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Hellbound Saga: Book 1: Albador (5 & 6)

Chapters 5 & 6

By Aj MarciniakPublished 6 years ago 34 min read
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Chapter 5

"What do we do now?!" I asked Boris.

"Now we have to fight. Here, take this." Boris reached into his pack and pulled out a torch and handed it to me. I held it in my left had as I held my drawn sword in my right.

"Now what? How the hell am I supposed to light this?!" I asked.

"Just hold on a moment," Boris mumbled as he closed his eyes and held his sword horizontally at chest level. I looked around and could see that the weights were now within 20 feet and Kyra was no where to be seen.

"Boris, you may want to hurry up." At that moment, I heard Boris mumble the word "Bìra" and at the same instant the blade of his sword engulfed in flames.

"How did you do that?" I asked incredibly.

"Hurry and light the torch off my sword. It was a hung spell that I had. Our best bet is to go back to back; remember that they don't like fire and it can hurt them."

As Boris and I stood there back to back, I held the torch aloft in my left hand while I held my sword at waist level. As I looked around, I could see that they had completely surrounded us and the closest was about eight feet in front of me; on my side I counted thirteen wights and I started to get scared that we would never find Kyra and that she may already be dead. After a quick glance, I conceded that there were no shadows around.

"Clear your mind of your fears and doubts. Concentrate only on your enemy and your surroundings. Try not to mind too much," Boris quickly stated before moving in towards the wight closest to him. At this point, the wight right in front of me was close enough for it to swing at me, so I took the torch and swung it at the wight's head as hard as I could. At first it didn't seem to faze it but then its head caught fire and the dead dry flesh caught fast and spread quickly. As it wailed and shrieked, I swung the sword trying to take off its head but it apparently takes more strength than I thought and so I only half accomplished the job, causing my sword to get stuck. As the wight grasped onto the sword, I bashed the left side of its head again with the torch. That took its head the rest of the way off.

In the time it took me to dispatch the first wight, another two came within attacking range. One was off to my left at my nine o'clock and the close one was at my two o'clock, I swung my sword at the one on my right but didn't contact with anything and just got the torch upon time to block the attack from the second one. As the one on my left lunged at me again I jabbed it in the chest as hard as I could with the torch, causing it to fall backwards while catching on fire. As it stumbled backwards, I wasted no time dispatching the one on my right, remembering how hard it was the first time I made sure I put all of my strength behind it this time. As my sword made contact with bone, it jarred in my hand which hurt but my sword kept going and finished taking the wight's head off.

I quickly glanced over the wight that I jabbed with the torch. It apparently fell backwards into two other weights, causing them to also ignite in flames. Now all three lay on the ground twitching. The smell of burning hair and flesh was everywhere. I had to swallow to keep from vomiting.

I looked around to see that there were only three wights left; it seems Boris had killed the rest. As one lunged at me from my left, I swung at its outstretched arms and cut off one of its hands and three of the fingers off of its other hand. It backed up and let out a shriek of pain. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Boris take the head of one of the wights and in the same motion stabbed the other one in the chest, causing it to engulf in flames and it collapsed, shrieking in pain. The final wight lunged at me again. I guess it decided it didn't need hands to eat me. I tried to force it back with the torch and when it wouldn't relent I mustered all of my strength and aimed for the neck but connected at ear level, causing the head to explode all over me.

"Now that has to taste yummy," Boris snidely remarked.

"Shut up asshole, what happened to being quiet? What do we do now?" I replied.

"No point being quiet. It's quite obvious that they know we're here. Kyra's shout came from that way," Boris replied, pointing to my right with his sword, back the way we came. "Keep that torch held high. We may have to go into the dark places and won't be able to see the Shadows otherwise."

"Are you sure about this?" I asked as I edged past the dead wights and headed back the way we heard Kyra. I kept my ears strained in hopes of hearing her again.

"We'll be fine. Just make sure if we have to enter a building, you clear all of the corners before heading inside. Know what you're walking into before you ever start moving. I don't see any wights or shadows so let's move a little faster."

