Chapter Text
“I am magical too”, she hollered.
The Nomad came to a halt. He turned around to look at the woman, and one eye made an upper curve to show he was curiously surprised by her revelation.
The woman smiled. “I’m NOT human, I am a… half-witch”. She said carefully, she hoped it didn’t sound like a lie.
The nomad walked back to her and seemed interested in her revelation. He eyed her in suspicion, then pointed at her as he waved his closed fist around. Barbara raised an eyebrow. “What are you doing?”
He tapped on his ‘mouth area’, shaking his head. Barbara gasped, “You are mute…?” He nodded. She hummed. “Are you asking me to…demonstrate my abilities?” She guessed. The nomad nodded. “Uh…all right…”.
Taking a deep exhale, she muttered something about specs or whatever, and she somehow lifted off the ground slowly. Her arms were stretched left and right horizontally, making sure she was making a ‘T’ shape with her body. Then she shortly hovered down to the sandy ground.
“Hope ‘Levitating’ convinced you”, she said while shaking her left leg. Nomad was convinced, but another reason to be suspicious came into his mind.
(<Are you practicing Necromancy?>) He asked through sign language. Barbara just laughed as if that was a joke.
“If I had a mick for every time someone asked me that”, she laughed, “I can’t do that kind of magic, Pas encore de toute façon”.
Nomad just tilted his head like a confused dog. <What’s a mick?>
“So, do you want to come with me?” She asked, “There isn’t much time, I only have five days until the portal closes”.
(<Portal?! What portal?>) He asked, and Barbara seemed to be thinking of what to say. She approached Nomad and smiled.
“Earth is not a safe place for supernatural beings”.
Nomad wanted to roll his eyes at her statement of the obvious, but Barbara continued. “Magical beings are rescued and taken to a special place among the stars”. He was still a bit skeptical, and understandably so. Barbara could see that “I can tell you do not trust me, but you have no place in this world, magical beings are endangered here, and you should have already realized that”.
<Crud…she is not wrong>
Tobi: That was realistic and mature for a girl who's bubblier than soap.
<And she came here to take any magical being here to wherever she lives in the sky>.
(<It is already clear that I do not have a choice…>) He decided.
The girl smiled in relief, and Nomad wondered why her smile was making him want to smile. The girl took his gloved hands in hers as she smiled in excitement. “Trust me…what is your name?”
(<Nomad, but you can call me ‘friend’ if you want>)
“Nomad…you are going to love Dracken Calipso, it is a beautiful place and you will easily fit in with others like us two,” she said, then walked ahead with him humming and holding his gloved hand. He wished she knew not to get so close and touchy with him.
A tall, muscular woman in warrior clothing walked into town and checked her enchanted compass w,hich was a tool provided by the king of Nowhere. She looked around and found nothing…supernatural.
“I’m telling you! That mute face concealed traveler was testing me!” A man with ginger hair complained. “He wouldn’t say a damn word but he still knew how to sass me, Mason!”
“A mute nomadic man can’t give sass, Jon, that’s like saying you saw a chicken fly like a hawk”.
“Did you say a mute nomad?” The woman asked as she approached the two men. They stared at her in surprise.
“What’s it matter to you?” Jon eyed the woman from foot to head. “Wanderers cross here every week”.
“You said he was mute and concealed his face”.
Jon snickered, “I don’t see why it’s so important to you…Miss or Sir?”
“I think this person is a combination of both genders”, Mason joked, and the woman punched him in his cheekbones and then grabbed Jon by the collar.
“I am Toth, warrior personal bounty hunter of El Rey, if you don’t tell me what you know about the nomad right now then I’ll gladly call the king to punish both of you”.
Both men trembled at the threat of being sent to El Rey, who was ruthless and terrifying. Anyone who saw magic but refused to report where immediately arrested by anyone working for the man.
“Okay, okay! That nomad fella came here not long ago, he was causing trouble then some lady took him away into the desert plain”.
“Lady? Was she a bounty hunter?”
“I dunno! She looked too pretty for that kinda work”, Jon whimpered, “But she was looking for people who weren’t from around here”. Toth narrowed her eyes.
“What did this woman look like?”
“Some exotic dancer, her outfit was a little revealing, and she had long red hair”.
Toth pushed Jon to the ground and went back to her horse and took off into the endless plain. Mason screeched in the pain of his broken teeth. Jon grinned. At least the nomad was going to get a beating. Shame for the pretty redhead, though.
As Toth ventured off into the endless open plains of Nowhere, her compass acted up, more alerting than before. She wondered if that meant her target was nearby. As she stopped by an old well, she hummed in thought. The compass acted even crazier as she was standing right by it.
Using a rope, she climbed down, and her compass acted on high alert. As she walked, she heard voices.
“Faux! Je vais argumenter avec toi en français pour gagner plus facilement.” Barbara shot back at Nomad, who didn’t know how to respond to this strange language. The magical redhead gave a smug look at Nomad’s defeat. “Now, if I am correct, the constellations should lead us to the portal, mon dieu, you were so hard to find, and the detour is a whole new quest.”
They walked across a canyo,n and Nomad wanted to ask Barbara something about bounty hunters. Barbara unexpectedly pushed him against a rocky wall, pinning him against it and pressing her body against his. They heard a dagger thrown at them as she did that. Barbara and Nomad moved back to the original position but facing a woman who emerged from the shadows. Barbara positioned herself in a fighting stance.
<Ah, no…the warrior woman Toth!> Nomad flinched, and Barbara looked at Nomad in concern.
“Nomad of Nowhere,” Toth called, “Come with me and neither you nor the girl gets hurt.”
Barbara laughed at that threat and Toth glared with gritted teeth. “Listen, masculine woman, I would only be scared if you were a ghos,t but since you are a mere human…”
Toth charged with her axe, but Barbara punched her in her chin. The red head dodged Toth’s axe and stepped so hard that the axe blade broke off. Toth looked at her with shock. “Sorry butch, you can look intimidating but that does not mean you are anywhere close!” She said in a sassy tone before kicking her to the wall. Toth wiped her lip, which was bleeding, and stood up to attack the redhead, who immediately through bat-shaped, sharp objects at her. As Toth was pinned, but her arms were free as she was sleeveless, Barbara held her by a chokehold.
“You may be strong to the average human, but I am not some girl you can mess with!” Barbara gasped at the smell of Toth’s leaked blood. Her eyes changed into bloodshot red, and fangs were revealed. Nomad had a look of horror more than Toth in that moment. Barbara made an inhuman growl and stepped back. She pressed two of her fingers on Toth’s neck, making her go unconscious.
Nomad was trying to process. Barbara wasn’t a magical girl, she was a magical demon! He made a run for it, but somehow Barbara caught up with him.
(<What in Nowhere are you!>)
“I understand you are frightened, but you need to calm down so I can lead you--,”
Nomad tried running away, but Barbara grabbed him by the arm and whispered: Peels.
He went unconscious, and Barbara lifted him and walked to her destination.