Dreaded

"BANG!" Cyprus was punching a safe made from very hard metal while the others were facing a possessor which had then grown six feet tall. A minute ago, it was five. Vivi then materialised out a shield and a spear out of thin air and ran towards the possessor who had then grown claws. The possessor roared before it also ran towards Vivi and when they were about to clash, Vivi rolled down on the ground and missed its hit. Her plan was to position the possessor below the two oak trees so that the three, Wayne, Ivy and Gerard, could throw down a net which trapped the possessor. They immediately came down from the trees and Ivy snapped her fingers which caused a spark of lightning on her fingertips which she blowed it towards the net and it became electric. Some bolts of the lightning hit the possessor and it began screaming. A few seconds later, its skin began turning to black fur,( it was adapting to the surrounding) and the lightning hurt it less and less.

"Cyprus! Will you do a little bit faster before the possessor adapts completely!" Wayne shouted furiously at Cyprus who was a few punches away from breaking the safe. As the possessor's skin was evolving, it was also growing and it had then reached nine feet tall. Cyprus gave the last blow to the safe which gave up and he quickly grabbed the cure that was inside and threw it to Wayne who was jumping and was in mid-air. Wayne snatched the cure and injected the possessor into its weakspot, the neck. He then jumped down where the others were standing as they watched a nine foot monster turn to a sixteen year old girl. The possessor screamed and got out of the girl's body. Vivi then quickly stabbed it with her spear and the possessor gave a shrill before it vanished. Ivy quickly turned off her spell before one of the bolts found its way into the human girl. The girl was terrified for she had seen a demon like creature with a skull as its head and the body covered in a rugged cloak come out of her and getting killed by a group of people who she had never laid eyes on them in her entire life. Gerard then removed the net that she was trapped in. That gave the girl an opportunity to run but she couldn't for her legs were trembling. Gerard walked to her and touched her on her shoulders. He looked at the girl's eyes who in turn looked back. The others, except for Cyprus, watched in awe as Gerard and the girl looked as if they were flirting with each other while actually he was hypnotizing her."Forget everything abnormal that you've seen today, you just got lost in the forest but then you will find your way back."

The girl nodded and then walked away. "It always looks beautiful and romantic whenever you hypnotize ladies." Vivi teased him as she walked by his side. "No, it doesn't." Cyprus quickly burged in. He hated when Gerard hypnotized ladies. "Cyprus, are you jealous?" Gerard then reacted by teasing him. Cyprus never liked being teased. Well, they headed straight to their home excited and happy. They really had a good day.

After they ate their supper, Wayne called a meeting to talk about the real deal; the possessor. There were a lot of questions behind it. Where did it come from? What was its mission? Why did it just roam in the forest and a lot more questions to come. Earlier in the day when they heard about the possessor roaming in the oak forest, they went to The Magic Keepers to ask for the cure incase the possessor had found a host but denied them permission and later in the evening, Ivy broke into the bureau and stole the cure.

After much brainstorming, Vivi then figured out the perpetrators; the swans, specifically the ones who called themselves The Rivalry. Vivi herself was a swan and two years ago she also worked in The Rivalry until when they lost the battle to the reels ( what Wayne and the others call themselves). Wayne would have killed her if only she didn't look helpless by that time and decided to help her. Ever since, The Rivalry have never been seen anywhere again. Vivi knew that this was The Rivalry's doing because only the blood of a swan would be required to summon any dead creature.

