"I am Senora Silvia Patricia Hendrix, but you can just call me Sena. Hendrix, the Grand Ministrant of Aurora Boreal. I don't know which is shorter, but we can work out the kinks on that over the semester." Some of the parents chuckled in their seats as things got underway. "I am your host this evening, and I hope that I do entertain. As this is as much a presentation of information, as it is to sell you on the marvelous experiences you can have at the greatest inst.i.tution in all the Worlds." The speakers picked up her voice effortlessly as she tried to stay focused on the task at hand. Not worry so much about the gut wrenching feeling she had, which caused her to intentionally delay Corinth's arrival.

While she gave the yearly remedial speech to the ma.s.ses, dark things were afoot.

"Keep the perimeter tight, shoot anyone that tries to escape once the aerial a.s.sault begins," a voice of terror reverberated through the microphones of dozens upon dozens of men surrounding the Pavilion while Hendrix unknowingly spoke on.

Dark shadows crept along the walls, as the trees in the distance were jostled by gusting winds. The Squadron force deployed for this mission moved in a swift and synchronized motion. Each step they took denoted a specific intention. Twenty moved westward from the main gate. They were pushing toward the trees to make sure any stragglers that made it past the first wave, the ones who would blockade the exits, could be picked off easily from above.

A man with telling dark eyes knelt at the front gate. He put one of those black & blue eyes up against the split between the double doors. The gate was large and fearsome in size, yet seamless to open. He took a look around to survey the ceremonies. He then radioed in his report. "The place is jam packed right now. If he's at the school, this is where he'd be," he relayed to the man in charge.

A booming voice came back over the line. "All right, keep your eyes peeled. All of you! For the signal. Out.

"Roger that," came several voices over the intercom, all in a sullen tones.

All spoke their peace except the man at the Pavilion gate. Instead of an obedient 'roger that,' he spat out a cigarette from between his lips onto the ground. He didn't bother to put it out. In fact, he secretly hoped it'd ignite another fire.

"d.a.m.n wimp doesn't know the half of what it takes to lead," he had a sickly voice and took shallow breaths. His neck was on the line, and he was actually nervous for this first time in a long time. He pressed the dark mixture that were his irises back up against the break between the gate's two doors, and waited for the signal.

"I was once a child," Sena. Hendrix reluctantly admitted. "That may be hard to believe for some of you youngsters sitting in the bleachers tonight, but I did serve out a childhood. As you do now," she spoke as if youth were a prison sentence, and not the bliss that most remember it to be. "I do understand how tempting it can be to want to exclude others based upon prejudices. There are so many cultures here at Aurora Boreal, and it would be foolish to think that some will not clash with others. It is inevitable. But we 'actively' choose to believe that there is room here for all walks of life, not just the domineering or narrow minded ones. The full staff and I will be working around the clock to ensure that we uphold the const.i.tutes of diversity. We are all a part of one ma.s.sive family now. The Aurora Boreal family. Those who choose to openly discriminate against people from other Worlds, with opposing views to theirs..."

She paused, as a chilled air fell over her, creeping down the back of her dark cloak. A thought occurred to her, as the screen at her back showed scenes of the exact acts she accounted in her address to the audience. She felt things that she knew to be bad omens filling the spreading void in her heart. Very bad omens! They carried a dark karma for one who lived out what they vehemently preached against. She spoke of upholding diversity, when she herself had been a boldfaced bigot at an earlier stage in her life. She cautioned herself as she knew that the true spectacle of the night had yet to begin.

"They will be removed without question," she continued, forcing her heart to believe the words she fed to the crowd. "If, of course, found liable for substantiated accusations against them," she added that for good measure. "Though these words should indeed echo in the minds of the students, as well, you family members and certainly the staff, please do not fret. Humans possess flaws, so you will make mistakes. But please try to think from time to time; What if I were faced with the challenges of the person I am so unnecessarily hara.s.sing? How could I ever stand up against such a barrage of hatred, when in reality, I haven't done anything to hurt another soul? Unless being born is a fault in some of your eyes? Being different isn't wrong, people. Willful murder, selfishly stealing, a.s.saulting, and yes, sometimes even insulting people, those types of acts can be easily deemed wrong. But still questionable inside the confines of a logical mind. But what never can be wrong, is who you love and how you spend your personal time. We have laws that protect us from true dangers. From people who use their personal pain as excuse to lash out against others. So, considering these laws are firmly in place;why do we arrest one another's natural behaviors?"

