CHAPTER 10

MAGIC

Lex awoke with a start, dreaming about Akuma. His head felt groggy so he rested it back down on the couch arm. Anouke was still asleep. He was in his room, finally trusting Lex to be alone now without trying to escape. Lex sat up, thinking. He reached his hand forward, palm facing the ceiling. A black mist escaped from his fingertips again, mixed with all the same colours as when he fixed the window. “So, these are the colours of my Bai Ze, hm?” He said to himself.

Anouke walked out of the room and looked at the mist in his hand. “You’re using magic? For what? Did you break something again?” He asked flatly but sarcastically with low eyebrows. “Hah, don’t worry, no. I’m just looking at it. And… I kind of what to learn how to use it for good.” Lex admitted shyly.

“Oh, well, we could learn.” Anouke offered with a small smile. “I’ve used and worked with my magic for years now, so I’m pretty good at it.” Lex nodded in agreement, accepting his offer.

 They both got up and slowly strolled into the forest. “Okay, we can practice a protection spell. I’m going to have you slice the tree – as I presume you are good with fighting magic – and I’m going to use a protection spell to save it. So, we can learn with each other.”
“I mean, okay, sure. I’ve never really used my magic in a fight – none of us Demons really do. However, we still use it and learn it just for situations which may happen. I was too overwhelmed to use it with you, and also this forest is like a trick for my senses.”

“And I also had something to do with that.” Anouke mumbled guiltily. “I may have used a spell for that.” Anouke said. “It only works on some Demons though. The proper higher ranks wouldn’t be affected by it though.” Lex nodded and Anouke looked at his marked hand. “You told me yesterday that Akuma did that to you…”
“Yeah.” He said casually. He parted his legs slightly and flicked his hand upwards.

The tree fell down, causing dust to erupt into the air and Anouke waved his hand. “Lex! I wasn’t ready.” He pouted.
“The enemy won’t wait for you to be ready.” He instructed as if he was now the teacher.
“Yeah, yeah. Let’s get into it then.” He nodded at Lex, telling him it was his turn. He obliged to the command and struck a fierce blow to the tree. It fell again.

“Well, looks like I misinterpreted you, Lex. I’ll have to use a stronger spell now.” He faced the tree with his palm, fingers straight up and unmoving. He made a singular circle in the air and nodded, letting Lex know he could have another go now. He did so, shooting an even stronger hit to see if Anouke was prepared. And he was – the black mist vanished as soon as it neared the tree, like strings splitting apart.

“Woah!” Lex exclaimed, truly fascinated. A few hours had passed by as Anouke started explaining to Lex how to form a protection spell; the simple and weak ones, and the complex and strong ones.
To give it a try, Anouke would use an attack to see if he had mastered any of them. He made a small circle with his palm and whispered something inaudible. Anouke pointed his fingers directly at the small flower Lex had decided to protect. A small, innocent rose. Anouke’s magic – since controlled by mind – was faint. It was transparent but with a tint so you could just barely see it, no matter if it was day or night.

The magic didn’t do anything. Lex had closed his eyes, using all his might to protect it. “I did it!” He exclaimed excitedly after opening his eyes. “Good job! Now, can you protect it from a nearly full-powered attack, hmm?” Lex nodded with certainty.

This time, he made a large circle with his hand and pointed his fingers down at the flower, causing the core of the protection spell to be at the flower and also be the strongest part. Lex stepped back, keeping a safe distance to avoid getting injured by the magic. Anouke had pointed his fingers directly at the flower, the core of the spell. It broke and the flower wilted, petals facing downward and ill-coloured. “Aw.” Lex complained. “I liked that flower.”

“Well, you can fix things right? You fixed a window, so repair that flower.” Anouke suggested.
“Oh, good idea!” He gasped and crouched down with concentration painted perfectly on his face. He bit his tongue gently, a concentration habit he had ever since he was a kid. He placed his hands under its wilted petals and toppling stem. His magic was still black. It repaired a singular petal before killing it off completely and it fell to the floor. He frowned with irritation at the unsuccessful plan.