Vivi was in an exciting mood before the meeting which made her depressed, angry and sad. Her best friend, Gerard, took her to her room while comforting her. Wayne then gave Ivy an assignment of tracking The Rivalry down(she was a witch). The rest were free for the night.

~~~

Malleus, the head of The Rivalry, looked in a bowl of water and watched how the reels defeated the possessor very easily. She became furious and threw the bowl on the rocky floor. She then said to herself,"What more can you expect from those bastards." She breathed heavily to calm down then she went back home to report the news. After she had called a meeting.

"Well, we found the right components to mix with our blood of in order to summon creatures but the mission failed." Malleus surprised everyone in the room with her words. Annabelle then asked,"If the components we've been looking for for two years are the right ones, isn't that a victory?"

Malleus then gave a sarcastic smile and said,"Andrea, would you remind Ann why we are summoning creatures?"

"To cause a distraction in order to get the real deal." "Exactly," she then turned to face Ann,"The reels defeated the test subject very easily and that means there is no way we can get the black rock,"

The black rock was a name of an artefact that contained a lot of black magic. Ever since The Rivalry were outmatched by the reels, they had been planning to take the black rock which would give them immense power to rule over all that's magic. After much brainstorming in their meeting, they finally perfected their plan. There was a lot to do so Malleus divided the assignments. Joanna was to walk to the ends of the earth searching for anything powerful that could help them. Valerie, Mae and Gloria were to search for dangerous creatures in order to summon them while the others would wait for an opportunity to take the black rock.

~~~

A new and bright day arose for everyone but the magic keepers. After the head of the magic keepers, Christina was informed of a break in, she was astonished that somebody could ever do that (no one has ever broken into the house of the magic keepers).

"Who did this?" Christina asked Wendy, the head of the witches.

"We don't know yet but we will find out soon enough." Christina, who was in a bad mood, shouted at her and ordered to do faster. She then walked to where Oliver the caretaker was and asked,"What was stolen?"

"I believe it to be the cure. The ones that Wayne and his team came to borrow us."

