Chapter 41: A Quick Journey

The fire flickered in the night. The fire revealed a deep concern and annoyance on Trip’s face. They hadn’t been able to make any progress over the last day. Mabel was simply too slow. For a normal person she could be considered to be incredibly fast, but in comparison to even an intermediate level wind mage she just simply would not be worthy of comparison. Trip knew he had to find a way to fix this. He wished he could carry her and just use Light Travel to move around, but one had to be very strong to endure the speed, and while she was very nimble, Trip doubted her strength in that department.

“Do you have any ideas on how we can get to the capital within a week?” He asked Mabel, wishing that she might have some answer.

She stayed silent for a while. Trip had already told her about the limited amount of time they had, but she simply couldn’t travel that quickly. It was more than a hundred kilometres to the capital. Mabel gritted her teeth. She knew that she wasn’t slow. It was just that Trip was so unfathomably quick with his Light Travel.

‘How on earth could a normal person travel that distance so quickly?’ She thought.

When she went off to find Trip she had no idea that he had only a week to find Alex. A sick feeling rose from within her stomach. Her eyes widened as she realised that Trip could literally leave her behind at any time. She looked towards the ground in a helpless state.

Suddenly Emer emerged from the bushes. He carried a half crushed rabbit in his mouth.

Mabel raised her head looked over at the seemingly normal scene. However, there was something strange with the rabbit. It wasn’t bleeding, which was strange for a rabbit which should have just been killed, and it seemed to have a strange purple glow through its white fur. It looked as if it had already been dead for a while.

Mabel suddenly saw the purple glow pulsating. She jumped up immediately.

“Emer!” She screamed “Drop it! There’s something in there!”

But it was too late. Emer had already swallowed the rabbit. Trip looked at Emer anxiously. Suddenly Emer made a strange coughing sound.

Suddenly a small purple crystal shot out of Emer’s mouth. There was an annoyed expression on Emer’s face. It was clear it didn’t taste very good.

Trip looked up and saw the strange scene. He saw the crystal on the ground and began to approach it, but was stopped by Mabel.

“There’s something strange about the crystal.” She said as she cautiously approached it.

Mabel felt there was something peculiar about the purple crystal. It was pulsating and glowing. It appeared very sinister, but something about the crystal made her want to touch it.

Trip analysed the crystal, but what was causing it? Trip could not recall his uncle teaching him about any glowing purple crystals. However, he did remember how his uncle taught him that some crystals could hold internal power of some sort.

Mabel reached her finger out to touch the crystal. There was slight fear on her face as she poked the crystal. When she touched it nothing happened. Mabel’s fear subsided. A smile appeared on her face. Nothing had happened when she touched it, so it was safe. She sighed in relief that nothing had happened.

However, Trip wasn’t completely sure that the crystal was safe. He still found it strange that the crystal was glowing.

Mabel ignored Trip’s worry. She held it casually, letting her guard down. It was a simple mistake, but the crystal took advantage of it. The crystal suddenly became much heavier in Mabel’s hand. She fell to the floor with her hand pinned to the ground due to the weight. A dark essence built up within the crystal and large black vines exploded from the crystal. They wrapped around her body and pierced her skin. She felt the vines heading deeper and deeper within her.

“AAAH!” She screamed in hysterical pain.

Suddenly a large flash of light shot out from Trip’s hand. It hit the crystal and dissipated the vines.

The crystal flew up in the air and fell directly into the fire. A faint layer of light covered the crystal, blocking it from doing anything else.

Trip’s eyes were cold and indifferent. He looked at Mabel, his eyes crystal and frozen.

“You idiot.” He said “You let down your guard foolishly.”

Mabel clenched her chest. She breathed heavily. Dozens of small, but deep, wounds riddled her originally smooth and beautiful skin.

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“I’m sorry.” She forced out.

Trip looked at her for a second.

“Learn from your mistakes.” He said “Tell me. What really happened?”

Mabel looked at his frozen eyes. They did not falter. She was quite embarrassed that she made such a simple and stupid mistake. She even remembered The Boss saying that no matter how innocent something looked she must never let her guard down. She bit her lip and sat up. Her body stung all over. She looked up at Trip and began to explain the situation.

“The second I let my guard down it attacked.” She said “It did not seem to be conscious, but rather a natural reaction.”

Trip looked indifferent and uninterested, but on the inside he was carefully remembering every word she said. He knew there was something up with the crystal, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

“Thick black vines flew out of the crystal. It penetrated my skin with almost no resistance. There were hooks on the end of the vines so they were almost impossible to rip out without doing even more damage.” She punched the ground in anger “The vines were going deeper and deeper. I felt myself getting weaker the longer I was exposed to the vines. It was as if it was sucking out my soul.”

