C10 Chapter 10

May 5, 1681

Enrique set out an hour before nightfall. He planned to stop halfway and walk the streets for a few hours before he headed toward his real destination. He did not want anyone to know where he was going and he thought that by sidetracking halfway, he would avoid raising any suspicion. Coincidentally it was when he made this detour that he bumped into Jeff, in the middle of a quiet street. Jeff Johanstown had gone to visit one of his uncles who lived in the area, and that night, just as he was heading home, he saw Enrique in the distance. He ran to catch up with him when he saw he was entering a somewhat unsafe part of the city. Enrique did not seem to take the unexpected encounter well, or want any company. When Jeff asked him what he was doing there and where he was going, Enrique said – hiding his nerves – that he was taking a walk because he wanted to see more of the city. In normal circumstances, that would have been a good enough explanation for Jeff, but Enrique’s apparent lack of awareness about where he was and his desire to see this particular part of the city left Jeff feeling confused. Finally, after listening to Jeff’s warnings, Enrique Ortega told him that he was going to keep going as he was heading to an antiques store that he apparently knew. Jeff had not heard of the store, but as it was already late, he decided to let Enrique continue on his way.

Jeff had walked a block when he stopped, feeling bad about leaving his friend alone. He remembered what had happened to Emma. If Enrique disappeared next and he was the last person to have seen him, he would regret it for the rest of his life. Jeff was considering this when, a few yards away, he noticed a group of people with serious expressions talking among themselves and walking determinedly toward Enrique. Jeff was a little concerned and feared for his friend’s safety. He decided to follow him.

For a number of blocks, Jeff Johanstown followed Enrique from afar, weaving in and out of the people walking along the streets and sidewalks. It appeared as though the strange group he had seen were following Enrique too. After walking behind them for some time, the group branched off. Jeff was on alert, but he did not think they were behind him as he had been careful to make sure they did not see him. He took a small side street as a shortcut, and just as he turned into it he was overcome by an intense, brief and sudden feeling of drowsiness. Suddenly he was no longer himself. Someone had cast a quick and efficient control spell over him.

Enrique arrived as agreed at eight at night at the entryway of an old library, in an area far from the city center. After saying goodbye to Jeff, he had walked along many streets and passed through many neighborhoods he had never been to before. As he approached his destination, the paved roads became more deteriorated and there were increasingly more rough looking individuals on the street rather than the people wearing normal clothing he was used to seeing. There were fewer police around as well, which made him understand why Emma had chosen this area as a meeting spot. At the end of a street, he arrived to a square-shaped plaza with a few trees and a single lamppost in the middle. There were two- and three-story buildings on three of the four sides of the plaza. On the fourth side there was a four-story building that appeared to be abandoned. When Enrique got closer, he saw that there was a plaque next to the door that read, ’Green Almond Library.’ What Enrique did not know was that thirty years ago this had been a meeting place for many of the city’s intellectuals, before crime had escalated in the area, forcing many people to move to other neighborhoods. The books had been redistributed to other libraries around the country, and the intellectuals were now more likely to be found teaching at universities than chatting over books and coffee. All that remained from those days was this gold plaque, which, due to some kind of magic or inexplicable decency, was still in its original place.

He entered the building through a side door, which opened on to a dark alley. The few people that saw him did not pay any attention to him. It would not be the first time that someone had entered that building at night, to sleep or carry out some kind of dubious activity, taking advantage of the lack of security.

Enrique had to essentially feel his way down the dusty corridor, past offices with dilapidated damp walls. As he moved forward, his heart began to pound. He did not know what he would say to Emma and he still felt confused about what she had written in her letter. He finally reached what must have been the main room. It was full of mostly empty bookcases containing no more than a book or two and a few spiders here and there. There had once been a glass dome on the central peak of the roof. All that was left of it now was the metal frame. Moonlight entered through the hole that it had left, lighting the interior of the library. Some details on the floor were also visible, including a circular design of tiles in the center of the room, where the light fell almost vertically.

The sound of footsteps echoing through the building put Enrique on high alert. It sounded like someone very light-footed had just jumped a short distance. He had no time to say anything; a moment later, a hooded figure with a backpack appeared in the moonlight. Enrique took a step back just as Emma pulled her hood down, revealing her face. Ortega felt a great sense of relief, not only because he could see that his friend was alive, but also because the letter had not been a trap.

"Where have you been?" he asked. All of his anxiety that had been building up burst out in those four words.

