrows aimed towards my heart could be easily mistaken as women…

I feel sad in a way, but somehow I noticed that my shaking stopped… A green light had enveloped my boots and then my body. I wonder what kind of machine did that, though, later I found out that it was some kind of magic as one of the men threw every armor and equipment onto the floor and reached a hand out to me, a hand that made me feel at ease as he mustered a smile towards me. Though, this is totally not gay… Hell it might even be a girl! Either way I accepted the han, followed him or her towards what seemed like a yard filled with kids?

Freaking kids that threw fireballs everywhere! What the flipping HEEK!

… That was when I fell head first, watching the blue sky with white birds flying by the large tower. I believe something or someone hit my head… Or did I go crazy? Anyways, eventually it became blurry… And you could guess it, I passed out like a wuss.

When I opened my eyes, I meet someone who seemed to be a maid? A servant of some sort… Not the same black and white style like in movies , but someone with a normal woolen shirt and clothings as if she were from the medieval times… She was still cute though, hiding behind the door as soon as I rose with a headache.

Took quite some time before she entered the room once again, my room I believe, after all I am writing the events right now? Either way, she started to show some pictures as it seems they guessed that I could not understand the language they spoke in.

It started with a picture of some kind of yellow round shaped... Portal? A green stick figure with a black stick... I guess that represents my M16. Then a stick figure jumped through it, entering… A map? The world I am currently in I presume as it look nothing like Earth.

She then smiled. Pointed at me and then at the stick figure which nearly gave me a nosebleed. I could guess that the continent she pointed at far to the west beside two other continents was where we were right now.

But… She sulked soon after, as if something went terribly wrong. More pictures of stick figures entering the portal? Painting something gibberish on the map, she showed the map once again but with a twist. Stick figures everywhere… Around 6 of them if I counted properly? If they meant anything at all...

Tony held his forehead, closing his eyes he thought, Wait… Wait… Does this mean that I am here because? Because some elves summoned me? But.... why is this book here? No, rather, what luck gave me the chance to even find this in the middle of nowhere? Not only that, 1959 is it not around the time of the Vietnam war? I wasn’t even born then!

Kicking a nearby shelf, it fell with a thud, landing on another shelf that continued as if the shelves was a set of dominos. “Ops…”

Sighing, he walked around in a circle thinking as he held the book tightly. Sighing once again he opened the page where he left off and continued. The servant then took forth the final picture, one with all the 6 stick figures together, all with some sort of unique colored ball. Blue, red, black, gray, brown, yellow… Magic I guess? Though, they were not alone… A...

A strong tremble made Tony fall backwards, landing with his butt first on top of the cold stone floor. He pushed himself up with wind blasting out of his palms. Hovering above the ground with wind magic, he threw glances around, checking the vicinity not only for the book that had fallen off his hand but also for what was causing the weird earthquake. Though the tremble only lasted for a few seconds and a grin soon after appeared on Tony’s face.

The book had landed under his hovering feets. Landing gently, he picked the book up and brushed off the new dust that had accumulated on the book. He let out a sigh of relief, after all it would be sad if his biggest clue would suddenly disappear right?

His cape started to flutter gently. Glancing at this cape, he raised an eyebrow that turned into a frown when the fireball extinguished from the air. Bending his knees a wind bursted out of somewhere he could not see, causing him to glide backwards as dirt and dust forced him to cover his eyes with his forearms. Sparks of flames passed by him, something crashing into a wall nearby that shattered and scattered bits of stones that cut his cheeks. Not forgetting to send a shockwave that blasted Tony onto the wall behind the fallen shelves.

Back aching, vision blurry, head about to explode from the echoing pain. He pushed himself up with wobbling hands, back resting on the wall he checked his hand for the book. “Shi..Cough!”, he spit out some blood beside him and crawled towards a pillar to hide himself.

The room was lit brightly by the beast. The diary was gone. Panting beside a pillar, Tony had paid for the price of not paying attention for the pursuing beast. The beast that struck when he had lost his sense of security, as if it was only playing with toys that it could catch up with within an blink of an eye in this long and straight hallway.

Cursing himself with thoughts, he coughed out more blood onto his pants. Leaving the beast growling, walking around slowly nearby, sniffing for the rustic blood that lingered in the air.

Covering his mouth, he swallowed the rustic iron taste with a pain that pierced through his throat. Soothing the pain starting from his head, it eventually eased the ache around his chest with the help of healing magic, the pain that caused him to cough once in a while was now gone.

