The Last Wave

The day the portal was to be reopened had come and like the previous attacks, the human soldiers and sorcerers were stationed close to the point where the portal was previously opened with the hope that they would be able to thwart the efforts of their demon attackers. Sarah, Melissa, Brilda, Mrs. Delphine, and Madame Grace were also present but they held their positions away from the stationed troops in a story building close to the magic council building and from there they kept watch. The portal finally opened and like the second attack it was quiet as there was no activity; the silence continued for a while then suddenly Sarah yelled; "Everyone, leave the front of the portal!" but it was already too late, out came a giant Canon the size of an Elephant from the portal it was the hell-raiser, on seeing it Sarah recognized it from the story she heard during her travels about two Canons used in the second civil war in the demon realm. While the first Canon destroyed almost an entire village the second one was teleported away by the power of a binding curse that killed the user but transported the canon to a different location. The canon slowly rolled out from the portal and finally came to a halt with demon soldiers and mages trooping out after it but they were few compared to the previous wave which suggested that they had some sort of plan; Sarah tried thinking of a spell that would destroy the canon as normal spells or curses were useless against it but she couldn't come up with anything. Just then the demon mages cast a barrier over themselves and the soldiers and she began reciting an incantation, she spoke in the magic tongue but it translated to;

"I employ you, spirit of fire, burn my enemies and I call to you spirit of the wind carry my flame far and wide". Immediately after she recited the incantation the Canon began to make a crackling sound and after a moment it stopped and silence ensued for a short time but was broken as the Canon erupted with a huge blast destroying all the soldiers and mages who were near the portal. The blast was a large one and it spanned almost four hundred meters destroying a part of the council building that encroached into the cobblestone road. The council building shook to its core and the staff who were in the lobby at the time of the blast all died; the cell in the basement opened due to the effect of the blast releasing the murderous duo Nicholas and Victor.

"It seems the Demon Lord has begun to make his move," Nicholas said with a crooked smile on his face.

"And we shall aid him by opening the Inter-dimensional barrier so he can finally purge these foolish humans," said Victor laughing cynically. They made their way up the stairs and into the lobby that was now destroyed, at the sight, both of them burst out in laughter and continued to the inter-dimensional access room after which they disengaged the barrier on getting there; they proceeded to go to the local access transportation room but the spell Sarah had used was still very much active. When they had finished they snuck into the nearby town.

"Something isn't right," Sarah said.

"What's the matter?" Mrs. Delphine asked.

"The blast was supposed to be much bigger than that" Sarah said.

"I used a special limiting spell," Melissa said. "You're not the only one with cool tricks," she said smiling. They began to make their way back to the ground to intercept the soldiers and mages who were already moving towards the town, but on getting to the ground they saw that the portal was wider suggesting that the Inter-dimensional barrier had been dropped. Sarah ran back to the council building while the rest of them stayed to engage the attackers on the ground; On getting to the building Sarah had to run over burnt bodies to the inter-dimensional access room, after she got there she used a spell on the device and the barrier came up again but before she could use a special binding spell as she did in the local access room she noticed the three spies standing at the door.

"Put your hand down and step away from the device," one of them said.

"Make me!" Sarah said blasting them with a temporal paralysis spell but they blocked it and they began attacking her with different spells which she blocked. The spells were becoming too much for her to react to so she created a protective barrier stopping their attacks; while they continued blasting the barrier with spells she completed the binding spell that made the Inter-dimensional barrier impossible to reopen by any other person but herself.

"You've failed," one of the spies said.

"I've just put up the barrier so there'll be no more reinforcements coming in," Sarah said confidently.

"There'll be no need for that," he said.

"And why's that?"

"Before you put the barrier back on the Demon Lord's ship came through it and all our reinforcements are on that ship so if you like what will be left of this little world when we're done with it then I suggest you reopen the barrier so we can go through it or you'll leave the Demon Lord with no other option but to make this world his new home".

"You're bluffing!" Sarah yelled.

"You'll see for yourself soon enough," one of the spies said and they left. Sarah dropped her protective barrier and opened a portal to the top floor of the council building; she got out and went close to the window and from there she saw a ship so long that it occupied most of the road and so wide that it spanned almost three hundred meters across. She tried looking for the rest of her team but she couldn't find them, all she could see were dead bodies of human soldiers and mages and demon soldiers patrolling the grounds with others entering the council building. She created another portal to the building they were initially keeping watch from and searched the whole place and couldn't find them, just then anxiety began to creep in and she began to panic; after pacing the room for about twenty minutes she decided that they had gone to the school as it was the only place they could all go together so she created a portal and left for the school.

