Five

The device was suddenly blasted out of her hand, and smashed to the ground in pieces, as the sound of the blaster shot echoed through the air. The officers immediately drew for their weapons and looked around but couldn’t see who it was. Another shot was received by the officer holding Lovette, who went down straight away.

“Up there!” Shouted Tom who still supporting Berahino with his free hand.

Oh, no. thought Berahino. It was the captain from Naun’s crew. He appeared, wearing a biker’s helmet, on one of the rooftops of the taller buildings surrounding them. Berahino recognised him because he remembered the captain’s uniform was slightly lighter than the rest of them.

Berahino moved forward, “Stand back!” He told the officers.

“You stand back civilian!” Officer Deborah replied, “We’ve got this.”

She then opened fire on the captain along with her supporting officers. Berahino turned to look at the fallen officer who was in agony. The shot had pierced through his body armour.

“Lovette look in his upper compartment on the left-hand side. There should be a small capsule. Break it and pour out the contents into the wound. It should temporarily seal it up and stop the bleeding.”

“Oui.” Lovette replied, and did exactly as Berahino instructed.

Behind them the sound of the firearms continued.

“It worked!” Lovette said surprised. “How did you know…?!”

“Honestly, I don’t know how... It just came to me.”

Berahino looked over at the officers standing off with the captain.

“Please wait here with him. Use his radio to call in the medics.”

“Oui.”

Lovette reached for his radio but then the Sergeant grabbed her arm. “Wha…. What… are you… doing?” he asked, as he struggled to talk with the pain.

“Calling for help.” Lovette replied. “We are helping you.” She gestured between herself and Berahino, who was now walking away.

The Sergeant tried to get a look at who Lovette was pointing at, by painfully propping himself up on his elbows Are you sure Bill?” .

As Berahino approached the officers, the melee of shots ceased, and they were all clicking on empty rounds. “We’ve used up our allowance for the day already?!” Deborah exclaimed.

“What is that shield made out of?” Tom asked.

Berahino walked passed Bill and Tom then approached Deborah who was in front.

“Stand back,” he said to her, “I’ve got this.”

The captain’s shield retracted.

“Now it’s my turn.” He said, then he immediately released several rounds.

“Air Force!” bellowed Berahino.

With his arms outstretched in front of him, a gust of wind acting as a shield appeared all around them. The air blowing at great velocity caused the officers behind him to cover their faces. The shots fired at them came to a stop front of him, being held in mid-air by the great wind shield. The captain couldn’t believe what he was seeing, then started firing even more viciously, but Berahino continued to bring his shots to a halt with his ability.

The injured Sergeant lying on the ground before Lovette, finally relaxed his arms and laid back flat on the ground.

He said to Lovette, “Don’t… Don’t call this in.”

“Why not?!” she asked.

“Just don’t…don’t do it.” He said, before passing out.

The frustrated Captain now decided to bring out a larger gun, one with more power, and started firing again. This was easily neutralised by Berahino’s continued defence. The captain stopped, dropping his arms by his side he asked, “What are you?”

Berahino put his arms down, the wind stopped blowing, and the officers saw the bullets, which were brought to a standstill, fall to the ground.

“I honestly don’t know.” Berahino said, looking down at his hands. “But this must be God, because what just happened was impossible.” Berahino said, surprised and in awe.

The sound of a slow clap began, and they all turned to look. It was Luc. “

Braaavo! Bravo! Such a fantastic performance! But we seem to be overcrowded.” Luc quickly shot the three remaining officers with his walking stick. They each fell to the ground. Berahino looked around in shock. “How did he do that so quickly! I didn’t even see a thing!” His heart began to race.

“Don’t worry, they’re not dead.” Luc said as he descended, “I’m not barbaric like the captain over there! I’ve just knocked them unconscious, because what’s about to happen here is for our eyes only. Oh, that reminds me.” Luc shot the injured officer too. Lovette wailed.

“I almost forgot about him. But I haven’t forgotten you my pretty possession.” Lovette started to slowly back up to the wall of the building behind her. Luc continued, “You thought you could be free? You thought you could run away? I would hunt you down to the ends of the earth.”

Tears started to fall down Lovette’s cheeks.

“Oh. Don’t be sad, be happy. I especially came all the way out here myself, just to get you. You should be greatly honoured. Normally, I would send one of my lackies to do it for me. But you, you are special enough for me to leave my humble abode to come all the way out here.”

He looked at Lovette, seeing her face buried in her hands.

“Look at me. Look up at me when I’m talking to you!” Luc demanded.

