Stories of the Past

Banished Part II

Karn's PoV

Dammit, where did he go? I run through the village, the blanket of night covering me, my footsteps silent though I step on gravel. Every corner holds the possibility of finding him, yet I know I won't because I can't feel his magic. His powerful ass magic.

When I healed him that time in the cave, I sparked something that was already in him. That's the thing with magic, it isn't just suddenly there, it needs to be given a reason to come out, something to pull it out. Around his brothers and other humans, there's nothing to lure it out, but with someone like me, I was surrounded with magic when I was born. The presence of the other enders' magic brought mine out. When I healed him, my magic pumped his up, giving it a kick in the ass to get into it.

I get to the edge of the village, still no sign of Brine. He said he wanted to find his brothers, I think they live close to here? I start running around the edges of the town until I pick up on a scent; Brine's blood.

Oh no.

I sprint towards it, coming to a tree. I had smelt it all throughout town, but it was mostly scattered, this is focused on one spot. He must've run through the village as ended up out here where something happened to him?

My fingers run over the bark, dried blood on it and a patch on the ground, but that just smells like a normal human. I wonder if...

My magic spreads out, scanning through the air. He isn't the best at teleporting yet, by his magic is only very new to him. There!

A very faint trail from where he was, maybe an hour ago. I rein my magic in, teleporting with the trail. I land outside a small cabin where Steve is sitting outside, his sword sheathed and Notch on the ground beside him; unconscious. Notch's magic is really tired, what happened? Steve looks up at me, slowly pulling his sword out and standing, but I raise my hands in surrender, holding them in front of my chest. Brine showed me that, I never knew you could do it and people would think you won't hurt them.

His arm lowers back down and he sheathes his sword as he sits down next to Notch again. "What do you want, Karn?" he asks me, a sadness hanging over him.

"You tell where Brine is," I say to him. My English has gotten a bit better, Brine has helped me with it, it's really good, but I do find myself slipping back into Ender at times.

"You don't want to go where he is," Steve sighs.

"What do you mean?"

"W-we d-did a b-bad-d thing-g," Steve stutters, tears breaking through. "H-he's our y-young-ger br-brother, and h-he is r-really g-gone. We should-d have g-given him anoth-ther chanc-ce."

"Where is he, Steve?" I ask firmly. They didn't... kill him, did they?

"The-the Nether," he whispers on a breath.

No.

"Where is portal?" I ask frantically. If he's alone, his magic is going to lash out, he could accidently destroy himself if he gets too emotional without someone to help him. That's the thing with new magic, it can't control itself yet, especially when it comes through all at once. It's fine if it fades into existence, like mine did because I was exposed to magic, but when it's been given a kick to come out, like Brine's, it can self destruct.

"I-I don't know." I can practically smell the lies coming off him.

"Don't bullshit me, Steve, where is portal?"

"I don't know how to get there, but I know the coordinates," he sighs.

"What are coordinates?"

"Go inside, there's a map, I can point it out to you," he tells me. I rush inside, instantly spotting the map lying on the table, different areas circled. I grab it and take it back outside to Steve, a pencil in my hand so he can circle it for me. I hand them to him and he looks it over, circling a small clearing in a forest. "It's there," he tells me, handing me the map back and tucking the pencil behind his ear. "We only did it for people's safety, we were the only ones strong enough to do it. We-we didn't want to. But if we didn't, who knows what he would do? He was out of control. Maybe we overreacted? Maybe we were wrong? Oh my god, what have we done? He's our baby brother."