I followed Boris as he looked down at the ground. After we had gone a short distance, he pointed and said, "Look, she was dragged from here. It seems to be heading towards that big building over there."

I looked to see where Boris was pointing to see a big building carved into the mountain side not to far ahead of us. The former grandeur surrounding the decrepit building suggested that it may have at one point been important; now it was the lair for the wights. As we rushed past crumbled buildings, I began to worry: where did all the weights go? There had to be more than the 20 or so that we had killed, and what happened to all of the Shadows? In my torch light, I didn't see any.

We stopped as we came up outside of the old building. We both glanced around and Boris said, "This is where she was dragged. If we are lucky, she will be fine. Follow me and keep the torch held high."

I held the torch up over my head as we crossed the threshold of the old building. Due to the lack of windows, it took a second for my eyes to adjust to the darkness. After they did, I started to look around. Boris and I stood in the entrance of a large room about 15 feet long and about 10 feet wide. The ceilings were about 20 feet in height. Straight ahead of us, I could see the outline of a door but due to the lack of windows, that's all I could see in the distance; here and there along the walls you could see the crumpled remains of old bookshelves and wooden chairs, long destroyed by rot and insects. On the dirt floor laid the wispy remains of an old carpet, the color long bleached away, and through the dirt you could see the marks from the wights dragging Kyra straight through the room.

Boris held his flaming sword over his head and examined the room. "I don't see any Shadows," Boris stated with his deep brisk voice. "Follow me and watch behind us."

We slowly crept across the room, looking for any sign of movement. The further we got from the front door the more it smelled like decay and death. Feet away from the door into the next room it started to become unbearable. It took all of my effort to keep from vomiting, my head swimming from the smell. That's when we heard the sound.

From ahead of us we could hear the moans and squeals from the wights. Through all of that noise though, I could hear Kyra crying which made me feel as if I could fly. She wasn't dead yet. Boris and I arrived at the door at the same time and we thrusted the torch and his sword through to see what was ahead of us. The room was about 20 feet by 20 feet and about 40 feet high. On either side of the room, there was a raised balcony overlooking the main room, and straight back there was a large staircase that lead to both balconies. On the raised landing, I could see the huddled over shape of Kyra lying on the ground, but between her and us there were at least 30 weights. On the walls, I could see numerous Shadows flitting around. At least now we knew where all of the Shadows and wights went. This seemed to be their nest and the stench was unbearable. There was dead vermin scattered all over the floor.

"Well, now what?" I whispered to Boris. He was staring into the room as if evaluating our options. Surprisingly enough, the weights hadn't noticed us yet, they just huddled around in groups.

"We need to surprise them. Stand behind that wall but don't touch it. Don't want a Shadow to get you."

As I moved to the left side of the door, Boris moved to the right side and closed his eyes as if to concentrate. He lowered his sword and it went out; with only the torch light, the room seemed a lot darker. I remember thinking to myself that the wights were going to sneak up and kill us. Boris suddenly turned into the doorway facing the wights and extended his right arm.

"Dìra et bìri é igní!" Boris yelled out loud as his right arm started to glow. Suddenly, molten flames erupted from his hand and formed a globe of molten fire that hovered in front of Boris. He directed his arm out and the ball launched out into the middle of the room and then exploded, hitting all of the wights surrounding it. Boris and I looked around the edge of the door as the wights started squealing, spots in the middle of the room were still on fire, and there was at least ten dead wights. The other wights were looking around trying to determine the source of the commotion. Boris muttered "Bìra" and his sword ignited again; he looked over at me and said, "Now!"

We both turn into the large doorway at the same time, both raising our swords. As I looked around, I could see around 20 wights left alive. As soon as we turned into the room, all of the wights noticed us and started squealing again.

"Can you do that fire thing again?" I yelled at Boris.

"No, I don't have the energy to do that again so soon. We're just going to have to fight our way across."

