by Taran, David
In a way it was just as exhilarating as the feeling the stone gave her, but she knew that it was different, an opposite to the sturdy feeling of stone. Whatever was inside her was forever changing, constantly moving and begging her to do the same, like the winds that blew down from the White Mountains. While the world around her was moving at full speed, her perception of it was higher than ever. With just a thought she gave a small hop, her body shooting into the air straight towards the beast on the spire. She reached out with her left hand and grasped the horn as she passed by, using it to swing her body around and land on its back. It had happened faster than she could blink, and Sarena almost couldn’t believe what she had just done. Looking down she saw that the ground was staggering distance below her. Her concentration faltered, and the wispy feeling within her disappeared. Instantly her body felt its normal weight again, causing her to almost lose her footing. Sarena threw herself backward until she was leaning against the spire sticking out several feet from the back of the beast.
“What just happened?” She asked, her voice shaking. “There’s no way the stone let me do that. Even with all the power you gave me before I couldn’t do that. I’ve never moved that fast before.”
Tyrus was just as surprised as Sarena. His instincts weren’t giving him anything to work with aside from what they had before. “All I can tell is that you were drawing on my power and converting it to use it yourself. You started off with stone, but suddenly changed to a different element before you did anything with it. What element did it feel like?”
“I’m not sure, but maybe wind? That’s the thing that kept popping into my mind while I was using it. It made me feel so light and free, as if I could do anything," She said.
“I don’t know, but you might want to consider going back down before you get rid of this spike. This thing is going to make a pretty big impact when it lands," Tyrus replied.
Sarena nodded before answering, her mind calming down. “I know, and my name is Sarena. Sorry I didn’t introduce myself earlier, I wasn’t thinking very clearly. I’m not really sure I am now honestly."
She drew on the warmth again and felt the wispy cool breeze begin to flow within her body. Without a second thought she hopped off the side of the beast, reveling in the feeling of the wind rushing by her on the way down. Landing lightly on the ground she turned back to the spire, skipping backwards almost a dozen feet in an instant, her feet barely seeming to touch the ground as she did. Almost without thinking she let the wind inside of her change to stone, and felt the world slow to a crawl as a blanket of warmth wrapped around her. Effortlessly she commanded the spire to return, and felt the power within her rush out of her body, causing the world to return to its normal speed. The ground shook as the spire collapsed into a pile of rubble. Everything felt so simple now that she had done it once.
“Tyrus this is incredible! I feel like I can do anything! With this kind of power we should be able to survive here as long as we want! It’s a bit gloomy, but I’m sure things in the kingdom will have died down in a month or so. Everyone will be sure I’m dead by then, and we can pass through to Norvail in the north easily enough. It shouldn’t be difficult to book passage from there to Asravan across the sea, and by that point the kingdom won’t be able to touch us even if they know who we are. The Free Lands don’t recognize the authority of the southern kingdoms, so we will be safe," Sarena said while nodding, as if convincing herself of her plan.
A slight twinge from her stomach reminded Sarena of what she was supposed to be doing, and with a grimace she stepped forward to the corpse of the beast. Just think of it as a deer, you’ve skinned and gutted plenty of those in the past. Sarena thought. Her grandfather used to regularly take her on hunting trips in the foothills of the White Mountains, so she was familiar with what needed to be done. The sheer size of the beast made the task seem daunting to her though. Even if she ate constantly for weeks she wouldn’t be able to finish off the creature. Setting her mind to the task, Sarena raised Tyrus and began her work.
Chapter Five
It took Sarena the better part of a day just to skin the strange creature, followed by two more to dry and cure the massive hide. Tyrus had been particularly unhelpful when it came to that, and throughout their conversations Sarena came to realize just how little Tyrus knew. She had ended up using the hide to make a cloak for herself, as well as a pack to hold things with and a simple tent. All of them looked remarkably ugly, but worked surprisingly well at keeping her warm. The hide was incredibly durable to the point where even Tyrus couldn’t easily cut it.
Inside of the pack there was very little besides the tent, bundles of smoked meat - all of which were chewy and tasted awful but was the only thing Sarena had to eat - and a crystal clear orb the size of a chicken egg that she had found at the base of the monster’s skull. Tyrus said he could feel power inside of it, but had no idea what it was for, so they left it at that. It was a surprisingly peaceful time for the both of them. It seemed that the creature they killed was the apex predator of the area around them so no others were willing to enter its territory. Sarena was able to sleep peacefully while Tyrus kept watch, feeling a sense of security now that she was able to use his power.
