Tale Of The Half-Blood Wizard

The place we were visiting was supposed to be Miss Anty's residence. But when we got there, I did not see any buildings that represented a house. It was an area filled with ruins of the buildings. I looked at Naar, confused, "We are not lost, aren't we?" I asked.

He just shook his head while pointing at the ruins of the house of an old porous wooden door. 

I was still confused until finally, I saw Azalea walk toward the door first. She knocked at the door softly. 

"Wait a moment!" Distinctly, I heard someone's voice which I believed was Miss Anty's. I did not see anything behind the door when it was still closed—other than the other ruins—but when it was opened, a woman came out of it, "Is this a magic trick?" I was bewildered. 

The moment we went through the door, the scene immediately changed as if to another dimension.

"I brought the child today," Azalea asked me to greet her. 

I bowed to Miss Anty who seemed to be younger than Azalea, "Hello, I am Tsabitha You--," I stopped when I was about to utter my last name, "Please call Tha," I changed my mind.

Miss Anty was quite friendly compared to Azalea. It was evident when she did not hesitate to smile at me, and also introduced herself. And after that, she took us to the dining room at her house. 

It seemed like it would be a long discussion. They talked about what had happened when Antonie crossed into the human world with Rumpa, a few days before the tragedy. It turned out that no one had ever known that he was out with my father, so I chose to stay silent. Even when Azalea looked in my direction when Miss Anty started explaining that there might be my father's involvement in that incident. 

"There is nothing we can do with this person. "Azalea started to open Antonie's notes regarding his memory, so I asked him to write down anything he remembered in the book, "Let us just assume he was not involved. His status as the son of the former elder would be very troublesome for us to take care of him too," Her hand stopped on a page Azalea seemed to think for a moment, "Why did he see someone else who shot the three kids, instead??! Not to see himself, nor feel like the one who did the shooting?" She said, pointing to one part of the page, "If it is seen in here, isn't Antonie more like a witness in that incident?" She said, then turned to gaze at Miss Anty. 

"You did interview those two little kids, didn't you? Did they really say that it was Antonie who did it? She inquired. She seemed to suspect that Miss Anty might not do her job properly.

"I interviewed two children who happened to be there at the time of the incident. As for the other two, I could not find them. Actually, apart from the two children, there was someone who had just come home from work. He was at the scene. The three said the same thing, it was Antonie who did the shooting," Miss Anty looked confident when she told this to us. 

Azalea just nodded, then she looked at me, "Tha, what did the boy say to you?" She asked in a firm tone. The look in her eyes always managed to intimidate me. 

"He saw someone else doing the shooting. Before, he felt like something was telling him to come to stop the tragedy, but when he got there, he was too late," I explained, conveying what  the man had said, "I think Antonie did it himself, but he does not remember that it was him," I looked at Azalea deeply, "Or maybe there was someone else in him?" 

A year after the tragedy, Antonie was never again seen mingling with other wizards, until the case was revealed that the culprit was him. He was given a capital sentence according to the laws of the magicians. In order for his ability to completely disappear, his heart must be separated from his body, then it will be buried in a different place. However, five days before the day of his execution, he committed suicide. 

"Believe me, Antonie is very cunning. He was so hard to kill, that I felt frustrated thinking about how to kill him," Azalea's words sounded so irritated, while Miss Anty just laughed in amusement. 

"Antonie did not really die that day. He tricked us, by using the body of another man who had died hours earlier and making the dead man look like him. So we thought that he really committed suicide," Miss Anty explained. 

""Then, he used the ritual of immortality to transfer his spirit into the body of a boy who had just died. He did it to fool us, making it difficult for us to find him so that he could continue to live using his new body identity," She added. 

"He knew there was a risk of failing in the immortality spell. Therefore Antonie worked around it by putting the same spell and its power on his beloved cat. However, the animal ran away," Miss Anty chuckled for a moment, "A sad end to escape," 

Everyone in this room seemed to understand Miss Anty's explanation, even Azalea smiled mockingly, but, I still didn't really understand, so I kept quiet..

"You haven't understood it, Tha?" It looked like Miss Anty knew that I didn't really get her explanation.

I just smiled awkwardly and shook my head to answer her question.

"When a spirit is transferred, there are several things that must also be transferred, among which are the strengths and memory of the owner of the spirit. As for Antonie's case, he only transferred his spirit into the child's body without having time to bring all his memories. Maybe it could also be caused the rituals he did were wrong." This time Miss Anty explained slowly while I was still trying to digest all the nonsense. 

"I am just a little confused about the spirit of the young man who was later also able to live in the body of a marionette, with all his memories intact." The woman's expression was astonished. "It seems that the naughty cat is smarter than its master itself. By carrying the spell left by Antonie, that animal could act to seal the spirit in the doll properly," From the words spoken by Miss Anty, she seemed to really admire Mickey. 

At this point, I quite understand the explanation, so I only smiled faintly when I remembered Zie who was currently with Mr Oka. 

I looked at Azalea who was currently looking at me with a strange smile, "Don't worry, we are not hunting your friend anymore. He will be safe with my bodyguards. You have sacrificed everything for him. He must be worth it, right?" I don't know if he was joking or not but I felt my cheeks heat up a little. 

I could see Naar looking at me with a confused look, before I looked down to hide the blush that might have coloured my cheeks, "Thank you," I whispered. 

"Have you got that marionette?" Asked Miss Anty. Apparently, she was very surprised at Azalea's statement. "Ahh…That is useless now. I thought I could withdraw the spell I was given, but it was nothing," This time her expression was disappointed. 

I was just quiet when they resumed their conversation. By helping Antonie recall everything, it meant that I would bring Zie back to the spirit realm, sooner or later. I didn't know if what I was doing was right or wrong, I couldn't continue to be selfish by holding back someone who shouldn't be in the world he was in at the moment.

"Can Antonie be brought out of his cage?" Miss Anty interrupted Azalea's explanation about what she had done to restore Antonie's memory.

Instantly, Azalea turned to her in surprise, "Are you crazy?" She snapped her. 

"I was just thinking if we show him the scene over and over, there will be a chance he will remember even in more detail. We are going to make Antonie experience it over and over until he remembers it. Maybe we can use illusion spells," Miss Anty's slender fingers tapped the table in front of her, waiting for our opinion on her idea. 

"I know it is too risky to take him out of the cage. There is a chance that he will escape. It is also possible that the illusion spell will also fail on him considering that he always manages to deceive Falak during his imprisonment," She explained. 

"Should we chain him or something so that he will not run? I am not sure he will not run away once we get him out.. That person is still very cunning before and after his death, even in someone else's body!" Said Azalea annoyed while slamming Antonie's notebook.