Behind the gap, it was difficult to just even squirm around. Whatever movement was possible with his body, he tried it. The more he adjusted, the greater pain he felt from his body from being twisted. He wanted to find a gap to look at the lady.
The lady hid herself in a corner. There was an old cloth, but it was small. There were some pieces or rusted iron tools. It might have been used to open the barrels, but it was no use here.
Shrinking in the corner she tried to put barrels in the way. Making it inconspicuous.
. A magic blast burst out followed by the sound of the boots. Both the lady and Koro were able to feel the heat that had radiated from the blast. Bursting the building out. The building was a mess. More blast followed behind it, not caring at all about the destruction. The barrels and woods cracked and split under the pressure littering in and out of the whole building.
Koro saw a gap that had opened due to the constant explosions. It was too small of a gap, but he could try. He fitted his eyes to see through it. He saw dust filling the air. The light of magic followed behind all that dust. He saw two wizards making their way in the building.
The lady was trying her best, not to breathe, not to tremble. One of the shards had pierced her shoulders, but she tried it best to not reveal herself between gritten teeth.
The Wizard scanned the building, which had become ruins. Some of the rubble had actually blocked the gap between the planks. Hiding it from the view. No one would even know that there was even a place behind the planks. Such was the camouflage of the dirt and the dust, which impaired their vision.
The light shone inside the building, searching for any traces. Any of them. But they found nothing. She had been through with the blast. The impact also meant that she was also placed between the rubbles.
"Next one," a wizard said, making way to the other building.
"Right" the wizard was going, when he felt he saw something. Had he seen the light reflect back from a shine.
Slowly he reached inside the building, looking at the gap, looking at anything that stood out. His intense gaze scanned everything but he found nothing in the end.
"You are wasting time," The wizard that had made his way earlier. Came back asking him to leave this building.
"Right" This time the wizard truly left.
Behind the planks, Koro felt like he had avoided the worst. Koro had been watching the wizard through the hole, but he hadn't expected the wizard to see him back. That was only for a fleeting moment but Koro's blood ran cold, as he saw the wizard coming back. But it was truly lucky that the wizard hadn't remembered where he had seen him.
Still when the wizard came nearer, Koro could only suppress himself from breathing. His heart had been thundering, he felt he would be found out because of his heart. But he heard the wizard's footsteps receding from the building. The instant he heard the footsteps no more, he was finally able to take a gulp of air in his lungs.
The number of people in the square steadily increased. WIth each person, the leader's smile widened.
Finally he shouted to one of his underlings to come near. He told him to convey the message,
"We have gathered enough of them, call them to gather here." The leader stood with his back facing the underling. He was looking at the pawns he had finally gathered.
The underling wizard bowed to the leader.
"Yes, Sir."
Finally all of them gathered under the leader. The leader of the wizards look at his subordinates.
"Take them away, make it to the ship by dawn." the leader commanded the wizards.
"Yes leader."
"I have some other work to do," the leader wizard smirked.
The other wizards approached the restrained. Each taking two or three of them. They all looked at the leade for confirmation. The leader nodded in response. The wizards didn't waste any time and took out piece of parchment. Every wizard infused their magic into the parchment, the scribed magic writing glowed in response.
The restrained, most of them had surrendered in despair. There were some who didn't knew what would happen with their future. The wizards didn't had a good reputation in the mortal world. Every one of the prisoned, hated them to the core. They had a good life, each one had their own goals, they had to fulfill in their life, but all of it was nothing in the eyes of the wizards.
The wizards looked crueler than before, as they gathered the restraints to form a small chain. The wizards tore the paper in half. The magic that had been radiating from the parchment now, enveloped each group of wizards and the common people. The radiation increased until it blinded the area for an instant, and just the next second they all had vanished.
There was no trace present to even say that wizards had come.
Only the destruction left behind, told its tale.
Koro waited behind the planks. There was no commotion of any kind. It might have been due to building being thrashed. He waited, shrinking himself in a small corner. From time to time small mouse would pass through him. This caused him much discomfort because he hadn't interacted with these small animals before. He only had studied about them in the book.
"Kid, are you good," It was the lady's sound.
"Yes," Koro said in a small voice, thinking the wizards might still be there.
"Good, I think they have left. Let me help you get out of there." Her voice sounded tired and exhausted. She had started digging through the rubbles. Big pieces of stuff, that had been inside the barrel had been scattered around, after getting blasted to pieces. But piece by piece, Koro heard her rummaging through the stuffs. But what Koro heard next wasn't the lady's voice. There was someone else.
"I was thinking where you had been," The voice said. Koro had heard the sound before.
The leader of the wizards was standing outside the building looking at the woman who was scattering through the remains. Dread had gripped her face.
"But you were gone, " the lady said between gritted teeth. She had waited for hours to pass by, she hadn't heard any sound of the wizards, so she had thought the wizards were gone from the street.
"I had been thinking of going back, but I had felt a trace of my magic when I first came into this street. That intrigued me, when had I left a person to go back on my account." the leader said as he grabbed the lady's wrist.
He imbued his magic into the lady's body, closing his eyes to feel the flow of magic inside of her. Finding none.
"You don't have any trace of magic power, so how did you got injured from my magic?" The leader looked at the lady perplexedly.
She was getting her teeth trying hard enough to get away from the wizard. The same wizard who had injured her in the past, the same wizard who had caused the accident. Killing both the members of her family.
But the grip was solid, however much she tried to break free, she found herself unable to do so.
"Your magic killed my family. I will kill you." Her anger was through the roof. Try as he might, the wizard wasn't able to keep her locked due to his physical prowess so he decided to use magic.
"Argh" the lady grunted at the effect of the magic. Unable to look at the man in front of her.
The leader of the wizards looked to be in concentration as if he was trying to remember when he killed her family. There were many he had killed in the past, and if the person was a mortal he didn"t even cares a bit before killing them.
"I don't remember," the leader shook his head.
"I don't need to," he said smiling towards the lady.
"You" the lady tried to get up, crash against the wizard, kill him, but all of it was futile if the other party was under the effects of his magic.
"See, that's why don't need to remember you all," the leader looked viciously at the woman, his whole visage was cruel enough to drive a primal fear inside of her. But she wasn't giving up against him.
Koro was listening to the lady her painful cries as the wizard tortures him. He was trembling, he was a weak and a coward, how could he face against such a muderer. Who doesn't values a human life at all.
The cries increased, the wizard was laughing. Every laugh pierced inside him as if, the wizard was laughing mocking him.
The fierce anger surged again inside his body, his body wanting to crush the wizard. The anger made him question of what he was watching and experiencing was even something a human was a capable of. The answer came immediately. No, the person, he wasn't a human, he was a monster, a wizard. And being one, he was cruel too.
But what was this fear that held him back, despite the anger he felt, his fear acted as chains binding him from doing anything.
"Argh" a scream from outside, the same lady who had feed him when their was no one who cares for him. The lady who wanted to give him place to stay, despite knowing he was lying.
If he hesitated anymore. He was worse than the wizard in front of him. A beast in hand skin.
"Stop" there was anger, there was fear, there was a cry in his voice. Koro poured everything in that single word. Without magic he was no different than the other humans. But he wasn't going to back down against the wizard.