She had come full circle since she began her speech. This was the home stretch and she felt confident that she had actually reached a few hearts and minds out there in the crowd.

"This is the question I want us all to try to answer before our semester is through. Why? Why do we attempt to arrest the natural behaviors of others? And please, don't think that I'm naive enough to fall for the age old excuse; that the behaviors you most hate in others, are not natural, and shouldn't exist for that reasoning. I may not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but I can pierce a heart or two just with my steely stare." She made a pout with her lips and eyes that shocked some of the returning students. They'd never seen her so loose before.

She was being modest. She knew that her intellect was through the roof. But she also knew how much people hated a know-it-all. So she played the game. And played it well. Most of the audience stood and applauded, while others still giggled at her attempt at a humorous conclusion.

When she stopped speaking, a blast sounded in the sky. The fireworks had begun! Students and adults alike all ran onto the expansive field. They wanted to get a better look at all the different lights and shapes that the sparklers took.

Corinth and the others could see the pyrotechnics in the distance. They were still a mile or two away from the Pavilion, but kept walking in hopes of catching the tail end of the festivities.

Then a most unexpected sparkler shot up into the sky. It burst into a thousand little incremental pieces of a larger structure, as did all the others, but this sparkler revealed an insignia. Very distinguishable from the fun animal shapes and landmarks that popped up before it. In the night sky, floated the Squadron badge. The eight-layered plateau that sat atop the oval shaped metal badges each Squadron member possessed. The eight plateaus represented the 8ights Council members positions. Each elected Chancellor from each World. Their seat on the Council was indicated by rank. With Draconia at the very top.

"If that's not the sign, then I'm not a Draconian," Geary said as he stood up from his crouched position at the Pavilion gates, and kicked the door in with the force of a superhuman.

Sen. Bernard turned quickly when he heard the loud bang. Squadron members poured into the school gaming arena like c.o.c.kroaches. Dozens and dozens of men all holding automatic absorption guns. People screamed and started running across the fields like madmen. Everything went from a calm serenity to horrid chaos in a matter of seconds. People nearing the gates to escape were shot down on approach. The Squadron members all sported black eyes. Excepting Geary, who didn't quite have his bright blue eyes as normal, but hadn't gone fully dark yet. He must have only taken a small dosage of the El Muerte Vivo serum to enhance himself.

Sena. Hendrix turned to Bernard and yelled down to him from her podium. "Did you not do as I instructed!"

"Yes, I did," he said quickly. "I was certain I achieved my goal, and was informed by an 'Evan Gambit' of precisely that."

Sena. Hendrix eyes didn't go as wide as one might expect. She knew Evan had been corrupted. And she knew this wasn't his choice. "So-Sebastian had no intention of being civil at all," she said.

"I apologize!" Bernard shouted up to her as he pulled his llave from his coat pocket. "If only I had known he was your son! I would have never filed that report!"

"I know," she said with a great deal of respect in her voice, as she watched innocent children be shot down because of her negligence. "I shouldn't have kept you in the dark for so long, my friend."

Sen. Bernard was already running toward the gates. As he did, helicopters pulled up over the mouth of the arena. The fireworks were abruptly interrupted and now ceased to sprout off any longer. The helicopters took place of the loud noises the firecrackers once made. But the sound they introduced was one of dread and terror. A single rope ladder was cast down, and a lone man began the long trek down from one of the copters that hovered at the relative heights of the Pavilion's outer walls.

Bernard snapped his llave back like a wand, and shouted. "Perturbo!" Over and over again he shouted this chant, "Perturbo," as he ran through the ranks of Squadron thugs. Instantly, they were afflicted with treacherous images in their minds as the silvery translucent light was emitted from the tip of his key-shaped figure to wielding magik. The ones the Perturbo spell landed on, fell to the ground, dropping their weapons. They convulsed and shook like swirling snow-globes. Some were even forced to turn on fellow Squadron members.

