The Tale of John and Azira

Chapter 1: The Meeting

A young man walked through a dark, dead forest, with nothing but dead trees and plants scattered around, giving off an ominous vibe. The ground was hard, and cracked, it was obvious that nothing grew here, further establishing the fact that this forest had died. The young man looked around, the trees reached out, the branches resembling that of claws, scratching at the world around it, hoping for something or someone to restore the life they had lost. The young man wondered, what could have caused this? Man? Disease? God? He was curious, what power could have caused such a large decline in life to the point of complete destruction?

If you haven't guessed by now, this young man is John, a 19 year old Mage making his way through this forest. John held a wooden staff by his side as he moved through the decayed land, with a brown satchel strapped around his shoulder, it contained many essentials, food, medicine, books, stuff like that. His attire consisted of a plain brown robe, and nothing else, he doesn't think much of his clothing, this robe was really all he needed.

His journey was simple, get to the other side of this forest to find a town, where he can resupply and continue his journey to the Magic Council, but his journey is definitely a difficult one, John can't simply make his way across the forest, it was huge, so it'll take him a few days. John continued down a straight path, hoping that he could cut through the middle of the forest, but the further he got to the centre of the forest, the more savage the terrain became. Large chucks of the ground stuck up into the air like some sort of pillar, trees lay on the ground as if they were punched down, and the general terrain was extremely uneven.

"Come on! This is getting ridiculous!" Murmured John.

He found himself in front of some sort of cliff side, it was, at the very least, 20 feet high, and the only way past it was over. John let a deep sigh escape his lips before stepping back, he held onto his staff with both hands before using the base to create a big magic circle, he leaned the staff up against his shoulder, placing both his hands together. Blue light started to shine in between his hands, he let his staff fall, it rolled to the side, away from the circle, he lowered onto one knee, placing both his hands on the circle. The circle began glowing, the light filling in the lines in the circle and its edge. John grabbed his staff before raising to his feet once more, he took a breath, looking to the circle with a bit of worry, he stepped onto the circle, looking straight up.

"Let's hope this works, bounce!" Said John.

He struck the ground with his staff and suddenly was shot into the air, he yelled as he ascended, clearing the cliff with ease, but as he came back down, he would notice that it was a slope, a slope straight down into deep, dark, drop. John began to panic, landing on his backside, he slide down the slope quite fast, his speed increasing as he hurtled to the deep drop. He has to think quick, what could he do now?! He could very well fall to his death! He needs a plan! He began to think, thinking up dozens of ideas, but he would soon figure something out, he enchanted his staff with the same magic from before, Bounce, and with that, he held it tight with both hands, waiting for the right moment to strike his staff down on the ground. He was almost there, at the drop, but it still wasn't time, he waited one more second and then.

"Bounce!"

He struck his staff on the ground right in front of him, and with a blue flash from the staff base, he was launched into the air, flying straight over the drop and landing on the other side quite harshly, his body struck the ground hard, causing him bounce off the ground once more, the force from the launch was still coursing through him, and as he made contact with the ground again, his body rolled across the ground, coming to a stop on his back. John lay on the ground, staring at the grey sky above him, he slowly sat up, cringing in pain as he did this, he looked over to the slope, sighing before getting to his feet, a slight limp forming as he moved away.