Rachael Slept.

It was the only respite she could get, given the day's activities.


She had a very peculiar dream,
in the dream Sir Alex eventually died and she had to bury him,
she really cried a lot but her hunger was becoming a bigger problem by the day,
she expected Ahmid to come but eventually he disappointed.


She tried to find food to eat, but most of the times
her options were either, Vultures, Venomous Snakes, Lizards, Tarantulas and Scorpions,
not very palatable choices and besides she couldn't make a fire which meant that she would have to eat them raw, assuming she caught them first.


Every animal she hunted was either too fast to catch or too venomous, some of the animals were also trying to kill her.


Eventually as she was hunting she entered a bush,
looking for any animal that was hiding beneath,
she didn't find anything,
but what did find her however was a deathstalker scorpion, it was taking a shade from the sun and was not happy about the human interrupting its rest, so it stung her.


Rachael felt a quick jab, like a hypodermic needle
being injected into her ankle.


And then she saw it, it was a tiny yellow scorpion with a transluscent exoskeleton,
it was slowly walking away from her, she checked her ankle and saw the tiny red mark made by the scorpion's sting.


Immediately her knees felt weak, she felt the venom spreading through her body, she tried to walk but she couldn't feel her legs, she realized the venom was paralyzing her, she felt very dizzy.

She fell down and hit her head.
She was bleeding seriously.

So, she started crawling with her arms, very soon
she couldn't feel her arms, she was paralyzed from the neck downwards, then she saw in the distance a couple of vultures flying towards her, they were not going to wait until she was fully dead.

Right then she blacked out.


"Rachael, Rachael . . . wake up"

Rachael heard a familiar voice calling her.

She opened her eyes and standing right in front of her was Sir Alex Walker,
Standing and clutching his left lower abdomen.


"Rachael its me."

He streched his hand towards her,
"Its time to go home."

The image of Sir Alex standing in front of her jolted her awake.

"Sir, you're alive!!!"

She was so overcome with joy that she gave him a
bear hug,
"Sir, i'm so glad you're alive."

Sir Alex replied, visibly in pain.
"Ow . . . Rachael, watch the abdomen."

Rachael retreated,
"Oh, i'm sorry Sir, that was quite inappropriate of me."

"Don't worry, its just that my wound hasn't fully healed, might take a few hours for that to happen though."

Rachael's earlier smile disappeared gradually, and a look of confusion took its place.
"Sir, i'm very happy that you managed to survive,
but how are you still alive, your vitals were extremely low the last time i checked."

Sir Alex appeared to be thinking deeply,
"Yes, about that . . ."

"My recovery seems miraculous, almost impossible, there seems to be some strong Magic at work."

Rachael looked surprised,
"Strong Magic?!!!"
"I mean, i'm pretty average at doing Magic, and you haven't thought me any healing spells."

Sir Alex Nodded,
"That's true."

Sir Alex, now visibly perplexed, asked,
"Did you by any chance come across a small vial
with the label "Healing Potion" written on it?"


She remembered now, he was referring to the
little vial she took from his briefcase, a briefcase
which he had explicitly told her not to open, he had even locked it with a 3-dial combination lock.


She wondered whether she should tell him the truth or just lie,
telling him the truth means she is definitely going to be punished,
if she lied to him, she might get away with it, but if he found out later it would destroy the trust he had for her,
she finally decided the sanctity of their relationship was not worth sacrificing.


She decided to confess.

"Sir, I have something very important to tell you."

Sir Alex tilted his neck,
"Um . . . what's that?"

She replied,
"First of all Sir, i would like to tender an apology,
what i am about to say may greatly offend you."

"How so?", he asked.

She took a deep breath of fresh air,
"Okay, here goes nothing."
"So after your fight with the giant,
you were badly injured and in need of medical attention, i didn't know how to help you, so i started searching for anything that could help,
like a first aid kit."

She paused.

Sir Alex looked interested,
"Go on, i'm listening."

"Okay, so i was looking for first aid matetials, and i
couldn't find anything, so i went to the back of the
booth."

Sir Alex raised up his hand to interrupt her,
"Rachael dear, could you please speed up your
confession?"

Rachael nodded,
"Yes Sir."

She took a very deep breath,
"Okay so what I am basically trying to say is that
I opened your briefcase, took a bottle labelled
"Healing Potion", and applied it to your wounds,
i wasn't sure it was going to work, but now that
i saw that it worked,
I want to apologize for opening your briefcase,
you have warned me severally not to open it
and i am very sorry for disobeying your order."

Rachael was trying so hard to hold back her tears.

Sir Alex listened patiently, then he gave his verdict;

"Rachael, the only reason why i told you not to open
my briefcase is simply for your own safety, i know
that there are certain things in that briefcase that you
should never come in contact with, but you did
open the briefcase and in so doing managed to save
my life, and for that you have my gratitude."

Rachael looked relieved,
"Phew, for a moment there i thought i was going
to get punished."

Sir Alex's tone became more serious,
"But, this is only an exception, and i hope it will always remain so."

Rachael nodded,
"I understand Sir, I'll never do it again."

Sir Alex looked at his watch, it was 9:00 pm in the
morning, the sun was already shining, and it was
only going to get hotter, in the distance they could
see a desert snake slowly crawling, looking for its
early morning meal.

Sir Alex looked at the snake crawling in the distance and said,
"Okay, we have to get out here."

Rachael asked,
"How are we going to to that, the car's fuel tank is
empty.

Sir Alex smiled,
"Well we're going to . . ."

"Ring Ring Ring. . ."

Sir Alex checked his phone, the name read "Taskmaster"

"Hello, Mr Henry DuBois how is your morning."

Mr Henry replied,
"Well, that depends."

Sir Henry looked confused,
"What do you mean?"

"How well my morning goes will depend on you
delivering me the artifact, if for some reason you
were unable to bring me the artifact, my entire
morning would indeed be ruined."

"Oh, i understand, but i promise to deliver you the artifact no matter what happens,
and trust me, i always keep my promises."

"Well said Sir Alex, well said"

Mr Henry Continued,
"Okay, meet me at the rendezvous point in the
next 57 minutes."

"Will do."

"Oh, and Sir Alex. . ."

"Yes?"

"Please don't screw this up."

Mr Henry promptly cut the call without letting Sir Alex reply.

Sir Alex gave his phone to Rachael, took the car keys,
he went to the back and change his blood stained
clothes to something cleaner and fresh smelling.

It was a simple T-shirt and Black Jeans.

"It feels nice to be wearing clean clothes again"
"Rachael, you should also change to something nice,
you will find some of your clothes in the blue bag."

"Okay Sir, i'll be done in a minute."

Sir Alex went to the front seat of the car and waited for Rachael to dressup,
while sitting in the front seat he saw a piece of rock and a jar on the ground,
he picked up the rock, it was lukewarm in, he saw the jar, read the symbol written on it and knew that there was an entity trapped inside.

CHAPTER 6
MAGIC'S DARK SECRET


He called out,
"Rachael, Rachael . . ."

