The earth elementalist’s spell was fading. Her crimson aura, once mouthwateringly bright, was dimming, growing smaller as her energy drained from her body. Rasp held back her arsenal of broken cobblestone with ease. He paused, allowing the power in his hands to build for the final push, when he noticed the two additional magical signatures pulsing out of the corner of his murky vision. His breath caught in his throat, realizing he wasn’t seeing flashes of magic, but the witches themselves. Their tantalizing energies glowed against the dark, one blue and the other green, darting about as they tried to end one another.
Whisper’s aura was a weak flicker compared to that of their opponent. Rasp’s poor, weary mentor was barely a mouthful at this point.
Mouthful? Raps didn’t have time to question why he was suddenly describing Whisper as if they were roasted meat on a stick. Still keeping the stones airborne with one hand, he reached out with the other and harnessed the breeze. He willed it stronger, and then did something he had never thought to try before. He combined two separate magical sources into one.
His warning rang out a split second before he unleashed all of chaos onto the alleyway. “Whisper, run!”
Broken cobblestone and earth whipped around him in a deadly whirlwind, picking up speed as it grew in size. Rasp stood at its center, protected from the desperate flashes of green and red as his victims did everything in their power to combat the inevitable. He could no longer detect Whisper nearby, but it didn’t matter. His mentor was smart enough to stay the fuck out of his way.
Magic coursed through Rasp’s veins, buzzing in the air around him in a deadly yellow glow as the wind whipped faster, faster, faster. And then, once certain he couldn’t hold it a second longer, Rasp released. The wind surged away from him, blasting the surrounding walls with rock-laden debris. The buildings rattled and shook as shrapnel struck around him on all sides. As the noises around him stilled to a deathly quiet, Rasp at last, opened his eyes. The surrounding fires had gone out, leaving the alleyway impossibly dark once more. The air was thick with smoke and dust. He waved a hand in front of his face, attempting to keep it from invading his mouth and nostrils.
A blast of green energy flared in his direction. Without thinking, Rasp lifted his hand and a wall of stone rose before him. The energy blast struck the other side in a blaze of green sparks, unable to penetrate the makeshift barrier. Another flick of Rasp’s fingers sent the wall hurtling in the energy caster’s direction. The stones found their mark, burying the witch beneath a pile of loose rubble.
To his annoyance, their intoxicating aura still pulsed ever so faintly. Still alive, Rasp realized. But not for long. He could see to that himself.
The blood in his veins had turned to ice. Rasp could feel his breath turning colder with each slow breath as the magic writhing beneath his skin wormed deeper. He didn’t even have to think about his next move. It was coming to him all so clearly now. As if the instinct had been buried within him all along. A single flick of his wrist, that’s all it would take, and he could cave the buildings in over the top of his foes.
Little bird, no. This is not the way.
Seriously? Whisper was stopping him now? After he was finally showing a knack for this? “The Division of Divination is your sworn enemy,” Rasp reminded them. “They’ve been hounding us every step of the way. You never hesitated to thin out their ranks before.”
This is not about them. This is about you. A faint blue aura appeared beside him. You are not the one in control. Drop your magic, now.
There was urgency in Whisper’s words. The magic pulled against Rasp’s flesh, urging him to continue, to ignore Whisper’s warning and release his wrath on those that wished to harm him.
Raspberry Stoneclaw!
The full name treatment wasn’t necessary. Rasp already realized what was wrong. The magic writhing beneath his skin was not his own, not entirely anyway. Like a parasite, the darkness had latched its hooks into him and used him for its own devices. Fuck that. It was bad enough the darkness had hitched a ride inside of him like a bloodsucking leech, that didn’t mean he had to feed it.
He snapped his eyes shut, searching for something to latch onto and pull him from the darkness’s grip. He listened for his heartbeat, but the dark magic fought back, wrapping tighter around him. His left hand spasmed, fingers curling with a will of their own as his arm lifted in the air independent of his control. Of fuck! No, no, no, no!
Rasp grabbed his disobedient hand and bit down. Pain flooded his senses, drawing tears to his eyes, as his magical connection dissipated. The sudden drop in power caused him to stumble backwards. He cursed softly under his breath as his senses returned to him. Rasp rubbed the life back into his numb arms. Cold. He was so fucking cold. It felt like all of the blood had been drained from his body and replaced with glacier water.
When will you fucking learn? That was stupid of you! Stupid, stupid, stupid…
Rasp nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt a hand touch his own. “That was close, little bird,” Whisper said, their voice notably soft. “Do not be angry at yourself. You stopped the darkness before it seized control. That is a feat not many could accomplish on their own.”
Rasp stomped his feet in place, attempting to rid them of the awful pins and needles sensation coursing through both legs. “Don’t do that.”
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Whisper removed their hand, confused. “Do what?”
“Don’t act like you’re proud of me. You’ve done nothing but belittle me all night and now, suddenly, you want to treat me like I matter? Fuck off with that.”
“Had you stayed outside of the city, as instructed, none of this would have happened.”
“Should have thought of that before you kidnapped me.”
“How many times must we rehash this same argument? You are here because we made a deal.”
