Emily walked into the hall and smiled at the large amount family members gathered in one spot. She walked through a hall of mirrors, which reflected on her dress with leopard patterns. In the brief moment she paused to admire herself, she bumped into her cousin, Beatrice Knight. The cousins apologized quickly to one another before exchanging greetings.
"It is so nice to see you at a happy occasion!" Beatrice said. She had short brown hair and well-done make-up. Beatrice looked like a model that day; even her nails matched her green bridesmaid dress.
"Yes. How is your family doing?", Emily replied. The last time she saw Beatrice was at her father's funeral. Her mother had six brothers, which meant that she had to attend many special occasions.
"We are doing alright. My brother Edward is--wait, is that Uncle Todd? I am sorry Emily, but I must say hello to Uncle Todd," She replied.
Emily used this opportunity to walked through the hall and took her seat where the ceremony would be held. She was wondering where Aunt Elizabeth was, when one of staff came to hand her a message.
I need the help of the LMB. Please meet me outside the main entrance, now.~ Tartarus
Emily got up and quickly ran down the hall, almost running into the mother of the bride. She got to the main entrance to find Uncle Todd arguing with a child. It was a boy who had brown hair and brown eyes. He dressed as if he was going to attend a funeral.
"This is a private event. You were not invited and probably are making up this story about knowing Emily! This is my daughter's wedding and I won't allow any interruptions," Uncle Todd said.
"This place should not even be here. Our house was right in this spot!" The young boy replied. He then noticed Emily had arrived. His eyes were pleading for her to say something in his defense.
"Are you Tartarus?" Emily asked.
The child answered, "Yes I am. I need help getting home--" He was interrupted by the arrival of the bridal party. There were four bridesmaids, including Beatrice and her older sister Victoria. The ring-bearer was the bride's nephew, Laurence. Everyone looked excited and anxious to go through with the ceremony.
The bride said, "You two should take your seats. The wedding is about to start." There was a brief pause and Emily realized that the two of them would be have to watch the wedding together. Emily assumed that because of the sheer volume of relatives, the bride simply assumed that the child was another cousin. For his part, Tartarus smirked and followed Emily to their seats.
"I have decided not to turn him into something nasty. He only has two days to live," Tartarus stated.
Both of them sat down as it appeared that Elizabeth was not coming to the ceremony. Another young member of the family told Tartarus to be quiet, so he crossed his arms and listened to the ceremony. Jean Knight would marry Henry Thomas and the rest of the world would not matter at all during these hours. ~~~ Emily was sat at a table with a few other of her cousins, mostly children of Uncle Tedd. Tartarus sat between her and one of her cousins. The little girl did not notice the boy and continued to stare at the salad.
"Eat your vegetables, Helen," Augusta said. She was the oldest daughter on this branch of the Knight family and always acted ten years older. Augusta wore a pink dress and had her hair pulled back, which was common on Xanthu.
"I hate olives," Helen replied. At that very moment, Tartarus had finished eating all of his olives. Emily was a bit surprised at how well-behaved he was at the table, considering how he had acted earlier.
"I can have you olives," Tartarus replied.
"See, he ate all of his olives! Who are you anyways? I don't think I have seen you before," Augusta replied.
Emily quickly said, "He is Arthur Rice, one of our third cousins."
"Ah! That would explain the features. I assume Alexander Sivana is planning to marry him off to one his granddaughters?" Augusta asked.
"If he ever has granddaughters," Emily replied. She disliked the direction the conversation was going. The lies were becoming more repulsive than the truth. She was saved from the conversation when her cell phone rang.
"Hello?" Emily asked.
"Hi Emily. The business conference finished early and was wondering if I could take up your offer to return to Legion World together," Sebastian said in a cheery tone. They had been dating for three months and the relationship was going just fine.
"Yes, pick me up in a couple of hours. I have to help this child find his parents. It's a long story, but it's important that he is safe," She explained.
"I understand. I look forward to seeing you," Sebastian said. Emily ended the call and turned to see Tartarus standing right in front of her.
"It is rude to listen to other people's conversations," She said.
"You said you were going to help me. This is getting boring, I want to leave now," He said.
Emily replied, "I am going to take you to the police when the party is over. The LMB have no authority here,"
Tartarus laughed, "Look in the mirror." The young woman turned to see that only she was visible in the mirror. She could also see the reflections of several relatives, one of which was walking away as quickly as possible and two others who remained standing. It was clear that somehow the boy became invisible to everybody but Emily.
"I have about had enough with you! Who are your parents?" She asked.
"They were your teammates...at least the spell said you were their teammates...there is a magical residue around you," The boy explained. He looked nervous as they slowly walked to a closet so that they would not be overheard.
"I am a member of the Sivana Family. We fight wizards and god-powered beings all the time," She said. "You are magician, right?"
The boy nodded, "I've been learning from my family."
"You said your house was here? So maybe you are from the future? Are there any spells that could take you back?" The young woman said. She had learned from a young age to despise magic. The sooner this was over, the better.