"Give me just a second Sir, i'm almost done."

Sir Alex waited, a minute later she showed up.

She wore a simple sleeveless top, and a pair of trousers.
She dressed her hair back and tied it in a bundle.

When she arrived she could see Sir Alex holding the jar and examining it.
"Oh, that right there is the jar I used to trap the giant."
Rachael said, visibly happy with herself.

Sir Alex looked at her suspiciously.

"How did you manage such a wonderful feat?"

Rachael explained in dramatic fashion,
how she subdued and trapped the giant,
not once, but twice, and how the giant might
be controlled with the rock that was its heart,
although she hadn't figured that out yet.

Sir Alex listened attentively, then he said,
"I'll have to admit, i'm quite impressed,
you are getting more proficient at using magic,
i'm really proud of you."

Rachael blushed.

She always hated it when that happened, people
always told her it made her look silly, but she
did not know how to turn it off so she usually
lowered her head to avoid embarrassment.

Sir Alex saw Rachael's face change colour,
he was surprised, but he did not want to embarass her so he didn't mention it.

After a few seconds, Rachael regained her composure, then she said,
"Sir i would like to ask you a very important question, and although the question may offend you and for that i apologize in advance, but i feel it is a very important question."

Sir Alex Replied,
"Go on."

"Okay, here goes."
Rachael took a deep breath.
"Sir, why is it that you are reluctant to use your powers?"
"Why didn't you use Magic when fighting the giant, you could have ended the fight simply by using your powers and walk away unharmed."

Sir Alex listened to her, then he waited a few seconds and then replied,
"My dear Rachael, the problem lies not in my
avoidance of Magic, but in the nature of Magic itself."

Rachael was trying to make sense of his answer.

"Sir, i don't understand."

Sir Alex gestured towards the passanger's seat.
"You may want to sit down for this one."

She sat down and Sir Alex Began his explanation
"There is something i did not tell you when i started teaching you Magic."

"What's that Sir?"

"Well you see, Magic has a very dark secret, a secret every beginner, apprentice and dabbler should know."

Rachael was very interested, she wanted to know
what this "dark" secret about Magic was.

Sir Alex continued,
"The source of all Magic is life energy, whether from humans, animals or plants.
Whenever you perform Magic you are taking energy from the surrounding lifeforms or in most cases from your own Soul, and you are redirecting that energy outwards to manifest wonderful results by temporarily suspending the laws of nature, emphasis on the words temporarily.

Rachael nodded.

Sir Alex took a deep breath,
"What this means is that anytime You, Me or anyone for that matter uses Magic, the source of the Magic comes from within their own Soul, Prolonged use of Magic over a person's Life will drastically shorten their Lifespan."

"Rachael, all I am trying to say is that, anytime you
use Magic, You are slowly but surely killing Yourself."

Rachael gasped,
"You mean I have been gradually committing suicide all this while?"

Sir Alex Nodded,
"Yes you have."
"But it gets even darker."

Sir Alex took a deep breath,
"What I am about to tell you is well known among
advanced Magicians, this is going to be a real turning point for you and if you feel the need to quit, I would understand and respect your decision."

Rachael was very scared now, her heart kept beating faster, she curled both hands into a fist and tightened them to strengthen her resolve.

She said in a very frightened voice,
"Tell me everything."

Sir Alex continued,
"Ancient Magicians wanted to have all the powers and benefits that come from being able to use Magic without having to worry about living a short life.

They knew of the side effects of Magic,
especially its life shortening aspect,
so they sought to remedy and overcome this limitation.



One night they came together and discussed this problem,
and their solution was a Magical item called a
Power gem, a precious stone that has been specially prepared and imbued with Magical properties such as absorbing life energies and releasing it when a spell is uttered.
These magical gems could be worn either as a necklace or a ring and spells could be performed with it.

Each gem had special properties.

A green gem drew life energies from plants
and was used by beginner level Magicians.
While the red gem drew life energies from animals and was used by more advanced Magicians.

The most advanced gem however was the blue
gem, also know as the soul gem,it drew life energies from the human soul,
its Magic was so powerful that it was only used
by the Most Elite Magicians.

While the green and red gem required you to be in the proximity of a plant or an animal to use magic,
The blue gem was able to absorb life energy in close proximity, store that energy for future use and also release that energy when a spell is uttered,
this meant that certain Magicians practiced a lot of human sacrifices, they would kill a person and
as that person's soul was leaving its body, the
blue jem would absorb it and such a soul would
be trapped and its life energy used as a source of
magic.

Hot tears streamed down Rachael's cheeks.

You could say that Magic is the art of Soul Trading, it is the art of Sacrificing Your own or someone's else's soul for the sake of Magical Powers.
Because at the end of the day that is what it really is.

Rachael had listened patiently to all of Sir Alex's
explanations, she thought very deeply about the
situation.

Sir Alex gave her time to think.

Just then they heard the sound of a truck behind them, Sir Alex looked back and saw that Ahmid was driving
towards his car.

He came out and observed the truck, it was the supply truck, as the truck kept driving closer Sir Alex felt relieved, for once their condition seemed to be improving.


The truck stopped and Ahmid stepped out, he went and greeted Sir Alex,
"Ah my good friend, i was afraid i would never see
you again."

Sir Alex asked,
"How did you survive the black swarm?"

Ahmid scratched his head,
"Well me and my men hid in the cabin."

"But I lost a lot of men.", said Ahmid with a tinge of sorrow in his voice.

Ahmid asked, "Where's Rachael?"

Sir Alex called out, "Rachael,
Rachael . . ."
He did not receive an answer.

Then, both Ahmid and Him went to meet Rachael,
she was sitting quietly in the passenger's seat,
she was thinking very deeply.

Sir Alex and Ahmid came to meet her where she was sitting, she appeared deep in thought and had lost all awareness of her surroundings.

Sir Alex came close to her and called her in a sing songy tone
"Rae - chael?"

She jolted back to life, obviously surprised that her
name was being called at such short distance.

"Sir, you scared the hell out of me."

"Don't worry, you'll be fine, also don't use the word "hell" in a casual manner, hell is a very real place,
a dimension, crawling with endless hordes of demons."

"On a lighter note Mr Ahmid is here, and he's brought the supply truck."

Mr Ahmid was standing behind Alex, but as soon
as Rachael heard that Ahmid was around, she
furiously leapt out of the car,
She went to meet Sir Ahmid and challenged him.

She pointed a finger at him,
"You!!!"

Sir Ahmid smiled at her,
"Now, that's not the welcome greeting I was expecting."

Sir Alex looked at her in surprise,
"Rachael, what has come over you?"

Rachael for once refused to answer Sir Alex's questions, she kept on challenging Mr Ahmid,
"You refused to help us, when we needed it."

Sir Ahmid replied,
"Are you seriously blaming me?, I lost men, good men out there, I saw how painful and excrutiating their death was and there was nothing anyone could have said that would have convinced me to go out at night when the black swarm was still out."