He ran to the gate as quickly as he could, using the protection of the Squadron members he'd turned. The men had closed the doors behind them to lock everyone in, but Bernard had a better idea. "Annihilate!" With a gold and silver spiral rush of dust shooting out from his llave, he smashed the gate in half. "Run ... run, don't hesitate, just run away! As far away as you can!" he shouted to the screaming people on the fields at his far side.

The students and family members were reasonably scared. There were so many people that it was hard to see where anyone was going. People were afraid of getting trampled to death by those behind, but also didn't want to stampede those ahead of them. The main gate was wide, but not wide enough for everyone to run out at once.

Bernard noticed the dire need for s.p.a.ce, so he took a chance. He knew he couldn't use the English spell Annihilate again. Much too messy of a spell. Not with that many people right beside him flooding the gate. So, he put his llave into rotation to generate more power for his next spell. He only hoped no one would be hit with an absorption dart before he could finish.

"Por-Rata-Dissuo!" Like a crumbling sand dune, a proportional exit to the Pavilion's gate began slowly opening up beside it. In order for that to happen, the wall near the gate of the Pavilion had to disintegrate... molecule by molecule. It was a powerful spell. To strategically pull apart a fully formed, ma.s.sive structure, down to dust and bits took loads of strength. He did this so no one would be hurt while he tried to save the day. It was a spectacular sight that caught the attention of many. Mainly a special Squadron member whose feet had only just touched the ground since the a.s.sault began.

While people where escaping through the new exit, Bernard felt cold steel on the back of his neck. He put his hands up defeated, dropping his llave in the field. "That was quite the show you just put on," came a terrorizing voice from behind. "But I'm calling the curtain!" The finger he used to firmly clutch the trigger of his absorption gun-pulled inward. Releasing a single dart into Bernard's neck. The more magik someone uses, the worst the toll it takes on them to recover. It's called "overdosing," and Bernard is certainly at the limits of it with how many times he emitted the Perturbo. After his last powerful Maledictus spell, he may not have anything left to recover with from overdosing.

People were running out wildly into the open fields shrouded by trees. The s.p.a.ce between Olympia and the Pavilion was a vast one. Most of the scared people a.s.sumed they had made it out safe, so they tried to calm themselves... until others around them started dropping like flies.

The men in the trees above released a barrage of darts toward the refuges' way. The fear of their unseen attackers in the dark of night sent them back into a panic. People were pushing one another, thinking they were fighting off the ambush by fighting off one another. They had no idea where the darts were coming from.

Corinth and the others walked in on this horrific seen without any warning. Before any of them could say a word, Claudia set up a force field around them.

"Vis Aura," she whispered to the wind as Emma walked into the blue constant field of light that sprung up around them. Her face grazed the force field, and Claudia immediately said. "Sorry about that."

"Maybe next time you should give us a little heads up before you use magik that affects us," Emma said while rubbing her nose. Claudia looked down nervously while the gold and purple key to wielding her magik rotated at her chest.

Corinth learned to like Claudia during their walk over to the Pavilion. He thought she was s.p.u.n.ky. He also learned a little better why he didn't like Emma. "I bet you'd complain about winning the lottery, Emma." His face was stern and defiant. She looked him up and down like she was sizing him up. "You don't have a reasonable bone in your-"

"Look out!" shouted Anvard.

The Squadron members in the trees apparently had bigger weapons than the handheld dart guns. They possessed the long-range guns with wide blast radius that nearly killed Corinth's father when he tried to save him at the abandoned warehouse over a week ago.

The men in the trees were far enough away that they knew the blast radius wouldn't consume them too. Anvard knew Claudia's force field wasn't strong enough to withstand the blast. He pushed everyone out of the way as the field broke down upon collision. Claudia went down as well. Her force field absorbed most of the hit, so it was only her energy that was zapped. She fell to ground, unconscious, as the Fielder siblings simultaneously whipped out their llaves.