The boy paused, "Let me see what I have. I got five invisibility cards left, that's an eye of new...three time cards. They are a bit faded from the wash, but I think they still work." He handed the cards to Emily, who looked them over. There was one that speeds time back, one that speeds it forward, and one that was almost blank. She advised the boy to use the card that would speed time forward.
He told her to stand back as he traced a design into the floor. Emily thought this was silly until it glowed an eerie shade of red. It was a pattern that contained Greek symbols, and characters she did not recognize. He recited an incantation, and Emily had to use her phone to translate some of the foreign words.
Hermes, god of travel, please aid the flight of ours into the future. Hecate, goddess of magic, please clear obstacles in the crosswalks.
He waved for her to join the circle; as soon as she placed her feet in the circle a bubble of light descended on them. She had to close her eyes because of the intensity of the light. They were teleported to a time in the future. Emily opened her eyes to find that they were in the same building, but the room was much bigger.
She looked up at the ceiling and was surprised to find a leak. Emily slowly opened the door to find the place in disrepair. Several windows were boarded up, and the smell of fresh flowers was replaced with mildew. The air was no longer comfortable, but humid and stifling.
She gave Tartarus a stern look, "Where are we?"
He feigned a smile, "We are in the future. Just in the far future. The dates are really blurry on the cards." The conversation was cut short by the found of something moving. It did not sound like footsteps, but that of a large beast looking for it's next meal.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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Emily said, "Can you get us out of here?" The boy did not want to admit he wasn't sure if any of his ideas would work, and there was a pause in the conversation. While Emily liked children, she was an only child with very little experience dealing with children.
To make matters worse, she did not bring weapons to the wedding because she knew her grandfather hired professional guards. She heard the sound of movement again, and it sounded like it was getting closer. Emily decided that they needed to get out of the building as soon as possible.
"We are going to start running," Emily said.
The boy replied, "No! Heroes never run away. I got magic...I could--" Tartarus's words were interrupted by the appearance of a creature.
It looked a bit like a woman, a bit like a donkey, and a bit like a bronze statue. It looked like something from a science-fiction novel. Emily Sivana took a picture of the creature and searched for a definition.
Empusa is a Greek mythological beast. It is known to devour human beings. She knew at that moment that running would be their only hope. Emily was going to tell this to Tartarus, but he was already casting spells. She quickly ran beside him, because it was clear that nothing was working.
Cacus burn through this creature...
"No!!! I may not know Greek, but there is a Lation word in there related to inferno! If you set this place on fire, we will be trapped," Emily said.
"What should I do?" Tartarus asked.
Emily took out her phone and thought, Maybe I can distract the monster by throwing this at him and then running quickly. The cell phone landed with a thud on one of the Empusa's eyes. The creature struggled to see, and the two used this time to run of the building. The two of them walked to the top of a hill to rest.
"What are we going to do now?" Tartarus asked.
Emily replied, "I don't know. My cell phone is gone, and it worked in every known dimension."
"How is that possible?" The boy asked.
"We fight wizards and god-empowered mortals. Most Sivana Industries products have high resistance to magic," She explained.
"Can we use the card to travel back in time?" He asked. Emily asked to see the card, which he handed over. She saw that the date was for 10 million years into the past and politely said it was not what they were looking for.
"What about the mostly blank card?" She asked.
Tartarus asked, "Can you help me write a spell?" Emily agreed to write it out clearly, careful to calculate the arrival time to exactly ten minutes before Sebastian would pick them up.
Hermes, god of travel, please aid the flight of ours into the future. Hecate, goddess of magic, please clear obstacles in the crosswalks. He said loudly and clearly. The two of them stood firmly inside the circle as the spell came into effect.
The hall was becoming deserted as guests began to leave. There were so many people present that nobody noticed they had been gone for so long. Emily cheerfully said goodbye to as many relatives as she could find. She was very happy for Jean, who in turn wished Emily a good night.
Tartarus was oddly quiet as they waited for Sebastian to come. An old black car pulled up to the banquet hall. Sebastian motioned for them to get in the car, and it was only then that she noticed how weak he looked. The young man driving the vehicle felt something was off, but did not say anything until they hit the highway. The boy had fallen asleep, and Sebastian felt it was safe for the adults to talk freely.
"So you couldn't find his parents?" Sebastian asked.
Emily replied, "He won't tell me who his parents are, except that they are connected to a super-team. He thinks it is the LMB, but I don't know if that is true. He is from another time, he could easily be from another dimension."
"Is he from the past or the future?" Sebastian asked.
"He says he is from the future. I know for sure that he is a magician, so we can't give him to the police. He could either escape or humiliate us," She explained.
Sebastian said, "That is a good point. If he really is from the future he wouldn't be documented anyways. We got to keep him safe until he tells us who his parents are. Can you call the LMB offices and see if any magic-users are be able to help?"
"I lost my cell phone during a battle," She said. Sebastian told her to borrow his Susanoo 4000 to see who is available. She scrolled down the roster list in hopes of finding an older member with more experience with magic.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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"...She can help us find his parents. I think this will be over very soon," Emily said. The three of them were traveling to Legionworld. The child was awake, but still looked very tired. He was being very cooperative for a change.