“You know what wasn’t a part of that deal? Being cursed with dark magic! How the fuck am I supposed to learn to use my power if every time I do, that thing wakes up inside of me, huh? You’re asking me to do the impossible here!”
“Did I curse you with dark magic?” Whisper, sensibly, did not wait for an answer as they seemed to sense Rasp had no intention of giving one. “And I am here attempting to find you a cure, am I not? Which, by the way, would be far more successful if you stopped trying to pick a fight with every living creature that crosses your path, including me.”
Why not? It sounded like a great idea. A brilliant idea. Possibly the best idea he’d had all day. “Finding a cure? Is that what you call this? Pointlessly running from one city to the next, getting hounded everywhere we go?”
“As much as I would love to have this conversation with you, now is not the time.”
Still working the last of the trembles from his arms, Rasp glanced around him, realizing he could sense a growing magical signature from where the energy caster had fallen. “How the fuck is he still alive? Do yourself a favor,” he shouted to the stubborn energy caster, “and quit while you’re still breathing. I am seriously not in the mood!”
His opponent’s response came in the form of a channel of crackling light. Rasp threw himself to the side, feeling the burn of the hot blaze as the energy blast narrowly missed, singeing some of the hair from his arm.
Whisper must have done the same because when they spoke, they sounded notably farther away than they had been previously. “His energy is dwindling, but I am afraid without your magic, we may have to find a creative way to get around him.”
“I know just the thing.” The realization that he had nearly lost control over something so trivial had his blood pumping hot again. If he couldn’t handle this with his magic, then that left only one other option. “Can you distract him long enough for me to get close?”
“Little bird, whatever you are considering doing, I would not recommend–”
“Don’t worry. I’m long past the considering part!” Rasp sprang to his feet and sought the wall, brushing his fingers against the damaged stone as he tripped and stumbled his way along at a clumsy run.
A flash of blue lit the alleyway before him. The energy caster took Whisper’s bait and slung another energy blast in their direction. Green flared against blue and, for the briefest of moments, the conflicting colors lit the passage as bright as day. Rasp was only steps from his quarry before the witch realized their game. The caster turned, hands glowing with energy, but it was already too late.
Rasp’s foot planted in the witch’s gut, sending them sprawling across the debris littered ground. He launched himself onto them, fists swinging as he landed blow after blow. With the last of their strength, the witch lifted his hand and a surge of magic struck Rasp directly in the face.
It hit like a kick in the teeth. The concentration of the force was so strong it sent him careening. Daggers of red hot pain radiated through his jaw and up his forehead. Rasp cursed as he held a hand to his mouth, realizing his fingers came away wet. The taste of iron pooled across his tongue and bubbled over his lower lip, spilling down his open mouth. Amidst the agony, he realized he could feel something hard rolling around in his mouth.
Rasp spat into his hand, realizing it was a tooth. His own. An exploratory search of his mouth confirmed that several others had been knocked free from the blast as well.
“I gonna fucking kill him!”
“No need, little bird.” Whisper’s voice came from near the energy caster. “That was the last of his energy. He has already succumbed to his injuries.”
Rasp considered personally ensuring that the damned witch wouldn’t come back a third time, but he didn’t think he had the strength. Besides, he needed to find the rest of his teeth. Bent over the ground with hot blood spilling from his mouth, frantically searching the broken cobblestone for his broken teeth, a familiar sound stopped him dead in his search. Rasp’s heart skipped a beat as the hard clack of hoofs against cobbled stone drew nearer.
It couldn’t be, could it? No, he was dreaming, surely. Forget dreaming, it was probably a hallucination brought on by the extensive blood loss. Despite the slew of rapid-fire excuses rattling around his muddled brain, the footsteps kept coming. Fuck reason, it was happening. It was finally happening! His best friend in the entire world had tracked him down and found him.
Rasp rose shakily to his feet. “Faris?”
It was a raven that answered him. Croak!
With his head spinning, Rasp didn’t register Father’s words. “You did this, dad? You found Faris?”
There was so much he wanted to say and do. He didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. This was the happiest he’d been in months. Rasp staggered towards the approaching faun, arms flung wide. He managed only one step before his body gave out. His legs crumpled as he sagged towards the blood covered ground. A strong pair of hands grabbed him, preventing him from hitting the upturned cobblestone street and losing any more teeth.
“Rasp?” Faris’s voice sounded strangely far away. And not much like Faris either, to be honest. But that didn’t matter. Faris gave him a gentle shake. “Good gods, why does it look like someone kicked you in the face?”
Rasp slumped against him, eyes fluttering shut. “Everything’s alright now that you’re here.”
“Sure, buddy. Whatever you say. It looks like you’ve lost a lot of blood. I’m going to get you out of here, alright? Please refrain from biting me.”
Rasp wanted to protest that he could never do such a thing to Faris. Before, maybe, sure. But not now after having been reunited at long last. Words were getting increasingly harder to form, however. Despite his best efforts, the only thing he could manage to get out was a gargled, “...’Kay.”
He was only vaguely aware that he was picked up and slung onto Faris’s shoulder. Rasp didn’t remember Faris being this tall. Or strong enough to lift him on his own either. But those were trivial details. His best friend was back and that was all that mattered. The rest of the journey passed by in a confusing blur as more and more blood steadily trickled from his splintered mouth.