Adamagika: The Spirit Within - 4. Ch 04: Magic Unleashed

CHAPTER 04: Magic Unleashed

We walked cautiously towards the village. As far as I could tell, it was completely deserted. There were many huts sprawled about. There were also these large vertical straw statues of some sort. They reminded me of scarecrows I read about in history books. There were three of them and they were large and menacing. They could have been seen from miles away if the forest did not obstruct the view.

It made me wonder why they were put up there if not to warn enemies from afar.

We eventually reached the first hut, the one closest to the edge of the forest. We looked into it and it was completely empty. It looked like no one has lived there in a long time.

We made our way around the village. It was more like a big camp really than a village but it was completely deserted but not unscarred. Right in the middle of the camp was what looked like the remains of a battle. The ground was damaged and tossed about. And there were distinct black marks that looked eerily like scorch marks or dried blood. Perhaps it was a little of both.

We’ve been standing there for awhile but nothing happened. It was as quiet and still as we first laid eyes on it.

“Sir, what happened here?”

“I don’t know, Adam. I don’t know. But, whatever it was, it was terrible.” He placed his hand on the blackened ground. “Much blood has been lost here. And not just any kind of blood but mage blood.”

You must go, Adam. You must run! They are coming!

“Sir,” I said urgently, “I think someone or something is coming here. We need to go.”

He studied me for a moment perhaps wondering how I could sense something he did not. He waved his hand in the air in that familiar sensing pattern. He waved it again, this time more urgently.

“What’s wrong, sir?”

“I can’t sense anything,” he said quietly. He grabbed my wrist and started pulling me back towards the forest. “We must go, now!” he wasn’t bothering to keep his voice down anymore.

And then, all hell broke loose.

Shouts started coming from the forest from all directions. I knew there were mage-hunters surrounding us that very moment. Well, Magister Aenhol was no push over. If rumors were true, it would take a small army of mage-hunters to overcome him.

But then, a mild stinging sensation came over me. It wasn’t the same sensation I’ve been experiencing the last few days. It was foreign as though a hum of energy started coming towards us and enveloping us and attacking our skin. I’ve never experienced it before but I thought it must have been technology. I could feel what little magic exist in me get put out like a candle in a storm.

Magister Aenhol must have felt it too because he stopped right at his tracks. He looked around us as though he was suddenly lost and trying to find his way. His face did not give away any sense of fear though. It remained calm and serene as though he had just misplaced a pair of glasses or his left shoe.

What he looks for is in the statues. The voice came in barely as a whisper. Hurry, you must destroy them before they come to full power…

“Sir!” I yelled over the noise, “it’s the statues!”

He looked at me briefly then up towards the large straw men. He raised his hand towards the nearest one and closed his fingers in a grabbing motion.

At once I saw the foundations of the straw statues give way and the bindings of the straw fall towards the ground. I heard the unmistakable sound of metal being bent and forced against its natural elasticity. And then I saw what was hidden beneath.

Underneath all the straw, there was a large metallic obelisk of some sort. It was blackened perhaps from paint or fire but whatever it was, I could feel a strange humming energy through it. And for some reason, it felt… evil.

It seemed to be draining every bit of magic in the area.

Its lowest foundation crumpled under some invisible force from my teacher. The base imploded on itself in a flurry of sparks and electricity. With the foundation no longer able to support the rest of the structure, the obelisk crumpled to the ground, flattening a hut.

It was then that the first group of armed men burst through the forest clearing. They were carrying axes and swords. This surprised me given that they would have needed to get into close combat in order to kill anyone with those weapons. Perhaps they didn’t expect anyone to be able to use magic by the time they arrived.

My teacher waved his hand towards the statue that was closest to them and rather than it imploding, this one exploded. Bits of blackened metal and what looked like crystal shards flew out towards our assailants. One by one they crumpled to the ground from various pieces of rock or metal sticking out from their punctured flesh.

A second group or warriors burst forth from another side of the camp. My teacher waved his hand like a lasso and orange fire burst immediately between us and them holding them back.

I heard the distinct sound of metal clicking just before the last statue started to emanate a bright light from beneath all the straw. My teacher waved his hand towards it but it seemed to have no effect. He waved again. Nothing. I started to panic. I didn’t need a voice to tell me that things were definitely not right.

“Sir, we must go!”

“Yes, perhaps we should,” he said in a much too calm manner for me.

We started running towards the clearing where we came from. Fortunately, nothing had come through yet from that side and it seemed nothing else was going to.

I kept running forward and I heard explosions coming from behind us. I looked back to check if my teacher was alright. I saw him several feet away from me, bent over on the ground as though picking himself up from a kneeling position. It looked like the entire settlement was on fire.

