“Oh yeah And what’s that?” He brought his ear close to the boy’s bloody face.

  “Nova…. Of …..Shadow…..Sun.” He had never cast the spell before, but if he was going to die, why not cast his most ominous-sounding spell, which often acted on its own?

  As soon as the words left the other boy’s mouth, Thornan’s entire world went monochromatic. A brilliant bust of shadows made all colours disappear, leaving behind a small black orb that appeared between them.

  At first, nothing felt wrong, then all the shadows began to bend, twisting towards the orb. The shadow aether that Thornan was using to jump through shadows was violently ripped away, the shadow magic of all the Veystrix hiding in the alleys, among the gathered teenagers and on the roofs all fizzled out, and everything within the spell’s effect went silent. So silent that even the murmuring teens could not hear themselves gasp in horror, fear and awe.

  The shadows gathered beneath the obsidian orb, covering the ground around Marcus and Thornan, forming a shadow pool of pure nothingness.

  Marcus, unlike them, was gone, concealed by the shadows, merged with the black pool, leaving behind a phantom that stood where he had just been. At first, there was one, but then another started making its way out of the pool of shadows. And another, hands crawling and grabbing faceless shadow rising all pale imitations of the half human half aasimar, they conceal Marcus’s true form.

  The next thing everyone knew was that everyone besides them was running, running away in fear of the powerful spell, running away from Old Magic.

  All of them did run, all but one-- Thornan was mesmerized by the orb of pitch blackness, not paying mind to the shadowy being that moved towards him.

  ‘I want it. I want this kind of power.’ And as soon as he thought, black shadowy tendril-like arms grabbed and held him in place, and then his entire world went dark. Not that he was blinded, no apart from the solid ground he stood on, the rest of the world was concealed from him. It was as if he had been put in a bottle, and the lid had been shut. There was nothing in that pool he stood in, nothing but the black orb with a greyish aether floating around it.

  He reached out, and just as his hand was an inch away. A dagger ran its way straight through his heart.

  Thornan looked down at Marcus’s hand holding the dagger. He stumbled back as the surroundings that had been concealed came back to focus. A dagger in his chest, he wondered how he had gotten there. Thornan turned around, ready to walk away. He made it halfway to the gate, and as if a puppet whose strings had been cut, he fell onto the ground.

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  He reached out, and just as his hand was an inch away. A dagger ran its way straight through his heart.

  Thornan looked down at Marcus’s hand holding the dagger. He stumbled back as the surroundings that had been concealed came back to focus. A dagger in his chest, he wondered how he had gotten there. Thornan turned around, ready to walk away. He made it halfway to the gate, and as if a puppet whose strings had been cut, he fell onto the ground.

  For the next few moments, those who remained behind looked on in silence and shock. There were no whispers, no muttered words, just absolute silence and Terror.

  Terror for what they saw.

  The world around them had lost colour, turning to shades of blacks and greys. A perfect sphere of pure darkness had appeared. All the shadow-based spells cast by the veystrix had fizzled out and been nullified. The spell had concealed all sound in the area. The shadows had coalesced on the ground beneath the orb and pooled into a void of shadowy nothingness. Marcus had disappeared into the pool, and shadow faceless copies had crawled out of the pool. Then, the orb shot shadowy tendrils out at Thornan, and the phantoms held the veystrix, making him disappear. When the spell ended and they both reappeared, Marcus was still kneeling, but Thornan had a dagger in his chest.

  This was a spell none of them had ever seen, a spell like that, and none of them dared come close while it was active for that one minute.

  One minute.

  One minute that’s how long the spell lasted.

  And for the moment after that, Clara was the only one with the courage to approach. She slowly stood from where she had been tending to Linus’s leg and made her way to Marcus’s kneeling form. Without waiting, she started pushing Aether into the ring and healing Marcus.

  From the roofs and dark alleyways next to the broken Manor, figures started to appear. Those who hadn’t run away started coming even closer. With the fight done, surely, Marcus was weak after such a spell, and if they took him out now, they wouldn’t have to face him later.

  Clara was the first to notice it, and with all the resolve and confidence she could muster, stepped forward, ripped the dagger free of Thornan’s body and held it out towards the oncoming filthyings and Veystrix.

  "Scavengers, all of you," she looked around at all the eager faces, “step closer and I will cut you down myself. “

  A chuckle, mirthful and mocking, came from one of the roofs, followed by the lithe body of a figure dressed in the black of the Veystrix.

  “Girl, you’re weak, and the strongest of you is down for the count,” she said, looking behind Clar. “So what can you do?” she asked, pulling out two wicked daggers.”

  Two figures landed behind Clara, and it took her everything not to turn around and cut the figures down or, failing that, try to stub them.

  “That’s enough Nadja,” the figure who had landed behind her said.

  “What? Do you want to come on? At least let me have a go,” she said, looking between a pair of golden eyes and the figure with dull eyes.

  “No, Nadja that’s enough,” the voice warned, “take another step. any of you and I will cut you down myself.”

  Clara was stunned., “No, not again. “She couldn’t let it happen again, so she whirled on the figure behind her. “Levin?” It was more of a question than an accusation.

  “Relax lower your blade the old man sent me.”

  But for the minute the spell had been active, they had noticed it, and they knew what it meant.