The One after my Heart

"Wh-what have you done!?" shrieked Kyra as she ran over to Nisa, who had just collapsed to the ground.

The middle-aged man with his neatly combed brown hair and trimmed moustache stood there at a distance impassively as he stared at the three females ahead in front of him. He saw the two blonde girls, and he felt like he'd remembered something, but then as his glance swept past the stunning young brunette and whatever that thought was, he forgot about it.

Kyra could feel the blood rush into her ears and hear her heart beating as she took in the view in front of her. Just when things had gotten better, things had taken a turn for the worse. What sort of god-forsaken hell was this.

She felt faint on her knees and felt as though she'd collapse all over once again.

Nisa's body was curled up as she gasped and struggled to breathe amidst the pain of being pierced through.

With a harrumph, the middle-aged, well-dressed man retracted all three of his wooden vines that were around twenty feet long at the same speed as he'd attacked them. These wooden vines seemed no different from vines, except that they were as thick an adults arm and made out of wood. They seemed to be able to extend or retract as per the man's commands. The long, spearheaded, thick vine remained afloat in the air as though snakes looking to strike back at any moment awaiting his orders. It seemed he was in no hurry as he stood there calmly glaring coldly at them as though he had intended to watch the three suffer and die.

"Who are you? Why did you attack us?" asked Kyra in an aggrieved voice.

"You sure have the gall to dare question this lord in my own territory", the well-groomed man replied with a sneer as his moustache bristled in anger.

When the spear was pulled out of Nisa's body, she let out a weak lamentable voice and coughed out more blood. There was a gaping bleeding hole bigger than a palm on Nisa's abdomen, and as she laid there twitching in pain, the blood that flowed out of the wound slowly covered and spread on the ground all around her.

Kyra immediately tried to cover the wound with her bare palms, but the blood wouldn't stop oozing out as it covered her palms. She could feel her eyes being blinded by her tears as her hands started to shake.

Kyra noticed that Nisa's eyes had just begun to slowly whiten, and her body started to slowly turn cold.

"Nisa! Nisa, stay with me!! No.. Don't close your eyes no matter what! You hear me! Wake up!!" shouted Kyra as she gently and repeatedly slapped Nisa's pale cheeks, who seemed like she was about to fall asleep any moment.

'What do I do! What do I do!!?' thought Kyra helplessly with tears flowing out of her eyes as her body shook.

She didn't even care about running for her life at this moment, for all she wanted now was for these two sisters to be up and jumping as they previously were just moments ago.

"Why!? Why must you hurt them!? They're just children!" accused Kyra as she looked aggrievedly at the middle-aged moustache man with hate in her eyes.

"Hmmph, to think dark witches like you would dare justify yourselves", sneered the middle-aged man.

"Dark witches? We aren't dark witches! Wait! The two girls are spirit witches, and we even had help in getting here", replied Kyra, who was suddenly taken aback at the accusation.

"Save it! How else would you have seen through and broken the mist-illusion formation set up by the elder witches around the protected Kitthale tree? You dare lie to my face!?" he responded back in a menacing tone.

"You think I don't know what you're playing at? We've had enough of you wretches cause us enough trouble.", said the middle-aged man with a sneer as his moustache bristled in indignant anger.

"You were lucky to escape previously, but rest assured my spears won't miss this time. It's heart-warming that you haven't run away abandoning your fellow witches though it's all the same to me.", the man said as he raised his right hand, ready to strike with the three spears headed wooden vines positioned in front of him facing.

It was then that he noticed something he'd previously missed before as he was taken aback as a suspicious expression flit across his face.

Kyra followed his eyes and saw him staring intently at his wooden vine spears that were raised in the air facing them like snakes about to strike at any second.

Among the three snake-like wooden vine spears, one was covered in blood, while the other two were not. But what the man stared at was the two unbloodied wooden vines spearheads where one of them seemed sharp, lustrous look glinting with sharpness and yet that the other seemed entirely opposite. It looked brittle and dry as though it were sapped completely of its moisture. The ends of the spear was blunt unlike the other two.

Not to mention, he even felt a tenth of his powers and vitality had drained out as well. It was then that the brittle dry vine spear had cracked from on its surface and looked as though it would shatter at any second.

"You still dare claim that you aren't dark witches!?" he bellowed furiously as his cheeks turned red and prepared to attack them with full force. But just as he channelled his power and was about to strike, the brittle wooden spear shattered into powdered dust in front of his eyes, stunning him.

'No!, it's more than one-tenth of my powers that I've lost. It's at least three-tenths of my power! What sort of dark magic is this!' he wondered as he stood there stunned momentarily. And then his expression changed as he noticed something else.

Kyra, who had her eyes watching his moves, caught his puzzled reaction and instantly noticed the difference and realized what was going on!

Earlier, only one spear was covered in blood that had obviously struck Nisa, which meant apart from the one she'd dodged earlier, the other one had missed its target as well? Otherwise, it should've been covered in blood as well. That's right! She didn't see Maya pierced like Nisa was, nor was there any blood around or wound on her!

'Don't tell me Maya is still..!!'

Kyra swiftly turned towards Maya's frail body that laid on the ground. Kyra's could help but feel her heart uplift in hope. If her conjecture was right, perhaps she had assumed the worst earlier on, as she saw Maya's still body on the ground.

She followed the man's puzzled glance as he stared at the cracking snake-like wooden vine and, taking advantage of his distraction before he could react, she immediately left Nisa's side and rushed towards little Maya and dragged the little girl back next to where Nisa was. She then placed herself between the girls and the man's vision.

From the corner of his eyes, he noticed Kyra's actions and ignored them momentarily as he dealt with his own problem.

Kyra took a hasty glance as she felt and checked Maya's body for any injuries. But the little girl seemed to have fallen asleep just as she earlier was on the previous night. There was even a small smile was spread on her lips with a little drool coming out.

The only difference though, was that now there was a vivid murky red-coloured dot, about two centimetres, like a bindi, at the centre of Maya's eyebrows. This red dot brought a whole different charm to the adorable little girl's looks.

'What's that?' Kyra was confused as she stared at the pulsating red dot.

But as she stared at it, there was something about it that calmed Kyra's mind, that seemed to be on the verge of going insane.

As the red dot pulsed on the white forehead of the little child, and Kyra stared at it, she felt as though it were gently comforting her, saying everything would be okay.