Sir Alex chuckled,
"Hm, black swarm."
Everyone seemed to have accepted the name.

Both Rachael and Ahmid ignored him, they simply
continued their argument,


Rachael just wanted an apology from him but she wasn't going to get it,
"I cried and begged, but still you refused to help us, you left us for dead."

Ahmid smirked, spread his arms and looked around in pretentious seriousness,
"Well, i don't see any dead people here, which means that if i had risked my life trying to save you both, I would have simply been wasting my time on a suicide mission."

Ahmid paused for a few seconds, he seemed to be remembering something important, then he asked in a very calm tone.
"You know i was thinking- -"

Rachael interrupted him,
"Oh, this should be interesting, another excuse."
Rachael folded her arms in a defiant gesture, her
eyes were very fierce.


Ahmid simply ignored her intrusion and continued,
"When you called me for help I asked you, how did you survive the black swarm that was chasing
you?,
how did you manage to avoid getting killed?,
don't get me wrong I am very happy to see both
of you alive, but still that doesn't answer the question,
how did you survive the black swarm?"

Rachael replied,
"Its
A
Very
Long
Story."

Ahmid nodded,
"One I am very interested in."

They stared at each other for half a minute, Sir Alex did not intervene, he loved studying people when they were under stress, he believe that extreme situations could bring out the best and the worst in people, he believed that how people reacted to misfortune was a true test of their character, so for now he decided to merely observe.

Sir Alex rubbed his chin and thought to himself,
"Interesting, very interesting."



Rachael finally yielded,
"Fine, I'll explain it to you and if you find yourself
unable to believe anything I say, then there's nothing else I can do to convince you, the story might sound strange, even down right incredible, but I promise every word I say is true, so you have to listen attentively."


Ahmid replied swiftly,
"Oh I'm listening alright, I'm definitely listening."

Rachael explained the whole train of events in
painstaking detail, making sure to repeat important
points.

Rachael brought put the jar and showed him,
although she did not open it, she also showed him
the burn marks on her hand, it was already healing.

Ahmid was nodding all through the explanation.

After Rachael finished, she waited, she wandered
what Ahmid's response would be.

Ahmid appeared to be thinking deeply over Rachael's
words, a few minutes passed, then he came to a
decision,

"I don't believe some parts of your story."

"Which part?" She asked.

"The part where you trapped the sand giant not once
but twice, I don't believe anyone could be that fortunate, growing up as a kid I would hear my elders tell wonderful and fantastic tales about supernatural
creatures, some terrible, some fantastic and some
mystifying."

He paused, then continued,
"One of the most fascinating and terrifying tales I
heard as a child, it speaks of demonic shapeshifting
creatures called Djinn, they were known to kill their
victims and take on their appearance and memories, and live with the victims families without them knowing, and then when they are sleeping it disrupts and corrupts all good dreams, leaving nothing but nightmares, and it feeds off of the negative.energy produced thereby."

Ahmid paused for a few seconds, he looked up in thesky then turned his gaze towards Rachael,
Rachael was quite annoyed that he stopped.
"And then what?", She asked.

Ahmid continued
"The victims usually end up being driven insane in a few months, when every one in the family is already insane, the djinn moves on in search of another victim.
One of the best ways to detect a djinn was to
make them bleed a little, as the blood drops you
will notice it is not the red colour we are accustomed
to, it is actually black, probably the blackest substance
you will ever see, it was the colour of evil."


Rachael looked perplexed,
"Where are you heading with this story?"

Sir Alex slowly brought out a pocket knife and unfolded
it, the knife glistened in the sunlight.

Sir Ahmid looked at the knife as he replied,
"I believe one of you here is a djinn, that has impersonated the real victim, and i would like to
find out who, starting with you Rachael.

"Whoa, hold on, are you nuts?",
Sir Alex Interrupted

Ahmid responded quickly, "Oh, don't worry, my men and I have had our blood checked, the results confirms that we are all human, so its time for you both to undergo that test."

Sir Alex bent down, he packed some desert sand in his right hand and said,
"The creature that attacked us is a sand giant, a creature capable of manipulating all types of sand including desert sand," as he talked, he let the sand slip from his fingers, the sand particles glistened like gold dust at sunlight.
"So just drop the knife, forget this idea about hunting djinns and we can all go home."


Sir Ahmid narrowed his eyes,
"That is exactly what a Djinn would say, Djinns are
known to be very deceptive, but don't worry I won't cut too deep."

He looked at Rachael and started walking slowly
towards her, her heart jumped, she looked at
Ahmid, her hand tightened on the jar,
"If you you dare come any closer I will open this jar and end this madness right here, right now."

Ahmid ignored her warnings stepinng ever closer and closer, Rachael was about to open the jar when,

"Ring, Ring, Ring..."

It was Sir Alex's phone that was ringing, he looked at the screen and saw "Taskmaster".

Sir Alex checked his watch, it was 10:24PM.
The meetup time was 10:00PM.

Ahmid was still approaching Rachael very slowly,
Rachael was trying to open the Jar, Sir Alex quicly ran in between them, he stretched his arm forward as if to separate them,
"I don't know what's wrong with you Ahmid, but you have to stop this madness, what ever test you want to take you can take it after i finish this call."

Ahmid backed off a couple of steps, he put his
knife inside his pocket,
"Very well then, make your phonecall."

Sir Alex nodded he looked at Rachael,
She understood immediately and put the Jar inside the car.

All the while the phone was still ringing, Sir Alex looked at Ahmid and Rachael, they both nodded in agreement,
"I glad to see that we all agree." Mr Alex said as he picked up his call,

He heard the calm but angry voice of Mr Henry DuBois,

"Sir Alex, I would love to congratulate you."

Sir Alex knew Mr Henry was angry, but he chose to play along,

"Congratulate me on what Sir?"

"I would love to congratulate you on breaking your promise, you said you would be here at the agreed time, but I am right here at the agreed location, I don't see you neither do I see the artifact, you have managed to screw up yet another one of our meetings."


Mr Henry spoke with the voice of a Man that had experienced similar incidents several times, his
voice was calm but slighty weary.

"First, I want to ask you, do you still have the artifact?"

Sir Alex went to the back of the booth, he opened it and saw the silver box containing the artifact,
he breathe a sigh of relief
"Yes, its still in one piece."

"Good then what are you still waiting for hmm?"
"What is stopping you from driving to the agreed location, delivering me the artifact, I inspect the artifact, if its the real deal we close the deal, we shake hands and you get paid, I mean its not actually the most difficult task in the world, its so easy even a monkey could do it."

"Ouch", Sir Alex thought, he knew there was an slur in there somewhere, but he kind of expected it, Mr Henry was very indirect with his insults.

Mr Henry kept on talking,
"The worst part of all this is not you getting the remaining half of your payment, its the fact that
non of the workers are going to get paid, not even
a dime, so your actions will have a negative effect
on those you are working with."

Sir Alex tried to explain,
"Its not entirely my fault, the artifact's guardian was
a sand giant and a very powerful one at that, I nearly
died while fighting it."

