Eli

  Robert and Joanna talked through the entire walk through the forest and lunch. Only stopping when they were chewing. I was happy to let them. It gave me time to think about other spells that I might need in different situations. In fact, I had too many ideas, but none of them really clicked with me as something I should make.

  Janet was not quite as quiet as me. She mumbled to herself and even told the other two to shut up twice. Sitting on the table in front of her was the shield spell. All twenty variations she had whipped up through lunch. Each held various differences.

  Some of the differences were minor. A single component replaced with another, or a thread connecting to a different spot. The ones with major changes were those where whole sections were just different. Different ways for the components to lay. One even had a component formed of other components. The honor of the most different spell was the three-dimensional diagram.

  Upon seeing it, the complexity of all the parts, I swore to avoid casting such a spell for as long as I could. It hurt my mind just looking at it. “Ok, we should go give each of these a try. I am sure one of them will do what we want.” Janet said, interrupting whatever the other two had been chatting about. Honestly, I had tuned them out before we even hit the dining hall.

  “Back to the lake?” I asked. My mind trying to figure out what each spell would do. In response, she put her device away as she got up. Not speaking as she took off at a brisk jog. Quickly, I raced to catch up, not checking to see what the other two people in our group did.

  For such a short person, she moved fast when she was motivated. I only managed to catch up to her as we crossed into the woods. Before I could reach her side, she vanished. Branches cracked to my left as a large tree rustled. Stopping where I had last seen her, I looked toward the tree that had shaken.

  Her body was crumpled at its base. Branches were scattered all around her. Even from this distance, I could tell she was hurt but alive. Eyes wide in terror, she was trying to move. All she managed to do was flail as her broken arms did her little good.

  A bush rustled behind me. Spinning around as fast as I could, I saw one of Randle’s thugs. Only one though. In one hand, he held an ornate piece of wood while the other held a silver dagger.

  “Damn,” his voice came out in a soft voice. If I wasn’t watching him talk, I would have thought it was the wind playing tricks with me. “I didn’t mean to attack the bitch. I meant to take you out. Oh well. Waste not, want not.” His wand came up and pointed at me. Its tip glowing a soft white-grey color.

  Not thinking, I dove to the side. A soft rustle let me know that he had barely missed. Moving to put a tree between me and him. Crying out “Why are you doing this?” as I started to pull mana threads out.

  As he started to speak, I formed a number of small spells. More annoyances than anything. But I needed to keep his attention on me and off Janet. “All abominations must die. God has decreed this so.”

  Firing the spells at him, I watched as he simply waved his wand. Each and every spell seemed to just blow away. “What do you mean God? I thought there had been no contact with his messengers in hundreds of years.”

  “Hah, you mean those fake angels? I mean the God of magic. The one that created magic. The one that taught our forefathers how to wield it. He spoke to his chosen and told us about your corruption. How your mere existence would bring about the end of magic.”

  “How are we corrupted?” I asked, quickly trying to weave a fire burst spell. It was something I had accidentally discovered when tinkering with a fireball spell. The spell was worthless as an attack. However, it made for a great flashbang.

  “How are you not? You were born human. No ability to access the mana around you. Even the traitors that keep us from our rightful rule of Earth can use mana. That was enough for us to deem your race worthless, but then you somehow gained the ability to use magic. Such blasphemy deserves to be hunted down and eradicated.”

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  Rolling my eyes at this lunatic, I tossed the spell over my shoulder and toward him. Pouring as much mana into it as I did so. It was as if someone had turned the brightest flashlight on the forest behind me. Along with the light came a sharp boom. With ears ringing, I rolled around the tree and cast an earth pit spell at his feet as he clawed at his eyes.

  The spell hit the ground and a large pit opened up. He hung in mid-air. The white-grey light spreading from his wand tip to cover his whole body. Dumbfounded, I just stood there as he finally cast a healing spell on himself. His hands dropped as he looked at me. Only when he started to frow did I realize he had been speaking. My ears were still ringing, so I had heard none of it.

