Learning a New Life - 11. Chapter 11

"This is the place, right?" Joanna asked.

The three looked at Nate, who nodded. The jinni had grown in power and ability over the past several months, but by any standard "in the industry," he was infantile and could do little to help them. A jinni's innate powers at birth were limited to passive knowledge, transportation, and basic defense; his job was to protect everyone possible during whatever may be coming. From rules that everyone at this point was questioning, Nate lacked any offensive capabilities.

The previous day had been spent discussing the battle plan. It was really quite simple: Kill and don't be killed.

That brought them to the clearing on the warm autumn morning before the sun had risen. Nate assured them they were in the proper place, that the entrance to the Glen was just beyond them and several dozen of its members were watching. There was some trepidation as none quite knew what to expect.

As they stood there, waiting, they heard a rustling behind them. The three humans turned immediately and struck a defensive posture, but as they peered through the brush, they saw nothing.

The sky grew a brighter shade of blue, and the four looked on as the upper lip of the sun pushed past the horizon line, visible through the trees. The sun's rays shone a bright orange-yellow light on the assembly, rapidly brightening their surroundings as their pupils struggled to constrict.

In an instant, everything grew brighter and much hotter as a ball of flame shot across them, only Nate's reflexes preventing the other three from being eliminated in that instant.

John had arrived.

Flame shot at the three witches, who cringed automatically. Though the fire hit an invisible barrier that Nate threw and maintained in front of them, the heat was very real to them. John continued, undeterred, while Michael and Joanna moved to different sides and Susan stayed in the middle, though behind Nate. As the fire continued to impact the barrier, John was chanting something in a language that, of the four, only Michael knew. A few seconds later, the fire barrage stopped, and the noise behind them was louder. First Michael turned, and then the others. The Glen was fully visible.

The battle began.

Michael stood in front of Susan and to her right, generating blue glowing balls of plasma and propelled them towards John.

Joanna was doing the same, only with her telekinetic ability it was more physical material she was using: Large boulders, shrubs, or anything else she located around her. A well-pointed stick made its way into her arsenal, but as with most, it failed to reach its mark.

While Joanna and Michael attempted to retard and deter John's slow advance, their secondary goal was to distract John enough for Susan to strike.

But John was more than capable at this point of defending himself against the paired onslaught. Whenever something was about to hit, an impossibly thin, iridescent circle would appear in front of him and block the projectile from reaching the intended target; this appeared often without any apparent notice from John, frustrating the witches.

And he was still hurtling fireballs. Rather quickly, John realized that he was unlikely to break through whatever was protecting the three humans and instead was setting the Glen ablaze.

The elves had tried to reestablish their cloaking, but it refused to hold and though the Glen would shimmer briefly, it was still plainly visible and open to attack. Being exposed as they were, they quickly arranged into three groups: Physical offensive, mystic, and support.

The first were armed with bows and arrows in a way that looked anachronistic for the last few years of the 20^th century. However, as with most things with these creatures, elven bows and arrows were enchanted. The bows themselves could not break, and they transferred to the arrows shot enough energy to propel them to their intended target, however far it may be. The arrows would never miss their target, and they were strong enough to pierce almost any material or any spell. The quivers they carried would never empty.

The mystic group were the ones with the greatest connection to the magical threads flowing through the forest, a connection that was sometimes born, but often achieved only with centuries of quiet practice. The support group were those who took away the fallen.

The battle went on as Michael and Joanna continued with projectiles that seemed to bounce harmlessly off him. They began to tire as their assault seemed to make little difference in John's defense nor in his propensity to throw balls of fire.

Michael took a moment to catch his breath and then began forming as large a ball of energy as he could muster.

As Michael's orb was forming, John took the opportunity to advance a few steps and generate his own larger balls of fire that he sent hurtling towards the elves who had taken to the trees. The tree behind Michael was struck in its center and the entire top half was severed, toppling backwards and taking those in its branches and behind it with them.

As that toppled and John took a moment to form another ball of fire, he was pelted with arrows from the left, as the elves who had gathered in the forest behind Joanna had taken aim.

Unfortunately for them, John's deflection ability again prevented even the elves' arrows from hitting their mark as they fell to the ground. For the second time that day, and probably ever in their lives, the elves were surprised and worried.

The fire dissipated as he stumbled; even though his deflection prevented the arrows from reaching him, the basic laws of physics still held sway and the shear momentum nearly knocked him over. While John was glaring at the elves behind Joanna, she tried to drop yet another boulder – this one larger around than she was tall – on his head, but again it rolled off his shield and dropped to the ground with an audible crash.

At that moment, Michael unleashed the orb he had built up in full upon John. John was quick but the energy was enormous, and he was physically moved by the energy release as it crashed around him, but he did not flee.