Mr Henry laughed, it was a deep roaring laughter that
pointed to how ridiculous Sir Alex's statements were,
"Alex, that is a very poor attempt at an excuse if I've
ever heard one, so you're telling me that one of the
most skillful and cunning magicians I've ever known
couldn't deal with a sand giant?"

Sir Alex didn't reply,

Mr Henry's eyes widened in realization,
A very strange thought occured to him,
"Don't tell me you tried to fight a sand giant without
using your powers."

Again Sir Alex did not reply, Mr Henry Sighed and shook his head in disappointment;
"Look Alex, Olivia's gone, no amount of brooding, guilt,
or remorse will bring her back."

"You are a Magician, and in this profession, stupid decisions get severely punished,
if you keep on taking reckless and
thoughtless actions, you are going to get yourself
killed, and believe it or not I am going to miss your
exceptional skill and expertise,
so for both of our sakes,
get over this depression,
start using your powers properly and let everything go back to the way it used to be.

Stop dancing with the angel of death."

Sir Alex Nodded,
"I understand what you are trying to say, but its very
complicated, I have very strong reasons for not using
the soul ring."

A gust of wind blew past Sir Alex, some sand particles
entered his eyes, he wanted to curse but remembered
that he was on a phonecall


Mr Henry replied, his tone was very stern
"Alexander James Walker, stop giving excuses!!!"

Sir Alex knew that anytime Mr Henry called his name
in full, he was deadly serious, but more importantly
he was talking to Sir Alex not as agent, but as a
friend.

Mr Henry Continued, but this time his voice was very
low and calm, he made sure to enunciate his words,
"Alex, since when I have known you, you have always
been driven by a Desire For Wealth and Comfort,
so you became a Magician for hire, started going
on dangerous missions, you always delivered, you
always succeeded, and as a result you made a lot
of money from your successes, enough money to
live the life you've always wanted, but for some reason
you refuse to retire and live a normal life like you've
always wanted, why is that hmm?"


Sir Alex knew they were going to have this conversation some day, but he felt this was not
the best time to discuss,

"Not now Mr Henry."

"You can't escape from it thus time Alex, we need to have this conversation right now."

Sir Alex took a deep breath, he knew that when Mr Henry insists on something, he never backs down.

"You're right, I don't do it for the Money, at least not
anymore,
I do it because,
I LOVE IT,
I love the taste of adventure, I love to discoverthe earth's hidden treasures, I love battling Nightmare entities, I love using magic in new and unique
ways, but most of all I love to venture into the unknown."

"The lifestyle of a Magician is not one you easily
turn back from, its exciting, mysterious, full of danger
and all sorts of surprises, being a Magician is the
most exciting Job in the world."

Mr Henry lowered his head and shook it in disappointment,
"Alex, open your eyes, you are at the peak of your career and after the peak, comes the inevitable decline, you aren't going to be a highly rated magician all the time, one day you are going to go on a mission and you won't return, I've seen it happen to veteran Magicians, magicians that can't leave that life behind and just live like normal people, they always die on the Job, probably killed by some monster or demon.
But, you .... you have the chance of a life time, when you complete this mission and get paid, you are going to be so rich that you won't need to work a day in your life, I think its time for you to call it curtains and retire."


Mr Henry cleared his throat,
"Speaking of completing your mission, I think its time you did just that, I don't know where you are, but in less than an hour I want that artifact delivered to me,
The heat in this desert is terrible and I want to wrap this up as soon as possible."

Sir Alex replied,
"Oh, don't worry I'm on my way right . . ."

- - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"now"


Mr Henry cut the call without letting Sir Alex complete his sentence,
he was always did that as a way of letting Sir Alex know he was upset with him.
And it worked, it always annoyed Sir Alex, it was one of those passive agressive attitudes that greatly annoyed Sir Alex.



Sir Alex tightened his hand on his phone.
"F***ing bastard, he did it again, he knows how much I hate that, but he still does it nonetheless."


Both Sarah and Ahmid listened to the whole conversation, they both knew that their mission
was nearly complete, all that remained was delivering the artifact.



Ahmid looked up in the sky, it was very clear and there wasn't any clouds available.
"So this is it, this is the end of our mission."

Sir Alex replied,
"Yep, this really is the end, and by the way we need to stock up on supplies like food and water."

Ahmid nodded,
"Right, but before I do that, I really, really need to take your blood samples."

Rachael raised her arms in frustration,
"Come on, you can't actually be serious, I thought
we've gotten past that."

Ahmid laughed hysterically, his laugh was tinged with pain and sadness,
"You don't get it do you?"

"Those men that died today, to you they may be workers, but to me they are more than that, to me they are family, I've known some of those men for the better part of 17 years and I can't throw all that away all for some paltry sum of money,
No, I have to avenge them and it starts with me killing whatever supernatural creature is responsible for their deaths, when I take your blood samples and find out that neither of you is a djinn, then I will believe your story and I will take the jar open it and kill whatever alleged demon is trapped in there, I don't know how I am am going to do it but, I will avenge my brothers."

Sir Alex looked at Ahmid and nodded his head in pity,
"You've really lost your marbles."



Ahmid had dark circles under his eyes, he had not slept at all in the last 24 hours, he had not eaten either, and he still was shell shoked by the gruesome death of his workers as a result he was having a small nervous breakdown.

He held out his pocket knife and unlocked it, the silver knife glistened as it reflected the sun's rays.
He looked at both Rachael and Sir Alex through tired eyes and asked,

"So, which one of you wants to go first?"

Sir Alex raised his right hand, and pointed at himself,
"Me, I'm gonna go first."

Rachael looked at him in surprise,
"Are you serious?"

She folded her arms and scoffed,
"You're not really considering it are you?
you're just joking."

Sir Alex looked at her, he walked towards her and
whispered something into her ear, immediately her eyes widened, she smiled, looked back at Sir Alex and said,
"Okay, go for it."



Sir Alex turned back and looked at Ahmid,
"I'm ready."

Ahmid nodded in approval and smiled it wasn't a nice bright smile but a devilish one.
"You have made an excellent choice Mr Alex,
Now lets finish this."

Sir Alex raised his index finger,
"I will let you sample my blood but before I do that, I need to tell you a story, its a very intriguing story, its about a dog I once had, it happened . . . "

Ahmid raised his hand in a "STOP" gesture,
"I am not interested in whatever tales or fables you are trying you cook up, I just want a sample of your blood, that's all."

"I know, I know, you just want my blood, but if you don't listen to my story, I won't give you my blood."


Ahmid's countenace immediately changed, it was masked by pure rage, he was thinking of taking the blood by force, but he saw he was clearly outbumbered, it was 2 against 1, and if Sir Alex was indeed a djinn, his physical strength would be superhuman, and Ahmid did not fancy a test of strenght against a djinn, especially when he was hungry and sleep deprived, so he had to make Sir Alex submit his blood willingly.



"Okay fine, I'll listen to your story, but if this is a ploy to prevent me from taking your blood, I just want you to know that you have failed even before you began."