She was not surprised. She was just glad to see him alive, but it seemed more important to Enrique to show his concern. They stood in silence, the only two people in the building. Emma had placed some small artifacts in the doorways to warn them if a stranger was approaching. She wanted to make sure that absolutely no information got out.

"Why did you leave?" he continued.

Emma, a little nervous, came closer. She was wearing a blue cloak and leather gauntlets. She looked into Enrique’s eyes, seeing his worry and disappointment. She felt a bit sad.

"We can talk about that later . . ."

"Why did you disappear? You said you would never abandon me! How do you know about my dreams? Do you know how worried we have been?"

Emma Kantor looked down, sad. She had known these would be Enrique’s first questions. She felt bad about disappointing him, even though she had a very good reason for doing so: to escape from Sean Thiel. She was full of regret and frustration for having made a promise she could not keep. Emma knew she could not explain anything about his own power or dreams if she did not first tell him everything about herself.

"Let me explain!" she exclaimed.

Enrique fell silent. He realized that he should not have raised his voice.

"Alright . . ." he said. "Tell me everything you know."

"Firstly, I am sorry for disappearing like that. The truth is, I had no other option."

"Why?"

Emma looked at him straight in the eyes, took a deep breath and spoke.

"Because I am—"

All of a sudden the moonlight and the noise from the street disappeared. Through the windows only a black void could be seen. They both became very alert. Emma knew what was going on; Enrique meanwhile was terrified, looking around for an explanation.

"Hide," Emma muttered in a low voice.

"What . . . is going on?" asked Enrique.

"Hide!" Emma Kantor turned toward him. She looked like a soldier. She was standing with her legs apart, completely straight-faced. Enrique felt a shiver of fear, reminding him not to let panic overtake him.

Enrique Ortega took a step back and looked up. The roof had disappeared, the columns and the walls disappeared into the never-ending darkness above them. Through the windows, he could see purple clouds over an empty twilight landscape. A dim light of the same color entered the room.

"It’s like in one of my dreams," said Enrique, recognizing the familiar feeling of fear.

He had said that without really knowing what he was saying; he had no idea that the same person who had saved him in his bedroom, and whom he had seen fight against all those dark shadows in his nightmares, was standing beside him.

"I know. I really do know . . . I’m sorry for hiding the truth from you for so long Enrik," said Emma.

Enrique watched in amazement as she pulled her mask out of her bag and put it on; it stayed in place on her face without any kind of attachment. Next, Emma touched part of her cloak with one of her hands. A second later, it transformed into the cream hooded cloak that Enrique was already familiar with. The masked figure who had appeared in his dreams was now right there at his side.

"It was you . . . !?"

"I’m truly sorry, Enrik," she said in her normal voice, before her voice distorted into a ghostlike tone. "But there is something I need to do. And listen to me when I tell you to hide."

Enrique froze. He still could not believe that Emma Kantor was actually the hooded figure.

"All those dreams . . . you . . ."

"Go, now! Thank me later!" she shouted,

"But—"

"Do as I say! I must protect you, it’s my job!"

Emma ran down the aisle. She leaped up using two fire magic spells that set off explosions from each hand, propelling her to the top of one of the bookcases, about ten feet off the ground.

"Go to the other side and don’t turn on any lights!" yelled Emma, before jumping again, disappearing out of Enrique’s sight.

She wanted to confront the Zanszprët and exterminate it as fast as she could. If she could kill it before it got near Enrique, then she would have fulfilled her mission. She was worried that she had all of a sudden revealed the existence of magic. When all of this was over, she would have to figure out how to protect him from the rest of the emissaries, and in particular, her superior, Sean Thiel. As these thoughts crossed her mind, she saw the monster dragging itself along one of the long aisles.

Emma Kantor had been jumping from bookcase to bookcase, looking for the Zanszprët from her vantage point above. When she saw it, she stopped and measured the distance from where she stood. The light was too dim. It was not bright enough to see where her enemy was; she needed to see it with total clarity so that she could plan her attack. She activated the night vision enchantment on her mask.

Now she could see everything clearly. The same type of monster that she had confronted so many times before was a few yards away, directly in front of her. The creature dragged itself along a wide aisle between high bookcases, raising its trembling tentacles toward the sky like antennae. At the end of each tentacle were large bony talons. Emma ran to the end of the bookcase she was standing on. She took a palm-sized stone out of her bag, which looked like a mix between amber and quartz with a shape that loosely resembled an arrowhead with rounded edges – an Aurora Stone. She extended her arm and shot out a thick golden ray from the stone.

