Rising Heroes, Fallen Gods Chapter 014

Secret

Monday, 17 January 2017. 2014hrs.

Australia

The eleven remaining members of Arche’s team gathered together with Uthares and Arche, pushing back the Voids at an astounding rate. Everyone was using Magics to fight with the Voids, sound blasting through them, earth slamming from below, and thunder and fire blasting all around. The strong blend of auras were almost overpowering for Catherine. All of a sudden, a silence befell her. A cocoon, made from air, was surrounding him and Arche. Now, only the two of them existed, looking at each other, in their own private realm.

“Before any of this can begin, please know that I have to make a link between your mind and mine. The good side of this is that we can communicate without talking over long distances, use each other’s powers to a certain extent, and best of all, tell the position of each other, with a little practice. The downside is that every single thought you have, I will know, and sometimes, what you see, I will see as well. This works the other way as well, so yeah.” Arche explained carefully, and Catherine did not even hesitate. “Since we need to catch up on a relationship as well, let us just do it.”

An ancient-looking book appeared from nowhere; by now, Catherine was already used to Magics like that. She held her breath in anticipation; soon, she would be able to fight along with Arche, Celine and the rest.

Even before Arche started chanting, a spiritual circle was formed, surrounding Catherine and Arche separately. Surrounded by pentacles and sacred symbols, the multi-tiered circle glowed icy-white, and the spell begun. Words of an ancient language, not muttered in centuries, was remembered, spoken, and cast as a spell. The rings began to move; expanding, contracting, spinning wildly. The air was charged, filled with the electric smell of ozone, making Catherine feel light-headed. Then, Arche stopped. The reaction was instant. Whether it was the cocoon or the spell, Catherine did not know, but it felt as if he had just summoned a tornado, and they were in the eye of it. Her feet were barely planted on the ground; her hair was a tousled mess, and it was lucky she was wearing jeans, and not a skirt. Arche calmly reached out his hand, features unclear with all the wind blowing, but she was certain a smile was playing on his face.

Unsure of what to do, she just grabbed his hand. As abruptly as it happened, the wind died down, leaving the couple just how they were before it. The two spell circles seem to have taken on a life of its own; they were dancing wildly, but still always in contact with the person on top of it. Both of them took a step forth; it was not coordinated, but was unintentional by both parties. When that happened, the two circles came into contact with each other, and it glowed tremendously bright. After the light faded a few seconds later, Catherine realised they were standing on a single circle only, and not the two that originally started the spell.

It is complete, a voice reverberated in Catherine’s head. Now you can just think about what you want to say with me, and I will receive the message. Catherine was not exactly sure of how to do that, so she just thought about why did Allen get his ponytail.

It’s because I was too lazy to cut my hair, Arche grinned at Catherine. So it did work after all. Before you start on experimenting with different thoughts, let us get to the more serious matter.

And again, Catherine held her breath, for the first stage of preparation was over, and now it was onto the second. It was certainly a bit fast for her; just an hour ago, she was snoozing happily, but in the past hour, she learnt that (in order of importance): Her late boyfriend is four years late, He comes back packing a huge punch (along with the extra kick) Celine actually a very hot lady (up till now, please forgive the bad puns) There is an organisation that fights Voids, the monsters that came from four years back, The Voids have established themselves, And she could save the world. Not that the last point was not important, but she just did not want to care about it. She just wanted a chance to fight alongside her beloved.

Like again, another ancient spellbook appeared on Arche’s hands; this time, he did a minute-long incantation before the ritual circle was formed. It was definitely more complex than the first one; there were sixty-five equally divided points on the outer edge, thirteen circular rows of symbols, followed by seven pentacles, and in the dead centre, three crucifix symbols pointing outwards. It was also not his standard auric power colour of icy-white, but rather the colour of light, gold.

He began a second incantation, one that requires a lot of concentration. She noticed something weird: there were two voices, one of Arche’s voice, and one more reverberating in her brain. He was multi-tasking proficiently; this requires one to speak without thinking, and one to think something else without speaking simultaneously. It was an unthinkable act, but Catherine dare not say anything lest she broke his concentration. Slowly, but surely, words were being added onto the pentacles, and the slow climb to the centre of the pentacles began.

Half an hour later, the spiritual words finally reached the centre, and the pentacles began to shift, turning slowly but smoothly like oiled cogs, some faster, some slower than the others. A peculiar arrangement was made, when the smaller pentacles expanded and all of the edges of a pentacle were touching one point, gold light began streaming from the thirteen rows, encasing her in a light cylinder, and words begun to flow out of the rows, like tapestry unwinding, and started to form a spiritual key. At the same time, right on the position of her heart, a golden lock was formed, and the two were getting closer and closer. When the lock and key met, the cylinder intensified in light, and it was almost too blinding. Then, it turned, and the seal was broken.

Like tearing apart wet paper, the light broke out of the cocoon, and out came a Catherine with glowing yellow eyes, and an armoury of light blades. With a wave of her hand, the blades flew forth, annihilating any remaining Voids. Arche stumbled out the other side of the cocoon, covering his eyes from the bright light.

“Whoa. That is... a bright girl.” Genie Chronolegend appeared next to Arche, using time-travel to move quickly from one place to another.

“Stop with the lame puns already. And yes, we all know that she is going to be a hell of a problem later.” Arche said, still half-blinded from the first release of Catherine’s seal, and a great throbbing headache from the power coursing through his and Catherine’s mind link. Somehow, he seemed to be half-smiling at the fact; the old Catherine, clumsy, stubborn and all, was back in full force in his life.

But, there was still one more secret left…

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