Amidst the raging mob who were gathered at the town plaza, stood a young man in tattered clothes.
Contrary to the emotion that dominated the crowd, the young man was in tears as he watched the lady of his dream being burned at stake.
The young man was obviously no other than Clyde, himself.
He tried his best to muster his resolve and willed himself to think that what he was seeing at that very moment was not for real and all of it was just happening inside his head.
It was nothing but a dream!
But saying it like that and thinking it that way was not as easy as controlling his emotion. Because for Clyde, it was like he was being forced to relive his most painful memory over and over again.
She was the love of his life and yet there he was, doing nothing as he helplessly watched from afar how everything unfold before him.
He wanted to speak up for her but he knew that 'they' would stop him at all cost. They said that it was for the greater good and there was nothing they could do for her anymore.
They could not risk having all of them being exposed and have their existence and whereabouts found out with the nonmagic humans
Because that would spell trouble for the likes of them and they might risk meeting the same end like her.
For many believed that those who practice the way of magic were friends with the devil.
He knew deep inside him that his companion's words only rang the truth, but no matter how much their reasonings were making sense to him, Clyde still could not simply bring himself to comply with it and resign to what they called her 'fate'.
"MITUTO ONATUTO LAROYEILE"
The lady on the stake started to chant as the flamed started to lick on her bare skin.
"HECHUA GOGO
HECHUA LOGUANA!"
The spiral necklace that hung in her neck was emitting a faint light every time she spoke and it started to glow brighter and brighter the more she chanted
"Look! The witch was cursing us! Kill her this instant! She was casting sorcery upon all of us here!!!!"
Said one from the crowd when they noticed that the lady in the middle of the fire was chanting something that sounded foreign to their ear.
"HECHUA GOTIPONGO
HECHUA YOMAMAQUENYO!!!"
"Shoot him straight to her head! End that evil witch!!!"
Another shouted...
"NOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!"
Unable to hold back himself anymore as he watched his friend be subjected to such injustice, Clyde ran towards her. Yet before he could even get anywhere far from where he was standing, three of his other comrades had already stopped him from advancing.
"Stop it, Clyde. You know there is nothing we could do for her anymore. Pull your senses back together!"
One of his closest friends advised him out of goodwill as the other party held him tightly on his waist.
"NOOOO!!!! Let me go... I'll go and save her.. You must not stop me..."
"Stop your nonsense! We all know that you had been secretly in love with her all his time. But she brought it upon herself. If only she had not fallen in love and revealed her true self to that master of hers, she should not be there at the fire in the first place."
Clyde knew that they were just trying to stop him out of good intentions. Yet he still did not want to listen to their words. All he wanted to do at that time was to take her away from harm and run as far away as possible from everyone.
"If only I had been man enough to ask for her heart instead. If I only ask her to elope with me instead. She should not have fallen victim to those clueless humans."
Clyde told himself in lamentation, clearly putting all the blame on his plate. He bawled his eyes out as he fell on a round of self-blame. Meanwhile, his three other friends tried their best to drag him away from the scene.