VEENA

It Turned out that I was able to make 25 ravens before my internal reserves started to run out. This meant that I now had more magical energy resources then Anna or Kate just as Kate had predicted. I sent off all my ravens for a scouting expedition ahead of us so that there would be no more surprises waiting for us as we made our way to the magicus collectio.

It was a long time after our exercises that Nick finally woke up. He looked to be in a rather bad state, although Kate had told me that it was only temporary due to the fact that he had exhausted his magical reserves while trying to fight off Shade. Even though Nick was initially very enthusiastic to see me, this enthusiasm soon evaporated as soon as he caught sight of my companion. I couldn't say that I was really surprised considering what we went through but it still stung a bit that he was keeping a fair bit of distance from me because of Shade.

Kate insisted on conducting more and more tests every day to assess the improvements in my physical energy and the amount of nature energy that I could incorporate into my magic and I was very surprised to learn that it was actually increasing everyday for about 5 days until it finally settled down. We continued our journey to magicus collectio without any further incidents hampering our journey. This was in large part due to my new scouting squad, who were very efficient at communicating about whatever dangers lay ahead of us. Kate and Anna found that the number of strong Magical creatures that we encountered during our journey was alarmingly high compared to what was considered normal.

“Something is definitely not right” Kate said after we had managed to avoid the fifth heart rending python thanks to my very efficient and expendable advanced warning system.

“You're right Kate, we choose this path because this was supposed to be the safest way to reach magicus collectio without disturbing any of the magical creatures that dwell in the heart of the forest. But it seems to me that every one of the creatures have suddenly decided to come out to the edge of the forest instead of waiting at the centre where the magical energy is densest” Maggie added, coming closer to us.

When Maggie came closer to talk to us, it was hard not to notice that Nick was keeping his distance from me. I had thought Nick would get over his hatred for shade after a few days, but that just didn't seem to be happening. Even when I had sent shade away from me in order to not spook Nick, he still seemed to be Focused on maintaining a distance from me. His behaviour was starting to feel really hurtful. Nick was the first friend of my age that I had made after I had left the village and it seemed that somehow I had managed to make a mess out of that relationship. Nick was being really evasive whenever I asked him what was bothering him. For the life of me, I couldn't figure out why he was acting this way.

I put those thoughts out of my head as I focused on the conversation between Anna Kate and Maggi.

“I am willing to bet my elements that something deeply disturbing is going on inside the deep forest to be able to cause magical creatures of such strength to come out to the outskirts like this” Anna said.

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“If it was any other time, I would have liked to go into the forest and do a bit of digging myself. But as we are gathering for the magicus collectio, the best bet would be to raise the issue there and get enough qualified mages to investigate this properly” Kate said.

I learned that this kind of large magical anomaly had happened in the past which required scores of fully trained mages to venture into the depths of the forest to handle the situation. From the evidence that we had, it seemed as though something of the sort was happening yet again in our lifetime as well.

We increased our pace of travel as much as possible considering the dangers around us so that we could reach magicus collectio as early as possible in order to deliver this important piece of news.

But to tell the truth, there was something else on my mind that was bothering me more than the increased activity of Magical creatures. It was Nick’s growing distant attitude towards me. I was determined to get an answer as soon as possible. After dinner I ordered shade to stay away while I cornered Nick and demanded an answer for his behaviour towards me.

“ You've been avoiding me all week, Nick” I said in a tone that might have come out a lot angrier than I had expected.

“No I haven't” Nick replied in a small voice while not meeting my eyes.

“Yes you have, don't try to deny it. Ever since that day, you have been avoiding me. At first I thought it might have been because of Shade, but even when I send him away from me, you keep avoiding me.

What did I do wrong Nick, tell me what did I do wrong? What have I done to make you feel this much anger towards me?” I said, almost breaking into tears.

I hadn't realised that Nick's neglect had meant that much to me. I had been counting on him being the only support I had when I would meet my peers at the magicus collectio and now he couldn’t stand the sight of me.

“Veena you did everything right. You saved my life. Without you, I wouldn't be here. It's me that I am mad at… Me. It's me that I am disgusted at, it's not your fault Veena.” Nick said.

“Why would you feel this way Nick? We both know that a strygian wolf was out of our League. Neither of us had the capacity to defeat him. It was only by sheer luck that I managed to survive and make him my familiar. There is no need to feel this bad.” I implored him.

“Don't put yourself down Veena, it wasn't just luck, it was your magical talent that allowed you to tame a strygian Wolf where countless others would have failed.” Nick said with a sigh before fully fully looking at me for the first time since we started the conversation.

“I think you might have already noticed that I really like you, Veena. I’ve liked you ever since the first time I laid my eyes on you. Even back then, I felt that I would have to be the luckiest guy in the world to be able to make you mine. But still, I thought that I had a shot with you. But now, the Gulf between us has grown so wide that I feel like I will never be able to catch up with you.”

Even though I had an inkling that Nick may have seen me as more than just a friend, his confession out of the blue caught me off guard and stunned me into silence. I never knew that Nick felt this deeply about me.

Before I could even fully process my feelings, I felt Nick move beside me. His face was very close to mine.

“Do you like me, Veena?”