Prismatic

Trigger

We ate the leftovers for breakfast. There was a big loaf of bread sliced at the center of the table. There was hot chocolate and hot coffee as drink options. As we dined, I feared the inevitable. “Guys, did you hear something fall last night?” Tyke wondered.

“Yeah, it gave me the creeps”, Aina was glancing in all directions.

“It was probably nothing”, Bry replied.

“Yeah, I think it’s nothing”, I struggled to hide my trembling. “I didn’t hear anything.”

“Huh. It sounded like the whole house fell or something”, Aina doubted.

“You don’t think this house is haunted, right?” Tyke sounded panicked.

“Don’t scare yourselves. There is no such thing as–“, Bry suddenly stopped.

“Aah!!!” Tyke shrieked like a cursed witch as he felt something touch him.

“Gotcha”, I joked after I let go of him.

“Quit it!” he pushed me away and I let out a deep groan, “That’s not funny, Jo.”

I struggled to breathe, “Ow!  You’re too rough, Tyke.”

“Hey, I wouldn’t hit any woman”, Tyke was suddenly clutching Aina, “Especially my woman.”

She threw him off his seat. “Stop doing that, I’m not ready for this”, Aina’s face was a red delicious.

“Oh come on, babe. Give me some sugar”, he jested while he recovered. Aina punched him in the gut also. He made a guttural groan.

“I guess that’s it for breakfast”, Bry sighed, “Why don’t you two run along and do some shopping, I’ll finish up here.”

“Okay”, I grinned at him, “Come on Tyke.”

“I’ll catch up, give me a minute”, he gasped, still catching his breath.

“Want some potion with that?” Bry offered.

“No thank you. I’ll just give myself some breaths.”

Bry just shrugged. After Tyke had recovered, we proceeded to the shopping place. When we went out, it was still dark. I guess time works differently here, I thought. When we arrived at the place, I went through last night’s conversation about Aina’s suggestions. I looked at the stuffed toys first. It was odd. There were miniatures and life size of us on display. I took the miniature of Bry and I, Tyke also grabbed his and Aina’s. When we were going to pay up, the Lutin said, “Those are free if you accept the challenge.”

“If not…?” Tyke snapped a question.

“You exit the tower”, his voice was serious. “You cannot back out once you touched the merchandise. Do you accept?”

“We have no other choice, then”, I replied in a sad voice.

“Present us the challenge”, Tyke commanded.

“A challenge has been accepted”, a familiar voice responded, “I will explain the requirements for this challenge.”

“The event is called, Gehena. To pass this challenge, you must find the demon among the Lutins”, he paused, “Once you found him, defeat him and find a way to contain him. Magic of any kind is allowed. Good luck and I hope you survive.”

Great… The first shop I chose turned out to be a killer. When will my luck turn around? I would have just stayed if I knew this was coming. I calmed my thoughts so I could think on how to pass this challenge. There was no time for regrets.

I studied the Lutins in the stalls. Everyone looked exactly the same. I breathed deeply and concentrated.  The book showed me an illustration. There was a drawing of a triple triangle with an eye underneath. Beside the illustration a spell was written, “Aratos Vinduga.” I began drawing the illustration as I saw it. I whispered the written spell. I looked through the triangle, examining each with it. I looked back at the Lutin of the stuffed toys. He looked different from the others and I knew that he was the culprit. “So, it was you after all”, I pointed at the Lutin.

“How can you be sure madam? I am but a vendor of toys”, he defended himself.

“First of all, your manner of speech is different. Second, nothing is free in this tower. Third, your conditions are just absurd”, I answered each point of the question.

“That was quite an excellent observation madam but why use a magic lens?” he inquired.

“It was to see what we are really dealing with here”, I gestured toward the lens. “It turned out that it really was a demon.”

It shed its skin and ran away. We chased after it. It was a charred creature with three horns aligned in a vertical line on its head. It had a burning red triple triangle symbol on its forehead. It had neither armor nor items, not even clothes. We caught up to it by the river. It floated over the water without any support. Darn it! I don’t have control over the water. Then, I heard something shoot from behind me. It was Tyke with his sword aimed like a shotgun. The red ball of light had frozen the demon in place then Tyke shot another one. It was a yellow bolt that spread out as a net when it made contact. The net constricted and captured the demon. Suddenly, a victorious trumpet could be heard behind us. A familiar figure appeared above the demon. The captured demon was banished by Lutin with a little whisk of hand. “Congratulations champions on capturing the demon”, he celebrated with jubilee, “As a reward, you can keep the dolls with you. A generous amount of currency is also awarded for beating the time record.” He disappeared after giving our reward currency.

“We only get these for saving our butt? You ruined our shopping spree”, Tyke combusted.

“Calm down, Tyke”, I tried to cool his temperature, “Anyway, you did great there. How did you do that?”

“I tried tinkering with my sword”, he explained, “I tried copying you and Bry, it sucks to be the one without magic.”

“That was magic right there”, I pointed out.

