Chapter 44: Spell

I ignored her and closed my eyes as I continued to lay motionless. "I am starving." May jumped at the realization. "Oh! I'll get you some food right away! I'll also get you some more water and make a fireplace. Once you can move again you can wash up too-" Suddenly, a spot of blue fire shot up from the ground next to us and Theodius took its place. He started laughing uncontrollably. "That was-! Hahaha! Hilarious! You two are too much!"

He walked over to me while continuing to laugh and I opened my eyes to see him standing over me. "The way you-! Had to climb all the way up that mountain just for him to throw you off again! Haha! It was priceless how many times you went up those stairs! Hahaha!" I glared at him but he didn't care and turned to look at May. "And you! With the broken leg! Hahaha! Everyone was like, 'Oh my gods that's so gross!' Haha!" 

She held her hands in front of her with an awkward posture. "Well, I'm glad you took enjoyment in my pain." Theodius wiped the tears from his eyes as he caught his breath. "There's no need for sarcasm, sweetie." I sighed. "She's not being sarcastic. She really means that. Are you done yet?" Theodius exhaled in satisfaction. "Yes. Here, I'll give you back some of your leg power. To be honest, that was some impressive determination back there. Kind of freaky even." 

He then raised his hand and sent a beam of blue magic over me. I instantly regained my strength and felt so much better once it disappeared. I sat up and got to my feet right after. I was surprised with how fast he cured me and I pulled the dagger from my belt and handed it to him. He patted my head with a smug smile as he took it from me. "Thank you. Now that you're better I can't wait to see the kind of show you put on at the next trial tomorrow!" I smacked his hand away but he didn't care and turned to May. 

"You too baby! I could never get enough of you!" He then slapped her butt hard enough for her to stumble forward. "Ah!" He turned to me and crossed his arms then after. "Oh, right. While I'm here I thought that I should check in with you. So? What do you think about the quest so far?" I had confidence in my voice as I responded. "Please. I'll have this done in no time. Your tests are child's play." 

He gave me a curious look and raised a hand to his chin. "Really? Should I make it harder for you then?" I paused. "Come again?" Excitement spread through his expression and he gestured to May. "I know! How about after every test I place a simple spell on CherryMay, and you'll need to figure out the antidote before you can proceed with the quest? Although, I doubt you could move on anyway without her, so it's perfect!" I was caught off guard by how fast I made things more difficult for myself and raised my hands to attempt to stop him while he was ahead. "Wait a second-"

He interrupted me and went on with his idea. "That is brilliant! Don't worry, I'll wait until tomorrow to cast the first spell. So you kids have a good night, and I'll see you in the morning!" He then disappeared into blue fire and there was a moment of silence before May spoke. "You couldn't keep your mouth shut, couldn't you?" I moved one of my hands over my mouth. "I don't know what happened." 

As the night went on, May made us dinner and boiled me some more water over the fireplace. While she did that I washed myself and my armor further down the river. I was close enough to the light of the fire that none of the night dwellers would bother me, and far enough away that May couldn't see me. Even though Theodius returned my strength, I was still sweaty and dehydrated. It was nice to feel the cool water rush over me as I looked up at the night sky.

I still felt exhausted and was trying not to fall asleep. Once I was done, I changed into my armor and returned to our camp. May had prepared vegetable soup and I ate all of it. May barely got a bowl for herself but smiled at how much I loved her food, even though I still wouldn't admit it. I then drank all the water she boiled when it cooled down and passed out minutes later. 

I completely blacked out the whole night, and I still couldn't believe that I was alive after climbing a mountain eight times in one day. I awoke in the morning to Theodius knocking on my head like a door. "Hellooo? Anybody in there?" I groaned and grabbed his arm before he could knock again. "Don't touch me." 

Theodius laughed a little but started to panic once he tried to pull away and couldn't from my hard grip on his wrist. "Um, Dedrin? Dedrin?!" I waited a second and let him go as he pulled, and he flew back into some bushes. "Ah!" I started to wake up and rubbed my face with my hand as I got to my feet. I felt a lot better now that I had slept, but I didn't want to get up. 

May and Saniel were already awake and sitting on the other side of the fire pit that had gone out. May waved to me and stood up when I turned to her. "Morning!" Theodius then pulled himself out of the bushes and dusted himself off as he approached us. "Now then. Let's cast the first spell, shall we?" I shook my head a little and folded my arms, remembering that I gave myself more work to do. 

May raised her hand and flew over to us. I saw that she was able to fly again but didn't care to mention it. She carried nervousness in her voice as she landed next to me. "About that, why am I going to be the one under the spell?" Theodius smiled as his attention found her. "Because Dedrin is the one on the quest, and he can't move forward without you. So it only makes sense to make you the next test. Besides, I'd rather play around with you than anyone else."

Before she could fully react to his perverted comment he raised his hand and sent a ball of magic in her direction. "Sleep spell!" The ball burst with glitter as it struck her head and she fell to the ground. I uncrossed my arms and placed a hand on my hip. "I wouldn't say that I CAN'T go on without her." After a second I realized that May wasn't getting up after being hit with magic, and I looked down to see that she was sound asleep. I bumped her with my foot and she remained sleeping. 

Theodius laughed and turned around to walk away. "Good luck breaking the spell!" He disappeared through a blue flame again and left me with silence. I raised an eyebrow and kicked May again harder. She rolled away but still didn't wake up. 'So, I have to find out how to wake her up before I can move on? Piece of cake. Damn, I'm hungry. Couldn't he have done this after breakfast?' I thought.