It was then, right when Ardwyn was ready to give up — let whatever come and take him, that a tiny bolt of energy sparkled in his palm. At first, he didn’t notice the sparkles form together into a growing sphere, until it turned hot, without any sort of burning sensation.

The ball of energy kept growing larger. In moments, it took on hues of different purples, blues, and greens, all spiraling around the ball, sizzling like some sort of magical force being created from thin air. This is the mana the professor had talked about. Just harness the surrounding mana and focus.

Encouraged by his new found power, Ardwyn focused harder, trying to grow the sphere of energy. When it had reached a larger size, with the witch still unaware of what was happening, he put all of his strength into casting the large ball of energy straight at her.

The ball of energy hurtled at great speed, hitting the witch squarely in her body and topping her off her feet. The connection between her spell and his heart broke. Ardwyn regained some of his senses, now able to move his fingers. The pain still lingered, his body aching.

“What have you done?” Gwynn cried out. There was a look of shock on her face. She struggled to get up from the floor, one hand placed to push herself up, the other on her back, as if she had been seriously hurt by the sphere of energy Ardwyn had cast at her.

An evil expression came over her face. She let out a loud groan of pain mixed with frustration. She then cast a bolt of blue energy toward Ardwyn, and his body hurled back at the impact, the pain filling every part of his body. He tensed up with the agony, his body almost jumping up from the floor. The pain was unbearable, but at least he seemed to be able to move again, broken free from the witch’s spell.

“Do you believe that your pitiful display of magic can save you? How naive. You are nothing. I will show you true mastery," Gwynn called out to him, her voice loud and reverberating in the formless space of the fog.

Gwynn got up from the floor and put her palms together, deep in focus. A ball of light grew between her hands. Her hair waved back in the air that seemed to be charged with some sort of a magical force. When the ball grew to about the size of her head, she cast the force straight at him.

This time the force hurt even more than before. It felt similar to being punched right in the chest, not being able to breath. Ardwyn gasped for air. His vision went dark under the impact of the pain.

The witch walked over to him. She seemed to have recovered from her fall. She raised her hands, and then attracted a large bolt of lighting energy from above the dark, stirring skies, still thick with the green fog. She hurled the energy bolt at him with all of her might, swinging her arm back, and then directed it straight to his chest. He fell back a few feet, his back arching in pain.

The witch’s expression turned to surprise. “Why are you not dead yet?”

Her anger grew. She raised both arms again, attracting all of the remaining energy that she could draw, and then with a loud groan threw a lighting bolt straight at Ardwyn.

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Ardwyn fell back. His body ached in pain. He gathered all of his efforts to try to repeat casting the bolt of energy he had somehow conjured earlier. He focused on the warm building energy between his palms, and without giving the witch enough time to react, he cast the force toward her.

Some of his strength seemed to have been regained. With his other arm, he formed another ball of energy, this time learning how to create the effect faster. Getting the hang of his newly acquired power, he cast a series of lighting bolts at the witch, alternating hands to gain time as one formed, with the other ready to cast.

Gwynn did not expect what happened next. A series of bolts struck her, throwing her to her knees, and then on the floor, knocking her back quite some distance.

She tried to speak. The words froze in her throat. She glanced back at Ardwyn surprised at his new power.

The bolts of energy that Ardwyn cast helped him in some way to regain his strength. The pain lifted from his body, as if a spell had been cast on him. As quickly as it had been placed on him, it also quickly started to lift.

Gwynn stood back up and put her palms together to cast another bolt of energy toward Ardwyn to fight back. Now that Ardwyn had his strength recovered, he dodged to the side, avoiding the large, hot white ball of blinding light coming toward him. In turn, he cast another bolt toward the witch, knocking her off feet.

Gwynn, feeling like she was starting to lose the battle, made another gesture of some sort, conjuring up another spell. The air whirled around her, the fog turning darker, until Ardwyn lost visibility of the witch.

He spun around quickly, expecting to be attacked from any side. The thick fog surrounded him. He could barely even see the tip of his hand. How could he cast another bolt if he couldn’t even see anything in front of him, he wondered.

Then from somewhere deep in the fog came a vile howl. Some wild beast. It sounded similar to a wolf but more monstrous and unnatural, a ghastly howl, the kind Ardwyn had never heard before in his life. He spun around again, trying to identify the direction the howl came from, but it seemed to come from all around him. The howls grew closer, multiple ones now, as if the creatures were summoning each other.

His heart beat faster. He had just acquired his new lightning bolt casting power, but it still only worked as fast as he could cast the bolts, and he only had two hands. If a pack of creatures surrounded him, he wasn’t sure that the lighting bolt casting effect would be guaranteed to save him.

Almost as if recognizing his panic, a voice came from the fog, surrounding him, from everywhere and yet nowhere at the same time. It was the witch’s voice, Gwynn. She seemed to be laughing at him as she spoke.

“You dare to defy me, you mere mortal? Do you know who I am?”

Ardwyn turned around. There was nothing there. Just the howls, coming closer.

Then the first paw of some monstrous creature reached out to him, swiping against his chest. The claws dug in deep into his muscles, leaving a searing blood mark behind.

He didn’t have time to look down, trying to avoid the creature’s form in the fog. But he knew that he had started to bleed. His shirt felt soaked with the wet blood.

Another swipe came across his neck, and he barely dodged the impact, the claws leaving behind a skin-deep flesh wound. The pain was sharp and it shot up through his whole body.

As the creature came closer, he discerned its form: a ghoul with blood-thirsty teeth, hungry eyes, and sharp pointed ears. The ghoul seemed like it had just been raised from the dead, its clothes torn, revealing a decaying body beneath.

With Ardwyn’s only weapon being the bolts of energy, he cast them at the ghoul, knocking it back before it could attack again. Then another howl came from the thick green fog, much closer than before, and two more ghouls threw themselves at him. He fell to the ground. The ghouls pinned him down, while the third ghoul raised its claws at him, swiping his chest, digging in deep through his flesh.

Ardwyn was helpless. He couldn’t use his lighting bolt power against the ghouls as his hands were pinned down to the side.