Corinth felt useless as he saw them prepare to go to war. He had never owned a llave of his own for very long. They always broke on him. "Stay behind me," Anvard told him. "Don't move from behind my back for anything or anyone." Corinth was in pure disbelief when he looked over to a lifeless looking Claudia, lying beneath a tree. She'd put herself at risk for them, and she barely knew any of them. "Got it!" Anvard shouted to wake Corinth from his mini-break with reality. He shook his head in the least a.s.suring way he possibly could. With visible hesitation.

Anvard knew he couldn't stop and try to rea.s.sure Corinth. He had to survey their surroundings to find out how far they actually traveled into enemy controlled territory.

Sena. Hendrix saw Bernard go down. Her heart went out to him, but she was no fool. There was a task at hand, and she intended on continuing to bring about the pain. She already knocked two helicopters out of the airs.p.a.ce above the Pavilion. They were spewing a dark liquid on people trapped in the stands. She a.s.sumed immediately it was a mild dose of the serum. She knew all too well about that ratchet serum of Sebastian's. So, she knew how important this was. Just one more to go, she thought, as she raised her hands high in the direction of the third copter.

"Conteram Descendit!" she waved her wand like no other. She always thought that if you want to possess true power, you must earn it. She never wanted a llave, because she didn't want a tool to artificially generate more power for her spells. She preferred to naturally possess the strength to do whatever she willed.

And her will was strong. Many of the dozens of Squadron members in the Pavilion now recognized her as the main threat. They immediately attacked, but they were no match. They fired and fired upon her as she decimated the helicopter above.

Waves and waves of sheer force pulsated from her wand, disturbing the very winds of the air. The copter was trapped in the grip of her power. The members firing on her had no opportunity to hit their mark. Though they were surrounding her at close range with clear shots. Her focus didn't waver one bit. She kept her force field up, and smashed the copter asunder, all at once.

The first two copters she managed to guide outside of the Pavilion walls in the open fields, but no one was firing upon her then. She knew that in order to keep her focus, she'd have to let this one drop wherever it may. And drop it did! Atop the heads of some unexpected students, but a rotation's teacher was amongst them. She expertly pushed the large black helicopter to the far sidewalls, cracking the Pavilion's foundation in the process. But she saved many lives, including her own.

Sena. Hendrix didn't flinch. She immediately dealt with the men attacking her not ten feet away. "Perturbo! Perturbo!" She was in no mood for games. Her facial expression was blank, the absentee emotion necessary to accomplish the goal as she walked patiently up to her primary target. He too was focused only on her.

He kicked aside Alistair Bernard's llave, and left him where he'd shot him only a few moments ago. He decided to watch Hendrix, as she executed her own a.s.sault on the supposed aerial a.s.sault. Evan hadn't even found the slightest trace of Criston or Corinth. They were who he was here for after all.

"Hey, we haven't gotten any radio reports from the men on the outer perimeters!" Geary shouted into Evan's ear.

"They're probably dead then," Evan said, as lifelessly as any person could possibly refer to death.

"What? Those are our men," Geary defended.

"Well, now," Evan's cynical tone rubbed Geary the wrong way, "seems like the filthy rat suddenly has a conscience."

"No, it's not that," the rat explained."I just want to make sure I get out of here alive. The less men we have, the worse chance there is of that happening. The Hyperborean reinforcements aren't scheduled for..." he looked down and checked his watch, "...for at least eight minutes. Doesn't sound long, but with that old bat flapping her wings at us," he pointed in the distance to Sena. Hendrix, "it could undo a lot of what we've done!" He was breathing hard as he watched Sena. Hendrix takeout every man in her path without even looking at them. Her eyes stayed trained on Evan, and his on her. "Plus, if we fail again-"

"No!" Evan interrupted. "If you fail again! Your little fiasco at that clothing store caused quite an upheaval at HQ!"

Geary looked at the ground embarra.s.sed. He didn't have a lick of respect for young Evan, but his pride meant everything to him. And Evan had it crushed beneath his Valid steel toed boots at the moment. "I'm going to go see if I can find out the progress on spotting Cris and the kid," Geary said, then curiously wandered away in the opposite direction of the gates.

