LUCAS

Jones barred his teeth and threw
himself at Krampus. “You son of a monster! You abducted my colleagues!”

There were at least ten metres between the Protectors and Krampus, but Jones covered it in a flash, weapons raised high, anger fueling his movement. He struck down with full force. 

 The scene before Lucas was unbelievable. Krampus had a forearm raised in defence, unflinched by the resounding attack. Jones had his speed matched for the first time. Before he could realize how big a mistake he had made, a lump of coal materialized right in front of Jones, speeding into his abdomen like a torpedo. He flew back and crashed at the feet of his fellow protectors. 

 Krampus gestured with a finger, and the lump of coal returned back to him. It orbited him, gaining momentum after every cycle. Until it was launched back at the Protectors, enlarging by the second. When it was the size of an Avalanche, it caught fire. It was then Lucas knew he was in trouble.

Right before impact, a snow wall was raised, but the collision made the snow wall explode.  

Krampus proceeded towards them. Three avalanche-sized flaming balls of coal circled him.

 “Fall back, fall back!” Fiona said.

You don't have to tell me twice,
thought Lucas. They ran into the MBD of the Claus Estate. The amplifying sound of cackling fire signified another projectile was headed their way.

Fiona jammed her hands together and formed an igloo over her and the boys. 

BOOM!

  Their shelter rumbled fervently under the power of Krampus's attack.

“We can't let him get to the sleigh,” Clyde warned.

 Jones clenched his metal candy canes. “That's the side quest. The main quest is to stay alive.”

Lucas was in full-blown panic mode. “How do you kill an Immortal?”

 “We don't,” Fiona said. “But we can banish him. If we beat him badly enough, he'll automatically collapse into his Zone and will be trapped there for years, healing.” She stretched forth her hand. Snow swirled within and clustered to form a mallet made of sparkling snow. “Guys, remember my plan back at the Manor?” They nodded affirmatively.  “Well, it's now or never.”

She brought down the igloo.

Krampus strolled into the Claus Estate. His steps were slow and pompous like he had all the time in the world. “A nice domain Santa's got here.  Now, why don't you all die and let me be?” He stomped his foot, and cracks zigzagged from underneath it towards where the Protectors stood. 

They dived out of the way as the ground opened on their previous location. 

“Now,”  Fiona charged, mallet in hand.  She snapped her fingers and a concentrated mist of snow wrapped around Krampus's eyes. 

Jones was faster. He was already thundering down with his metal candy canes. Krampus caught him in mid-air, but a punch from Clyde's sasquatch fist loosened this grip, and Jones slipped away, striking the shin instead.

The Dark Force growled with fury. But if there were any words he had to say, they were cut short by Fiona's uppercut to the jaw with her mallet.

The three of them circled him, making his eyes dart from place to place, unable to focus on a target. Then his eyes fell on Lucas in the background, and Krampus took a running stance.

 ‘Oh no, you don't!’ Lucas thought. “Mundum sic mutar! The ground beneath you is quicksand.” 

A piercing sound tore through the air, and Krampus found himself sinking slowly in a puddle of quicksand.  

“Nice work,” Clyde said.  

The three of them came down on Krampus from all sides.  Clyde with his furry fists,  Jones with his metal candy canes and Fiona with her magic Mallet.

“Enough of this!” Krampus bellowed. 

Quicker than they could react, flaming lumps of coal materialized from thin air and crashed into the three Protectors, shattering on impact and sending them flying across the terrain.

 “No!” Lucas cried. Tiredness was already creeping into his bones. His vision was getting blurry. But he had to do this. He had to push his limit, he had to avenge his friends.

He readied himself. “Creo! Meteor strike.” A piercing sound emanated when the whole sky turned blue and a meteorite appeared out of nowhere, streaking through the sky. It collided with Krampus and then an ear-splitting BOOM followed.

The whole place rumbled as the explosion consummated in a burst of flames. 

Lucas squinted but never looked away Sweat beaded his face, his knees buckled. He was bound to pass out any minute now.