Christina then gave a smile that neither indicated good nor evil. She then said,"Well, there's no need for the witches to keep searching. Send a team to capture them!"

~~~

Back in Oak Valley (where the reels stayed), Ivy woke up early before the others and tried locating The Rivalry, not that they were hard to track down but because she was a half developed witch whose magic was fading away because she stopped herself from developing to a full witch. Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, it was Wayne. She let him in and asked,"Why are you here?"

Wayne gave a sigh then said,"Because I'm concerned."

"Concerned about what?" Ivy asked him half sure of what he was going to say.

"Concerned about you,V, for starters you woke up very early in the morning."

"Can't I wake up early?"

"You are always the last person to wake up," Wayne giggled a bit then continued,"I gave you an assignment yesterday which you haven't even started."

"I was tired last night," Ivy answered nervously.

"Then why didn't you mention it last night?"

Ivy remained speechless for she was out of fake answers. Wayne's glance automatically forced her to say the truth that she had been hiding from them from about a month ago,"My magic is fading because I've not developed. Soon enough, it's going to go for good and there is a risk that I may die without it due to my tribe." Ivy came from a tribe of witches called the ravens. A tribe that used black magic, but then they got greedy and performed sacrifices in order to be very powerful. The magic keepers saw their rise in power and knew that if they were not taken care of, they would cause a lot of damage. So the magic keepers tricked them by befriending them and later on, they killed all of them and used an artefact to absorb their magic which was later named 'black rock'. Well, except Ivy for she wasn't with them at the time.

"Oh my! Why didn't you say anything?" Wayne out of deep worry said.

"I didn't want to feel like a liability."

"V, we're family, your problems are our problems and whatever..." Wayne was cut short by the sudden appearance of goosebumps on his hand(he was a sensor, one who could sense danger),"stay here." He said this as he walked to the door and picked his two blade staff then walked to the living room. Ivy ignored his orders, picked up a sword and followed him. Wayne then heard a creak of wood and he knew it had to be the basement. He slowly reached for the door of the basement and was very careful not to make any sound as he entered for the wooden floor was a bit old and creak like. Ivy followed him and did exactly as he did. Suddenly, one person about five feet tall jumped to attack Wayne but he moved quickly and the woman fell on the wooden floor. She woke up as if she had been hurt a little. Wayne and Ivy quickly made ready their weapons to attack.

"You're clearly outmatched here lady," Wayne said as he pointed his staff on her neck. The lady giggled as if her being alone were to not worry her at all. She then said,"Check again,"

Then from the dark corners were four other women. Wayne then quickly realized who they were,"Amazons! Guess the magic keepers have figured out the breaking in."

"Come quietly or by force, your choice." The woman who tried to attack Wayne said. Wayne put down his staff from his neck and Ivy followed her lead. The amazons took that as a sign of surrendering and when they had put their guard down, he quickly gave one of them a bruise with a blade and used her as a jumping boost to reach for the door. His leg was yanked by another amazon and he ended up hitting hard on the floor. Ivy quickly swinged her sword towards the amazon which only sliced her arm, and the fight began. Wayne and Ivy were clearly outmatched but it wasn't their way to quit. They were given a rough beating then cornered. Nicole, one of the amazons then asked them,"When are your friends coming? I've been waiting for them for some minutes."

"Then today is your lucky day," Cyprus said as he opened the door to the basement. Behind him were the others, Gerard and Vivi. It then became a fair fight. Cyprus hit one of the amazons a punch and she fell down (Cyprus was a titan. Titans and Amazons had the same level of unnatural strength). The fight began again. Gerard then targeted the punched amazon and while she was distracted, he hypnotized her to fight her own team and that changed the fight upside down. It was six against four and when the reels were about to win, three other amazons came smashing the wooden floor to the basement and the within a matter of minutes, the reels were defeated, all of them knocked out unconscious.

* *

Wayne woke up with a headache. He looked around and saw that he and his friends had been locked in a room with walls made of metal. Cyprus kept punching the wall and it didn't bend but he continued anyway for he was pissed off that a woman had knocked him out. He also did it to pass time, it got boring in there. Gerard, the breaker of monotony, said,"You know, that amazon I hypnotized, I think I liked her, maybe I should have just hypnotized her to like me."

"Maybe you should after this, that is if we walk out of here alive!" Ivy said with annoyance.

"What's up with you Ivy?" A concerned Vivi asked," He was just joking. You have been acting very weird this whole month, what's wrong V?"

Ivy gave out a sigh, glanced at Wayne who nodded to her. She looked at the others who were eagerly waiting for the answer. Even Cyprus stopped hitting the wall to listen. Ivy then started,"I'm losing my magic, right now it's withering, sometimes I have it sometimes I don't. And if I develop, my magic will overpower me and I'll lose control then I'll become full villain."

After the tremendous story, there was a moment of silence for pity and grief to pass around. "Why didn't you tell us?" Vivi asked after sometime,"you know you could trust us,"

Right after Vivi said those words, the door bust open and five snakes quickly slithered to the five and interlocked each ones arms. Some number of amazons walked in the room and walked the reels to a big room.

"The Delta, I never thought I'd enter here again." Wayne said as he looked around a fabulous room with great chandeliers hanging on the ceiling. The floor was tiled and the red and white and a touch of teal made the room look great."If only the people in it were amazing as the room."

"You've ever been here, Wayne?" Cyprus asked curiously.

"Ya, dozens of times."

"And you never told anyone, why?"

"Never been proud of it."

Gerard was tied up to a chair and then blindfolded. Vivi's hands were tied up with a strong rope tightly and she was made to sit down. Cyprus' hands were tied up to a chair and was held down by two amazons on each side just as Ivy. Wayne was just given a chair to sit on and an amazon stood on his right side. The room was then filled in silence when the three entered; Christina, the leader of the amazons, David, a sensor and Boniface, a titan.

Christina took some papers which had their names and read out loud,"Wayne Solomon, Cyprus Peterson, Vivian Laile and Gerard Hallworth." She then looked at Ivy for her name wasn't on the list,"And you are?"

"Ivy," she quickly replied.

Christina then gave Wayne a disappointed look. She then gave a signal to a witch who was standing at the door. She rushed towards Ivy and sniffed her. A look of surprise and confusion was written on the witch's face before she went ahead to tell Christina.

"I can't get exactly if she's supernatural or human." The witch whispered to her ear then left the room. Christina then talked to the sinners (what judged people were called in the delta),"You people have gotten way into your head now. You engage in the fight with the possessor after we told you to back off, you break in in the House of Magic (what the magic keepers called their sanctuary) and steal the cure that we denied you permission, you interacted with a human without any supervision and you just brought another stray in your group that we don't know about."Christina referred to Ivy in her last statement.

"Is bringing someone to live with us a problem?" Wayne asked furiously.

"It became when you brought Vivian, a swan, the sister to the leader of The Rivalry and it's also more dangerous when you bring another whose power even a witch cannot say!" Christina shouted with a loud voice and authority. Tension filled the room and Vivi saw that as an opportunity. She materialised a small but very sharp dagger and started cutting the rope and making sure no one saw her as she did it. Christina and Wayne continued arguing until she decided it was enough,"Shut up Wayne, this is The Delta, and it should be respected."

Wayne then murmured with a small voice,"The Delta, what a stupid name,"

"Well if you don't like it, maybe you would've remained behind and given it another name yourself." Christina then stood from her chair as she said that which made Wayne keep quiet. She then turned to Ivy and asked her,"What are you?" Ivy looked at Wayne then Christina and slowly uttered as if she didn't want to say it,"A witch," Tension in the delta increased, even Vivi felt it. All the others, except the reels were wondering how a witch couldn't sense another witch. Vivi brushed the dagger on the rope the final time and she was free but the dagger foolishly slipped from her hands and fell down making a small cling which was loud considering the silence of the room. All attention was quickly diverted to her. One of the amazons guarding Cyprus leaped to where Vivi was but Vivi moved sideways and avoided being attacked. That gave Cyprus and Wayne an opportunity to attack the distracted amazons behind them. Gerard really wanted to know what was happening. He was blindfolded and his arms strapped to a chair. Vivi picked up the dagger and threw it towards Gerard which ripped a part of the rope tying his right hand which gave him enough room to get his right hand free. The amazons were busy fighting the three reels that they didn't notice Gerard freeing himself. Ivy remained put on her chair watching as her friends beat down the amazons and using them to get their freedom. The back up arrived a minute later when they found the reels asking for freedom in order to spare the captured amazons.

"You want to walk out of here after everything you've done and everything you're doing? You should be out of your..." David was cut short by Christina's reply which also shocked him,"Okay, you can leave,"

Wayne became surprised. He didn't expect that but that was actually what they wanted.

"You are free to go but know this, any respect that you had here is over! Next time we catch you breaking the rules, you'll be treated like the other sinners." Christina added.

Before they got out, Christina then called out,"Gerard, can you undo the damage you've done?"

"With pleasure."

