After thinking about it, Leo decided to check it out. He jumped off the cart, which had come to a halt, and slowly stepped towards the figure. It was pretty far away, making only a rough silhouette visible. Who could be out so deep in these woods? Is it an elf? No, those don’t live in this forest. Why would there be someone passed out, and in the middle of the road at that? Step by step, Leo walked closer.
He carefully moved through the hardened dirt road, trying to make the least amount of sound as possible. The birds sang their melodies in a softer way than normal, as if they understood the boy was trying to be careful. Fifty more steps. It’s a woman or a man with long hair. The sun’s rays made Leo have to put one of his wounded hands above his eyes to see properly. Forty steps. She looks rather small. Her head is turned the other way. A soft breeze coming from the body’s direction brought smells with it.
All of a sudden, the boy sprinted towards the target without caring about if it was a trap or not. That smell, that damn fucking smell. How dare they show up here. Those fucking inhuman bastards. Leo was now close enough to see the person laying on the dirt road. Wait what? It’s a fucking kid! A child! Without even looking around, he picked up the girl who was knocked out. A low growl came from the bushes on the side of the path. A demonic wolf walked out of them and stood face-to-face with the boy. It looked like he had been just in time before the beast would eat his meal.
Leo turned around and sprinted back to the cart, signing for the man to start coming his way. The merchant seemed to be contemplating whether he should help the boy or flee away towards safety. The four paws were chasing him to the best of their ability, with astonishing speed. Under the intense pressure, Leo’s senses sharpened, making him hear the beast leaping forward as its footsteps indicated. The consecutive sound had come to a halt without slowing down first. The boy dove to the side with the girl in his arms, making sure not to harm her vulnerable body. The furred monster flew past him with its mouth open for a deadly attack.
The beast landed awkwardly because it had expected to hit its target. With a swift maneuver, it turned around and charged back at the boy but Leo was already on the move again. Several of his wounds were ripped open, making him feel warm blood flowing down his body. The cart was getting closer yet the man hadn’t moved an inch yet. It was as if he were testing the boy’s capabilities he sat down behind his horses with a blank expression.
“Fucking bastard! Get at it and get us out of here!”, Leo shouted. Slowly, the two horses started to move his direction as he kept sprinting. The beast was right behind him, waiting for the opportunity to get its meal. As the cart passed by at a minimal speed, the man looked at Leo with skeptic eyes. The wolf wasn’t even bothered by the two horses or the big cargo cart. With a quick turn and a skillful leap, Leo jumped on the cart whilst carrying the unconscious girl. The wolf watched as his target just passed by him onto the cart, which took off at a racing speed. It tried chasing them but was lacking in speed.
“Iew what a stench. Are you sure this is sa-” the man tried to say before Leo abruptly interrupted him by shouting: “I don’t fucking care what you think just keep driving the cart when I’m inside. You coward bitch just do what your job is; traveling ”Over ten wounds had been ripped open again by the sprint, making Leo bite his teeth to bear with it.
I have to handle this fast; there must be a way. This time I have the chance to stop that damned infection. This time, I can stop their plans. Okay, calm down. I only have one chance to do this right. I know what the problem is, which is already half of the work; now just fix it. He laid her down on the wooden floor and snatched the black box. I need a water type mana stone. I don’t care if I don’t have any potential with the element, just this once I have use it.
The stone that first caught his eye had a deep blue shine and looked as if there was a liquid inside. Alright, here goes nothing. With a strong bite, he split the source of power into countless splinters, which scattered to every spot in his mouth. Leo swallowed them and prepared for the impact. Here it comes: maybe I was too impulsive. His heart rate started to build up. Focus. He closed his eyes and embraced the stream of energy that was arriving. Every vein in his body felt like it was bursting. His heart went faster and faster until it felt like one continues beat. A scream left his mouth in agony as he persisted. There was no place in the boy’s body yet that could store mana, so it went through his blood veins, in search of a home. After a few cycles of following his blood, it settled down at the heart. The pain had stopped. Is that all? This is nothing compared to those dreams. I guess people complain about the little things.
What Leo didn’t know was that that was the easiest part. As he activated the energy and tried to cast it towards his hands the energy went rampant. He had never learned how to channel mana or how to use it. All the wounds on his right arm started to heal but this wasn’t what he needed. No, no, no! I have to redirect it; otherwise, it’ll only heal me. Fully concentrated, Leo tried his best, but that wasn’t enough. It was a complete failure. He managed to cast the magic towards his hand, which was shaking in stress and pain. He placed his right hand on the small girl’s belly, aiming for her liver. With his nail, he carved a pattern in her skin, creating a drawing of cuts and blood.
All seven points of infection are marked; now I just have to cast the healing spell. “Sanitatem”, he whispered, crying out of pain. He didn’t know when to stop, trying to get every last flare of energy inside of him. Nothing but a few droplets of water came from his hand, it might’ve even been sweat. I’m too late. The power is already out. I used to much on my self. Again, again I failed to save someone from their grasp. I’ll massacre them all. Those lion-marked soldiers, I’ll torture them until they die. How dare they go against the laws of nature and artificially infect an organ? I have to; I have to destroy them. Leo lost all of his common sense.
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His unstable mind reached its limit; the bucket of patience he had finally started to overflow. The boy balled up his hands into fists and hit the wooden parquet beneath him. In a desperate attempt trying to get out his frustration he tried again. “Sanitatem!”, he shouted. Again, nothing happened. “I’ll fucking kill them!”, the boy shouted while stretching forward his arm for the third time. Before he could even try and say the spell for the third time, a black and purple fume started to sprout like a sapling in the palm of his hand.
