The Day Heaven Crumbled

I couldn't

I'm a mage. I kept telling myself that I was a mage. But it wasn't working. The Porkpine- a hybrid of pork and porcupines- wasn't letting me go just because I was a mage. Though I claimed to be a mage, I only knew the spell for creating a campfire and producing water for drinking. What the hell am I supposed to do now?

Every felt like the last.

Every second felt like the thing would jump and puncture my soul-

And-

"Hey! Stop spacing out already!" Someone shouted from behind me. I knew that voice. It was Kayle.

He jumped in front of me and it was like time had stopped. His brown hair almost felt golden through the sun rays: His grin radiant as ever, his sword sharp.

The guy was enjoying himself.

Time sped up in the next second and Kayle sliced the Porkpine in two.

"You okay?" Bretta patted me from behind. Her hair swayed with the wind and her grin made me feel safer.

Quite odd, as even just moments ago, I felt like pissing myself.

"Y-Yeah. That was you slowing the time?" I was breathless.

She nodded. She was our healer and she could manipulate time to a certain extent. Maybe not completely slow or fast forward at will but she could substantially slow time.

The blood of the porkpine colored the gray earth in red. The sea of trees around us made it clear that we weren't welcome here. Maybe it was just my imagination.

Kayle came back. "I get that you're excited about your first time out, but could you at least not drag us down? I mean listen-"

"Shut up Kayle. Aren't you the one who argued and put him on the vanguard? I believe you said, 'he needs the experience.' So why are you bitching now?"

Kayle grimaced and tried to sweet talk his way out. But it wasn't working on Bretta.

"Don't worry about him; he's always like that with newbies. Stay by me and cover us in battle. That's what a mage supposed to do." Bretta comforted me and glared at kayle. She almost felt like a bro.... "Let's focus on the mission." But she didn't worry that much about me. It was probably because she was still mad at Kayle for peeking on her last night. So her idea of protecting me was just so she could mess with Kayle.

I didn't like it one bit but I couldn't just complain either. "Rig-right!"

"C'mon, move yar asses." Our fourth member, Bambo- the fat guy was way behind. He was supposed to be part of the vanguard too; actually, he was our tank. And yet, he couldn't keep up with us. Now I understood why everyone nick named him the fat guy. He wasn't that fat though. He had a weird sense of humor too. As in?

Call him fat and he'd laugh and later pummel you to the ground with farts.

I caught my breath and started walking. This was the first time I was outside of the village. This was the first time I was seeing the world. I'd heard stories, fantasies and legends about the world, how monsters killed us and how we survived. But honestly I was more interested about getting out of that village. I'd been there for over twenty years now. I was born inside the village and was never permitted to go out. But it all changed yesterday.

***

"I want to go out. I want to become one of the hunters," I told my father.

Father didn't say anything. He just kept quiet and sipped his tea. He was thinking.

"Father!"

On our porch, just the two of us.

Winds blowing-