“You don’t have to do a thing Lovette. Don’t listen to him. He’s a liar. He came out here looking for me.” Berahino paused for a moment before continuing, “I was a slave too, but I didn’t realise it until today.”

“Are you referring to our earlier talk? I think we both said some things we didn’t mean.” Luc said lazily.

“What does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?” Berahino said.

Luc’s eyes widen. “Where did you here that?! I-it’s Sarutobi. He has gotten to you. He’s filling your mind with such foolish things!”

The top end of Luc’s walking stick started to glow greenish colour.

“Stop spouting rubbish, and let’s go back!” He shot a green flamed beam at Berahino, who responded with a punch to the air. Both attacks connected somewhere between the two of them. Each of them holding their own against the other opposing force. Then the attacks expelled, pushing Berahino back and knocking Luc of his balance. Lovette was knocked back but Berahino somehow caught her in time before she hit the building behind her.

“Haha! You need to watch that power of yours, before it hurts the wrong people.” said Luc.

Then Berahino recalled what Sarutobi had told him earlier. Is this what Sarutobi meant…? Berahino thought to himself.

“I need to stop being nervous. I, am not, afraid.” He said this a few times to himself. “Lovette, get away from here. As far as you-“

Luc interjected, “You send her away, then the good old captain here will retrieve her. You don’t want that playing on your mind now do you? She stays right here. You damage her, then I’ll just take it out of your tour proceeds.”

“You still think I’m coming on tour with you? Seems you’ve become senile with age. Or were you always like that?”

“Oh no. It’s a wisdom you will never understand. No matter which way this goes, there is only one outcome here, and it is in my favour.”

Berahino had thought he had seen Luc’s devious side before, but what he had already seen was nothing compared to what was in front of him now. “

Prepare yourself boy!” said Luc.

He clicked his fingers and his white overcoat disappeared, leaving him in his tightly fitted black shirt and white waistcoat. Then he shot another green flamed beam at him. Berahino ran to evade it. Then a blaster bullet flew by in front of him. Luc paused his attack.

“Thank you, captain. I’ll take it from here for now. This is a kind of father-son moment. Please standby, I may need you when this is over.”

“Affirmative.” The captain replied.

“You were never a father figure to me!” Berahino said.

“You just don’t know when to shut up. Today I will show you your place.” Luc said, as a long green flamed whip emerged from his walking stick.

“You think you’ll win with that demon magic?” Sarutobi asked Naun, electricity surging all over his body.

“I know I can. This is the only thing that can combat your powers. Everything else is useless. Any normal person would be completely obliterated, but you and Berahino are special.”

“I thought you were his friend?”

“ Erm. More like acquaintances, even if that.” Naun replied. “It was business, and now that business is over.”

“It’s so sad. So, was everyone around him assigned to monitor him…?”

“No. Not everyone has the privilege of being part of Veil.”

“Veil? What’s that? An organisation…?”

“I’ve said enough. No more talking!” Naun said, as she took another shot at him.

Sarutobi produced and electrical net which caught the kahstar blast, and then performed an athletic hammer throw, sending the blast back to Naun. Naun made a run for it, and knowing she wouldn’t make it out of range she released her shield again, but Naun was blown several feet away from where she stood, landing just in front of one of the surrounding buildings. Sarutobi watched as Naun manged to quickly get back up on her feet, with her shield now broken in half.

“How?” she asked.

“You see how much damage just one shot of that kahstar does, and yet you still desire to release another one?” Sarutobi replied.

“How did you do that?!!” Naun demanded, as she released another.

Sarutobi quickly moved upward in a flash, and waited for the kahstar blast to follow. A surge of electricity surround his leg and he kicked the blast in an upward direction. “Lightning Strike!” Several strands of lightning struck the kahstar blast and destroyed it. Sarutobi returned to the ground in a flash of lighting.

“It’s easy once you get the hang of it.” Sarutobi said, with a smile behind his scarf.

Naun gave a loud shriek of frustration.

“Let’s stop now.” Sarutobi said, “You already used two kahstar capsules earlier and now you’ve used another two. You’ve only got one left.”

Panting heavily, Naun took another shot. This time Sarutobi drew his arm back and delivered a mighty electric blow to the oncoming kahstar blast. It was held in place for a moment but then gave into the overwhelming power of Sarutobi’s lightning punch, as it was cracking all over and finally dispersed into tiny fragments.

“That was the last one.” Sarutobi said.

But then he noticed a smirk on Naun’s exhausted face. She was holding a black capsule.

