Cast Mending - Part 2

Samuel in fact did not come out the next day either, or the day after that. He holed himself up in his room for an entire week. Anxiety, depression, exhaustion and fear plagued his every waking hour and sleepless nights. He had become scared of his own power, or rather he had become slightly traumatized from the fact that he had died twice already.

The first time he just asumed that someone had managed to heal him and save his life, but in reality he had died, and now he had died again. The day Bregane had come to fetch him he had told him he had become sick again, like that time several months ago. It wasn't entirely a lie since Samuel spent another day or two after still puking his guts out, cleansing the system of the tar like substance.

Bregane had given him some leisure time to recover and Samuel tried to spend that time resting, but he was unable to do so. He completely avoided his teammates, not knowing how to explain to them. He wanted to lean on Ulma's shoulder, but she had completely broken his trust for no apparent reason (To his knowledge.)

His teammates gave him space, but they were worried about him since he didn't even show up for classes. Eventually words must have reached Alsian, because in the middle of one night Samuel was woken up by him. Without a word Alsian had handed him some of his belongings and taken him with him. Samuel had no idea where they were going but he didn't care.

Only after teleporting deep into the forest in the middle of the night he asked. "Where are we going?"

"We are going to a place where I will personally make you pass your exams and get your head back in the game!" Alsian had responded as he started walking into the wilds with Samuel following him.

After two days march they finally reached their destination. A tall tower stood in the middle of nowhere, it looked like a huge black obelisk.

The daylight revealed no entrances or windows, it just stood there. Eerie and silent, casting a short shadow that grew in size when they got close, and Samuel realized that the tower got taller and larger the closer they got to it.

Alsian unpacked a few of his things and set up a basic camp, when finished he sat down in front of a simple campfire. "I am sorry for not noticing your distress earlier, It becomes a bit different when you have been going at it for almost 50+ years compared to you. Around your age I literally had my friends that share a mental connection to me. I was never truly alone, but I heard you shut yourself out from the world!" Alsian poked the fire with a stick.

Samuel sat down, feeling very tired. They had walked almost continuously for almost two entire days. "Im scared." Was all he could say with his eyes fixated on the ground in shame.

"Which is ok. When I survived those assassins at a young age and was healed, I had lost everyone I cared for in one night. I shut myself out from the world for three months. I was scared of every little thing, the slightest noise made me jump, fearful of my enemy coming to finish the job. Little by little my new family made me feel safe and cared for again." Alsian smiled at the thought while Samuel was shocked, Alsian had just explained his fear perfectly, he had been like him in the past?

"If only I had been more vigilant, you wouldn't need to feel like this now..." Alsian kept poking the flames with a bit of shame.

"No one is perfect and no one ever will be! Not even gods." Alsian chuckled, "You haveto face your fears over and over again. This place will be your test!" Alsian pointed at the obelisk and Samuel raised an eyebrow not understanding what Alsian meant. But Alsian simply smiled as he could read Samuel's expression.

"You will understand once you enter. This place makes you undergo trials that test your very soul. If you cannot overcome it... Then stop walking down this path." Alsian looked him in the eyes at that and Samuel was unable to look back and simply stared into the fire.

"One can only shut themselves out from the world for so long, learn to overcome your weakness!" Alsian stood up and started walking towards the obelisk. "Never forget what your goal is, never forget what you are fighting for. Stay strong not just for yourself, but for the people you care about!" Alsian turned around and shouted at him as the obelisk suddenly started rearranging itself.

"Don't let your parents have died in vain, your power dormant as it may be has brought you back twice, one for your mother and one for your father. So instead of relying on it ever again, grow strong enough so that you don't haveto!" Alsian's final words shouted as he backed into the open doorway.

Samuel got up and stared as Alsian disappeared into the pitch black open doorway that slowly closed itself back up. He started running forwards toward the obelisk with Alsian's words repeating in his head, stopping only when he arrived next to the smooth black stone. It slowly unveiled itself into another doorway and he stepped through it.

Meanwhile the days passed quickly for the rest of the women. They spent most of their time together, studying most of the time. But all their free time as well. They were all studying one day when Bregane had come around and collected some of Samuels belongings. "Woah! That's Samuel's stuff! Whatchu doing Bregane?!?" Sonya quickly stopped him.

"Samuel might not be here for next year, so I am collecting his things just in case and intend to return them to him." Bregane had quickly walked around her and out their house, he looked very annoyed.

Sonya, Erica and Ulma were all left stunned and Ulma completely broke down.

She told Sonya and Erica everything that had happened, every single detail that she had promised to never tell anyone unless it was desperate, and at this time she felt more desperate than ever. Both Sonya and Erica had been left stunned for the rest of the evening, they had no idea what to do. If they even could do anything about it. Everything made so much more sense now.

Sonya was the first to snap out of it, she knew very well about hidden pains and sorrow. She told Erica to stay there while she went to talk to Bregane again. She caught up to him after running as fast as she could.

"Where is Samuel now?" She asked and Bregane scoffed. "He has been given a last chance from Alsian, if he can pass it then he will be allowed to continue... but I wouldn't keep my hopes up. The trial he has to undergo can be more cruel than anything you ever have faced before." Bregane turned away again unwilling to say anything more. Sonya returned to her house.

She told them what Bregane had said and after that she had snapped them out of their sadness. "The best thing we can do is to pass the test ourselves, so let's do just that!" Sonya took charge and made them all focus on the tests that were coming up.

An entire month later they had all passed with flying colors. The exams had been simple reiterations of everything they had learned that year and the girls were talented enough to easily pass them. The college break had come around and Sonya had returned to be with her family and Erica had gone with Tere back home to enjoy some time away.

While Ulma decided to stay with Triss and learn more and train, she stayed in the forest together with animals and other druids that helped teach her things. Only doing the big training when Triss was around.

All three women had walked the path forward. Getting prepared for their second year while hoping that Samuel would reunite with them at the end of their break, one week before the second year began they were all meant to reunite at the main grove with their mentors and masters.