Two weights on my left came at me quicker than I expected and I swung the torch hitting one causing it to fall back into the other one and they both fell sprawled out on the floor. To my right I could hear Boris grunt as he dispatched one wight and a second ran past on fire. At this point, two rushed at me on my right, and one slashed at my chest with its razor-like nails but I managed to back out of the way, causing it to shriek in anger. This time both weights attacked and I vertically swung my sword as hard as I could slicing the one on the left clean in half at the waist and cutting the left arm off of the second one. As the first wight toppled to the ground, first the top half then the bottom, the second one continued on at me as if I didn't even scratch it. I went to swing the torch at it but one of the wights that I had knocked to the ground earlier got up and swiped at my arm, putting three deep gashes on my left wrist, causing me to yell out in pain.

At this point, I started to get angry and raised the sword as high as I could, coming down on the head of the wight, missing its left arm. The blade stopped about nose depth. The weight collapsed as I pulled my sword out of its head. I turned to the other to as the one closest to me raised its left arm to attack me again. Fueled with anger, I vertically swung the sword and hit the weight at its armpit under its left arm, the sword continued on through coming out above the right shoulder. I put so much force behind the swing that the sword kept going and hit the second wight at ear level and got stuck wedged in its skull. As it dropped to the ground, its weight on the end of my sword almost pulled me to the ground but I managed to pull it free before it did.

As Boris and I stood side by side I could still see at least ten weights left. The torch was no longer necessary to see—there was fire everywhere—but it did make a handy weapon. I could still see Kyra on the upper landing of the staircase; she seemed to be moving so she seemed to be okay. The wights seemed to have forgotten about her for the moment. A wight that was laying on the ground beside me suddenly jumped up and slashed me across the chest, causing me to roar in pain.

I kicked the wight back and swung the sword and torch at the same time, hitting the wight at the same time. As I decapitated the wight it caught on fire. I kicked it back onto another wight that was approaching, causing it to also catch fire. As I looked to my right I could see Boris fighting off three wights at the same time with near ease. I looked up at Kyra to see a wight heading back up to her, and three more headed at me. My chest and arm stung and I could feel blood running down my stomach but I knew that if we didn't find a way to Kyra, she was surely dead.

The first wight that was approaching me was a little over five feet away so I decided to move forward and meet it head on. As I started to move forward I heard Boris yell, "No! Come back!" But at that point it was too late. I raised the sword in preparation to attack the wight when suddenly another wight pounced on me from my right, causing both of us to roll onto the floor. As we rolled around on the ground, I lost the torch so I used my now empty hand to help fend off the wights' claws, but I couldn't see anything. I managed to get my knees in between the wight and I and pull it away. As it rolled away I could feel my anger growing, blighting out my pain for the moment and I rolled onto my knees and prepared for another attack.

Once the wight regained its bearing, it pounced at me again. I waited until it was right on top of me and then swung at it, slicing the wight's head clean in half. At that moment, another wight slashed me across the back, causing me to fall back forward. I quickly turned as fast as I could, swinging at the same time and connected with the wight at waist level, cutting it in half, spraying myself in the face with its blood.

At this point, I realized I was alone in the center of the room and couldn't see in any direction. The fires now starting to die out, I also couldn't see where the wights were. As my back and chest throbbed in pain, I looked around and saw the flame of Boris' sword off to my left but he looked to be surrounded. Off to my right, I heard Kyra cry out so I went to rush towards her but ran smack dab into a wall. As I cussed out loud, I could feel my rage starting to churn inside me. When I turned back around, I could see the silhouette of two wights coming towards me from the flame of Boris' sword. I waited until I could smell them and hear the shuffling of their feet and then swung as hard as I could at shoulder height, decapitating them both in one motion.

Moments later, I heard Kyra let out an earsplitting scream and the rage inside of me became white hot and it felt like it could explode out of me. I could no longer sense any wights around me but I could no longer see Boris' sword either. My sword hung limply at my side as I strained my ears, listening for any sound. At that moment, I felt a white hot searing pain across my back that blinded me. Just as I thought the pain was too much to bear, I heard the word "Líga" in my mind. I never heard the word before. It was as if someone whispered the word in my ear. As soon as I heard the word, it was as if my pain latched onto the word and then it felt as if the pain exploded out of me. Just at that moment, I heard a deafening boom that reminded me of thunder and the world around me became blinding white. Then I met the ground and all went black.

