Kaya

Part 8. Catching up

Sylen pulled his boots off and threw them vaguely in the direction of the wardrobe.

Kaya had left him. For good. She just ran away and he didn't do anything. He failed. He clenched his hands into fists as he cursed himself. Wasn't he a powerful wizard? Surely he could have stopped her with one of his spells, make her unable to move or even change her mind with his wits.

But he didn't do anything.

Instead he just watched Kaya run away from him, into the danger of the unknown and he knew she wouldn't come back. How would she? She couldn't make portals of her own. 

Would she even survive without him? She must already regret her choice. Unless she was going to contact him anytime soon so he could find out where she was, he was going to have to search for her by himself.

Sylen leaned face first against a wall and took a deep breath. He needed to concentrate. His gaze fell onto his amulet, just faintly glowing in the dark. A sigh escaped him as he was reminded of why exactly Kaya was not here with him now.

He pulled his boots back on and stood in the middle of the portal room. As he moved his hand in a circular motion, he created the many sparks which formed into a portal with his last bit of left over magic.

Sylen stepped into it and fell through the white void. As he got to the other side, he gracefully landed on an empty cobblestone street. Many times he had come here to replenish, but before he could do that, he needed someone's help. Sylen searched the town for a random person,standing further away from everyone else. An easy target. Once he found just that, he called for them.

"Excuse me!" He raised his hand to get their attention as he walked toward them, the human turning and waiting for him. "I'm sorry, I think I've lost the way,  which direction do I get back to the town centre?"

"It's right that way." They turned away from him and pointed ahead as Sylen swiftly cracked the human's neck and caught their lifeless form. Using his last bit of energy, he hovered his hand over the body as it disappeared into thin air. As if nothing happened, he turned and walked into a dark alley with only a single, hooded person standing in it.

They turned towards him and lifted their hand, stopping Sylen.
"What's your business?" They asked in a gruff voice.

Sylen met their eyes and lowly replied "I wish to remind you of the reign of dragons."

The person nodded and looked behind Sylen, as if to check if he was alone, before creating a portal for Sylen to step through, which he did.

He was now in a round room with four wooden pillars around a central pedastol. The familiar, strong smell of incense hit him as he walked towards the middle.
He pulled of his jacket, folding it together and kneeling on the floor in front of the pedastol. He folded his hands and looked up. Above him were four stone dragon heads symetrically mounted to the ceiling to look into four different directions, though they all pointed down, one of them always directly looked at Sylen.

"Great Orthas, I have come to pray to you and make you a sacrafice." Sylen spoke humbly before he snapped his fingers and looked at the center of the pedastol as the human he had attacked earlier appeared and hovered over it. "I hope it is to your liking and you may grant me replenishment of the gift you gave me so long ago."

A moment of silence in the room followed as Sylen waited for a reaction before the human seemingly got sucked upwards and disappeared into the dragon heads. Sylen heard a deep voice in his head. "You shall receive." Was all it said.

The wizard stayed in the temple for two days, praying, meditating and learning. Replenishing his magical energy fully.

"I thank you for your great gift." He said on the morning of the second day, standing up for the first time since he made his sacrifice. Sylen didn't bother going back home, he was being expected and probably already late. Still within Orthas' halls, he made a portal.