You’d think holding tons of rock above your head would be exhausting.

It was.

The continued weight bearing down upon me left me no room to relax or rest. Perhaps I could have attempted to push through the weight, but I was sure doing so would crush Tol, so I was stuck.

I looked at Tol, my eyes cutting through what should have been complete darkness to see the dwarf looking about, his eyes wide.

“How are we not being crushed?” he murmured before turning his gaze back on me, and his eyes latched onto my hands, pushing the rock above us upward.

“How are you doing that?” he asked quietly, gazing at me with an indescribable expression caught somewhere between awe and, for some strange reason, fear.

I bit my lip in thought. There wasn’t an easy explanation for that question. There was no way I could tell him. I had to keep my secret even now.

“Does that really matter right now?” I asked, blatantly deflecting, but I didn’t have another option. I could only hope the situation would make him less keen to press on me.

“I-“ Tol frowned and then shook his head, “I suppose not,” he looked around again, “It looks like we’re entirely buried. I’ve seen cave-ins that look a little like this before. We’ll have to wait for someone to dig us out.”

“Great,” I sighed, “How long do you think that will take?”

Tol brow furrowed further, “Who knows? No one knew we were here. You’re not a Green Mage by chance?”

“Uh, no,” I replied blankly, “Why do you ask?”

Tol shrugged, “A green mage could mend the stone and allow us to get out. Failing that, they could at least make a tunnel through the rubble.”

I blinked before I looked at Tol strangely, “Aren’t you a Green Mage?”

Tol shook his head, “Maybe once I could have, but I’m not worth much anymore.”

I looked at Tol, remembering his attempts at forging.

“What do you mean not worth much?” I asked.

Tol frowned, looking down, and for a long moment, he was silent before; finally, he looked up, “I just can’t. I used to be good at Green Magic, but now I can’t even forge the most basic of items, let alone alter the stone around us back into the shape of the tower. Not since…” he trailed off.

“Oh,” I said dumbly, not sure what else to say. "Well, how long do you think it would take for someone to dig us out?”

Tol shrugged, “Who knows? No one would know we were here, so it could be any length of time.”

I wasn’t sure how long I could hold this amount of stone over my head, so any time was not definitive enough.

“We can’t just do nothing,” I tried; I wasn’t particularly interested in being buried alive.

“Nothing is what we are going to do,” Tol replied irritably. “Even if I did try to mend this rock, the most likely thing to happen would be for it to collapse upon us entirely.”

I sighed a deep, gusty breath. Fine. For now, I would hold who knew how many tons of rock over my head. Someone would come eventually.

Time passed, wearing away at my nerves and patience. I had felt a gentle note of concern from Sara, but I assuaged her away that everything was fine. Everything was assuredly not fine, but I kept those thoughts away from her. It was difficult because the situation was ever present around us, but I didn’t want to worry her.

What I wanted was a solution; what I had was a despondent dwarf.

Why couldn’t he use Green Magic? Ordinarily, some sense of decency would have stayed my tongue. Considering we were buried alive, though my patient was a little frayed.

“Why can’t you use Green Magic?” I asked bluntly.

Tol glanced at me and then looked away. He didn’t respond.

Irritation flooded my veins, “Can you just tell me? We’re buried alive; is it something worse than that?”

Tol turned, glaring at me, “This is not buried alive. Buried alive is when a White Mage brings a Mountain down on top of you. If you can still breathe, you aren’t buried.”

I blinked, and my stomach twisted uncomfortably. “That’s not a figure of speech, is it? " That was way too specific.

For a while, I didn’t think Tol would respond until, with a click of his tongue, he replied, though slightly softer, “No, it’s not. My clan lived in the city of Tronheim. We were relatively removed from the War between the Kingdom and the Empire. Until we weren’t. We were lucky; half of us ended up being able to tunnel out of the Mountain.”

A sour taste filled my mouth, “I’m sorry,” I said softly.

Tol laughed, though it was a bitter, tired thing barely worthy of such a title.

Guilt. It wasn’t an uncommon feeling for me, but it didn’t make the emotion any more palatable.

“We came here,” Tol continued, “I tried to move on, but every time I try to use my magic, I feel this weight pressing down on top of me, and I lose my grip.”

I didn’t have a response. Maybe if it was any other reason, I could have said something, but the weight of responsibility now pressed down on my shoulders. To the people of the Kingdoms, the White Mages were their enemies- enemies who had no problem suffocating people in a tomb of rock.

We remained silent, and I slowly felt my magic drain away. I realized that if I didn’t try to push my way out soon, I would also be crushed down here once my magically enhanced strength gave out. Yet if I did, Tol was going to die down here.