*****

Chapter 6

As I woke up, the first thing I noticed was that I was lying on my bedroll. The new thing I noticed was the sound of the campfire not far from my head. As I opened my eyes and looked around, I saw that I was in a small grove of trees surrounded by a vast plain that was just starting to show the first signs of spring. Behind me, I could see the Adori Pass and off to the west, I could see parts of the Rainbow Mountains.

"About time you woke up," I heard Boris say from off on my left, causing me to jump in shock. When I looked to my left, I could see Boris and Kyra sitting on their bedrolls, Kyra next to mine and Boris on her other side. When I saw Kyra, I was relieved to see she was alright. She looked tired and had a scratch on her left cheek about two inches long; otherwise she looked like her usual self.

"How long was I out? How did we get here and what happened?" I asked, sitting up, still a bit groggy.

"You were out for about five hours. I healed most of your wounds as best as I could but I would still take it easy," Boris replied, shifting uneasily. "As for what happened, I could ask you the same thing."

"What do you mean?"

"You exploded," Kyra whispered.

"Wait, why do you mean I exploded? How could I explode?"

"You went kaboom. There was a blinding light and deafening crack, both of which originated from you. Once we could see again, we saw you collapsed on the ground and the wights and shadows were completely obliterated. The only signs of them were shadowy outlines on the walls and ground where they previously were. After Boris checked that you were still alive, he came and healed my major wounds. Then he carried you out. After we walked a few miles, we stopped here in this grove of trees. I set up camp and started a stew while Boris went about healing you. Then you woke up. That's about it," Kyra replied.

"How... bu.. but how could I explode? That's not exactly what happens to normal people," I asked, bewildered. My mind was having difficulty grasping what Kyra said.

"Can you remember what was going on right before you passed out? Even the littlest thing may be important," Boris asked as he leaned forward packing his smoking pipe. The fire playing off the scars on his face made me think of how old he actually was. It took me a little while to remember due to my grogginess but it slowly started to come back to me.

“I had already accumulated a few wounds on my arm and back and I couldn’t really see anything. I could hear Kyra whimpering but every time I tried going in her general direction, I either ran into something or got attacked. When I heard Kyra scream, it distracted me, allowing a wight to attack me across my back. The pain blinded me, and in that torrent of pain it was as if someone whispered the word 'Liga' in my mind. As soon as I heard the word, it was as if all my pain and anger was sucked up by the word, and then I felt as if the energy exploded out of me, accompanied with a deafening crack and a blinding flash. Next thing I knew I was waking up here.” I sat there for a moment pondering what had just happened. “Do you think it was magic?”

“It is possible. Your Father was a sorcerer,” Boris replied after taking a draft from his pipe. “The thing is there is not a sorcerer alive who could do what you just did with just one word, or without dying. The power behind a sorcerer's spell comes from within themselves and is limited to the specific sorcerer's strength. What you did would have killed even Mortis and the only plausible explanation I can come up with is highly far fetched. Have you ever heard the word 'Liga' before? Any idea what it means?”

“No, not really. When I heard it in my mind, it was the first time I ever heard the word. What does it mean?

“Liga means light. What you did was explode with pure light. The wights and shadows are creatures of darkness and couldn't withstand the light and were obliterated because of it. That just makes my outlandish suspicion seem more realistic.”

“And what is your suspicion?” Kyra asked, sitting forward seeming highly interested in the course of our conversation. The fresh cut on her face stood out next to her vivid red hair and emerald eyes.

“The only logical explanation that I can come up with is that Casius is a wizard, but a wizard hasn’t been born in almost a thousand years, not since the great war.”

I stared at Boris in disbelief. “How could I be a wizard? Sure, I’ll agree that what has happened doesn’t exactly fit into the bounds of normal for sorcery but that doesn’t mean I’m a wizard. How could a wizard be a descendant of sorcerer’s? I thought that their magics were completely different.”