The ray traveled through the air at great speed, partially lighting up the space. The ray of light reflected off her clothes, particularly her mask, making it glimmer. When it hit the Zanszprët, it knocked it a few inches in the opposite direction. Where the ray hit the monster’s body was destroyed on contact, leaving a black cloud of smoke in its wake, accompanied by a sharp and dreadful shriek.

Emma shot at it a few more times. A few moments later, where the monster had been, there was now a thick cloud of smoke. An agonizing sound reverberated around the room.

Enrique had followed his friend’s instructions. He could not shoot golden rays and he did not want to get in her way, so his only option was to look for an escape route. To his misfortune, he realized that the doors and windows could not be opened or broken, perhaps because they were in the Zanszprët’s reality bubble. It was then that he heard the creature’s roar.

That sound could only mean the monster had been hit. Enrique breathed in deeply and tried to stay calm. He thought about how he would return to the ’real’ world, because unlike the last time, he had been fully conscious when he had been transported to this reality. He wanted to be reunited with his friend as quickly as possible. He had so many questions for her.

The Zanszprët still had some fight left in him, so Emma remained on alert, watching the cloud of smoke.

Taloned tentacles shot out toward her from the cloud of smoke.

Emma jumped back instinctively, using a magic explosion that propelled her upward ten feet. The tentacles had swiped dangerously close to her shoulders and she was terrified. She suspected that this Zanszprët was stronger than they normally were, but she had not calculated that it would have the stamina to survive so many hits and still have the strength to counterattack. As Emma was free falling through the air, coming down from her jump, the tentacles retracted, plummeting down beside her and coming very close to her. Emma did a flip in the air and used two explosions of fire magic at slightly different times to regain her balance and avoid hurting herself as she fell. She landed in an aisle, between two long bookcases. Still frightened and surprised, she heard a coarse and aggressive sound coming from the direction in which she had last seen the monster. She realized that she was not only dealing with a superior enemy, but that it would take all her strength and ability to have any kind of chance of killing it.

She walked slowly toward the end of the aisle with the stone clutched safely in her hand. When she had reached the halfway point, a tentacle shot through the bookcase to her right, its talon just barely missing her, and the force ripping her cloak. Emma Kantor crouched down and rolled to one side, as another tentacle attacked her from behind the bookcase, which she managed to dodge by dropping down to the floor. Still unsure about the speed of this particular Zanszprët, she got up and ran to the end of the aisle. As she ran, she dodged two more attacks. The final tentacle got stuck in the next bookcase and blocked the aisle. Emma took advantage of the moment to shoot out a thin golden ray, similar to the blade of a sword, which cut the monster’s tentacle clean off. The limb fell to the ground, transforming into black smoke, while what remained of the monster pulled back, emitting another shriek.

Emma Kantor leaned back against the side of a bookcase along the central aisle. She concentrated so that the stone would show her the exact location of her enemy. The stone glowed to reveal the position of the Zanszprët, when all of a sudden three tentacles shot through the bookcases and a fourth one came at her from an aisle, taking Emma by surprise and knocking her down.

Enrique had no idea what was happening. The golden glow had disappeared and he did not understand why he had not returned to the real world. He attempted to force a door open with a tool he had found in a corner, but was unsuccessful. The only thing he had discovered was that a strange faint sound was coming from outside, similar to the wind whistling, which from time to time sounded like slow breathing.

Emma, hurt and vulnerable, did not know exactly where the Zanszprët was, but she could hear it moving toward her. For a moment she tried to understand what the monster was doing. Did it want to see its opponent? That seemed absurd as these creatures showed no signs of intelligence. The final blow could come at any moment. Emma focused her mind on the energy that flowed from her body to the Aurora Stone. She could not move her hand to aim the stone, so she devised a different plan. Emma knew that conventional magic was useless against the Zanszprët, but that the energy it released could be of some use.

Emma used two magic fire spells in her feet to kick at the tentacles and loosen them, and then she spun around and cast another spell with her other hand to free herself from the tentacles closest to her. The monster, realizing that it was losing strength, quickly retracted its tentacles, wounding Emma Kantor’s stomach and arm with its talons in the process. She ran to one side, and once she felt safe, she used the little light magic she knew to close her wounds while out of the creature’s sight. She could not heal herself completely, but at least it no longer hurt to move.

