The Ued Rescue

  A figure cloaked in a heavy mantle, with a hood partially obsg their face, walked along the dirt road, their steps silent on the uneven ground. The mage, with sharpened senses and a supernatural ability to perceive the energies around her, felt a wave of residual power. Something strange and dark had occurred not far from where she stood.

  She stopped abruptly, fog on the sensation that enveloped the air. A shroud of heavy energy, interrupted by something far more sinister, guided her toward a clearing illuminated by the oonlight. What she found was desote.

  In the ter of the clearing, two bodies y on the ground. The first, a young man, was covered in blood. His left arm… or what remained of it, ended in a grotesque stump just below the shoulder. The mutited flesh was mixed with fresh and dried blood, the bleeding stopped perhaps by sheer luck or a willpower the mage could barely prehend. The boy was on the brink of death, but his weak, itent breaths still echoed iillness.

  Beside him, the young woman y in what seemed like an arranged position, but still vulnerable. Her blonde hair was tangled, falling haphazardly across her face, partially hiding her delicate features now pale and marked by pain. The rest of her body was ed in a tattered cloak and a simple cloth, hastily pced over her but with an odd tenderness. These fabrics hid the purple bruises and deep cuts that ran across her skin, each mark a reminder of the suffering she had ehe blood, already dried and coaguted, staihe cloth, but did not ceal the pain that still radiated from her body.

  She seemed pletely exhausted, as if every bit of strength had been drained from her being, her muscles tense, her bones heavy. Her body was marked not only by physical wounds but also by the iruggle she had fought to stay scious. Her breathing was weak but steady, like a thread of life that refused to extinguish. Each sigh was a silent battle, a refle of the quiet resistance against despair.

  The mage k first beside Hitory, drawn to the severity of his wound. She observed the deplorable state of the boy, and for a moment, she eechless, surprised by the unusual resilience he still exhibited.

  — “This…” — she murmured, the perplexity evident in her voice. — “How is he still alive?”

  juring a magical circle in the air, she cast healing spells, the glowing symbols unrolling around her hands, the magic flowing into Hitory’s wound with an intense golden light. But, to her shock, the magic disappeared upon toug his body, dissipating like water falling on a dry surface.

  — “Impossible…!” — she excimed, furrowing her brow. — “Something is blog my magic.”

  Frustration washed over her for a moment, but she knew she couldn’t afford to waste any more time. She looked to the young woman beside her, her dition also critical, and refocused. She applied the same spell to her, watg as the girl’s wounds closed almost instantly. The young woman’s skin absorbed the magic like parched earth receiving its first rain after a relentless drought.

  — “Iing… But you’re on the brink of colpse too.”

  Despite her frustration at being uo heal Hitory, the mage knew she couldn’t leave them there. The weight of the situation forced her to act quickly. She rose with agility, casting a transportation spell. A radiant glow took form in the air, and slowly, a floating cart of light appeared, its luminous outlines pulsating like living stars in the night sky.

  The mage carefully lifted the young woman’s body, adjustio ensure she was fortable. She then turned her attention to Hitory, her gaze fixed on the boy with the amputated arm. She felt the weight of the situation, not just physically, but emotionally. He had monstrous strength, surviving such a horrifijury and still being alive.

  — “Losing an arm... And still alive... Such strength…” — she murmured to herself as she carefully pced Hitory’s body into the floating cart, making sure to protect his injury.

  The cart began to move gently, floating away from the clearing, guided by ethereal shapes resembling animals. The mage walked alongside, casting o look at the two young ones.

  — “There’s something special about you… Something even I ’t uand.”

  The forest, illuminated by the cart’s magical light, remained in a profound silehe suffering and chaos that had engulfed the clearing slowly faded, bei behind as the two young ones were carried toward an uain fate.

  The Mage’s Refuge

  The mage’s refuge y hidden in the heart of a dense forest, where sunlight rarely reached the ground, covered by a thick mantle of leaves and moss. The stone house, aged by turies, seemed to have been built by time itself, its sturdy structure and ivy-covered walls giving it an air of mystery, almost as though it were alive.

  The sound of distant birds and the rustling of trees were the only hat could be heard around. Ihe air was thick with the st of dried herbs, dust from old books, and a subtle hint of inse. The space was filled with rare and curious objects, such as bottles of vibrant liquids, shimmering crystals, and grimoires whose pages seemed to have aged with time. Everything was meticulously anized, but there was an undeniable feeling of stant resear the air, as if the mage was always searg for something, a lost knowledge, or perhaps a hidden power.

  When they arrived, the mage wasted no time. With a firm gesture, she levitated the bodies onto the sturdy wooden table, where she would begin her work. Hitory was visibly pale, blood still dripping from his woue the bleeding having slowed. He was unscious, but his breathing showed slight irregurities, indig that he wasirely lost. The mage sighed deeply as she approached him, her eyes filled with growing frustration as she observed his dition. She began preparing a mixture of herbs and ois, her hands w with precision. When she applied the salve to his severed arm, she furrowed her brow, notig that his skin seemed to resist the healing, as if some kind of magical barrier was blog the natural regeion of his body.

  "This doesn't make sense," she murmured to herself, her sharp eyes studying the young warrior's body. Her magic wouldn't work on him; an invisible barrier seemed to repel any attempt at healing. She tried once more, juring magical symbols in the air, but the energy dissipated as soon as it touched the boy's flesh. Nothing seemed to work.

  Shifting her gaze to the young girl, who was lying on an improvised bed beside them, the mage noticed something peculiar. Uory, the girl seemed to respond almost immediately to the healing. The wounds on her body closed slowly, and the paleness on her face began to fade, giving way to a healthy color. The mage watched closely, her mind rag for answers.

  She leaned in closer to the girl, her eyes fixed on the ter of her chest, where a mark glowed faintly, a silvery, ethereal hue. The energy emanating from the mark seemed to pulse, almost as if it had a life of its own, radiating a strange and unknown force. The mage, a mix of fasation and caution in her movements, touched the mark with the tips of her fingers, feeling the lightness of the energy that almost danced beh her skin. The girl's body shivered, as if she felt the mage's touch.

  "This... this isn't normal," the mage murmured, withdrawing her hand with care. She studied the girl with newfound uanding, her curiosity only deepening. She wasn't just a victim—perhaps she was someone much more important, someone whose energies might be beyond on uanding.

  With a sigh of frustration, the mage turned her gaze back to Hitory, still unscious. He was so close, yet so far away. What was happening to him? What was happening to her? And more importantly, what was eg these two young individuals in a web of mystery and power that she could not yet prehend?

  She stood up, determined not to rest until the answers were found. Something deep and greater than anything she had ever known was about to be revealed. But to u, she would o uand what was happening with both of them. And that, she knew, would not be easy.

  End of EP 5 “The Weight of a Guardian”