John took aim again, this time at the trees behind Joanna, when he was suddenly toppled to the ground as tree roots and vines began to snake their way over the ground and wrap themselves around his legs.

They pulled him back as he blasted them with dozens of small flames, and he momentarily burst free. He struck out quickly, clearing the ground around him of all tentacle-like wood and threw another giant ball of fire at the trees behind Joanna, toppling several as dozens more elves were hurled to the ground.

He advanced again, this time watching the ground and incinerating anything plant-like that started to reach out to him. Both Joanna and Michael were spent and were unable to mount a further defense. The arrows from the elves were still unable to pierce his defenses, despite several scouts circling behind him and shooting.

More trees were burning as John continued closer to his target.

A giant lightning strike centered right upon him as Susan finally completed her spell, and everyone was momentarily blinded and nearly deafened as the heat forced the air to expand, thundering throughout the clearing. Susan nearly collapsed from the energy it took to cast.

When they could see again, the earth around John's body was scorched, and though unmarked, John had been thrown to the ground. All sound was mute in contrast with the lightning, and everyone watched for several seconds to see if it had worked.

Shaking his head, John stood, and then he advanced further towards the Glen.

And then he tripped.

As John looked down, it seemed like the stupidest thing, but he had tripped over a mound of dirt. He quickly went to get up and advance again when the earth rose up in front of him, blocking his way. Before he could move around it, the ground beneath him started to roll, and he was knocked off his feet again. It began to roll backwards with him on top, almost like a conveyor belt.

As John struggled to regain an upright position – the earth's speed changing quickly to keep him off-balance – he continued to look around for a source of this power, but there was nothing for him to attack that he could see. Fire had no effect.

As the soil formed two mounds around his legs, he began to fear that he might be trapped.

Then, from above the clearing of trees, what appeared to be tiny glowing orbs descended and began to circle the warlock. Susan, Joanna, Michael, and Nate realized that the lights were fairies.

The cloud of light swirled around John, weaving a net of energy. John lashed out with fire but it made no impact. The fairies were moving too quickly and as he failed to make any impact, an old nursery rhyme from his childhood came to mind:

Beware of fairies, for if you're not,

A web of magic they hath wrought.

About your form a net shall drape,

No magic shall from it can escape.

As the fairies wove their web and closed the circle, John, for the first time in a week, was doubting himself. He was trapped and the fairy magic prevented any power from exiting the half sphere. He was blasted again by an orb from Michael but he blocked it – at least his powers still worked within it. Similarly, Susan thought she had her chance and aimed several vials of potion as she had crept behind him, but they shattered against his deflection circle as had everything else.

Still, John stood as the fairy net closed in on him and the mounds of dirt crept up his legs.

Then the wind began to blow.

Within seconds, it reached a howl within the clearing, and the fairies were scattered, releasing John from the net, but he was now buried up to his hips in dirt as the gnomes worked their own magic. He struggled to pull himself out.

The wind reached gale force. The elves formed a barrier of tree roots and vines to protect them as Nate created a second bubble around Joanna, Susan, and Michael to prevent them from being blown away.

In the center of the wind appeared a figure, a man with straight black hair and dark irises. He surveyed the scene, his face only departing from a disdainful expression when he saw Michael shielding the three witches.

He turned to John and stated, "You failed, like your brother before you," he gestured to Nate.

"No! I can still do this, I just …" he flung a quick fireball at each of the dirt mounds surrounding his legs and feet and fell to the ground as they released him. He quickly stood and brushed himself off. "I can finish this!"

As they were talking, Joanna dug into a hidden pocket and pulled out a vial of potion while Susan reached for more herself. Joanna didn't know if it would work – it was her strongest base but she, and her family, had never been up against a demon to test it on. At the same time, Joanna flung her own potion at the demon while Susan aimed again for John. John deflected it yet again.

In the last moment, the demon sensed something coming and turned to them, holding up his arm, the potion shattering against it. His forearm started to melt away, but it stopped after a moment, revealing a black, charred bone underneath the rotted flesh.

His face showed no reaction, no emotion. But, he said in a deathly low voice, "You dare try to vanquish ME, witch?!"

The next moments happened all at once for Michael.

The demon threw a ball of raging fire – much more powerful than John could even dream of conjuring – straight at Joanna. Nate was fast, and though the most powerful shield he could muster was raised around her, it was not enough. The fire pierced through and consumed the woman in an instant.

Susan screamed and ran towards the spot where her mother had stood as the demon turned his attention to the Glen.

John had an evil glint in his eye as he realized he now had free access to the Glen with the elves hiding and the demon clearly willing to destroy anything in his path.

For Michael, it seemed to be all over; he felt enormously overwhelmed and as though he were going to pass out. Everything went white.