“Keep running, Adam!” he shouted out and started running in earnest himself.

I turned back towards the forest and kept running. I didn’t know how long I kept running. I just knew the sounds of explosions and shouts were dying out. Only when I realized that the forest was once again still and quiet did I decide to look back. Only then did I realize that I was alone.

My teacher wasn’t with me.

I looked around trying to see any sign of where he could have gone. I started to panic and head back towards the settlement. I stopped in my tracks when I heard the very distinct sound of wood snapping in half.

I stayed behind a tree and was breathing erratically from fear. Was someone out there? Did they know I was here? Were they watching me? Where the heck was my teacher?

I waited for a few seconds to see if anything or anyone would move. It must have been several minutes of complete silence before I decided that it must have been nothing or even that I made the noise.

I started making my way back towards the other side of the forest where the horses should be.

I was panicking and, I hate to admit, scared as hell. I was walking in a strange forest by myself and my meager magic. I didn’t have any weapons to defend myself with. I should have at least brought a knife.

I was also exhausted. I was a boy of books and classrooms. The forest and long journeys were not the in my world. The entire trip and the events in the village were taking its toll and I felt like I would drop down and collapse at any moment.

Several minutes must have passed until I suddenly felt a presence in the forest. It was the same one I felt earlier. Again, I started to feel excited as though I was about to discover a wonderful secret or open a special gift (not that I got a lot of gifts really, it was only Magister Aenhol whoever gave me anything).

The thought of my teacher gave me a feeling of despair and loneliness. Even if I managed to get out of this forest, I would be alone. Even if I somehow made it back to the mage city, I would be a sitting duck without my teacher. I was sure Madame Rooste would have wasted no time kicking me out of the castle or even blaming me for his disappearance.

I didn’t have more time to ponder this though as I felt the presence come closer. My thoughts were suddenly focused solely to it. I was both excited and scared as though I were reuniting with an old friend and yet not knowing how much he or she had changed. My trepidation was getting the better of me and I decided to call out to it.

“Is someone there?” I waited for a response. “I’m warning you. I’m a mage, a very powerful mage.” Yeah right, I hoped they bought it though. “Come out and show yourself or I will use my magic against you.” I didn’t really want whatever it was to come near me but not knowing what was out there was torture.

I waited and looked around for this presence to show itself. Adrenaline was pumping through me and I felt braver than I usually would have in such a situation.

I waited and waited there for this thing to show itself but the forest was as still as it always was.

I sighed and figured that it was all just in my head. I decided to continue on my way to the horses. I didn’t get two steps when a small figure lunged out from the darkness in front of me and plunged right into my body.

I tried to conjure a fireball or a lightning bolt or anything. I think I saw a slight flicker in my hand before I fell to the ground butt first.

You already know that my mage skills are quite limited. But, my hand-to-hand combat skills? Non-existent.

My attacker raised himself in a sitting position on my stomach. He arched his back backwards and held a knife in his right hand. He raised it and prepared to plunge it deep into me.

I may not have known much about close combat but I knew enough not to just sit there when someone was about to plunge a knife into my face.

This warrior, well he didn’t look so much a warrior but more a boy playing warrior, was young and the muscles on his bare chest were developed. There was no mistaking though that he was just a boy.

He was smaller than me by a bit. He was stronger undoubtedly, but still slightly smaller. I decided to take my chances and thrust my body sideward. Perhaps he didn’t expect me to react at all or perhaps he was overwhelmed by my non-existent lightning fast reflexes. Or more likely, he was just not used to close combat like that. Somehow, I managed to roll him over making him drop his knife and grab onto anything solid for balance.

We rolled there back and forth, him hitting me with his closed fists. He wasn’t so much punching me as dropping his small hands like a hammer. Make no mistake, it hurt but I still put up a fight.

He managed to pin me again beneath him and get one solid hit on my chest which made me cough out and try to grab his arms. He then plunged his other fist down on my head which made me see stars. I was disoriented and dizzy.

I suppose he managed to reach out for his knife during my bout of dizziness because the next thing I knew, I felt the very sharp edge of a blade on my exposed throat. My attacker’s face was right in front of me. His breath was ragged and he was breathing down my neck. I could smell it along with his sweat and frankly, it was disgusting.

“Die, magi,” he whispered hoarsely to me.

Right then I felt what it was to be a moment away from death – the fear, the uncertainty, the anger towards the injustice of it all. I was going to die at the hands of a boy probably younger than me. He was going to slit my throat in that same way it should have been slit all those years ago back home.

I wanted to see him. I wanted to see my attacker. By some sick sense of perversion, I wanted him to look into my eyes and know what he was about to take from me – the life of another human being, a mage yes, but a human being nonetheless.

