The Scourge's Herald

Chapter 7

^Pixonia^

{~Sam~}

Laughter echoed throughout the forest as we sped through the forest, even without my earth magic I was still agile and kept up almost as easily as I used too with the floating woman that was flying through the air. Well flying wasn't the right word, she moved gracefully through the forest. Seeming to float through the air from tree to tree, barely touching branches that weren't big enough to support her weight. As I ran, I used my chaos magic as a sort of haze to continue familiarizing myself with it. I kept it close to my body so any onlookers wouldn't suspect much, even if they were well-informed. Or ya know, just kept up with social media. I also pushed the magic into my legs as well which was a large reason I was keeping up with Marcie. 

Finally she slowed down before floating down to the ground next to me and saying "Alright we should be close, I think you'll enjoy it."

We soon came upon an beautiful open grove, there was a large pile of fallen trees on one side and a clear pond opposite it. The most noticeable thing in the grove was the very large oak-ash tree that was opposite the pond and a large patch of moss in the center. Marcie stopped as I gazed at the beauty before saying "This is a sacred grove, can you feel it? A lot of mages come here to meditate during specific months of the year."

I walked into the grove and took a deep breath as I pushed my senses as far as they could go, before my chaos magic, I could sense a full football field although the depth was limited. I could tell if a living being was in that range and the closer it became, the more I could tell about it. What species it was if I was familiar with it, what magical aura it had, sometimes if I was particularly familiar with it, I could interpret the moves that it was going to make. The biggest drawback though was that I couldn't isolate targets, so say in a situation like at the stadium. If I had opened my senses there I would've been flooded with the magical auras all around and most likely my brain would've exploded, very inconvenient. 

Something that surprised me when I opened my senses was that while the area I was able to sense had significantly gotten smaller like I expected, it had gotten more in depth. I focused on Marcie's aura, I could sense where her magic was mostly. Her magic was gray since it was the element of air, and most of it resided in her arms and hands, and her legs and feet. I turned my attention towards the grove and my breath hitched, for a skilled mage they could use their senses to 'see' in a way. Each magical aura being different, and this one was beautiful. Magic permeated every bit of the sacred grove, it was almost overwhelming, but as I moved forward the magic lessened in volume, seeming to gather around me. 

What made magic so different from the other elements, while the other elements were alive in a way, fire hungers, air dances without a care, water fills the void, and earth is steady and firm, magic has a sort of sentience. It fluctuates around every mage, as if it had a conscience. Magic was versatile, slipping into the cracks the other elements left and making it better, enchanting, lightning magic, necromancy, lava magic, ice magic. Magic was the stepping stone for everything. 

As I made my way to the middle of the grove, the magic guiding me towards the pile of moss. I kneeled and took a deep breath before closing my eyes, feeling everything disappear. As I was forced deep within myself, I came to a large river that ended in a pool frothing full of chaos magic. I looked around before slowly starting to walk down the bank towards the pool where a soft voice was singing from. As I came into view of the pool, the by now familiar female greeted me with a smile. Her solid form much more distinguishable than the last time we saw each other, she wore a different dress this time it was a frilly dress that hung below her knees with swirl and sparkle designs on it. Her dark red hair in a high ponytail but two long curls framed her face, the same scar more distinguishable. It wasn't a scar so much as a mark but it was too small to distinguish. I sat next to her as she continued singing, she was sitting on the edge of the pool with the water up to her knees, her dress softly drifting in the water. She bumped my shoulder as she finished singing "Well well, taking initiative are we? Seeking me out yourself. I must say, sacred groves are quite beautiful."