Faris stopped atop a tree branch. Camille landed down on the ground next to the tree and looked up at him.
"Alright, tell me something, Camille," he said. "How many bad guys has your team captured?"
"Many, actually," she replied. "Aa, why asking?"
"Have you faced wizards?" He adjusted his cap and dusted his t-shirt.
"Yes."
"How strong?"
"Not that strong. We mostly were after rogues. So, the wizards that we ran into even, were not that strong."
"Then exercise extreme caution." He threw away the flip-flops and rolled up his pants. "These folks seem to be pretty strong, and this is no drill. They will not hesitate to kill you."
'That accent,' she thought. 'He sounds Turkish but doesn't look like it.'
With a smile, the Mystic asked, "Wondering if I'm Turkish, huh?"
Wide-eyed, she stared. 'Is he reading my thoughts?'
"Don't worry. I don't read thoughts. I can just tell where your attention is directed." After a pause, he added, "One last thing: when we confront them, I'll take the lead and you'll back me up, alright?"
"Understood."
Sensing the wizards stopping, Camille turned around saying, "You feel that? They're stopping."
Faris nodded. "Hmm… nope. Two of them are moving ahead."
"Yup, I got 'em now."
"So, let's skip ahead…"
The Mystic jumped down, grabbed Camille's arm by one hand, and extended the other hand out. A vortex appeared a few feet in front of them. He dragged her along into it and they vanished.
For the next few seconds, the young Sokidu remained blinded by a sea of running lights. And before she could react, they were standing beside another tree. Her head spun.
"Shake it off," said Faris.
Camille shook her head and rubbed her eyes, then blinked at the scene: they had somehow arrived ahead of the wizards and were now blocking their path to the civilians.
She stared at him. "What was that? Those lights gave me some serious spots, man."
"The Continuum of Sempiternity," Faris said with a smile. "Those lights were every choice you and everyone else has ever made."
The Continuum was a realm of existence outside the confines of space and time, a void from which every possible when and where were accessible. An infinite number of possibilities, each creating a separate branch universe, were all accessible from this void. Furthermore, time flowed like a river there, allowing access to every last moment within these universes.
"Never thought I'd see the Continuum," Camille said, still shaken up by the journey.
Faris put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't get any fancy ideas now, ok?" he said, still smiling. "The Continuum is not for everyone to access. Even most Mystics don't use it. Ain't worth the risk getting lost in nothingness just cause you wanted to win a race!"
Venturing outside the plane of existence was tough, but it was the re-entry that made even the strongest Mystics and Zaatsus fear the journey. The entry and exit points had to be the exact same moment in time within the same universe. Even an infinitesimally small error in the re-entry time or missing one's own universe and accessing a different one would both lead to dire consequences.
"Now look sharp!" the Mystic added. "We have incoming."
Closing in on the tourists at the Huéznar Cascades, the wizards lit up a fire. Ignited using Ki, it grew rapidly even in the humid and damp conditions. But Camille and Faris were prepared.
"Douse the flames!" he exclaimed. "I'll deal with the damned wizards myself."
Camille moved ahead and swiftly lunged into the flames. Being a Martial Artist of that level and having an apt level of control over the fire and water elements, putting out this fire was never going to be tough for her.
With her Ki charged, the Sokidu quickly formed a link with the flames and began charging down the Ki within. The temperatures started dropping and very soon the flames began to die. The wizards tried to move towards her but were intercepted by Faris who appeared in front of them, floating in mid-air.
"You will go no further," he said.
"You have no business here, Mystic," one of them said. "Stay out of our way or someone might get hurt."
"You were attacking civilians, cowards! Attack me, if you dare!"
The wizards rushed at the Mystic with great speed, but he very easily dodged them and countered with greater speed and ferocity. They tried to defend but were no match for him.
"NORUM-DOBAREV," the duo chanted in unison and many of the trees around began to swerve.
"Weaponizing trees." Faris smiled as he shook his head. "Do you even know who you're dealing with?"
He raised his hands, and the spell was broken. It looked as if the trees shook themselves out of the spell. "One with nature," he exclaimed with a grin. "That is a true Mystic!"
Pushing himself higher, he began throwing sharp wind blades at the duo. They scampered for cover and barely survived being sliced into pieces.
Faris gently landed on the ground. With one swift jerking motion of his arms, water rose from a stream flowing nearby and rushed at the wizards. They attempted to get out of the way but were unsuccessful. It engulfed them. Stuck inside the ball of water, they tried many a spell but could not escape.
"Camille!" Faris called. "Engage the others approaching."
The seven other wizards from this group were fast approaching. But before they could get to Faris, Camille intercepted them by uprooting a large wall of ice. When they attempted to jump over the wall, she shot tiny fireballs at them. This gave enough time for the Mystic to take care of the two trapped in the water prison.
By now, all parties had been alerted of the battle that had begun. All the other wizards were moving closer, but so were the Martial Artists.
Unleashing a shockwave, the wizards brought Camille's ice wall down to find Hugo and Vincent standing beside the Sokidu. Very soon, Ella and Gina joined them as well.
Faris then arrived too. A thread snapped taut across the minds of the Eye compatriots. He had formed a telepathic link.
"I just searched through the minds of two of those wizards," the Mystic explained. "They are here for you. Who did you people meet recently who might have known your whereabouts? Just speak in your heads with the intention of getting through to the rest of us. We'll all listen."
"We were being followed?" Neil asked as his group joined them as well.
"Yes. They knew you'd be around here somewhere looking for the remnants."
"Derek," said Hugo as the telepathic conversation continued. "Either he sold the information to someone, or we just got played bad!"
The rest of the wizards joined the party as well. "Which one of you is Hugo Baylis?" a witch asked.
"What's it to you?" Faris responded.
"He wants to kill him…"
In his head, Marcus asked, "Who's 'he'?"
Faris widened his stance. "Alright gang, keep your guard up." He shook his head and added, "One more inbound…"
"I don't sense anyone," said Hugo.
"You can't."
"Why?"
"It's not a wizard."
"Then who?"
"An Alchemist…"