Unlike other Zanszprëts, which acted on pure instinct and moved very slowly, this Zanszprët could detect her presence. The strength of a normal Zanszprët lied in the agility of its tentacles and the claw it had hidden inside its body. This one was different. Emma had only considered that it might be stronger, not that it could also be faster. With her stone, she detected the monster behind one of the bookcases. She focused on channeling a powerful attack. Once she was ready, she jumped and propelled herself onto one of the tallest bookcases with two explosions. She could see her enemy dragging itself along one of the aisles, toward the center of the building, where the circular space was. The creature had also detected where she was, and turned toward her.

The Aurora Stone glowed intermittently with a golden light, a sign that the charge was ready and had the maximum amount of energy possible. Imperceptibly, and for that brief moment, the eye slits on her mask lit up with a bright golden glow. A second later, Emma stood with her legs apart and held the stone in front of her with both arms extended. A few faint rays began to emerge from the stone, coming together to form a curved and powerful ray that lit up the room, making a strange sharp noise as it traveled through the air at great speed.

The ray hit the monster and a huge cloud of smoke exploded from the injured area. Two tentacles, moving erratically, shot out from the cloud. This time Emma was prepared. She launched a thin, bladelike ray, cutting off one of the tentacles. Next, she drew a dagger from her clothing. She gripped the stone with one hand and her weapon with the other. Both objects glowed. She dodged to one side and cut the tentacle closest to her. The extremity turned into smoke.

Two new tentacles appeared whilst at the same time the Zanszprët let out a forceful breath, partially dispersing the smoke. Emma Kantor was feeling good about having resisted the previous attack. She remembered that these monsters did not usually have more than seven or eight tentacles, which meant she might have a chance of winning. She used fire magic once more to propel herself to the other bookcase. She cut another tentacle off with a ray as she flew through the air, another tentacle almost grabbing her as she landed on her feet. The tentacle scraped her mask and pulled out some of her hair. Emma used her energy-filled dagger to cut off another tentacle. A new tentacle, thicker and slower, with a giant claw instead of a talon, emerged from the monster.

Emma was not just physically tired, she was also worn out mentally by the fact that she had not yet won against this Zanszprët, using something as powerful as an Aurora Stone and after battling for so long.

She decided to channel an even stronger attack: she drew so much energy into the stone that a flickering sphere appeared in front of it. The last tentacle swiped at Emma’s feet, trying to cut them off, but she avoided the attack, jumping and using the tentacle as a trampoline. In the air, Emma Kantor cast an explosion to propel her upward, buying her time to fully charge the golden ray. She considered emitting a second explosion, but she could see that the small sphere was now a large ball of golden energy that was emitting short rays. She didn’t realize it, but her strong desire to win the battle had made the ray charge more rapidly, draining a large amount of her own magic energy in the process. Emma, still in the air, sheathed her dagger and pointed her stone at the monster while grasping her forearm with her other hand as if she were holding a gun.

The concentrated energy exploded. The force threw Emma more than six feet up into the air. Two golden rays shaped like two medium-sized dragons, shot out from the explosion. The two dragons then melded into one dragon, three times the size, engulfing the Zanszprët. Emma fell downward, but ten feet before hitting the ground she flipped her body over in the air, so that her feet were facing the ground. About an inch before she landed, she rose almost imperceptibly, as if she had bounced off the void, before softly landing on the ground. Meanwhile, the creature began to emit smoke and breathe with difficulty.

Emma did not know that Enrique had been watching most of the battle from afar. The golden lights had caught his attention, and he had arrived at just the right moment to see the final incredible attack. Ortega looked at Emma rather fearfully as she walked toward him, her mask still on. The monster was a few yards behind her, dying on the floor.

Emma took off the mask, exposing to Enrique her exhausted but happy face. She had stopped the Zanszprët from killing him. He was still in shock and as Emma approached, his anxiety increased and questions flooded his mind. However, that brief moment of peace did not last. The creature’s half-burned body palpitated forcefully, surprising them both, violently shooting out what appeared to be a claw with a flat object on the end in the shape of an enormous disc. It was a metallic shield split down the middle, united by a shining rectangular crystal with vertical lines down the center. At the top of the crystal there was an exposed eyeball. The shield was connected to the ’body’ of the creature by a thick tentacle that had thick spikes on its back end. The eye glanced around erratically and shakily until it focused its attention on Emma and Enrique.

Emma, frozen in fear, remembered that Enrique was by her side. Her duty as an emissary was to protect him, and this helped her regain control of herself and give Enrique a single order.

"Run!"

