Magia: Eli's Awakening (BxB)

Chapter 45- Infiltration

"Where'd they come from?"

The snow had settled, only the men remained walking in the direction of the boys, not yet picking up on their presence.

"We'll just have to ask, Ethan."

Ethan glanced at Eli and he could tell from the look on his face that Eli was raring for a fight, so he nodded his head and Eli slipped off the boulder getting in position for an ambush.

Ethan laid flat on the rock, his grey wings pressed against his back and he slipped off a bracelet, not yet using his magic as to keep the element of surprise on their side.

A couple minutes of waiting beared fruit for the boys as when they were close enough, Eli attacked. He jumped from behind a smaller rock he had been hiding behind, throwing up a barrier to seperate the two and lunged at the shorter of the men, sending both of them tumbling into the snow.

He hadn't even given the man a chance to make a sound or defend himself as he held his head and twisted it quickly, and sharply without hesitation, a sickening crack echoing throughout the fields.

He looked up to see Ethan with his sycthe around the other's neck, his wings spread out in all their majestic glory as some of his snow white hair fell infront of his face which wore his signature frown.

"Keep that one alive."

Eli had just taken a life. A real human life. Did he feel any remorse? No. No guilt, nothing. Perhaps that was why his heart was racing a mile a minute with adrenaline, maybe it was his fear... Or maybe it was his excitement.

Eli dropped the barrier and walked over to where Ethan and the shaking armored man stood.

"Start talking."

Ethan transmuted his obsidian bracelet into a collar and tossed it to Eli as he held the scythe at the man's neck, drawing a bit of blood when he gulped.

Eli attached the collar while Ethan removed the threat of instant death from his neck and stood idle allowing Eli to do the interrogating.

"Where'd you come from?"

"I-I-"

Eli created a blade of water and rammed it in the man's knee joint where the armor hadn't covered, making him scream out and fall to the ground clutching the now bleeding limb.

"Where did you come from?" Eli's voice was calm and low, he had no qualms with ending the life of the man infont of him.

"I can't tell you, they'll kill me!" There was snot coming from the grown man's nose and it was grossing Ethan out so he turned his head away from the scene.

"It's either me or them at this point and seeing as I'm right here, something tells me you don't have much time left." He didn't respond so Eli gripped the sword and started to move towards the cowering man groveling on the snow.

"P-please I-I have a family." Eli didn't even slow down a bit, all he needed from this man was information, not a sob story.

"Okay, fine! You need the key!"

Eli stopped walking and motioned for him to go on, the sword still tightly gripped in his hand just incase.

"Yael had it, the one you killed earlier. You have to go by the dragon skull and say the chant to find the keyhole then use the key." Ethan went off to check for the key leaving Eli and the man on the floor.

"What's the chant?" The man quickly spat out the words as his life depended on it and breathed a sigh of relief when Eli put his blade away.

"Got it!" Eli turned to Ethan seeing the taller boy wave a key that was made of bones in the air in his direction. He decided to spare the man and made his way over to Ethan.

"Eli!"

He spun around to see the man coming at him with a silver dagger in hand. He froze up. It would've slashed him right across the face if it weren't for Ethan who lopped off the man's head with his sycthe before he got the chance to.

"You can't drop your guard Eli."

"Yeah... sorry about that."

"Let's go."

"Wait. We'll need their armor so we won't stick out too much."

Ethan glanced at Eli and with a quick nod and they got to stripping the men of their garments. The armor Eli wore wasn't tailored to his size so with a quick touch from Ethan they corrected that problem.

Ethan then took hold of Eli's hands and closed his eyes concentrating on the face of the man who he had killed earlier, the small mole under his lip, his thin eyebrows, all of it. Upon opening his eyes Eli's physical appearance was now the exact same as the man with the broken neck.

He did the same spell on himself and they set off in the direction where they had seen the men come from in a quick jog, with Eli fastening the sword in the scabbard. The spell would roughly last about 15 minutes so they had to move quickly.

The heavy metal clanked as they jogged over to the area, a huge object becoming more clear the close they got to it. It was a dragon's skull, quite a big one at that, but around it was bare of snow, revealing brown dirt and it was steaming.

Eli stepped around to the front of the skull and muttered the incantations. A thin line ran through the skull and it appeared to have split in two, however if one were to see it from the side they'd realize that it was actually the air that split, not the skull.

The line thickened, expanding in the center and formed the shape of a keyhole and Ethan quickly inserted it and twisted it, the sound of a lock opening echoed through the cold air.

"Nothing's happening."

"Patience is key."

Eli stared at him, looking quite disgusting at the pun. "Why?"

"So it's funny when Mr. Donia does it but not me?"

"Yes."

Their banter was cut short when the line thickened even further, a bright blue light escaped from the crease that soon enveloped them both. A blast of magicules was released as they were teleported from the barren land and it created a hot shockwave that blew away everything in close proximity to the skull.

They surveyed their new surroundings and was surprised to be standing infront of a black castle that seemed to be something out of a horror story. The castle sat on a cliff, the sound of waves crashing on the rocks below made Ethan feel a bit queasy.

There was only one thing Eli was feeling at this moment. Aurum. He was here, and Eli was going to save him.

The temperature at the castle was much warmer, almost as if they were in a completely different region of the world but the moon was still out. Just where were they? There was a dirt path that led to huge black gates which were now opening upon their arrival.

"Yael, Pom, that was quick." Eli and Ethan looked over by the gate and saw another man in the same black armor walking over a smile on his face as he greeted who he thought were his friends. "Wait... where's the pizza?"

Wasting no time Eli and Ethan lounged at the guard at the gate before he could uncover their ruse. Ethan covered his mouth while Eli plunged the sword in his hip making the man's muffled scream become a whine as his breathing increased drastically.

Ethan swiftly twisted his neck, hating the sound of the crack he caused, and caught the body before it fell, and drew it to the corner of the gate by some bushes, hiding it from sight. They had about 10 minutes left with their disguises.

"Let's go find Aurum."