Trip nodded. He was very pleased with the report she had delivered. It was clear that she was a professional. Even in such a terrifying situation she had remained calm. A thought entered Trip’s head.

‘She would be perfect for Alex.’ He thought.

The thought gave him a rather uncomfortable feeling, but he could not deny the thought. Mabel was calm and professional, and if Alex hadn’t changed much, then that behaviour could help control his rash and chaotic attitude to life.

Trip did not have much time to think about this and his thoughts were cut short by a strange feeling. It was something within his chest. It was hot and slightly painful.

Trip’s face turned blue and he suddenly couldn’t breathe. He retched and something shot out of his mouth.

It was a spherical light blue haze-like substance. It drifted over through the air towards the crystal. The haze suddenly took a different form. It became like an arrow and it shot towards the crystal. It easily broke the light covering the crystal. The crystal did not hesitate to absorb the blue haze.

Trip looked on in shock. He grabbed a stick and pushed the crystal out of the fire.

Mabel approached the crystal as well. They both looked at it in shock. Suddenly the crystal began to change colour. The purple slowly turned into a light blue, the same colour as the haze.

Trip began to feel warm in his heart. There was a familiar feeling in the atmosphere. Trip felt tears falling down his cheeks.

It was utterly and truly confusing and terrifying to Trip. He couldn’t remember if he had ever cried in his lifetime. But somehow he felt so emotional, as if an old friend had returned from the dead.

The crystal shone bright blue and a voice began to speak.

“It’s been a long time.” It said.

Trip recognised the voice immediately.

“Grelin!” He exclaimed.

For so long Trip had blamed himself for what had happened to Grelin. Many nights he thought that Grelin was dead, and after four long years he had truly lost nearly all hope.

“Trip!” Grelin said, his voice was raspy but intense “I must rest! But I can tell you this.”

Trip realised there was no time for reunion. He dried his tears and leaned in began listening intently.

“Emer is close to a breakthrough. Send some light magic directly into his soul, and he will become much stronger.” Grelin said.

The crystal dimmed. Grelin had gone to sleep again. Hopefully it wouldn’t take so long for him to recover this time.

Trip thought for a couple seconds.

“Emer!” He said “Come here.”

Emer happily obliged.

Mabel only watched on in shock. She still couldn’t comprehend what happened. Her mind was riddled with thoughts. What was the blue haze? Why could the crystal talk? Why was Trip crying? She simply could not be more confused. She decided to just stay silent for now.

Trip pushed his finger against Emer’s head. He closed his eyes and focused on trying to find Emer’s soul. In an instant he found it and shot light magic directly to Emer’s soul.

Emer’s body began to twitch uncontrollably. He hissed and screamed. Trip flinched a bit, but he trusted the words Grelin said and didn’t lose his focus.

After a couple of seconds Emer’s body stopped moving. Trip opened his eyes and stood up. He sat down next to the confused Mabel. His ice cold eyes stared intensely at Emer’s motionless body. He knew his light magic had directly gone into the big snake’s soul, but he had no idea what was going to happen next.

Mabel wanted to ask about what was happening, but the atmosphere was simply too heavy for her to even dare to say a word.

Suddenly Emer’s body began to expand. It grew to be five metres long, and half a meter in diameter. He was simply massive. But that was not all that happened. Out of Emer’s head grew a large black horn. Emer opened his massive red eyes. He looked incredibly sinister. He slowly slithered over to Trip. Mabel was terrified that something might happen. Suddenly Emer licked Trip’s face.

Trip couldn’t help but laugh at his silly snake. No matter how sinister or evil Emer might look, he would always be Trip’s friend.

Suddenly Emer’s horn began to shake. The massive snake body lifted into the air. Trip and Mabel looked on in awe.

“You can fly!” Trip exclaimed.

Emer nodded with a smug look on his face.

It seemed that in one night all of Trip’s problems got fixed, and he didn’t even really do anything!

Emer gestured for Trip and Mabel to jump on. Trip grabbed the crystal and threw it in his pocket. He then grabbed Mabel’s hand and jumped on the big snake.

“HAHA!” Trip laughed “Forward my trusty steed!”

Emer tried his best to neigh, and flew off at an incredible speed.

Mabel pinched herself, rubbed her eyes, and even slapped her own face. But she simply wouldn’t wake up from the strange dream.

“It must be a dream…” She mumbled to herself.

She couldn’t believe she was riding on some crazy snake at the moment. Too much had happened in too little time. As an assassin she liked things to go according to plan, but this time around there was simply no plan. Her head was spinning as they flew off into the night.

They flew for seven hours. The group landed just outside a small hamlet only a couple of kilometres from the capital. Determination shone upon Trip’s face as the morning sun rose.

“Alex, we are coming for you.” He said.