In just two days of training, she was able to do this. She was truly different. The way she would have to manipulate her mana…The act of…I mean…I was lost in this amazement.

  The magic energy from the first golem diminished. I felt it. Meaning it was just this second loser left.

  Ulysee’s mana was nearly nonexistent from her previous attack. This left just me and the remaining golem to battle. Its attention was on Ulysee.

  I hurried back into battle, magic skating my way back to it. Being able to focus all my attacks on this one now, I unleashed a storm’s worth of black flame arrows upon the thing. Explosions went off across its body once again, though they were doubled in amount.

  I couldn’t charge my attack up like Ulysee had done. I wouldn’t have the time or no one to cover me. She was completely drained, so this truly was a one on one.

  My attacks drew its attention away from Ulysee. Pulling back its arm from her, the massive statue went for its two-handed weapon. It began to prepare its attack, though what it excelled at in strength, it lacked in speed. This is where I held the upper hand.

  Skating across the lands, I flashed through as fast as I could. I fired off another volley of attacks, though its exterior was just too dominant in defense. My attacks seemed to be more annoying than anything else.

  Just as the golem swung its large weapon, multiple sets of purple glowing chains engulfed the obelisk. The chains rose from the ground in numbers too great for the average set of eyes.

  The chains buckle the statue into place, restricting any further movement that it might have intended. This was the time Brandon needed.

  Taking a startled look at his ally, Brandon was confused as to where this spell had come from. He couldn’t sense anymore mana coming from Ulysee, so how was it that she was able to conjure another spell, let alone something of this magnitude. Brandon left his internal questions for another time.

  Ulysee holds her hands out in place – concentrating on maintaining the colossal spell before her. Brandon took this time to aim his bow, gathering energy into the tip of his weapon.

  BRANDON: Thank you.

  Brandon keeps his focus on the obstacle before them, as his mana becomes visible in the form of flames. These black flames gather amongst his bow, charging for a single attack this time.

  Brandon continues to speak, unsure to if Ulysee could hear him. At this point, he was just thinking out loud.

  BRANDON: It isn’t even raining this time and I wasn’t able to properly protect you. But you haven’t complained one bit about this. You haven’t stressed out my moments of weakness.

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  The level of power picks up around not only his bow, but him as well. Gravity itself begins to lift small rocks off the ground around him.

  BRANDON: Maybe I’m in over my head. Or maybe I’m just too anxious to see this through. I don’t think it even matters at this point. I just want to end this cycle of selective death.

  Brandon releases an invisible arrow. Nothing is shown at first.

  The golem stops struggling, and Ulysee stops grunting behind this. The statue truly stands still again, though it is an unnerving stillness.

  Soon after, the massive golem loses most of its upper body. From its upper chest to its neck and head, parts of the golem’s body vanish. A large trail of explosions in the air generates to follow, resembling Ulysee’s attack at first.

  The explosions are loud as they create a strong shockwave through the air. The magical chains that were once holding the statue in place, break before dispersing into nothing shortly after. In response to this, the remains of the golem collapse as well, just like the golem before it. They were done.

  Brandon rushes over to Ulysee, with her falling to a knee just as he gets to her. She is lightly panting at this point.

  ULSYEE: That could have turned out bad for us, huh?

  Ulysee tries to play off her exhaustion. Brandon helps her back up, placing her arm over his shoulder. She keeps her posture because of this.

  BRANDON: Yeah, but it didn’t – all thanks to you. That power of yours, where’d it come from?

  Ulysee tells him that she wasn’t sure – that that moment was the first time she’d ever had to try things like that. Two back-to-back powerful spells nearly blew Brandon’s mind, as she should be more than exhausted at this point. This only provided more evidence as to how special she was.

  Ulysee legs nearly buckled again, though the leverage from Brandon keeps her up. He tells her that they can rest for a moment if she needs to, though she tells him that she wants to continue. She wants to get this over with.

  Brandon helps her to the center of the pentagram, allowing her to rest on both of her knees now. He leaves out of the crafted circle, standing meters away from her as he calls upon a blue thick book. He opens the book and glances up at Ulysee one final time. She smirks at him, both of them unable to hide their nerves. He smirks back, telling her that he won’t allow anything to happen to her. She believes him.

  The pages begin to glow as he recites what he reads. The blue glow amongst the book begins to inspire the ritual site itself, calling forth a set of yellow lines that trace to the center of the ritual site, along the ground. The lines stop when they get to Ulysee.

  Brandon reads the last sentence he sees, slowly raising his head afterwards as he takes back focus on Ulysee. She seem to be in good spirits, as nothing appears to be happening but a set of glowing lines everywhere. But the strong winds picking up said otherwise. The radiating lines all throughout the pentagram said otherwise. The surging power Brandon felt in front of him, said otherwise.

  Reaching in front of him to test things out, Brandon feels a quick jolt of electricity react to his hand and he quickly draws back. Ulysee snickers from this from where she is sitting. Brandon manages to smile upon seeing that Ulysee still has her sense of humor. To him, this meant that no harm was being done to her.

  It was clear to him now that the ritual was in full effect. The barrier was up and there wasn’t a thing he could do to stop it. He wouldn’t dream of trying to.

  Brandon begins to think of the things that could have been prevented if he had discovered her and the ritual, years ago. The people he could have saved – his family being the main bunch. His mother and grandfather. His father…for answers.