There Can Only Be One

 

            “Where am I?” Silver slowly opened his eyes, and waited for his vision to return.

            “Relax, you are fine,” the voice of Silver’s good friend, White Phantom answered.

            Silver’s vision returned shortly after, revealing the quaint little home that belong to White Phantom. Not far away was the owner of the house, White Phantom himself, standing over a medical table where Sparow lied. Sparow’s top was off, exposing a bloodstained bandage wrapped around his ribs.

            “Where’s Sapphire?” Silver’s thoughts immediately raced to his wife.

            “She is resting in the guest room. She stayed up all night watching over your. I was finally able to convince her you’ll be fine, so she went to bed a few hours ago. As for this one,” White phantom nodded towards Ruby, who was sound asleep in a chair next to where Sparow lied. “She refused to leave Sparow’s side; not that I can blame her, it was questionable if Sparow would survive the night. My healing powers were eventually able to save him, he should be completely recovered in a few days.”

            Silver breathed a sigh of relief, “And what of my uncle, Forgotten One?”

            “He never returned… Oh and that came for you while you were resting,” white Phantom pointed to a letter lying on a nearby table.

            Silver picked up the letter and silently read it to himself. It was from Raven, no surprise there. It stated that Raven requested the company of Sparow and Silver once again at the cave. If the brothers did not show up he would make the whole world suffer for them running away.

            “How did I get here?” Silver asked, just now remembering the fight against Raven and Spell Master.

            “You can thank him for bringing you here,” White phantom motioned to the open door where the man Silver knew only as Shade stood.

            “Thank you for saving us,” Silver lowered his voice, “again.”

            Shade said nothing.

            “I wish father was still alive,” Silver said to himself. “He would be the only one strong enough to defeat Spell Master.”

            A sharp laughter followed by a hacking cough emitted from Sparow, “Even if your great hero was alive, he wouldn’t be able to defeat Spell master.”

            “But who says I’m dead,” Shade voiced.

            All eyes turned to Shade.

            “I supposed it’s about time I let you in on my secret,” Shade lowed the hood on his cloak, revealing long white hair and an opera style white mask, covering his face.

            “What’s the secret?” Silver pried.

            “This,” Shade took off his mask, uncovering a face all too familiar to everyone in the room.

            “You!” Sparow tried to lunge off the medical table and leap towards Shade, but the pain in his side left him tumbling to the floor.

            White Phantom quickly helped Sparow back onto the medical table, hiding any surprise over the true identity of Shade.

            Silver was too shocked to believe his eyes, too shocked to even mutter a word. The man in front of him was none other then his father!

            “You are dead!” Sparow yelled in outrage.

            “Not quite,” Shade now even sounded like Silver’s father. “I am neither dead, nor am I alive.”

            “Can you stop with the riddles father,” Silver pleaded.

            Shade’s joyful laughter filled the room, “OK, I try to explain. It’s a spell, trapping my spirit in between the living world and the afterlife. Hence my body may be dead, but my spirit is still alive. This spell was originally cast on my father…”

            Everyone remained silent while Shade gathered himself.

            “Before my father died,” Shade continued, “he cast a spell on himself trapping his spirit in between worlds. I later found out he did this because he could not bear to leave his family quite yet. He continued to watch out for us even after death, first from afar, and then from the disguise of the Shade you guys met a year ago. When I foolishly got myself killed a year ago, father gave up his remaining life energy so I could live. Ever since then I have been continuing my fathers work, looking out for all of you under the same disguise of Shade he used. The mask I wear is the perfect way to hide my true identity, it also had a voice altering device so no one recognized my voice.”

            “I suppose I can take some comfort in knowing you are still around in spirit,” Sparow grinned wickedly. “That way I can be the one to finish you off for good.”

            “Brother!” Silver could not get over how cold his brother was at times.

            “I believe it’s time we go face our destiny,” Shade said ignoring Sparow.

            “I don’t believe in destiny,” Sparow pushed White Phantom aside so he could stand on his own.

            Shade smiled, before putting his mask back on, “You will one day.”

 

            “I’m surprised you had the guts to show up,” Raven said as Shade, Silver, and Sparow entered the large cave alcove. “I see you savior is here again, too bad he won’t be able to save you this time.

            The three of them were once again in the same cave where Spell Master attacked them less then twenty-four hours ago; Raven and Spell Master were directly in front of them.

            “I will be your opponent today,” Shade announced.

            “Who are you anyways?” Raven questioned.

            “That does not matter. The only thing that matters is sending Spell Master back to the afterlife where he belongs.”

            “But I just got my new toy. I won’t give him up so easily. Spell Master, kill him!”

            The pages of Spell Master’s book magically flipped on their own producing a large wave of fire, the same attack that defeated Silver.

            A transparent blue dome appeared to protect Shade.

            “My turn,” Shade said as the fire faded and the dome disappeared.

            At will a sphere of blue magical energy was in Shade’s hand, with a push of mental energy, the energy ball went flying towards Spell Master.

            A couple quick flips of Spell Master’s book producing a large stone slab from the ground, blocking Shade’s attack.

            “Seems like you two are evenly matched,” Raven said with a mixture of joy and hatred. “I think you better stop playing with this one Spell Master.”

            Spell Master nodded, this time as he book floated dormant in front of him, Spell Master extended he arm towards Shade, and blasted him with a large lightning bolt.

            Shade folded his arms in front of him, this time producing a large blue shield in front of him.

            The lightning bolt hit with such force it caused Shade to be pushed back a couple of inches, causing the energy shield to flicker for a second.

            A second lightning bolt followed, this time destroying the shield, leaving Shade just enough time to dodge the bolt. The lightning bolt grazed Shade’s shoulder, dropping him to one knee.

            Shade was slow to get back on his feet leaving Silver to believe just being grazed by Spell Master’s attack, left Shade wounded. It was hard to believe his grand father commanded such a strong magic; no wonder Silver was defeated so easily.

            A third lightning bolt struck; despite Shade’s injury he was able to jump high out of the way the blast. The lightning bolt continued on it’s way, nearly missing the two brothers, before finally coming in contact with the far rock wall, demolishing a significant portion of the wall.

            Shade, who was magically floating in mid air, counter attacked with another blue sphere of magic.

            A fourth attack of lightning cut Shade’s magic sphere in half, and continued towards shade. Shade managed to get his protective blue dome up in time to absorb the blow, but the dome was no help; the lightning tore through the dome, hitting Shade in the chest.

            Shade came falling back down to Earth like a shooting star, crash landing between the two brothers, leaving a foot long crater in his wake. The impact caused Shade cloak hood to fly open and his mask fell to the ground, showing Shade’s wounded face.

            “It’s over,” Shade said in a pained voice. “If I can’t beat him, no one can.”

 

            Is Shade throwing in the towel? Is there no way to beat the all-powerful Spell Master? A struggle for Survival has begun.

 

                                                                                                            To be continued…