Prismatic

Market

We came to a stop when we approached a tower-high wall. It was made with rounded stones, meticulously arranged in a bizarre pattern. We can’t go over it, we can’t go under it. What the hell do we do with it? I thought to myself. I was so stressed out at this point, afraid of what’s in store for us. Bry began chanting beside me, Opna Propylaea Agora Seidir (Open the doors to the Magic Market). He made a triple triangle gesture and a mystic light greeted us. The light was arched like a door and Bry gestured for me to go in. I was so nervous to move. He held me by the waist and secured his hold. He gave me a reassuring hug to ease my mind and kissed me on my lips. I was so speechless and I felt my blood rush through my nose. “Are you alright? Goodness Jo, you’re bleeding!” he exclaimed, eyes full of worry.

“It’s nothing. I was just overwhelmed. Yeah, that’s it”, I gasped, taking deep breaths. He sprinkled some green powder on my nose and the bleeding was gone. He laughed for a solid while until I have recovered my senses. I pouted, ashamed of what happened.

“Oh, I’m sorry Jo. Promise, I will never do it again”, he said, with cute puppy eyes. How can I refuse to that? I mean, he did look cute. I flushed again brighter than fuchsia. “By the way, what was that?” I asked, curious.

“It’s a healing powder, you never know when you’ll gonna need one”, he explained.

“Was the thing you did part of the magic too?” I asked sarcastically. He knew what I was talking about.

“Oh that? No, I just thought you needed it”, he teasingly admitted.

“Well… thank, you!” I said angrily.

“Hey, I said I’m sorry already. Anyway, let’s get through the gate. It won’t hold for long”, he warned.

“Okay, let’s go.” We walked through the portal and it closed behind us. At the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something before it closed. Well, as I said, I thought I saw something. I just shrugged and followed Bry.

At the entrance, an arc greeted us saying, Agora Seidir. “We have just arrived at the market, welcome to Agora Seidir. We might find something here for Nissa”, he said, enthusiasm taking over.

“Shall we?” I said, ready to face the omens that might approach us. When we crossed the arc, we were greeted by a chained beast. It had a body of an adult pit bull and a lion for a head. It had a deep bass snarl and was trying to bite us. “Alveus Noche!” Bry shouted with hands in a meditation gesture at the beast. The beast fell on its knees and closed its eyes. It fell into a deep sleep within seconds. I couldn’t believe what I saw. I hid my amazement for the ominous happenings ahead. I readied myself for any possible threat.

Inside the market, are stalls made of wood and stones. All of them looked alike, except for the signs that I cannot understand. There was a clock tower on the farthest part of the market. It was a mystic violet in color and had a cone for a roof. It was twelve o’clock noon. We went to the first stall, left of us. The sign read, Veneficis. It had different kinds and shapes of vials with contents of varying spectrum. The vendor was a man in his 40s, wearing a long beard and spectacles. He was wearing an overall. “What will it be young man? We have wide varieties of potions on the table. All at a reasonable price”, he asked, gesturing to his line of bottles. Bry bought vials of green, red and blue. While he bought, I looked around the place to look for a possible gift for Nissa. I saw a stall that caught my eye. It had nothing but a big casket. He was inviting everyone to his stall. “Come ye, come ye. How about a game of chance? Rarity guaranteed for every spin.” I nudged at Bry and looked at the stall ahead of us. “I wanna try that one. Can I?” I asked as if I were a little girl.

“Sure, why not? You may find something interesting there”, he said casually. We approached the stall and it said, Benediximus.

“Hello miss, wanna try your luck? The first try is on the house. What do you say?” he beckoned as we approached the stall.

“How generous of you, thank you.” I proceeded to roll the handle three times. A black prismatic triangle came out of the hole of the casket. It shone a brilliant blackcurrant. The vendor handed me my prize. “I think this will make a wonderful gift for Nissa. It’s so beautiful”, I said to Bry with brilliance in my eyes. Bry did not respond, and just stood there. His eyes furrowed a deep red and pulled me away from the stall. The triangle fell out of my hands and three shadows burst from it. The shadows formed three monsters. They were three times the size of a person. The left one had scales of a snake with a human body, the middle one had an eagle for a face with the body of a crocodile and lastly, the right one had eight scorpion tales on its back with a body of a chameleon.

Out of nowhere, two people joined us. “It looks like you need some help”, said one guy. “Come on Tyke, we ain’t got all day”, said doubling by the girl next to him. There was an unexpected alliance and after that, the battle started. “Hey Aina, you take the left guy, Crodili Naxte, while I take the right, Dreki Naxte. Blondie will take the middle one, Aquila Naxte”, Tyke ordered.

“Hey, since when did you become the boss?” complained Bry.

