I closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them I was back in the cave where Linley and I trained my magic. I looked around optimistically hoping that I would be able to find Linley close to where I was; nevertheless, he was nowhere to be found.

I walked a small while before I found the wall that I practiced aiming my magic at. So for fun I lifted my right hand and let a small amount of dark magic come out of it. Then I pretended that there was an enemy in front of me and I hit the wall with all of my strength.

“Wow, you’re improving” said a voice behind me.

Without thinking twice, I turned around and shot my magic at the person. They ducked quickly, to avoid being hit, and when they stood up I realized they were Linley. “Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry I almost hit you. But you really shouldn’t sneak up behind people like that.”

After a slight chuckle Linley said, “Fair enough.” He took a step towards me and said, “So are you ready?”

I turned my head in confusion and didn’t say a word.

Seeing that I was drawing a blank Linley said, “For attacking me with your magic.”

“I said I wasn’t doing that.”

“By the way you were hitting that wall, I wouldn’t be surprised if you beat me.”

I made a slight smile and asked, “Really?”

“Maybe. You’ll have to see yourself.”

“That’s mean.”

“No its fair.” Taking another step towards me, he said, “If you don’t hit me with your magic I’ll be forced to hit you with mine to motivate you enough to hit me.”

As an attempt to mock him I put my hands up and said, “Ooo I’m so scared.” Just then I saw Linley make a ball of white light over his hand, and when I wasn’t paying attention he hit my shoulder with it. He didn’t hit me hard enough to make a mark or seriously injure me, but it still hurt. I laid my hand on my shoulder and said, “Ow. I was joking.”

“Magic isn’t something to joke about, it is something to be taken very seriously.”

“So hitting you is called being serious with magic.”

“Precisely.”

“Alright. But don’t blame me if I hurt you.”

“I highly doubt that you will.”

“You better hold you tongue.”

“Oh really. Prove it. Hit me.” He paused and again he said, “Hit me.” For a second time he paused and then said, “Hit me Jasmine.” After taking the final step towards me, so that he was face to face with me he said, “See you can’t do it. You don’t believe in yourself or your magic. You’re weak and will always be weak. Don’t even think about entering the eternal door of souls, you’d never survive long enough to know what was going on.”

The longer Linley taunted me the more irritated I became. I clenched my jaw and tightened my hands into fist trying not to use my magic against Linley. However, the more I held back the angrier I became until I finally snapped. “SHUT UP!!!” I yelled as I aimed my hands at Linley. I had so much anger behind my magic that I actually sent Linley flying backwards; even though he had incredible balancing skills.

He slammed into the ground a few feet back. When he stood up he said, “That was great. Now, do it again.” Just then he began to run at me as full speed.

Not knowing if he would hit me with his magic or not I got my hands ready to hit him if I needed to. Once he got close enough to me he jumped and with one arm he threw his magic at me. I jumped out of the way and landed on the ground. When he landed he kept trying to hit me. I rolled out of the way just enough every time. He stopped for a moment, and since I was on my back at this point I lifted my arms in his general direction and aimed for him. When he was avoiding my magic I quickly got back on my feet and got ready to fight.

This went on for a while.

Since I chose to go with dark magic it was much harder to stop, while fighting with someone, than light magic. So now that I had the taste of hitting Linley I enjoyed the feeling way too much to stop. I ran at him at full speed, with my hands behind me, and when I was about an arms length away from him and forcefully hit him. Again I sent him flying backwards. This time when he got up he looked exhausted and sore from being thrown back so many times.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

He had bruises covering he exposed arms and a thin layer of dirt covering his face and his hands. He put his hands up on surrender and said, “Okay Jasmine you made your point, you can stop now.”

Not being able to help myself I walked right up to him and once I was right beside him I built all of my magic and aimed all of my left over anger at him; while he was laying helplessly on the ground. In a flash there was a swarm of black and then Linley disappeared. The only thing that was left in his place was a single ball of light hovering above the ground.

I looked at the ball of light proud of what I had done, not thinking about the consequences to my actions. Nonetheless, just as I was about to walk away I came to the realization of what I had done. I covered my mouth and dropped to my knees. In tears I wailed, “What have I done?” I gently place my hand where Linley’s head was and just quietly sat there as I absorbed what had happened during the last hour.

Being killed by my magic reminded me about the nightmares that I had while I was actually with Linley. Although, unlike those times, I couldn’t wake up. Linley was dead because of me. Sweat began to drip from my head and my hands started to shake uncontrollably. I curled into a ball and wrapped my arms around my bent knees. “Linley’s dead, he’s really dead.” I began to slowly rock back and forth. I burst into tears again, from pain of losing the person I loved, and I cried into my knees.

It took me a while to recover but when I did I lifted my head and with a shaking mouth I said to myself, “He didn’t survive the door. I am the only one left. He didn’t survive the door. I have to move on. He didn’t survive the door. I let him down” I paused for a brief moment and before crying again I said, “He…Didn’t…Survive…The… Door.”

Just then I felt the presents of someone close to me. They squatted next to me and said, in a deep voice, “What’s wrong.”

Not being able to look up I said, “I killed the person closest to me.”

“Well that is something to be upset about.”

“If you don’t mind I just want to be alone.”

“I was going to tell you of a way to escape this place, but I can leave you alone if you’d rather.” The person stood up and took one step away from me.

I reached my arm towards their ankle and grabbed it, not wanting them to leave me. I lifted my head and said, “Please don’t go. I’d like to know how to get out of here.”

The person shifted their weight back towards me and said, “That’s what I thought.”

I looked at the person and noticed that it was the wizard that greeted me when I first entered this place. In surprise I asked him, “What are you doing here.”

“I am here to help you, like I said.”

“You said you could help me escape. How?”

“By having you complete the final test. If you pass it, like you have with your other two tests you can escape and go back home.”

“It doesn’t feel like I’ve won anything. Every thing that’s happened has caused me to lose something.”

Lifting his head up slightly the wizard said, “Great sacrifice is needed to make someone stronger.”

“By great sacrifice you mean having my heart being broken on multiple occasions.”

“Exactly. It was the only way to get you to go down your rightful path for magic.”

“You’re a cruel man, you know that.”

“Don’t you want to know want to know what the final test is?”

“Yes.”

The wizard hit his walking stick on the ground, which cause a gust of wind to blow back the dirt below us. When everything was cleared and we were surrounded by blackness he said, “You must defeat me.”