Chapter XV

“Escape”

I didn’t know what being a ghost felt like, but I’m pretty sure this was close. I felt hollow, lifeless, and emotionless. I knew I was only here to do what I was meant to do. All Tinzah were.

Then I remembered my plan. All I had to do in the five minutes I had was go down to the dungeon and unlock my cell. I walked to the window in Ransk’s body. Moving forward was a strange sensation. Ransk didn’t actually have feet so he didn’t take steps; he hovered. It was strange… Having no body parts except hands, that is. I wondered if Ransk could use a body replacing spell to make feet too.

I somehow, knew how to use a body replacing spell, so I decided to make a face with it. Would the face that appeared be the actual face that Ransk would have if he had one? “Duchcavav” I said, in Ransk’s raspy tone. Then took my hood off and felt my face. It was a skeleton head… “Duchcavav” I said again, making the skull disappear. If I ran into a Tinzah, it would be hard to explain why I decided to give myself a face…

I looked out the window to see that I was at least six stories above the ground. The room that I was in was painted black and completely empty, and as I traveled down the stairs, I realized that most of the rooms were the same. The only room in the tower that was different than the ones above it was the second floor, where there was a rectangular table which had nine seats. I assumed that was the room where the Tinzah’s sat and talked about what they were going to do next.

Right now, the chairs were filled with eight Tinzah. “Ransk”, one said, “Did you see him from the top of the tower’s window?” “Uh… No”, I rasped, oblivious to what they were talking about, “I’m going down to the dungeon to question the boy more.” “Good idea”, one of the Tinzah said, “The body of the man you killed has vanished, as you know. If he did have the crystal ball then whoever has his body has it now.” “The Cyncil should be wearing off by now, you must give the boy more”, said a second Tinzah, “But remember: If you inject him with Cyncil before he gets his magic back he’ll build immunity to Cyncil for the next week. You must give it to him at the right time.”

I continued hovering down the spiral staircase that led through all the floors straight to the dungeon. It had already been a few minutes, the other Tinzah had made sure of that, but they had, at least, given me an idea.

Before Ransk recovered his body, I would inject myself with Cyncil. Then, if the Tinzah caught me again, I would at least have magic to help me escape again. The only problem was where to get Cyncil. In Ransk’s fight with Brock he had made a sword appear in his hand when he appeared behind Brock. Could Tinzah’s magically create things? Did all I have to do was imagine a syringe filled with Cyncil in my hand?

I tried imagining a syringe filled with Cyncil in my hand. It suddenly started materializing in my withered hand. First I only saw the needle, then the vile, and finally it started filling up with the potion.

I came to the bottom of the stair case and walked to cell number twenty-five. I imagined the keys to the cell in my hand and said, “Bash vo Lash!” The key appeared in my hand, but as I was about to put it into the keyhole, I felt dizzy. My five minutes were up. Ransk was taking back control of his body.

All I needed were a few more seconds… I didn’t get them. My plan to inject myself with cyncil, open the cell, and lock Ransk in a cell, although that wouldn’t have mattered since he can teleport, didn’t work. Ransk fell to the floor.

I opened my eyes in my own body. Ransk was laying on the ground right outside my cell. I tried to reach through the bars in the cell but the keys were just out of my reach. I could, however, grab the Cyncil.

I injected myself with the Cyncil, yet my magic didn’t return. What went wrong?

I was back to where I had started… Using the Mazero Technique on Ransk had gotten me nowhere… The only thing I could do was sit here and wait for Ransk to wake up…

A creature was now sitting at the doorstep of castle Lasha, the shard-like castle that stood in the center of the village of Tanocin. The creatures plan was about to be put into action…

The monstrous beast ran straight into the door, smashing it off it’s hinges, and bolted into the room, where eight Tinzah were waiting for it.

“Get the crystal ball!” shouted one of the Tinzah as they all lunged at the beast with silver swords in hand. The beast jumped out of the way and ran straight to the door where a stairwell lay beyond it.

It was a few minute before Ransk got up. “You little bastard, what did you do to me?” he rasped, angrily. “Why won’t my magic work?” I asked him, ignoring his question, “If you answer that, I’ll answer you.” “Number Twenty-Five is a magical number, this cell has always stopped magic from working while in it”, he rasped.

“Then why were you injecting me with Cyncil?” I asked. “It is a precaution. If you were to escape, we would catch you easily if you didn’t have magic…” he rasped, “But now that you’ve injected yourself with Cyncil, I’ll just have to kill you to make sure you never escape…”

Suddenly, the door to the stairwell burst open and a giant, furry creature dashed inside. It tackled Ransk, just as a sword appeared in his hand.

The werewolf then dashed to my cage and grabbed two bars. Then he pulled and ripped the bars out of the ceiling and floor. I backed into the corner, afraid it would kill me, but instead, it reached out one of its big, furry paws towards me. It saw Silv’s head lying on the ground, and I thought I saw a tear leak from its eye.

