THE APPRENTICE II

15

Icarus wheezed and coughed, which distracted Hazel from her breakdown. His exhales were soundless and eyes were falling. Seeing such a powerful, intelligent being drive so close to the edge of her own sanity killed the last spark of hope inside of the creature. She lifted her head from her arms and walked over to him out of concern.

"Hey, are you...are you okay?" She knelt down to him  and wiped the tears on her face with her tunics. She sniffed up and took deep breaths. "Icarus?,"

"I'm not going to make it." He confessed and scanned his eyes over his face. "You must go on, it's too late for me,"

"No it's not, it's not too late-,"

"-it is, so listen to me." His head was soaked with blood and his eyes were starting to roll to the back of his head. "You must get out of here, you must go home. The world needs you,"

"The world needs you! Your siblings need you!" She was getting angry and her voice started to get more and more aggressive. "I meant what I said: you have the power to fly yourself out of here!,"

"Not anymore, Hazel, I'm too weak to do that. It's not the same for you. You have the power to get yourself out of this damned place, you just need to believe,"

"No, no I can't." She pushed him out of his Astro form to have more time with him. In his Astro form, his wings were strong and large, just like he said. They were the most mesmerizing shade of dark blue and looked indestructible. She pushed out of her own body and levitated into the air.

"What is this?,"

"Your Astro form, you don't need your body here, but we only have so much time before it gets lost in the Astro plane." She continued and sniffed. "Stop doing that, stop dying,"

"Listen to me!" He thundered and flew closer to her face. "How did you do this? How did you manage to execute this spell? There is still power inside of you, but you won't believe in it! That is the same power that got you into this, and it can get you out,"

"I don't have my staff with me, the time stone's gone,"

"But the master isn't. Didn't you say it drew power from you?" He recalled and her eyes fell to the floor in realization. "There are...people who love you, people who will be devastated by your death. It is your duty to survive- if not for yourself, if not for the world, then to them,"

"But what about you?" The water continued to fall from her face. She couldn't just leave him, it was beyond selfish. "I can get us out of here, then, I can take you with me,"

"Not me, it's too late. I think it's time for me to go. Thank you for staying with me." His form was slowly turning more and more translucent and the colors of his body faded. "Remember me as this."

His form dissolved into thin air, and his body stopped breathing before she could protest.

Hazel's heart stopped at the image of his lifeless corpse sprawled on the floor. There was anger and there was frustration and resentment, but there was also a fight in her- a little spark that ignited.

She shut her eyes and gritted her teeth, she focused deep down and drew energy not from outside but within. She held onto the furious determination and let it grow inside of her.

Memories of Thanos and Gyor entered her brain: all the fights she has won, all the enemies she has defeated, all the lives she has saved- it was going to take a hell of a lot more to kill her.

"I'm...going to get out of here!" She spat out and her eyes started to glow a familiar hue. There was no one there to help her but herself, no energy to empower her but her own: for once in her life, that was enough.

The spell on her body had finally lifted. The long overdue growth of her physical form took place and her 16 year old self was now completely in the past.

A huge surge of golden and green waves circulated around the entire labyrinth. The walls came crumbling down to the floor and rubble dusted into the air as clouds. It disintegrated into nothingness and it's destruction revealed the rest of Havoc and its central city.

Her eyes continued to glow and the rush of power filled her veins like a drug. She had finally reached the blessed land the only patch of land where grass grew in the center of their city. Her scrunched eyebrows relaxed into shock when the rest of the planet around her was going into flames- literally.

Buildings were on fire, monsters were screaming and roaring, the air was even darker than ever before and corpses were dispersed on the floor. The surroundings were gliding and rolling off of one another like a toy- someone was bending reality.

"You made it!" Kaar ran in front of her with worried eyes. Relief washed over her and a sense of familiarity made her smile. "You need to help us,"

"What happened? What's going on?,"

"There was a pit that appeared on the ground and...and creatures crawled out of it! They started to drag citizens inside and they're destroying the planet!"

She looked around and found familiar, dark, humanoid creatures that were crawling around the planet, killing the citizens of Havoc. A small feeling of satisfaction appeared through a smirk.

"Those are the mindless ones: creatures from the dark dimension. That's what happens when you engage in the dark dimension. They need to pay their debts,"

"With what?,"

"Their souls." She shrugged and gestured to a portal Huir-la, Kaar's home planet. The planet's blue skies and red grass put a smile on his face. Before him was the road to the populated, hustling city. "Come on, let's get you home,"

"Hazel Wolfe, thousands of innocent lives will be lost here if you don't help them!" Kaar explained and she only shook her head.

"I don't see how it's my problem." Guilt lingered in her when those words left her mouth. She knew there was something wrong with what she just said, but she didn't care. "Thank you for helping me,"

"And thank you." He sighed in defeat and stepped inside the portal. He investigated the sorcerer's expression and tilted his head with a satisfied smile. "Admirable choice,"

"Shut up." She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Kaar read her cues and he gave her a nod with a chuckle.

"Now go and be the sorcerer you are." The portal closed and she was left alone in Havoc. Hazel grumbled and rolled her eyes with a drag to her walk.