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Thunder rumbled as a bright flash of blue appeared in the darkened sky, illuminating the barren wasteland that was once lush and filled with green.

Pebble-like raindrops pelted her skin, in a way that almost hurt, but she kept going. She continued to walk, though her energy was beginning to drain out of her body and her once purple hair, had returned to its usual golden blond color.

In her now shaking and aching arms, was her younger brother, who shivered violently due to the cold and maybe because of fear. The same fear that made her check the Lysloctus Castle occasionally.

Even if the building were to be far away, it could still be able to intimidate others, mainly because of the sharp dark crystals that grew on almost every section of it.

It made it seem some dark entity lived there, though many argued that it was just an old castle that the inhabitants abandoned because of the famine that had affected the land.

She once believed in the latter, until now. Not after she had to rescue her brother from them, not after she had to save him from his clutches .

The small boy sobbed in her arms, holding onto her, seemingly never wanting to let go. His crystal like rain drops slid down his ruddy cheeks. Seeing him in such a state, made her wonder what those cursed people bad done to him.

Although that was not really a hard question to answer, judging by the numerous cuts and bruises that were all over his body. It was a heart-wrenching sight as she always felt her heart break whenever she saw him in pain.

The reason behind this was because her love for him was like that of a mother to her child, than that of siblings. Even though they both had a mother who was very much alive and other siblings, she loved him more and was willing to do anything for him.

"Magnolia" I heard him call out and looked down to the small boy in her arms. And as another flash of light appeared in the sky, she caught a glimpse of his tear stained face.

She saw the fear in his aqua blue eyes. In this fear, she saw the signs of trauma, the trauma he had gotten from whatever experienced in that castle.

"All will be okay, hush now. Everything will be fine, I'm here now." I said as soothingly could. Hoping to comfort him, though he seemed to have worsened with each passing second. His breathing hitched, his eyes widened, and he began to tremble in her arms.

"Ma..Mag...Maggy" he said in between shakey breaths , lifting a trembling hand to point at the the direction of the large castle and her heart raced as she slowly turned around.

Her blood ran cold as her eyes landed on him, in the air, followed by thousands of glowing swords made out of pure red energy. He had this smirk on his scarred face, a smirk that scared her more than anything.

It had danger and only dangerous intentions attached to it. Her heart drummed at my chest, her mind racing. It had screamed at her to make a break for it, yet her feet felt as if they were rooted to the ground, and she was too frightened. Too frightened to do anything, to frightened to listen to what her mind was telling her, she was paralyzed with fear.

He halted about a yard away from us and lots of feet above the ground, his glowing swords were behind them as his eyes glowed a violent.

She hugged her brother tighter, hoping to calm him down even though she was panicking in the inside, feeling his eyes on both myself and my brother.

"I am not normally this merciful girl, but I am willing to propose a deal." his voice boomed all over the wasteland, and it was quite intimidating. Yet she made sure to stand her ground and meet his penetrating gaze with a glare, as I did not want to seem like a coward. He frowned upon seeing this and returned the glare with an icy one that sent shivers down her spine.

"I will allow you to leave this realm, unscathed and alive, if you hand over the boy."he said to her, and she forced out a laugh. Even though this was not really the time to do so. She placed the boy on the ground, even though he was reluctant to stand on his own. Her gaze never leaving the man, who watched her. He was clearly irritated by her 'insolence'.

She gasped as one of his energy swords made its way to her neck. It only stopped a few centimeters away from piercing her skin.

Her blue-gray eyes met his red ones, and she closed her eyes.

"Do you really think that I would just give up Jonathan and let him suffer by your bloody hand, then you've got another thing coming." she said, feeling a tingling sensation all over her body as she felt her long, golden blonde hair begin to float in air.

And with a scrap of the energy she had left, she formed a protective sphere made out of pure violet energy around him, to shield him from the blows that might come his way during the fight that was about to go down.

She opened her eyes, not realizing that she was now floating in the air, purple smoke warping around her now formless body. She felt stronger nonetheless.

Feeling more energized and powerful, she looked down to see little Jonathan standing on the ground, my impenetrable violet sphere protecting him from the tricks this vile man had in-store for him.

She turned to him, a look of fury on her face. " I realize that I have been too merciful on you girl. So if you wish to go toe to toe with I, Umbras Fernsby the most powerful man on this earth, then your wish is my command "he said, snapping his fingers.

Dark clouds appeared out of nowhere and warped around him in what looked like a tornado. And after a few minutes, she could see his face through the stormy mess around him.

