Writing Championships #5

Amber Antags

Scar's magic wasn't exactly like the others.

While the others controlled their magic with ease, he simply couldn't do anything to use or stop it. He had his own skills, sure, but the hermits easily surpassed him with their magic.

Scar wanted to learn how to get on par with them and... stop the accidents. He had a few of them already, he hated that. He wanted to help with his powers, not hurt.

But he hadn't done that so far.

First accident he had was when he first joined the server, when he got his magic. It was rather simple, just causing around 3 creepers to explode. But that wasn't a very good first impression, even if he managed to show the others his true colours later on.

Second accident was when he almost killed Jellie. Whenever Scar thought about it he wanted to fall to his knees and sob. He had been trying to grow his village quickly like the others could with their builds, but instead, the magic betrayed his expectations, instead cutting the poor white-grey cats tail off.

He hated this all, all so much. That's why he was going to Mumbos base.

The man had promised to help him, and with his little hope left, he had agreed. So now, he strapped up his elytra, putting some things in a shulker box. He needed this. It was his only hope.

Shivering at the thought of Mumbo not being able to help, he felt the bittersweet feeling of pure and utter dread flow through him as he jumped into the air, catching it under his elytra.

The nature was beautiful from the sky, all the colours mashed together to make a masterpiece of pallets from warm to cold. Scar could only stare down at it as he flew, it simply made the time in the feisty winds fly by quicker.

Before the man knew it, he was on the ground, staring at Mumbo's base.

The Wizard gasped in awe at the building that towered above him, a large shadow casting over him. But it's size and beauty wasn't all that intrigued him. It somehow seemed to be... alive, if that was even possible. The heart that hung from the top of the build looked like it was beating, almost.

If he wasn't so squeamish he would have considered it to be amazing, a wonder that somebody had managed to conjure a spell powerful enough to make their base alive. Of course, if anyone could do it, it would be Mumbo, wouldn't it.

'Maybe... I could make the land around it even better! Mumbo never was the greatest with nature magic... Yeah, I bet I could do that!'

Scar ignored the voice in the back of his head warning him not to. Warning him about all of his past mistakes, about how he would just mess it up like he always did. But more than anything, even though he didn't admit it to himself, the hermit wanted to prove he was better. He didn't want to be the hermit that always messed up all of their spells anymore. If he could terraform Mumbo's entire base, they would respect him. Surely.

He squeezed his eyes in preparation shut as a familiar tickling feeling began to spread into his arms, and into his hands. The wind began to dance around him, attracted to the magic. An otherworldly sound escaped his lips, and the ground began to shake.

He opened up his eyes again. He was shocked at the result. It had worked. It had worked! The once dull land now was filled to the brim with life. But... it didn't stop. Vines began to shoot up the bottom of the base, grabbing at the pillars. Oversized trees exploded from spots of grass in the base. One tree's branches began to fight with one of the vine-covered pillars, and Scar yelled out as part of the base began to collapse.

Debris was flung from the area, and a cloud of dust filled the area. The brunette blinked the dust away, horrified as he looked at what he had done. Not only was the building absolutely coated in plants, a quarter of it had fallen on top of itself, and worst of all he couldn't hear the thump of the heart in the back of his ears anymore.

'What did I do.' Scar's mind asked this question over and over, driving him crazy. 'All I had to do was make this place more beautiful. I wasn't supposed to kill it.' Now that the golden heart had stopped the base was silent. Too silent. Because the systems no longer worked the base locked Scar inside. He went down to the storage room that was now covered in rubble from the dead base while thinking what he would do now. 'How will I explain this. There is no way anyone will forgive me.'. At that moment an idea came to his mind. If he isolated himself from the others he wouldn't hurt them. 'I can start right here and now. This storage system has everything I need to survive.'.

After that he wrote the things that he wanted to be done when he was locked here, including who would be the new mayor be, the new owner of Aqua Town and who would look after Jellie. But he was not sure if he should send it to the others. He didn't care about that if he had to be honest. If they knew he was doing they would worry about him, they would come to help him. But he didn't need them to help. It was better if they left him alone here so he deleted the message.

During the isolation he did nothing but one of these three things: Practising to control his magic, thinking and talking to himself about how bad the thing he did was and planning an apology. After a while most of these things became automatic, which gave him more time to think about all the mistakes he did in the past. Thinking about all the mistakes he made, the lonely hermit started to go slowly insane. The more insane he got the more he practised magic, forgetting about what he would say to the other hermits.

Scar had now been in isolation for a while, and he was annoyed. Surely by now he would have learnt to control his magic? Right? That is what the now quite frankly insane wizard thought, getting up from where he was isolated and walking out to the surface, where he inhaled the familiar scent of the jungle through his nostrils. He saw Grian flying through the sky, the small brit's wings flapping as he soared.

Scar looked up at the sky, being blinded by the harsh sunlight as he stretched. Grian landed down and walked towards Scar, "Scar? You Decided to stop isolating yourself? HAve you gotten better with magic? Before it was not your fault you weren't able to control your magic." Grian asked, not taking a second to breathe.

"Slow down Grian. Yes it was my fault I couldn't control my magic. And yes i have gotten bett-" Scar was interrupted by a flurry of pain flying through him, making him tumble to the ground. His eyes shut closed, he writhed around. What was going on— his thoughts were cut in half, coming out spliced. His breathing quickened, and he felt like he was being sliced slowly by millions of knives and needles.

Then just as soon as it hit, it went away.

He was left in shock, pain still taken over his body, but only as a memory now. As he looked up, he was terrified at the sight of bloodied feathers laying on the ground, leading to a pained owner.

A stray magic bolt had struck Grian's wings and the smaller hermit was bent down in pain. One of the red-sweatered hermit's wings was destroyed and gnarled, blood everywhere, left with almost no feathers. Scar heard a scream sound from somewhere, until he realized it was himself. Grian lay on the ground in a puddle of blood, knocked out from the impact

Scar just stared for a few moments, terrified.

This wasn't able to be avoided anymore. Unfreezing, the man ran off, leaping into the sky. He would be going to Xisuma's base.

This was the final straw for Scar.

He was going home.

Score: 10.5 (Spectator Favourite)