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Description
Brooks slowly lifted his face to see Sylvia's smiling one. He instantly looked away as he met her eyes, choosing instead to look around the spacious room he was in. Lush tapestries covered the walls and an ornate desk stood at the end of the chamber. But Brooks wasn't admiring the furniture. He was looking for something else.
Sylvia noticed. "Ah, looking for our girlfriend, are we?" she said softly. "Don't worry. She's safe -- for now."
Sylvia waved her wand at the wall to the left of Brooks. The painting there shimmered, then disappeared, revealing what the cloaking spell was hiding. Brooks couldn't keep a gasp from escaping his lips.
Mariah hung limp against the wall, her wrists chained there and her head bowed. Her feet barely touched the floor, she was hung so high. Brooks thought she might be awake, just tired, when he realized that she wasn't breathing. He transferred his gaze to Sylvia, who had been watching his expression with interest.
She smiled. "Missing her, huh? I wouldn't worry. You'll be joining her soon enough."
Suddenly Sylvia whipped her wand in a diagonal slash toward Brooks, a move that should have taken him completely by surprise. However, he lifted his wand to block her spell, as if parrying a sword thrust. Sparks flew where they met. Sylvia frowned and tried another slash in a different direction, just as quickly as the first. But Brooks blocked that one as well and jabbed a spell toward her stomach. She jumped out of the way and the duel began in earnest.
Sylvia cast spell after spell at Brooks, spells of binding, containment, and unconsciousness. But he ducked and dodged and blocked spells with his wand, occasionally sending spells of his own at her. At first he shouted out the spells as he cast them, like Sylvia: "Nullcorp! Hypanim! Noxment!" "Claudys! Privment! Fortive!" Gradually he stopped saying spells, even though Sylvia continued. Yet he still sent charm after charm after charm without speaking, eyes narrowed in intense concentration.
Impossible! Sylvia thought. Only the greatest wizards can master unspoken spells! She paused to move out of the way of a stunning spell. Why, she had far more training than this little boy, and she couldn't cast a spell without speaking! He must be more powerful than he seemed...
Sylvia grew angry and started throwing destructive spells at him. But he continued, dodging her charms and casting the countercurses. The air between them grew thick with energy, and colored lights and sparks danced around them. The tapestry behind Brooks was charred and smoldering, parts of it blasted away by Sylvia's spells to reveal the cracked plaster underneath.
Enraged, Sylvia whirled her wand in a large circle and shouted the most cataclysmic spells she knew. Even the most powerful wizard in the world couldn't avoid so many powerful spells over such a large area. But at the last minute, Brooks waved his wand in front of him and conjured a shield that looked like glass. Sylvia's spells rebounded in different directions, destroying the walls around them, leaving only the wall behind Sylvia and the one holding Mariah up. The thunder of falling rubble was deafening, and the thick dust clogged Sylvia's lungs. She bent over, coughing, and could hear Brooks doing the same.
While she was trying to get air back into her lungs, Sylvia's mind was racing. The boy was simply too powerful. She would get nowhere, dueling with him like an equal. She straightened up and carefully picked her way toward the sound of the boy's coughing. As she drew closer, she raised her wand in preparation for the spell she was going to cast. The coughing grew louder, and the boy's silhouette formed out of the dust still swirling around. As she approached, the boy lifted his head, but it was too late.
"Containum Quantum Maximus!"
There was a loud crack and a flash of light, as if lighting had struck the room. Brooks crumpled to the ground, seemingly unconscious. Sylvia smiled, a predatory grin that showed her teeth. There. The boy would bother her no more. He had fallen, just like all the others who wished to stand in her way.
She turned to check on her prisoner. The girl was still out cold, and hardly damaged from all the chaos raging around her. There were a few scratches on her face and arms from shards of rock, but she was otherwise unhurt. Good. She was powerful, and when her will was bent to Sylvia's, she would be a valuable asset.
But the boy... he was something entirely different. He appeared vastly more powerful than the girl, which seemed strange compared to the reports Sylvia's spies had given her. It was too bad that he couldn't be woken up to increase her power. Sylvia turned around, already anticipating her father's pride when he discovered that she had defeated one of the most powerful students at his stupid school.
But before she could fully turn around to face Brooks, Sylvia found his wand at her throat. "Let her go," he said, voice low and determined.
Sylvia's throat locked. Her mouth worked wildly, but all she could think about was the boy in front of her. The Containum Quantum. No one ever woke up from the Maximus spell. It was unheard of. In the whole history of wizards, no one had ever woken up.
"Let her go," he repeated, more insistent. There was a darkness in his brown eyes, an intensity that scared Sylvia. "Let her go in three or..." he let the threat hang the air.