Evan's dark eyes lit up when he saw Sena. Hendrix about to wield her first spell against him.

"Attono," she said as she began to circle him.

He blocked her slivery, silver little stun like it never even happened. Evan didn't have any force fields up, but he knew he was much faster than her. He didn't want to pour all of his energy into a field, if only he could take her down quickly. He wasn't nearly as resourceful as she though. He didn't know as many spells in Maledictus. He wielded mainly in English. This made him extremely vulnerable. But he knew not to do that tonight. He'd use every lick of Maledictus he knew, and string it together to end this showdown swiftly.

"Adlucinatio," he tried to sweep her up in an illusion to get the upper hand. The old bat would be blind to his whereabouts, if he could manage it. But he couldn't.

She had learned spells to deconstruct illusions as a girl. This was no contest for her. "Transit umbra, lux permanet." Pa.s.ses shadows, light remains. There was nothing more he could do after she defaced his attempts. Then she followed it by wiping the ground beneath them up into a frenzy. "Luto Pulverem Aura!" The dirt from beneath the artificial gra.s.s swirled around in the air, as a tornado, with Evan at the eye of the vortex. She could see him perfectly through the aura of her force field, but he was ultimately blinded, as he tried to do to her, through illusions.

Evan covered his faced staggering from side to side shouting. "Annihilate! Annihilate!" He was taking wild shots in the dark, hitting several fixtures in the Pavilion, breaking and shattering them to pieces. It was only a matter of time before he hit an innocent bystander. One of the many that were prevented from leaving through the main gate. "Annihilate!" It was more than clear to her that he'd lost his focus. Spells in English could not help him against the Grand Ministrant. A few stray blasts from his llave struck her force field, but they barely registered in her mind.

Though she knew her body was beginning to tire. Beginning to overdose. The constant strain from the vis aura, her force field, put a dent in her reserve strength. At this rate, she'd have no hopes of getting a second wind if she went down. So, in order to protect what's left of the Pavilion, she had to make sure that she wasn't the one going down.

"Duratus," from above her shoulder she pushed her wand down toward the field, and snapped it back up into the air. With that motion, so too did Evan's feet stick to the ground, then shot up from beneath him. She froze a large area of the field around him. He couldn't have possibly kept his footing. He fell down, smacked his head on the ice, but still wouldn't stop.

She hesitated to take him out, remembering him as a boy. She virtually raised him alongside Criston. She couldn't believe it had come to this. He covered his black eyes, because off the spinning dust cloud continuously being kicked up around him. The entire Pavilion would be destroyed soon if something didn't give. Though her view of his face was obstructed, she could tell that the El Muerte Vivo curse was taking a huge toll on his body. He looked stressed beyond his years. She wanted to take him in, not out.

That momentary lapse in judgment gave Geary the opportunity he needed. "Fiat Lux!" his favorite spell headed right for Sena. Hendrix head.

It broke! It broke through her force field. She'd die if the focused red beam of speeding light touched her. And she was too drained, too slow for the quick response needed to save her life.

Anvard hadn't seen such a sight in all his life. People being gunned down out in the open like animals. And he thought, who would treat even an animal with such acred disdain.

"Attono!" he shouted toward the trees. That was the only spell he gave his sisters permission to use. Emma wasn't happy with it, she wanted to crack some skulls, but she kept in line.

They went about knocking every member of Squadron out of the trees where they hid. When they couldn't be seen, it made it easy for them to pick off those below, using their vantage point as an advantage. But now that their hideouts are exposed, they're just sitting ducks. There was nowhere for them to take cover. Jumping down from the trees, before they were knocked down, was their only option. Those who chose it were simply stunned when their feet touched the ground.

After the people noticed Anvard and his sisters using a simple stun spell on the gunmen, everyone joined in. They knocked every sniper out of the trees in only minutes. Not one escaped. Then the reformed refugees went about trying to recapture the Pavilion.

They ran as fast as wind, making it to the broken down gate, as well the new gate Sen. Bernard defiantly opened. There, they only found absolute wreckage as they peered inside the fractured monolith.

