A Fairytale for Wizards

Suddenly the space in front of Rhema contorted and a colorful, huge bird popped out. The bird opened its beak and cried out loudly.

“Danger line! Danger line!”

“Shut your mouth before I really twist your neck, Ofeq,” Rhema waved his hand to ward off the bird.

Evading his hand, the bird soared, flapped its wings, and circled above his head. Feathers of various colors fell off. “Warning! Warning!”

“I already know,” Rhema said sharply and set his eyes on the people running away. He saw fat Count Colte on a knight’s back. An invisible, huge hand grabbed and lifted him in the air. The Countess, who was desperately packing pieces of jewelry that were yet to be turned into dust yet, was found as well. She was also caught by the invisible hand. Lastly, Deborah Colte was found and caught.

“Halt! Halt! Halt!” The bird was crying its head off. 

Instead of listening to that warning, Rhema gestured to the bird. The bird’s beak was closed shut as if it was glued. It shivered its feathers and fluttered frantically. The collapsed Colte Castle became a huge sandhill. The Colte family was dragged and cast before Rhema, who was standing on top of the hill. He first asked the Count.

“Where did you buy Azriel?”

The answer was unnecessary of course since it was a question to read his memory as well. The Count’s eyes were overturned in agony of his head being stirred. Rhema indifferently withdrew his hand after reading his memory. The Count’s neck was twisted and soon, was turned into sand and scattered. The Countess who watched the scene immediately passed out. She also became a part of the sandhill as soon as Rhema’s hand touched her. 

Deborah Colte, who was left lastly, turned pale while still holding a glass shoe. It was because the castle collapsed when she was screaming at the servants to either find the runaway maid, Maylie, or the other shoe. Rhema ripped the shoe off her grip. Then he looked down at her with freezingly cold eyes and tapped her forehead with the tip of his hand. “See what it’s like to get back what you’ve done.”

“Agh!!! Arrgghh!!!!”

Deborah crouched and started shrieking. The pain of whips being wielded on the back pounded on her. No wound was formed but the pain was real. Leaving Deborah aside, who was rolling on the sand, Rhema glared at the bird that was peskily flying around. “I’m not going to cross the line. Go back to where you’re supposed to be, Ofeq.” 

The bird whose beak was freed from forcibly being shut cried loudly and circled him. The bird that had been quacking suddenly spoke in a beautiful voice that sounded like a boy. “Rhema Reshith. Can you kill Azriel Esthera?”

Rhema grabbed the bird’s neck and pulled it right in front of his eyes. The bird’s pitch-black eyes glared. It asked again. “Rhema Reshith, Rhema Reshith. If you have to kill Azriel Esthera, can you not hesitate?” Rhema’s hand holding the bird’s neck was clenched so hard that the veins on it stood out. The bird only stared at him as if it did not feel being strangled. Finally, he opened his mouth.

“…If I have to, I can.” The response that came out belatedly sounded rough like a metal being scratched. The bird blinked its eyes and closed its beak. Rhema soon let the bird go. The bird no longer warned. It fluttered above Rhema’s head once and vanished, distorting space just like how it appeared first. A couple of feathers with a mixture of red and green fell before his eyes. The moment he scowled at them, they were burned and turned into ash.

He could kill her if it was necessary, so it would be fine if he kept her near him. …Could he really do it? Rhema stopped thinking at that point. After brushing his face with his exhausted hand, he gestured annoyingly at Deborah who was still screaming. Not even watching her turning into sand and fall, he turned his back.

*

Azriel was still in a hazy state. She was dizzy as if she had been suffering from fever. She wanted to check on Maylie who was still passed out but could not move at all. She curled up in the robe that Rhema covered her and closed her eyes. When she took a deep breath, her nose was filled with the birchwood scent from the robe. Her head cleared up a little. She just breathed for a while in that position. She felt a little better by doing so, so she rubbed her eyes that still felt hot and hardly opened her eyes. Then even her dizziness disappeared by the sight unfolding in front of her eyes. The Colte Castle was disappearing into dust before her. It turned into a sand castle and collapsed. Grasping the hem of the robe, Azriel looked at Colte Castle that became a sandhill. She also watched each household of the Colte family turning and scattering into sand before Rhema after being captured. 

‘No way…’ It was a terrible sight. Although she hated and blamed them, she never wished them to die. She had imagined them apologizing and pleading to her on their stomach but never imagined such an end. At least, she did not want them to turn into dust crying in great agony like that. Rather than feeling satisfied, a feeling of revulsion weighed down on her. Rhema, whose facial expression did not even change once, did not feel like a human. The edge of human, a being closest to God, the nickname Wizard of the Horizon had never felt more accurate. He quickly appeared in front of her again. In his hand, he held a sparkling glass shoe.

“I don’t know where the other one is.”

Speaking calmly, he knelt before frozen Azriel and laid the shoe. Taken aback by his words, she took out the other shoe from her apron.

“I had the other one.”

Rhema’s eyes were slightly widened. He took it from her and laid her feet on his knee.

“Eeek!” Embarrassed, Azriel tried to pull her feet away but Rhema did not let them go. He took off her dirty, old shoes right away. The slave mark branded by fire appeared. He looked down at it for a short while. Grey eyes moved slowly like a collapsing cloud. His fingertips stroked the uneven brand. 

“Reshith,” he said in a low voice. Azriel witnessed her brand being removed clearly with a dim light.

“Ah…” The trace of slavery that felt like it would bind her entire life disappeared. All minor scratches and scars left on the feet were gone as well.