Tears ran down my face when he told me I killed my brother.
"Mr. Williams, it's hard to believe that you don't know what you've done," Professor Vendetta said. I couldn't speak; I was balling my eyes out. I couldn't even think straight.
I could feel myself hyperventilating. Mr. Vendetta tried talking to me, but I couldn't stop myself. The quickness of breath developed into a panic attack. He walked over to me and grabbed my shoulders before shaking me profusely. "Pull yourself together, Mr. Williams," He shouted.
"Just kill me. I won't hurt another soul if you do," I said in a whimpering manner. He looked at me with pity on his face. He made it clear that he wasn't going to kill me, but he was going to fix me.
"It's impossible. It's black magic. I was jinxed, Sir," I murmured. This was an eyebrow-raiser for him. He paced across the room and came to a conclusion. "I know someone who can remove this blight from you," He added.
He removed the chains from me and said, "I'm going to hold onto your wand for now." I nodded. He told me to follow him to his office.
As we walked, I began to remember what had happened. I could see myself looking into my brother's eyes as I said, "I'm sorry." Then, I performed a curse on him.
My knees were weakened as I fell to the ground. My family would never forgive me for this, and it wasn't even my fault. Professor Vendetta put me on my feet, but I couldn't stand. He ended up carrying me to his office to bring me to his personal doorway.
By this moment, I was able to stand, but I was unable to speak. I cried my voice away, and I sounded like a horse. "Follow me, Mr. Williams," He said before stepping into the portal.
On the other side, we were in a small town. We walked to a small building, and as soon as I walked inside, everyone's head snapped in our direction. I tried my best to ask what they were looking at, to which he replied that they were in tune with magic so well they could sense when good or bad magic was nearby.
"Ah, Lycidas, you made it," A stranger said. Mr. Vendetta then said, "Yes. May we begin immediately?"
"Of course," The stranger said. "Follow me." He added.
We walked to the back of the building and proceeded to a room full of mirrors. I noticed this before we entered and stopped myself from entering. Both of them asked what was wrong with me. With horror written on my face, I said, "He uses mirrors to attack me. I don't feel comfortable enough to enter,"
"Mr. Williams, you're not on many options right now," Mr. Vendetta exclaimed. Before I entered, I took a deep breath to calm myself. Once inside, I noticed a pentagram was drawn in the center of the room.
Sit in the center of the room, Mr. Williams," The stranger said. Sweat dripped down my face as I made my way over there. The room was relatively big. It was enough to fit fifty cows inside.
Professor Vendetta's friend set five evenly placed candles on each point of the star.
"The one I saw wasn't a five-point pentagram. It had eight points," I mentioned. He whispered to Mr. Vendettas's ear before walking over to me with a bowl, drawing three additional points, and adding more candles.
He brought another bown over and said, "You're going to have to drink this one for me, Mr. Williams."
I looked over to Mr. Vendetta, and he gave me a nod. I drank the bowl and immediately spat it out. "You need to drink this," The stranger said. I held my breath and downed the rest of it. I think he just had me drink blood.
Next, he surrounded me with a circle of salt. Then, he told me to remove my clothing. Now, I get that this is life or death, but I just met these people.
"Is there any way we can proceed without me removing my clothing?" I asked.
The stranger then said, "You need to be as connected to the earth as possible, but you can keep your underclothes on." I could agree to those terms and did so. He walked over to a podium and opened a book.
With a wave of his hand, the candles were lit. Moments later, the pentagram started gleaming a feint white. "I'm about to begin. Just a reminder: this is probably going to hurt... A whole lot," said the stranger.
The stranger began chanting words, "Magne Dive, hunc locum cum tua protectione benedic." Soon after, pieces of the salt lifted off the ground and made a hemisphere around me.
"By the way, I've never done eight points before. I can't tell what might happen," said the stranger.
He continued with, "Primam benedico spiri- tus." Then, the first candle flame turned white. My head began to spin like never before. He then said, "secundo benedicto aque." By this point, I could feel my skin crawling as if there were a bunch of ants on me.
"Ignem tercium benedico," He said momentarily. Now, I could feel like my skin was on fire. This was a pain like no other. This makes me wish I were dead. I can do nothing but scream at the top of my lungs.
"Quartum benedico terrae," He said as the ground rumbled. Then, he said, "quarto loco caeli benedico."
I'm still feeling this burning pain within me. However, now I could see my alternate self sitting in front of me once the pain was subdued. Neither of us could move, but we could speak.
"Reliqua puncta virtutis sanctae benedico," He concluded.
My other self said, "You will not win. I always have a way to come back."
"You will never win because you are all alone. I have friends and a family," I shouted.
The stranger said, "This is the hard part. The person behind this will put you through a trial, which you must pass to remove this jinx.
"You won't win. You won't make it out of my maze," He said as his voice echoed. The next thing I know, I'm some mirror maze.
Immediately after, I could hear sinister laughter all around. I then thought to myself, "Fuck."