Chapter 135 135. This Means War

Chapter 135 135. This Means War
Drake grabbed Isolde's hand; he saw the smirk on Ben's face right here. He could already see the Keepers that were in the courtroom moving. They were moving slowly toward them. He wouldn't let them take his Isolde. His wielder, whom he had just gotten back.  

He knew Ben's story of the past events, but from his perspective, he also knew that this trial was what everyone was following. Ashford had made sure of it, and Malachi had made the wraiths play it up. The whole craft world was watching. It was what Malachi said it was: a stage.  

Ashford wanted to limit what others could do, as did the Nexus to a degree. Malachi wanted everyone to have more agency without restrictions. He knew Isolde thought that both Malachi and Ashford were two sides of the same coin. He felt it now; he felt everything Isolde said was true. They were pawns: Drake, Isolde, and Ben. This was their fight, but for some reason he had been pulled in, as had his wielder.  

Drake had to give the signal; he had to tell the wraiths who had come to attack that it would be an all-out fight, and it wouldn't be fast. As the Keepers kept slowly moving toward them, the courtroom burst open. "There was a massive explosion; it's chaos. It happened right on the border of where wielders and mundanes lived." Someone yelled. This is not what he had expected; it wasn't the wraiths, Drake knew it. Isolde knew it.  

Drake looked around, and the other wraiths in the room looked at him too; this was not planned. "Drake!" He turned to look at Isolde. "Lydia lives on the mundane side of the border." Terror was in her voice. The whole building shook; another bang rang out. What was going on? "It is her!" Ben yelled, pointing.  

Isolde's eyes got huge. Drake gave the signal and the wraiths attacked; wands of all wood were pulled from them and pointed, and it was chaos. Isolde was already moving, Drake firing his craft; she was using dark craft, and they worked in tandem. The Power of Nexus was firing their own craft, and Ben crouched down to avoid the damage. The room was large, but it suddenly felt too small.  

Drake covered Isolde; they had to get out of there. No one had planned for this; they finally made it to the exit. That did little; the building was shaking, people were outright yelling and shouting, and using wands to try to stop what was happening to the building. There was fire in some areas. Another loud bang rang out, and the ceiling was collapsing. "It's bombs!" Isolde yelled.  

Drake didn't understand but kept trying to get her out of the building. They couldn't stay there, and he couldn't get to travel inside the Nexus building. Weilders were running and screaming somewhere, while others were trying to escape. "Stop Her!" Someone yelled.  

Isolde looked back; it was three keepers. They were chasing them through the exploding building. She looked back to see a wall blow out and knock one of the Keepers on the head, throwing him from the blast, and his head impacted the wall- blood, so much blood. "Come on, Isolde!" Drake yelled to Isolde, using his stone wand to direct his craft more precisely, with whomever or whatever was in their way out of their path.  

He didn't care that he might have injured others or trapped them there; all he cared about was Isolde, and he had to get her out of there. He felt a jerk back and saw the keepers had caught up; they had Isolde. Drake saw red. His father had told him what to do in case of an emergency: an incantation that would kill.  

It had been banned for more than 100 years and was only to be used in life-or-death situations, his father had told him. He never planned to use it, but seeing Isolde grabbed and her thrashing, he didn't even point his wand; he just set his eyes on the keeper who held her roughly.  

Arms grabbed Drake. "Mutel." He directed it at the one who held Isolde, and he fell to the ground screaming, blood pouring out of his eyes, ears, nose, and mouth. The Keeper, who had just grabbed Drake, was momentarily shocked, either because he didn't know the incantation or because someone had used something so uncommon and so banned.

Isolde was let go, and she had seen the man grab Drake, and like him, she didn't hesitate; she had sworn when she woke up that she wouldn't go back into someone's mind again. She couldn't keep the promise she made to herself, and suddenly the Keeper was pulling his wooden wand toward himself. "Mutel." He fell. Drake didn't wait for the body to fall. Drake once again grabbed Isolde, and they ran.  

Finally, they made it out, still hearing bangs. "Lydia, we need to go to Lydia!" Isolde yelled over the noise. Outside of Nexus was no less chaotic. Drake grabbed her, and they vanished; he didn't care about hiding their landing from the Mundane. Something was wrong; something had happened.  

Who had planted the bombs, as Isolde called them?  Who was behind all this? It wasn't the wraiths; it wasn't them who had done this. Drake didn't know. They appeared on the street in front of Lydia's place, and it was all smoke and people screaming. The building was gone, just gone, reduced to rubble.  

There was a massive shriek from somewhere in the sky, but no one could see what it was, not with the ash and smoke. It was disorienting. Wind whipped around them; what was going on? "Lydia! Lydia! Lydia!" Isolde called; no one responded. She lived in the building; she was gone. Maybe she wasn't there; Drake hoped so. She couldn't stand the thought of one of his oldest friends being gone.  

He looked around; mundanes were screaming. Isolde looked up and saw what was coming. She grabbed Drake. "HOME NOW!" She screamed bloody murder, and Drake made them vanish. They landed on the lawn at Thorne Castle. "Was that?" He asked. Isolde's eyes were wide. "They are extinct; they are supposed to be extinct." Drake paused, remembering the conversation they had years ago.

Isolde said it was improbable that hunters got all the mythical creatures. That it was almost impossible for them to have gotten every mythical being, especially when most creatures could be made under certain circumstances. Drake remembered the conversation vividly; it was the day after they had run from the whispering woods at Arcane Academy. "It was a dragon."