Voyage of Mysteries

Chapter One: Evil aura

Lurchester Street, MythVille

A man walked through the crowd of people, his pace very quick and light. The people he either bumped into or brushed past didn't even take a second look at him. Lurchester Street was a very busy and crowded street—people always had little or no time.

This man was dressed in a hooded white sweatshirt and a pair of blue jean trousers. His feet which were moving in a haste were cladded in a pair of sneakers, making them a pair of beauties.

As he walked, he would tilt his head backwards hastily and then bring it down. He didn't bother for the sun which was shining very brightly as if the Goddess had fueled it—his hood was over his head.

This hooded man soon turned and walked into an alley. He was looking for a shortcut to get to another street. It was obvious he was afraid of something or someone and was trying to escape from them.

He was halfway through the alley when two men blocked the path ahead of him. His eyes opened wildly under his hood as he knew who they were already. They were Arcane Guards from the Arcane Safety Department and they were responsible for handling the security of MythVille City. Be it supernatural or magical threats, they could also handle them.

Dressed in black starchy uniforms, the two men looked profound and had an air of vigor around them. On the right chest of their uniforms were badges which bore a phoenix emblem surrounded by several stars. Embedded to the surfaces of the badges were runes which were visible on close look. Both of the men had two stars on their right shoulder. These stars indicated their magical array and they were at the array two, Mouth Spelling!

Not good, the hooded man thought. They finally found me. He quickly turned and was about to escape through the previous path when he saw another two male Arcane Guards standing there. These two men also had two stars on their shoulders!

"You've been surrounded, Castor," one of the Arcane Guards. "Don't try to do anything stupid."

Brown hair, brown eyes and narrow lips, this Arcane Guard was none other than Walter Anderson. He was an Array two thaumaturge who had joined the Arcane Safety Department two months ago. Although he was among the youngest in his team, he had actually made groundbreaking records as the Arcane Guard who had arrested the highest number of criminals and solved the highest cases within the past two months. He had solved about fifty cases in two months!

Castor chuckled and said, "I've been surrounded, so what? You would calmly arrest me because you all are in Array two?"

"Raise up your hands over your heads and stand still," Walter said, ignoring Castor's statement. His right hand reached to his right side, taking out a pair handcuffs.

Castor looked up at Walter, the sunlight illuminating his face. Except for his dark eyes, there was nothing special about him.

"I said, raise up your hands!" Walter commanded, walking slowly towards Castor.

A sinister smile appeared on Castor's face as he stretched his right hand forward and pulled at the empty air.

"I said raise up..." Walter had not completed his statement when dark energies spread towards him and the other Arcane Guards.

"Magical Barrier!"

The Arcane Guards were quick enough to mouth a defensive spell, walls of magical energy surrounding them. This spell was well known among the Arcane Guards as it was a popular spell among them.

The spell was capable of blocking any physical or supernatural attack. The strength of the spell corresponded to the user's array and could only deal with attacks at the same level with the user.

Bam!

The dark energies collided with the magical barriers, dispersing immediately.

When the Arcane Guards were about the attack Castor, they discovered he was gone.

"My Goddess, he's also an Array two!" one of the Arcane Guards said. He went by the name, Mac.

"Let's quit talking and find that bastard before he gets away," Walter said as he immediately pulled out a wand from the thin air. The wand was black and had runes drawn across its surface.

For them who were still at Array two, they could not cast too much spells as they had nascent souls and their manas were not yet powerful. They could only use the magical wands to cast spells to reduce expending of their magical life force.

"Tracker wind!" Walter casted a spell using his wand. The wand gave off a yellow glow, releasing magical energies and then dimmed to its normal colour.

Immediately, a gentle breeze blew around him. It then dissolved into a powerful wind and moved ahead of him in a gust.

"Come on!" Walter said as he ran towards the direction the wind was going. This was a spell for tracking people. Targets were usually pointed to by the wind.

Whoosh!

The others followed him with their wands, running as fast as he was. For Arcane Guards, running was very fast was very simple for them. This was because their bodies were powerful than normal human beings and as such had peak human condition.

Tap! Tap! Tap!

Walter's footsteps sounded as he ran, his legs carrying him effortlessly. He wanted to catch Castor as soon as possible and not let him escape. Letting him escape would be a taint on his perfect reputation as the city's best Array two Arcane Guard.

"Teleport!" he casted another spell which made him vanished into thin air. This would help him cover several metres than when he was running.

He appeared on the asphalt road immediately caught sight of Castor who was just crossing the road and then dashing towards the other side.

Pi! Pi!

He could hear horns blaring as several cars swerved past him, trying not to hit him.

Screech!

Sounds of tyres kissing the ground could be heard as five among the cars were almost hitting each other.

He was about casting a spell to slow down motion when the cars began moving slowly. It seemed another Arcane Guard had done that for him.

Without turning back to look at the person who casted the spell, he did another short distance teleportation. This time he appeared right before Castor, the latter almost bumping into him.

"Bound!" Walter wasted no time as he quickly casted another spell. He wouldn't risk to let Castor get away no matter what.

Thick vines crept out of the ground and moved towards Castor, trying to bound him. But the latter was also an experienced Array two.