~~~

After the reels had arrived at home, Cyprus immediately asked Wayne,"What was all that?"

"All that what?" Wayne asked back hoping that it wasn't about what happened in the delta."

"You know what I mean,"

Wayne sipped a glass of water then told his story to the eager ears,"My father is...is Richard Cant."

Every supernatural knew who Richard Cant was; a brutal warlord who was feared by anyone who knew his name. Before the magic keepers ever existed, he was the ruler of all magic. He had the largest army and it kept increasing for he liked conquering many magicals. His goal was to conquer all the humans and make them his slaves. While he was getting prepared to accomplish his most esteemed goal, he was stabbed by Wayne and his heart ripped off from his body. His army was disbanded and because a new leadership was required, Wayne created the magic keepers but didn't want to be associated with leadership. He left them not to rule over anyone but ensure that there was peace among the supernaturals. He then came to find out that when one has power, the feel of having more of it comes next.

After Wayne finished, there was a moment of silence passing around pity. It didn't stay for long. Vivi stood up and said,"We all have our problems that we deal with by ourselves but we can't call ourselves family if we keep it to ourselves. We need to be transparent to each other. Let's promise each other that." She gave a sigh then said,"We are one." Everyone repeated after her for they believed that even if they weren't related by blood, they were family.

Back in the House of Magic, Christina was talking to the witch who was in the delta,"Why couldn't you sense your fellow witch?"

"There's probably one theory; she's a half developed witch and she has been like that for a long time." The witch gave her response,"Let me go find out more." The witch then left when David arrived to talk to Christina,"What was all that back there? You let them go. You know we could've stopped them. They're just gonna cause trouble." David then noticed that she wasn't even bothered,"You let them go for a reason, would you care to elaborate which one?"

Christina then answered,"I know Wayne is hiding something from us, no amount of torture could make him tell us anything so I'd like to trick him into saying it. And we'll start with the new lady in their crew."