(Ivan)

The boys were catapulted off the bridge, surrounded by a maelstrom of broken wood and snapped lines. Momentarily suspended, Ivan was dazed and disoriented amidst a whirlwind of debris. Parts of the bridge disintegrated around him, and he plunged down to be swallowed by the river.

The icy water hit Ivan like an inferno, branding his skin. It was the perfect catalyst to regain his senses. He gasped and swallowed water. The fury of the river assaulted him. His lungs burned as he grappled and fought his way to the surface. The moment his head emerged above the freezing water, he coughed violently and took a deep breath. The air filled his lungs as fast as fear spread throughout his body.

Where’s William?

Ivan dove into the river. He searched frantically for his little brother, holding his breath for as long as he could. He was shivering violently when he surfaced right next to the giant oak tree. He reached for one of its branches and was shocked that it was warm. The heat crept up his arm and spread throughout his body. He took a deep breath and the panic in his chest subsided.

A pillar of blinding light erupted from the giant oak. The light shot straight up into the sky and pierced the heart of the storm. The rain, lightning, and fierce winds vanished as quickly as they had appeared. The light from the afternoon sun filled the valley once again, erasing any signs of the storm’s fury. The river stilled.

The giant oak trembled. Ivan snatched his hand away as the tree shrank and transformed into a frail and gangly old man. The old man’s skin was illuminated from within. He had hollow cheeks and a long, tangled beard. His face was contorted in pain and a trickle of blood ran down his cheek. Struggling, the elder lifted his hand above the water and blue light flowed from his fingertips. The light spread across the surface of the river in all directions.

A geyser of bubbles erupted next to Ivan, startling him. The frothy water pushed William’s body to the surface. His eyes were closed, and his face was deathly pale. The light emanating from the old man dimmed and the glow around William intensified.

William coughed and gasped for air. Ivan grabbed him across the chest and swam toward the eastern riverbank, away from the Black Forrest. From the corner of his eye, he saw the old man slowly sink and disappear under the water.

Ivan pulled his brother up onto the soggy bank. Exhausted, he collapsed onto the ground. Shivering, he placed an arm around William. His brother softly glowed with magic and his skin burned with heat.

He’s alive! Ivan heaved a sigh of relief.

Sunlight peeked through the tree branches as Ivan gathered tinder. The canopy of the nearby trees was the perfect place to find dry wood after the rainstorm. He carried the sticks and branches back to the riverbank. He pulled a sparker out of his pocket and started a fire. He reached down to take William’s coat off, but to his surprise, it was already dry.

Ivan’s hands trembled as he stripped off his jacket and boots. He put them by the fire to dry and hunkered down next to his still unconscious brother. William was emitting as much heat as the burning wood. Steam rose from the wet garments.

Ivan placed a hand on his brother’s forehead. William’s skin was burning hot, and he continued to radiate light.

Ivan chewed on his lip as he examined his brother.

This is magic, he thought with trepidation. And not the magic of our people.

He considered their predicament.

I need to get William home. Aunt Lisa will know what to do.

He looked at his brother. I won’t be able to carry him all the way back home. I need to wake him up.

“William!” Ivan shook his brother. “Get up,” he shouted. “Come on, get up… get up.”

William groaned and covered his head with his arm. “Five more ticks,” he croaked. “It’s too early to get up.”

The worry that had gripped Ivan evaporated and he sighed with relief. His brother sounded like himself.

Ivan nudged him on the shoulder. “William, it’s the middle of the day and we’re in the middle of the forest. Come on, get up.”

“Ugh.” William sat up and looked around groggily. “Whaa… What happened?”

“You fell on the bridge, and you hit your head pretty hard. Do you remember any of that?”

“Scraps.” William grimaced and rubbed the back of his head. “Um… well… we were on the other side of the river and there was a crazy storm. I remember a big lightning bolt hitting a tree… We were running toward the bridge... Everything else is a blur after that.”

