As the cold, dead winter rain fell on my face, I could just make out lightning in the distance.

"My village, I need to get back now." I stumbled on the icy ground in an attempt to stay upright because I was unable to walk any longer.

"Damn!" I really hate fighting those freaking snowy pointy ears. Out of all the times they attack with an Ice Mage. I thought as I stand up and yell for my companion.

"HEY GET BACK HERE, YOU DAMN FUR SNAKE!" As my voice barely echoes through the rain.

"We need to find shelter from this damn rain, so hurry up and use those darn wings." As I lean up next to a tree to catch my breath before heading to the village.

I jerked my neck toward the sound of a leaves, displaying my tusks in a warning gesture. As the sound of the rain made it hard to hear and thunder lit up the sky, I saw him.

"Kal, there you are; come here, little guy." Kal looks tired and hurt, his white feathers? There is no time for questions. I need to help him, he has lots of blood on himself, but it’s so much that I can’t tell if it’s his. I really have to hurry back to the village now.

As I carry Kal in my arms, the village is just in view.

"It’s close now, Kal, alright we are almost there, and I will fix you up plus give you some beef ribs." Kal just chirped softly in response. I ran, trying to get as close as possible without caring if I slipped on the ice or stumbled. I just focused on getting to the village.

I got to the village by running past everyone. I am solely focused on going to Darv. Darv, that damn serpent healer, had better be able to help Kal. As I ran, making it to the dirt hut on the hill, I saw a frail looking old Orc walking out.

"Darv, get the bed ready for Kal NOW!" Darv jumped a little and froze at hearing me yell at him, then immediately bolted inside the hut, leaving the door open.

I slipped in, careful not to run into him or trip on something.

"Nash, come here quickly; time is not on our side." Darv said while behind the curtain leafs. I followed his craggy voice, and pushed the curtain leaves out of the way to walk in. As I look in, I can see the stone table and some green and purple herbs on a smaller table.

"Lay Kal on the table for me, boy," Darv told me while he started to light some red tree branches near the table.

"Nash, warp Kal's body as if he were sleeping; do it tenderly so you don’t accidentally hurt him." Kal's body had become a little colder to the touch by this point, and as I backed away, little specks of light began to appear out of thin air.

My body stiffened in fear at the fact that magic was forbidden in any Orc tribe.

"DARV, ARE YOU A FEY ORC?" I yelled at him. I returned my gaze to Kal, noticing that the speck of light was entering Karl's body and causing it to glow.

"Calm down, Nash; it is only healing magic, and don’t tell anyone about this." Darv told Nash, while keeping his eyes closed.

"You know how the tribe gets when they even hear about magic. "Is this healing magic or some curse you put on Kal?" I said worriedly."

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

"No, no, boy, it is just a simple healing spell that heals the critical wounds and makes them less severe." "It is called Deep Heal." Darv declared formally. My heart began to pound in my chest at the knowledge of this.

"Darv, will Kal be alright?" I said while keeping my eyes on Kal.

"Yes, he will, and it’s a good thing you brought him in time as well." Darv said, looking very tired.

"Also Nash… "What in the void is up with those wounds? You look like you fought a forest bear." Darv said while trying to catch his breath. "Those damn pointy-eared snow elves, a scouting party got too close to our hunting grounds and attacked me right there.

"All I did was defend myself. I took on five of them, while Kal took on three." I said this while smiling at the battle in my head.

"You are too reckless, you should’ve called for backup. Also, how many of which classes were there?" Darv said, looking disappointed at me.

"Ugh, fine, since you are an elder, there were four bowmen, two single swordsmen, one double swordsman, and lastly one ice mage." I looked at him like it meant something. "ICE

MAGE! Did they have a wand or a staff, or even a spell book?" He looked at me excitedly.

"Yeah, you mean this?" I pulled out a worn and torn book from my rack sack. I handed it to Darv, seeing his eyes widen.

Darv began to flip through the pages of the spell book, and his jaw widened so much I thought it would break.

"Nash, how would you like to learn magic?" Darv said with a grin that showed his tusks.

"Darv, you know that it is forbidden to use magic. How dare you tell a warrior of the Tal Tul clan to use magic. You are lucky that you healed Kal or your head would’ve been on spike." I told Darv aggressively.

"LOOK HERE, ARE YOU DAAF? " This is called Void Magic." He yelled at me with a stern look on his old face.

"So what if it’s Void magic? It is forbidden." I told him half heartedly.

"Then become a wanderer of the Tal Tul clan. If you do, you can leave the tribe and won’t have to follow the rules of the clan." While pointing at me and then at the spell book, he said. I looked at Kal and noticed that he was glowing brightly, ranging from a light blue to a darker blue.

"Darv, what in the void did you do to Kal?" I asked Darv while holding my spear in a white knuckle grip.

"Oh my, it seems that magic is affecting Kal. It may be his first time being touched by magic." Darv looked up, wide-eyed. Kal’s light becomes brighter.

As the light emitting from Kal’s body was so bright, Darv and I turned away from Kal. After a while, the light dimmed, and I finally decided to see that Kal looked different. Kal’s white feathers were gone and replaced by bright white scales, and his wings no longer have feathers either. The wings looked like scaly skin, and Kal’s body also began to emit a very cold aura that made me and Darv shiver.

"Darv, do you mind explaining what you did to Kal, or if that is even Kal?" Even though my teeth were clicking together from the cold, I managed to tell him.

"Nash, I think that Kal evolved due to being near the magic of the ice mage and the magic from the deep heal I used on him." Darv said while trying to find something to keep us warm.

I walked up to Kal, but it slowly became harder and harder to get closer due to the cold he was releasing.

"Kal, hey buddy, do you mind turning down the cold?" With my response, the coldness of the room began to subside.

"Very good, Kal," I said, finally able to stop shivering. I got closer to touching him as he moved closer to me. As my fingertips touched his scales on his back, which had a light tint of blue.

"GUUH." I retracted my hand, feeling a sharp chill run through my body. I buckled to my knees, feeling my body freeze.

"Nash, are you okay?" Darv said as he rushed to my side.

"Whhh-what is happening to me?" I asked Darv, feeling my body become as cold as, if not colder than, the ice used by the mage. As the cold energy became stronger with every passing second, the light in the room began to fade. The last thing I saw before all the light disappeared was Kal growing brightly purple before changing to gray and black. After seeing the black, the light left.