March 25, 2005 – 08:00
Jourmol and Erikua, members of the Shadow Elementals, were near Kruger National Park in South Africa to investigate a cell of radical elementals who were allegedly storing djinn mystical weapons for eventual distribution. A few days after arriving in town, they realized it was bigger than they thought and called for backup to take it down.
Tyna, Elko and Trew arrived earlier that morning.
"Erikua and I will meet again with our informant in Phalaborwa. Stay close to us and observe. We don't fully trust him and he never comes alone to meet us. We can always sense someone lurking on us whenever we talk to him."
Two hours later, Jourmol and Erikua stood in front of their informant, and once again, they sensed some people watching them, besides their crew.
"In 2 hours, near the central point of the Wilpattu National Park in Sri Lanka, there is a trade that will happen," said their informant.
Tyna communicated the information to the Shadow Elementals elders through mind-link. As soon as she was done, a group of eight people came out of the shadows and their informant ran. In pairs, they rendered unconscious four shadow elemental members, but Erikua escaped.
"Let her go," she heard someone saying.
Coralis and Alejandro were sparring at the Shadow Elementals compound in India when they received the tip about the trade in Sri Lanka. They were sent to check it out while the others worked on finding out what happened to their four members who got kidnapped.
"I have an uneasy feeling about this. Something doesn't feel right," said Coralis, as they were approaching the coordinates of the National Park central point, looking like tourists.
"It feels like we're walking into a trap," said Alejandro.
Several gas bombs fell from branches above them and instantly knocked them out.
An hour later, they woke up in a cell. Their ankles were tied to the ground with titanium cuffs and their wrists were together with the same type of cuffs. They were without their jackets and any accessories they had on them, including their keychains and binds.
Coralis and Alejandro were in different cells, but there were only two cells in the room they were in so their cells were next to each other, separated by a row of silver bars. The walls surrounding them were made of dirty white bricks, but the front of their cells, where the doors were, was also made with silver bars.
"Where in gods world are we," said Alejandro, in a raspy voice while Coralis sat up.
"I've got no idea, but we need to warn the others," said Coralis before extending her mind-link to the other Shadow Elemental members. "The Sri Lanka tip was a trap. Alejandro and I have been captured, and we don't know where we are."
"Same for us, I think. As soon as our informant gave us that tip, we got captured. Only Erikua managed to escape," said Jourmol.
"We aren't sure if the informant was working against us all along or if he also got caught. Each time we met with him, we sensed people spying on us. I think I saw him fleeing when eight people sprung out on us," said Erikua.
"Can you describe your informant? One of us is bound to recognize him or know someone who could tell us more about him, and we'll go from there," said Milkya.
Jourmol and Erikua gave them the description of their informant. Erikua also told them what she heard when escaping.
"Jorgie! That slimy piece of hellshit! Jorgie Fluk is an informant for the British EBEE branch, more specifically for Elder Alfredino. He was one of the people who tried to get me framed for the Massina murder," said Coralis.
"I think I've heard of him, Andrew mentioned his name a few times. They probably figured the shadows were connected to the destruction of their Greenland plants and set up a trap," said Alejandro, trying to sit up.
"The EBEE knows many of our members are on the human Most Wanted Witches list. None of the agents who showed up in South Africa during the week were on any lists. I'm sure they want to take all of us down, but they probably wanted key names or, at minimum, former EBEE agents. I wouldn't put it above them to devise another plan to lure some wanted ones," said Matasia.
"Their British branch is close to the Spanish one, they probably were hoping for me, and potentially for Blue, if they found out she joined us. Elder Alfredino does want her dead and has been conspiring a lot against her," said Alejandro.
"If he knew I joined the shadows, he definitively was hoping to lure me. I don't think they know we're communicating through mind-link and that's probably why they let Erikua go, to make sure we'd get the Sri Lanka tip," said Coralis as a guard entered her cell.
She saw another guard entering Alejandro's cell and two more watching from across the bars.
"Guards are entering our cells, we'll talk later," said Alejandro, looking at them.
"Are you the witches Blue Thunder and Alejandro Salinz?" said the guard in Coralis' cell.
"No. We aren't witches," said Coralis.
The guards who were standing in their cells whipped them both on their backs five times.
"WHAT IN GODS WORLD IS HAPPENING TO YOU?" said Sonylla to Coralis.
"I'll tell you in a minute, I can't talk right now, and you can't heal me yet."
"They are humans. We've been captured by human authorities," said Alejandro to Coralis.
"I repeat. Are you the witches Blue Thunder and Alejandro Salinz?" said the guard in Coralis' cell.
"No. We aren't," said Coralis, once again.
Once again, the guards whipped them five times before leaving their cells.
"We'll be back later, and you better answer it right."
"We aren't the demon-summoning witches they think we are. There is no way I'm confirming we are who they think we are."
"Good call."
"I need to warn my twinning partner, she tried to reach out to me earlier, probably feeling the whipping."
"You have a twinning partner?"
"Practical necessity to stay alive when hunted from all directions. We created it about a month after the war officially started and our names got posted on the human wanted lists. I also need her to tell my husband before he sees it all over the news."