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a composite entity, manifested from the joining of the three
miserable brothers, as that rabbit was already out of the
hat. Though, how they managed it remained an interesting
secret. In the next moment, the men of one body vanished in
a thick plume of smoke.
Wrapped in the Red Dream and the hope of lost children,
I moved to the massive door and seized the glowing steel bar
that held it shut, snapping it in half. My hands caught fire,
allowing me to augment the blow I struck against the Prince
as he appeared behind me, knives in hand.
The composite man was knocked into roaring flames,
but I knew it would take more than fire to finish him, just
as it would take more than a predictable sneak attack to
finish me. “If the extent of your magical prowess is limited
to performing such cheap tricks, you may have oversold
yourself, Your Highness.”
The magician fell silent, allowing his soldiers to answer
my taunt, but the Prince of Smoke wasn’t the only one
who could vanish. The killers’ gunfire failed to find me as I
loosed myself into a strong current of shadow and silence,
disappearing from sight. Within moments, I had gained
the courtyard surrounding the false castle. I could hear my
sisters’ weeping like never before, the sound filling me with
even more fire. I couldn’t bear their cries. The Prince of
Smoke would have to wait.
Just before I merged into the nearby woods, I cast my
glance backwards. The Prince was standing in the sky,
apparently held against gravity by only the plumes of smoke
that rose out of the burning castle. His gaze pushed against
the darkness by which I traveled, and I could feel his strange
power reaching out for me. I threw out a cloud of quiet and
disappeared anew.
As I crossed beyond the entrance to the nearby forest, I
quietly asked the trees and the cool babbling brooks if they
might keep my presence a secret. For incentive, I promised
to unpeel them all from the solid world, should I manage
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