“Wizards and Sorcerers only vary in how they access and use magic but the magic they use is just about the same.”

“Okay, but where did the word Liga come from? Like I said, I never heard it before.”

“That I don't know. It could be that you heard your father say it years ago and in your time of crisis it came unlodged from your subconscious where it was buried. Or it could be as you say and someone whispered the word in your mind. If so, I have no idea who. Have you ever heard the voice before?”

“No.”

“That's what I thought,” Boris replied.

“What was the great war a thousand years ago about?” Kyra suddenly asked. “I hear about it all of the time but I never actually heard what it is about.”

“From what I heard as a hunter and what I read in the archives of Karduim, the war was between the Sorcerers and the wizards. The sorcerers were afraid of the potential power that the wizards could wield and the damage that could be done by a careless wizard, such as tearing the barrier between this world and the underworld. In the end they decided that the best course of action was to exterminate all of the wizards. Obviously in the end, the wizards lost, but not before they fixed the tear in the barrier. Adori Pass used to house one of the largest wizard colleges thousand of years ago. Now it's just ruins and rubble.”

“So then how do I use magic then?”

“That I’m not sure. Wizards didn't have to base their magic off of the elder language like sorcerers do. The theory on how wizards use their powers has been lost throughout the ages. The best I can tell you is to try searching inside of yourself for something that feels odd, that should be your ‘access’ to your powers. When you pierce the oddness you will feel enveloped by your energy, at which point you could direct it as you will. A sorcerer has to state their intentions with the elder language. Wizards can as well but they don’t have to.”

“What will this ‘oddness’ feel like?” I asked.

“It’s hard to describe, but you’ll know it when you find it.”

“If what I did would kill a sorcerer then why didn’t it kill me?”

“As I understand it, unlike a sorcerer, a wizard draws his energy for his spells not only from within himself but from those around him, thus allowing them to cast very powerful spells and enchantments.”

“So what do we do now?” Kyra asked quietly.

“For now, I suggest we continue our current plans of going to Zaiville and ask around about your mother. There is nothing we can do about your magic for now so I suggest we just concentrate on finding your mother and then we can try to figure out your powers. If you do seem to find that odd spot though let me know and I’ll try and teach you. I’m not sure how well it will work out though.”

After that, we ate our stew and all retired to our bed rolls. As I laid on my back staring at the stars, I contemplated all that Boris had told me. If I was the first wizard in a thousand years, how could I possibly learn how to control the arcane powers now coursing through me without a proper teacher? If what Boris said is true I highly doubted that he would be able to teach me very much. I also thought about what he said about feeling the oddness inside of me. I searched inward but I couldn't find anything that felt unusual or out of place. All I could find were my own thoughts or memories. Thinking back to the morning of my naming day, I reached in my pocket and pulled out the strange white stone I found on the beach. As I laid there, I examined the stone. I cleared my mind of all else other than my amazement of the stone. Even now in the darkness of night it seemed to emit a soft white light that seemed to have no source. While the stone seemed smooth it actually had many tiny little facets all over causing the light to shine out at all different angles.

In my amazement I felt something weird in the back of my mind that I never noticed until I cleared my mind and as I examined the odd spot I realized it was a sort of node that was hard as a rock. As I smacked against the node’s wall with my mental probe, I bounded off wincing in pain. Aggravated I slammed against the node wall with as much mental force as I could muster over and over again for what seemed hours until I felt like it was impossible it break through and then it suddenly shattered and I felt as if I suddenly I was submerged in ice water. Thinking back to our fight with the weights I whispered "bìri" and at the same time the campfire flared up for a second.

“Hmm that must be what Boris mean about the oddness inside of me,” I thought to myself and resolved to say something to Boris about it in the morning.

******

“So I take it you accessed your powers last night,” Boris suddenly stated as we were walking. We woke up shortly after sunrise and after a quick breakfast we broke camp and started on our way. That was about two hours ago; it was about the first thing any of us said.