The elven woman killed by the Legatus flashed before my eyes. I couldn’t let someone else die again. It reminded me of the weak, useless feeling I had felt as I had gotten sicker. A drain of resources just to be kept alive.

I shook my head, shaking my head free of those thoughts; self-pity wasn't going to help here.

“No one’s coming, Tol,” I said quietly. “I know you said you can’t use Green Magic, but we don’t have much longer. I can’t hold this forever.”

Tol turned and looked at me, his eyes widening. “Wait, you’ve been holding up the stone all this time.”

“Tol,” I said, still just as calm, “Can you try something, anything? I don’t care how dangerous.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Tol looked down and muttered a curse, “Don’t say I didn’t warn you,” he said.

He held his hands up, and the stone cavity flared green as light swirled around his palms. The stone began to shake and shift, then slowly began to shift. Then, the green light flared and winked out of existence, dropping all the weight onto me.

Tol released a shaky breath, “I can’t do it,” he said, and something awfully broke in his voice.

“Try again,” I said.

Tol glared at me, “I just said I can’t do it!”

A strange memory resurfaced in my mind: the blurry face of my sister looking at me.

“I can’t do it!” she cried at me.

I could feel a warm fondness mixed with exasperation as I looked at her, “All you did was get on the bike and fall off. That doesn’t mean you can’t do it. Try again.”

“But I can’t.” tears were blurring her eyes as she glared at me.

“I’ll be right here,” I said. If anything goes wrong, I’ll be there.”

“Tol, I’ll catch it if you falter. That'll be enough if you can just make a tunnel out.”

Tol glared at me before he took a deep breath, “If I crush the both of us, I reserve the right to say I told you so.”

“Granted,” I replied immediately.

Tol took a deep breath, and the green light flared again. The stone began to shift and morph, binding into chunks as it was pulled away, making a small opening that began to stretch outward. Rock after rock shifted, pulling away into the loose form of a tunnel till light peaked through the broken stone, and finally, a hole appeared.

“Go,” I said.

Tol looked at me confused, “You’re still stuck!” he growled.

“I’ll be fine,” I shook my head, “Get out now. I’ll be right after you.”

Tol looked for a moment of indecision between the hole and me before he gave me one last hard look, “Right after me,” he said, embedding my promise in words back at me and then sprinted for the hole, the rock beginning to shake and shift as he ran. He cleared the hole, and I took a deep breath and heaved upward for a moment, clearing the stone entirely above my head to give myself the necessary room. I bunched my leg muscles and leaped for the hole as hard as I could.

Rock tumbled past me as the tunnel collapsed. I shot out like a bullet, tumbling out in a sprawl of limbs as everything collapsed behind me.

I looked behind myself to see the obliterated tower structure settling down, the green magic losing its hold. Despite myself, I let out a dry, relieved chuckle, verging on a slightly hysterical laugh.

Tol looked at me with a strange look. He looked like he wanted to say something and may have been about to before two guards came rushing up to us. I would have liked to know where they had been moments earlier, but whatever.

“Are you two okay?” the first guard said seriously, though there was a note of worry in his voice, “We heard more rubble collapsing. Was anyone hurt?”

“We’re fine,” I said, hoping that Tol would refrain from saying anything blatant right now.

The first guard nodded, looking me over once, before he turned and gestured at the other guard, “This area is clear. We need to move on to the next. Who knows if more buildings may be about to fall?”

They ran off, leaving Tol and me in an awkward silence.

I hated the silence, so I spoke, “You did it, Tol.”

Tol looked at me and opened his mouth to respond before he closed it, “I guess I did,” he murmured, seemingly amazed with himself.

I was happy for him, really, I was. There was more life in those eyes than I had seen since I had met him, but I was also frankly aware that the more time we spent together right now, the more he may give way too much thought to what had just happened.

Now just to exit stage left before any questions came.

“I’m going to head further into the city and see if anyone could use some help or something,” I said, not at all awkwardly.

“Right,” Tol said, nodding, still shocked by our unlikely escape.

I turned and began to walk away, the very picture of an average civilian. I made some distance before I felt myself beginning to relax. My nose still flared every now and then, seeking the scent of Black Magic, but I smelled nothing.

I noticed that I was covered in stone dust. I sighed, brushing it off my clothing, and it came away surprisingly easily. It probably had something to do with whatever magic was interwoven.

“Jamie!” I turned as a familiar voice cried out, and I saw Alina running toward me before stopping a couple of feet away, “I was trying to find you!” she said, “Some buildings had collapsed, and you weren’t at the University! You’re fine, though I’m-“

She paused before looking me over, “Why are you covered in dust.”

I didn’t want to answer that question, so I tried to divert it to, “Other buildings collapsed? Was anyone hurt?”

