Chapter 7: Resurgence

The wind was chilly under the night sky, and in the distance afar, the blazing fire from the collapsed tower slowly receded into a mild flame. Next to me was the old sorcerer, coughing and spitting out water. I was relieved, but only before he said these words

"My time is near, death awaits me"

"Don't say things like that, be positive"

" If I die, my magic dies with me. As it was passed down to me, even so, I must pass it down"

"You're not going to die, okay?" I replied defiantly

"The Law was going to steal all my magic, but was only able to get a little. The ritual was broken, and incomplete. The price to pay is death."

My heart sunk in sorrow

He continued "I have to give you my magic"

"What if I explode like The Law?"

"I chose you, I didn't choose him. You'll be fine."

He placed his wrist in my palm, and uttered a few inaudible words. A searing red mark appeared on my palm, and with a singe, registered itself as a black tattoo

"What does it mean?"

"You'll know in time, put my body in the river, I want to be carried around the world with the strong current of the seas"

Tears welled up in my eyes as I lifted him and headed towards the river. He took his final breath before I weakly dropped his body into the river. A bright glow emanated from his body, and for a moment, I thought he would spring back to life, but my desire wasn't to be pleased, as the light went out and his body sunk beneath the river far from sight. I walked away from the river bank, into the mouth of the forest with my backpack slung over my shoulder. The tattoo didn't hurt much again, and after approximately three hours, the impact of the strenuous rescue attempt hit me, and to the floor I fell like a log.

As soon as I hit the ground, everywhere became as bright as daylight, no more was i on the floor, but i was staring at Tonia and Tonio packing up, while Dele the dwarf was digging the floor.

"What are you digging, Dele?" I approached him

He didn't say a word, and pointed into the hole he had made, I peered into it, and saw myself dead and motionless. The sight unnerved me, and resulted in me staggering backwards. No longer was Dele the dwarf's face his, it was now the face of the sorcerer who screamed

"You killed me!"

Tonia and Tonio unsheathed their swords with the aim of striking me down, but my helpless and confused self was saved when a hand from nowhere yanked me away.

"Tristan, you must battle your fears. The magic is feasting on your fear and would consume you if you don't embrace strength"

The voice was feminine, and sounded familiar, but I couldn't put a finger on whom it belonged to.

"Who're you?" I asked

"Who I am doesn't matter, you're running out of time. Face your fears". I spun around to catch a glimpse of who it was, but before I could get enough of a view, the voice and its owner vanished.

***

With a banging headache, my eyes opened to the rays of sunlight piercing through the leaves of trees. My body was motionless but I could see the roots of trees and the ground passing by, wondering where I was, I made to turn my body to gain a better view of my surroundings for the purpose of understanding where I was and what was going on, but the weakness that raged in my bones hindered me.

"He's awake", a deep voice cracked the silence. A kid came into my line of sight and began rambling, I wondered if it was the kid that had the deep voice, well, that was before he began rambling.

"My dad and I are travellers, and when we saw you were hurt badly, we decided to help you, also because you were having a fever"

"Let him rest", the deep voice interfered again

And indeed, my temperature was abnormally hot. Fully aware that I was in safe hands, I let myself slide back into unconsciousness.

Two kids; one male, and the other, female, were playing at shore, beaming with smiles and letting out shouts of joy.

"Children", I giggled.

Just then, a tidal wave from the east began approaching the kids like an eagle overshadowing an ant. Fully aware of the macabre that would follow, I ran desperately, feeling the wind slap against my face, to warn them of the foreboding doom, but all to no avail, the wave towered, crushed and swept them away. I, without thinking, dived into the sea and swam towards where I predicted they would be, but the vehement current of the sea, and its darkness engulfed me, blocking any ray of light that might try to guide me to the surface. It were as if I had found my way into the belly of a whale. Slowly, I felt my breath being taken away from me by the monstrous sea, and flailed my feet and hand the more desperately while shouting for help with muffled sounds that came out as bubbles, but the battle was over and losing all willpower, my eyes slid shut in symphony with the sinking of my body to the bottom of the ocean as quietly as the predatory leopard.

***

We had been travelling for miles when we stumbled on his body in its weak estate, it seemed perhaps it was the handiwork of fate that we had an encounter, for I would have passed the town of Labele, kingdom of dwarves, were it not for the reports of a brewing unrest. He laid there, dressed in black overalls, and looked like a man who had had a rough going. I dismounted from our mare, and went over to his body lying at the base of a tree, his pulse was still very much beating, but his hands were freezing cold while the other parts were feverishly hot, and that made me realise his dire situation; he was in a limbo between life and death.

I barked at my son with orders to rest the stranger's body on my mare, he was skeptical about the sensibility of my situation, and displayed it on his face, but nevertheless, he did what was asked of him with youthful alacrity. In all my life, I had encountered all sorts of men, and known well to steer clear of them, but this particular one had an irresistible aura around him.

Two days after we helped him, he muttered his first few words, they were an incoherent combination of "children run wave", I reined the horses.

"He's awake"

At the sound of my voice, my son jumped down to go inspect him, I liked that feature about my son, he was as courageous as an apex predator, but lacked the essential attribute of patience, and I deeply feared for him. After rambling on to the stranger about our past, I ordered him to give the man space, and mount his horse.

