3 The Cave in the Woods

Ajax, seeing a beast that could tear him in half effortlessly standing within 50 feet of him, staring right at him, froze for a moment. Thinking for a moment that maybe the beast didn't see him, or that maybe if he didn't move, it wouldn't notice him. These thoughts were quickly thrown out the window with a single growl in his direction, which was followed by him turning to run for his life. The pain in his body was quickly replaced by adrenaline and fear, as he went from gracelessly limping to sprinting like he never had before, with nothing on his person but his torn wet clothes and a worn out and damp magic text. Turning his head to see if the "Bear" was chasing him every few moments, his hope of escaping was quickly disappearing every glance as he could tell the beast was gaining on him. But in a moment that he wasn't looking, he turned and fell down a steep hill, rolling several dozens of feet at an incline, before landing in a pile of leaves.

The bear, who was far enough behind to not see most of the fall, approached the hill that was almost to the point of being more of a cliff, and searched for any presence of its prey. It may have been a miracle, but the mix of mud and dirt that had accumulated on Ajax along with the pile of leaves must have masked him just enough that the bear had assumed he had continued running, as it quickly passed by him and continued looking for him further in the forest. Ajax, after waiting for what seemed to be ages to see if the bear would double back, finally left the pile of leaves that had simultaneously broken some of his fall and saved his life from being turned into dinner by a magical beast.

Ajax, after finally being able to stand up looked himself over, trying to see any visible injuries. He definitely had a cracked rib from his beating from John. So might as well upgrade that to a broken rib from the fall. He had a lot of cuts and bruises, and he felt like he had sprained one of his ankles. He soon decided to try and get back to the church, but after only a few minutes realized something. After running in many different directions for upwards of 10 minutes away from the beast...

"I'm totally lost aren't I...." Said Ajax, now almost hopeless that he will get out of the woods alive.

Ajax began looking for shelter, knowing he probably couldn't find his way back in the dark, even with his enhanced vision. He knew that his best chance of getting back home alive was to find somewhere that he can rest safely until the sun comes up, when he can more easily find the stream and follow it back to the edge of the woods near the church. His adrenaline quickly dissipating at this point, he has been reduced back to his limp from before the bear attack. He soon stumbles upon what he believes might be his sanctuary for the night, a small cave that seems to run at least 50 meters into the side of the hill which he had rolled down.

Entering the cave, Ajax noticed a pile of what he would consider loot. From worn leather clothing, to armor, to a few jewels here or there, there was a decent pile of stuff near the back of the cave. Ajax wondered why all the stuff was there, but decided that for now he should try to rest as he had been beaten then run around ragged until his muscles seemed to tear apart. He slumped up against one wall of the cave, and slid down into an almost fetal position. He needed to get his mind off the pain, fast, as it was quickly becoming more and more excruciating to bear. Seeing that he still had his book, he opened it to the page that he had now been interrupted twice before beginning to read, and started reading "Special Cases: Mages With Gimmicks"

"While most mages with the abundance of magical power needed to become a true certified mage through academics use the methods discussed previously to channel their magic power, there are indeed special cases in which they cannot do so. In extremely rare cases, young mages can instead use a unique way of channeling their magic into the world around them. This can be anything from a specific keyword, to a certain hand sign, to making a pose. The only thing concrete about the ways they channel magic is that the method is almost unanimously unique. The amount of cases where more than one person used the same method to produce a magical effect can be counted on a single human hand. Therefore, because of their rarity and unique style, most mages have come to refer to the methods as "Gimmicks" and by extension, graced the mages with them with the term "Gimmick Mages". While it isn't necessarily an advantage to have a gimmick, almost every gimmick recorded officially has been one, as it almost 100% of the time results in both more comfortable casting and faster channeling, as instead of a long chant or use of a complicated array of magical circles, uses a usually casual gesture of the mage in question to use their magic to perform the spell. Thus almost all recorded Gimmick Mages have been well known and extremely powerful."

Ajax, at this point having completely forgotten about his agonizing pain and dire situation, quickly turned the page, as this was a new hope in obtaining the magical abilities he had been training to use for 2 years. On the next page read "How to know if you are a Gimmick Mage". Ajax excitedly read the next paragraph, all the hope he's ever had now brimming at the surface.