The One after my Heart

"Hand over the shard. Do not test my patience unless you want to die, young lady", threatened the burly middle-aged man as he repeated his earlier words.

'If they needed it so bad, why haven't they killed me yet? It would be a piece of cake for them to take this object away from me. It would be no different than an adult snatching away a child's candy. But why haven't they done so yet? Is it because of the shard?', she thought to herself.

Clara could feel their eyes locked on her and somehow knew that if there were any slight unwanted movements from her, it was clear they wouldn't hesitate to kill her.

'No, it isn't the shard. Or is it the altar? It seems so, but why?', Clara surmised and judging by the burly man's hesitant and shuffling looks at the altar now and then, she felt her conjecture was probably right.

Now that she knew the reason and had her guesses, she felt a little reassuring and emboldened herself as she felt protected next to the altar.

They hadn't already killed her, probably because she was next to the altar. Clearly, they were wary about it, as they kept their distance, which she felt was extremely odd.

'Time...if only I had a little more time', thought Clara bitterly from within.

She could remember the desperate looks filled with hope as her fellow sisters and Godmother looked at her when she sent Clara away.

"I'll do my best to keep them down occupied and join you, Clara. But on the off chance, if I can't make it, you will have to do your best to destroy this. I need the others to work on the barrier to keep them occupied and can't spare any other person. Besides you're the one I trust the most. So it has to be you!" said her Godmother with a determined and encouraging look on her face as she looked at the docile Clara as she stuffed the shard into the latter's hand. She fondly patted Clara's head and gave her a quick gentle hug.

"Believe in yourself. I know you can do it. Here, also take my necklace, so I can find you easily. It's been charmed. It should boost your magic and hide your presence temporarily. But you have to hurry! They are almost here!", she urged Clara as she handed a necklace with a small bony pendant shaped like an awl taking it off her neck.

Yet who knew it would all be for naught, and Clara would still be caught in the end. Where was her Godmother? She never caught up with her all this time. Had things gone really bad at their end?

'I hope they at least escaped in time if they couldn't hold the attackers back.' She couldn't stop worrying about Gina and her fellow sisters. If only Godmother were here with her now.

'No, if only I was stronger it wouldn't have come to me being helpless. Only I myself am to blame for this.' But now, it was too late for her to wish for anything. She hated that she was too weak. She hated that her talent for spirit magic was weak despite trying so hard compared to the rest of her sisters.

The look on the burly muscular old man's face was getting impatient now. "Girl, if you think the Grand Witch or your coven's leader will come over to save you, you're clearly mistaken. They are most likely already dead by now.

Clara was stupified and struck in horror as she heard this. "Dead?"

"Yes, their corpses are being feasted by scavengers as we speak. You are the last one. You seem like a kind girl. Hand the shard over obediently and I'll promise to let you go. I would be disappointed to see your kind disappear. This is your last chance.", replied the burly man impatiently.

Clara stood there dumbfounded and in shock. Am I the last one? Gone? Are they all gone?

Her eyes were spilling out hot tears as she recalled her comrades who were her family. It was as though she had lost all hope. Her family. Her coven! Her brethren! And they were now dead?

She felt desolate, and for some reason, flames of fury sparked with her battered, exhausted body, which looked like it was about to crumble anytime. Clara felt a rage growing stronger and stronger, so much that she wanted to destroy everything around her. Especially against the two people who currently stood in front of her as hate seethed within her.

"Well, what's the point if they're all gone then? Since they're gone I might as well as join them!" bellowed Clara fiercely and turned around to smash the damn shard with all her power.

She raised her right hand, concentrating every last bit of power in her palm, intending to slam it down as soon as she was done chanting the spell.

"Not good!" exclaimed the cold, indifferent man who was silent until now as he noticed her reactions. The power she was accumulating on her hand was far stronger than he anticipated. Clearly, he never expected this from her.

With a grim expression, he immediately decided upon what to do next.

In the blink of an eye, he disappeared from his position and appeared right behind her. He thrust his hand through her back with great force, intending to rip her heart out. His actions were perfect and effortless. Yet what he didn't expect was that as soon as his hand touched her back, his whole figure was restricted, and a fierce golden barrier popped up around Clara.

The pendant on her neck glowed with a strange charm in a violet glow. It seemed to have locked down the man with the cold expression down, restricting his movements and yet at the same time erected a spherical barrier behind her back protecting her from harm.

All of this took time to describe, yet it happened in the blink of an eye.

Clara's eyes lit up. 'Godmother! Even until the end she was being protected so how could she let me down. Even if I have to give up my life I will do what was told to!'

She instantly decided on what to do next.

'I've no choice but to use that forbidden magic spell.', she thought fiercely, her mind racking up on trying to recall the spell from her memory. It was something that only herself and Gina knew about, which Gina had found accidentally two weeks from an ancient tome lying from their library.

The spell consisted of one trading their life's vitality for a sudden burst of power. Though it was temporary, their vitality would be seriously diminished. Gina and Clara swore an oath to each other on keeping it a secret, or they would be in serious trouble since their Godmother and their cult forbid that type of magic.

With a determined expression, she started to channel her own life energy into it as she cast the forbidden spell on herself. What was regarded as a taboo in their domain, she didn't even care now. It didn't matter anymore.

"It's the work of that Grand Witch! My movements seem to be temporarily restricted. Tear it down immediately and stop her", growled the cold old man to the burly middle-aged guy as he found himself to be paralysed where he stood.

"Hmph," As he said so the thin old man immediately gave a grunt, and all of a sudden, his ice blue pupils turned blood-red.

