She stood breathing heavily her shaky vision slowly returning to normal. A slow deep breath with eyes closed filled the room, as the thick smell of sap filled her lungs. Her arm moved on instinct and the familiar sound of her chain sword eating an arrow met her ears.

As she opened her eyes again she looked to the corner of the room to find a small shaking elf with the second to last arrow in his quiver knocked back in his bow. His aim was anything but steady. His fear clearly plastered all over his face and his pants were stained with what could only be described as disgusting.

The arrow slipped from his sweat-covered fingers and once again her hand moved on its own to feed the arrow into the chain of her sword. She slowly began taking quiet steps towards him her stolen plate mail breaking the otherwise deafening silence.

He quickly fearfully reached to the quiver on his back and with tears streaming down his face knocked his last arrow. Mia looked at the cowering elf, at the fear in his eyes, She knew empirically he had to be centuries older than her but on looks alone, he appeared to be about half her age

When this arrow flew she didn't even bother trying to catch it, it missed her entirely and nailed the door behind her. his hand uselessly grasped at the empty air behind him and a silent shriek escaped his lungs. Setting his bow down in front of his face and kneeling He made his best efforts to show submitting in the hope that she'd let him live.

She pointed her sword at him fully aware he was out of options and at her mercy. Her ability to reason began slowly coming back to her. A faint clatter sounded next to her foot and she saw that an arrow had fallen right beside her.

Seeing her hand for the first time she noticed that the colors staining her now were a mix of red and green and that the bones on her ring were two shorter than they were before. She could feel the skin on her face stitching itself back together and hear the bones moving back into place.

This child must have hidden himself and landed a headshot she reasoned. He was whimpering a broken apology that would be indecipherable even though she knew the language had she not had the context of the circumstantial evidence she found herself in possession of.

As she looked at him in a moment of weakness she remembered the faces of her friends on pikes outside the caravan and as the thought of sparing him tried to worm its way into her mind the instinct to burn the child took over.

The flames of the sword roared to life before she even knew she was mad and his screams died down before she could even feel remorse. She looked around at the unfamiliar surroundings of the inside of a proper military base. Her tired legs moved forward less of a walk and more her leaning forward and relying on her instincts to catch her before she hit the floor.

Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

She eventually made her way to the desk chair and sat down. though she could not remember the events leading her up to this point she could definitely feel them. Elbows on the desk her head in her hands she spoke.

"How much did I forget?"

"Nothing worth remembering really, not that you probably would have remembered it even if you didn't have a currently recovering hole in your brain."

"But you know what happened right?"

"Yes, after you saw what the elves did to your friends you remember that much right?"

"Yes?"

"Oh good otherwise I'd of been worried as to why you killed that boy being who you are and all"

She looked over at him, currently taking the form of Adeliza, she soon buried her face back in her hands.

"Where are your clothes?"

"Your receptiveness to my magic grew and now you see me as I currently am and not just a blood memory I left behind. Our minds are a half step away from forming a telepathic link that can connect us at any time, by the way, you should come over sometime soon this party is incredible."

"Just tell me what happened."

"Right, after you noticed you were crying, you decided to replace the sorrow in your heart with rage and fueled by that race stormed the stronghold on your own. lucky for you the elves were half starved and in little position to fight back but they did you took an arrow to the heart almost immediately and slaughtered them all. you even picked up a form of innate magic on instinct"

"I can do magic?"

"It's a very crude rudimentary form of magic but yes. magic is based on faith whatever you believe can be possible as you fought you began believing their arrows shouldn't be hitting you because you were fast enough to swipe their arrows mid-flight and began blocking shots in your blind spot. essentially your reflexes gained a magical boost from your blind faith in your own trained ability."

"So can you teach me magic now?"

"You really think you're up to the task of staying up through a 14-hour lecture on magic theory? you're barely awake right now."

"You know you may be right."

She held her hand in front of her mouth her facial muscles twitched as she tried to stifle the yawn threatening to escape, her gritted teeth opening against her will lips parting, and breath escaping. her eyelids suddenly seemed heavier than her own head in her hands and soon enough she collapsed into her own arms on the desk asleep.