“What are you holding?” Sarutobi asked. But he knew exactly what it was. “Using that can shed years off your life!” He exclaimed.

Naun started to laugh hysterically.

“I can’t go back to Veil empty handed.” she said, as she went to load the Kahstar once again.

Sarutobi moved toward her at lightning speed but just as he reached her, Naun’s shield ejected and immediately sent him flying back.

“Broke out a capsule of repellent magic all over it.” she explained.

Sarutobi hit the ground rolling backwards a few times, then came to a stop.

“Can’t be too careful with you.” Naun said.

The shield retracted and revealed the kahstar aimed at Sarutobi once again, with him still slumped forward on the ground.

“Goodbye, unknown.”

But before she could pull the trigger, Naun received an electric shock and collapsed to the ground.

“I don’t desire to see you lose your life over this.” Sarutobi said, as she lost consciousness. He had covertly sent electricity along the ground.

He walked over to her and took out a small black box. He clicked a button and it suddenly became four times bigger. He set it down, opened it and took the kahstar gun from Naun’s loose fingers and placed it in the case.

“The power of demons.” He said to himself, “What a terrible thing.”

He secured the case, clicked the same button and it reduced back to its original size, which he then placed back into one of the pockets on the inside of his inside jacket . He looked around at the other unconscious men. Some lying on the ground a few yards away and some on the rooftops. The surrounding buildings were severely damaged. But then, they started mending themselves.

“Thank heaven, we stepped into the spirit realm.” he muttered to himself, as he watched the damaged constructs restore themselves.

“Berahino!” he gasped.

He had forgotten that Luc had gone after him! And with a flash of lightning Sarutobi had gone.

Berahino had undergone attack after attack from Luc, as he continued to swing around his green flamed whip, without a care for his surroundings. He taunted Berahino, continuously putting Lovette in peril, and making sure Berahino stayed his distance. Berahino was about to throw another punch at Luc, but Luc hit another building near Lovette. Berahino quickly raced over, Luc’s whip was now coming for him, Berahino threw two quick punches in the air toward it, sending it flailing back toward Luc. But it was too late. The building had already come down.

“It’s ok Berahino. She was just a slave.” Luc said, making light of it.

“Berahino!”

They all looked up and saw Sarutobi with Lovette standing on the rooftop of one of the taller buildings.

“Now you can fight without distractions.” said Sarutobi.

“Captain! Deal with him!” ordered Luc.

“If he is here then where is Naun?” the captain asked.

“I don’t care right now! You want a promotion? Take that man out!” Luc demanded.

“If he defeated Naun, then I don’t have a chance in hell!” said the captain.

“So be it!” Luc said, and he shot a crimson flame right through the captain’s heart, who collapsed there on the roof.

“Let’s see if you have a chance in hell now.” Luc said coldly.

Berahino couldn’t believe what he had just seen. Luc the great magician, had killed a man like it was nothing. He could see no emotion in Luc’s face, only an expression of disdain at the fact his were orders disobeyed.

I don’t know how I’m gonna get close enough to land a good blow! thought Berahino.

“Berahino! What are you waiting for?!” shouted Sarutobi, “Our abilities allow us to specialise in long distant combat!”

“There he goes again. Answering what I am thinking. How does he do it?” Berahino said to himself, as he positioned himself to throw another punch. He threw two at Luc who easily dodged them both, then immediately jumped up and made his way toward Berahino through the air.

“You want a closer target?!” taunted Luc, “Go ahead!” Berahino threw another punch, which Luc easily dealt with, and continued toward Berahino.

“Goodnight boy!” Luc said, as he expelled a juniper flame at Berahino.

“Air Force!” Berahino bellowed desperately, as he attempted to protect himself, but he was blown back within moments of impact.

As he hit the ground, the book Sarutobi gave him dropped out, and landed near his face. Berahino opened his eyes. The pain from his bruised ribs and wounded arm was rushing back, but this time it hurt more, and his legs felt like they wouldn’t support him getting back up. He noticed the book by his head, as he looked at it, he saw ‘2TIMOTHY’ written in large bold letters at the top of one of the pages. His eyes darted not too far down the page, to a sentence with a small number seven preceding the first letter.

“For God has not given us a spirit of fear or timidity, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

He was suddenly aware of another attack from Luc, which he managed to quickly evade by rolling out of the way, grabbing the book just before moving off. As debris rainned down on him, Berahino got up for a counterattack.

“What device was that?” Luc asked.

“Power, love and a sound mind…? Weird combination.” Berahino said to himself, as he securely put the book away into his inside pocket- this time zipping it up.