Plumes of smoke rose into the sky from where the explosion occurred. For a moment there was dead silence…until a cackle broke it.

Hobbling out of the smoke was Krampus.  His maroon fur coat was tattered, left horn broken. Like a candle flame about to burn out, his form flickered.

“Well done, magus verborum.You came this close to banishing me but you are yet to tap into your potential whereas I have unlocked all of mine.” He jammed his hands together and slowly drew them apart. A ball of fire formed in the space between them. As the distance got bigger, so did the fireball.

 Even from far away, Lucas could feel the intensity of the heat. With a sinister smile, Krampus launched the fireball at Lucas.

That was when a burst of laughter rang through the air.  “Ho, ho, ho!”

 Snow clustered in front of Lucas and transformed into Santa Claus. With a flick of his finger, he commanded a blizzard of his own,  quenching the fireball in a second.

Krampus stumbled back in fear.

 “You weren't supposed to be back by now.”

Santa frowned at him. “Perhaps I'm not. But you're certainly not supposed to break into my home and you're sure as hell not supposed to hurt my daughter and her friends.” 

The Light Force jammed his hands together and slowly drew them apart. A snowball materialized in the space between—dotted with sparkling ice. The further apart his hands became, the larger the snowball got.

Lucas felt the dropping temperature even though it wasn't aimed at him.  The chill went right to his bones.

Krampus fell on one knee, flickering in and out of this realm, panting for breath. “Curse you, Santa! Curse you and that mage who put me up to this!”

Santa let a rip.  His projectile whistled through the air and exploded on impact with a burst of white light. Cold breeze dispersed across the entire zone and a small earthquake occurred. 

Lucas almost passed out but he forced himself to stay awake. There was no more Krampus, only a victorious Santa on the battlefield.

“Dad!” Fiona tackled Santa into a hug.  Clyde and Jones were behind her, clutching their ribs.

“I'm glad you're okay, Fiona.” Santa hugged her back. “Sorry, I doubted you.”

Slipping out of her embrace, Santa turned to Lucas. “You did well, magus verborum. But I'm afraid Christmas is not saved yet.  At the SAY Gathering,  Gryla sprung an attack with dark elves and a legion of phantoms. We Light Forces fought valiantly but if the phantoms hadn't disappeared all of a sudden, I might not have been back by now. 

The moment I freed my elves from the corruption that ensnared them, Grýla was all alone. And boy did she have hell to pay. Alas, I learned that Elf HQ was destroyed.”

 As if on cue, elves started pouring in from the Metaphysical Backroom Door.  They looked a lot like Jones; about the same height and build. Same green tunic, red pants and Christmas hats. However, they had friendlier faces and seemed less violent. At this moment, though, their eyes were brimming with sadness.

Santa helped Lucas up. “So for what it's worth, I'm deeply sorry for how poorly I treated you earlier. If you can't find it in yourself to forgive me then at least help me out for the sake of children around the world who still believe in the magic of Christmas.”

Lucas felt so dizzy he could barely speak. “Forgiven…what can I do?”

Santa cheered up. “I'll share my manna with you so you'll be able to cast a spell that'll get all the gifts ready for tonight. Ready?”

Lucas nodded and Santa touched his back. The outlines of Santa's skin glowed blue and so did that of Lucas. He felt plugged into an endless supply of manna; like he could cast a thousand spells.

“Creo! All the gifts for this year's Christmas.” A piercing sound ripped through the air and tons of gifts magically appeared. They stretched as far as the eyes could see and towered quite magnificently. 

As the elves burst with joy, there was deep appreciation in Santa's eyes. “I am forever grateful to you, magus verborum.”

When the contact ended, the dizziness returned, and this time, Lucas couldn't control it. He plopped down on the snow, barely aware of his environment. Voices slowly faded.

“Give this boy a good place to sleep,” Santa ordered. “And elves, remember to place a magic tag on each gift before loading them in the bottomless sack. That's the only way they'll automatically fly to locate their respectful owners when zoom past. We might have a Merry Christmas after all!”