A Wizard’s Revenge

by G.C. Byrne

G.C. Byrne is an award-winning author and military veteran whose passion for storytelling began in childhood and evolved from hobby to career. He brings a unique blend of life experience and imagination to every story he writes. Byrne is based in Texas with his wife, Rachel, and two dogs, Hazel and Reggie, where he continues to craft stories that captivate readers throughout this dimension. 

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Vengeance is best served without mercy. 

Solara remembered her fallen master’s last words as she watched her killer dismount his horse. The stable boy rushed to lead the horse, and Solara caught a glimpse of a shiny gold object under the killer’s cloak as he handed the reins to the boy. It was Eclipsa, Solara’s enchanted scepter. 

A fire ignited inside Solara. He must have stolen it when he killed…

“Vexor,” she called out. 

The man stopped in the muddy street. “Leave this place, girl,” he said. “You’ll only find death here.”

“Then I’ll give the bards something worthy of singing.” Solara extended a cupped hand, pointed at Vexor’s back. A ball of glowing green energy emerged inside her fingers and shot from her palm. 

Vexor turned, pulled the scepter from his belt, and deflected the green ball. He countered with an orange ball of energy that Solara dodged, and a kick to the stomach that she did not. 

Solara rolled to her left to evade Vexor’s next attack. She entangled her legs between his own and brought him to the ground. The two grappled in the muck until Solara mounted Vexor. 

She saw an opening and snatched a dagger from her boot. This is it, she thought, I’m going to kill you now, you bastard. She raised it high and brought it down with all her strength. Vexor blasted Solara in the chest with his orange energy, before her blade made contact. She somersaulted twice and came to a hard stop, face down. She remembered being kicked by a horse, as a child, and related the impact to that memory. The air left her body.

On his feet, Vexor watched Solara squirm in pain. “I know you,” he said. “I know who you really are. And this —” Vexor held Eclipsa before Solara, and displayed it as if he were a child showing a prized toy to a friend for the first time. The gold shimmered and the red gem shone a bright blood red in the setting sun’s rays.  “This is not meant for you. Your master should have warned you of its power.”

He stood over her and raised Eclipsa to the sky. “And who else can wield it.” The red gem that topped Eclipsa’s shaft shined bright, and it summoned a golden bolt of energy from the clouds above. Vexor pointed Eclipsa at Solara and the bolt struck with a boom.

The energy crackled through every fiber of her body and exited into the earth surrounding her fetal form. She cried out in agony. 

Vexor hit her with another bolt. 

Solara rolled onto her stomach and bent her knee to stand. Vexor kicked her from behind, knocking her over. She rolled onto her back.

Vexor raised Eclipsa once again with both hands. He didn’t summon a bolt. Just old-fashioned barbarism.  

Solara opened her eyes to witness her fate. The sight of her family’s treasured enchanted scepter poised to end her ignited her instincts, and she kicked Vexor’s feet from underneath him before he could complete the motion. 

Vexor’s back hit the muck. He unsheathed a small dagger with his off-hand and lunged at Solara, prone beside him. 

She rolled out of the dagger’s path. The blade buried itself into the mud. She kicked Vexor in the face, giving her a moment to make it to her feet. Solara cupped two hands and conjured a green ball in each. She merged them and hurled them at Vexor.

The green ball slammed into Vexor’s chest, sending his body sliding. Vexor heard his opponent begin to yell as he made it to a knee. 

Solara flexed her body and sent a wave of green energy throughout her muscles, healing the damage caused by Eclipsa’s magic. “I will have what is rightfully mine,” Solara said, sending another green ball at Vexor, which he deflected with Eclipsa.

Vexor countered with more orange energy that Solara dodged and deflected as she closed the distance. They each exchanged blows of magic and flesh until Vexor sent Solara through a small wooden house. 

She stood, shaking off her daze, and ran around the house to catch Vexor off guard, peeking into her entrance hole. She blasted him with green energy. 

He tumbled until a cart full of wheat stomped him. 

