Abiel and Ellsworth cautiously accepted Zagan’s offer, and sat down, with Abiel and Ellsworth on one side, and Zagan on the other, with Asteria standing to the side.
“So, explain yourself,” Ellsworth said in a harsh tone. “And you had better make it quick, I’ve already called for reinforcements on my location.”
“My men will slow them down plenty,” Zagan said. “But, that’s not why you’re here, is it? I admit, I did kidnap her, but was there any other choice for someone presumed dead and a wanted criminal? I couldn’t exactly waltz into town.”
“Your men killed our parents!” Abiel yelled, furious. If you hadn’t attacked the city, that wouldn’t have happened!”
“A… miscommunication, on my part,” Zagan said, carefully weighing his words. “I had ordered them to cause as little destruction as possible and to avoid contact. It was supposed to be a silent raid, but it seems somebody didn’t get the message. Don’t worry though, the person who did it was executed, so your vengeance can be sated.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that they’re dead!” Abiel yelled. “Maybe I should execute you!”
“Abiel!” Asteria said horrified. “He’s clearly sorry!
“No, he’s not,” Ellsworth said, agreeing with her sister. “But that’s not something we’ll deal with now. What happened after you were executed? You were reported dead!”
“Well, if you want the full story, all you have to do is listen.”
“When I was framed,” Zagan started.
“I doubt it,” Ellsworth said quietly.
“What was that?” said Zagan.
“Nothing. Continue with your story.”
“Right. In any case, if we don’t have any more distractions, I can continue,” Zagan said. After I was framed, I was to be executed. However, I clearly wasn’t.”
“Clearly,” Abiel said. “So what happened?
“I was getting to that,” Zagan said. “I was left to die in the wilderness, and left with a day of food and water.
“Doesn’t sound like any execution I’ve been to,” Ellsworth said.
“I’m sorry, would you like to hear this or not?” Zagan said, slightly impatient.
“Right right, we’ll shut up,” Abiel said, unconvincingly.
“To answer your question, it is a Vistarian style of execution. In any case, on the third day, after suffering from dehydration and starvation, I found a small scroll, hidden away in the wreckage of an ancient ship. I read the scroll, and it taught me how to use a lost magic, Darkness Magic, though I did not know it at the time. I had never been able to use magic, but because of my traumatic events, I had somehow managed to open up my first mind.
He smiled as he brandished a magic circle that seemed to suck in the light, and shot a blast at a nearby chair, engulfing it completely, and destroying it.
“As you can see,” said Zagan. “It is very powerful. After hunting some food, and finding some water using the magic, I wound up in a bandit group, being forced to kill and steal to survive. I managed to fight my way to the top, and expand it, creating the Eclipse bandits. And using them and a few other like-minded souls, I will rid this world of the tyranny and Corruption of the Magic Council! And of course, my daughter will be joining me.”
“Well, if you’d like my honest opinion Asteria, your father seems insane,” Ellsworth said, casting out a magic circle.
“Wait stop!” Asteria said, creating a golden magic circle around her right hand, and shooting a blast of gold, near Ellsworth’s head, nearly taking it off.
“You can use magic?” Abiel said dumbfounded. “Well,” she said, shaking off the shock. “Just don’t get in my way, me and Elly are gonna take this guy down.”
“Haha, fools,” Zagan said with a cruel smile. “There’s a reason I’ve been able to destroy any in my way. Not just because of my magic!” said Zagan, as he threw up a cloud of sand, blinding both of them, and covering him.
“Asteria,” Ellsworth said, coughing, as the dust cleared. “Get away from that lunatic!”
Abiel shot a trio of magma blasts at Zagan, who quickly ducked out of the way, before throwing his daggers at Ellsworth, who managed to just barely block them with her shield.
“You should have joined me!” Zagan said. “With our magic, we could have destroyed the Magic Council!”
“Unfortunately, I’m not insane!” Ellsworth cried out, firing back a plasma bolt of her own.
“Asteria! Are you going to help me or not!” Zagan cried out at Asteria, who accidentally cast a blast of gold at Ellsworth, who easily blocked it.
“B-but, I can’t!” Asteria said, hesitating between supporting her father or her sisters.
“Fine, I’ll do it myself,” Zagan said, as he gathered up dark energy into a magic circle, and fired the full brunt of it at Ellsworth, who, distracted by Asteria’s blast, was helpless against it and took the full force of the attack.
Ellsworth!” Abiel cried out, kicking a table over Ellsworth’s body, and hiding under it. “Elly?”
“I’m alright,” Ellsworth said weakly. She began to cough blood, and Abiel could see the darkness magic eating away at her body. “Just, go fight him, I’ll be fine…” she said, her words trailing off and her body going limp.
“Elly? Are you still there?” Abiel asked in shock. She checked her pulse and felt nothing. Abiel teared up, before hardening her face and walking out of the table’s cover.
“Ah, there you are. A rather big room isn’t it, Asteria. I made sure to order the finest of materials for my abode,” Zagan said, smiling.
“Hey, Asteria, he killed Elly,” Abiel said, coldly. “If you’re with him, I’m not going to give you any mercy.” Asteria looked taken aback and froze in shock.
“Ah, she’ll get over it,” Zagan said, while Abiel walked towards him. “You’re just going to walk right to me, instead of running away?”Abiel didn’t answer, as she fired a beam of magma at Zagan, who jumped out of the way, while his arm took full damage. He clutched it tightly, as Abiel continued to walk towards him, a hungry look in her eyes.
“Ha, just kidding,” he said while shoving the injured arm into Abiel’s face, which housed a huge magic circle. “ I’m sure you’ve seen this one before. Remember? Back at your house, before they killed your par-gak!” Zagan said, before stopping mid-sentence. Both looked down at the hole in his chest, as a perfectly round sphere of gold had lodged itself in Zagan’s heart. He stuttered, before the bleeding and shock hit him and he fell over dead.
“You are not my father!” Asteria yelled at the corpse.
“Come on, Asteria, let’s go home,” Abiel said as Magic Council soldiers began pouring into the room.
“So what’s the after-mission report?” the Silent Tower Commissioner asked the soldier in front of him.
“As Seargent Ellsworth commanded, we arrived at the scene to capture the leader of the Eclipse Bandits.”
“You may continue,” the commissioner said.
“Right. When we arrived at the scene, we found the leader, dead.”
“Dead?” the commissioner asked.
Yes, dead. We identified him as a thief named Zagan, who we are thought to have executed for murder in Ironport. We also found Sergeant Ellsworth’s corpse and her two sisters.”
“She’s dead? She was a good soldier, looking forward to her next promotion too,” the commissioner said.
“Right, sir. The two sisters are both mages, one is a magma wizard named Abiel Cole, and the other a gold wizard named Asteria Cole. We suspect that Asteria was the one who finally killed the bandit leader, who seemed to be using forbidden magic,”
“Well, we’ll ask them all relevant questions regarding the incident soon,” the commissioner said. “Anything else?”
“We are quite confident that the Eclipse Bandits should disband soon, as it seems their leader was the only reason they were together,” the soldier said. “There was also a mole we found within our own ranks. The matter is currently being investigated.”
“Oh right, I was supposed to be reviewing that case. Thank you for your time soldier, you are dismissed,” the commissioner said, saluting the soldier. The soldier saluted him back, and promptly turned and left.