Of Shadows and Darkness

Chapter 28

Gregor was hesitant. He stared at me and wrung his hands. "You've done this before?"

"Sort of, but it was a bit different than before. I had the bracelet which cast the binding spell as a guide so let's see how this goes," I said.

"You don't seem very sure," said Gregor.

"Don't you trust me?" I smirked.

"You I trust but your magic? Obviously not," chuckled Gregor.

My heart fell. His words like paper cuts on my fingertips "What?"

"Tristan... you don't have any experience beyond animation and you're pretty much self taught. Breaking a binding isn't difficult but it takes practice." Gregor looked away from me and combed his hair with his fingers.

I felt the confidence in my magic crumble like a stale biscuit. "You know how to do it right? So tell me how you do it."

"Well, since bindings are made out of magic and you need to cut it with magic. You simply..." Gregor raised his hand and snapped his fingers. Nothing happened. Gregor stared at his empty hand. "Oh right...binding spell on my magic so no magic."

"How do you forget that?" I chuckled at his stunned expression.

"If your hand suddenly vanished you might accidentally reach for something with it," said Gregor rolling his eyes.

"Sure, Gregor," I smirked. "Okay, I know binding spells are inside a person, so deep I couldn't even feel it. So how do you cut it?"

"That's why it requires practice. The way I was taught was using my weapon, you need to control the magic so it can effect magic but not cut flesh and bone. Once you can do that you just cut where the binding is placed and it breaks," said Gregor rubbing his arms where the bindings were placed.

So I needed to reach inside with magic to break the spell. If I could get the magic vapour underneath Gregor's skin I could possibly remove the binding.

"Okay, I'll try that," I said.

"Try what exactly?" asked Gregor with raised eyebrows.

"I'll try how you said, going inside your arm with my magic," I said evaporating the eternal darkness into a vapour.

"That was not what I was suggesting I was just explaining how it's usually done. And there are so many ways the thing you are suggesting could go wrong," said Gregor taking a step back.

"Don't be so paranoid. How could it possibly go wrong?" I asked.

"The first things that come to mind are my magic getting taken again, the bindings getting stronger, getting poisoned by your magic- oh, and my arm getting amputated it also a possibility," said Gregor.

"That won't happen," I said turning the vapour back into a cube.

"Is that so? Exactly how many days have you been using this magic?" asked Gregor sarcastically, pointing at the black cube in my hand.

"Fine," I huffed. "But let me try first okay? I'll be careful."

Gregor still hesitated but finally said, "alright, but be really careful."

"I promise," I grinned.

I dissolved the cube and I brought the black vapour to Gregor's arm. I spun the black cloud in a vortex around his forearm. The dust grazed his skin but didn't sink in. I made the darkness into smaller particles until it looked more like a fluid. Still the particles weren't small enough to enter his arm. My focus started to waver so I reformed the magic into a sphere before I lost control.