Chapter 57: Strix

It's all the owl's fault. 

           If that owl mask man hadn't save me, then I wouldn't possibly be interested in a flyer that had a picture of an owl on it. I followed the map that had directed me to the capital. There must have been something wrong with me that I let myself getting into one of the sorcerer's most hated city. At the middle of the city, there was a huge tent set up and there were crowds pushing in. 

             "If I'm not mistaken, this is the place." 

             I was quite dubious at the location, but after coming all the way, I decided to push my way in. Inside, the fire around was brightening the tent as if it was day inside. Crowds were crowding in circle witnessing the exchange between the great animal of the jungle with the title King, and a man with holding a stool on his left hand and a red whip on his right. "Come you mighty beast, show me what you got!" He cried, provoking the lion. On the other side of the ring, you could witness a woman bouncing off a trampoline while going through hoops dangling above. Suddenly, the hoop was lit on fire, while the audience felt distress, the woman went through without a hitch. Above me, there were people flying…correction, they were jumping and maneuvering from one bar to the other, giving a breathless performance. All those performers had one thing in common. 

          They were all wearing an owl mask. 

         Coincidence…that can't be right? While all the audience were captivated by each of their performance. I turn my gaze toward the middle of the ring. There, he looked over at his crew from the small stage made for himself. The blue robe that covered him from head to toe gave him a mysterious aura, and the mask he wore reminded me of the man I had met today. No, not just remind him, it WAS him!

           "Ladies and gentleman, thank you for watching us until the end, we hope you enjoy our performance." After he said that, the other performers left their performance and stood beside the master of this circus crew. They bowed down and the audience clap and whistle  in joy. I was about to leave myself but then the man looked straight at me. I didn't know how he could notice me from the thick crowd surrounding me, but I knew he was looking at me. 

            Why I am sure you ask? Because before I could leave this place, a spell was cast on me, unable for me to move from my spot. So as the flow of crowd were going outwards, I stood like something glued me in place as I glare furiously at the people in mask. Slowly but surely, the tent was on the verge of being empty, and when it does, there were only the circus people and me. 

            "What do you want? Depending on your answer, you'd be grateful if I get by just burning this tent to the ground!" 

            "Wow, she's feisty, Boss, you like to find people with strong characters, do you?" said the blond boy that had been dangling in the sky before.

            "I think she's naive, or maybe stupid. Does she really think she could take us all and leave just like that?" this time, it was the woman with long braided ginger hair, she was wearing a tight suit and her body looked so skinny and tall like a match and was the one who was jumping through hoops of fire.

            "If she could, that'd be awesome" said the main in black suit, he tucked his hat, hiding half of his face and threw the stool he was holding aside.

            Without retorting or giving any comments. The one being called 'Boss' strolled his way toward me until his mask was only a few inches away from me. The gaze of his gray eyes was round and was observing me every inch of me. It was then than I undo the spell on me and made a sudden kick to his head. As I expect, no one around was expecting me to retaliate that quickly. 

            "That girl…she undo Boss's spell?!" 

            "Could be because he held back his mana."

            "Have you ever seen him holding back once?"

            They all were quiet for a moment until they answered together the same answer. 

            """"No.""""

            The Boss staggered back from my kick but that doesn't mean I'd let him recover. I might also fight with his underlings if they think he's in trouble and that would make things a lot harder to escape. Ugh, I'm regretting that I didn't come with Hod along. He's the master of escape. 

             "She who strikes first wins!" I pulled out my dagger as I conjured a spell, releasing a wave of fire coming out of the scabbard and coiling my dagger into a sword of flame. 

            "Wait, she's serious in burning us down?!" 

            You bet I am, not letting a single beat stops me. I poured more mana as fuel and swing it around, creating a flame circling me. I was prepared to escape at any moment when just as fast as it was build, the flame was extinguished. Since the flame was fueled with mana, the only way to extinguished it was with a silver weapon or a spell with a stronger mana. 

            If I'm not seeing things, then the spell he used was neither wind, water, nor earth. 

             [Blood, give me the shape of carnage]

            The red substance rise from the ground and flowed to his hand with the shape of a sword. I took a step forward, not letting myself pause for even the unexpected. Sorcerers always do have surprises so calmly facing them is one of the basic in fighting against them. It seems Master had his share of fight with his fellow sorcerer. 

             However, when I tried to parry his red sword, my own sword went through  like cutting a liquid. When I thought I had break it apart, the blood came together and as he twist his body behind me. I tried gaining my stance once more but instead, I face the tip of the red blade of his sword.  

            It's only been a day and I had to face the end of the sword twice. It is definitely not my lucky day. 

            "Beautifully done!" He exclaimed. He might have tried to compliment me, but I could only think it was an insult coming from someone who held my life at the moment. "You are Claudia Oriente correct?" 

               "You know me?" 

               "Quite so, words will fly around when a sorcerer is running around freeing greenhorns and the falsely accused. I'm a fan of your effort by the way."

              He undid his spell and the sword disappeared from his hand. I turned to him without letting off my suspicious look. "My effort and not my work?" 

            "Well truth to be told, your work is really pointless from my point view."

              "Pointless...." I muttered the words he utter and the flame scorching around my dagger blaze more vigorously. "Whether, it's pointless or not, I let myself decide that"

            "The problem is Claudia, I'm sure you think that as well. Haven't you ever thought after fighting countless of soldiers and saving countless of lives, haven't you thought 'when will it end?'" Hearing his words, I blushed. I felt my face getting hot from embarrassment when my thoughts were readable to others. "No matter how many you free our fellow sorcerer, what you do will not solve the problem itself. While you are freeing 5-10 people, the country is killing 80-100 sorcerers, including the wrongly accused. It is no different in treating the symptoms but not the disease."

            No words came out from me as I listen to him. It frustrates me that he was blatantly telling me that my effort is being wasted, that there was never a point in me fighting for what I think it's right for me. "Don't misunderstand, I never said you were wasting your effort, but what I do want to say is that you're putting your effort in the wrong place." 

            "Then do you know how my power could be use to treat this 'disease' you're talking about"

            The masked man smiled, as if he was waiting for that exact words coming from my mouth. "I'm glad you ask," he pulled out a piece of paper and had it float toward my hand. "Come at the exact time and place written there, and we will show you how we could change our world." 

           I look at the paper suspiciously and was hesitating to throw it away. Who would follow the words of someone who is 100% suspicious from top to bottom. Plus, he's wearing a mask, who would believe in someone who hides his own face. 

            And yet, I couldn't throw it away. 

            "Who are you people?"

            I look up from the paper to him, but he was already standing beside his comrades. "You can call us, The Strix" 

            "Strix…you mean the owl"

            "Owl is the symbol of wisdom, people call us witches as it represent us as chaos and misfortune, but ideally we are only people who seek knowledge and the truth of the world." 

             "Our powers is not a curse, and we certainly are not devils. It is a gift to bring prosper to people, our existence is much more noble than anyone could imagine." He talks as he walk closer to me, he held my hand and I didn't push him from me, because he looks at me with eyes pleading to me, and said the words I had never thought anyone would say to me. 

           "Claudia, we need you"