Grudges and Hatred

Cristina could see the chaos left by Circe and Hadar’s battle. She coughed slightly and felt as if she were going to vomit. The lifeless bodies of Splendor’s blessed were there, burned and deformed. They met with three other members of the Hadar clan. There was impatience; there was urgency.

“We cannot wait for the girl to decide to face reality” one of them said.
It was a woman of approximately 40 years old, with messy hair and torn clothes, but with a fury in her gaze that was not easy to ignore.

“How is it that she doesn’t know that there could be a war?" asked the same woman.

“We just found out today that she is a magic user” Circe explained. “You should go to the point where that yellow and black signal appeared. I will take care of her.”

The three witches left without hesitation at a speed that surprised Cristina. She breathed heavily, trying to fill her lungs. Circe just watched her in silence; she had an idea. Circe entered the store again and asked Alex:

“Where was the last place you saw Hilda and Caleb?”

“We were heading toward the school” Alex explained.

He was trembling with fear, and it was noticeable by the position of his hands that his arms were what pained him the most, setting aside the obvious pain he felt in the area of his surgery. His grandmother arrived at his side with a bucket of clean water for the wounds.

“And what were you planning to do?” Circe asked again.

“We wanted to find Cristina” Alex explained. He looked at the door; she was there. Alex was stopped by his grandfather to prevent him from going to where his girlfriend was. “Hilda wanted to go to a place… She said she heard you say something about a Dry Crater… but before we knew it, we were heading straight to the school."

Circe didn't have many options. Hilda and Caleb were in danger. Without saying anything else, she left the place, pulling Cristina, who was trying to break free from her friend. It seemed the white witch was in a hurry; she seemed to be running.

“Circe, wait…” Cristina tried to say while struggling to stay on her feet and not fall.

“We don't have time” her friend commented. Cristina noticed they were heading toward the school. “It’s possible your friends are in danger. Alex’s wounds were not caused by a normal person.”

Cristina finally tripped and fell. Circe helped her up; her face was full of concern and anguish. Cristina was gasping for air from exhaustion while rubbing her legs.

“The corrupt magic of Splendor can manipulate people” Circe explained. “Surely…”

“Don't say it!” Cristina shouted.

She didn't want to know. In her mind, she already had an answer: if those blessed of Splendor were in such chaos due to mental manipulation, it meant her friends could end up just as badly. Cristina began to walk, calmly, but she couldn't. She ran.

In her mind, she had already decided what to do, what to say. There was a song she had started practicing with Maya, a melody she always played with Caleb. In her mind, she combined them to create a new song. Circe followed her friend without saying a word. At the same time, she felt relieved. Her friend was already understanding her duty, her role in the battle.

★★★★

Caleb and Hilda had been fighting for maybe several minutes. Both looked wounded, perhaps even with broken bones. Neither of them should have been standing and awake, but the corrupt magic of Splendor was causing too much damage to their bodies and minds.

Hilda kept lamenting, shouting her insecurities. She screamed about how her mother decided to die once she was fired due to a scandal. About how she drowned herself in drink, abandoning the family. She still had nightmares from seeing her walking to the street and then... the car accident. The nightmares included a Dolores who laughed at her misfortune, her pain, and how she wanted to force her to call her "Mom."

“I also hate you, Caleb Harper!” Hilda said. Her voice was now duller, shakier from her wounds. "I hate that you have your parents on your side, that both of them support you."

Caleb hit her in the stomach, causing Hilda to finally fall to the ground. She couldn’t get up, she wasn’t going to give up, and she made it clear in the way she screamed.

“Do you think it’s easy for me?” Caleb yelled. He couldn’t attack Hilda.
His wounded body wouldn't let him anymore. He groan—a guttural, unnatural sound for a pianist of his age.

“My parents only talk about music, their trips, how I am a prodigy” Caleb continued screaming. He put a foot on Hilda’s stomach and pressed; it was as if he wanted to crush her like a bug or perhaps a detestable spider. “The piano is the only thing I have. If I fail I won’t have anything more.”

