Casters

Chapter 11

Suddenly, the world shifted. The wind was rushing through the walls of the home, binding them. The light shone brighter into the group as if they were being blinded. It felt like they were warped to another place.

"Matilda?" Sheena asked, "where did you bring us?"

"I didn't do this," she replied with a shaking voice.

"I did."

They turned around and saw Charlotte floating in a lavish purple dress with her eyes glowing brightly.

"How dare you try to erase my memory?" Charlotte said, her voice echoing through the unknown realm.

"Wh-What is this?" a voice said.

"Steven?! Fred!" Sheena exclaimed. "Why did you take them here?"

Charlotte flew over them and said, "it was not I, but the crystal who came with us." Charlotte slowly descended to the floor and kneeled.

Pain...

Memories...

Powers...

Magic...

Casters!

Charlotte screamed at the top of her lungs.

"Sheena! Where are we!" Steven asked, covering his ears. "What the heck happened at home!"

"I don't know!" She exclaimed back. Matilda, didn't I tell you to erase their memories?

Matilda looked at her in pain and said, "I did. I did my spell. I couldn't understand why they remembered!"

"GODDESS OF MOON," Charlotte started, "HEAR ME, UNVEIL MY EYES FROM THE SHADOWS CAST TO BLIND ME FROM THE TRUTH."

"Who is she talking to!" Fred exclaimed, "Ah! The voice is so loud!"

The necklace began to shine brighter than it could. A bright light formed around her in a shape of a woman, "sleep" the woman whispered.

Charlotte fell to the floor, unconscious.

"Charlotte!" Steven exclaimed, running towards her. He picked her up and caressed her hair.

"What are you, people?" Steven hissed.

Sheena dropped to the floor. "We promise, we will tell you everything," she said. Bridget turned to Matilda and took her in her arms.

"Are you okay?" she asked. Matilda nodded, "May I cast a spell?"

Matilda, exhausted, sat down and whispered, "absorb".

Suddenly, everyone felt relaxed and comforted.

"Sheena, are you alright?" Fred asked, looking into her eyes. Sheena felt like she could cry. "I'm sorry, I-"

"We're not ordinary humans, Fred," Bridget whispered. She took a deep breath and continued, "come home with us, and we will tell you everything." Fred and Steven looked at each other and they both nodded.

"Drain" Matilda whispered. "M, enough. You're having a nosebleed!" Bridget warned. Matilda wiped her nose and smiled.

"It seems like controlling everything was more exhausting than it was," she commented."How could you do that? No caster has ever stopped time," Sheena whispered. Matilda shrugged, "I don't know, either."

"We'll ask Aunt Grace and tell her everything," Bridget said.

Steven was comforting Charlotte in his arms as she lies there unconscious."Look! Steven's necklace!" Matilda exclaimed.

The amethyst crystal shone for the first time. "Is this a bad sign?" he asked, taking it off."May I carry that, instead?" Bridget said, walking over to take the necklace. "I'm the older one around here. I need to ensure your safety."

Steven handed it to her without hesitating as he thought Charlotte was more important than any necklace.

"Take her home," a voice whispered throughout the realm. "Take the young one home."

Bridget nodded and closed her eyes. The breeze started to form around and under them, lifting them slightly above the ground. Steven and Fred looked around in confusion and amazement.

"Fred? Steven? Might as well hold on tight for a bit,"

Then, her eyes started glowing.

"We're going home."

---

"Sheena isn't answering her phone," Annalise said. Grace fidgeted. She knew what the oracle meant.

"Could they be in danger, Grace?" Annalise asked, biting her finger. She went outside and waited. "No, I don't think so. However, I believe the oracle meant it when she said Charlotte would be crossing paths with her fate," she said, sitting on the sofa.

"Oh, what could it possibly be?"

"I could feel Matilda's presence," Grace whispered. "Perhaps, they are near."

Annalise looked around, even above. "Oh my... Grace..."

Grace stood up and went outside. She looked towards where Annalise was facing.

