"This isn't working.", I said in exasperation as I flung the book in my laps at the wall. It went flying with such ferociousness it was wonder it didn't tear.
"We'll try again.", France-lyse said, squeezing my palms tightly. She had sat on the floor, facing me, from dawn to dusk, throughout the week- getting up only when it was time to eat, bathe, or sleep.
That was the sixth time I had lost my cool that week. I found it hard to see why I had to do all that meditation- or why I couldn't. What she wanted wasn't just coming. I was frustrated. She was too. Despite the smiles and encouraging words, with the reassuring touches, I could see the stressed marks of exasperation in her eyes.
She stood, propping herself up with my knee. She dusted her shorts and walked towards the book. She bent down to pick it.
"Why do you keep trying?"
A pause.
She sighed and picked the book up, dusting it carefully without looking up at me.
I stood to leave, stretching my body. Six days doing nothing but failing- that had to be a record breaker. I walked to the door, making sure not to look at her. I was tired. I decided I would leave the next day, before the Sun opened his eyes.
"You have an immense connection to nature... Magic- in it's purest form."
I stood. Waited. My hands on the doorknob.
Magic? What did she mean? She had said something similar four days ago but I had assumed it was her usual nonsense. I was not a sorcerer. I had no access to magic. I even practiced an entirely different religion.
She walked towards me. I knew without looking back because I heard her footsteps and felt her presence.
She touched me. Again.
Her hand, firm, on my shoulder.
"You have no idea what you are capable of...of the things you can do. You are more than just a guy from Nigeria. You are a Seer!"
I turned the doorknob and walked away, leaving her in the room without so much as a glance. I felt a gnaw in my belly.
Drop on your knees. Now!
Almost instinctively, without giving much thought to it, I dropped on my knees, crawling quickly like a child. I saw a knife fall pointedly infront of me, not more than 20cm away from where I was.
I turned to look back, my eyes glaring widely.
"You just tried to kill me!"
France-lyse stood, panting and glaring back at me. She kept gasping for air like she had been holding it for a long time.
"You didn't die."
"You tried to kill me!"
I rushed at her, emotions flooding me, my fists clenched.
"Calm down now, Seer.", a male's voice said, pinning me from the back to himself. It was the stranger.
"Don't be foolish. I can kill you right now without even baring my teeth."
I relaxed, collapsing into his crushing embrace. He was too strong. His arms felt like bars of bronze, and my struggling was futile.
"You tried to kill me...", I said, looking at France-lyse with hurt in my eyes.
"No... But, you didn't die. Believe me, I knew what I was doing.", she said, bursting into tears and sniveling.
"We should have done things my way.", Mr. Python said.
I looked up at him, and back at France-lyse in confusion.
"Done what things his way?"
"Remember how I said you have an immense connection to Magic, you just proved it.", France-lyse said, cleaning up herself.
"What?"
"I hurled that knife at you. It was imbued with so much magic, a scratch would have killed you, but you dodged it like it was nothing."
"It was rather pathetic.", her companion said, mockery in his voice. I looked up indignantly, and he tightened his squeeze.
"What if I hadn't? How sure were you I would have... could have dodged?"
"You are a Seer. There is no limit to what you can do. Do you know how rare that is? The last Seer to be ever seen died 578 years ago!"
"I am no Seer! I do not even practice Magic!"
"You do now.", companion man said, pushing me out of his embrace and dragging me along with me.
"Quickly now, France-lyse! They have found us again!"
"Wait... Who? Who's found who again? Are there people after you?", I said, struggling to free myself from his grip.
"I want you to blast through that door when those people come in. We'll escape from beneath the debris.", he replied, flinging me towards the main entrance.
"What? Ho...w? How many times must I tell you that I do not have any access to Magic?!"
"When I flung that knife at you, your desire for self-preservation woke up that dormant side of you, strengthening your link to Nature.", France-lyse said gathering many items and putting them in a bag.
Everything was happening so fast, I began to feel dizzy.
Tindinnn
The doorbell rang.
"Quick! They are here! Just as we practiced!"
"Practiced? What? When did we ever.... Nevermind."
"Ouvrez cette porte maintenant ou nous la défoncerons!", male voices yelled from outside, with fists now pounding on the door.
The was yelling and chaos everywhere. The bloodsucker screaming at me, France-lyse offering unsolicited advice, angry men trying to break into the house. As I stood there, swallowed up by the madness engulfing me, the door burst open, with men clad in armours- shining armours, like the ones you see in a portrait of King Arthur- storming the apartment.
One of them raised a sword to strike me, when a blast of wind from behind me, blew past me and flung them down.
The bloodsucker grabbed my hand, threw me on his back , and zoomed past the men on the ground.
"Vous êtes du mauvais côté de cette guerre, Seer.", a man said, struggling to stand, gripping a glistening stick. A stick? Why?
No sooner had he spoken did France-lyse slice off his head, precisely, with a slash of wind. Blood splattered around, and for a brief moment, I felt hunger move through the man carrying me.
We ran.