He knew there was no other option against the monster, but he did not want to abandon his friend. He stayed where he was, unsure of what to do.

"Murderer, murderer, murderer, murderer, murderer." Emma heard those words in her mind, coming from a thick guttural voice, distracting her.

A tentacle, much faster than the others, shot out and almost hit them and retracted just as quickly, before Emma had time to react. It hit Emma’s mask, which she was holding in her hand, knocking it to the floor a few feet away.

The shield-eye looked at them intently while the monster’s body regenerated itself at incredible speed, reconstructing the destroyed body parts by growing new skin, bones and the like. Emma watched, feeling very nervous, unsure of what to do.

"Murderer, murderer, murderer, murderer, murderer." The words repeated once more in her mind, confusing her.

"Emma what’s happening!? It should be dead! Tell me what’s happening!" shouted Enrique, terrified, his voice breaking.

Emma Kantor could not comprehend what she was seeing. There shouldn’t be such a thing as a Zanszprët this powerful. Also, the voice, which did not seem to be coming from any particular direction but rather from inside her head, was confusing her. She stood on guard in front of Enrique. In the worst case, she did not want to die in vain, even if just to give him the chance to escape.

"Death."

She heard the word once, just as the creature lifted all of its tentacles, flapping them as the shield-eye gazed at her with pure malice. Right at that moment Emma realized something: maybe the voice was being transmitted telepathically by the Zanszprët.

It was at that moment, as the monster drew dauntingly closer to them, that the black sky inside the building began to open and part ways, revealing bolts of light shooting out from the rupturing black sphere of reality. Through the hole part of the building’s real roof could be seen.

To the equal astonishment of Emma, Enrique and even the Zanszprët, whose eye also turned upward, a tall hooded figure wearing a white military uniform descended from the hole above them. He wore a thin oval-shaped silver mask with engravings and embellishments along the edges. His white cloak gleamed with plenty of golden, silver and black designs along the edges and down the center. The man stopped about an inch from the ground, rebounding a little higher into the air before landing gently, very close to Emma and Enrique.

Emma felt a level of fear that she had not felt since the time she had come face-to-face with her first Zanszprët. She stood on guard. Enrique, behind her, was in complete shock. Not only was his friend some kind of magical warrior, but now there was a second masked figure, wearing a very different kind of uniform. The rupture closed amid white rays and lights and the masked figure signaled with his head, moving toward the monster. Emma Kantor did not move. The creature glanced at them with fury, and then unfurled multiple tentacles from its body and started to attack again.

The figure in the white uniform attacked back. He was much more powerful than Emma, gaining control over the monster with the use of just a few well-directed rays as he walked slowly toward it. The Zanszprët lost one of its tentacles and part of its external layer of skin. Emma continued to stand on guard in front of Enrique.

"Who is he? What’s happening?" asked Enrique.

"Be quiet!" Emma feared for Ortega’s life. She knew that it was Sean Thiel behind the silver mask. She did not want the lieutenant to have an excuse to kill one of her friends.

The creature adopted a defensive position. It could not regenerate in time to defend against Sean’s attacks. Enrique watched from behind Emma. He truly hoped that this spectacle of lights would end with the defeat of the monster and that tomorrow he would be able to look back on this night and talk it over with Emma. Everything was going well until a shot rang out.

Enrique focused his gaze and saw that his friend had fallen to the ground in front of him. He panicked. He stared at the creature, who remained still to one side, watching the silver masked figure intently with its shield-eye. The man stood with a silver-plated pistol in his hand, standing between the monster and Emma, in the middle of a slowly dissipating cloud of smoke. The battle seemed to be over for now, and with the same certainty that Enrique knew that his life would never be the same again, he also knew that the man’s shot had hit its intended target.

Enrique Ortega felt completely lost. He wanted to protect Emma, but he did not understand who the real enemy was.

"You . . . you bastard!" Emma said, trying to stand up. She had been hit on the left side of her abdomen.

"Quiet," the man responded coldly, with a distorted voice, as he reloaded his pistol.

"Leave her alone!" shouted Enrique, drawing everyone’s attention. He stood in front of Emma. "Don’t hurt her."

Sean turned his gaze slowly toward Enrique, his silhouette reflected in the silver mask.

"Run Enrique! I will distract him!"

"Leave her alone!"

"It’s too late," said Sean Thiel. He raised his arm in their direction. Emma reacted instantly.