Ahmid Yawned, to him the story was unneccessarily.long and boring, it had almost put him to sleep, almost, but if that was the plan then Sir Alex had failed terribly.




He looked at Sir Alex through tired eyes, he gave him a round of applause,
"That was good story, a very good story, it nearly had me tearing up, but now storytime is over and its time for me to take your blood."


Ahmid brought out his knife and walked slowly towards Sir Alex while brandishing the knife,

Sir Alex stretched forth his arm,
"Get on with it, but don't spill too much blood."


Ahmid replied,
"Don't worry, this will be over in a jiffy."

Ahmid raised his knife and was about to pierce through Sir Alex's skin, but Sir Alex stopped him,
"Wait, I forget something."

Ahmid growled in frustration,
"What now?"

Sir Alex looked to be trying to remember something important, then he looked at Ahmid,
"You've got some sand in your hair, here, let me help you dust it."



Sir Alex raised his hand, he helped Ahmid dust away the sand that was on his hair, and there was quite a bit of sand clinging to Ahmid's hair.

Ahmid was reluctant,
"Hey, wait, don't touch my hair."

It might have seemed trivial and annoying to Ahmid but to Sir Alex it was a small but important misdirection, he saw his chance and he took it, as he was about to finish, he took his thumb, applied slight pressure at Ahmid's forehead and whispered,
"NightFall"

The spell worked immediately, sending Ahmid into a state a DeepSleep, Ahmid was about to fall down, but Sir Alex caught him and lay him down gently.


The most important part of a sleeping spell was making sure that the victim, did not fall down on a
hard surface because if they did, they might have
head injuries such as a skull fracture.

Rachael ran towards them, she looked astonished,
"Sir, what have you done to him, I hope he's still alive."

Sir Alex looked at her and replied,
"Remember when I told you I had a plan?"

Rachael nodded.

"Well this is part of my plan, I simply cast a spell that put him to sleep for about an hour, but given his sleep deprived state he might spend a longer time sleeping.


Sir Alex took Ahmid's phone from his pocket and
set the alarm to 1 hour, just in case the spell worked better than expected.

He put the phone back in his pocket.




Rachael folded her arms, she did not look happy about the current situation,
"So what now?"
"Are we going to leave Mr Ahmid stranded in the desert."


Sir Alex looked at her in surprise,
"Not at all, we are taking him with us, you can help me carry him to the back of the truck and put him in the trailer, and while we are at it, we can get supplies such as food, water and also some fuel for my car."



They carried him to the back of the truck, but they saw the supplies stacked high and they knew that when they started driving some goods may fall on Ahmid and injure him so they brought him to the front of the truck instead and sad him down in the cabin, although he was still fast asleep.



Sir Alex closed the door, and rubbed his hands together,
"Okay, next we stock my car with some water and food supplies."

They did just that.


Sir Alex looked around trying to remember something important, he raised his index finger as he exclaimed,
"Oh, right, our car needs fuel."




He entered the trailer where supplies were kept, he searched relentlessly for a Fuel container and he finally found not one, but two 5 litre containers
filled with petrol, he also saw a suction pump, lying beside the left container.

Sir Alex was overwhelmed with joy,
"Our fortunes have been turned around."


Rachael was inside his car, she was very hungry and was eating as much as she could.


Sir Alex took a 5 litre container, with the siphon pump, he transferred three fourth of the liquid content into his bentley, after he was done he returned the supplies back to the trailer.



He went to meet Rachael and told her,
"Alright Rachael, you drive my car and I drive the truck, and you follow beside me, okay?"




Rachael simply nodded,
She couldn't talk because her mouth was filled with food, she was eating wheatbread with strawberry jam and it tasted very delicious, Rachael had good genetics when it came to her weight because as far as she could tell, she could eat as much food as she wanted and she wouldn't gain any weight, she would still look slim and healthy, binge eating was a secret pleasure she indulged in when she was alone, it was her way
of coping with stress and frustration.

CHAPTER 7
THE FINAL BATTLE


Sir Alex entered the car, he told Rachael,
"Follow closely beside me."


Rachael started the Bentley, but she didn't move yet, she was waiting for Sir Alex.


Sir Alex also ate some food before he started moving,since his Magical recovery from his injury, he hadn't eaten anything, he decided to some sauced beef, sausages, mixed with ketchup, mayonnaise all inbetween some oatbread, there were different varieties of bread in the truck, the oatbread was Sir Alex's favourite


After he finished eating his sandwich,
Sir Alex entered the truck,
Ahmid was sitting beside him but was fast asleep, Sir Alex brought out his Smartphone,
on it was a spyware app specifically designed by the M.E.A(Magical and Extranormal Affairs Agency), it works by helping magicians and agents keep track of each other's location whenever they were on a mission, the agency could also pinpoint their location wherever they where and track their progress.



It could be turned off by the owner whenever they wanted, but it was mandatory for Agents and Magicians to activate the app whenever they were
on a mission, it makes it easier for them to find each other should they ever get lost.



He opened the app,
he saw a red dot representing hiscurrent location, he also saw the green arrow representing the rendezvous point,
lastly, he saw the blue dot representing Mr Henry.
The blue dot was on top of the green arrow.


Which meant that Mr Henry was already at the meeting point and was still waiting for him.


The distance between Sir Alex and Sir Henry was
72.47 miles, he decided to drive at 70 miles per hour, and he told Rachael to do the Same



They drove side by side, their journey was "uneventful".

Just nothing but the sounds of 2 cars driving on
the desert sands.



When they arrived they saw a black jeep car, it was a Jeep Wrangler Sahara, 2022 edition, it looked very sleek and shiny, and it had very powerful wheels.


Inside the car were two men, in the driver's seat was Mr Henry, beside him was a tall, muscular man dressed in a suit and wearing sunglasses.

Both men spotted the Bently and the truck approaching towards them.

Mr Henry looked at the man beside him,
"All right Jack, its showtime."

Ayo13945:
There was a small town where strange things started happening. People started disappearing, and no one knew where they went. The town was filled with fear and panic.



One night, a group of friends decided to investigate the disappearances. They heard rumors of an old abandoned house on the outskirts of town, so they decided to check it out.






As they entered the house, they saw that it was filled with cobwebs and dust. Suddenly, the door slammed shut behind them, and they were plunged into darkness.



They heard strange noises and footsteps, but they couldn't see anything. The friends started to panic and realized they were not alone in the house.




They started to run, but no matter how fast they went, they couldn't escape. The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and they could hear the sound of ragged breathing. Suddenly, they stumbled upon a room, and they saw a figure in the corner, shrouded in darkness. They were too scared to move, and the figure started to approach them.




Just then, the friends woke up, realizing it was all a nightmare. But from that day on, they never spoke of the house or the strange figure again. The town still remained shrouded in mystery, and no one ever discovered what truly happened to the missing people.

The end.







A.I is Advancing Rapidly.


The Name of the A.I is...

ChatGPT.

AI already knows our deepest fears.