Luc gasped, as he saw the golden crucifix on the cover disappear into the jacket.

“You! You have that book?!! Who gave it to you?!” Luc said outraged, “It’s a major crime to be in possession of that!” And he fired a few more shots.

Berahino replied, “I’m not afraid of you Luc. And I’m not afraid of what you can or might do to me, because God has not given me the spirit of fear!”

A great wind began to circle around him.

“So, you believe in God now boy?!” Luc asked, as another green flame appeared at the end of his walking stick, waiting to be released. “Better hope He comes through for you, because I’m not sure if He’ll down come out of hiding.”

“Honestly. Atthis moment I am not too sure what I believe.” replied Berahino, as he started to draw wind between his hands, “But you sure seem to be. So I think I’m going to give this ‘God-thing’ a chance. I guess I have you to thank for that.”

“You insolent fool!” Luc replied, “I saved you! I gave you a new home, a new name. I gave you money, women, fame and fortune! You had the world in your hands! Why throw it all away?!”

By now an almost visible spinning ball of highly dense compressed air had formed between Berahino’s palms, with the wind being violently drawn in.

“You can have the world. I’d rather keep my soul, thank you.”

Luc gave an annoyed grunt, as his flame turned from juniper to crimson and then to jade black.

“I guess there is no turning back for you then. Goodbye Berahino Badu.”

Luc stretched out his arm and released the jade black flame. It was the fiercest blast he had shot yet, and it was rapidly coming toward Berahino. “

I have not been given the spirit of fear!” Berahino shouted, “All Mighty Blast!”

He released the rapid spinning ball of air toward Luc, which shredded through the jade flame like it was nothing and impacted with Luc before he could even think of a counterattack! It delivered several cuts, blows and bruises to Luc, easily tearing up his meticulously kept attire, as it sent him flying back toward the direction of the city centre at an alarming speed.

“Impossible!” He whispered, as he travelled into the distance.

Berahino couldn’t believe what he had just done. Not only was he able to defeat the great Magician, which he was never able to do in a game of fencing or poker, he had also seen what he was really capable of!

Sarutobi jumped down to Berahino, with Lovette, and left her there to check on the captain. He checked for a pulse but didn’t find one.

“He’s dead!” Sarutobi confirmed.

“We need to get out of here!” Berahino shouted back.

Sarutobi suddenly appeared before them.

“You’re right. Let’s go.”

“The building?!” Lovette said, as she noticed they were repairing themselves.

“Oh. So, you can see too?” Sarutobi asked.

“Oh yeah! I didn’t even notice that.” Berahino said, now staring in disbelief. “Are you doing this?” He asked Sarutobi.

“Nope. This is the Spirit Realm. The buildings in the Physical Realm have remained untouched.”

Confused, Berahino asked, “But… How did we get here? Because I landed in an alleyway, there was a crowd around me, and the Authority Officers…?”

“Either you stepped in it yourself or LAD brought you and the captain in.” Sarutobi replied. “Lovette must be one of the fortunate few the Lord has allowed to see into the Spirit Realm during these Last Days. The veil has been lifted for her… Veil. That reminds me-”

“Last Days?!” Berahino interjected. “What last days?”

“Hey!”

The three of them turned around to see it was one of the Authority Officers. Berahino recognised it was the young one who began to tell his life story.

“We’ve got to go.” Sarutobi said, then he placed his hands on their shoulders, a flash of lightning rained down and they were gone.

A.O. Tom saw the scene of buildings repairing themselves, disappear to reveal the buildings near the harbour once again. “What just happened?” he asked himself.

“Tom!” Deborah said groaning, as she got to her feet.

His partner, Bill, was also getting up.

“What happened? Where are the suspects?!” Deborah asked.

“Hey.” said a voice behind them. They turned back to see their commanding officer who had been shot, still lying on the ground.

“A.O. Sergeant Ryan!” Deborah exclaimed running over to him. “When did this happen to you?”

“When the fool on the rooftop opened fire.” He said, wincing at the pain. “

Are you ok?” Tom asked.

“Yeah I’ll live.”

“Here Tom, take him. Bill, let’s spread out and search for the suspects, they couldn’t have gone far.”

“No. Leave them. Let’s get me medical attention.” Sergeant Ryan said.

“Ok then. Tom can deal with that, can’t you Tom? We should call it in and ask for backup.” Said Deborah.

“Uhh…” Tom was unsure of how to respond.

“They saved my life. Let them alone.” Ryan said sternly, “I didn’t do this to myself, I wasn’t able to.” He pointed to the blocked wound.