“Patience, Lex. It takes time.” Anouke came over and crouched near him. He pressed his fingertips on the dead rose and it lifted up, stem and petals suddenly gaining colour. Lex gasped again. “Woah! You have to teach that to me.” He tapped his chin. “Hmm. What I’m thinking is that I can repair inanimate objects, but not living things.” Lex said, offering up his opinion. “That’s probably right. I bet you weren’t taught a healing spell, huh?” Lex shook his head. “No, we weren’t.”

Lex and Anouke spent many of their days outside, training with their magic until Lex mastered the important things. He could now protect living things, small and big – such as a small lilac and a colossal oak tree with swaying leaves. He also learnt how to trap things so he could keep them safe if needed.

He practiced first on a mouse and failed immediately. He frowned. However, after hours of practice, he nailed it. Hours turned to days, days turned to weeks and weeks were turning into months.

3 months had gone by of constant practice and training with strength and magic skills. Like a character walking up to a boss fight in a game, Lex and Anouke stalked up near each other. This was to test how good Lex had gotten. A low rumble sounded from Lex’s throat.

As if on a hushed command, both had started to take action. Lex shifted his hand in a perfect circle, a black fog forming from his fingertips, and Anouke had started to poise himself in a fighting stance, prepared to wreck havoc upon Lex’s creations.

His tinted magic struck at Lex’s protection spells, failing to comply with what his mind wished for. Lex had managed to protect the refreshing nature from his strikes. “Hah, I did it, Anouke!” He cheered. But Anouke didn’t praise him at all, instead carrying on fighting while he was distracted with his pride. Since he was off task, his spells had all dissolved and Anouke had sliced through the trees like a dagger.

“What was that, Lex?” He asked teasingly, snickering.
“You caught me off guard, no fair!” He sighed.
“Do you think enemies fight fair?” Anouke replied, repeating what Lex had told him when they had just started to practice their magic. “No, but I wouldn’t be praising myself in a real fight.”
“Or we just have to teach you how to multitask. Your reactions are quick, but not quick enough. And you need to be able to do more than just spells since that’s not going to save your life.”
Lex nodded, understanding. “Mhm. I get it. We can keep practicing right?”
Anouke nodded with a smile. “Of course!”

Dayle had stalked out of the shadows, swung the front gate open and strode up to the front door and let himself in. Akuma greeted him there. “I know where they are.” Dayle told.
“Ah, so that’s where you have been.” Akuma folded his arms. “We shall go together. But, when should we go?” He asked himself. “Hmm, I wonder how strong that Angel is. Since he killed my wife – Lex’s mother – and as a child, may I had – he must be pretty strong. Because, when he killed her, that was pure will power and anger. From a kid.”

Dayle nodded. He knew Anouke was strong as he used to be with him, cheering him on with his beliefs until he got older and took The Angels Antagonism seriously. “And Lex is also a Bai Ze.” Akuma informed him. Now giving Dayle permission to speak, he leant against a wall near the front door. “Lex is a Bai Ze?” He asked. No way in hell would he tell Akuma about Anouke and him meeting up.

Akuma nodded, giving no further information. “We have no information on Bai Ze’s. We should learn about them so we can kill Lex. He’s basically an Angel himself now, that betraying little twat.” Akuma ranted.

Time was passing quickly. Too quickly. And things were going too well with no disruptions at all. Months felt like weeks as they passed way too quickly. Lex had mastered multitasking, especially as he was an extremely fast learner and capable since using magic wasn’t new. Also, he had plenty on uninterrupted time, too.

But time isn’t always on the same side.

It’s always ticking, slowly running out.

Sometimes you have to expect the unexpected.

And sometimes, you’ll have to fight for what is rightfully yours.

 For what you love, what you want and what you need.

People try to take those things away.
Especially time.