The desperate moment hung in time as they all stared down at Osric. He was clutching the part of his chest where the wolverine had obviously sliced him through with his sharp claws. The ground around him was soaked in crimson.

On the ground next to Osric, Mathias’ fists shook with rage. “What in the hell do you mean you can’t help him, Lena? We just saw you turn rock monsters into piles of dust! You’ve obviously been hiding magic!” he yelled as he glared daggers at her.

The old elf just simply shook her head. “The injury is too severe, Mathias,” she said solemnly. “My magic is too depleted at the moment to take on a mortal wound. I used everything I had to save us from those demons just now.” Then Mathias saw something he had never seen before: a tear rolling down the stern elf’s face.

Mathias was shaking as he turned back to Osric and ran his hand across his dying friends brow. His voice cracked as he spoke, his words barely a whisper. “You’ll find peace in Solana’s light, my friend.”

A small smile cracked Osric’s face. “I can see, him, Mathias. I…” Osric’s face froze, and the party knew that their friend was gone.

Thora let out a cry and she bent down to bury her face in Tobi’s shoulder for comfort. Faro knelt down next to Mathias and placed a paw on his shoulder, his voice soft. “There was nothing more you could’ve done.”

The healer was still shaking, but instead of grief, he now looked angry. “I could have. I’ve always been so against magical healing, Faro. I’ve hated magic ever since I was a young boy. A healing spell went wrong and killed a dear childhood friend, but that’s stopped me from pursuing the education in magic that could have just now saved a good man’s life. I just… I don’t… I can’t…”

Lena knelt beside them, her eyes downcast. “Advanced magic is a hard life, my friend. I’m sorry I kept my abilities from you, but I knew your feelings on the subject. It takes years of study, endless practice, and a will stronger than most can imagine. Even then, it doesn’t always bend to your will. It’s unpredictable. It flows like a river. Sometimes it shifts and it’s dangerous, and sometimes...in the case of your friend…deadly.”

Mathias looked at her, his eyes full of sorrow and frustration. “Why? Why does it have to be so difficult to master?”

Lena met his gaze, her expression solemn. “Because magic isn’t just knowledge. It’s understanding the forces of the world—forces that don’t want to be controlled. Magic can give, but it can also take away just as quickly. Every spell has a price, and the stronger the magic, the greater the cost. Few can wield it without losing a part of themselves.”

She paused, her voice softening. “That’s why so many fear it, why it’s so rare to find a true master. The deeper you go, the more it takes from you, and sometimes, what you lose can never be regained.”

Mathias clenched his fists, the weight of Lena’s words sinking in. “I won’t make the same mistake again,” he muttered. “I’ll learn… whatever it takes.”

Lena placed a hand on his arm. “Just remember, Mathias. Magic can heal, but it can also harm. Don’t lose yourself in it, or you may find there’s no turning back.”

Behind them, Tobi and Thora had shuffled around the small group on the ground to stare at the smoldering rubble that was their tavern. It has been their livelihood and everything that they owned in the world, as they had lived in a small room at the top.

“It’s gone!” Tobi roared as he pushed away from Thora. She moved to put a hand on his shoulder and calm him down, but he took another step away from her.

“It will be okay, Andre. We can rebuild. We can make it whole again,” she said timidly, not wanting him to lash out at her.

The dwarf let out another roar and grabbed his axe from his back. With all the strength he could muster he brought it overhead and down hard into the ground in front of him with a mighty force. The blade cracked the cobblestones and stuck there.

“With what, Thora?” he said a little more angrily than he had meant to. He took a breath to calm himself down. Thora looked him in the eye and could almost swear she saw them glistening as if the thick-skinned warrior were about to cry. “A good man is dead. Everything we own is up in smoke. We’ve got nothing left but the clothes on our back, and my axe,” he said, gesturing at the weapon buried in the ground in front of him.

Thora nodded slowly. “Yes, but we still have each other, Tobi.”

At this, a small tear fell down his cheek, and Thora’s eyes widened in shock. Sadness was not something that had ever crossed the dwarf’s face, in all of the seventeen years Thora had known the man that had raised her as a father. Always gruff and haunty, sometimes happy when the right conversation or drink crossed his path. But sadness was always something he had never shown, or had at least hidden from her all these years.

The other’s had left Osric and had come to comfort the pair and stare in awe at the whispy black smoke that rose up from where the building had been standing not minutes before.

“That magic,” said Faro. “I don’t remember much of magic, but should that fire have taken that building down so quickly?” he asked, in awe of what he might be up against.

Standing next to him, Mathias shook his head. “No. That was no normal magic. At least not magic much of the land has seen in centuries. That was some sort of twisted, dark magic. Powerful…”

This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

“Virmorphia,” Lena cut in. “Not seen outside of Cosimir’s use in millenia. It is forbidden magic that Solana kept the world protected from.” All eyes were on her as she spoke. “If this dark magic has found it’s way to other beings, that means that the death of Cosimir has allowed it to spread. In that case, the world has just gotten a whole lot more dangerous.”

All of this was too much for Faro. From barely knowing who he was, and hearing all of this new information about the evil that was coming into the world, it was almost too much for him to bear. That thought reminded him of something he and Mathias were talking about down in the dungeon earlier, and he had a sudden urge to know more about his past.

“Mathias,” he said. “Earlier you said I was a disciple of this Eli. What does that mean? Why are all these beasts after me?”

Mathias was silent for a moment, until he collected his thoughts. “A man is dead, Faro. Let us bury him and talk about it another time.” The older man was solemn as he walked away from the group, saying something about going to talk with the town undertaker.