They could see Charlotte with her eyes glowing, standing above Bridget's air of levitation. They noticed they were with two unfamiliar faces.

She looked at Annalise and whispered, "I guess we have some explaining to do."

---

"You lied to me!" Charlotte shouted, instantly casting a grey light of fire against her Aunt Grace as soon as they descended to the ground.

"How dare you lie about everything I went through, especially about who I am!"

The ground suddenly shook, raising Grace above everyone else. "Charlotte please," Annalise panted, "calm down and we will expla-"

"Don'you dare touch me," Charlotte whispered, freezing Annalise's hands mid-air. She froze Grace, who was 60 feet above the ground, as she returned the earth to its normal state.

She looked at the spot where Grace could fall, forming a hot grey of fire and light. "You will pay."

"Charlotte, stop,"

Charlotte froze and looked at Matilda.

"If you want a battle because we protected you from your fate, then you will battle me," Matilda stated. Her eyes lit up and the ground shook. The earth grew and formed human-like figures holding a sharp wood on their hands. "Let our aunts go."

"Matilda!" Bridget shouted, but Sheena stopped her from impulsively joining the battlefield.

"Ah, so you were a part of this, too," Charlotte smirked, "We shall see, sister."

She left Grace floating above the ground while Annalise was petrified. Sheena was mad seeing her own Aunt being sucked inside the gravitational force circling around her.

Six minutes and my aunt will die, she thought.

"Let them go!" Sheena screamed as her eyes glowed, "you will battle us three."

Charlotte showed a faint smile and whispered, "very well, then. We wouldn't like dear Blake and Uncle to come home to the dead bodies of their loved ones." She shut her eyes and slowly lowered Grace. Then, she pushed her aunts aside and locked them within a barrier.

"Luna, cloak them," Charlotte cast.

Without the girls' knowledge, a cloak of darkness wrapped them inside a circle.

"Pillars of the air kingdom, protect!'' Bridget screamed. "There's barely any air in here, I might not hold that long."

"How could Charlotte possibly know how to use her powers?" Sheena asked, forming a thin water-like shield. The shield is enough to cut anything that penetrates the barrier.

"It couldn't be her," Matilda said, "I could feel her inside, demanding some answers, but the spells? It isn't her. Someone else is with her."

A flaming dagger formed on Charlotte's palm. "Lupi accersi," she said. Suddenly, light broke through the ground. Lycans appeared from below, with flames in their eyes. She pointed at Matilda's figures and they began to attack.

Bridget nodded and said, "Pillars of the air kingdom, protect the humans near the battlefield."

Sheena turned to Matilda and said, "Could you let the boys lose their consciousness for a bit?" Matilda nodded and cast her spell.

Sheena waved her hand in the air, gathering the mist together and cast it around them. "You might hurt someone else. It's very dark for casting a spell." Bridget said, shaking as she couldn't hold on to the barrier much longer.

"Darkness, swallow!" Charlotte exclaimed, slowly sucking the girls from their consciousness.

"Blade of light, strike!" A voice exclaimed, Breaking the barriers and spells cast against each other.

"Who are you?" Blake said to Charlotte, "are you a shapeshifter?"

"Blake," Matilda said, "that's her. Protect me. I'm trying to reconnect with her."

Blake nodded and formed the spear of light on his hands. Charlotte smirked. "My own protector was in this, too?"

The dagger turned into a sword.

Her aunt Grace gasped at the sight, "quick, I need to move!" she told Annalise.

"Do you recognize that?" Annalise whispered, still petrified. Grace was trying to break free from her barrier.

"It's the sword of Luna!"

Annalise gasped, "Luna, the moon Goddess?" Grace nodded.

The sword's hilt was filled with labradorite crystals and its blade was made of moonstone.

"It's Luna's favorite sword. It was gifted by a mortal centuries ago."

"How could she have access to that?!" Annalise exclaimed.

"Unless she is not Luna's chosen caster, she could never have access to it," Grace whispered in terror.

