"What's up Horatio? You've been giving me that stare for two minutes now." Sylvia Peppingar mused, catching Horatio's eyes. He reeled back in surprise. Sylvia sat across the table from him, waiting with an inquisitive stare.
Horatio's eyes veered off, roaming the dining room. He took in the browned tiles that were supposed to look like wood but had gone too many years uncleaned to do so. The off white walls that boxed in the two except for behind Sylvia where there was an opening to the living room, and to Horatio's right where an inconspicuous staircase led upstairs.
"Oh, It's nothing...I guess I spaced out." Horatio replied with a short laugh, focusing on reality. He picked up his full plate and began wolfing down spoonfuls. Sylvia gave him and unconvinced squint.
"I don't remember you ever spacing out kiddo, not even once," she said, looking off to the side as she continued. From her position across from Horatio, she could see the large framed portrait hung on the wall behind him. The picture in the frame was of the entire Peppingar family, Sylvia Horatio and their parents, taken twelve years ago.
"I'm your big sis Horatio, you should tell me if anything's going on."
"Really, it's nothing," Horatio retorted, still stuffing his face with curry. "Just thinking back on the day." He said. Sylvia gave him an understanding nod and turned back to her own food. Horatio glanced at her, silently cursing himself for lying to Sylvia.
"I think I'll go to bed early today," Horatio informed the second his plate was empty, immediately moving away without a reply. Sylvia only chucked.
"Alright kiddo." She said as he bounded up the stairs.
Horatio let out a deep breath as soon as his bedroom door slid shut, he pulled his curtains to cover the glass. Horatio couldn't hide anything from Sylvia, he turned into a nervous wreck whenever he tried. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest.
Horatio went to bed, pulling the sheets over him. He tried to force sleep, but it never came. 'I need a bath.' He thought to himself.
Horatio believed a warm bath would help calm his nerves. Luckily a bath had already been drawn.
A refreshing wave permeated his skin as he dipped into the water. He lay in the tub, careful not to get his naturally green hair wet, he made habit of washing that separately.
Horatio sighed in relief, the warm water soothing his tense muscles. His mind began to drift, to Margulis, to her crimson hair that he had an inexplicable affinity for, given his own hair colouration. It calmed him, took a weight off his mind. He closed his eyes imagining her's, making a mental note of his weakness towards Margulis Toldaap.
Horatio allowed himself some perversion, thinking, 'What if she was in the tub right now?" He imagined her soaking in soapy water, daintily playing with bubbles. 'What if he showers instead?' The mental image flipped to a beautiful maiden continually doused by torrents of water, her shapely figure casting a shadow on the shower curtains. She carefully washed her body; her shoulders, arms, hips, and her-
"You're thinking of a girl aren't you?" A sudden voice shook Horatio. He jumped up in surprise, almost slipping on the tub's surface. His arms flew out automatically to balance him, leaving him leaning against the wall.
"Sylvia?!" He yelled, his tone controlled solely by adrenaline.
"Whoa calm down kiddo," Sylvia laughed "Didn't mean to scare you." Horatio plopped back into the water, his face flushed with colour.
"What are you doing in here? Was the sign not up?" Horatio asked in rapid-fire, slipping deeper into the water. Sylvia shook her head. She wore her white bathrobe, that meant she had been in the bath not long ago. Horatio peered at her from over the tub walls. She held up her hand, in it was a pink shape.
"I seem to have left this in here, silly me." She said.
"Oh, your phone, I didn't realise," Horatio remarked, he felt his heartbeat returning to a regular pace, the adrenaline from his initial scare leaving his bloodstream.
"So kiddo." Sylvia smirked pushing down the toilet lid, she sat, carefully crossing her legs "Who is she?"
"Who's who?"
"Your girlfriend, who else?" Sylvia grinned childishly, Horatio blushed.
"G-girlfriend?!"
"Yeah, I mean who else would make you, of all people space out for minutes at a time, not notice an item out of place and forget to put the 'occupied' sign up in the family bathroom?" Sylvia listed off Horatio's unusual activity, still keeping a childish grin.
"It's not like that, it's, it's just-"
"C'mon kiddo, spill the beans."Horatio sank lower into the water, the tips of his hair sinking beneath, "She's...she's a upperclasswoman, from school." Horatio said reluctantly, careful not to make eye contact with his sister. He was embarrassed enough as it was and the situation and nature of the conversation did nothing to help it.
"Ohh I get it, You're into older women." Sylvia mused. "Such a perv." She seemed to enjoy teasing her little brother.
"I'm not a pervert! Jeez, and she's just a year older!" Horatio pouted, Sylvia laughed.
"So, what's her name."
"I'm not telling." Horatio shot quickly.
"What?"
"I said I'm not telling. Now please leave, I'm naked and this is embarrassing." Horatio glared at Sylvia, shooting figurative arrows.
