The Autumn Mage

Chapter Fourteen

     Aki's vision shifted into a black tunnel, leaving Peter barely visible. His body writhed harder as he desperately gasped for air. He raised a wavering hand and aimed at what he hoped was close enough and shut his eyes to brace for the pain. His hand crackled with purple electricity and the blast shot towards Peter with some strands winding up Aki's arm and weaving through his body. Neither Mages relinquished their spell, a mixture of determination and stubbornness. Aki's ears began to ring, completely drowning out Minda's screams. Peter fell into the water unable to maintain his stance on top of the water and the surge of Lightning seared his body worse. Aki's insides were burning, but Peter's spell weakened and he was able to choke on some air. Steam rose from Aki's mouth as the water inside heated more. A few fish rose up near Peter belly up, steam rising from around him as well. Finally Peter collapsed to his knees and dropped his spell and Aki splashed face-first into the water. Aki came to and panicked to find that his body was once again floating in the air.

     "I gotta hand it to you, that was a bold move. It takes guts to risk it all like that." Peter noticed how terrified Aki was reacting to the current predicament. "Ah, that. The body is mostly water. Blue Magic can tap into that with enough concentration, allowing me to control it." Aki began to float closer to Peter and his limbs went rigid against his body. He tried opening his mouth in protest but could not move anything; he could not even blink. Aki saw that his last attack had hurt Peter worse than he was letting on, and Peter was trying to hide how short of breath he was. "You disgust me, you know that? There is nothing more despicable than stealing the powers of others. There's a reason what you do is illegal; the wisdom you're trying to steal took decades of dedication for us to master. And you're using it to, what, start fights? Add it to some mental collection? You're sick." Peter raised his trident and summoned another sphere of water to float by Aki. It began to glow blue and started to bubble. Aki shuddered from the heat coming off of it. "I should end this right now; keep you from finishing this idiotic quest of yours. But we are not to kill unless our own lives depend on it." The water fell back down and steam lazily rose off the top. Aki was thrusted backwards and landed on his rear, stinging from hitting the ground under the shallow water. "You can't fake your way into this. I'm letting you off easy this time. The next time you come after one of us, you best be willing to die because I can assure you not all of us are as sporting as me." Peter stretched his arm towards Aki who felt a surge of energy and then felt his mind go numb. "Now's a good time to rest up before Rekes kicks your ass." Peter lowered his hand and with it Aki passed out.

     Aki awoke with a start and Minda gently pressed his chest back down, keeping his body flat against the damp earth. She had been using her simple spells to help heal him in a patch of the swamp where a warm beam of sunlight shone down on them. Silent hot tears leaked from Aki's eyes as he scowled up at the tree branches above him. Breathing hurt and his chest wheezed with each attempt, causing a small cough from his sore throat. His left arm had faint burnt stripes that circled up to his torso and his whole body ached and felt heavy.

     "It is alright Aki; I have you," Minda said soothingly.

     "I shouldn't need you," he replied bitterly.

     "Are you not thankful that I am here for you?" she said curtly. "You clearly need me. And to think you did not even want me to accompany you. You would probably be dead by now." Aki sat back up and pushed her away. He brought his sore knees up to his chest and wrapped his arms around them as he stared forward at nothing in particular.

     "I should have been strong enough to beat him," he said quietly.

     "Peter is one of the most powerful Mages in the kingdom," Minda said trying to bury her anger. "The amount of power and mastery he has for someone so young is unprecedented."