CHAPTER 21 - PICKING UP SORCERY

"I see you have made it, quite impressive...but let's see how capable you really are..." Arthur said with a smirk and took off. This time, he intended to move fast.

Lucian and Nate heard the crunching of leaves and twigs which was creating a rhythmic pattern, and they knew Arthur had taken off again. They gritted their teeth and followed suit. This time, it felt like their ears were their sight. The sound of Arthur's feet and theirs hitting the ground with a force echoing through the trees was so clear, giving them the excitement and anticipation to achieve the impossible. Though they kept knocking on branches and trees, that didn't stop them from losing focus on Arthur's movement.

Arthur turned his head and saw the two boys catching up on every turn he makes. Initially, he thought it was probably Lucian guiding with his great senses, but when he looked carefully, he realized they each moved like they knew exactly where they were going. He looked forward and smiled. He had made the right decision by choosing to train them.

Back in the cottage, Anna was walking back and forth, obviously very anxious.

" Anna, will you please sit? You are making me dizzy..." Liz said no longer being able to stand Anna's act of disquietude.

" What are we going to do? Have you heard Nate's father has been summoned to the palace? He used to be a knight in there. I think the reason for his summons will be to lead the group in the search for me in this town... They're going to start searching this town soon Liz... Finding me is inevitable now..." Anna spoke looking hopeless.

"Not...unless we do something..." Liz said with certainty

Anna looked at the certainty on Liz's face and somehow did not feel so good.

"What...are you planning to do Liz..." Anna asked not sure.

"Sorcery..."

"What??.. Liz no. You said that brought nothing good in your life..." Anna exclaimed

" Yes! It brought nothing good. But that was because I was a puppet by then. Now I have a family, you and Lucian. I can't let anything happen to you two, and if I have to take up sorcery to do that then so be it..." Liz said firmly

" But you said it has implications..." Anna muttered worriedly.

"Nothing is without implications dear...we don't have any other choice. I can use sorcery to cast an illusionary spell on them and no matter how hard they search they won't find you or Lucian" Liz refuted

" How long do you have to practice it... What if something happens to you? I don't want to lose you either..." Anna said and sat down to hold Liz's hands.

"They are just mere humans and as long as I keep practicing it, I should be able to get them off our backs. My magic force is not strong enough, especially now that I haven't practiced in a long time. But as long as I don't contend with another sorcerer or something else, we should be fine." Liz assured her seeing how genuinely worried she looked.

Honestly, she was worried too. She knew she would not be able to turn back if she took on this path again. Back then, it had taken everything including losing her child to turn back from sorcery. But now she had no choice. Lucian was something she had never seen before. Anna was something that people were chasing after. And these were her family. How could she sit and watch them suffer?

Liz entered her room and searched through her things. She took out and lit her six inextinguishable candles, and drew a circle with distinct symbols in them on the floor. She cut her palm and let the blood drop on each of the symbols, and sat crossed-legged in the middle of the circle and began to chant. She had not done these in years. But she was well vexed in sorcery, picking it up again was not a problem.

In the woods, Lucian was hunched over with his hands on his knees while Nate sat dejectedly on the ground. They had both taken their blindfolds off. There was sweat dripping down their foreheads and their chest was heaving. Lucian had it better than Nate whose breathing was labored and ragged while he gasped for air. His muscles trembled and he looked exhausted and drained. Lucian was only looking better because of his unnatural strength. They had finally stopped this whole cat-and-mouse chase. Arthur handed them water after taking some himself and laughed.

" You two have greatly surprised me. I haven't seen anyone achieve this that easily before. Lucian, I get it that you have some unnatural senses, but Nate... how did you do that...I can now sense a little of your qi fluctuation that I didn't see before. I've trained a lot of people, and none including myself improved this much on the first training. As for Lucian, I can't sense anything from you, probably because you're not ordinary..." Arthur said explaining his analysis.

"Yhh...you got that right, he is far from normal...see... am gasping for air, while he's totally fine. Looking at him now, I feel like cursing his generation." Nate said now sprawled on the ground.

" Ooh, God...Nate, there's something on the ground..." Lucian said, pointing to where Nate was lying and pretending to panic.

"damn...!!" Nate shouted and shot up fast panic-stricken. Lucian began to laugh seeing his prank had worked.

Realizing he had been played. Nate looked at Lucian who seemed to never want to stop laughing. He could only shoot him a glare.

Arthur smiled looking at the pair...they had a great friendship, one that he couldn't keep.