Mage Academy

Come Out and Fight

"It's gone..." Gibby breathes shakily.  

I stay in my fighting stance. I watch for something. Anything. 

It was there one second ago, and now... 

"It's gone, Mal." Gibby repeats, his voice quiet.

"No," I say deeply. "it's not."

I can feel it's presence. Whatever it is, it's still around. 

It's close.

Bracing myself, I look up. 

Something grabs my arm. I scream,  unleashing masses of Fire. The forest glows red. I shoot and shoot the Fire, and shriek as it is blasted in a different direction by more flame. Heated up, I am about to fight back even harder when I see who I'm attacking. 

Max!

"HEY!! It's only me!!" He yells, fending off my blasts. Immediately I drop my hands, and the forest darkens again. 

"Max?" I say shakily. Blue jumps off his shoulder and runs over to Gibby. Max lights a ball of Fire, so we are lit up by a warm orange glow. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw Lauren drive you in here, and followed you," he explains, running his eyes over me, looking concerned. "I know you're a good flyer, but anyone would have trouble in here." 

"Thanks."

"What happened?" 

Twigs crunch. I whip my head around, gazing into the forest. It's still there, I can FEEL it. 

I lift my hands, heart racing. I need to see it. I need to know what it is! I take a step forward. Gibby says something, but I ignore him. I take another step closer. 

Breathing. I can hear it breathing. Heavy, rugged breaths, so deep they sound like growling. It wants me to come closer. 

I take another step forward, and the breathing becomes louder. It sounds like an animal. It's behind a tree, only three or four metres away. I clench my fists, the fear drained out of my body.

"Show yourself!!" I yell angrily. It only grunts, shifting in it's place, twigs cracking beneath it. "Come out and FIGHT!!" 

Max places a hand on my shoulder, holding me back. I don't let it stop me. "COME OUT AND FIGHT ME!!" 

A skeletal, black hand appears from behind the tree, at least twice the size of a human hand, with long, sharp nails. The hand snakes around the trunk, and the nails scrape the bark, leaving thick scratch marks. The sound of the nails ripping the bark seems to fill the whole forest. My lungs become empty. It's going to attack. 

Max blasts Fire at it, a jet of intensely hot flame that would melt a rock in a second. 

The creature screams, a ferocious, evil noise that echoes around us, tearing through us. I hear thudding of feet, and the screaming fades further and further away. The creature has escaped. 

Max drops his hands, and I light a ball of Fire, walking up to the tree it was hiding behind. I see two massive footsteps, clawed into the ground. Three toes. "What was that?!"

Max comes forward, taking a look. "A Monster." He says immediately. "I don't know what kind, but definitely a Monster."

"It shot at me, knocking me off my Stick. It shot... Fire."

Max looks at me, frowning. "Fire?"

Gibby, who has climbed back onto my shoulder, speaks up. "Yes, it was Fire."

"That's so..." Max looks down at the footprints. 

"Strange?" I offer. "Do Monsters usually have elemental magic?" 

"No," Max says gruffly. "But Sorcerers do."

I frown, and open my mouth to say something, but a searing pain explodes in my head. I groan, swaying to the side. Max reaches out and steadies me, holding both of my arms. 

"You've lost a lot of blood," he says. I look down. My shirt is stained with drops of blood. Max lifts a hand and wipes the blood away from my eyes. 

I look him in the eyes, and he looks in mine. His dark eyes are full of concern. We stay like that for a few moments, just looking at one another. 

"How on Earth are we getting home?!" Gibby whines, breaking the moment. 

"That Monster might be coming back!" Blue adds warily. 

I tear my eyes away from Max, his hands still holding me. I peer into the trees. "It's not near. I can't feel it anymore." 

My eyes start to blur, and I feel dizzy. My head hurts more than ever as shocking pain rips through it. Max goes and picks up his Air Stick. It breaks away in his hands, burnt to crisp from when I attacked him. I groan. 

"We're going to have to walk." Max says sympathetically. "The clearing shouldn't be too far away."

We start to walk. "Somehow, walking through a dark forest with a creepy Monster running around is more relaxing than your flying." Gibby ponders.

We walk for up to an hour, but can't seem to escape the dark patch of forest, so we turn back and go the way we came from. We walk for hours, and my head hurts to the point where I don't think I can walk for any longer. I feel so dizzy and sick, all I want to do is lie down, but I keep thinking of that Monster, and it pushes me to carry on walking. I want to get as far away from this forest as possible. 

Eventually we see the sky. It's darkening, and I wonder how long we have been walking. The blood continues to drip down my face, even after Max wraps a long leaf around it and ties it with a vine. The trees start to clear, and finally, FINALLY, we burst out onto the Academy lawn. 

My body is drained of all its energy. I can't go on any further. I lose my legs from under me, and collapse onto the grass.