Broken and Betrayed

“The ones who attacked the village…” Kraelin said, fury taking over his face. “You…it was you! Bastard! YOU BASTARD!”

Kraelin leapt at Professor Malphi, his sword flashing, but another blade blocked his attack. Saphira stood before her father, protecting him, though she looked equally as shocked as Kraelin did.

“Saphira?! What are you…” Kraelin sputtered.

“Saphira, disarm the boy,” Professor Malphi commanded, and she went on the attack. He deflected blow after blow, his usual skill dulled by his shock.

“Stop!” Kraelin desperately called out.

“I can’t! I don’t know why I’m doing this!” Saphira screamed.

Jake, Alex and Elysia rushed to aid their friend, but the Twisted surged forward. “Take care of the other two as you see fit, but make sure Elysia isn’t harmed!” Professor Malphi commanded.

“Jake, this has gotten real messed up incredibly fast!” Alex said.

“Tell me about it!” Jake said, swinging his sword at the bone Twisted. “But if these guys are the same ones from Lugara…”

“…then they should watch out, because we’ve had a massive upgrade since last time!” Alex said, leaping up onto the mouth Twisted’s shoulders as it’s tongue lashed at him, dodging it and stabbing into its shoulders.

“But what do they want with me?!” Elysia asked as she traded blows with the hole Twisted, firing blistering rounds of green energy at it while it shot balls of black, corrosive sludge at her.

“I can explain,” Professor Malphi said, smiling as he watched the chaos unfold. “Our ultimate goal is to purge the world of magic users. Call it petty revenge for the First Magic War, but it gets us up in the morning. In my youth, I heard tales of a powerful magical rite which could be activated by a magic user who had the ability to tap into Void magic. Ah, but no such magic user existed…until one of our members happened upon Van Harkov. His research, his notes, and a couple with a peculiar little girl…”

Elysia felt like she was going mad. This was impossible. Everything Professor Malphi was saying was impossible. “I never showed the ability to use Void magic before the explosion!” Elysia cried. “The magic amplifier did it to me!”

“Wrong! Sorry, I’m sure if you could translate Van Harkov’s notes, you’d find a lot of data about you. Oh Elysia, you’ve been special since birth! Harkov’s journal documented it. Of course, we tried to acquire you fourteen years ago…”

“The Great Massacre of Havenbrook…” Elysia started slowing down. Her mind appeared to be shutting down. “My parents…you…you killed them…”

“Elysia! Keep fighting!” Jake screamed.

“Not on purpose. We didn’t know you were there. And we couldn’t find the damn journal! The real reason for the attack on Havenbrook was to find the journal! However, things got out of hand, the Twisted rampaged and our opportunity was lost. It’s what you get when you trust monsters with a mission. But then we heard of a magicless little girl in Lugara who survived the Massacre! Bingo!”

“I’ll kill you!” Kraelin said in rage as he clashed his sword with Saphira’s over and over. “You and your father both betrayed us!”

“I didn’t! No, please!” Saphira screamed as she continued her attack.

“Liar! You’re defending your monster of a father right now!” Kraelin bellowed.

“But of course, we needed to study her. Couldn’t pick up the wrong kid. I needed to get close. Luckily a job opening appeared which was right up my alley. We had to create the opening first, but…” Professor Malphi said. Kraelin felt his blood run cold.

“You didn’t…” Kraelin weakly said as Saphira finally overpowered him, pinning him to the ground.

“I even thought for a while of letting you in on our little secret, Kraelin. I genuinely liked you. But…” Professor Malphi shook his head. “You’re too kind. You could never take the steps necessary. You were simply unable to let go of the necessary deaths of your parents. I mean, my parents were killed in the pursuit of our goals and I didn’t let it ruin my eighth birthday.

“Why?” Kraelin asked, looking up at Saphira. “WHY?!”

“I DON’T KNOW!” Saphira screamed back.

“Don’t be too mad at her, Kraelin,” Professor Malphi said. “After all, she never knew. She simply got friendly with the poor, sad little girl. A natural helper, my Saphira. So when we found the magical amplifier and I finally had the chance to test it on Elysia, all I had to do was leave little clues around and let my rebellious teenage daughter take over.”

Elysia fell to her knees. The Twisted she was fighting took the opportunity and shot a gooey, snot like ooze at her, pinning her down.

“Me…it was all my…everything…” Elysia muttered, barely noticing.

