Magnetic field ( Without knowing )

Perspective : Regina Clement

"Ron .... Ron ...".

Sheela cried as her little brother was snatched by that creature, that thing,

Kyle shocked and confused exclaimed,

"What the hell is that?".

Emilia recognising the thing vaguely answered,

"It's a huge bug catcher".

Keira unable to grasp what she meant asked,

"What's a bug catcher?".

Emilia replied,

"It's a plant that eat ....".

Emilia's words were cut short as Thor Gild intervened, he was quick and on point ,

"We don't have time for that hurry .... before he gets eaten".

It was all so sudden, I couldn't even grasp what had just aspired, But for Sheela her whole world flipped upside down in a matter of seconds, I couldn't even imagine what she was going through, So without spilling a single word, I complied and we all rushed towards Ron, our wands on the ready, and as expected those peculiar roots sprouted from the ground, those living ropes attempting to ensnare us,

As we were already prepared, and moreover I was prepared so without wasting a single moment I cast my spell "Icicle blast", shattering them into bits, and yet they still kept growing.

This wasn't looking good.

Conrad as observant as ever, pointed out,

"It's from those plants .... ".

Ron must have heard us trying to rescue him, he cried in agony,

"It spewed some weird water .... ahhh .. it burns ... it burns".

We had to rescue him and quickly while we were at it, because he didn't have much time to waste.

Sheela in an attempt to get through to her crying brother shouted so he can hear her,

"Hang in there .... I will save you".

"I will save you Ron .... don't give up brother".

"Please! please... hang on".

As we attempted to go near Ron, out of the thick snow three of those weird plants emerged from the ground, rearing their ugly head held high, they were all covered with leaves that concealed their mouths,

They seemed strangly intelligent.

All the while their vines attempted to stop us, making it a lot harder for us to even stand straight at that moment.

With my mind calm and controlled,

I summoned a chilling gust of wind which created a layer of frost on the ground, those plants as if sensing danger activated their vines, they drilled through the frost and rose above the ground, I didn't expected that, they caught me off guard.

Those vines began wrapping around my legs, making it harder to move.

At that moment, I knew, If I didn't do anything, It was over.

My mind was blank, It was a race against time itself, I had to act right and fast.

So without wasting a single moment, I began chating my spell, I wanted it to work, It wasn't anything that ingenuitive or something, but it was better than nothing.

My plan was to counter them by summoning freezing mist, I know It was like the most basic spell, but that's all that came into my mind, attempting to freeze the vines, the vines would turn into Ice, and upon being hit by my staff, it would shattered like glass.

That was the gist of it.

And to be frank it worked like a charm, I froze the vines, hit it with my staff and it shattered.

being released from that grip felt awesome, now I knew what freedom felt like.

I looked around and saw everyone struggling with those vines,

But not them,

Thor Gild and Conrad were right beside me.

I was glad Conrad was okay, If I managed to get myself out of that, I bet he'd manage it too.

Now, Thor Gild his blade in hand charged before me, towards that array of the plants blocking our path, with a swift upwards strike he aimed for one of things head, however it was, the plant's in human reflexes just kicked in causing it to snap its jaws shut just in the nick of time, Narrowly blocking Thor Gild's attack, immediately after that the plant attempted to bite him,

In response Thor Gild quickly back tracked avoiding its deadly bite.

Out of sheer frustration he remarked,

"Damn its Jaws are way too strong".

"No worries ... lets try again".

That was when the earth shook, shifting my focus towards Keira and what he was up to.

Keira, now firmly pressing his hands on to the Earth shouted,

"Summon Earth Gollums".

In response the ground began trembling even harder, out of nowhere 5 distinct mounds of soil were formed, then they erupted revealing 5 human like stone figures covered in a coat of snow and ice.

They were huge, taller than me, taller than Conrad, taller than any of us present at that moment.

Even taller than the one we saw earlier.

However, about in no time both his Golems and Keira himself were ensnared by the vines.

It was all for nothing, size wasn't a winner factor.

Once again my gaze shifted towards Thor Gild as he approached that plant once again,

My heart was pounding so hard, I could hear it among the noise, that distinct sound.

Everything was happening so fast, I couldn't even react, it was wild.