“How do you figure?” I asked curious how he could have figured it out.

“I could sense magic in the fire last night and it wasn’t from me so I’m assuming it was you.”

“You are correct. After we went to bed, I thought about what you said about the oddness and after clearing my mind, I found it but it took all of my energy to pierce through the node wall.”

“That’s to be expected at the beginning. After a while, it will get easier but it will take a lot of practice,” Boris replied.

“What did he do to the fire and how were you able to detect it?” Kyra asked breaking her morning vigil. Up until this point she was so quiet I forgot she was with us.

“He didn’t do anything specific. He just invigorated it for a second but even the slightest spell leaves residue behind allowing another to detect it.”

“How do you detect this residue?” I asked Boris highly curious, the use of this could be very useful.

“From what I read you should be able to just look out with you mind and be able to detect it but I'm not sure how you would go about doing that. Sorcerers can feel it like a breeze of sorts. It's hard to explain but we can sense that something isn't right and from there we could cast a spell to see the residue but I don’t believe that that would work for you.”

“Reach out with my mind? How would I do that?”

“From what I understand, you should be able to reach out with your mind like it was another extremity, much like when you searched through your mind searching for your power and then smashing into the wall. From the ancient texts that were in the libraries in Karduim, it said that wizards were able to communicate through their minds, even with non-wizards and were even able to control weak minded people in this manner. That ability greatly scares the sorcerers because they could not replicate the ability, even to this date.”

We continued walking through the plains, crops of trees here and there and ahead in the far distance I could see the Rainbow Mountains against the horizon, the blue of the sky emphasizing the grayish red of the mountains. Even though we were still too far to see it Zaiville was cut into the base of the mountain somewhere. It took me a while to process all that Boris had told me so far. The implications of what he said disturbed me quite a bit and caused me to reevaluate how I looked at the way the world worked. After a walking a while Kyra asked, “You said that Cas will grow stronger with practice. How can he practice?”

“A very apt question, Kyra, and one not easy to answer. I’m not sure if the methods of training for sorcerers will work the same as a wizard. The library in Karduim had nothing on the training of wizards. All of that was destroyed in the war. The one thing I can tell you for sure is to become familiar with that node you found last night, you will need to be able to find it instantly and after a while you will be able to locate it without conscious effort.”

Boris paused and bent over to pick up a small stone off of the worn path through the grass and handed it to me. “I want you to try lifting the stone with your mind. Theory says that you should be able to reach out with your mind and lift it just like you would with your hand but I don’t know how you would be able to go about that. Your other option is to try doing it like a sorcerer would, while concentrating on the stone pierce the barrier to your power and say ‘Ris et rok’ which literally means lift the rock.”

As we walked I thought about what Boris said and at the same time I searched my mind for the little node of energy that I found last night. After walking for 15 minutes I started to become frustrated at my inability to locate it again and just as I was about to give up, I located it at what felt to be in the lower back of my mind. For the next few minutes, I bounced off the barrier with my mental probe with little success, then just like before I suddenly broke through the barrier and once again felt as if i was instantly submerged in ice water. Before I lost my grip on the energy, I quickly said “Ris er rok” and the stone suddenly jumped out of my palm and raised to eye level. I was able to hold the stone there for a few seconds before the strain caused my to lose my grip on the spell and the stone dropped back into my hand with a soft plop.

“Not bad for your first attempt; it will get easier to find your power over time same with holding the stone up. When you are fully trained you will be able to hold the stone up for hours without effort,” Boris stated as we continued walking. “I want you to try again.”

“Again! So soon?” I exclaimed surprised. It wasn’t that I was tired but lifting the stone, small as it may have been, left me feeling like I had just lifted a stone twenty times its size.

“Yes again, and try to be quicker about it this time,” Boris replied as he pulled his smoking pipe out of a pocket on the inside of his cloak. From the corner of my eye I could see Kyra off to my right lean in closer, interested in if I could lift the stone again. Having just located the node not too long ago I knew the general area to search and I soon found it again.

