I awoke with a jolt to my body. It was pitch black, the chirping of crickets loud and ringing in my ears. The warmth of the fire last night was gone, replaced by the dark, foreboding mystery of the forest we were trapped in.

I shuffled forward out of the small wooden shelter me and Jork had made a few hours ago. Jork wasn’t in the shelter, however, he was slumped over the taxi, much of the damage repaired. He must have been working for a long time, as his eyes still shook from time to time, meaning he only recently fell asleep.

Hopefully we don’t get attacked. Jork will be off his game for a while…

I shuffled back inside the shelter. So close to the academy, yet so far away. Darkness loomed, and after that recent attack, I felt self-conscious. How was I going to defend myself against monsters and mages of that level? If Jork was defeated, I had nothing. I felt even worse about that.

Jork has to defend me, and I can barely do anything for him.

The thought of how friendly and hardworking Jork was for me filled me with guilt. But I had to focus on what was ahead, what was happening right now. Survival.

Looking out the shelter, I realized how foreboding the forest truly was. The trees looked even darker in the cold nature of the night. The wood was almost pitch black, and the freezing cold of the forest didn’t help either. But I couldn’t help but feel that it was almost too cold, as if it was screaming death and destruction.

I’m just imagining things.

But there was one thing that wasn’t imagined, and that was pain. I noticed dried blood all across Jork from the fight earlier, and he was already exhausted. Not to mention, Jork had told me that this forest was dangerous. Was this enemy territory? If so, then we were not safe here, and Jork’s demeanor had already answered my question, I realized with a shock.

Then, I heard it. A soft crack of a twig, but I heard it. I shuffled out of the shelter and peered into the darkness. At first, I didn’t see anything, but then I noticed a glint in the dark. Yellow eyes that gleamed, grabbing by attention. I shot behind a log.

Did it see me?

I realized with a shock that it did, as the yellow, fierce eyes blinked, and once they reappeared, they were larger.

It’s advancing.

I thought of waking up Jork, but if I did, whatever was out there would pounce. But I had no other options. I didn’t know any spells, nothing. My only option was to get Jork to blast that thing to smithereens.

Growl…

The monster knew I was there. It could probably smell me or something of the sort, and I could hear it’s footsteps clatter along the ground. With closer inspection, I realized what it was. A small, wispy rodent of some kind. It was small, but still fierce. Its eyes pierced my body like knives, and I knew it was now or never. I had to get Jork.

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“Jork,” I whispered, desperate for help. “Jork!”

Jork shuffled a little, but still didn’t wake up. I grabbed his arm and shook him a little.

“Jork, Jork! There’s a monster of some kind-”

Then it struck. I felt something slam into my chest, sending me sprawling backwards. I realized it was the monster, and it was hissing. I realized that it was soft, nearly made of clouds, but the impact was painful. It released it’s wispy tendril of an arm, and I noticed it was sparking a bit.

An elemental monster. It must be affiliated with Storm!

The tendril whooped downwards, but before it could strike me, a massive arm grabbed the monster and flung it across the clearing.

“You okay, Mr. Karn?” Jork asked, his eyes filled with worry.

I nodded and got back up. The monster was bristling with rage, prepared to strike at Jork with everything it had.

“That’s a Cloud Clisp,” Jork spoke, fists clenched. “They’re physically soft, and it’s a bit weird to explain, you see, but they can shock you right down to a crisp.”

Jork raised up his hands, and a brilliant light shot out. Flames danced out of his palms and flew towards the Cloud Clisp. But the monster was fast and shot up dozens of feet, and soared towards Jork.

His basic fire attack didn’t work, and that Clisp is fast.

The monster flew towards Jork, but stopped in midair. Then, a wispy tendril shot out from it’s chest, but after another look, it wasn’t a tendril. A small bolt of electricity was flying towards Jork, but he quickly reacted and sent a wave of fire it’s way, dispersing the attack and creating a small explosion midair. With the cover, Jork leaped to his left to get another angle. However, the Clisp expected Jork to shoot when he landed, but the troll dived behind the car and released a blast of fire, knocking the monster down with smoke trailing it.

I breathed a sigh of relief, thinking the fight was over, until I realized there was a mist surrounding the knocked out monster. I realized that it was a group of Clisps, chattering with anger and charged with electricity.

“Oh, no…” Jork’s eyes went wide with shock, but recollected himself. He raised his hands and blasted a wave of fire, much larger than the ones he was using earlier, and dispersed the electrified mist. But the Cloud Clisps were organized and fast, and seemed to form a cloud and attack with almost perfect coordination.

The cloud sent a bolt of lightning flying down towards Jork, who quickly rolled away in anticipation. Jork kept sending blasts of flame, but the cloud always split up and reformed before Jork could attack again. This time, the cloud changed tactics. They split up into 5 different clouds and began dropping small bolts down, forming a small barrier. From their, the main, largest cloud charged, electricity firing from all sides. Jork, however, saw this coming, and blasted one of the clouds to bits. He then tried to escape from the gap, but the main cloud twisted and blasted him, grazing his leg and sending a loud crack in the air.

Jork winced in pain but looked up again, his eyes filled with fury. The clouds and Jork continued to exchange blows, until Jork finally caught a break in the cloud’s attacks and formed a small sphere of fire in his palm. It took the form of car keys, and he aimed them at the taxi. In a split second, the car roared to life, and churned forward, distracting the clouds just long enough for Jork to send another wave of flame blasts, sending the clouds crashing downwards, the chatter of the Clisps the only thing I could hear for dozens of yards.

“Mr. Karn,” Jork trembled, clearly exhausted from fighting so many elementals in the middle of the night. “You are alright…?”

“Yes, thanks.” I replied.

Safety could finally be confirmed now. I could still feel the fear in my body, even if Jork couldn’t see my expression in the darkness. After those trolls and that Cloud Clisp attack, Jork was probably low on mana, the magical energy source that powers all spells. Without it, you have nothing.

“Now,” Jork grumbled. “We can go to sleep.”