Sensing Thor Gild's approach that plant cleverly extended its vines towards Thor Gild's legs, It was so obvious, that thing was attempting to ensnare him, Thor Gild noticing the incoming vines, swiftly leaped in the air, effortlessly avoiding its grasp, while airborne he quickly delivered a powerful downward strike, facing the plant, slicing through its jaws, and plunging his sword deep into its mouth.

And that was when I figured it out, what I could do to help them, If things were where they were, I was nothing but a liability for my party, I was a sitting duck, they had to protect me, because I wasn't able to use any of my spells because at that situation there was a serious risk of harming my friends, but now It was no longer the case.

As Thor Gild ended that one, I noticed something, the plant up rooted and died, but much to my surprise, it had no vines growing out of its roots.

Which meant,

"Is it controlling them remotely?".

"Let's try this".

As I acknowledged the plant's ability to control vines was remote, which meant it wasn't doing it physically, rather with some sort of connection, similar to the way Keira controlled his gollums,

The only thing I needed to do was to disrupt it's connection somehow.

But how would I do that?

I asked Conrad to cover me for a bit, and he obliged.

And I said to myself, now that he was on it, I had to do it, correctly, wouldn't wanna risk failing before Conrad, what would he think of me?

I prepared myself, I began my gamble.

I started by summoning a powerful ice spell, concentrating and shaping it into a floating Ice Crystal.

After gently rubbing my two iron daggers against each other, their edges became noticeably sharper, and that Iron dust was released.

Step 2 now I infused that crystal with that Iron dust allowing them to be embedded with that Icy structure.

Why?

Well the answer takes me way back, It was something that he had said to me, It stuck in my mind, like everything else he ever said to me,

It was during our childhood once, Conrad had given me a stone that had some strange properties, one of which being it stuck to his sword, and I believed that he mentioned that It was doing that without any magic, without any magic he must be kidding right, no he was dead serious, It was what he said next which mattered.

" To know the Intricate workings of nature, we must consider that magic isn't the only force behind it, there are many other forces that have influence over our existence, ... and those forces cannot be explained by the word "God". it only limits our understanding , we can put magic and god in every stuff, and it would make sense, but it would also make us a lot dummer, on the other hand if we acknowledge the existence of those forces today whether they are good or bad, who knows tomorrow we might be able to use them, sure it would be nice to have anything other than magic in our arsenal".

"Wouldn't it?".

"Take this stone for example ... I can't trace a hint of mana in it and yet it has a force that attracts this sword towards it".

"It isn't magic ... but what is it?".

"And how powerful is it than magic?".

I remembered it as clearly as yesterday, he had opened a whole new frontier for me.

Well how did that applies here, just follow me!

By applying those iron dust in my icy structure, I created a working replica of that stone.

Step 3, I focused my Ice magic to control and enhance that mysterious force emanating from that crystal, amplifying its intensity and range.

As I was finished, I informed everyone,

"It's done".

Conrad unaware that it happened because of him, and how much I loved him, he asked,

"What did you do?".

I responded,

"I made a huge ... sticky stone, made of ice".

As I said that, it felt my heart with joy that Conrad appeared genuinely impressed, that will tell him how much better I was than that old hag, not that I was competing or anything.

On the other hand, Elkdrack still clueless, attempted to understand,

"A huge what?.... what's that gonna do?".

I replied,

"Let's see".

Than I channeled my mana through the crystal, In return a powerful surge of that mysterious force radiated from it, causing a ripple that engulfed the entire area. In a surprising display for everyone, the violent vines transformed into a vibrant hue of yellow before peacefully falling in the ground like withered leaves, freeing every one of my trapped friends.

I was loving it, all those people couldn't even grasp what had just happened,

I thought, was it this, what Conrad meant by being able to use those mysterious forces one day, If so I just did it.

And I was proud of it.

One of them, Keira puzzled remarked,

"How did she do that?".

Elkdrack in my stead responded,

"We will ask her later .... now focus on freeing Ron".

Yes, I was pretty proud of myself, but it wasn't done yet,

I had keet channeling my mana onto that crystal.

As it turned out, those creepy plants were all around us.

But now that they didn't have their vines, they were easy game.

Emilia effortlessly sliced 3 of them. while Keira's Golems crushed them like bugs.