By the time Sarah arrived at the school it was already dawn and the place looked empty, she screamed for Alice and Peter but no one answered and then she began to run through the field to the cottage. On getting there she discovered that there was a protective barrier around the building preventing her from getting in and it gave her deep relief because it was according to the instruction she gave Peter and Alice before she left for the council building the previous night with Melissa. She proceeded to the front door and with an enchantment, she opened the locks of the door without breaking down the barrier after she got in she saw all of them just sitting at the end of the room but she didn't see Alice and Peter with them. Some of their heads were down while some others were busy with their wands and others peeking out the window and they hadn't noticed that she had entered the room because of the subtility of the enchantment she used. Just then Kylian noticed her and screamed "Mrs. Burton!" and the whole room turned towards her. Alice and Peter came out from Sarah's room with Alice holding one of her pictures crying but on seeing Sarah they both ran to hug her as the three of them started crying.

"I thought I lost you," said Alice crying.

"I would never leave you my dear" Sarah said still hugging the both of them. After a while, they let go and Melissa came forward and hugged Sarah too with Mrs. Delphine and Madame Grace following shortly after to engage her in a warm embrace.

"What happened back there?" Sarah asked.

"After you left we were dueling the demon mages who were running towards the council building after handling the demon soldiers but things began to go south when the ship came through and more soldiers and mages joined in the battle. We were outnumbered so we had to escape but Brilda wasn't as lucky as we were, she's badly injured and currently undergoing treatment so she'll be fine" Melissa explained.

"What about Vermont, was he there?" Sarah asked.

"No he wasn't there, but there was this other scary-looking guy," Melissa said. "He had long black hair and he was missing an eye and he was also wearing a white robe with purple edgings".

"That should be Zalon, he's a member of the Demon council," Sarah said. "And the other children where are they?"

"When we fled here we quickly activated the protective barrier over the school and used a special barrier to hide the children in their dormitories Mrs. Amelie and Gaston are in charge there," Melissa said.

"That's a relief," Sarah said. "With everything happening I'm not sure it'll be wise to contact the council chairman in Belgium".

"But we still have to tell him," Mrs. Delphine said.

"Fine then, just send him a mail and tell him to talk to the council in Belgium to convince more magic councils so they can send in more troops," said Sarah. Later that day after Sarah had rested they began to devise strategies to attack the Demon soldiers back in Paris.

"It's quite an army Vermont sent here," Melissa said.

"it's not going to be possible to fight them off even with more reinforcements," Sarah said. "They're way too strong and I'm sure their soldiers have been equipped with magic weapons and other magic items, so the human soldiers probably won't even stand a chance".

"Then let's try reaching out to the Angel race," Mrs. Delphine said.

"Shouldn't we be discussing that with the rest of the council?" Madame Grace asked.

"What council?" Mrs. Delphine asked. "Mrs. Louise the deputy ran away to England to stay with her children over a month ago, we lost some council members to the attacks at the council building last night and the rest of them have probably gone into hiding or worse dead".

"Unfortunately you're right so that leaves us at the mercy of reinforcements from other magic councils," Melissa said.

"We can't rely on them so we'll just have to contact the Angel race" Mrs. Delphine reiterated.

"How do we even get there?" Madame Grace asked.

"That'll be a major problem because despite being in charge of foreign affairs I haven't once contacted the Angel race, they don't like visitors," Mrs. Delphine said.

"Luckily for us, I've been to the Angelic realm and it's not as the name implies but it's much more beautiful than here anyway," Sarah said. "If we're to go there I have a compass that'll help us navigate all through the way".

"So when do we leave?" asked Alice who had been eavesdropping with Peter, Claire, and the rest of their group.

"We'll all leave tomorrow morning so get ready, the way to the Angelic realm isn't a smooth one," Sarah said. They all went to bed that night with different thoughts in their mind and most of them were negative thoughts. As tough as Melissa was she was terrified of the Demon Lord and wished she didn't have to confront him, Sarah struggled with the thought of losing Peter and Alice a thought that was beginning to look more realistic with each passing day. Only the thought of losing her family scared Alice aside from that she was happy she was going to go on an incredible journey with Peter despite Claire coming with them she made up her mind that she was going to take her stand for what she felt for Peter. While the rest of the other kids thought of their families and how they were doing. Despite being scared of losing loved ones it was that thought that gave them strength to continue fighting to save the human world and put an end to the tyranny of Vermont.