“Hey, what am I to do?” I asked Bry.

“You just sit tight there, I don’t want you bleeding out”, said Bry with a commanding tone. Well, there must be something I can do. After all, I caused this mess.

They all started rushing to their respective positions. Tyke brandished a large double-edged sword and a round wooden shield. He attempted to s***h the tails of the chameleon creature but was blocked by all of its tails. He pushed away the tails in one swift motion of his shield and started slashing the tails in a circular motion with one twirl of his sword. Then, he thrust the sword to the beast in the chest, dissipating in the darkness. Aina only had one fuzzy hand glove on the right. She summoned a creature from the earth and held the crocodile creature, stopping its movement. The elemental began crushing the creature to a pulp. The crocodile creature struggled but lost and dissipated into the darkness.  Bry had nothing but his powers. He casted a spell that paralyzed the eagle creature and the creature squirmed before it became liquefied. The creature also dissipated into the darkness. These shadows rushed to me faster than the sharpest eye. They converged into one.

Suddenly, magic words came to my ear– Lumen Vivo! I shouted the words involuntarily. My hands pointed to the direction of the assailant. A blinding light shot from my fingers. The shadow wailed in agony as it was enveloped in a prismatic light. The shadow creature was gone and I could not believe what I did there. What was that? Whose voice was that? All of them stared at me in shock. “I couldn’t believe it. That was amazing!” said Aina in amazement.

Tyke clapped hands with Bry and Aina. “We make a great team guys. Say, why don’t you join us? We are currently looking for two more members”, Tyke offered Bry.

“I’ll think about it”, Bry replied with indifference.

He picked up the prism from where I dropped it and gave it to me. “Here, you dropped this”, said Bry nonchalantly. I hesitated at first then took it. The darkness was gone and only a light lapis replaced the previous occupant. My eyes started to leak after taking it. It was my fault! Why do bad things happen to me? I thought to myself while crying. Bry caught my face and wiped the tears with the arm of his cloak.

“Don’t cry Jo. You did well there. I didn’t know you could cast a highly advanced magic spell. It takes years of practice but you perfected it in a single shot”, Bry said comfortingly.

“Thanks, Bry. I didn’t know what happened. I just pointed and blurted out something then that happened”, I replied in complete disbelief.

“You were a great help there”, Tyke appraised me. “So, will you take my offer? It’s up for grabs.”

“What do you think Bry? Should we take it?”

“I don’t know Jo. I’m not used to parties. I always fight on my own”

“Oh come on man, please?” pleaded Tyke.

“It will be fun! We need people like you in our party. Not like we’re forcing you or anything”, offered Aina.

“I’ll think about it when we get home. I have to take care of my sister”, replied Bry.

“Well, okay then. I will give you overnight to consider our offer. We will meet you here same time tomorrow”, said Tyke.

“We’d better get going, Jo”, said Bry motioning me to turn.

“But we haven’t got Nissa a gift yet”, I complained to Bry.

“Never mind the gift, it’s not safe and it is dangerous to expose you here. We cannot stay much longer, we have to go”, Bry said in a rushing and irritated tone. I hid the prism inside my pocket on the right side of my pants. We left the scene and walked to the entrance, which was our only way back.

I was anxious and sad at the same time. I knew I should have said something but I just went on with it. My hunch was right all along, I thought while Bry was preparing to cast a spell to open the portal. Then, we heard a high-pitched shriek of a young girl asking for help. When I looked around, Bry was already running back to the market. I was shocked to realize that it was Nissa held captive by some cloaked figure. I ran closer to the scene where Nissa was screaming.

The cloaked figure was grabbing Nissa like a child carrying a doll. The face cannot be seen but the hands were paper-like in texture and looked like they were plagued by sickness. It began to speak, “Bryce Hemphreys. If you want your sister alive, enter Cavum Hogur. Defeat me and I may grant her release. Failure to do so shall grant her death. Forfeiture will hasten her demise. Don’t worry, it will be fast and clean.” It had a very low bass voice with signs of age. Bry ran after the cloaked figure but it disappeared with a dark flash. Bry looked horrified and was close to losing it. He dropped to the floor and just sat there motionless. I held him in my arms to soothe him.

Tyke and Aina rushed to us. “I’m sorry, man. If only we acted sooner–“, Bry lifted a finger at Tyke.

“Okay, man. I will join you but promise me that you will save my sister. She’s the only one I have”, replied Bry, defeated.

“I will promise that, man. I will not disappoint you. Again, I’m sorry”, said Tyke in a sad tone.

“We’ll think of way to beat that creep to a pulp. We’ll show him what we’re made of. We’ll make him sorry for what he did”, said Aina with determined eyes. A strong camaraderie has been formed in a few moments of sadness.

We stood up and thought about our next move.