Maybe it could be (Discomtimued)

chapter 11

 With a rush of adrenaline, Viren rose up, dashing out of the hut and calling out to Aaravos.

All he could see was smoke, all he could smell was smoke. Where was Aaravos? 'He couldn't be hurt, right?' Viren thought. 'Then again, I kinda don't want to see him. Not after what he did while I was asleep. I mean the audacity. He's an elf after all, does he really think I would ever even look his way for something like that?'

As he walked around now scorched earth under him, he saw that there was a pattern in the burn marks. Though he must have been seeing things, the only person who knew this kind of magic was trapped in a coin. There was no way for him to get out. He was the only one who knew how to get people out of cursed coins anyway.

"Aaravos?!" Viren called out again, this time earning him a groan from a near-by bush. Viren rushed over to where the noise had come from, seeing Aaravos he let out a breath of relief. "There you are!" He didn't mean to sound so happy, he didn't know why he was so happy either, he had just been with Aaravos even if it was in a dream.

"Lord Viren, I'm glad you're okay. I was using the bathroom and this man snuck behind me and pushed me down this hill." Viren Hadn't noticed that he basically ran down the steep hill that resided on the opposite side of their camp site.

Aaravos patted the back of his head, seeing blood on his hand after he rolled his eyes. "Fantastic." He said sarcastically.

"Are you going to heal that?" Viren pointed to the blood on Aaravos' hand, but he meant the source of it.

Aaravos looked at Viren, "No need." Then the starry elf started looking around him, seeing if there was any disturbance in the soil or plant life around them that he didn't create.

"Wait, what do you mean 'No need.'?"

"I mean it's not my top priority right now."

"How is it no-" Viren was cut off by a snap of a tree branch.

Aaravos was quick and launched himself toward the sound. Stunned by Aaravos' agility, Viren fell behind but still tried to keep up with Aaravos. Soon, the old man's knee gave out and he fell to the ground.

It burned, his knee felt hot and cold at the same time, adrenaline rushed through his veins as he fought not to say anything so Aaravos would be able to catch whatever, or whoever was out there.

His efforts failed as he let out a whimper of pain, slowly tears ran down his cheeks. Viren knew he needed Aaravos, he knew that he needed help, but he couldn't interfere with the task at hand. His knee felt like needles were poking into it at all angles, it was unbearable. And yet, he couldn't call for help. He couldn't even mustard up the courage to open his mouth.

Aaravos looked back, making sure Viren was close. But no Viren, not even a clue that Viren was following him. The elf was torn, he needed to get to the bottom of this, but his king was nowhere to be seen.

Viren is a capable man, he can handle a little bit without him.

Aaravos picked up his pace, he needed to catch the culprit of his assault faster so he could get back to Viren.

Viren took a breath, he needed to get up, he needed to find a safe place to wait for Aaravos.

The mage rolled over onto his back. Soon thereafter the pressure somewhat subsided. With a deep breath he was able to stop crying. He lay there for some time, looking up at the plant life made him forgot about his pain.

It felt nice here, everything was so interlinked. Like, he knew about the food chain, and how everything goes back into the earth. But here he felt so nice, like he belonged, like he should just lay here and he would be fine. Nothing mattered anymore.

The long leaves of the unknown bush beside him fluttered in the wind. The moss felt nice underneath him, like a bed. He could feel the earth like it was part of him, like if he just stayed here he would become the moss and leaves, and yet he already was.

Somehow the trail ran cold, nothing absolutely nothing. As if the very presence of whatever or whoever was gone. Aaravos was confused, but just for the slightest of moments. Then he turned around searching for Viren.

Rushing through the brush and bramble of the thick wood Aaravos noticed something unusual. Like a magic deposit. And everything was gathering around it.

Taking a step closer Aaravos noticed that Viren was the magic source. How? He hadn't even been on earth magic yet.

"Viren?" The mage's head perked up, and all the plant life around him went back to normal.

"I fell behind, my knee gave out." He motioned to said knee. It looked bad, really bad. Like he twisted it. "I didn't want to bother you, so I just laid here."

"I see." Aaravos stepped closer. "And you mastered the earth arcanum, good job. But I need to know, how?"

Viren looked shocked, he didn't know what he was doing, he just knew that he was in pain and that now he wasn't. Laying here made his pain subside, but looking at his knee it was obvious nothing changed.

"I really don't know how. I just laid here, and everything seemed to make sense. I don't even know earth magic without the help of dark magic." Viren started to sit up, pain crawling it's way back, causing Viren to let out a hiss.

Aaravos assessed the damage to his knee. "Let's get that taken care of." Aaravos picked Viren up bridal style hoping it wouldn't hurt as much as other ways, but it didn't really do anything. The only thing it did do was take Viren's mind off of everything.

Viren, the king of Katolis was in an elf's arms, depending on an elf. A couple of years ago he would have scoffed at the idea, saying he didn't need the help of someone as disgusting. But, the starry elf was nothing like he would have imagined Aaravos to be like. He was kind, and patient. Aaravos was...amazing.

That caught the old man off guard. He didn't know he was going to be like that. He wanted to say something, to show a little gratitude. Mostly to make it not turn out like how he and Harrow did.

His mouth was dry, and opening his mouth felt weird, but he needed to do it. He knew he could do it. "Aaravos?"

He elf looked down at his companion, "Yes?"

"Thank you for doing this. I know you're above all of this, and yet you still took your time to come back for me." Viren looked at Aaravos, his eyes this time, not just his general direction like he's always doing.

"You're my king, it is my duty to serve you." That smirk, that annoying self serving smirk overcame his face again.

Viren smeared. 'Of course he wouldn't mean that. It's written all over his face even as he says it.'

Silence, accepting the crunch under Aaravos feet as they both contemplated what to say. Aaravos knew that he needed to tell Viren what he found out. And Viren was swimming in thoughts of how the elf was manipulating him. Viren wanted to expose Aaravos, but he had no proof.

"The thing I was chasing vanished. I don't know how. I will need to investigate. In the meanwhile I think it would be beneficial for both of us if you were to start learning earth magic."

"I suppose that would be ideal."

Hey, I wanted to make this longer. But as I wrote it I thought that the next thing in the story would be better off as a new chapter. Anyway, I don't think it was worth the wait, but whatevs. Hope you enjoyed!