There was silence until he was gone, and then Faro turned to the others. “And what of this wolverine fellow and the little girl. How do I find the place where they went?”

As if on cue, there was a bustling over by the church. Through the shattered doors stumbled a hunched figure, frantically scurrying towards them. It was Mayor Thornvale. He was holding onto a huge crimson spot on his head, apparently where the rock monster had smashed him before stealing his granddaughter. A guttural moan was coming from his throat, a ghastly wail that sent a chill down Faro’s spine.

“Gone!” he finally managed to cry. “Veronica’s gone! That… that thing! Took her!” he stumbled into the party and grabbed two fistfuls of Faro’s blue robes.

“And you sold us out, you son-of-a-bitch!” yelled Tobi from beside Faro. “Tell me why I shouldn’t take this axe and bury it in your skull!” With one mighty heave Tobi freed his prized axe from the cobblestone and brandished it before the mayor.

“I didn’t!” he yelled in agony. At this Faro picked the tiny man up by the scruff and held him up to his pointed muzzle. He let out a fierce, bellowing lion roar right in the old man’s face. The vibration from the sound shook the man to his core.

“Okay!” he began to cry. “I did! I sent my messenger to sell you out! But it’s impossible that he made it to the high mountain in time to deliver my message. Those beasts were already on their way here! My messenger… he… he hasn’t returned.”

Faro narrowed his eyes at him, and then sat him down none-to-gently. “The intent was still there, old man.”

“Yes!” Mayor Thornvale spat. “I do not need a damned lion monstrosity and that do-well-do-gooder Mathias running around my town stirring people up. You are an abomination, sir, but that doesn’t mean that you should let an innocent girl be whisked off to her death!” He collapsed to the ground and clasped his hands together. “Please…please…”

Faro paused a moment, relishing the begging of the crooked old mayor. “I was never going to let them. As soon as we bury the farmer, Osric, I will be on my way to find that wolverine and put an end to this.”

At that, Lena perked up. “You cannot go alone,” she said simply. “You have no memories. You do not know the way, and trust me, the way is perilous.”

“Point me in a direction and I will get there,” said Faro, sure that his instincts would kick in and he would find the place that he needed to go to save the little girl and get his revenge on the wolverine.

“No,” she said, holding up her hand. “You don’t understand. Umbra’s Veil is a two week journey from here on foot, one if we can arrange some sort of animal transport. Not only that, but in order to get to the forbidden city you have to cross the Mournfall Lake. You will not get through there without a proper guide and a bit of magic to ward off the spirits of the fallen. After the lake is a barren wasteland. The light doesn’t even dare go there, so it is hard to navigate, night or day. Not to mention the perils of the forbidden city itself. Unless you catch that little bastard before he gets there, you will need help to get to where you seek to go.”

Faro looked disappointed at this news. “The little bastard said I had to come alone or he would kill the girl. Plus you all have already done enough. I cannot ask for any more help in cleaning up whatever mess I seem to have created by existing.”

Thora went to stand by Lena and square off against the mighty lion. “You are not the only one who has a debt to square with that little bastard,” she said, relishing in their enemies new nickname. “He took the life that my andre and I built and burnt it to the ground without a thought. We have nothing left here. But what we can do is come with you and help to save that poor little girl’s life.”

“What?” said Tobi sharply to her, finally taking his eyes off of Thornvale to give a stern look to his daughter.

Thora’s sharp gaze back matched his intensity and then some. Her eyes narrowed and she stared at him until his face softened. He let his axehead clink to the ground. “Alright. Fine. We’ll go.” Thora smiled at him. “Veronica used to come and bring fresh flowers to the bar every day of spring. Told me it made the place look friendlier,” Tobi said, smiling himself. “But we’re doing this for her, not you, you crooked old fool!” he added, pointing at the mayor.

Thornvale gave a slight smile underneath his hand that was still holding his wound. “As long as you get her back, dwarf,” he said in an ‘or else’ type of tone.

Faro sighed. Extra people were what was going to get Veronica killed. He was supposed to go alone. After a moment’s deliberation, he decided that they could be his guides, and that he would have to lose them somewhere close before they got to Umbra’s Veil and startled the wolverine into doing something stupid.

“Okay. Fine. The four of us will go,” conceded Faro with a sigh.

“You will also need a healer and a master of antidotes!” came a voice from behind him. Mathias had returned. Faro looked over at the body of Osric and saw another man hunched over the poor farmer, stooping to lift his body onto a death cart.

Faro turned and looked down at Mathias. “You? You want to go on a perilous journey to save this girl? You don’t seem to be the adventuring type!”

Mathias smiled. “I’m all books now, my friend, but you’ve no idea what adventured I’ve had in my youth! I think it’s time I got out to see Evania again. Clear my head and… get away from all this for awhile,” he said, glancing at his fallen friend who had now been lifted into the cart by the undertaker. “I’ve got a score to settle, just like any of you!”

The lion stood and stared at the small party of four people who stood by him, looking intent on joining him on a dangerous journey that could lead to the death of any one of them. An old elf, a tavern made, a bar owner, and a quirky medicine man. He had not known them at all the previous morning, and here they were, ready to lay their lives down for a little girl, the granddaughter of a man they all despised. Not only that, but to help a wild lion-man in his quest to find out why he was being hunted.

Faro threw his arms out wide into the air, as if to welcome and embrace their heroism and company. “Thank you, my new friends. Our unlikely party here will leave with haste tomorrow after the funeral.” Four smiles beamed back at him.