The Last Potestas Magus (2018 REDO)

Chapter One

My first mistake was wandering too deep into the woods. My second was being in denial about how lost I was. I don't know what compelled me to take off into the forest other than boredom. That was the driving force behind the majority of my actions, most of which, I tended to regret, eventually. The older women of my village weren't thrilled about the woman I'd grown up to be. In fact, they often told my mother that I had yet to grow up. The village matchmaker declared that I was hopeless. None of the young men in my village were interested in a wife who was stubborn and too curious. A restless spirit the village women had called me. It was one of the more delightful things they would whisper as I passed them in the market each morning. They were just old hags who couldn't mind their own business because even their husbands didn't want them anymore and that's all there was to it. I wanted nothing to do with their idle gossip.

Yet, my restless, unmarried, immature spirit had gotten me lost in the woods. I sat down onto the mossy roots of a giant fir and considered my predicament. The sun would be setting soon. It would be much harder to navigate my way home in the dark. Not to mention my mother would be panicking soon. She was expecting me back after I went to the market today. But it had been hours since then. I had intended to return home after selling my mother's goods for her and picking a few things we needed. Instead, something in the woods called to me. Every time I got close to the forest's edge I swore I could hear the trees call my name. It was never more than a whisper, much like wind through the leaves. But always clearly.

Thana

Even as a child I heard its call. I thought it was a regular thing for mages. The majority of our village was magically inclined to some extent. Our village was strictly limited to magic involving the elements of life. Plants, animals, healing. Some of my neighbors couldn't do more than help to keep their crops grow a little faster. Others like my mother and Kharis, the village healer, could fully grow trees in a matter of minutes, or bring back a person from the brink of death. The ability to talk to animals was much rarer, but most of the village lived in respect and understanding of the creatures around us. But I could hear them speak, and I could talk back.

My mother always told me to hide my gifts. Never to show off. Never to listen to that voice that compelled me into the unknown of the forest. She and I weren't extremely popular in the village. Everyone speculated that I was a bastard child, born out of wedlock, which would explain why my mother showed up in the middle of the night to the village inn with a newborn infant nearly eight teen years ago. But it wasn't right. My father had died before I was born and my mother had fled her home because she had nothing left. Our families reputation wasn't excellent. However, the village respected my mother power enough to leave us alone. We just weren't among the people invited to the Chefs Yule celebrations.

The sun was dipping below the treetops in the dense forest, and it was starting to get dark. My mother always told me to be afraid of the dark, but I wasn't, hardly anything scared me. I just felt continuously invincible. I got up from my spongey seat and decided to turn completely around and prayed to the Gods that somehow that would lead me back to our cottage. Just before the forest was engulfed in darkness, I snapped my fingers, summoning a small flame that danced between my fingertips. That was another thing that made me feel like I didn't fit in. I was a much different type of mage.

My mother tried her best to suppress my power. Most mages get their full powers as soon as they start to mature into adulthood. The second I started displaying the ability to set things on fire, move water around, create gusts of wind and move the soil with my mind, my mother knew I was an oddity. She fed me herbs for months to delay my maturing. She prayed none of these strange abilities would manifest. My mother never answered my questions about them, she merely told me to keep my mouth shut and never to use them. When all the other girls my age in the village had started to look like grown women, and I was still small and boyish, the matchmaker and the healer got concerned. My mother had to stop, so I'd become a woman who was able to be married off. But none of her plans worked out.

I continued through the woods, trying to retrace my steps in the dim firelight I was able to produce with my hands. Suddenly I could hear something coming towards me from the darkness. I quickly bent down and touched the damp earthy soil of the forest's floor, trying to sense what was headed my way. Through the earth, I could feel a number of things. Closer to me, an animal of some type heading my way. Farther there was something I couldn't make out, yet it filled me with dread. The kind of dark energy that made my heart run cold. I didn't know what it was, but I wanted nothing to do with it.

I heard something call out my name in the dark. As it got closer to my light, I could make out the familiar outline of a wolf.

"Thana," he called out, with deep desperation in his voice. "Something has happened."
It was Lupan, a wolf from a pack closer to the edge of the forest that bordered my village. I had befriended him as a pup when I was a girl. I was shocked he had come to me for help when the pack handled most forest matters. I was even more shocked that he was able to find me.
"What's going on?" I questioned, unable to shake the dread that started to consume my body.

"There's been an incident, by the river,"

"Can the pack not handle it? It's not my place..."

"The pack is dead. I'm the only one who got away," Lupan cut me off. I could feel the sorrow in his voice.

I didn't ask any more questions and just ran after the grey wolf. He led the way to the river that wasn't far from my village. When we reached the clearing, what lay on the river bank was a sight of unparalleled horror. In the moonlight, I could see the glistening mutilated body of a whole pack of wolves. Wolves that I had known for the majority of my life. All slaughtered. Whatever had done it, was gone at this point. I sunk to my knees not even noticing how the sharp stones of the rivers shore cut into my palms and knees. The sight of it all and the feeling of life lost was overwhelming for me. I felt as if I would pass out. Yet all I could do was weep. I barely registered Lupan's mournful howls behind me.

I managed to pull myself together because I realized some of them might still be alive. I could help them. At least twenty wolves were laying on the edge of the water, undoubtedly one of them could be saved. I ran out towards the corpses and realized I could feel life. It was faint, drowned out by all the feelings of death. But it was there. I closed my eyes and let my inner sense guide me. I followed the fading life force.

It startled me enough to open my eyes when I found myself in the icy cold water of the river. I had identified the last living thing on the beach. And to my surprise, it was a human.

AN: I'm back writing this story after almost 5 years of not touching it go me! But, I've been bedridden this week because of a minor surgery and I remembered how much this story meant to me so I've picked it back up. I haven't written much in a while because I've had pretty busy jobs and such but I'm moving into a dorm in three weeks so I should have more free time. Feedback is very much wanted and appreciated. I wonder if any fans of the original are even still here.... lol hit me up if you are.

-Ro