William rubbed his eyes and as he lowered his arms he gasped. “Rot and ruin!” he cried out. “My arms are glowing… How? What did you do to me?”

“Calm down.” Ivan placed a hand on his shoulder. “Let me tell you what happened.”

Ivan described William’s fall, the tree smashing into the bridge, and the boys plunging into the river. He slowed a bit as he explained how the oak had transformed into an old man, banished the storm, and saved William.

“Even though the old man was wounded,” Ivan continued, “he used magic to save your life. I saw a light moving from him to you. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Wait,” William mumbled as he stared at his glowing arms. “Now that I think about it, I do remember something.” He paused. “How can I explain it? It was like a presence. It was vast and really old.” He peered into the fire.

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“It was weird. It was like my body was floating in a river of knowledge and all of that got crammed into my head. A flood of images flashed through my mind. It showed me how to cast spells. I knew other languages that I’ve never heard before. I went to places that don’t exist anymore. I could even see how magic worked.” He looked at Ivan and shook his head. “It’s all a blur now.” William continued to gawk at his skin.

“You’ve been glowing like that since I dragged you out of the river. This looks like magic from the Light school. It looks like the Body Glow spell.” He leaned forward. “It doesn’t make sense though, does it? I mean, the old man had to be a Nature caster and not a Light caster. After all, he was in tree-form. I just don’t get it.” Ivan scratched the back of his neck.

“So many strange things have happened today. Even that storm wasn’t natural. That Lightning Strike looked like Shadow magic, but much more powerful.”

“Yeah,” William agreed. “That storm started without any warning at all.” He rested his chin on his fist, his face slackened, and he stared vacantly at the dancing flames.

There was a long, somber silence as they sat by the fire. Ivan moved closer to the heat as he considered some of the events that had occurred. He kept a close eye on his brother. William finally stirred and the first thing that he did was to check the contents of his bag.

“Ha!” William exclaimed. “We still have our hunting spoils.” He lifted the white rabbit out of his bag. “Our rabbit survived the whole ordeal… Well, except for the part that it was already dead.”

Annoyed by his brother’s glib attitude, Ivan narrowed his eyes. “You know that we’re going to have to tell Aunt Lisa everything. And you can guess how furious she’ll be once she finds out where we were hunting. Imagine how upset she’ll get when she hears the whole story. And just look at yourself… For Tor’Sal’s sake, you’re still glowing!”

“Glowing beats being dead,” William quipped. “Imagine if you had to explain that to Aunt Lisa. She’d be beyond furious then.”

Ivan crossed his arms. “William, this is serious. You can’t approach everything in life as a joke. I don’t want to state the obvious, but you only live once.”

“Actually,” William countered. “You live every day. You only die once.”

A muscle in Ivan’s jaw twitched.

“Anyway, I don’t think you’ll have to worry about explaining this to Aunt Lisa.” William waved his hand dismissively. “I’m pretty sure that I can stop the glow.” He grinned and rubbed his palms together.

“Oh, really? What makes you say that?”

“Well, I can’t explain it. It’s just a feeling that I have. Let me focus.”

“Alright, do what you have to.”

Ivan leaned over to check his clothes. They were dry enough. He put on his boots and shrugged into his jacket. He decided to give his brother some time and headed down to the riverbank. He walked along the edge of the river and searched for any signs of the old man. He found nothing. The mysterious stranger had disappeared. He headed back, lost in thought.

“Look! Look at me… I did it,” William cried out. “I’m not glowing anymore. All I had to do was think of something dark and poof.”

“Wow, you did it.” Ivan’s eyebrows rose. “Nicely done.”

He looked up at the sky. “It’s getting late. We need to get going. You can tell me exactly what you did on the way back.”

“You’re right, it’s getting late.”

Ivan threw some dirt on the fire to smother it. William slowly got up and stretched, looking like he was making sure his arms and legs still worked.

“Hey, do you remember seeing mom and dad casting any spells?” asked Ivan.