Draslo:

AI already knows our deepest fears.

The A.I is connected to the Internet, so anything
Information available on the internet is readily
available to the A.I .

Mr Henry and Jack came out of the car, they well well
dressed, with Mr Henry wearing a black Armani suit,
it looked very smooth and the fabric seemed to
have a certain lustre about it.
Mr Henry was also bald so he wore a tribly hat to
protect his head from the sun


Jack was also wearing his own black suit, he wore
wore sunglasses, he had darkbrown hair, 6 feet tall,
with a muscular build, he maintained extreme eyecontact during a conversation, he never seemed
to blink, which was why he always wore sunglasses.



They all came out and were now standing in front of each other, Sir Alex looked at the bodyguard and
asked,
"Who's the new guy."

Mr Henry quickly replied,
"Oh where are my manners?,"

He gestured towards his bodyguard,
"This is my trusted bodyguard, Jack Winterburn.
he is one of the most hardworking graduates to
come out of the International School of Magicians
and Sorcerers, he has been assigned to me by the
Agency, to be my bodyguard because I asked them
to give me a bodyguard that won't die easily anytime
I go on a Mission."

Sir Alex widened his eyes and nodded in agreement,
it was a very common complaints among agents
that their assigned bodyguards meet untimely ends,
so the agency was always working on how to solve
that problems, given that the bodyguards were tasked with protecting the agents from supernatural creatures, a very dangerous job indeed.



Most bodyguards were Magicians who could not
become Elite level magicians, but were still skillful
enough to do basic spells, so they get the lowest job
a magician can get, "A bodyguard".


Mr Henry continued his speech,
"You see, Jack here has special abilities."

Sir Alex gave him a puzzled look,
"Hmm, now why would you say that."

Mr Henry paused for a few seconds before he replied,
"Well you see, Mr Jack here is a Spellbreaker,
the first and only kind that has been discovered by the agency."

Sir Alex laughed, it was a very loud raucous laughter,
Sir Henry and Jack looked at each other for a few
moments and then they turned their gaze to
Sir Alex.


After Sir Alex finished laughing, he replied
"Forgive me if I don't believe you, but Spellbreakers don't exist, they are merely a myth told to young magicians by older magicians, my grandpa once told me one of those stories, hoping to scare me,but it didn't work, so no I don't believe the tales."



Jack looked at Sir Alex and walked towards him,
"Perhaps we've got off on the wrong foot, my name is Jack Wintetburn and Its a pleasure meeting you."

Jack stretched out his hand for a handshake,
At first Sir Alex was reluctant, there seemed to be
an air of mystery around Jack, but he shrugged
and thought "Its just an handshake."

They shook hands, but immediately Sir Alex felt
a jolt of static shock on his right hand, he looked
at his palm and he saw that it looked slightly red,
almost as if he had touched a hot pan.
But while the injury on his palm looked like a burn,
it didn't exactly feel like one, instead it felt icy and cold like he had a frostbite.



Sir Alex looked at Jack, and asked in an angry voice,
"What the hell just happened."


Jack looked unfazed, he had a very subtle smile on
his face,
"Oh you mean that?"
"Well it so happens that anytime I touch a magician they get an unpleasant sensation, and they also happen to lose their powers, albeit temporarily."



Sir Alex gazed narrowly at Jack,
"Is that a fact?"

Jack had a cocky smile on his face,
"Absolutely."

Sir Alex stretched forth his left hand, Jack looked
at him but remained calm and unfazed, then Sir Alex uttered the spell,
"Flambé."

It was a prank spell that Sir Alex had designed in his Early days as a magician, the spell set people's hair on fire.

Rachael and Mr Henry looked on in anticipation,
but nothing happened.

Jack tilted his head to the left with a smug look on his face.
"Told you."

Sir Alex was angry, but for the first time he had encountered a real spellbreaker and beneath that
anger was a trace of fear, he thought to himself,
"How is a Magician supposed to fight someone like him?"


"Fine, you've made your point, now give me back my powers."


It was Jack's time to laugh, but his laugh was more
of a chuckle,
"I'm sorry, but the only way for you to get back your powers would be for me to stay far far away from you,
but that can only happen when the mission is complete,
My job is to protect everyone from
mystical threats."



"Well in that case then," replied Sir Alex,
he went to the his car, opened the boot and brought out the silverbox containing the godsphere, he took a pen and a piece of paper and scribbled something on it, then he walked towards Mr Henry and Showed him
the silver box.


Mr Henry rubbed his hands together as Sir Alex handed him the silverbox,
He traced his hand on the box's engravings, and
admired the craftmanship.
"Finally, our mission is complete."

"Come on Jack, its time to go."

They both turned back and were about to enter the Jeep then Mr Henry turned back,
"Lest I forget Alex, what is the keyword to open the box?,
No point having a box you can't open."

Sir Alex smirked,
"I thought you wouldn't remember."

"I must be getting too old for this Job", Mr Henry mused.

Sir Alex, brought out the piece of paper, he held it at eye level and gave it to Mr Henry who went on to read the whole paper.

"Oh, I see then."

He held the silverbox in front of him and said the keyword.

Immediately the box opened, Mr Henry widened his eyes as he saw the Silver artifact,
He took his phone and snapped images of the artifact and also different sections of the box, he sent it to agency's official app, as proof of confirmation that the mission was complete.



Mr Henry shook hands with Sir Alex,
"Once again, its been nice doing business with you."


They were about to go their separate ways,
Suddenly they heard the sound of shattered glass.
It came from Sir Alex's car.


Rachael looked at Sir Alex's car, she remembered the Jar that she trapped the giant in,
"No, this can't be happening."



For a few seconds, there was a feeling of apprehension in the air, everyone waited to see what would happen next, a cold breeze swept through the desert and everyone could feel it, which was quite strange given
that the sun was shining on the desert sands without the interruption of clouds.


The silence was defeaning, so defeaning that Jack's voice was almost jarring, even though he whispered,
"I sense some strong magic ahead.",
said Jack in a voice that was, for the first time filled with dread.




Suddenly the windshield shattered into a thousand pieces, as the black sand that made up Jazer-el-goza broke through the windshield with full force.



The sand particles moved in front of Mr Henry, and it tried to form itself but that was quite difficult, so it move further back and took its complete shape.

Jazer-el-goza spoke for the first time in 24 hours,
"Something is interfering with my powers."


Rachael, Sir Alex and Mr Henry all looked at Jack.

The sand giant also turned his attention to Jack,
"So, you are the one responsible for this",
he pointed at his body, as it kept on dissolving and forming again, which indicated that its magic was getting weak.


Jack felt uncomfortable that the giant was giving him its full attention.


The giant looked at Sir Alex's car, it sensed its heart somewhere at the back of the car, in the booth to be precise, so it stretched forth its hand trying to call it forth.

Rachael realized what it was trying to do, she started running towards Sir Alex's car trying to retrieve the heart befire the giant did,
but it was too late,
the heart melted through the booth and came out with incredible speed,
as Rachael was running she saw a
strange object heading towards her,
she quickly ducked, for it she did not do so, she would have had a hole right in the centre of her head.