The light that had possessed Hilda left her body. Because of the pain, the wounds, and the sensation of feeling Caleb’s heavy step, Hilda screamed. She didn’t know what was happening, only that she was in danger. That orange light that came out of Hilda’s body was planning to flee, but it was attacked by a great white light that eliminated it almost instantly.

Caleb and Hilda looked toward the place where that strange light had come from. Hilda recognized her sister, who was surrounded by some light sparks. Circe then took one of her potions—one of the ones she boasted about making herself—and threw it toward Caleb. He took a few steps back avoiding the attack, releasing Hilda. The vial fell to the ground and released a grayish smoke that made Caleb cough.

“Give me your left hand” Circe said to Cristina while looking at Caleb. Cristina did what her friend ordered.

The young pianist smiled with a sinister gaze at the witches. Circe trembled; one false move and Hilda's life will be lost. Circe knew he could do something to hurt Hilda.

Cristina took her friend’s right hand and felt something new—a new kind of magic that combined with hers. 

“As long as the blessed belong to the same constellation” Circe explained calmly while watching Caleb. She closed her eyes and felt the power of Eos in her body as it began to combine with the magic Helios. “A new type of magic can be created; it is more powerful, more… mysterious. You never know what might happen.”

The friends separated, and Cristina began to sing a soft ballad, something nostalgic and sad, about two people who discover they are in love and want to go toward what they call paradise—a place full of flowers where only pure desires exist.

Cristina’s tattoo changed. The arrow was now drawn horizontally, almost touching the left wing, pointing totally toward the solar part, the part of the day. Caleb looked at her with genuine horror. Hilda, with some concern and confusion; her only thought was the reason why her sister was singing. It wasn’t the time to practice her singing.

Circe understood how the magic of Eos worked. It was mysterious, unique. She smiled. She created a solar barrier, a white light that combined with the colors of the sunset—a mysterious sunset she was seeing for the first time: colors that oscillated between pinks, blues, and shades and violet were there. Colors that didn't belong to the sunset of Algebar.

“Meet the Twilight State” Circe shouted, not to Caleb, but to the entity that had possessed the teenager. “The combination of a Threshold Entity and a star has created a barrier…”

Caleb tried to attack Circe but his magic was neutralized without pain, without him even feeling it. It was like Circe was cleaning, washing Caleb. Like he was purifying him. Hilda was save.

What did Caleb felt? He was tired, exhausted. He was feeling like tons of dirt, stones and heaviness were finally disappearing. Caleb was finally able to control his own body. But the battle hasn't finished yet. Both witches have to decide what will happen next.

“I truly wonder what the objective of this barrier is” Circe commented while taking one of her potions.

The vials had those sparks she had seen in her friend many times: orange and pink sparks that she also saw in the deity Eos. She was curious about what would happen with that combination.

Cristina began to sing a lullaby, a cradle song that seemed to be making Hilda and Caleb to sleep. The illusions the girl emanated looked like soft white, yellow, and orange stars that served basically as figures that cradled her friends.

It’s time to sleep, Circe thought. She put a little of the potion on her right hand and felt how the potion had been improved. She threw a bit of that potion at the barrier. Caleb fell asleep, and not only that, the spirit that possessed Caleb finally left.

Circe decided to do the same with Hilda. She was already falling asleep due to exhaustion, pain, and Cristina's song. The barrier was also built for her. Hilda now was sleeping.

Cristina didn't stop singing. Her illusions went straight to those entities, which disappeared upon contact with the illusions. Cristina stopped singing and fell to her knees on the ground. She looked exhausted. She saw the light barriers that her friends had.

“Don't worry” Circe commented to her friend while trying to get her to stand up. “Those shields will dissolve with the arrival of the true dawn. No lower-ranking spirit will be able to possess them again. It’s because we combined our magic.”

“Are you sure?” Cristina asked.

“No” Circe replied. Cristina was already standing, her legs trembled. The white witch also noticed her own exhaustion. And the matter wasn't over yet—the war. “We just have to trust in our deities magic and have faith.”

Cristina thought. Would her family really be okay at home?  She finally was feeling tired, hungry and, when she wanted to walk, she felt dizzy.