: Capabilities

Kaulder continues to follow the strange magician he had just met but struggles to keep pace with his quick strides. They run through thick forests and fields of grass with no more than a few short stops. When they did stop, it would be only for 10 minutes at most before the magician would say, "We need to cover more ground." This repeated three times until Kaulder was sick and tired of it.

They stop once more in a broken down empty town. Udder silence engulfs the town. It is so quiet that one's breathing could easily be heard.

In the silent abandoned town they quickly catch their breaths for what seems to Kaulder as barely a few moments. He was exhausted and although his ribs had almost completely healed, they were beginning to ache. Just as he started to relax, the magician spoke.

"We need to cover more ground, this place isn't acceptable."

Kaulder visibly frustrated blurts out, "Where are we even going? Do you even know? Also, what was wrong with the cave? Didn't you already kill the monsters and it returned to normal?"

The magician lets out an equally frustrated sigh and shakes his head. "Do you truly know nothing?" He then motions for Kaulder to sit and they both sit down.

"Let me try to explain this simple enough for you to understand. These monsters, the ones that attacked you back at the cave, they grow and adapt by eating each other and retain the memories of the previous monster. Meaning.. if they see that recently their number one prey are at a certain location, where are they going to go? Not just that, seeing as the last wave was wiped out, they're only going to return with more numbers." Kaulder nods his head in agreement to show he understands, but in reality he still has so many questions.

"Ok, but that doesn't explain why none of these locations are good enough." Kaulder replies with a look of confusion painted onto his face.

"You do know 90% of the world is infected correct? We are current on one of last land masses not entirely overwhelmed by Shiv'arg. This island remains for the most part untouched, but the Shiv'argian forces will soon invade the remaining land, and then all will be irreversible. The monsters are currently attempting to forcefully evolve themselves to the point of being capable of high enough magical resistance to come here. The barrier is the only thing keeping this place safe. Of course, as you can see, their efforts are beginning to work. If the monsters succeed in their evolution and come in full force, we will not only need to find a suitable location that is capable of permanent residence but also capable of defense." The magician turns his head to look around. Kaulder confusingly looks in the directions he was looking.

"Do you see any suitable locations for both of those requirements? In this broken down town? No. Any more questions before we head off again?" The man says with irritation.

"Just one. Why did you pick me? That other person just died but you saved me, twice. Why?"

There was a short awkward silence in the air.

"All the other people are worthless.. you.. I see potential in you." Before Kaulder can even think of a response the magician hurriedly gets up and motions for him to do the same.

SCREEECH

A loud noise sounding similar to metal scraping against each other resounds out into the sky. The magician grabs Kaulder and heads into one of the abandoned buildings.

They crouch downward as the magician hold his hand over Kaulder's mouth in shock. He peeps out through the closest window to see where the monsters were.

"How did they find us?" The man whispers to himself. In the distance he could see the beasts appearing. There was a different type amongst them. It was a tall humanoid looking monster that had many deformities. Its mouth was permanently agape. It walked, breathing out putrid air that seemed to corrode the surroundings. The eyelids of the monster were stretched downward to it's non-existent nose, it seemed to be looking for something.

"That's not right.. how is a monster of that class here?" The man says, visibly shaken. This made Kaulder worry even more.

As the monsters come closer the town begins to morph and shape just as the cave's surroundings had.

The streets turn from gravel into a pile of broken bones. The ground turns into dark red flesh that oozes blood, and the abandoned buildings near them turn into a fleshy substance that seems to breathe.

"Listen, we need to leave. Now!" The magician whispers.

They crouch as they walk, closely hugging the wall. They make their way to the opposite side of the large room where there is a shattered window. The magician motions for Kaulder to go first. Kaulder vaults over the window sill, being careful not to cut himself on the sharp glass protruding from the window's frame. The magician follows quickly behind. They head toward the surrounding forest. Being careful to not be seen by the swarms of monster closing in all around, they take cover behind old broken down structures.

They are just about to reach the thick red forest when all of a sudden the trees begin to transform like they had back at the cave. The magician whirls around, but not in time. The enormous monster from before, from out of nowhere throws him against a tree, leaving a large impact in its trunk. Kaulder, fearing for his life, darts into the thick bushes of the forest.

The magician falls to the ground, head spinning from the attack that most definitely would have killed a lesser man. He tries to stand, but before he can regain his senses the monster grabs him by the legs and tosses him over his shoulder.

The magician struggles and tries to break from the tight grip of the monster as it carries him back towards the town.

The disgusting monster throws the magician against the ground in the center of the town. The shock lets out an loud echo booming throughout the silent dead streets. The magician pushes himself up on his side revealing parts of the magicians mask had chipped near his eyes, unveiling his dark emerald eyes. The magician groans in agony, in anger and as a last ditch effort he exhausts the last of his magic to summon a giant spear capable of killing this high class monster, creating the mana particles needed in the air to do so within seconds. He shoots it out, piercing the monster's chest as blood flowed out, killing the beast instantly, the giant monster falls and groans, corroding parts of the street with its foul stench in the process. Seeing that the worst monster was dead he relaxes, but directly after he sees smoke appear in front of him, slowly creating a silhouette of a person.

"You truly never learn. I have given you the option to join me and live, instead you kill MY beasts?" The smoke-man grabs the magician by the throat and lifts him in the air. He struggles to free himself as Kaulder stealthily runs from the bushes to behind a house to witness his savior being choked out.

The magician groans and screams in agony until he begins to form a smile, he then begins to laugh.

"Yes, laugh, for your life has been nothing but a joke!" The smoke-man says in a raspy voice.

In a voice lacking breath the magician says "I'm not laughing because I'm going to die, I'm laughing that you still act so childish from when you were young."

"I see." The smoke-man replies in a monotone voice. He begins to tighten his hold onto the magicians neck, cracks can be heard and Kaulder begins to panic.

"You're just a dirty traitor, the Noryir never accepted you, and neither will I!" The magician smiles and is satisfied with his final words.

The smoke-man remained unchanged and squeezed harder than before until there was a noticeable change on the magician's neck.

Kaulder seeing this, begins to see the blue transparent lights he once saw from within the cave, one after one, lighting up before soon extinguishing.

'If I wasn't so useless!' He screams internally. Soon, the lights appear more frequent and turn from blue to red, one after another, until all Kaulder could see was red. His eye's themselves glow a crimson red as he runs out and screams "Let him go!", the smoke-man turns his head to Kaulder and laughs.

"What can a puny mortal like you do?" He snaps at Kaulder. He then commands his disgusting monsters in a mix of the green and twisted ones that they had seen previously to surround them both and kill them. The magician pleads for Kaulder to run. Just as the monsters were about to pounce, Kaulder holds out his hands in anger and fear. A blast of energy envelopes the surrounding area. All in one second the monsters are consumed with a dark azure flame and disintegrates their bodies in seconds.

The smoke-man begins to disappear from head to toe. He was a cautious man and knew there would be many chances to kill the pair in the future.

The magician then drops to the floor and sits there for a second in shock. He had known that Kaulder had potential, but not at this level.

"Magic.. I can do magic!" Kaulder said aloud with surprise, he looked at his own hands and wondered if it was truly him who did it.

The magician had similar thoughts but in worry that the smoke-man would return, he shakes Kaulder's shoulder and they both take off once again toward the forest. Now that they were given a second chance, he must not ruin it.