"Shall we put these blades to test, brother? Or should I even call you that?" Charlotte sneered.

"I know you feel like everything is a lie around you," Blake said calmly, "but it isn't."

"Shut the heck up," Charlotte hissed as she started to strike for it.

"Wings of breeze, levitate!" Bridget cast for Blake. He flew just in time Charlotte strike his position.

"Rope of light, contain!" Blake said, throwing his rope as its light formed around Charlotte.

"You couldn't contain me that easily, brother," Charlotte challenged. Suddenly the rope of light evaporated.

"What the?" Blake whispered, confused. As soon as he raised his head, Charlotte cast a purple flame against him and he fell to the ground.

"Blake!" Bridget shouted.

"I found her!" Matilda exclaimed. "dimiserunt eam mane, et dimiserunt revertemur..." she chanted.

"You're weak, just like everyone else," Charlotte hissed as she approaches Blake.

"Ah!" Bridget broke her pillars and fell to the ground.

All of a sudden, the cloak was lifted from the ladies. "Oh my god, sunlight," Sheena panted, falling to the ground. "What happened?"

She looked at Matilda and saw she was still in her caster form, chanting the same phrase. "Aunt Annalise! Fred!" She ran towards them, noticing that the barriers were gone.

Blake looked at Charlotte and saw Steven holding her hand.

"Stop this," he whispered, "please."

Matilda fell to the ground and Bridget crawled to her. "M, are you okay?"

Matilda nodded. "Let me rest for a bit," she whispered. "I thought I cast a spell on Fred and Steven. Why is Steven awake?"

"Just like how he broke free from the time you froze everything," Bridget whispered, eyeing them as she lies down beside Matilda.

"I'm starting to like caster battles," Matilda giggled, "except this one."

Bridget looked at her and laughed. "I agree. Let's lay for a bit."

Then, she looked at her and asked, "Wait, what were you chanting?"

"I saw Charlotte wanting to break free. I couldn't describe it, but it felt like I was in another realm," Matilda explained, "it felt like royalty. Charlotte was at the canopy of the place. There were pillars around her and there was a moon behind her. She was floating and her eyes were gleaming. I tried to talk to her but she felt really hurt.

"A lady came to me afterward and told me to stop my chant," she continued, "she's pretty. It really felt like royalty, since she was wearing a gold and white silky robe, floating above the ground. She wore a beautiful crystal necklace, too. The one like Charlotte's."

Bridget was surprised by this. "Really?"

Matilda nodded, "and then when she told me that she'll come by after the battle, I let go. Before I did, however, I saw Charlotte was already gone."

Fred woke up with a headache and saw Sheena caressing his hair as she waves her palm over her aunt's head, relieving her from the battle. "Is this your other aunt?" Fred whispered, pointing to Aunt Grace. Sheena nodded, "I already took care of her. She's Charlotte's aunt. You know aunt Annalise?"

The couple looked at Steven and Charlotte.

Suddenly the sword of Luna turned to ashes. The sticks and earth laying around the field with the wolves burnt to ashes. 

"They're still your family," Steven whispered. "I know it hurts, but you need to stop. Whatever this is, it needs to end."

Charlotte closed her eyes and her caster form slowly faded.

Blake burst into tears and jumped to hug Charlotte. "I'm sorry we lied, we didn't want this to happen" he looked at her in her eyes and said, "we will explain everything, I swear."

"I could never look at you all the same way, ever again," she whispered, pushing him away. "I don't know how I did what I did, nor what happened for me to do this, but one thing is for sure, I could never look at you all the same way again."

Blake was hurt by this, but he nodded. "We'll tell you everything, we promise. Everything that ever happened."

Suddenly, the house was filled with light, and the door opened. Her aunts slowly stood up in shock. Sheena helped Fred get on his feet and went to Matilda and Bridget to relieve them, too. 

Steven backed away from the sight, afraid of encountering another battle within the people he never knew existed in this world.

"Ma? How did you..." Grace stuttered.

"Luna, what did I tell you about waiting for my signal?"