“HELLO! IS ANYONE HERE?” Krystal called out in the station's darkness. Her hands were filled with magical energy so as to provide light.
“Help!” A strained voice called out.
Krystal dashed through the station, the darkness growing deeper as she moved. She attempted to cast the darkness away with more light from her magic, but it wasn’t working. Corner after corner she turned, the station seemingly bigger than before.
“Someone help me!”
Krystal sped around that last corner and came to a skidding stop. Director Nova lay against a wall, a hole in his chest. Blood streamed from his mouth as he weakly reached up to her.
“Director!” She started across the room when he stopped her.
“No.”
Just then a child appeared in the middle of the room. A little girl stood there, quietly smiling at her.
Krystal stepped back, “Who are you?”
“Don’t you recognize me?” The girl stepped forward. The minimal light in the room illuminated her better, and the shocking red hair became apparent.
“No...it can’t be. That’s not possible.”
“But it is. Come, let me give you a hug.” The little child reached up.
Krystal stepped back again, “No. Stay there. We have to help him.”
The child laughed and her head cocked to the side, “Oh, there is no help for him, he’s already dead.”
“No! We have to help, he might not be...”
The girl took a few shaky steps toward her. “Your magic cannot help. You know that. Even you have limitations. Life, precious life, cannot be returned through magic. The only spells you know that can do that bring back a cursed soul, a wicked abomination. Or should we forget about what happened before?”
Krystal’s heart pounded, and the magic in her hands blew away by an invisible force. “Who are you?”
The little girl cackled in glee as her body suddenly bulged and twisted. An enormous leg burst out of her, blood drenching the thick, hairy, needle-like appendage. Then another leg, and another. Eight Legs burst from the laughing child. The human limbs and lower torso tumbled across the ground as it lifted the body on the legs of a giant spider. The shoulders and head jerked around and flopped back, then forward, revealing dozens of black little eyes, glaring down at her.
Krystal whispered, “Tsuchigumo.”
“Hold still little Fae, this will only take a moment.”
Krystal was unsure of what happened next. She found herself strung up by thousands of spider threads. Hundreds of smaller spiders crawled all over the room. Tsuchigumo, with its child head,
opened the mouth to reveal black-stained fangs dripping in poison. It approached her to feed. Krystal screamed and writhed, unable to break the threads.
A blinding flash of light hit the spider, and it fell back. Another hit the floor beneath it and a wave of light melted away many of the spiders as if they were shadow.
“Break the spell!” EB’s voice called out.
“Spell?” Krystal had to recall her own powers, it was as if her mind had lost connection to her own abilities.
Another flash of light followed by a blue glowing beam filled the room. The Wizard could be heard chanting. EB called again, “Come on, you can do it!”
Krystal closed her eyes and pushed her fear down with all the strength left in her. She suddenly remembered herself and cast a spell of disenchantment. Her magic combined with the white and blue lights and it cleared the room of spiders, threads, or that horrid demon.
“Krystal!” Nova came over to her and held her by the shoulders.
Krystal caught her breath, sweat glistening on her forehead. She looked around to find herself in the middle of an empty classroom. She hadn’t even fallen down, yet a moment ago she felt ten feet off the ground.
“What..what happened to me?”
The Wizard came over, holding up a flashlight. “Spirit of Halloween, he’s loose and really going all out this year.”
She wiped tears out of her eyes. “That was...horrible.”
“I’m sure it was,” Nova said. “We’ve all experienced terrible things. We need to break his hold on this station and the people.”
“Director, we have to be careful. I have dealt with this character before. He is something else entirely.”
EB said, “Trust me, I know. I have run into him a few times as well. Back in the nineteenth century there was...”
“Not now.” Nova growled.
“Sorry.”
The Wizard said, “We have a plan. The three of us cast a disenchantment spell, with EB at the lead, and we might break Spirit's hold over this station.”
Krystal said, “We need to move to a central location with open space.”
EB hopped out of the room, “My thoughts exactly.”
They walked through the station to the food court. EB stopped just before the entrance to the Arboretum. “This is the most centralized location on this station. However, I sense a lot of magic here, and the last time I walked in, everyone else with me vanished.”
Krystal said, “Probably into their nightmares.”
The Wizard said, “We can probably do this out here, in the food court. It is not as central as the arboretum, but I don’t want to end up back in that nightmare.”
“Me neither.” Krystal shuddered.
Nova pulled out his communicator, “I have linked with one of our observation satellites orbiting the station. I can monitor both this place and the arena.”
“Good,” EB said. “Okay, here’s how this will work.”
“Wait,” Krystal stopped him. “I’m BADGE’s authority on arcane matters.”
“You’re powerful, but I’m more powerful. Trust me.” EB smiled.
Krystal frowned, “Fine.”
“Okay, I will create an annihilation egg like I used to break the spells on you. I will pour as much power into it as I can. At the same time, you two cast disenchantment spells at the egg itself. They will surround the egg and when it explodes, it will spread both your spells and mine at once. A three-way disenchantment.”
“Good idea,” The Wizard said.
“I know. Now get ready. Nova, buddy, stand back.” He waited while Nova got a suitable distance away. He then held up his little paws, and an egg appeared above him, hovering over his head. It was crystal clear with a powerful light emitting from it. He focused, and the egg grew. The light became brighter, forcing Nova to put a hand up to shade his one good eye. Krystal focused her magic and cast a spell at the egg, as did The Wizard. Now the bright light was tinged in shifting colors of purple and red.
Nova turned away from this light and watched his monitor. He shifted it to the arena and realized that they could see this light from the arena.
“HOLD ON!” EB said and then sent the egg up higher. It reached the ceiling and exploded. A wave of red energy blasted out, followed by a wave of purple energy. Finally, a beam of white light glowed as if they had placed a new star inside the station.
Krystal called out, “I can sense the magic breaking.”
The Wizard said, “I can feel other people inside the Arboretum. They’re shifting out of the spell holding them.”
Krystal exclaimed, “It’s working!”
The bright white light abruptly stopped, and EB stumbled back. “Oh, my head. That was a lot of power.”
Nova came over and asked, “Is it done? Did you stop him?”
“I don’t know,” Krystal said.
The Wizard jumped back as an orange glow filled the food court. “WATCH OUT!”
Spirit of Halloween came flying over them and then stopped, “Nice try, but I’m far from done tricking you.” He flew back toward the Arboretum, cackling in glee.
“Follow him!” Nova yelled and ran.
All three entered the Arboretum and stopped at the sight of a giant Spirit of Halloween filling the dome above them.
“TRICK!” It bellowed and a massive wave of nebulous orange energy exploded out, spreading from the station.
Nova grabbed EB and ran out of the room, with Krystal and The Wizard right behind him. They made it back into the dining area.
“Are you okay?” He asked.
EB looked around and then started feeling Nova. “You okay? Not dead or anything like that?”
“I’m fine.”
Krystal said, “I don’t think he could entrap us in an illusion since we have all been disenchanted. But what did he do?”
Nova grabbed up his communicator and his face drained of color, “Oh, no.”
0 Comments