Sylvia didn't want to know what the or was, but her mind seemed frozen in place. The manacles holding the girl to the wall. They were specially made, forged in the fires of the greatest magical smiths in the land. They could only be released by the wizard that bound them. How had the boy known that?
His eyebrows drew together, forming an angry line over his eyes. He moved his wand to her heart. "Three...two...one..."
A loud BANG shook the room and a hard concussion of air threw Sylvia against a wall. She slid down the rough surface, ears ringing. Her head and body throbbed painfully. Brooks came toward her like some kind of avenging angel, power crackling around him. His wand was still pointed at Sylvia. "Let her go!" he shouted, fury coming loose.
No thirteen-year-old boy could throw her like that, Sylvia thought dazedly. No ordinary human could wake up from the Containum Quantum Maximus.
Which meant that this boy wasn't human...
"Release her!" he yelled. In his eyes Sylvia saw rage, hate, and something far more ancient and powerful.
"Sareneth..." Her voice was barely a whisper, and full of fear.
Brooks wasn't listening. He focused his furious eyes on Sylvia's and started to take a breath. She quickly gestured toward Mariah and muttered something too low to hear. Mariah's chains disintegrated and she fell to the ground.
Brooks ran toward her and crouched over her prone figure. After a moment he lifted his head. "Wake her up," he commanded.
Sylvia shook her head mutely. It took days to awaken someone from the regular Containum Quantum, and only then if you knew all the correct spells and rituals. Brooks studied her and seemed to realize that she really could do nothing. Appearing to reach a conclusion, he quickly whipped his wand in an X over Sylvia's body. Her eyes closed and she went limp.
Brooks returned his attention to Mariah, who lay still and unmoving; dark curls stark against her pale skin. He cradled her head in his lap, took a deep breath, and began pouring himself into her.

Mariah slowly came into consciousness to Brooks' face. As she became aware of her surroundings, she realized that she was lying in a room that looked as if a demolishing crew had been through it. Her head lay in Brooks' lap, and he held her head in his hands.
"Brooks?" Her voice came out small and scared.
Brooks opened his mouth, eyes black holes in his white face. "Mariah," he whispered. Then all the life seemed to rush out of him, and Brooks, last of the all-powerful beings that had existed since the beginning of time; Brooks, last of the Sareneth, collapsed.

Description
Brooks slowly lifted his face to see Sylvia's smiling one. He instantly looked away as he met her eyes, choosing instead to look around the spacious room he was in. Lush tapestries covered the walls and an ornate desk stood at the end of the chamber. But Brooks wasn't admiring the furniture. He was looking for something else.
Sylvia noticed. "Ah, looking for our girlfriend, are we?" she said softly. "Don't worry. She's safe -- for now."
Sylvia waved her wand at the wall to the left of Brooks. The painting there shimmered, then disappeared, revealing what the cloaking spell was hiding. Brooks couldn't keep a gasp from escaping his lips.
Mariah hung limp against the wall, her wrists chained there and her head bowed. Her feet barely touched the floor, she was hung so high. Brooks thought she might be awake, just tired, when he realized that she wasn't breathing. He transferred his gaze to Sylvia, who had been watching his expression with interest.
She smiled. "Missing her, huh? I wouldn't worry. You'll be joining her soon enough."
Suddenly Sylvia whipped her wand in a diagonal slash toward Brooks, a move that should have taken him completely by surprise. However, he lifted his wand to block her spell, as if parrying a sword thrust. Sparks flew where they met. Sylvia frowned and tried another slash in a different direction, just as quickly as the first. But Brooks blocked that one as well and jabbed a spell toward her stomach. She jumped out of the way and the duel began in earnest.
Sylvia cast spell after spell at Brooks, spells of binding, containment, and unconsciousness. But he ducked and dodged and blocked spells with his wand, occasionally sending spells of his own at her. At first he shouted out the spells as he cast them, like Sylvia: "Nullcorp! Hypanim! Noxment!" "Claudys! Privment! Fortive!" Gradually he stopped saying spells, even though Sylvia continued. Yet he still sent charm after charm after charm without speaking, eyes narrowed in intense concentration.
Impossible! Sylvia thought. Only the greatest wizards can master unspoken spells! She paused to move out of the way of a stunning spell. Why, she had far more training than this little boy, and she couldn't cast a spell without speaking! He must be more powerful than he seemed...
Sylvia grew angry and started throwing destructive spells at him. But he continued, dodging her charms and casting the countercurses. The air between them grew thick with energy, and colored lights and sparks danced around them. The tapestry behind Brooks was charred and smoldering, parts of it blasted away by Sylvia's spells to reveal the cracked plaster underneath.