  Shaking his head in what looked like pity, he lowered his wand. His other hand raised to point at me. The knife glowing a bright golden color with brief flashes of black. Something about the way he held the blade told me that he was not about to approach me.

  Flicking his hand sideways, a thin wave of golden light raced toward me. Everything around me froze as the wave moved toward me. I knew that the wave was made of light and darkness mana. Not a single trace of unattuned mana but pure light and darkness. There was nothing I could use on the spell to stop it.

  Watching the blade slowly make its way across the frozen world, I watched as it cut into a leaf. The point of contact was a brilliant gold color as the leaf was cut. But before the leaf was fully cut through, a flame made of shadow seemed to engulf the leaf. That flame consumed the entire leaf in an instant, even in this frozen world.

  Something about that flame told me that I was more than dead if they hit me. Nothing of me would ever be found. My mind was telling me to give up. To accept the inevitable. However, my heart would not let me sit back and accept death. An image of Alissa flashed in my mind. It was of her on the day we had both gotten sick. She was laying on top of me. Both of us having fallen asleep on the couch.

  A single word echoed in my head. NO! I would not let this be the end. She was still out there. I knew she was. In this mental state, I focused on casting one spell. One that I had already cast once and that had been with Sàga’s help. I didn’t have that. Forcing the pain to the back of my mind, I focused on casting the spell without assistance.

  One thing did occur to me as I started to cast the spell. I did not have time to modify the spell to allow me to attack through it. Instinctually I flipped the entire spell inside out. Inverting the shield and attempting to turn it into a cell of sorts.

  With darkness closing in on my world, I focused on where I wanted the spell to form and released the magic. The shield snapped into place as I nearly passed out. While I didn’t see it, my lack of death told me that I had succeeded. Leaning against the tree, I just tried to breath and hold the spell.

  When I finally felt steady, I looked up at my handiwork. He was bashing against the dome with everything. Sparks shed from the knife as it bounced off the surface. His spells vanishing without a trace as they made contact.

  It was then that I heard the rapidly snapping twigs and yelling. Multiple professors entered came into sight. Seeing Professor Olivia among them, I relaxed. As they got close, I noticed that they were all looking at the shield spell. One reaching out to touch a mana thread told me that they could see them and were looking at the spell itself, not its effect.

  Professor Olivia took a look over the entire spell before heading in my direction. One of the other professors went toward Janet. “Eli,” Professor Olivia said, her voice calm and soothing. “You can drop the spell. We are here now. Nothing else will happen.”

  I released my hold on the spell, letting it dissipate on its own. It was then that I realized just how much of a toll I had taken. My head throbbed in time with my rapidly fluttering heart. Each one of my senses were screaming from overload. But worse of all was my core. It felt as if someone was squeezing my heart and dripping lava onto it.

  I didn’t know if this was a consequence of what I had done, but I was alive. I didn’t notice nor care when the world went black, and I fell to the ground.

  Alissa

  Reaching up, I used the back of my arm to deflect a punch from Billy. He was the twelfth wolf that had challenged me. Each wanted to show off their strength to my wolf. All in an effort to claim me. Like we would let that happen. While I was nice about letting them down, my wolf was vicious.

  If she had her way, she would tear each of them apart for even asking. It was a good thing that I never let her out for these fights. Instead, I had to deal with the images and feelings that she shared. As I moved in to punch Billy’s gut, an image of claws ripping through flashed in my mind. Pushing it to the side as my punch threw Billy out of the ring.

  Suddenly, the world froze, and I could not move. Feelings of worry and fear washed over me. As suddenly as the world had stopped, it jerked back into motion. Head hammering, I fell to my knees. Someone was yelling, but I couldn’t make out what they were saying through the ringing in my ears.

  Hands grabbed me as I collapsed to the ground. As I passed out, two thoughts flitted through my mind. The first was that Billy, the dick, was going to say that he had won. The other was of Eli. Wondering what he was going through and if I would ever see him again. So far, Paul had refused to say anything more about his talks with the mages. Then I knew nothing.