"Alright kiddo," she said, rising from her seat, "But make sure to tell me if it doesn't go well, ill break out the ice cream."
"I told you it's not like that!"
A faint beeping stirred Horatio from sleep. He lazily tossed his hand, catching the reset button on the alarm clock. His eyes fluttered open, gazing at the neon blue digits timidly lighting up the room. He sat up, taking in the barely illuminated room, remembering an important appointment.
Horatio walked into his bathroom. Unlike the family bathroom, Horatio's was much smaller and had a shower instead of a bathtub.
Horatio studied himself in the wall-mounted mirror. In his sleep, his hair had been pushed into a frizzy heap. He noted that his electric blue eyes also looked tired and weak. He sighed.
After brushing his teeth and taking a quick shower Horatio stood before his wardrobe. His hair had been combed, now snaking down towards his neck and the cold water had served to invigorate him, his eyes now shone powerfully.
Margulis Toldaap, after having Horatio make and embarrassing confession also had him promise to meet her on the school grounds just before midnight. For a person such as Margulis, the request would be difficult to pin down to just one reason.
Horatio picked a set of dark colours; A dull grey tee worn below a darker hoodie and a pair of even darker sweatpants.
Horatio slid open the bedroom window, chill night air whistled into his stale room. He offered a sidelong glance at the door. Remembering Sylvia, a pang of guilt hit him. 'But still' He thought to himself and focused instead on the outdoors.
He paused for the span of three deep breaths, then out the window he went, hood up over his hair.
Horatio enjoyed the cold of the night, crisp air pricking at his nostrils and the unsmothered echoing of his own feet. Motion had set his blood pumping while the thought of a midnight encounter with Margulis gave him dose after dose of adrenaline.
'Margulis' Her name had fixed itself in his mind. Thinking back it was under a similar mindset that his perception had failed, twice. She intrigued him, an elusive variable in the equation of his life.
The massive two-storey school building 'Next High' was looming into view. Horatio's nerves flared back up, impending doom flashed on his mind. He shook the thought off, trotting up to the school gates.
Horatio stopped short of the black iron structure. It evenly blended with its surroundings during the day but at night stood imposingly, towering over all around it.
He couldn't possibly just walk in could he? There usually was at least two guards at the gate as well as the gate itself being secured with a heavy steel chain and lock. Still, as Horatio thought of these he realised he couldn't sense the presence of a security guard and looking closer the chain and lock were not present.
'Could Margulis have done this?' He questioned himself, cautiously stepping into the premises. His hairs stood on end, a constant stream of adrenaline keeping him alert. A tiny part of him, his logical part, called at him to turn away and run. He ignored it and pressed on.
Horatio moved into open space, equidistant from the exit and the main doors. He stopped, reevaluating both options. He gulped, ready to pick when a determined female yell split the silence.
"Stratos Blast!" The unmistakable charm of a female voice rang out, followed by a deep boom and then lashings of strong howling wind, so strong that it picked Horatio off his feet, throwing him onto the ground, the resultant force knocking his hood off.
"Who was that? What, was that?" Horatio asked himself, his muscles flexing into readyness as he picked himself off the ground. He could see the highest pint of his vision was tinged with green, he looked around quickly, debating on covering his head again. Deciding not to, he stood, his hair glowed brightly.
To Horatio, night time was no different from daytime. He even thought it better. He lost no visibility in the sunless dark, none of his senses suffered under the conditions. He was even better at night, his speed, strength and overall physical performance greatly heightened during the period and his hair begun to glow softly, its intensity proportional to his physical exertion.
Encouraged, he started towards the disturbance.
"Answer:" A woman's voice came to him, from inside his mind it spoke, an interior analyst, an entity within him which existed as an archive and analyst of knowledge. "The voice belonged to Margulis Toldaap." It said.
'The Analyst' as he called it never let him forget anything, especially the fact that it was the source of his great perception.
"Calculating...searching, report: There are no archives on the wind"
Horatio pulled to a halt, just before the entrance he froze. Horatio had been strengthening The Analyst, feeding it with as much information as he could such that there would be no situation where it was lacking in knowledge. But here it had just pulled a blank.
A bead of sweat dripped down Horatio's forehead. Whereas before he was full of confidence, now he was frozen in fear. "You don't know about the wind?" He mouthed near-silently. If that was indeed the case then he'd be moving into uncharted territory, untold dangers would await.
"Repeat: There are no archives on the wind." The analyst responded.
Shakily, Horatio eyed the door handles, He still had a chance to run, forget about Margulis and this strange situation. He wouldn't have to see her for at least three months.
"What's Margulis' situation?" He asked, hoping to force bravery throughs selflessness. He felt a tingling within himself and knew immediately he had let out a psionic ping, a bio-locator, something not impossible for humans just highly difficult. He knew the ping would run over the entire premises, coming back to him like sonar.