“Come with me”, were the words I thought I heard as it pulled my hand and tossed me onto its back. I reached my hands around his neck, pretty sure that he was going to help me escape, as he bolted for the door, opened it, and crawled up the stairs with me on his back.

When it reached the door that led to the room where the double door that led out of the castle was, it opened the door. All nine Tinzah, including Ransk, were there waiting for him. They had bows and arrows which were, apparently, made of silver.

The werewolf closed the door as the silver arrows hit it. Then he grabbed the door knob and pulled the door off its hinges, and ran through the room, using the door to shield us from the arrows the Tinzah were firing at us.

He ran out the double door, which was already broken from the last time he smashed through it, and dropped the door. The Tinzah were quick to follow. “Wait! We’ve got to go back”, I yelled in the werewolf’s ear, hoping he could understand me, “Silv is still in there!”

The werewolf turned around as one of the arrows a Tinzah had fired plunged through his shoulder. I didn’t know much about werewolves, but I did know that the only thing that could hurt them was silver.

The werewolf tackled most of the Tinzah before they could shoot another arrow at him. Even with me on his back, he was very good at fighting all these enemies without getting hurt. He slammed Ransk into a wall and scratched through some of the Tinzah’s cloaks.

I jumped off of his back and ran behind the castle, away from where all the action was. When I was possessing Ransk and walking through the castle I hadn’t seen Silv inside. So I was sure she was outside, and somewhere near the castle. I looked around but I only saw houses, nothing tall enough to shelter Silv.

Suddenly, I noticed a building that might be tall enough to shelter Silv. A church. Most religions had been proved false ages ago, yet there were still some churches left in some cities and villages.

I ran to the church, which had a pentagon shaped symbol on its door. I opened the door to see Silv, bounded by chains. A Tinzah, who I assumed to be Ransk, faced Silv. I was behind him and he only noticed me when I whispered a spell.

“What happened to the werewolf?” I asked. “The others can deal with him” he rasped, “I came here to make sure you didn’t escape.” Ransk raised his hands and several weapons appeared around him, floating in midair. One of the knives soared at me and plunged through my shoulder. I fell to my knees, but didn’t take the knife out. Ransk had a whip in each hand, with deadly hooks at the end of each of them.

He swung one and it stabbed through my gut. “You’ll die here”, he said, “Slowly and Painfully.” Blood was gushing from my wounds, but I wasn’t worried at all, I was smiling. “You think pain is funny?” Ransk said, angered, “Then you’ll have a fun time dieing…”

Two more of the knives stabbed into my legs. Then an axe flew towards my head. I didn’t feel it cut through my neck, in fact, I didn’t feel any of the wounds Ransk had given me.

The spell hat I had whispered when I walked in was a body replacing spell. I had replaced my whole body and Ransk thought it was the real me. I, meanwhile, was hiding behind the pews and snuck behind Ransk and to Silv, where I started undoing the chains she was shackled in with magic spells. My magic had returned since I had reversed the Cyncil’s effect and gotten out of cell number twenty-five.

“Beu”, I said, aiming my hand at the last chain that bounded Silv. Ransk must have teleported her into the room; we would have to exit a slightly different way, but not before dealing with Ransk first. It was time to see if Tinzah really were immortal…

I climbed onto Silv’s back and said, “Attack!” Silv leaped at Ransk and landed on him, but he just disappeared and reappeared behind me. All of the knives were still floating around him when he sent five of them toward me. I jumped off Silv’s back and suddenly heard a voice in my head. “Say it!” said the beautiful, female voice which only I could hear, “Say Volash!” Ransk swung his deadly whips at me as I yelled the word the voice had told me to, “Volash!”

As the whips and all the knives floating around Ransk dropped to the floor, I realized that the voice in my head was the same voice I had heard singing in my dream…

The cloak and lifeless arms that were once Ransk dropped to the floor as well did I. The spell had drained all my energy. There was no chance I would be able to use it again to kill another eight Tinzah. Silv and I would have to leave without being noticed.

At that very moment, a Tinzah appeared behind us. I mustered all the strength I had left and crawled onto Silv. “Break through the wall!” I yelled as Silv broke straight through the wall, making the ceiling collapse on top of the Tinzah.

So much for the quiet getaway…

The werewolf was sitting on one of the many wooden houses in Tanocin. Its blood trickled from its shoulder and stomach, the two places where it had gotten cut by silver.

On the ground beneath his house were all of the things Brock had when he died: The Brown Crystal Ball, the legendary gem of Blochic, a Zamin sword and shield, and a backpack filled with useful items and food.

Brock’s body, however, was nowhere to be seen. His blood, the only part left of him, had stained the ground on the outskirts of Tanocin, but the wind was covering it up with new sand as if no great man had ever died there.

Then the werewolf heard a crash, John had escaped…