“But like I said, please don’t blame Saphira. She didn’t know. Her idiocy even cost us the magic amplifier. It took us half a decade to build another out of parts and scraps and notes! But it did give us the opportunity to study a Void magic mutation…and to adjust the little control chip in her head. The one I had in her since she was a babe.” Professor Malphi patted the metallic side of her head.

“In my…” Saphira’s shocked voice shook with terror, rage and sorrow.

“Why, you don’t even remember half of the icky things you’ve done over the years! We make you forget and off you go, thinking you’re still a tragic hero. But your list of betrayals is deep,” Professor Malphi said. “Such as taking down the barrier towers at Lugara and letting the Twisted in. Such as being told to follow Elysia and her friends when they failed to kidnap Elysia. Such as selling Cucuboros to the bandits who gave him to the leader of Gravine, creating the perfect opportunity to integrate yourself with them and lead them here. Shame we had to lose such a powerful Twisted, but sacrifices must be made. Right, my poor, broken little toy?” Professor Malphi’s voice dripped with false sympathy.

Jake was thrown against a wall, the bone spikes ejected from the skull faced Twisted pinning him there. “No! Damn it…Alex! God, gotta get big…gotta…why isn’t it working!”

“I’ll take this,” the skull Twisted said, grabbing Jake’s sword. “I should thank you for killing Hydas, by the way. I’m now leader of this little band of Twisted.”

“And I’m second!” the obese Twisted gloated, it’s tongue wrapping around Alex. Stick growled and leapt at the Twisted, biting and clawing. “Bah! Stupid rodent!” he scowled, slapping Stick with the back of his hand. The little whiptail crumpled in a heap on the floor.

“STICK! I’m gonna turn you inside out, fat boy!” Alex squirmed in its slimy grasp.

“And pulling two boys from another world into this whole thing!” Professor Malphi said, kneeling down next to Elysia. “It seems you bring misfortune wherever you go. Maybe you are cursed.” He stood, motioning for the other Twisted. “Grab them. Take them to the holding area. I’d like to study them after we’re done with Elysia. Or maybe I’m simply too soft for my own good.”

The three Twisted grabbed Jake, Alex and Kraelin, carrying them away. All three struggled, desperate to escape. “Elysia! ELYSIA!” Jake called out.

Elysia only looked down. “Jake…if you manage to get out…don’t come for me. Leave me here. I’m no good. Everyone was right. Its all my fault…”

The last thing the three saw before the massive doors closed was Elysia collapsed in defeat and Saphira standing over her, her eyes looking at them, silently pleading for help…and forgiveness.

*

Members of the Children of the Turning Gear led Elysia down a long corridor, her body limp, her hands shackled. Saphira walked beside her, her stride controlled and her mask on.

“It is times like these which make it hard to remember we are the good guys,”Pogorshi said as he stood next to Malphi.

“Don’t get weak on me, Pogorshi. This is an event decades in the making. We are so close to finishing the war,” Malphi said, his fist tightening at his side.

“A world without magic, where human hands create the wonders of the world…” Pogorshi said, his smile widening and parting his quivering jewels. “Surely it must be worth the lives of a few children.”

Malphi walked through the brightly lit laboratory halls beneath Vyock Castle. He opened a door leading into a large lab with a table resting near a massive machine which resembled the magical amplifier from years ago. A purple crystal rested in the glass domed area in the center.

“Not to be the one to rain on your parade, my friend, but what will keep the amplifier from, I don’t know, exploding into a massive fireball and killing us all?” Pogorshi asked, running his hand over the smooth glass containing the Void crystal.

“Time, my rotund co-conspirator. Time and reflection and most importantly of all, this!”Malphi said, holding up Van Harkov’s journal.

“I still don’t understand how a Treasure hunter can help us perfect the magical amplifier,” Pogorshi said.

“Van Harkov wasn’t a Treasure hunter. The Thornfelds were. Harkov was obsessed with destroying the Twisted, much like poor little Elysia is. He had several irons in the fire at once, chasing after the ghosts of conspiracy theories. Even ones he would never follow through with. Ones like this!” Professor Malphi opened the book to a page which depicted a drawing of a machine incredibly similar to the magical amplifier before them. Scrawled above it were the words “Doomsday scenario: The death of magic.”

“Doomsday. No more magic. No more Twisted. Humans, pure humans regaining control of the world, and it will be ready within the week!” Malphi said, slapping the book shut, a malicious glint in his eye and a dark smile on his face.