Conrad given the chance, in an attempt to swiftly close his distance between him and Ron, he encountered another plant blocking his way, Conrad wasn't having it, so with a powerful strike he swung his sword to slice its head off, but the plant adapting to Conrad's sword play, swiftly moved its jaws in a strangely attractive rythmic pattern, I think they were trying to catch his blade mid swing.

Naturally Conrad being annoyed exclaimed ,

"What the hell".

However I knew that would n't stop him, Conrad displaying his exceptional swordsmanship, that he had honed for years, changed his angle, bypassing the plant's defenses and striking a vulnerable spot on its stem, causing it to wither and weaken. Then he clenched his grip and with a single slice severed its head.

But he wasn't done yet,

Ron was still trapped inside one,

How would he approach it?.

Yuna on the perfect time using her Ice manipulation magic to create a solid wall of ice, trapping the plant alongside Conrad, the ice formed a transparent barrier resembling flawless glass.

It was beautiful, with Conrad in there, he looked like one of those drawings of adventures from those story books we used to read, It was picture perfect, down to the finest little detail, because he was already my hero.

As this Icy prison surrounded the plant, the extreme cold induced frostbite, causing the plant's outer layer to become more brittle and vulnerable to damage.

Since, Conrad wouldn't want to hurt Ron, he needed to be extra careful.

But I don't think he cared though, through his expression he only wanted to slay that thing.

Conrad carefully analyses the situation, his mind calculating the best course of action.

Now clutching his black blade with all his might, he attacked with a series of precise strikes, targeting the sensitive areas of the plant's exterior slashing through their fleshy wall, as the plant weakened and succumbed to frostbite, conrad without letting the moment slip by him broke it's jaws like a delicate shell of eggs, and then he pulled Ron to safety.

I was worried but,

Witnessing that Yuna quickly lowered her wall of Ice.

"You did well!".

Yuna Commented.

Conrad replied,

"Next time, when you pull a stunt like that... maybe ask the person involved".

"Why did I needed to risk my neck on the line?".

Conrad had a point, it wasn't his choice, that old hag needed to know that, and I was perfectly ready to teach her.

Yuna responded like she owed Conrad,

"Ohh ... quit bitching ... everything turned out fine didn't it".

I swear that bitch was going to get it.

But that wasn't the time.

Ron was lying on the snow, his body's skin half-burned. He was squirming in agonizing pain.

I just couldn't Imagine how Sheela might have felt watching her brother in that condition.

She said while comforting him,

"Don't worry Patrick will patch you up .... as good as new".

But Ron kept saying,

"It still burns".

It was, It was just so painful to watch opting me to do something, I mean I had to, I just couldn't bear it, I used my ice magic to cool his wounds, by gently blowing a weak gust of cold air.

I couldn't do anything else, it was up to him.

Patrick.

Everyone looked towards Patrick,

Patrick shrugged and said,

"Won't hurt to try".

Patrick, with a gentle wave of his hands above the burnt area, a soft, green light emitted from his palms, carrying a soothing and restorative energy. However, despite the healing glow, no notable changes were seen on the damaged skin.

With a grimace look on his face, Patrick said,

"I cannot treat that ... it's too severe ... only a holy arch priest or a vicar of the healing church can cure it".

There must be a way,

Naturally Kyle insisted by asking,

"Are you sure ... will any healing potion work?".

Patrick replied,

"No ... the severity is way beyond healing ... his skin needs to be repaired".

"It cannot be healed".

"the burnt has altered the primary composition of his skin ... It won't go back to normal".

Naturally after hearing that Sheela fell on her knees, I could still see those tears filling up her eyes, she begged Patrick,

"Please save him .... I will do anything... he is the only family I have left ".

Patrick stood there silent, with a frown look at his face, beside being begged by her everyone else was also praying for Ron hoping Patrick would be able to do something,

But him standing there silently, ashamed of himself, was all the response she needed to understand that he cannot heal Ron.

I think Conrad couldn't bear that no longer, his voice pierced through the silence, speaking with unwavering determination,

"If there is nothing to be done,

Only one choice remains,

we must end his suffering".

He was right, ending his suffering was the least we could do.

But no one understood that besides me, They all perceived him as some lunatic I bet.

Those fools!

He was only trying to help.

Those hostile gazes directed towards him, pierced my very soul.

Even still, true to his intention and words, he raised his black blade with an chilling intent, poised for a decapitating strike, while everyone seemed against it, he didn't care.