A Sorcerer's Flame

Chapter 10

Cross stared wide-eyed at the sight in front of him.

While Ink was busy hugging Splotches, the very dead deer lay on the ground, it had bite marks on the back of its neck, which felt odd to him. 

Did Ink steal the kill from a bigger predator? But then how is he unharmed?

“How did you even get the carcass? And without the original predator harming you?” He turned to Ink, who only looked at him in confusion. Then it seemed to click in his head.

“Don’t worry about it,” The small smile Ink gave him brought him no comfort. What if Ink did get hurt and he just used something to heal himself? After all, Ink had already confirmed that he could use magic.

“Well, that just makes me worry,” He deadpanned.

Ink just shrugged and (with an unnatural amount of strength for someone the size of a 6-year-old) picked up the dead deer with one hand(while still carrying Splotches on the other). “Continue worrying all you want, but could you at least help set up a fire?” He sighed but moved to do so anyway.

---

As soon as they finished eating they moved.

Ink was honestly kind of sick of this mission by now. The only thing keeping him in this forest was Cross and Dream. He looked at the directions again, luckily they were transported back to where they had originally been, which meant they were close.

He bumped into Cross’ back, who had gone still while he was looking at the map.

“Hmp-”

“I think we’re here,” Informed Cross, his voice seemed quiet. Ink looked around Cross to see a giant entrance to a cave.

‘This is definitely it,’ he thought, and he smiled. He walked past Cross and turned fully to face him, hands on his hips.

“Welp, we’re here, what are you waiting for?” He asked teasingly. Cross looked at the cave one more time before looking back at him, it was clear that he was unsure. Ink walked over to him and put his right hand on Cross’ shoulder, “Hey, it’s okay! You don’t need to go with me, I'll be fine.” He hoped his smile was reassuring.

Cross looked at his hand and placed his own on top, he then smiled back, “No, I want to go with you.”

His smile grew larger and he grabbed both hands, pulling Cross into the cave.

---

The cave was dark, but Ink simply moved his hand up and summoned some of his magic for light. Unlike most sorcerers, his magic was ink-like. His magic floated above his hand like a lava lamp.

From the corners of his eyes, he could see Cross staring at it. His face in pure awe, from the hunter’s arms, Splotches was staring too. He gave them a small smile.

As they continued walking, they noticed something peculiar.

He stopped abruptly and pointed in front of him, “Look.”

Blue strings littered the cave, the same color as the dragon's markings. It clicked in his mind that the dragon probably lived in the cave.

“We have to hurry before it comes back, we don’t want to fight it again.” He spoke quickly as he turned to Cross. Cross nodded back to him, and Ink grabbed Cross’ hand. They dashed deeper into the cave, hoping to find the artifact soon.

Unknown to both of them, one blue string broke.

---

Error was finished destroying the village, and he felt joy at the destruction.

He was laid down in the middle of the chaos, a sharp grin on his snout. His wings were draped over him, like a blanket. His eyes closed until he felt a tingling sensation on his claws.

He quickly opened his eyes and saw his two front claws glowing brightly. He growled and stood up from his resting place. His wings were spread out and flapped. He turned toward his cave, ‘I should have looked harder for the anomalies!’, he thought to himself.
‘No matter, they won’t live for long.’

---

They were running everywhere now.

They checked every corner of the cave that they could see. Unfortunately, they still couldn’t find the artifact.

“We should leave and try another time, especially since the dragon might come soon,” Cross told Ink.

While he knew they might not have a chance like this one soon, the time limit they had was close to ending.

When he was about to agree, they both became still.

BOOM!

They both looked at each other and then where the sound came from.

The front of the cave.

Cross reacted faster than he did. He was still, unmoving until Cross grabbed him and ran deeper into the cave because it was a death wish to go back from the way they came(then again this whole mission was probably a death wish anyway). Ink let himself get dragged unsure of what to do. He turns to run in the same direction as Cross.

Luckily for them, Ink could feel that some of the cave’s wall was poorly built. He let go of Cross to grab Broomie and hit the wall where it felt weakest. After the dust cleared he grabbed Cross’ arm once more, “Come on!”

If he wasn’t already convinced, the loud, booming footsteps would be enough to convince Cross to move.

As soon as they were back outside they collapsed on the soft, green grass. They stayed there for a few minutes, trying to calm themselves down. However, after calming down he heard a voice.

“Well, wasn’t that an interesting sight to see?” When Ink looked up, he spotted a skeleton monster. Tentacles seemed to be coming from his back, they moved slowly. His single eye was calculating him.

Ink shifted his gaze back to Cross, who seemed to be in shock and panic. It was when Ink looked back that he noticed the other monsters coming from the forest, including the werewolf from before.

The goopy skeleton narrowed his eye, “Seize them.” The other monsters showed no sign of hesitation as they moved closer.

“Yes, Your Highness.”