9 Years, Forest. Carnage

“Sis! Rei! Come over, I found something!” A loud shout sounds through the forest, originating about fifteen meters from my position. “What is it, Brian?” Ione, walking not too far from myself as well, answers. She strolls to his position, and I do so as well. It is early – no more than a few hours after sunrise. Since Brian learned how to use magic, the times at which we meet became more and more irregular.

One day, we would meet like usual in the afternoon, but the next as early as the first bird's song. This usually correlates to how close we were to a new discovery, or a special feat, the evening before. In return, when starting early, we also end our practice before evening. Concentrating on magic for an extended period can wear you out, and once this point is reached, there usually is not much to gain by continuing. The method of magic used seems to have an effect on the rate at which you tire, with Ione getting a headache comparably quickly, myself after a few hours, and Brian having a seemingly bottomless pool of stamina.

The fact that we do not train all day does not mean we are not close, however. If our session starts and stops early, we do other stuff in the afternoon. Or rather, Ione and Brian are doing other stuff, and I tag along. They started inviting me to it. Brian did, to be precise. Without much experience in that regard, my uneducated guess would be that he does this because we are friends. I think back, to our first real encounter – the marketplace, where Arstibal held the testings. He certainly was a different person back then.

On the other hand, when we start practising late, we meet in the morning – exactly like today. This means I have no time to prepare anything for our actual lessons, but looking at it, this is not needed any more. Instead of lessons, it is more like practising, and growing, together.

Today, we went on a forest trip. It has nothing to do with magic, its rather rummaging through the woods, searching for curiosities, and other points of interest. Brian seems eager to spot animals, as well. I once asked him why he held no animal at his house, a dog perhaps. He got a sad expression and said his father would not allow him to.

“Now, what have you found?” I finally caught up to Brian, and take a peek at what he leans over.

“An anthill!” He points at the conglomeration of mold, fungi and rotting twigs, from which countless ants emerge in all directions. A particularly broad stream of ants transports white, squirming maggots, which enter the ant's nest to never be seen again. “Gross!” Ione states, but without disgust in her voice.

“Let us go, and look where the ants get all those maggots from.”, I suggest. “Perhaps we will see something interesting there.”

“Alright!” Brian leads way. Since leaves are covering the ground, it would have been hard to see the ant trail, were there not the countless white dots marking it. It reaches surprisingly far into the forest. Before long, a putrid stench is digging into our nostrils – the stench of decaying meat. Ione starts covering her nose, while Brian seems to grow increasingly uncomfortable.

We continue our way nonetheless, and discover a sight unlike everything I've seen before, with almost grotesque levels of savagery and beauty. A boar head lies on a large patch of moss. The whole ground is covered in rotting meat shreds, bone pieces, dark-red blood. A dark cloud of flies is hovering over the scenery, thick enough to hinder sight, and emitting a loud, constant buzzing. Masses of larvae are squirming all over the ground.

The whole boar seems to have been torn to shreds, tiny enough to count as mincemeat. It's head however is not even scratched, although covered in blood. If it was not punctured by maggots, it would look like it still belonged to a functioning body. Needless to say, the stench was unbearable here.

Ione is very pale, and Brian is as well. She seems to try to contain herself, but she fails horribly. Ione vomits into a nearby bush, her back turned to us. “What in hell... “ Brian whispers, but loud enough for me to understand. “Who would do something like that? How cruel...” Uttering those words, he stares at the abhorrent view in disbelief. Tears start forming at the edge of his eyes. I can not tell whether the stench is driving them or not.

The excessive odor is breathtaking, but other than that, the sight does not particularly move me. I am too interested in how it came to be to bother with the cruel way this boar was taken out of life. Therefore, I analyse the situation. Something big, and incredibly powerful, attacked the boar. However, it was not thoughtless while doing so, since it did not even scratch the head. It most likely tore the body to shreds after separating the head. Maybe this happened out of cruelty, or because the attacker is not able to eat large chunks. I think of this as unlikely, though. There are flattened bushes, broken branches on surrounding trees, and a closer look at the surroundings revealed large paw prints, the size of a large plate. Whatever did this was undeniably big. The most puzzling thing though is something different: Why did it went the extra way of leaving the head intact, but shredding everything else?

“This poor animal...” Brian found courage to speak up loudly now. Ione seems to have composed at least a bit, and watches us from some distance now. When I give her a sign to come over, she simply shakes her head in refusal. Brian looks like he could burst out into tears every moment, and I am at a loss what to do.

“It is just the way of nature.” I try to comfort the sulking Brian. He snaps back, to my surprise.

“The way of nature? Would you say that as well if the being lying here was someone close to you? Or you?” He seems very upset over my statement.

