Chaos Destiny Read online

  She noticed the energy drifting away as she moved into the alley. Relieved and a little careless at the same time, she laughed to herself. Siem realized how silly and paranoid she was being. That could have been a dear old grandmother walking the same way she did! Maybe she should take time to enjoy the sights and sounds like the locals were. She reached the end of the alley and felt the fear rise in her again. It was as though all the problems of the past years had hit her all at once. She almost broke into tears but stopped herself upon realizing that the street was crowded with a lot of people. Siem might be frightened, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have some dignity. The energy that had haunted her was back and it was clear that these waves of emotion were no coincidence.

  She buried her fear and dug out her power. She cast four spells at once to protect her. An energy wall was built. Her hands caught fire and were surrounded by floating magic circles as her entire body took on a shade of dark red. While Siem prepared for battle, the sound ebbed away in the restaurant behind her turned. Where just a moment ago everyone was laughing and the mood was light, the people from the restaurant now watched with as much curiosity as fear at the scene unfolding at the end of the alleyway. Even if magic was a common way of life in the city of the Middle Kingdom, “battle magic” was not welcome and very rare. Only a small part of the population was allowed to use this magic, let alone master it.

  The guests were astonished when Siem rose in a ball of fire, looking like a phoenix rising from the ashes. She took one last deep breath. She had to be quick and precise, not too many people should see what was going on. After all, she was on the run from the King’s Guard! She jumped out of the alley and immediately turned to the wall of the house where she felt the energy radiate from the most.

  She did not think. She saw a shadow on the wall and a body. Immediately, she shot two fireballs in that direction. The shadow jumped away immediately and shouted “Mikkkooooo!” She did not understand what this being wanted. She had to make sure she had the advantage, especially now in this precarious position. This had to be done quickly and quietly. There was too much at stake...

  She shot three more fireballs against the creature, but it was quick. Her fireballs hit the wall behind it which was already scorched from her first attack. The creature was fast and windy. None of the fireballs hit its body, even though they had been incredibly fast. At the last second, it jumped away every time. Siem kept shooting and it kept screaming “Miiikkooooo” with every shot. Siem noticed that she couldn’t hit it and stopped for a second. The creature just stood in front of her. It didn’t attack either. It just stood there, staring. Siem was irritated. She stopped the fire and changed back, drifting to the floor and regaining her normal hues and colour once again.

  The being just looked at her and smiled. Siem had not noticed that before. It smiled. It hadn’t attacked. It didn’t want to kill anyone.

  “Who are you? And why are you following me?” she looked right at him. It was a “he” she presumed.

  “So now you ask Mikko Mikko? After you fire?” The figure didn’t seem outraged. Although his question was challenging, he seemed more amused and from the way he spoke.

  “Yes, Mikko Mikko, now I ask, and you answer. Why are you following me?”

  There was no aggression, just curiosity from the figure. She could see it in his eyes. The longer she watched him, the safer she felt. There was no sense of aggression, just curiosity. He took a step towards her. He stood tall with black hair and wearing a robe billowing in the air. He stared at her with a confident smile while his brown eyes assessed her. She was irritated but that wasn’t new. The warriors of the Middle Kingdom could all move so quickly, she reminded herself.

  “Siem...” He said softly and kneeled to lower his head. “Guardian of the one who turns against all.” That wasn’t a question, it was a statement. He knew who she was. It seemed their consciousness had been marked into the minds of many. But Siem did not know by whom.

  Siem did not want to attract more attention. Too many beings had already been spectators of this show. “Please stand up,” She begged. He looked up again at her.

  “Why are you following me?” She pressed again.

  “I heard about your story, Siem. It is similar to mine. I too was expelled from the School of Mages. My name is Mikko. I am at your service.”

  Siem was a little baffled. Suddenly, she heard a voice behind her, one that was at once too loud to ignore and yet too quiet to understand. But the word she understood was like a fist in the eye. “Traitor!” Siem turned and realized just at that moment that a group had formed around her. A large cluster of beings, some of them their spectators. The one who was in charge was an old lady. She looked at Siem with big eyes. “I recognize her from the warrior images sent out by the Seven. “ She said, adding, “Whoever captures her will be greatly rewarded.”

  Siem had forgotten to use the change spell after she had transformed back from the fire phoenix and now it looked like she would pay dearly for it. Step by step, these new attackers came closer and closed the circle around her. Siem did not want to hurt anyone. But she took two steps back and ignited her hands with fire again just so that no one would get a stupid idea...

  “If we catch them together, we can share the reward,” said the old lady. You could hear the greed in her voice. The horde of people advanced on Siem. She felt like a wild animal driven into a corner with no possible escape.

  “Don’t you dare!” Siem warned, her hands and eyes bright red. They whispered around her. “Demon...fire witch.”

  Siem turned around to Mikko, still standing in the same place as before. She had nearly forgotten him. He looked at her but didn’t smile anymore. He glowed. “ Mikko at your service,” came out of him.

