The Water Stanza

The interior of the palace was beautiful, and Agnes and I were in the presence of the great Matteo Di Steffano. He was a gorgeous man, with curly hair and a manly appearance. Besides him was another teen, tall with black hair, but not a single special trait.

“Welcome, my new servants,” he spoke to Agnes and me, “but I think you have failed to capture the other Stanza user.”

“It’s all my fault, sir,” Agnes answered. “If I hadn’t been so careless, Rita would be at your feet right now.”

“But she will not be a problem. My Void Bubbles are weak, but they can stop the Stanzas of others, she and any other Stanza user will not stand in your way.”

Our gracious leader had told us that the boy in the room was Nikolay, the prince of Reinaria and he was accompanied by more Stanza users who could shield themselves from the great power of Matteo Di Steffano.

“That is wonderful, a girl with the powers of the Void Stanza is a great addition to my collection. So, the entire kingdom will be ours, remember you must protect Nikolay, as he is an essential part to my plan.”

“You know I’m training to be a Hero too, don’t you?” the prince asked Matteo Di Steffano. “I don’t need bodyguards, my lord.”

“Oh, you are too important to risky, let these girls protect you.”

“Of course…” Even though he had agreed, it was still a blasphemy for him to question our master like that.

“I can feel the minds of those two who escaped approaching. Agnes, Nani, they will be your opponents.”

The instant he said that the doors of the room were forced open and two other girls entered. Rita was accompanied by another girl that was probably Nikolay’s partner.

The girls attacked immediately, throwing kunais at us. Agnes was fast enough to grab them out of the air before they could hit Matteo Di Steffano.

“Agnes, Nina, please listen to me! You must escape his control.”

Before, I liked Rita, but now she was against my new master that was unforgivable. Matteo Di Steffano, however, remained calm and sat on his throne, looking at the two of them.

“We don’t need to fight. I’m not one of those brutes who revel in violence. I’m civilized, so why don’t we just talk?”

“If you free Nikolay we can,” the ninja girl stated making me so angry about the disrespect towards master.

“But he is important to me. You can be with him too, just forfeit control. Don’t you prefer a life where you don’t need to make choices? The heavy burden and consequences of your actions will not exist. This is paradise for most humans.”

“And this will be hell for you,” she answered and went to attack Matteo Di Steffano. Neither Agner nor I could stop her, but the prince teleported in front of the ninja and with a kick to the face the attack was halted.

While that distracted us, I saw a blue line of energy reaching toward me. It was coming from Rita. The thread also touched Agnes, but that was pointless, our love for master Matteo Di Steffano was unbeatable.

“I hope this works,” she whispered and familiar words started crossing my mind. I recognized it; it was the Water Stanza.

An illusion made of mist

Is that the other is not you

And you are not the other

We are all water drops in the same river

Words can harm, words can heal

People can love, people can kill

Just like water, wild and chill

Our empathy will guide our way

Just don’t forget that every single drop

Has the same importance as any other

Or you can be lost at sea

What was I doing? This Matteo guy was a creep! And I was thinking about hurting Rita Fiori, that was unforgivable.

“It’s pointless. You will come with us.” Rita Fiori’s power didn’t work on Agnes Stein and she prepared an electric punch to hit the younger girl.

I protected her, holding Agnes Stein’s fist and making her electricity disappear with my own powers.

“Traitor!” she screamed.

I just used my Void Bubbles in her head, waiting for that creep’s power to be over, but it didn’t work. Apparently, my Void Bubbles only worked on physical manifestations of Stanzas.

She kept attacking us. Even if I could absorb her lightning, she was still physically stronger than I.

“Rita Fiori! Why didn’t it work on Agnes Stein?” I asked while I kept defending her from Agnes Stein.

“Stop playing around! Knock her down already!” screamed the ninja that was fighting the teleporting prince.

“Like you could hurt me. I’m the prince and we all know how you feel about…” the prince started speaking, but as he stopped teleporting, the ninja girl held his shoulder.

“You talk too much,” she stated and kicked right between his legs.

The prince fell to the ground instantly and started rolling in the fetal position.

I didn’t want to hurt Agnes Stein, (I also didn’t know if I was able to), and that ninja was not nice with her words. I was also still hoping the empathy threads would be able to bring her back and then I had an idea.

“Rita Fiori, you like to do things for others, right?”

“Nina, I don’t think it’s time for that,” she answered focusing on her powers while I kept defend her from Agnes Stein.

“Well, there is nothing I want more in this moment than to have Agnes Stein back!”

After I said that we could already notice the difference. Agnes Stein put her hand on her head and looked confused at us.

“I did all this?” she asked.

“Because of that guy!”

I pointed to Matteo and the four of us girls were ready to fight him, with the prince still on the ground and the ninja holding a dagger.

We were confident that we four together wouldn’t have any difficulty defeating that guy.

Even so, the creep was still seated, with his sarcastic smile on his face. He didn’t show any signs of fear.

Then he started to laugh. A manical laugh and my confidence started to diminish.