Next Mage

~Marilla's

POV

The twins glowed like entwined stars.

Cool wind caressed my cheeks, my hair flying, as if to pull me upwards and into the foggy evening sky.

Warm reds and golds scattered their light across the sky like a blanket, penetrating through the fog, tiny splinters of fading sunlight glimmering onto the battlefield. Overhead, the small crescent moon was appearing behind a cloud. The Ragnarok growled, but this time sounding a little less fierce and more like a whimper, as if it knew that it was on the verge of being defeated.

Cam and Carissa rose into the air, the silver light emanating from their bodies blinding now, and I squinted as the glare reached my eyes.

The breeze around us blew faster, swirling, scattering dark leaves and dry, black branches, throwing them into the air like ink-colored confetti. The whirlwind rose, threads of wind, clouds and fog coming together like spun silver, looking like a great, spinning tower leading up to the heavens.

Everyone watched in silent shock, the mages, the Ragnarok mages, and even the Ragnarok, it's blood-red eyes like giant glowing pools, as if it were in a trance.

Wind howled around our ears like sirens, and, all of a sudden, the Ragnarok snapped out of it's stupor.

Eyes widened as the great beast crouched down, snarling, and sprang up in a flying, twisting leap towards Oliver. I cried out in fear and shock as the creature stretched out it's claws, sharp teeth ready to tear him to shreds--

The tornado began to rumble, electricity bouncing in an out of the spinning mass of wind and cloud. The Ragnarok glanced backwards in surprise, and, in turn, faltered on it's landing and scrabbled for grip at the mushy black sand underneath, sharp pebbles digging in between it's claws. The tornado vibrated with thunder and rumbled louder, sounding like it was taunting the Ragnarok, or even laughing.

The edges of my mouth tilted up.

The creature hissed like a cat, teeth bared as it glared irritably at the crackling tornado that had caused it's fall. I noticed a few people holding back grins, as if they were trying not to laugh, since this was quite a grave matter.

The Ragnarok then snarled at them, and their expressions immediately went fearful. Lashing it's ruined tail at the giant whirlwind, the Ragnarok scanned the area calculatingly with it's one eye, forked black tongue darting out to lick it's lips, as if it were searching for the best meal.

The wind was becoming violent now, pulling at our bodies and forcing me to push all of my weight to the ground in order not to be picked up by the spinning vortex and thrown into the fog. Cam and Carissa glowed brighter and brighter, the wind picking up speed the more radiant they got.

People began to scream and cry out in shock as their feet were lifted off the ground. I clung to the nearest object with all of my might, brushing the hair out of my face and glancing about.

To my surprise, the only people being levitated into the air were Ragnarok mages. I looked to Cam and Carissa, their shining faces perpetually frozen, but I noticed the corners of Carissa's mouth quirked up in a tiny, smug smile. I grinned.

Letting go of the rock that I was holding on to, I casually watched as enemy mages were spun into the sky like dandelion seeds, the whirlwind crackling with static and thunder and shooting tiny thunderbolts in the direction of the Ragnarok. The beast growled in frustrations, and I snorted a laugh.

But then the world seemed to come to a stop as the Ragnarok turned it's fiery gaze onto me.

The blood in my veins froze in horror, my skin paling and cold sweat dripping down my neck. My limbs ached with adrenaline, and as the Ragnarok slowly took a threatening step towards me, paws suddenly seeming like they were weighed down by some mysterious force, I screamed.

Everything moved in slow motion.

Heads turned, eyes widened into shocked circles, and people shouted for me to move, but their voices were blurred and slow; my feet stayed rooted to the ground, as if the Ragnarok's intense gaze was pinning me down like a cornered mouse. Slow, echoing thumps sounded in my ears as my friends began to run towards me, the cold wind starting sounding like a phantom, moaning in my ears eerily.

The Ragnarok ran towards me, and I could see how it's claws dug into the sand, clouds of tiny pebbles flying up behind it in a slow, black flurry, it's eye becoming a blurry red spot as my vision began to spin out of focus...

What's wrong with me? My brain screamed in panic.

Why can't I move?

I blinked, trying to pull myself back into full consciousness once more and attempting to move my legs, but they felt heavy and unwieldy from beneath me.

The beast surged closer, mouth curled in a hideous snarl and claws stretched out, ready to spear into my heart--

The Ragnarok swerved past, it's hot breath rushing past my cheeks and the glare of it's red eye inches away from my face.

The world suddenly reverted back to normal, and my gaze sharpened.

Then I was swept up into the clouds, screaming and crying and kicking, watching as the Ragnarok charged towards Oliver and wishing that the tornado had carried him up into the icy night instead. ~Oliver's POV

I ran towards Marilla, my heart thumping so loud that it echoed in my ears.

The Ragnarok was closing in on her.

"Run!" I shouted as loud as I could, but the wind snatched at my breath and caused my lungs to falter. I wheezed, my muscles searing with heat; I gathered up energy and squeezed my eyes shut, feeling heat crackle in my veins, glowing at my fingertips--

I opened my eyes.