Solara staggered to Vexor’s limp body. She kicked something covered in mud. It was her dagger. She picked it up and walked to her master’s killer. She stood over him, looking at the unconscious scum who ruined her life and realized she didn’t give a flying fuck if he was awake or not when she killed him. 

Solara gripped the dagger, brought it over her shoulder, and jerked downward.

Vexor raised Eclipsa and blasted Solara away from him. “Lessons not learned,” he said.

Solara turned onto her back to see Vexor already on his feet. He raised Eclipsa to the sky, and a golden pain enveloped her body. 

He hit her again. And again. Then once more.

Solara lay in a pit of dried, crusty earth. Golden smoke rose from her convulsing body. She extended her left arm in an attempt to conjure magic.

“A futile action,” Vexor said, as a tiny green sphere emerged in Solara’s palm. He summoned another golden bolt. 

Solara thrashed side to side as the magic scorched its way into her body. Her agonizing cry jolted the nearby livestock as tendons seared off her bones. 

The bolt dissipated. Vexor took in the blistered, swollen woman at his feet. Shaking his head, he knelt by her shoulder and poked her bright red, inflamed arm with a finger. Her skin burst open when he applied pressure. She yelped as white and clear fluids seeped out from the wound. “You seem to be in great pain,” he said and clicked his tongue. “I told you to leave this place, but you didn’t listen to reason. Just like your master when my father told her of Eclipsa’s true power.”

Solara noticed a small dagger tucked into Vexor’s boot. Immense pain engulfed her body as she pulled her fingers from the charred earth. Blood leaked out from her gritted teeth as she used every last bit of strength to bend her elbow. Can… still…

“She killed him.” Vexor’s lips trembled with hate. “I watched from the pigsty, hidden from view, as she pried it from his dead hand.”

Solara’s pinky made contact with the dagger’s pommel. If only… fight.

“Now, you’ll see the face of vengeance…” Vexor slapped Solara’s hand away from his dagger. “Witch!”

A golden bolt immediately struck Solara. Then another. And another. And another. 

Vexor continued to call down Eclipsa’s magic until Solara’s screaming morphed into gurgles, and her violent squirms were reduced to faint twitches. He took in what was once a formidable opponent, but only saw a helpless girl struggling to find her last breath. He called down the magic without mercy one more time. 

The world froze, as if time itself fled from its post. A voice, in pain, bellowed from the heavens. “Nooo!”

“Why’d you pause it?” Johnny said. “I’m about to win.”

Johnny’s younger brother, Tommy, sat beside him. Tommy’s face was red, and he gripped the controller so hard his hands trembled. 

“Because you always do this,” Tommy yelled. He threw the controller down. It bounced off the carpet and landed near their father’s recliner. “You always win. I don’t like it.”

“Well, get better. That’s what I did.”

“You cheat! You’re a cheater!” Tommy jumped off the couch and stomped into the kitchen, his bare feet slapping the floor.

Johnny sat on the couch, dumbfounded by his brother’s reaction. What a baby, he thought. I never reacted like that with my friends when I lost.

Johnny thought more about that concept and realized his brother was much younger than he was when he began playing Magic Combat. Johnny, being the oldest, also never had an older sibling who beat him into a fit, like the one he’d just seen.

Then Johnny had a thought.

He walked into the kitchen. Tommy was facing a wall with his arms crossed. Tommy saw Johnny and turned the opposite direction, using his whole body. 

Johnny smiled. “You’re really mad at me, aren’t you?”

“You cheat,” Tommy said, still facing the wall. 

Johnny opened the refrigerator and took two cookies from a container. He closed the fridge and moved the cookie into Tommy’s vision, over his shoulder.

“No,” Tommy said. 

“Come on.”

“No.” Tommy stomped his foot. 

“What if I show you some of my moves?”

Tommy turned around, smiling from ear to ear. “You’ll show me how to beat you?”

“Sure.”

“You promise?”

“Yeah,” Johnny said, offering the cookie again. “I promise.”

Tommy grabbed the cookie and took a large bite. The boys grinned at each other and raced to the couch for a rematch.

THE END