Two Months later...
The forest had changed, or maybe it was I who had changed.
It's been two months since I left the bandit camp. Also, two months of walking, hunting, and surviving.
My body was a roadmap of scars now, fresh ones over old ones. Wounds that hadn't fully healed were layered beneath wounds that would never fade.
But I kept moving.
North, the rumours said, were more monsters and more bandits. I am bound to face more challenges.
I followed the whispers like a starving man follows bread.
As I journeyed further, a village appeared at dawn.
Or should I say what was left of it?
Smoke still rose from collapsed buildings. Bodies lay in the streets—men, women, children. None of them was alive.
I walked through the ruins and counted the bodies.
Thirty-seven.
Including children.
My hands didn't shake, nor did my heart race.
But something cold settled in my chest.
Who did this?
I found a survivor. He was an old man hiding in a well. I pulled him out.
"He came yesterday," he coughed. "A mage with wind magic. He wanted our food and our supplies. When we couldn't give enough—" He looked at the bodies and cried.
"Which way did he go?"
I asked him, even though he was trembling from fear.
"He went South, toward the mountains. Please, young man, don't—he's too strong—you'll die—"
I was already walking.
Yeah, stubborn me.
I followed the destruction for three days. Burned farms, dead travellers. Signs of someone who killed for sport, not need.
The trail led into the mountains. I crossed narrow paths and cliff edges, and the wind never stopped howling.
He's close.
I felt it before I saw it. There was magic in the air. It felt wrong and heavy.
Then I saw him.
He sat on a rock outcropping. His legs were crossed, and his eyes were closed, ed and the wind was swirling around him like petals.
He was Young, maybe mid-twenties. He was handsome, in a cruel way, and he was dressed in robes that whispered of wealth and power.
He opened his eyes as I approached.
They were green, and they were glowing faintly.
"A child?" He laughed. "They sent a child?"
"No one sent me," I said coldly.
He raised an eyebrow. "Then why are you here, little one?"
I drew my swords.
"The Thirty-seven people in the village. You killed them."
His smile widened. "Ah. That. Yes. They were rude and refused to share."
I started walking toward him.
He didn't move or flinch. He just watched.
"You know," he said casually, "most people run when they see me..."
I kept walking.
"You're different. You're Quiet and determined." He stood and stretched. "This will be fun."
He attacked first.
A flick of his wrist and the air between us became a blade.
I moved, and Flashstepped left. The wind blade shredded the rock where I'd stood.
"Fast!" He sounded delighted. "Good! Let's see more!"
Another flick and two wind blades came crossing.
I dropped and slid beneath them.
But he was already airborne.
Wind lifted him off the outcropping. He hovered twenty feet up. Smiling down at me.
"You can't hit what you can't reach, little one."
I sheathed one sword and reached into my pack. I threw a knife.
He dodged easily and laughed.
"Cute."
He stayed in the air. He was always just out of reach, and he kept attacking from angles I couldn't predict. He threw wind blades from above and wind bursts from below. He used wind walls to block my advances.
I took hits.
The first one was across my shoulder. It was deep, and blood sprang out freely.
The second was my leg. The Same leg that wasn't healed from the bandits. I stumbled, but I kept moving.
The third was my side. It opened an old wound, and I felt fresh blood soak my clothes.
I kept fighting.
I moved in flash steps, throwing knives and climbing rocks to get higher. But nothing worked.
He was always faster and higher.
"You're persistent," he called down. "I'll give you that, most die in the first five minutes."
I didn't answer. I just kept moving.
Find a pattern. Find a weakness. Find—
Instantly, an invisible blade caught my chest.
It was not deep. But enough to make melosee balance. I hit the ground and rolled.
He landed on a nearby rock. About ten feet away, and cross his arms.
"Rest. I want you at your best when I kill you."
He's arrogant.
And Arrogant people always make mistakes.
But funny how he's giving me a nap time.
Am I that wea?.
An opponent is looking down on me.
How pitiful.
I used the break to study him.
The way he stood. The way his magic flowed. The way his eyes tracked my movements even while he pretended to relax.
He's fast and experienced.
But his magic has limits.
Every time he attacks, the wind around him pauses. Just for a second, he recharges.
If I can hit him in that window—
I stood and gripped my swords.
"Ready to die now?"
He grinned. "Always."
We moved at the same time.
This time, I didn't try to close the distance.
I threw knives. Three in quick succession. He dodged and laughed.
I threw more. Five, Seven, ten.
He dodged them all, but he was moving how I wanted, and he was getting distracted.
Good.
I flash stepped toward him. He saw it coming and raised a hand for a wind wall—
And then he paused. Just for a second.
The window.
I smiled.
I was inside his guard now.
"SHINGGGGG"
My blade found his arm.
"ARHHHHHH"
He screamed with rage. Wind exploded from him, and the force threw me back. I hit a rock and heard something crack.
I guess it's my ribs again.
I forced myself up.
He stared at his bleeding arm,m then finally at me.
His eyes were no longer playful.
"You cut me."
I spat blood and smiled.
"So you can bleed, huh..."
He attacked.
He came at me with everything. Wind blades from every direction. Wind bursts that threw me like a doll. Wind walls that trapped me, crushed me, suffocated me.
I couldn't breathe. I couldn't see. couldn't't even think.
Just pain and blood. The understanding that I was outmatched.
This is him. This is a real him.
This is what power looks like.
And I—
A blade caught my chest. Very deep.
I fell over.
He stood over me with the wind swirling around me and his eyes blazing.
"Impressive," he said. "For a child. You lasted longer than most."
I tried to move, but I couldn't.
He raised his hand, and the wind was gathering around him.
"I'll remember you. The little one who almost mattered."
The wind blade formed and descended.
This is it.
This is where I die.
Again.
Is this what death feels like...
Mother.
Lilia.
Luna.
I'm sorry.
The blade stopped an inch from my face.
He was staring at something, Something behind me.
"What—"
I couldn't turn or move.
But I felt it.
Absolute pressure.
The mage's eyes widened with fear, real fear.
"You—you're—"
A voice emanated from everywhere and nowhere.
"Leave."
The mage didn't hesitate.
He ran. His wind was carrying him away and disappearing over the mountain.
The pressure vanished.
I lay alone. Bleeding and dying...
And somewhere in the shadows—
Something watched.
THE END.