"It looks a lot smaller," Tartarus said. He glanced out the window and saw that they were approaching Legionopolis.
Sebastian answered, "That is because we are higher up."
The three of them claimed their luggage and proceeded by taxi to their destination. They were not going to LMB Headquarters, but a residence in Bayville. This suburb of Legion World was known for it's residential areas.
They pulled up to small cottage near a wooded area. The grounds were immaculately trimmed and the place looked like it was well kept. Sebastian rang the doorbell, which was promptly answered by a woman.
"Ah, yes. I was expecting you to come. I am Xenia Karpusi," She said. The woman had long black hair, olive skin, and green eyes. The woman led them into a house that was adorned with Greek statues. She took them to a kitchen with a vase full of fresh flowers.
Tartarus was lagging behind, "Something is not right about this."
"What do you mean?" Emily whispered.
"She is wearing a snakeskin belt. It means something, but I don't remember what," The boy replied.
The woman was keeping a firm eye on Sebastian, and asked for him to take a seat at the table. It was filled with lamb, bread, and even some sort of Greek macaroni. Emily and Tartarus were asked to take seats to the left of Xenia, which they promptly did.
"Why are you not eating?" Xenia asked Tartarus.
"I'm not hungry," He answered.
Xenia insisted, "You have had a long journey. I will not let you go to bed until you finish your plate."
Tartarus begrudgingly became to eat his meal. Sebastian had already finished one plate and Xenia gladly gave him some more food. Emily decided it was time to discuss the matter at hand.
"We need to find out who Tartarus' parents are. We also need to know where and when we can find them," Emily explained.
"That will have to wait until morning. The child is exhausted and needs rest. He'll also have to offer the appropriate sacrifices for rituals so he can battle again," Xenia said. Emily knew it would be no use arguing with her, it was Xenia's house after all and no other magic user was available.
Sebastian said, "Your entry in our database shows you have much experience with these type of crimes. I am sure it will be an honor to work with you."
"The pleasure is all mine," Xenia smiled. ~~~ Several hours later
Sebastian decided to go to bed early that night. Emily had supervised Tartarus as he performed the necessary rituals to the gods he drew power from. She was suspicious of Xenia, but Sebastian read the entry of her in the database. There was no reason for them to doubt her credibility.
He fell asleep around midnight, and planned to stay asleep until 7:00 A.M. Sebastian was very upset when the alarm in his cell phone went off at 4:00 A.M. He had not memory of setting the alarm to that time. It would be difficult, if not impossible for him to fall back to sleep.
He heard the noise of rustling by the door. It sounded like the sound boa constrictors make in his hometown. Sebastian laid still in hopes that the creature would keep away from his room.
The door knob slowly turned and Xenia entered the room. Sebastian wondered if the alarm was correct, and maybe the time was set incorrectly. He was about to get up, but the sound of slithering increased as she drew near. Sebastian decided to slowly sit up in bed, and was greeted by a demonic face with fangs.
"Too late," She said.
Sebastian quickly took off his gloves and was ready to fight. Please work, please work, please work, He thought while dodging the attempted bites of the demoness. Sebastian was able to grab onto her shoulder and held on tightly. Her memory was violent and difficult to absorb, but she did not have much energy for him to absorb. He let her lose consciousness in order to leave the room without being harmed.
Unfortunately, the snake portion of the demoness was still active. He navigated the maze of coils to the door before running to Emily's room. Sebastian knocked on her door five times before she woke up.
"What is the matter?" Emily asked.
Sebastian replied, "She was not human! She is some sort of demoness!"
Emily said sarcastically, "Really? I thought she was the nicest person I ever met."
"Please trust me," Sebastian said. The look in his eyes let Emily know he was being serious. She took his hand, and together they went to investigate the remains of the demoness.
They entered the room, only to find it empty. Sebastian grabbed his phone and looked up the monster on the Internet. He discovered that it was a lamia, a monster known to devour young men and children. Emily and Sebastian exchanged looks before running to Tartarus's room. The young man heard the slithering and feared they were too late.
"It's locked!" Emily yelled.
"Do you have your lock pick?" Sebastian asked.
The conversation became mute as the door was opened from the inside. Tartarus stared at them and they stared back, neither party knowing at first what to say.
"Are you alright?" Sebastian asked.
"Yes, I am okay. I put the lamia to sleep..." Tartarus said.
"No! Please don't say you killed it?" Emily yelled. She was getting pretty angry with this child. In the last battle he was very incompetent, but here he claims to be able to kill a lamia.
"That is not what I mean! She is just sleeping on the floor," He said. They walked inside the room to discover the lamia sleeping on the floor between a closet and a nightstand. There were a few holes in the floor, and Sebastian asked how they got there.
"She got really close to me, so I used lightning spells. Are you two going to kill it now?" He asked. It was one question that Sebastian did not want to answer. They would have no choice but to call in their superiors because impersonated a member of the LMB. He dreaded the thought that she could possibly be from Zardi's Floating Castle.
-------------------- Go with the good and you'll be like them; go with the evil and you'll be worse than them.- Portuguese Proverb
From: Illinois | Registered: Jun 2010
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