It was fascinating to watch as his eyes opened slowly and oozed with power as their purple orbs shifted to gold and he declared, "SWORADA LA VE OPEANDA!"
A golden sword appearing in his grasp, and he pointed it up to the sky. As if the stormy sky had heard his call, a strike of bold, sparking thunder came directly down and struck his sword.
The metal weapon merely absorbed the attack like it wasn't dosed with enough power to destroy a row of mountains.
We watched in amazement as he pushed off the ground, which was left with the marking of a magic circle that began to grow in size ten fold.
The interior circles and stars began to spin quickly as he rose further up in the sky with his sword still raised up in the air.
Silver gestured for us to move back, and we quickly followed her nonverbal instructions as Star jumped to sit on my shoulder while Minx jumped up to sit on Lisette's shoulder.
We moved to stand at the very edge of the ice platform, watching the circle of intense magic begin to shift from black to a dazzling white.
Silver walked over to the cage where Alaric was - the true middle of the spinning magical force Yuriel was creating from above. I watched as she jumped up and summoned her wings from her back, but this time around, they weren't angel wings, but large dragon ones that were an intriguing purple to blue combo with teal scales that were wrapped with a golden essence.
What? She's...more than one type of shifter race? How is that possible?
The fact was that her magic level was off the charts, all the elements within her coursing with dramatic energy that I'd never seen or experienced before. Watching her inspired me while proving that there really was no limit in this universe when a woman like her could be some sort of elemental witch while having the abilities to summon angel and dragon wings.
She clapped her hands and began mumbling words of her own before she positioned her hands so that one was hovering over the other with a bit of space in between. It took me a moment to lock onto the silver chain she held with the top hand and the clear quartz crystal that hung at the end of the chain.
I soon realized that the item that began to spin in circles was a pendulum. Its clear quartz appearance began to be infused with flickering colors as Silver's eyes opened slowly.
"I call upon our universe to hear my plea. One from another universe has entered your divine lands and must return to pay for the sins he committed there. Restore what's been taken captive and lock this criminal's future chances of entering the world he once came from. Until he receives the fruit of justice he wholeheartedly deserves, he'll never return to the land he once knew!"
The crystal spun even faster until it was a dazzling swirl of rainbows as her hair whipped upward and pillars of color began to shoot out from behind us. Pillar after pillar, the ice platform was being covered with rays of light that got lost high in the sky.
Silver's body began to rise higher and higher, and our eyes locked one last time as she gave me a noble smile.
"Let justice be served as the Dark Kingdom continues to fall. Vela Na Ra Ve FREE!"
The intense command shot out a bright light that blinded all of us, and when it began to dim, Silver was gone, but we were now entrapped in the connected stream of light.
Just like that, time returned to its ticking nature, and a gasp of shock came from both men before Alaric looked over his shoulder to meet my eyes.
"J-Jade?" He seemed absolutely astonished by our sudden appearance - shock, relief, and fear all forming in his large eyes.
"W-What?! What is the meaning of this!"
I prepared myself for Charles’s shock as his head moved in multiple directions as if he were trying to determine how his entire environment had changed in what must have felt like a blink of an eye.
Shadow Jade was in front of me and ready with her scythe, while Ceil emerged out of spinning darkness and stood there calmly as Lisette and I remained close.
Charles spun around, his eyes looking at Alaric's predicament first before his wild gaze landed on us. The realization was practically instant as he took in our defensive stances and automatically assumed this was our doing.
"If you dare think I'll return to that universe, you have something coming your way!" he snapped and disappeared in a blur.
We went right into action, starting with me darting forward to head to Alaric's cage. The priority was to get him out and defend ourselves from Charles long enough to return to our world.
"Jade! Wait!" Alaric weakly screamed, but his warning only confirmed my growing suspicions that Charles would attack me first. I jumped into the air and summoned a gust of wind to lift me further up in time to miss the set of bullets that were clearly meant for me.
They hadn't come from in front but behind, which left me spinning right around in time to see the enraged man with his sharp fangs.
Shadow Jade was in front of me in seconds as black winds wrapped around her just as she lifted her scythe in a defensive position.
"KILL!" she screamed and I watched a spiraling mini tornado seem to shoot from a magic circle that appeared before her. It was an unexpected move, and it had Charles cursing and needing to evade the attack by moving sharply to one side.
"Wee!" Lisette came out of nowhere, darting straight for Charles and hitting his back with her closed umbrella. The impact was uncalled for as he went darting straight into the ice platform.
She twirled her umbrella before opening it up and being lifted by the summoned breeze.
"Time to save Papa Alaric!" she declared and looked at me. "Ceil! Keep Charlie Poo busy!"
Ceil, who was down below, bowed his head in understanding, and I watched as he tugged his glove off to reveal his hand, which began to glow an eerie dark blue.
"Me join. Kill!" Shadow Jade proudly declared and shot down to land right next to Ceil as they waited for Charles to recover from the impact that left the platform cracking.
"We have to hurry," I stressed to Lisette as I met her eyes. "This platform isn't going to last."
"I agree," she replied, and we raced towards the cage. "We're going to have to teleport Alaric somewhere, but it may be dangerous with us being in between universes!"
"Got any suggestions?" I asked as we reached the caged barrier but quickly stopped because of the sizing force that attempted to zap us due to our closeness.
"Jeez. Couldn't this just be a simple rescue mission?" Lisette groaned. "We gotta land, first."
We lowered to the ground and I quickly began to scan the cage for any type of lock or opening.
"You can't open it," Alaric breathed heavily. He really looked out of shape, and from his pale skin and dark circles under his eyes, I was secretly worried that he wouldn't be strong enough to survive being teleported.
"Alaric," I whispered. "We're going to get you out. Just hang in there for now."
"Bianca...” His quiet comment made fresh tears form in his eyes. "I failed her. She...she..."
"Is going to be fine!" I encouraged. "You can't give up on her. She'd be pissed as hell to think you're being a grown-ass baby!"
"Oh," Lisette gasped and put her hand on her lips. "My Jade is being a feisty truth-sayer! I love it!"
"Mewr?" Star hopped right off my shoulder and I freaked when she jumped right at the cage. "Ah! S-Star!"