Chapter 12 - A Baxist

The entire week felt like hell to Daniel, he wasn't on speaking terms with Richard, and Angus was rarely seen these days. Angus wasn't as cold as Richard, but he never acted the same since that night.

Daniel felt lonely, even though he was popular and finding new associates wouldn't be too hard, not hanging with those two made him feel empty. He had one thing to worry about, and now Anna Jones was giving him even creepier looks, as if she was preying on him now his two guardian angels weren't close by.

His father had once again single handedly managed to destroyed his life, and now things looked even messier. He had no memory of how things went down that night, the last thing he remembered was his father taking the Grimoire out of his hand and next he was in his room with an icebag on his forehead, Angus seated beside him.

Angus was rather distant but they weren't total strangers compared to Richard. He had gone back to the church after the burial of his brothers whom Jeffery had ruthlessly murdered. He said he needed to spend some time at the church to mourn, and Daniel totally understood him.

Richard on the other hand was a whole new person. His friend rarely looked at him. Even though their lockers were next to each others, Richard acted as if they've never met. He tried talking to him time to time but he was just ignored and Rachel was doing the same.

Daniel just felt like a tornado,a wave of destruction that tore apart anything that came close to it, and it was a terrible sensation.

****

Daniel took the short cut to his apartment, the deserted alley where they were attacked on the night of Jeffrey's appearance. He hadn't retrieved his car from the church since the incident with the Brothers, so his means of transportation was either teleportation or trekking. He needed not to be spotted by mere civilians else he would be branded evil. He already had too much enemies after him, and he didn't want the normal humans after him too.

He walked into the empty alley before pricking himself on his index finger. He tiredly recited his spells while steering out of peoples line of sight.

Daniel paused for moment after his ears picked up a sound sudden movement behind him. With no intentions of looking back to check who was trailing him, Daniel hastened his movement while finalizing his spell. The last thing he wanted now was trouble, he was doing his best to stay out of fights and drama at the moment, but those two things never failed to find him.

The hair on his body sprung up, informing him of immediate danger. In the last seconds, he had switched from his teleportation spell to a protective one to shield himself from an impending slash from an unfamiliar face. He made quick backward movements as soon as the slash broke through his spell.

He could tell from the runes on the blade that it was an enchanted one, which was mostly used by sorcerers who lack mana to cast spells. The manaless sorcerers instead use cursed or enchanted weapons. Baxists as they were popularly called were known for their affinity to magical weapons, and with proper training and a proper weapon they could pose serious threat to even the casual sorcerers.

From the look of things, this Baxist was from the Infernal Judgement, Daniel could tell from the tattoos of flames and demons that decorated his dominant arm. He was also good with his blade and was able to breakthrough a magical barrier with only one swipe.

Daniel broke into a race, the stranger trailing closely behind him. Two large needles swooshed right by his face, missing his eyes by an inch. He made a swift turn and released a ball of fire at the Baxist but he sliced through the attack with ease and closed in on the untrained sorcerer. The Baxist's blade was already in motion ready to make an impact any second.

Daniel managed to move just in time before the blade struck the trashcan beside him dividing the object in half as well as setting it ablaze at the same time.

Daniel immediately deciphered the power of the cursed blade wielded by his adversary. 'Absorbtion and Reflection'

From the earlier display, He was able to tell the flames that were ejected from the blade was his fireball from seconds ago, he could still sense his mana from the flames that consumed the trash can beside him.

Things got really bad for him in an instant, he couldn't fight with spells, and he wasn't given any chance to teleport either. He blocked himself with a barrier once more but it was bypassed with relative ease. His attacker showed nothing else but dedication to ending his life. Each swipe of his blade was delivered with precision, and every attack was unleashed with the sole intent to kill.

Daniel jumped backwards just in time to avoid a downward slash, the Baxist had made a sidestep along his slash to avoid the ball of flame Daniel had thrown at him mid air. He made a forward dash towards the now landing boy and delivered a double sweep to knock the sorcerer off balance.

Daniel fell on his back, and his eyes widened with fear at the sight of a descending blade. There was no time to counterattack nor defend, he was helpless.

Daniel closed his widened eyes and prayed that his impending death would be quick and painless, but his prayer was never answered.

Slowly he opened his eyes to meet his assaulter bound by black chains and a presence that couldn't be mistaken, "Richard" Daniel called out.

His best friend stood behind the struggling Baxist, his face devoid of emotions and the desire to converse. In the same instant, Richard had teleported away with the Baxist almost in the same second he'd appeared.

***

Daniel laid supine on his bed, playing with his yoyo. He couldn't get why Richard would save him without even saying a word, he was running short of answers to everything happening recently in his life and he was seriously getting tired of it.

Startled by the sudden appearance of his best friend, Daniel jumped down from where he laid. Richard looked pale and had a dark around persisting around him.

"Richard" Daniel pronounced before taking a step closer to the his friend. He however stopped his approach when he realized Richard wasn't here to exchange pleasantries. "I never thought you would speak to me again" His words were barely louder than a whisper.

"It was my mother's brother who attacked you. He won't do such again" Richard assured. He seemed indifferent about Daniel's last words. He had managed to sneak out of the house to come here, and he didn't want to waste time with unimportant affairs.

"It's not his fault, that bastard is to be blamed" Daniel cursed at his father anonymously.

"The Infernal Judgement is out for your blood, my dad is all over the council, it won't be long before they find you" Richard warned. "You should go home to your family" he advised.

"Or you can teach me to protect myself, Angus has been sparing me some lessons but he's caught up with funerals and somethings at the church" Daniel suggested but the look on Richard's face spoke on the contrary.

"You would do better taking those lessons from your father and brother. You could barely keep up with Stephen. More powerful sorcerers are out coming for you, and you think training from amateurs can help you?" Richard questioned before scoffing at his friends foolishness. "I advice you reach home as soon as you can" He added before disappearing leaving Daniel in a perplexed state as he was before.

He didn't seem to have any choices left, his friends were distant now and from the threat stares he's been getting from Anna, it won't be long before she makes another move on him. He really wanted to avoid this option, but it couldn't be helped, he was going home.