  “Then do something!” She yelled at him. He nodded and stood in front of her. He whispered words of magic. Every word was imbued with power. Her heart stopped for a second when she heard what he said. It was dark magic. Every word triggered an avalanche of whirring runes around her. What took her minutes, he did with just a single word. The voices in the air that Mikko had released overshadowed every other sound. She didn’t know what was happening. All around her, the creatures began to scream, but the runes swallowed the sound. The humans started to run, but they could barely move, trapped as they were by the rune power.

  They moved slowly, very slowly. And even though their mouths were wide open and screams should be heard, it was silent. Only the three rune words were in the air. Siem looked down on herself and noticed that she was not taken by the spell. She could move freely. She looked at Mikko, “You froze her?”

  Mikko nodded “Every second seems like a whole day to them. They will be a little busy, but not for long.”

  “What do you suggest we do now?” She asked. He had saved her and seemed to know a lot about magic.

  “I’m taking you somewhere safe.”

  Siem nodded. Even if she could escape here, she needed allies in this city.

  “Mikkooooo, Mikkooooo,” He cried the same way he had before. He suddenly threw her in the air and jumped after her. The entire thing happened so fast that she knew if she were a mere spectator it would only seem like a blur before her eyes. She couldn’t tell if she was flying two meters through the air or two thousand. It was as though time was not playing a significant role anymore. She was everywhere at once. She only saw the face of Mikko flash before her briefly. His mastery of time was impressive and not to mention, insanely powerful.

  They landed again. It felt like a dream. She knew that she had been in another part of the city recently, but she could no longer say exactly where she was.

  “My mind is clouded,” she said. He smiled at her observation as he put her down then took a few steps away.

  “Everything happens so fast you lose the feeling of time and space, and you can’t distinguish between a dream and reality.” He explained.

>   Siem nodded and listened intently. He knew his stuff, that was for sure, and she would be foolish to not learn a few things from him. Fortunately, Siem wasn’t foolish.

  She noticed her surroundings now and frowned. Mikko’s magic had brought her to the outside of the Mage Guild buildings. A single White lighter Mage was set up there. It was very unusual for a building to have a White lighter Mage – who were very powerful guardians.

  The building itself looked very unimpressive. Brown walls with black runes of marble surrounded the building. The roof had four different chimneys. Each one spewed out smoke the same color of the chimney, red, yellow, blue, and brown. They were the colors of the Magic School. The smoke swirled around the guardian mage like some sort of protective shield. Two dragons woven by magic hung in the air. It was entrance week for the magic students. Accordingly, many magicians were outside with their children. The novices wandered together through the square in front of the building. For Siem, it was a beautiful and breath-taking sight. Here she had spent the first years of her education. This was her home, at least it used to be. Elves, beings of balance and chaos, Berserkers, and other human mages that crafted magic here.

  “I am always amazed at how beautiful the surroundings are.” His tone was sarcastic and almost bitter.

  Even though she despised the magicians for their weakness, she loved this place. “Tell me your story, Mikko.”

  “My story?” he repeated thoughtfully. “It’s not that simple.” Siem’s gaze told him she expected more. Siem smiled encouragingly. She hadn’t done that in a while.

  “You won’t like my story,” He warned after a few seconds of silence. Siem heaved a sigh. “I don’t think I’m supposed to, but at least I’m sure I’ll understand.”

  Mikko nodded. “I am a magician novice. I was trained by Lord Taboon.”

  Siem lifted her head. She had expected anything but this. He was the apprentice of the one magician that she had come here to oppose.

  “Is that so?” She said sarcastically. “Is that why you’re helping me? Know your enemy better than you know your friend?” She was ready to use her defensive magic. The trust they’d just amassed began to fade in her eyes. She turned her hands in his direction and forgot for a second that the same person had just helped her. Mikko saw and raised his hands in his defense. “I could have attacked you much earlier, but I didn’t. Don’t you think I’m being kind to you?”

  “Who knows? Why should I trust you?”

  He looked at her and nodded. “I am at your service. Believe me or not, I had to leave because I had my own ideas about justice and our ‘mutual friend’ wasn’t too happy about that.”

  “You mean Lord Taboon?” Siem clarified, for the strange Mage to nod, once.

  “And what are your ideas of justice?” asked Siem thoughtfully.

  “Well,” Mikko smiled. “First of all, I don’t kill anyone. I don’t need to manipulate anyone to reach my goal and I always tell the truth.”

  Siem nodded. “That won’t get you very far in a world like this.”

  “The truth is the magicians in these great halls think I am a charlatan. I have defeated most of them back in the Great Hall and quickly.”

  She believed him, every word he said. She felt at one with him. He was a rebel in the true sense of the word. Siem hadn’t felt connected to someone like she did with him in a long time. Every second she thought about it made everything seem crazier. Siem, a powerful magician, was struggling with her emotions. Damn it! The internal struggle was visible on her face. Siem looked as torn and confused as she felt.

  “What am I gonna do with you?” She blurted out. “First you save my life, then you tell me that you are playing for the wrong team and now you look at me with those big googly eyes.”