“Some broken bones and the like, but thankfully, no deaths reported yet,” Alina shook her head, “Wait, what do you mean other buildings?”

Oops. All right, slide around this once more, “Oh, a tower collapsed down the way. No one was hurt, though.”

Alina looked at me, and her ordinarily small perpetual smile was turned into a frown.

“You didn’t happen to be in the tower, did you?”

“Well-“

“Yes or No,” she eyed me firmly.

I sighed, “Yes,”

She pushed further into my personal space, examining me all over, and I swore, even sniffed the air around me before she glared at me directly in the eyes, “You seem fine, I suppose.”

Then why do you still look upset?

“Come with me,” she gestured with a wave of her hand, “I’m not letting you out of my sight until whatever this is is over.”

I could have protested, but honestly, there wouldn’t have been much of a point, and it would have just slowed her down when she still likely had plenty more to do. There were people probably in danger, and I wasn’t going to slow things down with meaningless protestations.

We walked hurriedly through the streets, passing guards running about the city in small segmented squads. Some of them carried civilians on stretchers with them, likely headed to get them the care they needed.

Alina moved with a purpose and grace I don’t think I could have replicated if I had tried, especially not now, as my body was struggling even right now. We covered the ground easily as we went about the city, checking over the sights that had exploded. I wouldn’t have needed my eyes to say where we were, though, because the smell of Black Magic hung heavy in the air at each location.

I blamed that smell for my not noticing until it was too late that we had arrived at a sight overseen by the elf who had tried to arrest me.

Lieutenant Ilsa. She directed the guards about rapidly leading the effort to make the destroyed building safe. Despite myself, I edged behind Alina as I spotted her. I wasn’t particularly keen on getting arrested again.

The soldiers were picking through a ruined building stone, shifting aside the stone with flashes of red magic.

I wished I could help. To do something rather than sit on the sidelines out of fear. Yet it wasn’t just my secret on the line. I didn’t want to think what might happen to Alina and Lord Balar if it was discovered they had been hiding a White Mage.

Still, all these thoughts didn’t stop me from taking a half-step forward before Alina’s hand gently rested on my shoulder. Her expression looked torn, but she minutely shook her head at me.

I gritted my teeth and looked down, helpless. It was a feeling I was all too familiar with, but it had a slightly different flavor this time.

Could I really justify keeping a secret at the expense of others? Yet if I broke it, I wouldn’t be the only one to pay.

“We found someone!” a cry came up, and I saw a pair of guards huddling around a massive piece of rubble. They attempted to lift it, but it was far too large for them. They struggled, but they weren’t able to lift it.

I moved, traversing the rubble with a couple of steps downward till I came to a stop by the guards; I gripped the stone and heaved upwards. The chunk of stone lifted upwards under our combined power, though I knew I was probably shouldering half the weight.

Other guards flowed in, helping a group of people out of the hole they had been trapped in. We shifted the chunk of the building to the side, and when we set it down, I heard the guards' audible sighs of relief.

I glanced at the people and felt a little bit of tension release from me as I saw they all seemed fine, covered in dust, and had some minor injuries but were fine.

Except I noticed that a limp body had been carried out, an elven woman with long blonde hair who now guards were clustering about.

It wasn’t even a decision. I slipped through the guards with ease and bent down at her side. She was breathing but only just, and with each rise and fall of her chest, it became even more strained until it stopped with a raspy breath.

No. Not again.

A memory flashed through me, a training I had demanded to attend after my sister was born. Something called CPR. The memory was faint, but I remembered the motions well enough. It needed a certain number of compressions per minute.

I pressed my hands to her chest, beat, beat, beat. I felt something warm begin to kindle under my hands, and I bent over her to hide the coming flash of white light.

Heal.

I couldn’t channel much as exhausted as I was, but it was enough as I focused it on her chest, and I felt the warmth from her strengthen as suddenly she began coughing.

She looked at me somewhat bewildered, and I gave the woman a strained smile. “It’s okay,” I murmured. "Take it easy; you’ll be okay.”

I clambered to my feet, pushing against the exhausted feeling in my body; I couldn’t show weakness. I had already taken far more of a risk than I should have.

I struggled back up to Alina, straining to get over the rubble.

Alina glanced at me with a slightly wry smile. “We should go check over the other explosion locations,” she said, something unspoken in her words, but I was too tired to tell.

I nodded.

We turned to walk away, but as we turned, I saw that Lieutenant Ilsa’s gaze was focused on me. We locked eyes for a moment. Her eyes were glaring at me, seemingly piercing through all the lies I had told and to the heart of the matter.

Whatever, maybe I would care tomorrow.