Torva Messor

Chapter 2: The Rise Of A Devil

I spent a day wandering. I had come across one village but it was hardly even ashes when I got there. Another few hours in and I ran across another much smaller settlement. They had been attacked too. They said by pushing too far, their forces were uneven and low on weapons, which made pushing them back easier. It also meant even with their great machines, we could indeed fight back.

For about three years we were trapped in an endless loop. They would come for us, and we'd defend ourselves, the woods proving more of a hassle for them than they could handle. Sometimes we would push back, and move one step closer to restoring the old border.

The adults handled that. I was too young at the time to fight, they had told me. At least so they say. I could still catch boys my age and older ogling me at times. I had a few curves at my age. So during the day, I would slip away from the village, and I would train that feeling I had when the soldier found me. I pushed the winds endlessly. Shaped the earth to my design. Changed the currents of water. Struck flames wherever I deemed. I felt my magic interact with the world, and I learned over time on my own that everything was connected by magic and its endless energy. That's how magic can change things.

After that, I realized there were many things we as mages never did understand. What enhanced our powers, what hindered them. How using your own magic and the magic around you differed. How you could use the magic around you to refill your own. As my knowledge grew, so did my technique, my form, and my powers.

I had no marker to go off of how powerful I was except the young men flaunting their powers for a woman's grace. I had surpassed that a while ago. I needed a comparison from one of the warriors. I needed to watch them in action.

Mages left in the woods returned one day, alerting the villages of another incoming attack. Our men took up arms and left. With one extra not amongst them. I followed from a ways back. I could feel their movements with my magic, I did not need to see them to know where they were. Although the image was blurry with range, I could still feel them, which meant I was keeping pace with them. Since magic was able to flow through you, it flowed through your muscles, your heart, your lungs, your brain. If you let it flow and expand, it could enhance those as well. With one push of my legs, I was taking what would have taken ten seconds to run in a single second. I could leap higher and farther, my fists were stronger, and I could register things faster. My lungs and heart worked with more speed and power to compensate for it all.

Before I knew it I had caught up to the fighting party as they stood their ground amongst a thicket. I climbed up into a tree where I would not be seen through the leaves. However, I could not see what happened either. I had to hear and feel the battle unfold.

There were trucks, maybe tanks even, they tried pushing through the trees, transporting as many troops as far and as fast as possible toward the next line of villages. Until they hit the thicket, where vehicles found it especially difficult to move. Soldiers disembarked to move ahead of the vehicles seeing it as a faster path now. That's when our mages struck, hitting them with spears that traveled like bullets into soldiers' chests. They shifted the ground to make vehicles tip over. They attacked and snuck back out of sight through the foliage. The attacks were confusing and chaotic, with bodies dropping faster than some had truly realized. It was an absolute win, with no injuries, all enemies either fled or died in the thicket.

I had learned something from their battle. Our warriors were strong, very strong. Though they lacked knowledge, most of their strengths were birthright and repeated use of their abilities. That was holding them back from true strength. A strength I realized I had.

I did not stand up to the men of the village, lest I make a scene and become an outcast. Yet I wanted to play my part nonetheless. I was a mage, a powerful one. I had better things to do than clean and dry linen and handle crops. I had power that demanded use, and I wanted to drown in its feeling.