For almost a week the two of them stayed in their small camp. Sarena worked to build up her supply of food while she could, and spent the rest of her time crafting her tent and pack when the beast had decayed too far. They had found a stream about an hour’s walk from the corpse, which Sarena was able to traverse in several minutes using her wind element. While it didn’t have the effect of slowing the world around her like Tyrus’ power did, it let her move far faster and raised her reaction speed to a level beyond anything she had thought possible. She had experimented with it throughout the week and found that aside from increasing her speed and agility, it also sharpened her mind, giving her a much clearer view of things that had confused her before. It was an argument she had with Tyrus that had led her to discover that.
Three days after they had killed the beast, Sarena was sewing together the tent when she finally decided to ask Tyrus about his past.
“So where exactly did you come from? I don’t remember there being any mention of Heartseeker being alive in my family’s annals,” Sarena asked.
“I wish I knew. It’s pretty boring here in this sword. Just a big black void in every direction. I don’t even know how long I was waiting before you reached out for me,” he said.
“Doesn’t that mean you were just asleep?” she asked.
“No, although I might have been for a while. I think I was human before I got stuck in here, but I’m not really sure. It’s been too long.”
That must have been torture. Heartseeker has been in my family for thousands of years. How is he still sane?
“But that’s all in the past now! You freed me from that terrible realm! I’ve been doing my best to protect you since then. Honestly, I don’t know how you manage to get yourself into so many dangerous situations. I was barely free and you were already surrounded by so much evil.”
Instantly Sarena filled with rage. She had almost forgotten that Tyrus had done that, putting her in this terrible situation to begin with.
“This is entirely your fault!” She yelled. “I can’t believe I forgot about that until now! You killed the prince right in front of everyone, and you made it look like I did it! What in the seven hells were you thinking!” Without even realizing it Sarena had started to draw on the power from Tyrus, wind filling her body.
“I’m sorry! I truly am! I was barely awake at the time!” Tyrus said in a panic.
“So you just lash out at the first thing you see! What made you think that was a good idea!”
“I just wanted to protect you -”
“And look where that’s gotten us! I’m in the middle of the most dangerous forest in the world with nothing but the clothes on my back! I could have convinced my father to change his mind if you had just waited in your sheath like a normal sword!”
“But he was so evil! Even you wanted to kill him! I wouldn’t have done it otherwise!”
Sarena felt the rage inside of her wash away, as if sustaining it was pointless. As soon as the wind had filled her she felt her mind clear, the rage already dissipating. After Tyrus explained his reasons she simply couldn’t stay mad. While she had no way to empathize with thousands of years of darkness, she was still able to understand his desperation. If she had been in his place she doubted she would have done differently. Wait, this isn’t how I normally act. My grandfather used to tell me that I would stay angry for days, even when I knew I was in the wrong. I still think he’s wrong about that, but I know I don’t normally calm down this quickly. Could the wind be causing this also? She thought. It’s always given me the feeling that I could handle anything, so maybe that includes my emotions too?
Their conversation had ended there, with Sarena deep in thought for the rest of the day. She hadn’t completely forgiven Tyrus, even though she knew it wasn’t entirely his fault. The prince had been disgusting, she had to admit. He actually thought she would sleep with him just because her father said so. The more I think about it the angrier I get. I’m starting to think Tyrus did the right thing by killing that pompous idiot. If the world needed him to save it, we are probably better off being destroyed. Not that I believe in that stupid prophecy to begin with. Demons are nothing more than a myth.
Eventually Sarena felt there was nothing more that she could do by staying in the camp she had made. There was enough food in her pack for at least two weeks if she rationed well, and with her newest creation of a skin to hold water, she felt she was ready to move on. Confidence was flowing through her now that she was able to use Tyrus’ power herself, and he had said he was back to full strength again. They had found out that her use of the wind element barely pulled at him at all, but in return she couldn’t seem to use it for anything else. It was only good for enhancing herself, the same as Tyrus, but much more focused as far as what it enhanced. She tired out just as quickly when she used it, and her healing rate was still normal, but the speed and reaction it gave her far surpassed anything Tyrus could give her.
Packing up her tent and supplies, Sarena and Tyrus set out to head deeper into the woods, using the raw power from Tyrus to travel quickly without tiring. Carrying everything at once was a huge strain on her body, but she could feel herself growing stronger rapidly as they traveled. According to Tyrus he was able to maintain that indefinitely since his power healed the stress on her body faster than it accumulated, but she would still need to sleep since her mind would become exhausted like normal. His knowledge about magic seemed endless until Sarena asked him about anything besides his own power.
