Destiny Spell: It Begins

The Friend That Got Away

Sage ran from the clearing like there was no tomorrow. The lightning had made a perfect distraction, but he doubted it would last long. The second the bolt dropped from the sky, he grabbed Zen and sprinted into the forest.

He ran as fast as his body would allow, trying to ignore the agony of the gaping hole in his side. The heat from his lightning had melted the snow, so now he was soaking wet. How he had found the power to summon a bolt of lightning in his condition was a mystery, but by no means was he complaining.

He had Zen draped over his back; Zen was mumbling something, but the wind in Sage's ears drowned out everything.

He had no idea where he was going, but as long as it was away from those men, it was the best place to be. He shot sparks of electricity in front of him to illuminate the way. It didn't help much, but at least he wasn't crashing into trees.

Pain erupted over Sage's wound; it felt like cracks were spreading through his body. He couldn't run anymore. He started to slow down.

Too late.

The ground under Sage's feet suddenly disappeared, replaced with a 60 foot drop into darkness, he'd ran straight off a cliff. Zen screamed a very creative chain of curse words.

They splashed down into a raging river below. Immediately, the current ripped Zen away from him. He splashed around furiously trying to grab Zen, but his own powers backfired on him. Since his electricity was still active, his body cramped up and he could barely move.

By some miracle he got himself to shore and deactivated his magic.

"Zen!" he screamed. The river simply raged on.

A minute passed. Suddenly two arms lurched out of the river and latched onto the shore.

Sage dragged Zen out of the river. Within a few minutes, he gathered firewood, and lit it ablaze with a spark of electricity. They weren't planning to stay by the fire for long, but it felt too good to try to leave.

"Zen, what are we going to do?" Sage pleaded. The fear of what was happening began to sink in. He had nearly died; Zen had nearly died three times. This was getting scary.

"I think...I think...I know why they're so strong." Zen's breathing was strained. He let his hand glide over his leg and grasped the hilt of the dagger in his leg. How that thing was still stuck in there, Sage had no idea.

Sage did the best he could to treat their wounds, but Zen still looked horrible, like he had aged twenty years since Sage had seen him in town.

"This dagger is the key," Zen announced. "It's got some runes carved in it, and they spell 'Leach'."

"So, it's charmed!" Sage concluded. "They're stealing your magic!"

"Not just my magic," Zen continued. "The magic of every hunter they slaughtered. They stabbed us all with the same daggers. Makes sense: use the power of your enemy against them."

"You can't pull it out, can you?" Sage guessed. He hoped he was wrong.

"No, there's a curse on the other side. 'Ravage'. I'm pretty sure you understand what that means?"

"If you remove it, you'll get fucked up?"

Zen tilted his hand back and forth. "More than likely yes, and don't use that kind of language in my presence."

"So, what do we do?" Sage asked again. "You have to break the connection with runes of higher quality, right?"

"Exactly, runes like..?" Zen encouraged the answer out of Sage.

"The ones I use in my traps!" Sage concluded.

"Precisely. Now get going."

"Okay, right." Sage walked over to help Zen up, but Zen just shrugged him off. "I can't come with you. I would just slow you down."

"Zen, don't be an idiot. We can both make it. I'm fast and strong enough to carry you."

"And then what?!" Zen said, unexpectedly angry. "I sit idly by as I watch you fight for your life, for my life? No, I will stay here. With any luck, I'll be able to slow them down for you."

"Zen..." Sage looked into his eyes; the man was deadly serious, but so was Sage. He would not leave Zen in this forest to die. "Get up." Sage ordered.

"Look at me. Look at me Sage. I can't walk, I have no magic, and I can feel that poison he injected me with spreading through my body." Zen rubbed his shoulder where the ice stake had penetrated. "I'm dying, Sage, slowly but surely."

Sage looked at his best friend; he felt a sob coming on but instead he said, "GET THE FUCK UP ALREADY!!"

Zen laughed. It was not a challenging laugh. It was not that he thought Sage was being silly, but he didn't see what else he could do. He didn't want to argue, and he didn't want to fight.

"You're a much better hunter than I am." Zen sighed. "But I don't think you're really cut out for being a hunter."

"Zen, get up!" Sage couldn't hold back the sobbing anymore.

"There were a lot of things I wanted to tell you, but telling you now would just be a waste of time." Zen went on. "So don't die, bro, and tell your sister I said hi."

"Get up, please."

"Sage, look behind you!"

Sage turned, but neglected to restart his powers. At first he saw nothing, then out of the darkness tiny little white specks started to rain down. The time by the fire had dampened Sage's reactions; only after a speck had landed on his nose did he realize what was happening.

A roar like broken glass echoed out of the darkness. Sage jumped out of the way just in time. A giant snake made entirely of compacted ice and snow lurched out at him, smashing itself into their camp fire. The darkness returned.

"Run! Run for the nearest trap, rewrite the runes, and finish those bastards!" Zen screamed out from somewhere in the pitch blackness.

Even in the darkness, the giant snake was very visible—it was so white and huge. Even if you couldn't see that, you could feel the aura of cold it gave off. It slithered on the forest floor, coiling and uncoiling itself, frost and snow piling up on the ground next to it. It had suffered some damage falling from that height, but the snow was fixing it, filling the cracks, replacing scales.

"Bye, bro!" Sage said. "I'll see you next year," he lied to himself.

"Of course!" Zen played along.

With that, Sage sprinted off, the giant snake pursuing him.