Page 125 of Alpha Power

"We're not ditching Thaddeus," she replied, sternly.

"The dude can handle himself, case in point." He pointed to the red force field currently protecting them from the flaming mage and nodded towards the exit. "Come on."

"Jeez, will you ever listen? I said we're not ditching him. What if he needs help? Man up."

A burst of raw power shot through the air, making Zamorra and Void falter, stepping back from the shield.

"I-I told you to leave!" The mage cried, his magic bursting from within him. Red and black fire shot out in all directions, burning everything in sight. The heat was so strong, so powerful that Zamorra felt it from where she stood, sweat trickling down the side of her face. "Just go!"

"Come on, young one. I just want to help. I'm not going to hurt you." Thaddeus spoke calmly and tried to inch forward.

"You're-you're lying! You just want to control me. Steal my power! I know what you mages really want! What you're really after! You can't fool me!"

Thaddeus frowned but continued to walk slowly ahead, trying to calm him down. "I'm not after anything like that, young one. I just want to help you. You're holding onto too much power and if you don't let it go, it'll kill you."

The mage whimpered and darted his eyes frantically, ice cold fear reeking from his scent. "I-" the red and black flames flared again and his magic doubled, almost consuming his entire body. "I can't," he cried. "I-I don't know how."

Thaddeus stopped a few feet in front of him and gave a small, reassuring smile. "It's alright. I'm going to help you, okay? Just take a deep breath for me."

He did as Thaddeus asked, taking in a deep shaky breath trying to calm himself down but his magic continued to build, unleashing torrents of power into the air. "Ah! I can't-it won't stop!"

"Calm down, calm down," Thaddeus soothed, softly. "Close your eyes and take another deep breath. Good. That's good. Now, I want you to find that little trigger inside your mind, you know the one I'm talking about. The one that screams at you day and night, tempting you to push, to use, to squeeze. Find that trigger, young one and block it. Throw everything you have at it. Tamp it down until it's nothing more than a distant thought in your mind."

The young mage squeezed his eyes shut and clenched his jaw, trying to pull his power back and release the dark magic holding him captive.

"That's it. Keep going," Thaddeus encouraged.

He took quick, shallow breaths, sweat beading on his forehead as he worked fiercely to rein in his magic. The red and black flames flickered like a candle in the wind and slowly started to die down, shrinking and shrinking until they snuffed out of existence.

His eyes snapped open and his magic dropped, vanishing completely into the night. He swayed slightly from side to side, exhaustion quickly taking over and his amber eyes locked onto Thaddeus with gratitude.

"I-"

His words cut off as his eyes rolled into the back of his head and he passed out, collapsing to the ground

Zamorra beat her fists against the magical force field in front of her, her anger spiking. "Damn it, Thaddeus! Open up! Let us in!"

Thaddeus stood over the unconscious body of the young, dark mage, hands on his hips and a hard expression on his face. He waved a hand behind him and the shield dropped instantly.

Not wasting a single second, Zamorra zoomed forward with Void struggling to keep up behind her with his tiny, little legs. She skidded to a stop next to Thaddeus and stared down. It wasdefinitelythe same mage she saw with Ophelia in the forest. If there was ever any doubt in her mind before, it vanished at the sight of him.

Those deep, savage claw marks marring the left side of his face were from her. Zamorra had been a witness to that attack.

Now that she was up close and personal with the dude, she could finally get a decent look at him. He was a hell of a lot younger than what she first anticipated, barely over 16 if she had to guess. It wasn't just his age that surprised her either. He was severely underweight, his long limbs barely had enough meat on them to keep him warm and his bones protruded from his body, making it very clear he wasn't eating on a regular basis.

"He's just a kid," Zamorra murmured softly, concern washing over her. What the hell was a kid doing with Ophelia?

Thaddeus turned and pinned her with an angry gaze. "Care to tell me what's going on here?"

"I know this guy. Well, I don'tknow himknow him, but I kinda know him. I saw him in the forest with Ophelia a few days ago."

"Ophelia?"

"Yeah. See those claw marks on his face? They're from her. I was tracking him coz I wanted to ask him some questions about what he was doing with her."

Thaddeus frowned and studied the man at his feet intently. He pointed a finger. "This is the mage we've been looking for. It's his signature all over the spells we've encountered and the vials of Night Flare Luthy had me examine."

"Anyone else putting two and two together here? Redhead, this dude, Night Flare?" Void asked, raising his eyebrows.

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