On the field of the Pavilion, Evan realized the swirling dust had nearly stopped. Sena. Hendrix had no time to react to the other things going on around her. When the light beam broke her force field, so too did her concentration crack. All her spells failed as a result. Nothing was protecting her from the eminent dangers about.

Evan could see it all happening before him. He was more aware to the full extent of the situation than Hendrix herself. He remembered her face now. He knew who she was all along, but it didn't matter to him before. He had orders, and he was so insistent on carrying them out. The serum coursing through his veins was so powerful. He had malfunctioned before, so they upped his dosage. But still he remembered her, as he did Criston when he stopped the Priest from initiating the transfer of Corinth's mindful powers into the Chancellor. He saw her now. Not just for who she was, but for what she meant to him. "Retracto!!!"

It was one of few Maledictus spells he still remembered. Sena. Hendrix's ex-husband taught both Cris and him that spell during their llave exercises. They exercised, and learned at the same time. They learned how to move faster while wielding magik. Criston's father, Conrad, was also an elite member of Squadron. Much higher ranked than Evan or Criston ever thought they'd be in their entire careers. But they both just wanted to be like the man they loved so much when they were boys. Evan remembered something Conrad always said about being a police officer. "Every second counts."

Evan forced Geary's spell to retract itself. The red beam of destructive light reversed its path and collided with its wielder. Geary came crashing down to the ground, knees first. Next, while shaking with seizures, his head went plowing into the torn up dirt fields. His dead weight flopped down so hard that Evan swore he felt the earth tremble beneath him.

Sena. Hendrix fell to her knees too, overdosed, breathing hard. Evan jumped up, and ran to her side. He cradled her head in his lap, trying to get a good sense of her condition. "Are you hurt?" he asked the woman who was the closes thing he had to a mother.

But her heart and eyes where elsewhere. She collapsed nearly at the center of the complex. Just a few yards away from the podium where she gave her speech. Her eyes turned toward the gate. At the main gate, Sena. Hendrix could see that their plight wasn't over yet.

Reinforcements had arrived. Countless yellow-eyed men, all dressed in black, with broad shoulders and ample weaponry, rounded the corners. They pushed their way through into the Pavilion. They knocked Anvard to the ground, as Emmy started wielding more lethal magik.

She was smart. She knew her energy was weak from all the stuns. Overdosing wasn't an option. She began wielding in English to conserve strength. "Annihilate!" She aimed it for the Squadron ape that just knocked over her big brother.

"NO!" Anvard shouted. Then yelped a fateful word out his mouth. He was still on the ground, fighting for leverage. "Dismantle!" he cried out with his llave in his hand, just a moment before an absorption dart struck him in the chest. Emmy's Annihilate spell simply disappeared at his word's command. And she too was pierced by a dart. She looked down to her throbbing arm, then pa.s.sed out a few feet from her brother. Two Fielder children dealt with, but Emma refused to go down.

"Vis Aura!" she shrouded herself, Corinth, and a few other people surrounding them under a force field. But the reinforcements were using magik too, and they broke her before she could try to mount a defiant stand.

Corinth saw her drop, she was shot point blank by a ma.s.sive man. He couldn't believe she tried to help without hesitation. He thought she was all talk, but she had something more inside of her.

The man who shot her looked Corinth dead in his turquoise eyes, and held up his gun right at the boy's tremulous face. "We got the special package," he said with a grin into his radio microphone. "I'm bagging it now!" He knew he had found what they were looking for. He was right; but for all the wrong reasons.

In the distance, Sena. Hendrix tried to wield a protection spell over Corinth as she looked on helplessly, but was spent. Evan too, had nothing left to give. Still, Sena. Hendrix threw up a protesting hand.

With that, all the chaos instantly ceased to be.

Chapter 15:.

Eterna's External Experience

Unknown...

Cris was getting used to operating the portals, manufacturing them better every time he conjured one up and stepped through. But once he reached the other sides of these so called portals, he constantly found that he understood the true nature of the earth less and less.

"Why here?" he asked, to Sena. Hendrix of all people. She was millions of miles away, and in another dimension. "Why would it send me here, of all places?"