  Siem let her defences fall completely, magical and emotional. She knew that her trust for him was unusually quick, but she cared about him for some reason and that made her nervous. He hid nothing from her, and that was very rare. He had laid himself bare before her. Yet it seemed to her that she didn’t know him at all.

  “Okay, so what do you want from me?” Siem asked. She relaxed her posture and looked at him, waiting for a clear answer. He looked puzzled by this direct question but immediately gave her an answer.

  “I want to help you. This is about us walking in there and facing Lord Taboon together, two mages against one.” After a while, he spoke again. “You will change this world, Siem. Your name is already on everyone’s lips, and I think it is good that someone like you can make it this far.”

  “Someone like me?” She wondered aloud. She looked at him and could barely suppress the urge to laugh.

  “Well, you’re a woman and a woman doesn’t usually do that,” Mikko said, somewhat apologetically.

  Siem rolled her eyes and couldn’t bother pretending to be shocked by the misogyny of it all. He felt awkward and kept stuttering in a haste to justify his words. The last thing he wanted was to offend her.

  “Well, you are with a princess, a princess who probably didn’t volunteer... but you are standing right here trying to change the world beside her. You should be dead. You should have been forgotten because of what you have done and because you are a woman, yet you are not. You pose a threat to all those who stand against you.”

  He tried again when she met his words with a blank stare. “I want to stand up to these powerful sorcerers and change the system... with you, a beautiful, powerful, and amazing woman.”

  Siem smiled then. She realized that there was much more at stake here than she had initially thought.

  Mikko continued, “I am powerful but not a natural leader. I do things alone. You, on the other hand, have come so far with little help and without a man at your side.” She tried her best not to roll her eyes again.

  “I am not alone but yes, the first steps were hard, and after that, the help I received was not much, so I am proud and happy that I have come this far. I will fulfil my duty as a guardian and save Eldana from certain death.”

  “That’s what I meant,” said Mikko. “You’re a leader. You do whatever it takes to pursue and fight for what you believe in no matter the risk, and I find that incredible. That’s why I’m here. I’ve been hiding for the last few years, ashamed to be myself. I feel the light is not strong enough to protect me. But with you, the light in my heart glows again and I am ready to fight with you. I feel, somehow, that we may even have a chance to win...”

  Siem was a little embarrassed at the attention they got from his loud declaration. People who passed by stared intensely at them.

  “Well then, Mikko,” Siem began. “You now belong to the new circle of the Protectors of Eldana. We are happy to have you with us.”

  The magician laughed out loud. His smile was brighter than the sun in its full glory. She also laughed. She turned and looked at the building.

  “Thanks again for bringing me here. I will go in and demand Lord Taboon’s help and stop this terrible hunt.”

  The color in Mikko’s face drained instantly as he gave a horrified gasp.

  “That’s what you wanted to come here, to appeal to Lord Taboon?”

  Before he could finish his sentence, Siem was already on her way into the building. Mikko was puzzled but ran after Siem and grabbed her by the arm, speaking the runes of time and speed. Through the magic, it could have been difficult to fool the mage guard, but Mikko knew his way around and was fast and shrewd. The mage guard sensed a slight source of power but in a magic school that was normal. It didn’t matter.

  They emerged inside the school much faster than expected; two merest flickers of light and air that went unnoticed. The two ended up near the door to Lord Taboon’s chamber. It was located in a side corridor, cut off from the main hallway, and with many magical inscriptions on the walls. Siem held her fingers to her lips as she stepped forward, and peeped into Lord Taboon’s office wit
h a spell. Siem and Mikko carefully walked in after knocking and immediately heard whistling. The office of Lord Taboon looked exactly as one would imagine the office of a leading magician. Thousands of books were placed on impressively tall antique bookshelves. Everywhere, there were mystic signs and crystals for different purposes. Lord Taboon was just about to put away a scroll when he heard the knock on the door. He assumed it was one of the students looking for help again. He tried to appear friendly when he approached since he had been told far too often that he seemed quite scary and aggressive.

  “Come in,” He said in a lovely tone with his best smile. A young woman and a man stood there in front of him. They looked quite nasty, but that was normal for Lord Taboon. Everyone looked nasty to him.

  “How can I help you, students?” He stated.

  Siem was the first to speak. She felt her heart flutter for a moment, but her nerves were tempered by the memories of their recent chase. “We are not students,” she said steadily. She looked their nemesis in the eye.

  “We are friends of Eldana and demand you to stop hunting her.”

  Lord Taboon’s smile disappeared. He looked at the young her for a few seconds before continuing. “So you must be Siem.”

  They had not met before, but the seven must have spread the news that Eldana is not alone after the battle on the forest clearing.

  “I’ve heard a lot about you, that you were this naive wasn’t one of them. “Siem didn’t give him the pleasure of being unsettled. She had known her plan was a long shot, but she had come prepared, and she wasn’t alone either.

  “Tell me, child,” Lord Taboon said, “Do you understand what is at stake?” He took a step closer. Mikko looked nervously behind them at the door, then at the several large windows that went from the ceiling to the floor, but they all were on Lord Taboon’s side.