Night fell upon us fast, it meant we were getting closer to the North, time progressed faster there. The sudden change in the lighting forced us to set camp for fear of being victims of unseen pits and animals. The fire I started, cracked and roared, lighting up the area, and providing the warmth needed. We had wrapped the stranger in warm clothes, and he looked like he were having a peaceful sleep, the picture of a man fighting for his life. I wished I could do more, but it was his battle and his alone.

"Tell me a story, papa."

I looked into my son's gleaming eyes, and smiled. I began a story and was in the middle of entertaining him, when we began hearing muffled sounds. In haste, we rushed over thinking an assassination attempt was being carried out, only to find the stranger alone in the tent convulsing and jerking violently. I put my hand on his forehead, and it had become as cold as his palms; death was settling in.

"Father, will he make it?"

"Maybe, maybe not. It's all up to him. Get me hot tea"

In a flash he brewed it, and I gently poured in down the stranger's throat

***

Life ran through my veins, and at once, I felt invigorated. From the bottom of the ocean, I made my way through the turbulent sea to shore. Although the bright sun was gone and had receded to a dimmer estate, I could make out that I was not where I originally was. Before my very eyes stood an astounding work of engineering, massive birds were circling the air, but they were not the usual birds that flapped wings and cawed, they looked like they were mechanical birds, certainly didn't flap their wings and they made such a loud noise, my ears seemed like they would abandon me.

"There are many secrets to this world and others like it" a voice interrupted my thoughts

I looked towards the direction the voice had come from, and saw it was the wizard standing beside me

"What do you mean?" I inquired

"Magic is an illusion, it is what solely binds the worlds together. Long time ago, an association was formed, or a cult as you might call it, they knew they weren't the only universe in the planet and together, with the help of every intellectual they could get, they found a way to gather all the elements and created a device that replicated each unlimitedly.

He turned towards the sea and continued

"The aim was to create the grandest illusion possible, and with the device, whatever a magician needed to perform his illusion, they supplied it to him through a portal. They are the behind the scenes, and now exist in a world outside of time, pulling the strings, and supplying the tricks"

I understood what he said, buh being a little confused, I decided to probe him

"So... Say I wanted to fly, how would that be possible"

"Think of it as an organization that has expanded over the years and grown into various departments. There is nothing you could need, that there isn't something for. To fly, they'd simply toss a device that bends gravity to its will at you. The spells that we say are just orders, like buying something.

Its still all confusing, but if you are buying something, then something must be paid,right?

He turned to me with a smile and said

Each time you use their magic, they get a certain percentage of your life force, that's a fate for all magicians, but you, you are different. You have something they fear. Use it wisely.

With these words, he vanished into thin air. The massive flying birds vanished too, and the ground began rolling up like carpet towards me with speed, I tried to run from it, but got crushed under its weight.

I woke with a start, gone was the feverish feeling that raged in my bones, and the tiredness that plagued me, all I felt was a refreshing wave of strength. An observation suddenly popped into my head, the air around me was smoky, and through it, I could see a man and a little boy writhing in the arms of people. It seemed like they needed help. Immediately, I got to my feet, and walked out of the tent but was hindered by a wall of fire that had begun to form afar and cut me off from them. There and then, I noticed it was a familiar figure who wrestled with the man, his five accomplices merely looked on with the child bound. It was not much of a battle as The Law had an unfair advantage over the man whom I felt drawn to, but didnt know. A memory flooded my consciousness, I remembered being on a horse, and being talked to by a young boy, with a deep voice booming behind me, these were probably the same people right in front of me, that would explain why I felt drawn to them, and I just was not ready to let my helpers die. Inhaling a deep breath, I put my hand through the fire, and felt it singe. The pain forced me to retract my fingers, but determination fuelled me on, so inhaling a deep breath one last time, I stepped into the fire regardless of the heat, and focused on the figure of The Law, letting the anger I felt be my motivation. The fighting had stopped now, and all figures beyond the fire were transfixed to the spot, it was like they had seen a man walking through fire unburnt. When I stepped out of the flame, all of The Laws accomplices dropped their weapons and raced as fast as their feet could go, away from me.

He put a knife to the throat of the child, and threatened

Stay away from me, or Ill kill him

The boys father was evidently not frightened for the life of his son, if he were, he did an excellent job of not making it obvious. His confidence and braveness fueled me with strength, and extending my arm, without having contact with The Law, I flung him away from the child into a quicksand, then with a twist of my wrist, froze the quicksands absorbing movement.

I was going to give the boy a handshake, but he ran away from me.

Your eyes are as bright as fire, you are evidently not human, and we can no longer travel with you, I have seen a lot of things, but not this. You are not human, and must journey this path alone. Thanks for all you have done, but now, we must go. The man stated.

He took his son, and together, they continued their journey while I looked on in pain of rejection.

***

It was nightfall, and The Law shouted constantly at the top of his lungs for help, all to no avail. Suddenly, the air grew cold as ice, and the leaves around him rustled, in reaction to these, The Law ran into a state of frenzy

Whos there? Whos there?”

There was first silence, then a growling sound accompanied his desperate cries for help, and in a flash, a moving figure pounced on his stuck body. His throat released a squealing sound before they got ripped apart by the humanoid whose eyes were pale as ice.