This time I didn’t try to bash my way through the barrier. Instead I examined it with my tendril of thought, looking for a weakness that would make it easier to pierce. After a few moments of introverted inspection I realized that if I pushed in the barrier from opposite sides at the same time it pops like a pimple, simple and effortless and I once again felt the chilly sensation for the power coursing through me. As before I stated the spell and the stone raised to eye level, at the same time I heard an audible gasp from Kyra. This time I was able to hold the stone up for a few moments longer then the previous try before it plopped back into my palm. After the stone hit my palm, I felt slightly more exhausted but it quickly passed.

“Way to go Cas. Soon no one will be able to stop you,” Kyra stated with a bit of amusement.

“He will always need to remain vigilant for even the best spell caster can be killed by the simplest thing, but you are correct. He will become immensely powerful and so he must also ensure that his ego doesn’t get the best off him and that he doesn’t abuse his power for selfish or greedy reasons.”

“If you knew anything about Cas you would know that you wouldn’t have to worry about that!” Kyra rebutted Boris’ remark with a fierce look and a gleam in her emerald eyes. “Plus even if he did get egotistical, I would be there to knock him back down to size,” she added with a chuckle.

“That is something I would love to see,” Boris stated with a hint of amusement in his deep voice. “I want you to try again, and as before try to be quicker about it.”

Instinctively I instantly reached for the back of my mind where the odd node was located but then stopped in my tracks when an idea struck me. Boris said that I should be able to reach out with my mind and lift the stone in the same manner as I pierce the barrier to my powers. Slowly and with great caution, I sent a tendril of thought out towards the stone laying on the palm of my hand. As the tendril of thought reached the stone I was surprised to learn that I could actually feel the stone with my mind, all of the dips and imperfections along the stone and even the texture. With a bit of effort I tried to lift the stone and quickly realized that it took all of my concentration to grip the stone but slowly I was able to lift the stone. Inch by inch the stone slowly rose until it was at eye level, at which point my brow was drenched with perspiration from the mental effort it took to lift the stone in this manner. Satisfied that I understood how to reach out with my mind, I let the stone drop back into my hand.

“He didn’t say anything that time!” Kyra exclaimed, “How was he able to lift it without saying a spell?”

“That is a very good question. Casius, would you care to explain?” Boris asked.

After recalling the experience. I realized that it would be hard to explain. “I thought about what you said about being able to lift it with just my mind so I figured to give it a try. I slowly reached out with my mind, which is an experience that is heard to explain, and as I made contact with the stone I could feel the stone as if I was touching it with my hand. It took all of my concentration to keep a grip on the stone but I was able to lift the stone, the mental effort though was much greater then if I had structured it with the spell.”

“Your ability to do that shall strengthen with practice just as with the other method.”

“I have to say it’s a bit eerie seeing you use magic, Cas,” Kyra said suddenly. “I’ve never seen anyone wield magic before now I’ve seen you, someone I’ve known my entire life, use it a few times.”

“It’s a bit unsettling for me as well. I’ve heard stories about magic many times but I never once thought that I one day would wield it myself.”

As I examined the landscape ahead of use I started to may out Zaiville cut out against the mountain behind it. The walls surrounding the city were made of the same stone as the mountain and were twenty feet in height, having passed through then before I knew they were at least six feet thick. Along the top of the wall I could see walkways for guards to walk along and every hundred feet there was a watch house made out of the same material as the wall. Deep in contrast with the reddish gray walls were two enormous wooden doors secured with steel fastening and hinges. Outside the gates I knew that there were guards who kept watch at the gate. Over the monstrous walls, all I could see were the roofs of a few building and the upper floors of the mayoral estate at which Rufus Babelash resided. The estate was made of a deep gray stone with a circular spire that rose above the rest of the estate, the front of the estate had a drawbridge to stop unwanted visitors. It looked to be about a mile or so away so we should arrive at Zaiville within the next hour.

“I know we're almost there but I want you to try again,” Boris said suddenly.

fantasy
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