The heart went straight to the giant,
as soon as the giant retrieved its heart,
the Magic interference stopped immediately,

Jazer-el-goza closed his eyes while trying to savour
the moment,
"Finally, i've gotten my powers back."


Sir Alex muttered,
"That doesn't sound very good."


The giant pointed at Mr Henry,
"I will ask you this only once,
return the godsphere and I may consider your lives worth sparing."

Mr Henry shook his head in defiance, and clutched the silverbox closer towards his body
"Over my dead body."

The giant smiled,
"Well, If that's your answer, then I'll be more than happy to oblige."

The giant looked up in the sky and pointed,

"It seems the vultures are going to have a large feast tonight."

Immediately the desert sands began to swirl towards Jazer-el-goza,
it started to get bigger as the sand
gathered towards it, first it reached a height of 15 feet, then 18 feet, then 20 feet, finally it reached a height of 27 feet, it was so huge the Rachael could easily see it at a distance,
as soon as Rachael saw the enlarged form of the Jazer-el-goza,
she ran inside Sir Alex's car and hid in the back seat, while hoping that the giant does not remember her.

"There is no way I am fighting that, I've run out of magical jars."
Just to be sure Rachael checked the car for any magical jars, but she could find none.
"Okay, that's it, I'm sitting this one out."



Mr Henry became overwhelmed with fear, he had encountered many mystical creatures before, but this one was focused on trying to kill him, ans it was freaking huge, so its success rate was very high.



For a moment he forgot about Jack's powers, he looked at him and ordered him to get inside the car, Mr Henry was also about to run, then he realized that his feet were stuck in the sand and he couldn't move them.


Jack ran towards the Jeep and sat in the passenger's seat, but he was surprised to see Mr Henry standing In the same spot unable to move his feet,
it appeared that the giant's magic was keeping Mr Henry Stuck.


Jack had been taught by the agency,
to obey every order given by his superiors but if he obeyed the order by staying in the car, Mr Henry would surely die,
if he disobeyed the order,
he would have to file it in his report and he would be heavily penalized for his actions.



The giant looked at Sir Henry as he was stuck,
"You have been abandoned by your friend, although I wonder why he was able to run on this sand, I have made it a deathtrap for anyone who steps on it."


Sir Alex tried to move his feet, but realized the giant was right, the sand was literally a deathtrap, one which he was sinking in by the moment.


He tried to perform a teleportation spell,
but couldn't move away because, Jack had temporarily suspended his powers, Sir Alex felt he was in real trouble this time.

The first time Sir Alex fought the giant, he had his powers but was unwilling to use them,
a stupid decision he admits,
but now its was reverse
now he wanted to use his powers, but was unable to use them due to Jack's interference.


Sir Alex muttered,
"Damn you Jack, I'll get you for this."


The giant looked down at Mr Henry, he looked so small and insignificant, for a brief moment the giant had sympathy for him,
"I will give you one last time to redeem yourself,
just drop the box in your hands and I will spare your life, refuse and I will grant you a quick death."

Mr Henry looked up at the giant, he felt a mixture of fear and defiance, like an ant looking up at the human that was about to step on it.
"There is no way I am giving up this artifact, I would rather die than fail a mission."


The giant shook its head in pity, it actually seemed offended,
"You take my mercy for granted,
you truly deserve to die."


The giant raised up its hand and was about to crush Mr Henry,
Mr Henry closed his eyes and spoke softly,
"I love you Emily."



The giant's hand came crashing down with such force that it could collapse a steel and concrete building.
Mr Henry expected death but all he got was a downpouring of sand,
he was lucky he closed his eyes,
it prevented sand from entering,
the sand kept on pouring and when it finished pouring,
he finally opened his eyes behind him was Jack, his face was scrunched in concentration, his right hand outstretched, he seemed to have saved Mr Henry by using his powers.



Everyone looked on in surprise, Rachael peeked at the events through the car window, she said to herself
"Why does he have such powerful Magic?"

Sir Alex had his mouth open, but became self aware and comported himself,
"How in the world did he do that?"
He wondered how Jack could pull off such a powerful Magic feat when he couldn't even do a simple teleportation spell.


Mr Henry looked at Jack,
"I never thought I'd say this, but thank you for
disobeying an order."

Jazer-el-goza was more shocked than anyone else,
whatever Jack had done had dissolved the sand on his right arm,
so it looked like it had been cut away,
it gathered more sand and regenerated its lost arm.


It looked at Jack and asked,
"I don't sense any magic coming from you, but yet
you are still able to stop my attacks, how are you
capable of such?"



Jack removed glasses and looked straight at the giant, his eyes looked black, like completely black
no white part at all, people found it creepy,
so he wore eyeglasses to look normal,
"Oh, Its not Magic, quite the opposite,
its a force that has been Predicted to nullify all Magic in existence,
Its Anti-Magic"

As soon as Jazer-el-goza heard Jack's explanation,
it started decreasing its size, it decreased its size
until it reverted to its normal size, which was still
quite huge when compared to an average sized
human.



Jazer-el-goza, looked sternly at Jack,
"Unbelievable, if I had been told that a weak and little human such as you would be the harbinger of death for all the Mystical beings on this planet, I would have laughed so hard it would have caused a giant sand storm,
but here you are, standing right in front of me."


Jack replied,
"Well, its nice to be recognized and all, but I really, really need you to set Mr Henry free."


Jazer-el-goza simply ignored him and continued talking,
"You pose a threat to my kind, I believe I owe it to all Mystical beings on this Planet
to make sure that you don't see today's sunset."

Jack laughed,
"Oh, I've been getting that a lot, I mean every Magical being I come in contact with usually sense my Interference and they always try to kill me, some even say I am here to destroy the world, but that is far from true, I am simply here to cleanse the world and purify it,
at least that's what my Master Says."


"Thats enough Jack, you're Revealing confidential
information, the Agency isn't very forgiving of
Information leaks."


Sir Alex looked suspiciously at Mr Henry,
"Is there something I am not being told here?,
I know the Agency keeps a lot of secrets, but this?
I feel this is something I should have been told,
Or is this one of the Agency's secret secrets?"



Mr Henry turned his head away,
"Now is definitely not the time Alex,
things are far more complicated than they seem, but all you need to know is that the Information you just received is way above your clearance level,
just act like you didn't hear anything, trying to dig deep into this will only lead you down a darker path."


Mr Henry knew that Sir Alex would not listen to him,
his curiousity would lead him to find out the truth and when he does,
he would be very pissed at the agency for hiding such information,
he might even gather up some Magicians to stop the event from happening,
but at this point no one could stop It.

In the new world that would emerge only the Agency would thrive.

Sir Alex smirked,
"It seems like I've got some research to do."


Mr Henry shook his head in disappointment,
"By the time you discover the truth Alex,
It would have been too late."