“I understand you just fine even if you lower your voice.” What is his problem? There are hunters and prey. This is nothing new. Brian should be focusing on the fact that there is something out there capable of mincing a Boar. “To answer your question, yes, I would. If hunters do not prey, how are they going to survive? It is no use sulking over things you can not change.”

“They should just eat plants. No harm done, everyone is happy.” Brian rejects my words as I speak them.

“This can not be what you are seriously thinking. If it was that easy, violence would not exist.” I feel like I should end this conversation as quickly as possible. I have to learn from my mistakes, after all – once Brian talked himself into rage, he will not stop rambling until the other party forces a stop to the conversation. “Let us not discuss this here and now.”

Brian, still trembling, nods unexpectedly. “You are right. You need to help me with something important. We need to bury the body.”

My jaw drops. “You want to bury the body? How are you going to do that, please?” He can not mean that. After all, the “Body” is nothing more than a head, and over fifty kilograms of rotting, sticky, maggot-ridden shreds of various fleshy substances.

“I don't care what you think, Rei. I am going to bury it. Everything deserves a proper burial.”

“We do not even have tools. Do not be ridiculous. It is not going to work without tools, not even if you try.” I look into Ione's direction, searching for help with this matter. When she does not come over, I go to her instead.

“He wants to bury this... thing. Can you help me talking him out of it?” I am fuming internally, but I do not want to lose my composure yet again. After all, I did so quite a lot of time lately, I do not want it to grow into a habit.

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Ione sighs. “I feared it would come to that.” She shakes out her hands, as if readying for something, and approaches Brian, who is busy swatting off flies left and right. A heated discussion between them ensues. I can not make out any details, but I also do not want to get any closer. The discussion grows more intense as it develops, and Brian grows more heated by the second, even though Ione is obviously making efforts to calm him down. Finally, signals her to step back. Ione slumps down, covering her face with one hand. She does step back a good meter, however. To my surprise, Brian does so as well, creating distance between him and the site.

He starts grasping into the air, more and more. Then, he starts enclosing something in both his palms. He can not mean to...

I start running into his direction. He finally grips whatever he was holding into one hand, and raises his hand, as if in anticipation of a throw. Only a handful of meters between us, I scream “WAIT!” However, he does not. Brian strikes his hand forwards, opening his fist. Immediately, hefty surges of wind run through the forest. Wind howls through the trees for a split second, branches shake, fallen leaves get sucked into the air. I stumble, the sudden blow works added to me running, which is not a stable position to begin with, and I hit the ground face-first.

Leaves have gotten into my mouth, quite the unpleasant taste. I get up, clearing my mouth in a number of quick spits. It seems that Brian was able to stay standing on his feet, and Ione as well. The swarm of flies has noticeably dissipated. I continue my short walk, and finally approach Brian from behind. I find him staring at his hand, although I can not get a good look on his expression before he notices me, and turns around. “That was... strong. Sorry, I should have warned you, Rei. You too, Ione.

“It was reckless.” I state the obvious. However, that was not what not what bothered me the most. “Also, It was wind. Wind magic.” Brian used a technique I failed in developing for a long time. This is the first time I saw him using it, he never even spoke of wind magic before.

“Yes! You saw it?” Brian seems relieved about me switching topic from his recklessness so quick. A sarcastic “Hard to overlook it...” comes from the place where Ione stands.

“How?” How did he do it? What energy did he manipulate? The body does not matter now, at least not anymore.

“I just wanted a way to scare away those flies... It was hard to think about a proper grave while nearly swallowing one all the time.” Right. That was still a topic. I look down at the ground. It is covered with plenty of leaves now, but the mess in front of us is still there. “I went overboard, I know. It is hard to get the proper power right.”

He is not answering my question. “You are right with what you said. Nonetheless, how did you do it? Explain me.”

“Rei, you look a bit scary. Let us bury the corpse first, please? I can tell you what I figured later.” Noticing the serious look on Brian's face, I stop the words I had already prepared. Thinking back, he had a comparably serious look on a face all the time he was talking about burying the boar remains. “Alright. I will help you. Still, my initial question remains – how are you, are we going to do it? We do not have tools – that fact has not changed.”

I feel like I need to give Brian a service of friendship, and help him with this. It is important to him. I will never understand his fixation on animals, but it is alright. Brian helped me quite a few times now. Not only he, but Ione as well. The concussion, the time at the mayor's house... Also our fights, discussions, conversations, whatever of that it has been. Brian's persistence in striving for magic success, up to the point where he made it.

“About that, I thought I would use this.” He holds both his hand into the air, clenching them to fists.