“That was magic?” Tyke was astounded, “Well, moving on. As I said, I was copying you cast spells when balls of different color blasted on the trees.”

“When did you do this?”

“When you were all asleep”, Tyke didn’t meet my eyes, “After that, I heard a loud thud so I hurried back to the house to check what it was but it was gone.”

I shuddered at the thought, good thing I was fast. If I were a second late, he would have discovered a long haired spirit clumsily finding the way back to her room. Good thing my agility was boosted.

“Whatever it was, I hope we don’t get to hear it again”, I chuckled nervously.

“Yeah… It gave me the creeps, you know”, Tyke shuddered at the thought.

“Hey, can you tell me something?”

“What is it?”

“How come you didn’t know you had magic?”

“I think Bry told you this already. Not everyone is born with magic. It should have manifested while I was a child. Maybe I was just a late bloomer.”

“Oh, so that’s why. What are you gonna tell them?”

“It’s better to show them. I might need Bry’s guidance though. He’s sort of an expert at these.”

“I agree with that. So, should we get back to shopping?”

“Sure. Come on.”

We went back to shopping. I activated my magic lens just to make sure were safe. I went on to the next one on the list, the perfume shop. Not that I need any, just curious on how they smell. There were an assortment of perfumes in different shapes and sizes. I tried the one that was triangle-shaped and faded blue. I put it on Tyke’s nose. He froze and his eyes were a swirl of blue and violet. He started drooling and then launched himself at me. He was struggling to fight the smell. I wanted to help him, I casted Lumen Calato. I focused the light on the scent. He was screaming from his lungs and he still tried to grab me. When I was sure that the smell was gone, I took out the light.

“Ow”, he touched his burnt nose, “You burned my nose to a crisp.”

“Don’t worry, I think Bry has something to reverse the effects”, I was nervous.

“Ugh. Alright, are you done shopping?”

“Not quite yet, there is just one stall I haven’t checked yet.”

“Fine… If anything happens, just call my attention.”

I went to the face enhancing shop. They had different varieties of face items. They had creams, cleansers and soaps. Do I need these things? I think I’m satisfied with my own face. I can manage myself without these. I don’t want to experiment on my face. It’s hard to maintain already as it is.

I looked at Tyke, “Hey, have you found anything interesting?”

“No, and I don’t want to touch anything anymore”, he looked anxious.

“I’m done looking, anyway. Let’s head back to the house.”

When Tyke and I reached the house, Bry and Aina just finished cooking dinner. Aina set the table while Bry set the food. We joined them for dinner. Tyke tried to cover his nose.

“So, how was shopping?” Aina’s eyes fixed on me.

“It was fun until we were met with some difficulties”, I looked at Tyke and he revealed the damage.

“Oh my goodness, what happened?” Aina was worried.

I gave them a succinct account of what happened. “That’s why his nose was charred”, I explained.

“I think I have something for that”, Bry grabbed a dark green potion from the void, “Here. Drink this after dinner.”

“Thanks, man. You are a life saver”, Tyke was relieved.

“So, how are you?”, Bry shifted his attention to me.

“I feel great”, I smiled at him.

“Let’s see what you got for us”, Aina interjected.

I grabbed the stuffed toys. I handed them out across the table. “These look creepy”, Aina said after receiving her miniature version.

“There must be something about them. It must give us something”, Tyke was skeptic.

“Let me try something”, Bry placed the stuffed toys on the table and concentrated on them.

Azure spirits came out of them then through our bodies. I felt a gentle aura inside of me. I felt that my spirit had strengthened. A voice spoke, “You’ve proven yourself worthy, let us accompany you on your journey.” I thought I was going crazy. Suddenly, Tyke was laughing breaking the silence. “I knew it! I knew something was in there”, Tyke exclaimed.

“The mystery is out. Can we eat now?” Bry turned his attention to the food.

We resumed eating and said nothing else. We just focused on finishing our meals. We called it a night and went to bed after cleaning up the dishes. Bry told us to keep the dolls they could be useful for a tactical retreat. Each of us kept own versions of ourselves. It wasn’t so hard sleeping this night, I felt very drowsy, drained from the shopping trip. My eyelids closed as a slumped into bed.

I dreamed of green lush vegetation, I saw a vast area full of life. A bright light was hovering above and there was no hostility, but hospitality. It was peaceful and calming, the sky was cloudless and I saw some birds flying. Suddenly, I heard some footsteps approaching toward my direction. There were figures standing behind the trees. I held my position when I sensed their proximity. I wanted to scream but I felt paralyzed. The figures were closing in on me and I found it hard to breathe. The peaceful sound of the area became horrific. The figures leaned down to me in a circle. I saw their smiles go through their faces like holes. My vision became blurry. I couldn’t feel my body. Before I completely lost my vision, something shone behind them.

I sprang up and felt all around my body. I saw my friends lying next to me side by side. They were still unconscious. I looked around me and I knew that we weren’t in our lodging anymore.