It was a startling change. It seemed like just looking into his blood-red eyes shook one's soul in fear. It made it seem like he was the emissary of hell himself. The air around him that was restricted seemed to be vibrating, and he could feel the bindings on him get weaker.

Meanwhile, upon hearing the words of the former, the burly ancient one's amber eyes blazed with a fierce golden hue, and in an instant, he was next to the barrier and threw one after another shattering punch on the barrier that sounded like thunder. One after another, powerful punches were thrown.

Cracks immediately formed on the barrier, and it seemed it was going to crumble anytime soon.

"Hahaha...Too late .....Gina...my sisters...Godmother... I'm coming to join you all. ", said Clara, now with a wild grin as she began to laugh maniacally. Her right hand held a shimmering energy ball of small flames.

"More POWER!" she bellowed as she boosted her spell powering up, channelling from the forbidden spell.

In an instant, her whole demure seemed to undergo a change. Her previous braided hair untangled itself, fluttering wildly in the air, her whole body started to tremble violently as though it was getting battered from within.

In the blink of an eye, that small clump of flames in her hand turned into a huge raging ball of dark violet fire that looked like it would do nothing but turn all and everything around it into ashes.

The cold, indifferent old person's eyes went wide in surprise, completely shocked. Clearly, he had underestimated the power Clara was accumulating.

"No!!", exclaimed the burly old man with a bellow as he retreated backwards in full speed.

With madness in her teary red eyes, in her full wrath despite her already beginning to lose consciousness, Clara slammed her right palm down on the shard.

"HELL FIRE!!!"

In an instant, there was a blinding flash of bright light on the altar that it lit up the nightly skies for miles together, with a deathly silence that was soon followed by a roaring shockwave that spread outwards the explosion. Intense heatwaves and fires spread outwards as the blast spread out, spilling into the forest lands melting all snow and burning everything in their path for miles all over and turning them into ashes.

As for the mysterious kite-shaped shard or the altar that stood ancient despite everything, or the timid beautiful young woman who was responsible for the events today, they'd completely vanished, leaving nothing but a ghastly hollow pit on the cliff, thus achieving their purpose.

--------

After the violent destruction at Ragnar mountain, one would assume that it wouldn't be seeing any visitors for a long while. But roughly just after an hour at this moment, three figures were standing in the hollow pit at the cliff of Ragnar mountain where the explosion had taken place.

The leading figure was facing the other two, inspecting the pit that had formed. The person seemed completely cloaked and hidden, so much that it was hard for one to figure out his identity. It seemed as the person had merged into his surroundings, so it was really tough to discover this person's presence or see his features. His whole persona seemed to be covered in mist.

The other two figures were the Ancient Ones' who'd clearly just returned. The cold old man now had an annoyed, cold look on his face. While the burly grey-haired muscular man looked angry as well as he snarled.

"You never warned us about putting our lives on the line. We nearly died back there. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.", growled the burly middle-aged man. His greyish white hair looked clearly ruffled, and his fists slowly clenched tight, making a loud cracking noise.

Meanwhile, the cold, tall indifferent old Ancient one simply stared at the third figure with a deadly cold glint flashing in his eyes. As for his thoughts, one could only guess.

"I'm sorry about that, but don't worry it was all in the plan. I see that you've succeeded well. I imagine it wasn't easy considering your status to make a move personally."

"You've my sincere gratitude, Blood Lord and Lord Arkane," apologized the rough voice from beyond the mist and hidden robes as it tried to appease their anger. The figure gave a small bow towards the handsome tall old man and the burly grey-haired person as he addressed them with a respectful tone.

"Hmph. Consider us even now. I'm done here with this farce", replied the lean old man whom the misty-figure referred to as the Blood Lord. He vanished in the blink of an eye without waiting for any response from the other.

The cloaked, hooded figure didn't expect the old man to leave abruptly and gave a small start in surprise. Even his senses which could detect anything around for a hundred miles, couldn't find the Blood Lord's trace. This only meant that the Blood Lord was far gone by now, as though he was never here in the first place.

"He is quite a difficult one ", muttered the hidden figure as its eyes turned grim. It seemed the old Blood lord's reputation wasn't for naught. 'It was a pity, I couldn't kill them both as well', thought the figure with a disgruntled mood though the person didn't reveal any emotion.

"I see, he's as impatient as always heh heh. So now that the sacrifice is done, what's next?" asked the grey-haired muscular man. It seemed he couldn't wait to get this matter over with as well and leave.

"Patience, Lord Arkane, patience. Everything in good time. Now that the wheels have been set in motion, we wait for the universe to respond in kind by sending us what we need. And then we take the next appropriate step and action as everything unfolds.", replied the cloaked figure in riddles. "Until then we just wait. I'll contact you when the time comes."

"Riddles ehh? Heh heh, I don't care what nonsense you spout, but you had better keep up your words with regards to our deal. You must've heard and know the one thing this Lord hates the most is schemers and traitors," laughed Arkane menacingly as he turned around and walked away towards the charred smoking forest. "Even more than that old skeleton who left just now,hmmph!"

The hidden figure stared at Lord Arkane's receding back and laughter in the air with narrowed eyes.

"We'll see about that. We... shall see indeed.....kekeke", the figure whispered silently as a wicked smile spread on the face beneath the hood.

The cloaked figure silently looked up into the night sky that was glittered with infinite stars. It then looked at the spot where the altar was previously, and no one knew what the figure was thinking. After a long while, it shook its head and sighed.

And then its existence slowly seemed to merge with its surroundings as it disappeared silently, leaving soft whispering words in the cold desolate air,

"I'll be waiting for you, Girl!".