The Unbidden: A New World (1) (Short Parts)

Part 13

A purple oscillating line emerged from Aurias' symbol and stretched across the cloud to my forehead. When it touched, I felt a massive surge of energy flow into me. It was indescribable, but I felt several times more powerful than before.

The connection lasted for a second or two before the feeling began to fade and the line retreated back into Aurias. It felt as though there was a second being inside me.

This must be the soul bond he mentioned, I thought.

"The contract is complete. My power is now yours, Highborne Xavier."

"Please, just call me Xavier," I said, waving my hand.

"Yes, Xavier."

Aurias, the cloud, and the galaxies – it all vanished and I felt myself pushed back from where I came. When I opened my eyes next, I was still standing in front of the ashen horse with my hand on its head. I turned to see the stable master looking at me with a confused look.

It was like no time had passed at all.

"Ay, I've never seen 'im respond s' well in my life!" he exclaimed with a hearty laugh.

"Yea, I think I'll take him. How much?"

He contemplated for a moment.

"Well, since yer th' only one e's responded to, I'll cut ya deal. How's fift' silver soun'?"

I pulled out my larger pouch of coins and handed it to him. He walked over to a table and counted everything out – fifty-five silver in total. He put the remaining coin back into the pouch and handed it back to me.

"Thank ya' fer yer business, lad," he said, shaking my hand.

The stable hand fetched a saddle and reins for me. Thankfully they decided to put them on, because I would've been fooling around for some time trying to figure it out.

I escorted Aurias out of the stables and mounted him.

Alright, here goes nothing, I thought.

Just as I was going to do the classic 'hiyah!' and snap the reins, he took off nearly causing me to fall off.

"Jesus!" I shouted.

Aurias had us galloping dozens of feet a second. Soon enough, we had travelled a good distance along the road. He went faster than any horse I'd seen before.

"Wait, wait, stop the bus!"

Aurias slowed to a halt. I looked behind us at the vast distance covered.

"What is the problem, Xavier?"

His voice sounded as though he were speaking right next to me, but it was within my mind. It was a really weird feeling, hearing a voice other than your own in your head.

"Well, we need to go the other way."

There was a moment of silence.

"I Apologize, Xavier. It has been a while since I was able to move freely so."

"You're fine, Aurias. Just ... Let me know next time. You almost flung me off."

"Once again, I apologize. I let excitement get the better of me."

He turned around and proceeded back to the town. We passed through without incident, exiting from the right way. I didn't even need to use the reins except to hold on to for dear life as we sped down the road.

Aurias knew what direction to go, when to speed up and slow, and when to turn. It helped that him and I were speaking telepathically the whole time. On foot, it would've taken three hours, but we made it in less than one.

The camp the kobold set up was apparently inside a cave system within a large patch of forest. As such, when we entered the forest I dismounted and had Aurias follow close behind.

The foliage was so thick he had trouble keeping up with me, and I wasn't able to see too far ahead. A familiar smell soon assaulted my nostrils. I crinkled my nose at the pungent stench of decay. The forest soon opened up to a small grove with a lot of large rocks scattered about.

Near the right side was a large cave entrance one could almost miss due to the overgrowth. Guarding said entrance were four ugly, sand-colored humanoid lizards wearing tattered leather and wielding spiked clubs with bows on their backs.

And I thought goblins were ugly, I mused.

I was forty or fifty feet away, and it didn't look like they noticed me or the large ashen horse standing behind me.

"Ah ... I love the smell of a hunter," Aurias exhaled.

I breathed in deeply and tried not to gag. I wasn't sure how many kobold there were, whether they kept prisoners, or just how much smarter they were than goblins. Too many variables simply increased the inherent risk involved. There was just too much information I was missing.

My job was to kill their tribe nothing more or less. Resolving myself to the acts I was going to commit, I stood up and repeated the same tactic as with the goblins. Leaning against the nearest tree, I used my free hand to create three motes of fire.

They're awfully small, I thought.

The usual golf ball sized motes were only the size of marbles. I figured more power meant larger components in a spell, so something as simple as a mote of fire would get bigger.

Oh well, I thought.

I held the motes in hand and placed one in between my thumb and index finger and flicked all three of them in quick succession. When the first one struck, it exploded into a large plume of fire engulfing three of the four kobold. The following motes struck where the other two should've been, but flew past and exploded against the outside wall of the cave.

When the black smoke of the explosions disappeared, the only thing remaining were bits of charred remains, displaced rock and small cinders. I was thoroughly shocked at the amount of destruction I caused.

"Fantastic, Xavier!" Aurias said, neighing.

Several hissing and screeching sounds echoed from inside the cave. I crouched down as a dozen kobold poured out of the entrance. They looked around frantically with bows and clubs at the ready.

Now that I knew how powerful such a simple spell was, I wondered what would happen if I tried something more powerful. I quickly conjured up another mote and launched it at the center of the group.

The proceeding explosion incinerated everything within a ten-foot radius as the kobold were caught in a bright orange plume that blackened and rose into the air. I moved in quickly, prepared to fire once more. A bead of sweat rolled down the side of my face in anticipation.

"Be careful, Xavier. There are fourteen of them inside."

"Thanks."

I raised one hand in front of me with my palm facing outward and whispered 'firelight'. My palm became basked in an orange hue that emitted a soft light in front of me for about fifteen feet. Aurias waited outside while I began to enter the cave.

Ten steps in was the farthest I got when a small arrow flew past my head. I quickly ducked and casted 'palm fire'. A wave of flames reached out in front and the screams of kobold echoed barely above the dull roar of fire.