Enraged, Sylvia whirled her wand in a large circle and shouted the most cataclysmic spells she knew. Even the most powerful wizard in the world couldn't avoid so many powerful spells over such a large area. But at the last minute, Brooks waved his wand in front of him and conjured a shield that looked like glass. Sylvia's spells rebounded in different directions, destroying the walls around them, leaving only the wall behind Sylvia and the one holding Mariah up. The thunder of falling rubble was deafening, and the thick dust clogged Sylvia's lungs. She bent over, coughing, and could hear Brooks doing the same.
While she was trying to get air back into her lungs, Sylvia's mind was racing. The boy was simply too powerful. She would get nowhere, dueling with him like an equal. She straightened up and carefully picked her way toward the sound of the boy's coughing. As she drew closer, she raised her wand in preparation for the spell she was going to cast. The coughing grew louder, and the boy's silhouette formed out of the dust still swirling around. As she approached, the boy lifted his head, but it was too late.
"Containum Quantum Maximus!"
There was a loud crack and a flash of light, as if lighting had struck the room. Brooks crumpled to the ground, seemingly unconscious. Sylvia smiled, a predatory grin that showed her teeth. There. The boy would bother her no more. He had fallen, just like all the others who wished to stand in her way.
She turned to check on her prisoner. The girl was still out cold, and hardly damaged from all the chaos raging around her. There were a few scratches on her face and arms from shards of rock, but she was otherwise unhurt. Good. She was powerful, and when her will was bent to Sylvia's, she would be a valuable asset.
But the boy... he was something entirely different. He appeared vastly more powerful than the girl, which seemed strange compared to the reports Sylvia's spies had given her. It was too bad that he couldn't be woken up to increase her power. Sylvia turned around, already anticipating her father's pride when he discovered that she had defeated one of the most powerful students at his stupid school.
But before she could fully turn around to face Brooks, Sylvia found his wand at her throat. "Let her go," he said, voice low and determined.
Sylvia's throat locked. Her mouth worked wildly, but all she could think about was the boy in front of her. The Containum Quantum. No one ever woke up from the Maximus spell. It was unheard of. In the whole history of wizards, no one had ever woken up.
"Let her go," he repeated, more insistent. There was a darkness in his brown eyes, an intensity that scared Sylvia. "Let her go in three or..." he let the threat hang the air.
Sylvia didn't want to know what the or was, but her mind seemed frozen in place. The manacles holding the girl to the wall. They were specially made, forged in the fires of the greatest magical smiths in the land. They could only be released by the wizard that bound them. How had the boy known that?
His eyebrows drew together, forming an angry line over his eyes. He moved his wand to her heart. "Three...two...one..."
A loud BANG shook the room and a hard concussion of air threw Sylvia against a wall. She slid down the rough surface, ears ringing. Her head and body throbbed painfully. Brooks came toward her like some kind of avenging angel, power crackling around him. His wand was still pointed at Sylvia. "Let her go!" he shouted, fury coming loose.
No thirteen-year-old boy could throw her like that, Sylvia thought dazedly. No ordinary human could wake up from the Containum Quantum Maximus.
Which meant that this boy wasn't human...
"Release her!" he yelled. In his eyes Sylvia saw rage, hate, and something far more ancient and powerful.
"Sareneth..." Her voice was barely a whisper, and full of fear.
Brooks wasn't listening. He focused his furious eyes on Sylvia's and started to take a breath. She quickly gestured toward Mariah and muttered something too low to hear. Mariah's chains disintegrated and she fell to the ground.
Brooks ran toward her and crouched over her prone figure. After a moment he lifted his head. "Wake her up," he commanded.
Sylvia shook her head mutely. It took days to awaken someone from the regular Containum Quantum, and only then if you knew all the correct spells and rituals. Brooks studied her and seemed to realize that she really could do nothing. Appearing to reach a conclusion, he quickly whipped his wand in an X over Sylvia's body. Her eyes closed and she went limp.
Brooks returned his attention to Mariah, who lay still and unmoving; dark curls stark against her pale skin. He cradled her head in his lap, took a deep breath, and began pouring himself into her.

Mariah slowly came into consciousness to Brooks' face. As she became aware of her surroundings, she realized that she was lying in a room that looked as if a demolishing crew had been through it. Her head lay in Brooks' lap, and he held her head in his hands.
"Brooks?" Her voice came out small and scared.
Brooks opened his mouth, eyes black holes in his white face. "Mariah," he whispered. Then all the life seemed to rush out of him, and Brooks, last of the all-powerful beings that had existed since the beginning of time; Brooks, last of the Sareneth, collapsed.