Ascension: Quest For Revenge

Chapter 6: Chase (Part 1)

As they walked through the tunnel back to the house, Axel noticed that the brick wall he was using as an illusion was glowing red. He immediately figured out what it was, and then beckoned Belle to stop and crouch.

“Stop. Someone’s inside the house.”

He took out a Blue Emerald and activated it. Inside he could see faint images of guards examining his house. They wore brown and silver armour that could be easily pierced with a good sword. Their helmets covered their head up to their eyes, leaving open the nose and mouth; and were the strongest part of the entire armour.

“You’ve gotta be kidding me.”

“We can’t do this quietly Axel,” Belle said. “We have to go through them to get to the dragons, if they’re even there. We’re running out of time.”

Axel gritted his teeth. “That damn announcer. I’ll-” He took a deep breath. “We can’t let anyone discover this tunnel. I’ll have to block this entrance under rubble. I can do that by destroying the house, but that will block our way out. We’ll have to open a portal.”

“It took four mages to open a portal during the trials.”

“I didn’t have my father’s robes, or my mother’s staff. It won’t be that difficult now, but I’ll need your help.”

“Axel, I’m not a mage. I didn’t inherit magic by birth, I had to learn it. I’d have to imbibe the magic through a - a spell tome or something-”

“I can manage that.” He pulled out a scroll from his robes. He pricked his finger with a needle and scribbled words on the scroll by his blood. He then held his hand in front of the words and they started glowing. He rolled the scroll and enchanted a seal on it. “Here.”

“What did you just do?”

“It’s not a spell tome. You won’t imbibe the magic, but this will allow you to use this spell one time. You can’t use it again.” He handed the scroll to her. She opened the seal and read out the spell. Instead of ancient tongue, it was written in common tongue: Magicae fenestra. As she read it, the words disappeared from the scroll, leaving it blank. Belle’s hands started glowing white.

“Now, wait for my call,” Axel said, summoning his mother’s staff.

He touched the red glowing bricks with his hand, then read out a spell. Suddenly the ground started shaking. The house started rumbling, and then it began to collapse.

“Now!” He pointed at the side of the tunnel with his staff. Together they read out the spell, and a portal opened immediately opened to the outside. They quickly jumped out, and the portal shut. They turned around and saw the house completely destroyed, with the guards buried in the tunnel.

Unfortunately, there were guards posted outside the house too, who quickly spotted Axel and Belle. He pointed and alerted the other guards.

“Belle, you still have those Volequi, right?”

“Yes, but they’ll take a few minutes to get here.”

“Until then, we’ll run.”

Six guards sprinted towards the two. Belle drew her sword.

“Halt! You are under arrest for suspicious activity.”

“Back off,” Axel said. “And I just might spare you.”

The guards laughed. “Threatening the royal guard? Good. Now we have a reason to kill you.”

More guards arrived and surrounded the two. Some twisted their spears while other twirled their swords.

“Belle?” Axel said. “The staff.”

Belle immediately knew what he meant; they had practiced this long ago. “OK.” Her left arm began glowing bright red from the inside.

Axel stomped his staff on the ground and Belle immediately grabbed it. The staff released a blistering wave of flames that spread all around them, immediately lighting all the guards on fire. Their armours began melting into their skin as they screamed in agony.

“Run!” Belle commanded.

The two began running in the direction of the Ascension Trials to get to the dragon. Belle whistled, alerting the Volequi to their presence. Volequi, being extremely noise sensitive, could hear the whistle from a large distance; but it would take them a few minutes to get to them, especially since they were on the move.

The two continued running while more and more guards started chasing them. Four guards suddenly appeared in front of Axel and Belle and shot ice from their hands. Axel immediately created a magical shield, blocking the ice magic. He tapped his staff on the ground and green glowing tentacles rose from the road, grabbing the guards and holding them high in the air.

The guards chasing the two from behind began catching up. Belle shot multiple fireballs from her hands. Some guards were blasted away by the projectiles while others jumped to cover.

Axel slammed the four guards on the ground with the glowing tentacles, until they were knocked out; then he hurled them to the side. The tentacles slowly dissipated into shimmering green lights. Axel turned to Belle and said, “Belle! Let’s go!”

Belle stopped her onslaught and continued running with Axel. He made his staff disappear to run faster. The guards that were still alive chased after them.

They ran through the bazaar, vaulting over stands and running through small stores. The guards tore through the market, throwing food and other items everywhere on the ground and destroying displays.

As they exited the bazaar, and entered the main road perpendicularly, two chariots burst into the road not too far away, each driven by two guards and run by horses.

“We could really use Volequi right now!” Axel said as they began running in the opposite direction of the chariots.

“I know, I know! They’re far; they’ll take time to get here.”

“We don’t have time!”

“Well, unless you’ve got a flying broomstick, you’re gonna have to wait!”

Axel waved his hand along the road behind them and small spikes popped out randomly. Many guards stepped on them, immediately holding their legs and howling in pain. The other guards let out waves of energy on the ground, wiping out the spikes and creating a small dent. The chariots raced towards Axel and Belle, momentarily slowing down because of the dent. Some guards climbed on the chariots, while others continued the chase on foot.

“There!” Belle pointed towards the slums. “We can lose the chariots on the rooftops, at least for a minute. That will buy us some time before the Volequi arrive.”

“Good thinking,” Axel said, and they both turned towards the slums.

The chariots began closing in while Axel and Belle entered the slums. They climbed on a carriage, and right before their next jump Axel waved his right hand, creating a large upward gust of wind that thrust them into the air and on top of a roof. The chariots’ wheels screeched to a halt.

“Goddamnit!” one of the guards on the chariot yelled. “Chase after them! Now!”

The chariots turned and zoomed through the main road of the slum while the rest of the guards gave chase through the rooftops, some climbing on smaller buildings and jumping from one roof to the next while the others ran through alleyways.

As Axel and Belle kept running, something shot across the sky. Before Axel could react, Belle immediately caught an arrow, and used it to deflect other arrows. Two of the guards on the chariot far away were trying to shoot the two down. She continued deflecting multiple arrows, then grabbed another and flung it back towards the wheels of the chariot. The arrow jammed the wheel. It bent, and got slightly displaced as the arrow broke into two. The wheel continued to run for two more rounds before displacing entirely, and the chariot toppled out of control, crashing into a building and falling apart into a hundred pieces.

“One down,” Belle said. They continued jumping across rooftops.

All of a sudden a guard charged sideways into the two. Belle halted immediately and managed to dodge the guard, but Axel was unable to react as rapidly. The guard tackled Axel and they both fell down on the road.

“Axel!” Belle yelled. Axel and the guard landed on the ground. Axel quickly managed to get up and yelled back, “Go! I’ll catch up!”

Belle hesitated for a second, but when more guards showed up she continued running.