“Crack… Crack… Crack…”

Holding his breath, the magmatic beast walked behind the pillar, growling as it let out a scorching heat to the nearby surroundings. Sparks that gave the shelves fire, sparks that burned Tony’s cheeks, yet chilled his trembling spine with each footstep. His heart punched repeatedly as if it was going to burst out of his chest. Panicking will get you nowhere, panicking will get you nowhere...

Repeating one of the sentence his master teached him in his mind, his heart beating lessen, his gasp slowed down. Checking the vicinity for anything, he picked up a random book and threw it to the other end.

Catching the beast ears, it slashed through the toppled shelves to find what caused the noise, finding nothing, it shrieking at the end as if Tony had made it out for a fool. At least it was a shriek that would have knocked him out if he did not remember the shriek before at the hallway, giving him the idea of muffling his ears with wind.

Remember, just because your master used Fire, your spells should not be limited to fire as your ultimate spells. Everything you cast, you are a master of...

Slowly standing up, palm resting on the pillar with the weight of his body, he faced the back of the beast that continued to search for him at the other end. The beast that digged around with it claws, whipping its tail that left marks of burning trails.

Standing upright he inhaled the air that burned his nostrils, slowly breathing out, a cloud of vapor formed in the heat, his heart eased like ice. Chilling his body, chilling the air surrounding him, the chill that battled the heat. Reaching his hands out as if he was holding a sheath and hilt, it raised the ears of the beast, the large horns that slowly faced him, growling as it had found its opposite element, its archenemy.

Devilux of flames, beast of the underworld...

Separating the chilled hands away from each other, a short blade of ice formed. It was weightless, yet formed permafrost around his feet as the blade reflected Tony’s eyes. Simultaneously the beast crouched down, trembling the floor, sending pulses of wind around itself that gave the surrounding objects zero gravity.

It dashed forward, sending a sonic boom whilst wind bursted out of Tony’s hand, he dodged to the side, leaving the Devilux crashing into the wall behind him, head now stuck as it left a trail of blazing fire. Tony clenched the swirling wind at his palm, the permafrost beneath the beast crackled, forming a pillar of ice that pierced but mostly shattered the armor of the creature.

Retaliating with the tail, he parried with the blade, backstepping with each parry as the ice dyed in blood melted. With a safe distance he stomped the ground, ice formed from the water, piercing through the creature once again.

Head unstuck, it turned around, scattering blood and squealed with claws resting on the floor. Facing Tony, a ball of flame glew brightly in the gaping mouth, growing with each spark and flame consumed by the ball.

Eyebrows raised, he stabbed the floor, a wall of ice covered his vision, no… His blade turned into a barrier, growing thicker with a crackling sound. The beast sent the beam of fire with a strong recoil, crumbling the ceiling, shattering the pillars, burning everything to its ground. Yet the ball of ice stood in place and somehow so did the ceiling without the pillars.

The ice cracked, bursting out of it was Tony with the barrier as a shield, launching him forward with wind pushing behind his back. Knocking the beast over to the side, it whipped its tail, smacking Tony’s shield, sending him towards a wall.

Coughing as he slid down, his back ached, the Devilux squealed, raised its claws that grew larger with flames. Slashing the air, it sent crescents of flame towards Tony who crouched to a ball to fit the ice shield. Hair catching fire, he extinguishing the flames and clenched his fist, forming yet another pillar of ice through the permafrost on the bleeding Devilux.

Squealing it flung its claws randomly towards Tony, the ice stuck through the body melted as it squealed repeatedly. Backstepping further away, he pressed the ice shield to a football sized ball, spun it around, accelerating it, forming a sharp drill between his hand that shrieked and crackled throughout the hallway.

The Devilux wobbled, squealed as it tried to reach the fluttering cape on the magician. Rather it tried to escape through the hallway behind Tony's back.

However, coldly he muttered, “Die…”

Firing the shard, it pierced the air, leaving a crackling trail of permafrost that extinguished all the flames, piercing between the eyes of the beast, it drained all the blood, leaving the beast lifeless on the floor filled with holes bleeding. One through the face, the rest through the stomach.

Darkness shrouded Tony once again, creating a ball of fire, he lit the room brightly. Glancing around, smoke rose from most of the books now burned into ashes, whilst the other were frozen stuck. Sighing he thought, there is no way that diary survived the fight. He then formed a chair of ice and sat down quietly with the ball of fire hovering next to him, waiting. Waiting for the one he knew was still nearby..

“Clap, clap, clap…”

And there the person in question was, walking out of the shadows, the one who had followed Rin and Tony, ever since he had scorched the room of the worn down building to find out what Rin saw. The one who also gave Tony a smile as his plan worked perfectly... So far at least...