"Enough!!!"
Jazer-el-goza's voice boomed through the desert,
it startled everyone, most of whom had forgotten that they still had a sand giant to deal with up until now Jazer-el-goza had been quietly watching the three men having a conversation, It was trying to find out some useful information from one of them, but it discovered nothing useful.




Jazer-el-goza slowly raised his arms and as he did
so, the sand began to bubble underneath,
several shapes started to form,
gradually the sands morphed into 7 huge wolves,
each wolve stood a little over 5 feet tall, and their body was made entirely of sand,
but they looked hyper aggressive and their
claws and teeth had a crystal like sharpness.




Jazer-el-goza looked at the three of them, the wolves did not attack, not yet,
they were waiting for the instruction from their Master,
the air was filled with fear and apprehension,



Sir Alex was still sinking,
he was now waist deep in the sand,
he wondered how he was going to fight a bunch of giant wolves when he couldn't move or do Magic,


Mr Henry looked at the wolves, he clutched the silverbox tightly to his chest, he hoped this would
not be his last mission, he taught about his wife and two kids, would he ever see them again?


Jack narrowed his eyes and looked at the wolves,
he doubted whether he had enough power to completely neutralize such powerful magic.



Jazer-el-goza smiled cynically as he looked at them,
he enjoyed seeing humans fearful and anxious.
His voice was low and calm,

"Tear them to Pieces!!!"

The wolves ran at them,

Jack looked surprised,
"Why do I have five freaking wolves running straight at me?"


Jazer-el-goza looked at Jack and laughed, then his tone become more serious,
"Your powers make you far more dangerous than the other two, your death is . . .
neccessary."


As the wolves ran towards Jack,
He held his breath and stretched forth his two hands,
as soon as the wolves came a few feet within Jack,
they simply combusted and crumbled back to sand,
Jack breathe a sigh of relief,
he punched his right hand in the air,
"I did it."
"Take that,
sand demon."


Jazer-el-goza looked at Jack in pity and shook his head,
"You must be an amateur if you think this is over."
"That was simply a test to guage your powers and
you did fairly well, for a novice."


Jazer-el-goza slowly curled his hand into a fist and
the wolves reformed, this time they were even bigger than the last wolves,
they circled Jack, preparing to attack.


Jack looked far into the distance at Jazer-el-goza,
"Hey, this isn't fair, I can't continue fighting wolves
again and again, if this goes on I will soon run out of energy."


Jazer-el-goza nodded his head in agreement,
"That is precisely the point,
you pose a threat to all
mystical beings on this planet,
My aim is simply to assess how formidable of a threat you are, or at least kill you while trying to find out."



On the other side Sir Alex and Mr Henry were having
a tough time keeping the wolves at bay.


Jazer-el-goza perceived Sir Alex and Mr Henry to
be a lesser threat, so he assigned a lone wolf to each of them, but given their current conditions that was enough.





The wolf ran swiftly at Sir Alex, Sir Alex did not have any weapon on him so he made his right hand into a fist,
the wolf continued running at him,
Sir Alex steadied himself and he Punched as hard as he could,
for a few seconds it looked as if the punch had deterred the wolf, for it wasn't in a hurry to attack
Sir Alex.

There was a grave silence, Sir Alex felt a chill run
down his spine, there was a steady dripping of
blood, the blood mixed with the desert sands,
the wolf appeared to be chewing something,

Then Sir Alex tried to make a fist again, but he
couldn't not because he was scared but because,
his right hand was gone, the wolf had bitten it off
and swallowed it as soon as Sir Alex saw that he was missing a limb, the pain shot through his whole body, it wasn't physical as much as it was emotional.

Rachael who had been looking through the car window shuddered,
"Giant man eating desert wolves?"
"I really feel like I'm dreaming, and if I don't wake up soon, i'm going to die here."


Sir Alex thought to himself,
"I could have avoided all this misfortune if I had Just used my Powers when I first fought against the sand giant."
And just for a moment he regretted not using his power ring, it was indeed a foolish decision on his part.


Sir Alex was very angry he was angry at himself,
Mr Henry, the Agency, Jack, the Sand Giant, everyone except Rachael.

He wondered where Rachael was, he couldn't see her anywhere, he thought to himself,
"I hope she's safe wherever she may be."


Sir Alex was bleeding seriously, but that was the least of his problems, he needed to find a way to survive the man eating beast in front of him.

Mr Henry wasn't having much luck either,
The wolf ran at him, before he could even think about it he threw the silver box at the wolf hoping to slow it down,
the wolf dodged so the box didn't hit it,
which meant Mr Henry was completely vulnerable and exposed, he didn't have any weapon to fight with,
he didn't have any artifact to bargain with either.



He expected the wolve to be bearing down on him any moment from now, but instead the wolf turned back, it appeared to pick up something in-between its fangs
and took it to Jazer-el-goza.

Jazer-el-goza looked fown at the silverbox laid on its feet, it smiled, the smile reflected genuine satisfaction.

It said to the wolf,
"You have done well and surpassed my expectations."
Then its countenance changed immediaty, it pointed
at Mr Henry,
"Now, bring me his head."


The wolf turned back and stared aggressively at
Mr Henry from a distance, it started running at great speed towards Mr Henry, determined to give its Master a second prize.



Mr Henry looked at the wolf as it ran at him, he appeared to have been in shock, he didn't move or flinch he just watched, waiting for the inevitable.



The wolf had come close enough and it lunged at
Mr Henry bearing its crystal fangs, it aimed for his
head, just as it was about to take a bite, a powerful force overwhelmed it reverting it to a pile of sand.


The sand particles rained on Mr Henry, but since he was wearing a hat, he was protected from the fallout,
Mr Henry still stood in shock, unable to process what had just happened.


Sir Alex had a 3 pronged scratch on his chest, it appeared he had been badly injured by the other wolf, he was bleeding badly, and his shirt was bloodsoaked.


The wolf trying to kill him had disintegrated, and he appeared to have stopped sinking in the sand, but he was still stuck and needed help getting out, so he looked around and called out to Jack, but Jack refused to answer, he was crouched on the sand and he had his right hand on the desert floor, he appeared to be in a state of intense concentration, he didn't move an inch.



Mr Henry appeared to be staring into empty space when Sir Alex called him,
he was startled and looked to see where Sir Alex was,
he saw Jack and knew there was not much time left.


When He met Sir Alex he attempted to pull him out of the sand, but that was quite difficult, so he used his hands to dig away the sands until he was successfully
able to drag out Sir Alex.


As soon as Sir Alex came out he tried to stand but his legs were limp so he sat down.


Sir Alex searched for Jazer-el-goza, but he was nowhere to be found, the dark sand particles that made up its body were mounted into a heap,
on top of the heap stood the sand giant's heart,
and beside the giant's heart was the silverbox.



Sir Alex asked Mr Henry a single question,
"What's happening?"

Mr Henry who was breathing very deeply, answered in a ragged voice,
"I don't have time to explain,
but all I have to say is that
we need to find a way to defeat that sand giant in less than 3 minutes or we're all going to die."