“You want to use magic.” It worked to get rid of the flies. Splendidly so, although my mouth had to suffer a few casualties in form of ingested foliage. But I also see the danger of whipping out new techniques left and right. In case of my self-manipulation, it earned me a heavy hit on the head. In case of a mistake with Brian's tremendous power... Maybe it goes smoothly this time. And perhaps the next. Perchance even the time after that. But what if It goes wrong? I know of no magic to mend wounds. Maybe, just maybe, If I asked the village healer, she would help me develop something. But that would require me telling her about my magic, which is out of the question.

“Yes.” However, Thinking about it, it may be our only possibility. We do not have shovels to dig a suitable hole, and even if, It would take hours. We need to think it through, calculate the risks. But magic is the only way. Not my magic, it is way to weak for that. Brian's magic, on the other side...

Ione slips into the conversation. “You want to use even more magic? Be sure to not hurt yourself. Reiland, keep an eye on Brian so that he does nothing stupid. This stench, it is sickening. I will leave now. Watch from a distance, or return home. I still have to decide on that.” She does not look all too well indeed. “Sister, you are so pale... Go rest, I will be okay.” Brian seems a bit worried about her condition. Ione nods to his words, and leaves – in direction of the village, I reckon.

Once Ione is gone and out of sight, I turn around to Brian, who is facing me in anticipation of my words. “First of all, what do you see as a burial? A hole? Or is it sufficient to cover everything with dirt?” To get on equal terms, I need to talk with Brian about that.

“I want to give it a proper burial... a dug out hole, and then we will cover it with dirt. If we can find one, a small headstone.” Brian says so without even giving me a hint of unseriousness.

I release a gust of wind through my nostrils. “That is a better burial than some humans get... Alright. Can you lift dirt with your magic?” Maybe, if he could dig out a hole, we could scrape in the remains with some sort of stick, and then cover it with dirt again. There should be a small rock around here as well, most likely.

“I can do it. I am certain of it.” If there is one thing Brian definitely does not lack, it is self esteem. I never touched upon dirt manipulation, but it should be trivial, not harder than manipulating any kind of material. To test it, I concentrate on the ground in front of me. Clumps of earth rise up, one after another, and fall down again. As I thought.

“Well, then.” I let out a small sigh, but I am also curious on how this will turn out. I point at a spot at the edge of the meat fields. “There. Lift a chunk of dirt out of that, let it down next to it. We will push everything in the created hole. After we are done, we simply fill it up with the upturned dirt.”

“Yes! I will do it like that!” Brian takes stand at the spot, and starts grasping for whatever he sees in the air. “Do not overdo it this time... you can try again if the power was too low.” Brian nods, and starts forming. After a few seconds, he slams his hand into the ground.

Silently, as if pulled by invisible strings, an estimated cubic meter of dirt takes a leap, diagonally to gain distance from it's original position. It impacts a small distance away with an audible thud. Brian turns around.

“That was good.” No, good is not the right word – it was perfect. Brian smiles. Even I smile a bit – although I merely try to reproduce Brians facial expression. Not too well, apparently, as Brian drops his smile quickly. “Thanks.”, he says. “Thanks, Rei.”

The flies have returned to the place. While not brimming with them like before, there still are more then plenty. They also remind me that the most revolting part is not done yet.

We then do what we must, without talking much about it. Brian searches for sticks, while I stay at the site. I try to recreate Brian's wind magic, but fail. I will have to ask him for it later, after all.

Brian returns a with a pair of long, sturdy sticks. We try to poke them in a way that gets meat shreds into our hole, but it is a tedious and exhausting process. “Take a step back.” I ask Brian, while doing so as well. He does so, and I control the stick of mine. It feels a bit different than controlling stones, given the the different length and size, but I adjust fairly quickly. Having it hover horizontally, I push every last scrap of meat onto a large pile. A large pile squirming with maggots, that fact has not changed yet.

An idea strikes my mind. “Should I burn it beforehand? Kill the maggots feasting on it? The boar would like that, would he not?” I try to do Brian a favor. However, he shakes his head. “To what avail? The boar is already dead. The maggots did not kill it. Why punish them, then? It is not their fault for eating it.”

I shrug my shoulders. “It was just an idea.” I fully push the shreds into the put. I make the head follow shortly after. Brian is whispering a few words, eyes closed and hands clasped together.

Shortly after, the grave was sealed. There are still some tiny scraps laying around here and there, but other than that, the site is barely recognizable. Brian pulls something from his pocket he must have found while searching for sticks – a small stone, the shape of an egg where someone cut off the lower have. He places it on top of the dirt that I kicked solid a few moments ago.

We return to the village. The way is not a long or hard one – alarmingly not long and hard. Whatever did kill this boar, it would most likely have no issues treating a villager in a similar fashion. Those are the kind of thoughts that run through my head.

Just before we enter the village, someone taps onto my shoulder. I startle, but all to quickly I realize that it was Brian. Who else, really. He looks into my eyes, and utters a single word - “Thanks.”

We enter the village.