"Margulis has been located centre of the sports field, surrounded by fifteen bipedal organisms of unknown biology. I recommend a path through the school building over one around it.
"Horatio gulped, his hand on the cold metal. He let out a tense breath. "Got it." He pushed down, the door swing open.
Horatio crept through the silent hallways, he himself blending into the silence, using it as a cloak. He could hear faint shouts, reports of an ongoing struggle. He let out a breath, keeping calm at this point saw more success than mindless bravado.
Horatio pushed through the cafeteria doors. The voices got louder, he could now hear words in a language he did np understand.
"Dark Singularity!" Margulis' voice came out, again in the way that seemed to let it control the environment. The night sky darkened, even to Horatio visibility dropped. A minuscule force tugged at him, he felt his chest pull in, he struggled to breathe as the air was sucked from his lungs. A deep yell cut through the night, in it a report of pain.
Just as quickly as the darkness came it receded. "We don't know anything about that either do we?" Horatio huffed, the air finally returning to his lungs.
"Answer: These occurrences have a high probability of originating from Margulis Toldaap, "The Analyst reported.
"Yeah, I could have found that out myself," Horatio said sharply, forcing himself to his feet. The sports field was ahead of him, just beyond the next set of doors. He rested his hands on the handles, took in a deep breath and pushed.
"Yaaawn." Sylvia tossed in bed, forced into consciousness by a melodic beeping. She blinked groggily, the light from her cellphone flashed against the room. She shut her eyes in protest.
"Hello?" Sylvia spoke into the phone, in other circumstances she would have rejected a call from an unknown number. But half asleep and exhausted from work, coupled with the fact that the callet was relentless she caved in and hit answer."
"The children of the void shall take what is yours." A male voice came through the speaker, Sylvia mentally crosschecked it against those she knew, the voice was unfamiliar to her.
"What?" She swallowed, clearing her throat. Hearing his words made her feel strange, alien in her skin, yet they made no sense to her. She listened deeper, hoping another sentence would clarify the first. There was only silence.
The doors opened without a hitch, Horatio was before the outskirts of the sports field. In the dark, he could see Margulis, her clothing much unconventional. she wore a wide-brimmed dark conical hat, iconic of witches in media, it, like her other pieces of clothing: a cloaklike robe that flowed behind her just as a cape would whenever she moved, that covered the inadequate cloth that held close to her skin, when it was over skin.
Horatio smirked, amused by her outlandish garb until The Analyst directed his attention elsewhere.
In the direction Margulis faced were twelve short bipedal closed in a tight group, the group's average height firmly at five feet. They had warty green skin, the completely bald surface resembled toad-skin. Their ears were sharply pointed, knifing narrowly like fins. In their hands were knives and clubs, their design crude and flimsy, the 'knives' in actuality were sharp rocks tied to stiff twigs.
Horatio gasped in surprise. Looking over her again he saw her cloak was badly damaged and underneath it, narrow streams of blood spilled from cuts around her arms and legs. Worse still she had no weapon of any kind, she was completely unarmed.
"Toldaap!" Horatio called out, instantly regretting taking action while his logical parts were still dulled from shock.
Horatio cursed himself, his yell had caught the attention of the entire group. They turned quickly, beady yellow eyes staring right at him. He could sense a raving hunger in their gazes, malicious intent bared.
"Analysis complete," Horatio's mind filled with the analyst's voice. "The creatures before you are analogous to goblins of western folklore."
Horatio felt his joints lock in place. 'Goblins?' He questioned himself, only managing to remain at a semblance of calm because they had done nothing more than look at him.
"Now," Margulis Toldaap outstretched her hand, palm aimed at the Goblins, Her crimson eyes flashed, in an unbelievable display they matched a flickering flame. Horatio stared in fixation, his soul danced to the fiery lapping.
"Immolate, from the realm of fire, Ignis Wraith."
In that moment and the ones after, Horatio experienced true shocking surprise. As Margulis spoke, her words seemed to lay waste the very laws of nature, of science, of logic. Her palm began to glow, just like it had been set aflame, but with no flame to speak of. A sigil of white formed in the air before her glowing limb, soon after an identical sigil appeared above the crowd of goblins, save for it being fifty times larger. It depicted a flame, pure and untouched.
In just a second, even less, all under the sigil distorted into a fiery explosion, its suddenness second only to its destructive power. The sonic report reverberated through Horatio. When the flames eventually died down there was nothing left, but ash.
Horatio Toppled back, falling on his behind. "D-did you see that?" He asked. While the answer processed he stared at Margulis, awe and fear in his eyes.
"Imagine a colour which does not exist, that is what you see." A cryptic response was relayed. Margulis stood beautifully, she smiled at him, he responded with weak nod.