The malicious energy seeped into the cuts on the girl before Leo could pull his hand back. He knew this wasn’t the pure water energy he had tried to use before. Scared of his own power, he rolled back a bit. The girl’s skin stitched itself with the small hairs on her skin as sutures. The blood below it began to boil unnaturally. Scared, the boy instantly wrapped his fingers around her wrist, monitoring her heartbeat every second. After a few minutes, it stopped and her breathing went back to normal. With a sigh Leo sat back down and looked scared at his own hands. In the corner of his eye, he could see that the man had been looking the entire time. When Leo wanted to look him in the eyes, he focused back on the road as if he hadn’t seen anything.
What was that? Don’t tell me… Was that the same energy the reapers use? No, that’s impossible; only a dead being can handle that kind of energy. I could also still use the healing energy from the water mana without harming myself. If it really was the reapers’ type of mana, I would’ve killed myself using the healing spell. What is it, and how could it heal wounds. Blood started to flow out of Leo’s mouth as a toll on what he had done.
The boy had used energy that wasn’t his own and had to suffer the consequences for borrowing it. This was the con to using mana stones. To secure safety, Leo used pieces of cloth as bandages for him and the girl. Now that he could relax, he saw that the girl had long brown hair that curled up a little. She also looked younger than him. She looked so innocent in her sleep that Leo went lost in thought looking at her. What was going to happen to the girl or if she would ever wake up was unknown but he was satisfied for a while.
He sat next to her, tying the rope pieces again, waiting for her to awaken. Now that Leo looked at her, he noticed she wore fancy clothing but it was covered in dirt and mud. Maybe she’s from a noble family and was attacked while traveling? All of this is weird, I can’t trust that cowardly merchant and his wife as well. He’d sell me if it meant some more profit or another day to live. I should start stabilizing my heart otherwise I might suffer from more aftereffects. The boy closed his eyes and tried to calm down. With slow breaths and relaxed muscles, he meditated. There was still some unusable energy in his heart that should be dispersed, or it would damage the organ later on. It was an extremely slow process where you had to stay focused to progress.
A few days had passed and it was early in the morning when Leo opened his eyes again. Two deep, golden eyes looked at him from less than a finger’s length away. Surprised, he fell backwards off the box he was sitting on. The wounds on his back pounded as he fell on the wooden floor of the cart. It was the girl he had saved before going into a state of meditation. “You scared me,” Leo said while sitting back up.
She smiled softly and sat down next to him. “Are you the one who healed me? The mister in the front said he did it but I don’t sense the same energy coming from him,” the girl said. Her golden eyes reflected the sun so beautifully. That bastard probably noticed her clothing and planned to claim a price by bringing her back to her family safely. What does she mean by sense from me though? “Yes, I healed you. More importantly, are you feeling okay now? If you have any problems or weird feelings please tell me”, Leo whispered.
The girl saw the sympathetic look on Leo’s face and relaxed a bit. She leaned her head on his shoulder and closed her eyes. “What’s your name mister? Mine is Akino,” the girl said. “It’s Leo; you can just call me that. Your name fits you quite well. So, is there anything weird or different from before?” Her eyes were still closed as she nodded. “Yes, you give off weird energy. I can see them; it’s a mix of three.” “See what?”, Leo asked. What does she mean? Did she hit her head? Maybe it’s an aftereffect of the magic. She began whispering in his ear, “It’s a secret, okay? Don’t tell anybody. I can see different colors of light flying when I focus. Master called it mana. It’s everywhere and clings onto people. The man in the front has a bit of red around him and the woman a bit of brown, but it’s very weak. You have three colors that create strong pressure together. One is very light purple; it gives off a fierce and fast pressure. The smallest one is black and I can’t feel anything from it. The last one is dark purple and gives off a strong, scary pressure.”
She stopped for a second and opened her eyes to look into Leo’s. “It’s a bit frightening, but I’m not scared at all.” The boy placed his hand on the top of her head and comforted her: “Thank you for telling me. I promise your secret is safe with me. So, Akino,can you tell me what happened to you? I found you passed out on the road with a terrible infection” Akino’s eyes widened, and tears started to appear. She buried her head in Leo’s chest and started crying. “I-I don’t remember. I only know they were waiting for me af-after teacher told me to go into the woods. They chased me. T-then I passed out.”
Sounds like a betrayal. I suppose he gave away the information that she could see mana to the enemies of her family. Out of fear, they must’ve tried and destroy any future problems. Akino kept on crying and sobbing until she fell asleep. It was around noon with the sun high in the sky. Akino’s head was resting on Leo’s lap as he was tying the ropes again. What do I do with her? She’s only twelve and I can’t take her with me because of the trial. She told me she was from the capital, so she should know her way home once we arrive. The only problem is the merchant, I don’t like the way he’s acting. I’ve never heard of seeing mana, but it must be extremely rare and powerful.
Jeff, the man who controlled the cart at the time, looked at Leo. His wife was awake for once and sat next to him. Eli, the wife, spoke: “We thought you were dead; you meditated for over three days straight without any movement or food. We made some good progress towards the capital, you know? We might arrive within four days. It could be three if the weather is good.” An awkward silence developed. The man seemed to be hesitating for a while before he gathered the courage to ask his question: “Now, let me get to my point: what do you plan to do with the girl?”