Magic! And Those who Introduced it—Part 5

The first thing Leonel saw as he woke up was Purity leaning over him, offering a hand, her golden long hair dazzling in an unknown source of wind.

For how long had he been unconscious? Rubbing his eyes, it felt like forever since the last time he was awake. His mind was completely different, he felt an aura within his chest, stretching out to every part of his being. Leonel gazed over at Phoebe and Juno. They droopily picked themselves up, like they were zombies from another world. Kate was still asleep, lying apparently comfortably on the forest floor, with her chocolate hair spiralling out in every direction.

Wait. The forest floor? The forest floor was beneath them?

Where did this alien spaceship go?

Leonel let go of Purity's hand after realising he was still clutching onto her and proceeded to anxiously turn around at his horizons, and scan feverishly at his friends, the forest, and the hill. The infamous hill where the rest of the Science Protection Units were, however at this moment they were largely out of sight, presumably due to being knocked down from the explosion of the ship. Leonel wiped his eyes in disbelief at what he was seeing.

The other alien ships had disappeared.

His eyes tracked upwards, towards the still bright blue sky, its constancy was alluring and unnatural.

This didn't feel right.

Only a couple of minutes had passed since the explosion occurred.

Their extensive slumber lasted mere minutes, though felt like an eternity.

Perhaps Leonel's Ocean of Eternity was only a single moment in time, simply a string of the continuum that was pulled out from an entire concept. The ocean and the waves of his eternal thought puzzle went on forever, but is this 'forever' encapsulated within a single moment? Time is, after all, only a concept. There is no 'forever', but infinities can exist within points, within moments.

Sometimes, Leonel pondered, a long span of time can feel very short, and sometimes a moment can stretch into an eternity—whether that be an eternity of bliss or an endless vision of agony.

Leonel reflected on what had happened since the Science Protection Units began.

It really was a crazy day.

"Do you hear that?" Phoebe stood up straight and stared intensely into the heart of the forest. Juno heaved himself up fully and placed himself next to Phoebe, followed by Purity and Kate, finally arranging themselves all in a line, with five sets of eyes on the noise.

It was certainly there. A noise, similar to the one they heard from the orb of alien magic, was coming from deep within the woods.

But it was coming closer at alarming speeds. It was increasing in pitch and volume, and if listened to in any other context, it would have been pleasant to the ear, however, it was frightening, it was approaching, and all they could do was stand and stare through the trees for something to reveal itself.

Then, like a prophecy of an ancient script coming true, a macabre threat unearthed itself.

A glowing orb of bright light appeared, speeding towards them. They couldn't duck or hide. At the very edge of the forest, they were essentially in the wide open. Exposed to attack.

And running away would only lead to this orb tracking them down and hitting them with unknown force and unknown intentions.

Leonel analysed the position they were in. Such conditions didn't take long for any fool to realise the gravity of the situation.

It was Checkmate.

Leonel wished for a brick wall of defence, a barricade against this magical danger. He willed to protect his friends from the dangers of the modern world. Perhaps it was too late. Was this magic they were facing? Was it an elaborate military operation conducted by the Unified European Nation?

Oh well. His life was short, but Leonel could only think of his friends in the fraction of a second in which this paranormal bullet was heading straight for them and would surely be the last thing Leonel ever saw. He would miss Kate and Juno so much. And Phoebe? She had become someone he really trusted and cared for, and he wanted to care with all his heart because she had a hard childhood, which spiralled after the incident. He had made a note of spending more time with Phoebe, but Leonel supposed it was all futile now.

It was all coming to an end. Life as they knew it

Leonel glanced over to Purity. Her soft face trembled slightly, her hair ever beautiful and her eyes too innocent for the grown-up world of aliens, magic, and death. Purity seemed fragile to Leonel, to perhaps more people also, but Purity often him reminded of crystal ornaments, shiningly bright, ethereally wonderful, and scarily volatile.

Glass ornaments that belonged, protected, in their glass cabinets, out of reach and out of exposure to the outside world.

Purity never had a chance to exist in a glass cabinet, safe and secure from threat.

Now the threat was knocking on their door.

However, his wishes came true.

A soft, blue-coloured wispy smoke emerged from his chest, spreading out rapidly across him and his friends. It outwardly condensed into a thin yet impenetrable surface that blocked the incoming projectile, and their supernatural forces balanced out to leave normal air within that area of atmosphere again. Leonel was thrown back as the white orb impacted with his constructed barrier, crashing to the ground of bark and soft shrubbery.

As his friends rushed over, Leonel looked down at his hands in disbelief.

What was that power?

What had he become? And did it have anything to do with the explosion?

"How did you?—" Juno stammered, looking at Leonel like he was an alien himself. Maybe that wasn't even inaccurate to suggest. But Leonel felt human, and normal in every way.

"Come on," Kate began, "we need to get back to the others. I fear we might be in threat of danger out here in the open."

Her friends agreed, closely following her as they walked up the hill, tightly bunched for fear of another orb thrown out of nowhere.

Their false confidence in their security was soon to be undermined, in fact, it only took from the outskirts of the forest to the location where the alien spaceships once were. That was when everyone's safety was invaded.

They didn't even have time to alert Crawford and Lorentz of the events they had just witnessed.

The alien flagship. The glowing orb. The explosion from their perspective. The smaller magical energy bullet. Leonel's defensive shield. His magic?

Before they could all recount their events of the last hour, they came.

They surrounded the Science Protection Units.

Humanlike figures, barely recognisable shadows of darkness, could be observed in every direction around them. By the trees, in the grassy area to the other side, and by the rocks over there. They appeared like ghosts or spirits, but they did seem like mortal beings in some capacity.

They were surrounding them, poised to attack—Aliens were surrounding them, with intentions of war and destruction.

Leonel looked up at the sky one last time. He couldn't comprehend the absurdness of what had just happened.

The supernatural was real.

The first battle with aliens was about to begin.