"Confusion!" Castor casted the Confusion spell. This spell was capable of distorting attacks.

Whip! Whip! Whip!

The vines lashed at each other, binding themselves. They tightened their coils around each other, creating tight loops.

"Confusion!" this time Castor was not trying to distort attacks. He was actually distorting Walter's thoughts.

Boom!

Walter felt something explode in his mind, threatening to explode his head. Immediately, his thoughts ran wild. He was thinking about so many things at the same time!

"Ah!" he could not even think because of his messed up mind. He fell to the ground, holding his head which was becoming numb.

"Up till now you people didn't know I had magic," Castor smiled. "You wanna know why I did what I did?"

Ring!

Walter could only hear ringing sounds as the environment around him became blurry. His mind was unstable and would blow up anytime soon.

"The Hall Of Corruption sent me," Castor continued. "And I was almost done with what I was tasked with till you all screwed my mission!"

The Hall Of Corruption was an occultic organization which originated from the Northern Continent. This organization was established five thousand years ago and was a very devilish organization. They were totally evil and almost destroyed humanity. If not for the powerful sorcerers of the Southern Continent who came together and fought against them, humanity would have been wiped out. This battle lasted for three thousand years and at the end, the Hall Of Corruption was defeated and almost wiped out.

Fearing that the occultists from the Hall Of Corruption would one day return to continue their fight against humanity, the few sorcerers left created an organization to eradicate black magic. This organization was called the Hands Of Arcane and was currently located in MythVille City. This organization developed and spread across the Southern Continent, its headquarters at MythVille City.

Castor was an Array two occultist, Enchanter. He was sent by the Hall Of Corruption to infiltrate the Hands Of Arcane and steal valuable information. He had almost succeeded but was discovered by Walter Anderson. Knowing fully well that his plans had been uncovered, he tried to escape back to the Northern Continent. But here was the same person still, chasing after him.

"Sorry Walter," Castor said with a mocking smile. "I still have to return to the Hall Of Corruption."

He broke into a sprint and was about escaping the second time when he suddenly became slow. He couldn't even move!

What's going on? he thought within himself, not knowing who had cast the spell. There was no one aside from Walter who was almost dying.

"Attend to Walter," a voice said from behind him. "I'll see to this wretched soul."

Not good, Castor knew who the person was. He was none other than Mac as he was the only person in the Arcane Guard who was very good in motion spells. He had to do something.

"Fire Inferno!" Mac's voice sounded as he casted the Fire Inferno spell. A spell used to create magical fire attacks.

Crackle!

Flames of fire rose around Mac, bringing heat to the environment. These flames soared into the air, forming a very high wall.

The wall of fire was then sent hurling towards Castor who was still under the influence of the Motion spell. But then, he quickly broke away from the influence of the Motion spell as a Mouth Spelling could not use two spells at the same time. The previous spell would eventually die down.

"Confusion!" Castor casted the Confusion spell just in time.

Immediately, the wall of fire exploded and spread towards Mac.

"Magical Barrier!" Mac casted the defense spell immediately.

Boom!

The fire collided with the magical barrier, causing it to dim.

"Motion thief!" Mac quickly casted his motion spell. He knew very well that Castor would try to escape as he did before, so he wasted no time.

He deactivated the Magical Barrier spell and quickly cast another spell at Castor who was now motionless.

"Imprisoning!" Mac waved his wand.

Several magical rings formed around Castor. They were very large and exuded bright yellow hues.

Sizzle!

The rings tightened around Castor, burning into his skin just as the Motion Thief died down.

"I'm afraid you're coming with us," Mac said as he tightened the magical rings with his wand.

"Are you sure?" Castor asked, smiling through the pain he was feeling. The Imprisoning spell could not only imprison the physical body but the soul as well!

"..."

Mac felt something awry in the atmosphere. He didn't know what it was but felt something was off. He wanted to immediately use Teleport to send Castor to the Arcane Safety Department when an evil aura seeped out of Castor's body, breaking the magical rings and spreading towards Mac who quickly casted the Magical Barrier spell.

The evil aura was blocked by the magical barrier for some time. Then it corrupted the magical barrier and seeped into Mac's body.

"Ah!" Mac screamed as he felt his spirit, body and soul being corrupted by the evil aura. He couldn't even perform magic as his mana was nullified by the evil aura.

The other Arcane Guards seeing this, immediately rushed towards Mac to help him eradicate the evil aura from his body. But it was too late.

Crack!

Mac's skin cracked, spewing out black auras. The cracks ran deep into his skin, revealing his bones which were now as black as coal.

Bam!

He exploded into smithereens, his blood spewing over the whole place.

Sizzle!

As his blood and chunks of flesh touched the ground, they immediately disintegrated.

The three Arcane Guards were alarmed. Castor had escaped and killed Mac with an unknown magical spell!

Walter who was fully recovered couldn't help but grit his teeth in anger. He wasn't sure what to get angry about, Mac's death or Castor's escape or the both?

He could only drop on his kneels out of deep sorrow for the loss of a comrade and shout, "I'll get you Castor! I'll get everyone of you!"

But Castor was already gone, nowhere to be found. He had successfully gotten some of the information pertaining to the Hands Of Arcane and had escaped with it!