So despite my weakened and probably bloodied state, I forced my half-closed eyes to open and stare at my attacker. I looked into the palest blue eyes I had ever seen and I thought it would be the last thing I would ever see. It was full of anger and hatred for me and my kind. I wished that I could have stayed back in the castle rather than come here. I would be surrounded by books that would do me no harm. I would have been safe.

And yet, oddly, that was exactly how I felt. I looked into those pale blue eyes and felt safe in there.

I knew that I had found what we were looking for.

He looked back towards me and his sneer changed into a blank look, almost into confusion. He sat there on my stomach, his bare chest on mine, his knife sliding dangerously close to my throat. His body was unmoving as though he were willing me to make the next move.

It seemed to last an eternity. But somehow I knew it was only a fraction of time.

At the next moment, we both took sudden sharp breaths, as though wanting to breathe in each other.

Then the strangest and most unusual experience of my life happened. I don’t know what he felt but from the expression on his face, he must have been going through the same thing I was.

It was like a sudden burst of energy exploded in me. It was as though some kind of latent energy was held back by some magical dam in me and that one sudden intake of his breath punched a hole right through it. It was as though his breath carried a spirit in it that plunged into my soul. I felt energy flowing out from me and in me like an angry flood.

My entire body was tingling and shaking and different thoughts or perhaps memories came assaulting me from all directions. These thoughts and memories weren’t familiar to me and somehow I knew I was seeing things from someone else’s eyes. It was as though another life passed by before me.

And I knew somehow that my magic as I recognized it had changed.

And I knew even more that it was tied to this boy who had his knife on my throat.

Just as quickly as it began, it ended. We must have been in pain though I had no memory of it. He was already seated back up and his back was arched again. This time he was not in a striking position but rather more of a look of contorted pain. I could hear shouting and I realized that we were both shouting out loud. We probably scared away every animal within a hundred yards.

We both stopped at the same time perhaps realizing the absurdity of what we were doing. We were both breathing rapidly – me on the ground on my back with him seated on my stomach restricting my breath. His shoulders sagged forward as though he was suddenly drained. I realized then that I was equally as drained and I knew that darkness was just a few moments away.

He looked at me now breathing heavily as though he ran for miles without stopping. His eyes held nothing of the anger I saw earlier. Now, it was fear.

“What… did you do… to me…?” he said between breaths.

I managed to croak out a response but it was barely a whisper. “I dunno…”

He moved slowly to the side but never left his sitting position on top of me. I realized with a sudden surge of fear that he reached out for the knife that he must have dropped during our strange experience. He looked at me still with eyes full of fear as though I had or will violate him in some way.

He held the knife limply in both his hand and suddenly raised it up.

I knew what was happening but I was powerless to stop it. I needed to make him understand that I was not evil that I had not done anything bad against him (or at least not by my own will). But, I was too drained to move any muscle or make any attempt to defend myself.

He brought the knife down in a plunging motion and it felt like time stood still – him looking at me, me looking right back at him.

Whether he managed to stab me or not, I was not sure. I felt numb all over. But he was suddenly thrown backwards towards a tree. His back was stuck solidly against the tree’s trunk. His arms and legs were waiving around weakly, almost limply.

It was then that I saw the distinct outline of a robe with a face covered in grey and white hair.

It was my teacher.

“What have you done to him?” I heard him asking the boy.

“Nothing,” I heard the boy reply weakly, “he did this to me.”

My teacher seemed to have taken pause at that to look over at me. He rushed to my side and lifted my head to lie on his robed legs.

“Are you alright, Adam?” I could barely make out his words. I couldn’t respond to him and just looked blankly and weakly at him. Darkness was consuming me but I had this feeling that there was something I needed to do before I lost all consciousness.

When I didn’t respond, he turned his attention back to my attacker.

“What have you done, boy?” He said this with contempt, almost disgust. He stared my attacker down and then shouted. “Answer me!”

Wind was suddenly whipping us from all directions as though the surroundings were responding to his anger. I have never in all my life seen my teacher that angry.

My attacker, the boy, closed his eyes as though expecting to be struck down at any moment by lightning or fire. He said nothing more.

That familiar tingling came again in the back of my neck. I then knew at that very moment who this boy was. Somehow I knew that his life was important just as I knew that my life was equally important.

I knew I had to stop my teacher.

I raised my hand to my teacher’s robe and grabbed it or at least tried to. It was more like sliding my skin against the soft material.

“Don’t hurt him,” I barely got out as a whisper.

Almost immediately, the wind died down and my teacher looked down on me with eyes filled with mixed emotions. Confusion? Compassion? Perhaps even something a little stronger than those.

“His name,” I managed to croak out, “is Jacob.”

I plunged into darkness.