“But Sir, one’s a runaway slave and the other a potential suspect.”

“We don’t know all the facts yet, but what I do know is that they aided an authority officer who was down and also had the intention of arresting them. And they did this without hesitation. As your commanding officer I am ordering you to stand down.”

“Yes sir.” Deborah replied, “Let’s get you that medical attention you need. Bill can you report it in please?” Deborah asked.

“The body of the man who shot me. Check the rooftop.” Ryan instructed Deborah and Bill.

“But Sir-“ Debrah began.

“Tom will assist me to the AOV.”

Deborah ran off with Bill and headed to the rooftop.

“That girl has too much zeal.” said Ryan. “

What do you expect? She’s the only female among her brothers. And the first female to have passed the academy so quickly, and she is already on her way to becoming a senior A.O.” Tom responded.

Ryan laughed, “You are right. You should apply for that position too.

“Heck no. I love this squad too much. Bill is already S.A.O. A Team full of S.A.O.s and a Sergeant, they’ll disband this squad.”

“Hey Tom.” Ryan said, changing both his tone and the subject, “I saw everything.”

They both stopped.

“So, it wasn’t just me?! I wasn’t just seeing things?”

“Nope. I thought I was hallucinating, until I saw you call out to them. They disappeared and the landscape changed.”

“Yeah what was that?” Tom asked, as they continued to walk toward the AOV.

“It was magic wasn’t it? I’m sure they were fighting Magician LAD!”

“Really?! Magician LAD? No! It couldn’t be…. Could it?” Tom asked, as he reached the unit and opened the back doors. The woman they initially had in there was now fast asleep.

“I’m quite sure of it. But you know, my vision was blurred so I couldn’t quite see in the distance clearly. But it could’ve easily been another magician or someone else entirely.”

“I didn’t get a good look at the attacker, I was too shocked at what the guy was doing. Had my eyes on him the whole time.”

“Ah well. Hopefully our video cams will be able to play something back.” said Sergeant Ryan.

“Yeah hopefully,” Tom responded, still lost in thought. “I mean the guy… He was punching and kicking the air around. He was using it like…like it was a weapon. Did you see it?! He made these massive winds just crash through sky. Never seen anything like it before. Then lightning just falls from the sky and they disappear. I still can’t believe it. It was definitely something out of this world.”

“You see the other guy, the one with the red scarf?” Ryan asked.

“Yeah, but I didn’t recognise him. Never seen him before today.”

“Did you not go through your morning report?! The man is wanted for impersonating the TSA. He’s national criminal. And I’m sure now the young man who was with him is Clark Bathwater.” said Ryan.

“The magician?! What he got to do with-“

“Tom it’s been on all the billboard screens around the city.”

“I’ve been cooped up in the back of the AOV.”

“That’s no excuse. There’s ample ways in the AOV to know about current events and to read your morning report!”

“So these guys are fugitives. What do you want to do about it?”

“I don’t know. Something doesn’t sit right with me. They did not seem like criminals.”

“Because they saved your life?”

“That, and they could’ve run. But they didn’t. They stayed. They fought. They defended us. So not a word of this to Deborah. I wouldn’t hear the end of it.”

They both laughed. Ryan winced again.

“Clark Bathwater. The renowned magician? But I’m not sure if what we saw was magic.” Tom said.

“What do you think it was then?” Ryan asked.

“I think it was something beyond magic. But if I tell you, you’ll either die laughing or arrest me.”

“Tom, if you of all people think it was something godly, I wouldn’t blame you.” said Ryan.

Just then the other two officers returned.

“We’ve called it in for someone to pick the body up. We’ve cornered off the area on the rooftop.” reported Deborah.

“Well done, let’s go.” said Ryan.

They got into the vehicle and headed off.

As the vehicle left the scene, Naun emerged from the shadows, with a few of her men. There were two more on the hover handles above. They passed over the rooftop which now had an electrical square force field protecting the captain’s body and preserving the crime scene. The men landed, and reported to Naun.

“We’ve found the captain. He’s dead. The A.O. have put up a tent. Do you want us to take him.?”

Naun couldn’t believe it.

“No.” she replied, “Disable the tent without triggering the alarm, take anything and everything that would link the body to us, and make sure they cannot ID him.”

“Affirmative.” The men replied.

“Is Luc up there too?” Naun asked, “Negative Naun. He is nowhere in sight, and his signature is still down.”

“Where the hell did you go Luc?! What happened here?” Naun said quietly.

They heard sirens in the distance.

“The medics are on their way. We need to get out of here.” said Naun.