Eternal Winter

Warm Feelings: Part IV

Footsteps shuffled in the snow behind me—the Dark Master's eyes tracked the movement. Her eyes did not leave Sammy once, even as her focus fell onto me. I did not hear Sammy's words, as he softly murmured to Julian.

There was no howling wind, or distant cries, or ragged breathing in my ears.

There was no sound to the snow that fell relentlessly upon the kingdom.

There was no sound to the smoke that billowed from the Dark Master.

It was silent. It was cold. It was endless.

My hand tightened on my sword. My grip felt so weak on it, still. The air burned as I drew it into my lungs. My arms, my legs, my head everything burned and ached and cried for this to stop. To end. To finish this.

I rushed forward.

The wind pushed at my back, urging me forward faster still. Underfoot, the ground was solid as the snow parted way for me. Its child.

My sword was steady in my hand and arced down swiftly.

The Dark Master did not step away. Instead, she reached up a hand, coated in black, to brush the blade aside. The metal stalled, then bent, then broke and clattered to our feet in flimsy ruins.

I tossed aside the lonely hilt and stepped back. My staff swung up in its place, flicking up a gust of snow. I circled around as black shot through the cloud and stabbed into the ground. More offshoots sprang out and scattered in every direction. A hollow clang came from Sammy as he shielded the others from them.

I grabbed Julian's discarded sword without pause and hurried upon the Dark Master's flank. She whirled around at the last moment, pulling away enough to miss. The blade that could not reach her, the wind did for me. A tear opened in her clothes. There was no blood. It was still too shallow. And too short.

My vision blurred. My breath escaped. In and out. Barely noticeable. Easily explainable. I had been careful. I rationed my magic.

But this fatigue spoke of otherwise.

Fear began to shake me, because without magic...without magic...I cannot defeat her.

Her dead eyes bore into me, unwavering and unflinching. As I looked into the black depths, a chill swept down my back as I remembered the stark difference between our magic. There was no fatigue limit for her to contend with. There would be no outlasting her. Without magic, I cannot defeat her...because she will never be without magic.

A flash of black darted straight for me and, only by instinct, did I cut it down before it struck. The sliced off black tendril broke down and disappeared in the wind.

My arm moved forward again to slash the Dark Master, but she moved out of the arcing path lithely. The black smoke met the sword and wrapped around it tightly. It crept down the blade for my hand.

"Ignite!" I cried, tightening my grasp on the hilt even more.

The sword erupted into flames. Black smoke burned away and I pulled the sword free. And I kept pulling away until there were several feet between us. Panting hard, I reached down at my side. If there was no outlasting her, I needed to try something else. A summons, a spell, anything to help. I reached for the cold metal clasps to release the book.

There was only air.

The last thing Teacher had given me. The book that had been at my side longer than even Sammy, the book that would end this all. Was not there.

I risked my neck to glance down at my left and right, but there was nothing at my hips and no strap weighing on either shoulder. It was gone. This is it.