Leo’s eyes shot up to see that the sky above him had been blanketed with stone. His heart started to race as he stared at the avalanche that had sprung forth. The first rocks were mere moments away from striking him.

He crouched down, as low as he could, and shot forward. Even with his powerful launch, he barely cleared the torrent of stone before it landed. He slid against the ground while attempting to shield the woman from harm.

Once they slowed down, he looked back at where he stood. There was a mountain of rock, well over ten feet in height, that continued to grow as more stones rained down. He looked up to see the mage in the air.

His hand was rubbing his eyes, which seemed to be tearful and focused. The wings seemed to struggle as he pumped his mana into this spell. The storm of rocks would have crushed the woman in seconds if Leo hadn’t gotten away.

Leo turned to look at Marem, who was relieved that he’d escaped the rockslide. She gripped her staff tightly, but there wasn’t much else she could do. Marem had cast a modified illusion spell. She wasn’t well experienced with it, but she could concentrate to make a shining light appear. Even if it was for just a second, that was more than enough to blind someone.

The stone mage stopped casting after a few passing moments. Tears streamed down his face as his wings fought against gravity. While he was distracted for now, it wouldn’t be long until the mage could see again. Magic at this power was dangerous.

Leo helped the stranger get on her feet, and he told her to run. If he didn’t need to worry about her, this fight would be a lot less dangerous. He rushed back to the pile of stones that was now starting to spread. It would soon block the entire path.

Marem looked on as Leo seemed to have a plan. She just wasn’t certain why he grabbed a handful of rocks. He would soon raise many more questions than he could possibly answer.

She saw him start to juggle. The rocks started to dance in-between his palms. The mage had regained just enough sight to see a large muscular man juggle a handful of rocks. The next thing he heard could only be described as a crack of lightning.

Leo shot a rock aimed directly at the visible base of the left wing. The slow moving wings had struggled to hold up the mage so far, but the collision was far too much. They shattered into pieces, shrapnel flying through the air. Their caster was not flying through the air, he was instead falling.

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Leo moved to grab the fumbling mage before he splattered on the ground. He just barely managed to hold onto him and stop his descent to death. The man struggled to look Leo in the face.

“Why were you attacking her?” asked Leo.

The man struggled as Leo stared him down. “For no reason beyond the mere urge to kill her.”

Leo was thrown off by the response. “What? You just wanted to kill her?”

“Yes, my name is Malumo. I am the cruel and evil mage of the forest,” he laughed. “There is evil in my very nature. I plan to kill as many pregnant mothers as possible after this.”

Leo stared at the man’s face. His wide smile and bloodshot eyes seemed unhinged. It was as if someone decided to mold the very embodiment of derangement into one body. He didn’t know what to do in this situation. He heard Marem’s footsteps approaching from behind him.

“What are your true intentions, Malumo?” She raised her staff towards him.

“To be a depraved sadist. I hope to rip the flesh off of an innocent with my bare teeth tonight,” he giggled.

Before Marem could ask another question, he taunted her, “You two better let me go. I won’t be able to do my many murders otherwise. Unless you kill me, I will certainly go on to commit many heinous crimes.”

Leo saw Marem’s eyes glow pink as a stream of energy began to flow out from her staff. It appeared to be a dark red sand that wrapped around Malumo’s head. His smile faded and eyes flicked as his head rolled back. He was soon loudly snoring. Leo dropped the sleeping man on the ground.

“What the fuck was that?” asked Leo.

Marem looked at him, “Truly, I could not tell you what his deal was. Decided to put him to sleep for now. Considered killing him, but I know you’re not a big fan of that.”

Going straight to murder was still not in Leo’s plans, but he saw the point. From the brief interaction, this man seemed cartoonishly evil. He wondered if this man had been turned insane by some poison or spell. Possible that this man just was insane and needed treatment.

For a moment, Leo began to wonder if maybe this had something to do with Cordylia. But something about this felt off. The man was too bad of an actor, and why would she want Leo to kill him? Something about this was off, but Leo wasn’t sure how to figure it out.

“We should tie him up and bring him with us to the kingdom. Maybe they can figure out what’s wrong with him,” said Leo.

“If you think that’s the best plan, go ahead. You need to carry him, but I’ll try and keep him unconscious,” she responded.

From further ahead in the road, they heard a voice call out for them. The two turned to see the same woman from before waving at a distance. She noticed the man unconscious on the ground and approached them with haste.