An explosion of fire appeared in front of Thiel. Emma Kantor had cast a fire magic spell with the hope of catching him off guard. She felt frustrated when she realized he had stopped the attack with a simple block.

"How appropriate," he said, cocking the pistol at them. Enrique took a step back, frightened but firm. He did not consider running. Sean realized he intended to stay and fight, so he quickly, without Emma realizing, cast a sleep spell on Enrique.

Emma had told Enrique to run, she knew that it would be suicide for him to stay and face Sean. Enrique lost his strength all of a sudden, the world disappearing around him. He felt angry with himself, thinking that his own body was betraying him. He fell to his knees, while fighting against it and pushing himself beyond what he thought he was capable of. Sean and Emma were shocked to see that the spell did not have an immediate effect, they could see that although Enrique was at a disadvantage, he was still trying to fight. He did not want to give up on his friend, to regret not having tried to do everything he could. He hoped it would only be a matter of a few more minutes until he devised a strategy to win. Emma knew he was trying to help her. She felt terrible that he was willing to fight a battle that had already been lost, putting his life in danger. For that reason, she cast her own sleep spell on him, aiding Sean’s spell. Enrique fell to the floor.

"Kantor . . ." the lieutenant said, stowing the pistol back under his cloak.

Emma got down on her knees, holding a hand to her wound, she looked up at the silver mask with an expression full of rage, pain and powerlessness.

"Let him go Thiel! He has nothing to do with any of this."

Sean observed her for a few seconds. Her lack of concern for her own safety was something Sean found very hard to comprehend, but which was very natural to her.

"He has nothing to do with this?" he answered, his voice distorted, as he walked over to Emma. He glanced back at the Zanszprët, who continued to follow his movements carefully, and then turned back to face Emma, who was unable to get to her feet.

"What are you hiding?!" she asked.

Sean slowly took off his mask. His cold eyes met Emma’s. She knew there was no way she was getting out of this situation alive, but she did not want to die before she had confirmed her suspicions.

"Why are you killing the fatesmiths? Why are you working behind the other emissaries’ backs? Don’t you know I haven’t gone through all of your correspondence?"

"It’s more than that," responded Sean. "But I am not going to reveal my secrets, even to a dead girl."

He took a few steps closer, circling Emma as he continued talking.

"I know you haven’t been working alone." These words caught Emma by surprise and filled her with fear. She knew what the lieutenant was capable of if he discovered her informant’s identity. "Soon we will find out what is happening."

The creature that only moments earlier had been their mutual enemy, remained alert, looking at one of them and then the other with its single eye. The lieutenant glanced at Enrique, who lay a few feet away, and cast a spell to erase his memory. Despite Emma’s shouts, insults and fire magic attacks, she could not stop him. He used his free hand to easily block Emma’s attacks. Once he had finished, he turned back toward the Zanszprët, who had begun to slowly regenerate. Thiel looked at the monster coldly and put his mask back on. The creature knew that the man was much stronger than he had demonstrated until that point, so it was simply waiting it out. Emma Kantor stayed still, feeling completely powerless.

Sean moved a few steps away and picked up Emma’s mask before speaking again.

"You must be the only one that has a spare," Sean said in a distorted voice, before destroying the mask in the same way he had destroyed the last one. "Do what you like. There’s no way to escape now."

Sean Thiel ascended through the air with his Aurora Stone in his hand and the bubble once again started to break open. He knew that Emma was practically dead and that leaving her at the mercy of the monster would be enough to finish her off. Furthermore, it was better to leave a scene which suggested a death in combat. Enrique had resisted a spell, just as he had been able to move freely in the World Apart, but Sean attributed the former to his fighting spirit and to the effect of the monster’s power on him. The creature watched him cautiously until he had exited through the opening and it had closed once more.

Enrique regained consciousness. Emma had cast a simple spell to force him to wake up. The Zanszprët did not move but continued to regenerate, looking at the two of them, a strange curiosity reflected in its eye.

Enrique Ortega stood up. Struggling, Emma tried to crawl toward him, but she could not move. The pain and loss of blood stopped her. She knew that her superior had cast a forgetting spell on Enrique. The magical trace she was picking up was characteristic of this type of spell. Emma was scared that Enrique may have completely forgotten everything. If that were the case, he would be easy prey for the monster, and she would not only die in vain, but she would have failed her mission.

The creature slowly started to approach, putting her on alert. Enrique rubbed his eyes. He still had not completely woken up. She thought that if she managed to make a last short-range attack before the monster attacked her, she might have a chance. She clung to this hope and charged her stone with energy. The shield-eye half closed and glanced to one side, as if teasing her with a sarcastic look.