William frowned. “I don’t remember much of them. I know what you and Aunt Lisa have told me.” He paused. “I know that both of them were Nature casters, and that dad was in the Spirit Competition. He even won the magic event.”

“Yeah, he won one and finished second in the other.”

Ivan reminisced about his childhood as they trudged along the path through the woods. He chuckled to himself and turned toward William.

“I’ve told you this story before, but it has been a while. The night before my fifth birthday, I watched mom make a clover-berry pumpkin cake. I wanted to eat it right away, but I had to wait until the next day. That night, I couldn’t sleep because I kept thinking about that cake. So, I crept out of my bedroom and snuck down the hallway toward the kitchen. I tried to be quiet, but the old wooden floorboards creaked with every step that I took.”

“I hate creaky floorboards,” William interrupted. “Aunt Lisa always knows when I’m up in the middle of the night. Ugh, sorry, go ahead.”

“No worries. Well, the cake and a basket of mocca-nuts were sitting exactly where mom had left them. I thought that no one would notice if the cake was missing one little spoonful of clover-berries from the side. I was just about to scrape some of the berries, when the mocca-nuts rose from the basket. They formed a floating face and started talking. ‘Ho-ho, little one,’ the mocca-nuts said. ‘Are you supposed to be eating that cake, or are you supposed to be in bed?’ I dropped the spoon on the floor and then I heard giggling behind the counter. The floating face assured me that nobody was there, but I wasn’t fooled. I recognized dad’s voice and mom’s laugh. That night, we sat down and shared a slice of cake before they sent me back to bed.”

(William)

William had listened to the story intently, even though he had already heard it before. He sighed. “I only have vague memories of them.” He had been three years old when their parents had died protecting the capital.

He closed his eyes and visualized being with his mom and dad. In his mind, he saw Mom Levitating objects and Dad transforming into different animals. If they were still alive, he would amaze them with his Body Glow.

Mom, Dad, look what I can do! he imagined himself saying to them as he pretended to cast a spell.

“William, you’re glowing again. And you’re much brighter this time!” Ivan’s voice snapped him out of his reverie.

“Wow,” William blurted. He examined his right hand, and it looked like moonlight was radiating from within. There was a pleasant warmth coursing through his body. “Hmm, I was just daydreaming.”

“What were you daydreaming about?”

“Mom and Dad. I imagined showing off my Body Glow spell to them.”

“Interesting…” Ivan looked thoughtful. “I’ve read that some casters rely on visualization to conjure their spells. So, all you had to do was think about it and it happened, right?”

“Yeah, that’s all I did,” he replied. “It was a good thing it was easy, since I like easy things.” He smiled broadly. “From now on, we’re going to save a bunch of coins on candles. I no longer need a night light when I’m playing with my toy soldiers after dark. Scraps, I can even help you. Tonight, when you’re reviewing sword fighting techniques from Master Verse, I got you covered.”

“You realize what that means, right?”

“Of course.” William raised his right index finger. “I can wield magic, so I no longer have to practice my archery.”

Ivan crossed his arms. “You can stop practicing archery after you learn how to catch rabbits with Body Glow.”

William’s shoulders slumped. “You just crushed my rush.”

“Keep your rush but temper it with a dose of reality.”

“Ugh!” William grimaced. “Was that another one of your quotes?” He was only half listening to his brother while practicing his new spell.

“Yes, it was,” Ivan replied quietly.

It was getting darker and colder by the time they reached home. William surveyed the familiar terrain as they approached the farm. The area was covered with evergreen vegetation and thick brush, which made it difficult to find. There were no well-established roads that led to the farm. There were just two hidden trails and not many knew about them. They passed by the stream, which flowed by the barn. The mushroom logs were still covered with snow and many of the fenced enclosures were empty. Their moose, Swifty, was probably sleeping in the barn. Unlike his name, he was the slowest mount on the continent.

The closer they got to the house, the more nervous William became. He slowed his pace and let his brother take the lead. He smiled to himself. It was a solid strategy. This way, Ivan would take the brunt of Aunt Lisa’s ire.