Magnolia watched as Umbras outstretched a hand in her direction and electricity shot out of it, the white bolt of electricity made its way to her at lightning speed. And in those few seconds, she focused her energy into creating a tornado of purple smoke in front of me, which engulfed the electricity, quickly dissipating into the rainy sky.

She took a deep breath and warped the purple smoke into a gigantic, head shaped smoke cloud. Sending it forward to engulf the man, who used an energy sword to slice it in half, and it disappeared into the air. She then spotted a red energy beam coming straight for her, and before she could dodge it, it hit her in the chest.

The pain she felt there was unbearable, yet she did not wince in pain, not wanting to seem weakened by a measly blast.

"I guess I underestimated you then." he said, an evil smile on his face. And they just kept going at it, attacking each other while trying to avoid the other's attacks. Though he landed more hits on her, making her weaker and weaker after each blow. Yet she pushed on, knowing exactly what was at stake.

Bet now she was getting sick of this hit and dodge game, and she needed to end this battle. So she formed a sword out of pure violet energy, warping another head shaped smoke cloud, making sure to step inside it. Magnolia then charged forward to the man, raising her energy sword. She was ready to strike, until she paused as he disappeared into thin air.

She then felt her eyes widen as she felt a sharp pain in her stomach. Looking up, she was met by Umbrus Fernsby's shit eating grin.

She lowered her gaze to her stomach, where most of her pain seemed to have been concentrated and sure enough, the man had stabbed her with his own energy sword.

He took it out and even though there was no flesh wound, she felt her insides burning and felt a piercing pain in which she had never felt before.

The head shaped smoke cloud dissipated into the air and her body returned to its normal state, yet her hair was still a violet color. The man grabbed her by her neck, ignoring her gasps for air.

"You've lasted longer than any of my opponents, I'm impressed." he said, and she spat on his face, watching as his smug expression morphed into one of fury.

"I'd...ra....ther...die" she said, struggling to breathe, and he let go of her neck, causing her to fall

Not having the energy to fly as she was in to much pain, she let herself crash into the muddy ground which was full of puddles. She could feel the rain pelt at skin as she vomited a crimson liquid right next to Jonathan, who stared at her

in horror as she did so.

Jonathan, she needed to save him, she needed to protect her little brother. And though it was both draining and agonizing, she picked herself up and stumbled over to him.

At least, if she had to die, then she would rather die knowing that her little brother was safe and sound. So using every ounce of strength she had left in her. She formed a portal, and because she did not have that much energy left, only one person could go through it.

She disassembled the sphere and used its energy to make the portal a bit more stable before turning to Jonathan, placing my hands on his shoulders.

"Listen, Nathan, I need you to go into the portal, while I hold that bad man off." she said, pushing his body to the direction of it.

"What about you, I can't leave you here Maggi" he said, and she smiled sadly, wrapping her arms around him, pulling him into a tight hug. She could hear him quietly sobbing and let her own tears slide down her face. She was going to miss Jonathan, her sisters and her parents, but she had promised herself that she would bring him home and that was what she was going to do.

Pulling away from him, wiped the tears that spilled out of his eyes and gave him a peck on the forehead. "Tell mom, dad, Daphne, and Lilia that I'll miss them all. Also tell Daphne that I still don't want her to touch my phoenix sculpture." she said her own tears blurring her vision.

Suddenly she saw a beam of light go through her stomach and she could not bite back the urge to scream in pain.

She clutched the area in which had been blasted, which was near her stab wound, which made her pain a lot more excruciating than it already was.

"Maggi!" Jonathan cried out, and she held out a hand to stop him from coming any closer to her." Just go!" she shouted through her teeth as tears of pain slid down her face.

She looked back at Fernsby and watched as he outstretched his arm and shot a bolt of electricity towards Jonathan.

And with a speed faster than that of light, she ran towards the boy, pushing him into the portal and watched as it, along with her brother, disappeared.

The bolt of electricity struck her down and she screamed in pain as she felt the electricity move along her blood vessels, worsening the pain that she had already been feeling all over her body. And after several minutes of unbearable pain, the electricity ceased to move in her body and disappeared.

Umbrus Fernsby moved towards her, bending down to the girls, who's previously violet hair had turned back to its usual golden blonde color. He applied pressure on her wounds and watched as she cried out in pain.

"You made a foolish decision girl, you should have saved yourself." he said withdrawing his foot from her side.

Magnolia smiled through her pain and coughed out blood . "You....may... have gotten to me, Fernsby. But you won't.... even lay....a...finger on....my.... brother " I said in between deep breaths until finally letting my head rest on the ground, allowing myself to be consumed by the darkness.

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