The first thing Enrique saw when he opened his eyes was the Zanszprët, leaving him terrified.

"Run Enrique!" shouted Emma. She did not know if he would remember anything, which is why she yelled out a simple order. "If you stay, you will die! Go!"

Enrique looked at Emma Kantor. Seeing that she was still alive gave him some hope and after fully understanding the situation, he acted almost out of pure instinct.

"I’m not leaving without you!" said Ortega, going to Emma and stooping down to pick her up.

"Don’t be stupid! Leave while you have the chance! I have a plan!" She pushed him away and knelt down facing the Zanszprët, which had almost completely regenerated. Enrique looked at Emma sadly and, realizing that she had made her decision, he stopped.

"What can I do?"

"Do you remember everything? Do you know who I am?" Emma asked, confused but determined.

"Yes!" Why would you ask me that?"

"Do you remember how you got here?" asked Emma, surprised. It was impossible for a normal human being without any magic training to resist a forgetting spell and almost two sleep spells.

"What are you asking me that for?!"

Emma smiled for a moment before becoming serious again. There was no time to think about explanations.

"No reason. Okay, then I need you to do one thing," she said, her body already pushed beyond its limits. Only the darkness hid her pale skin and haggard condition.

Her words perplexed Enrique.

"You’re injured! I’m not leaving! What are you going to do?"

His stubbornness frustrated her. She just wanted to make sure that her death was not going to be in vain. She wouldn’t be able to unmask Sean Thiel, but she could still save the person who was the target of what would now be her last mission.

"If you’re not going to listen to me then at least get out of my way!"

A powerful glow illuminated Emma’s hand as she raised her arm in the direction of the Zanszprët.

The shield-eye focused on the emissary, who desperately shot her ray, almost hitting Enrique in the process. The energy hit the metal surface that bordered the eye and left a fuzzy line of red-hot metal. She was surprised, but when the creature responded with a look of rage, she accepted her defeat and looked at Enrique one last time. She shouted at him with all her strength.

"Won’t you even listen to me in my final moments?!" Then she mumbled something to herself under her breath seeing that Ortega was confused by her words. "Not that I was ever any good at giving orders . . ."

"Death and damnation, death and damnation"

The guttural voice was invading her thoughts again. She was almost certain it was coming from the monster, but she needed to be sure. The voice invading her mind was something new, even for her.

"Did you hear that? Where did that voice come from?" asked Enrique.

Emma looked around, nervous. She needed to know where the voices were coming from.

"What voice?"

"Death and damnation, something like that."

That confirmed her suspicions. The Zanszprët finished regenerating its tentacles and launched one in the direction of Emma’s neck. Her death seemed inevitable.

She could not defend herself. But Enrique reacted, raising his arm as the tentacle came toward Emma, an automatic reflex to try and do something to prevent her death. And he was actually able to do it.

A bright blue light lit up the room and a massive flame encircled Enrique’s arm. Emma was speechless. It burned the tentacle on contact.

"Emma!" What is happening to me?" asked Enrique, seconds after seeing his arm engulfed in flames.

Emma did not respond. Enrique flapped his arm, desperate.

"Put it out! Emma!"

"Be quiet!" she ordered.

"Exogenous Power? That’s . . . impossible," thought Emma Kantor, watching her friend’s astonished face as he stared at his arm and marveled at how the energy engulfing it did not appear to be harming it.

"Emma!"

"Imagine that your arm is a gun and shoot!"

The monster drew back. Emma looked at Enrique’s hand. Her suspicions were confirmed: it was Exogenous Power. The colors and that feeling that her own magic was physically attracted to the flame, almost as if there were a vacuum suctioning it was what the ancient texts described that a mage would experience if they were close to Exogenous Power. For the Kiltish people it was a legend; for Emma, it was now a reality.

"Do it!" cried Emma.

Enrique, stunned by his friend’s voice, looked into her eyes, looking for an explanation for what was happening.

It was at that moment that the flame went out, dissipating into the air.

"Malista is a traitor, Malista is a traitor," said the strange voice. The shield-eye fixed its gaze on Enrique.

The Kiltish people knew of it as Exogenous Power. Malista . Emma had never heard that word before. She did not stop to think about it. Emma knew that Exogenous Power, or Strange Force , was aggressive by nature. She had never seen it in action, but the damage it had just done to the creature was real. They had a chance. She stood up with great difficulty.

"Enrique, listen to me."

Enrique pulled himself together and focused. The monster looked at him as though he were prey.

"What’s happening to me?" he asked in a trembling voice.

"Hold your arm out straight and use your mind to direct your energy." Emma did not know exactly how the power worked, so she gave him the most basic instruction she could.

Enrique Ortega raised his arm in the direction of the Zanszprët, which took on an aggressive stance, raising four of its tentacles with talons and pointing right at him.

"What are you talking about?"

"Just do it, don’t think!"

Enrique imagined his energy as a great liquid mass that had been stored within himself. He could feel his power flowing inside reminding him of the heat that emanated from a hot fire. He was surprised when he moved his arms and felt that he could control this heat. It was strange, when he touched his skin it didn’t feel as though it were any hotter.

"Watch out!"

The creature, who had regenerated its lost extremity, launched a surprise attack on him with its four tentacles. Enrique raised his hands in front of him. He felt a deep fear, which reignited his power, engulfing his arms in powerful blue flames that disintegrated the monster’s tentacles on contact.

Emma Kantor could only look on in awe seeing someone without any training fight a Zanszprët that she herself had not been able to defeat. Enrique Ortega looked at his arms as he lowered them, feeling less fear as time passed.

"Death, Malista, death to the traitor," the voice boomed louder than ever in both of their heads.

Enrique looked terrified as the monster started to lunge toward him. Gripped by panic and ignoring his friend’s screams, he put his hands out in front of him, as if that would stop the monster. Just as the creature was about to strike him, Enrique’s entire body lit up with that radiant, light blue energy. When the Zanszprët made contact with the flames, a mighty blue explosion erupted, disintegrating the monster on impact.

Enrique Ortega fell to his knees. He looked defeated, tired and scared, and his gaze drifted to the twilight gleaming through the windows. Emma did not want to leave him alone at that moment. Enrique had been exposed to magic, to everything that had happened inside that reality bubble, and she was worried about him losing his grip on reality.

"Exogenous Power . . ." she said, kneeling by his side. He turned back toward her and saw a small white glow coming from her hand; she was using it to try to heal her own wound. Emma nearly lost her balance but Enrique caught her. "Oh, sorry," she said, faking a smile. "I am trying to heal this wound, but I think it’s too deep. My sister could do it, but maybe I can’t . . ."

Seeing his friend in so much pain, Enrique had no idea what to do. He wanted to go find help, but the reality bubble was still intact, not to mention the fact that he was so exhausted himself that he could barely even speak. He felt like he was on death’s door. The Zanszprët that he had just defeated was a different type of Zanszprët and very little was known about them. They were usually called ’Mirrekraus’, pronounced ’Mairkreas’, which meant ’shield’ in Kiltish. The name came from its unique shield-eye. The Mirrekraus attacked inside reality bubbles that did not immediately dissolve when the monsters died. Instead, the bubble lasted for several minutes after the creature’s elimination. Emma didn’t know this about the Mirrekraus as that information was hidden in the ’Creatures of the World Apart’ section of one of the secret basements of the Central Magic Archive.

"Who . . . Who was that man in the silver mask?" asked Enrique, in a pained voice.

Emma took him by the shoulders and looked him in the eyes. When she had his attention, she shook her head.

Enrique wanted to ask more questions: ’Who are you?’ ’Where are you from?’ ’What are those monsters?’ The questions were flying around in his head and he could not focus on just one.

"At least tell me . . . will I make it back to my world?" he asked. "Because if I do, I want to take you with me."

All of a sudden, Enrique lost consciousness. Using his power had depleted all of his ’exogenous’ energy reserves. That was why it was not advisable to ever use all of it, because it was physically connected to his body, and excessive use had that effect. Emma stopped him from falling, catching him in her arms and letting his head rest on her shoulder. This power –that can only be accessed by those from other dimensions – had not only allowed him to defeat the Mirrekraus but it also protected him from Sean’s spell. It was an intrinsic property of that energy: its carrier was immune to various types of control spells that targeted the person’s mind.

The reality bubble started to split open. In the void that had taken over the sky, a few weak lights started to appear, slowly becoming brighter. Through the windows, the purple clouds drifted away, leaving twinkling white lights in their place.

As the bubble split apart and filled with light before destroying itself in a weak explosion of energy, Emma, not knowing whether Enrique would live or be captured by Sean, and still with a strong desire to protect him, lost consciousness and fell lifeless to the ground.