“Everything I know comes from my own power. My element is magic itself. With that comes an instinctual knowledge of how to use it, but I know basically nothing about the other elements aside from the fact that they exist. You’ll need to find someone to teach you if you want to do more than you already can," He explained. “I have a theory as to why you can use stone magic the way you do at least. When your body converts my power to stone, it runs straight to the empty core within you and pools there until you use it, while the wind element runs through the channels within you instead. I’m guessing you can only use them in certain ways depending on how they exist within you," Tyrus said when Sarena asked what else he could do. The answer wasn’t very helpful to her, she could do nothing new with that knowledge.
Roughly two days after they had left the corpse of the beast - it was hard to judge since the canopy perpetually blocked sunlight - they came across their first signs of life aside from the two creatures they had found before. Tyrus told Sarena to stop as soon as he sensed them, causing her to move cautiously forward until they came into view. Sarena was hiding around the corner of a tree, looking at them from downwind so as not to let them know she was there. There were three of them standing next to a tree, two of them eating the glowing moss, while the third smaller one was chewing on some mushrooms on the ground. They stood on four legs and could almost pass for horses, except that the two larger ones were at least half again as big as the largest horse Sarena had ever seen, and the smaller one was easily as big as her father’s stallion. Their fur was deep red, and the larger two glowed the same as the moss they were eating. On the sides of their heads were two sinister looking curved horns, one of which was broken on the largest of the three.
“It looks like a family, although that is the biggest fawn I have ever seen," Sarena whispered quietly to Tyrus. As soon as she uttered the words, all three of the creatures instantly looked up and stared straight at her. Their eyes started to glow red, and the fawn quickly hid behind its two parents. Sarena gulped as she realized her mistake. Everything in this forest was capable of fighting and obviously had incredible senses. She had planned to quietly pass them by since they didn’t look dangerous to her - aside from the horns at least - but when the one-horned one suddenly charged at her she abandoned that plan.
The speed it charged at was even faster than the beast that had chased her before, causing her to panic for just a moment before she drew on Tyrus’ power. A breeze started to blow within her, and she gracefully dodged to the side as the creature charged through where she had been standing less than a heartbeat earlier. Instead of fighting, Sarena turned and dashed into the forest, disappearing among the trees almost instantly. After a few minutes it became clear that they weren’t being chased, and Sarena let go of the power allowing Tyrus to take control of it again.
“That was stupid of you," Tyrus said. “Nothing in this forest is going to be friendly. If you don’t want to fight it, then just pass it by.”
“I know it was stupid! I don’t need you to tell me that," Sarena replied while scowling. “They just looked so peaceful, I didn’t think they would attack so quickly." She sighed and started running again, setting herself a pace that she could keep up easily, but would give Tyrus enough time to warn her if he sensed something near them.
They continued in the same manner for over two weeks, encountering several other groups of the same horse-like creatures. When her food started to run low, they hunted down a solitary glow horse - as Tyrus took to calling them - and used it to replenish their supply. After eating nothing but the chewy and tough meat from the blue beast for so long, the tender meat from the glow horse tasted like a delicacy. At least once a day, sometimes more, they would come across a new creature that would desperately try to chase them down. Typically Sarena would escape, but some of them were more than willing to continue the chase for longer than her patience would last, and inevitably she would turn to fight. None of them were anywhere near the size of the beast she had slain with the spike, and just by using the wind and Tyrus she could cut them down easily.
Sarena sat on a boulder next to a stream, Tyrus lying in his sheath and she slowly ate another strip of the glow horse meat. “Sarena, I think you need to rest," Tyrus said, breaking the silence that had lasted all morning.
“What? I rest every night, do you think I just lie there awake the entire time?” She answered, confusion in her voice.
Tyrus paused for a moment before replying, “I don’t mean like that, I mean from using my power. You’ve either been drawing on my power, or I’ve been giving it to you for days now. Your aura is starting to look strange.”
“It’s not like I have a choice you know. Did you already forget how I almost died right after entering this cursed place?” She frowned, annoyance showing through as she spoke. “Even those glow horses could kill me easily without your power. I can’t let my guard down at all. If you didn’t want me to have to do this, you shouldn’t have killed the prince to begin with!” After almost a month of constantly traveling in the exact same scenery with no sun at all, her mind felt like it was beginning to unravel. If she didn’t have Tyrus there to talk to she wasn’t sure if she could have lasted as long as she had.
“Please, just find a place to hole up for a day.
I will keep watch for you and warn you if anything attacks. Just don’t draw on my power and let your aura recover a little. One day is all I ask," He pleaded.
Sarena opened her mouth to argue with him, prepared to point out all the different ways he was wrong, and how it was his fault that she had to use his power in the first place. She couldn’t help but feel guilty even as she thought of it, knowing that she was unwilling mostly because she didn’t want to give up the feeling of power it gave her. But before she could speak, an immense pressure settled around her, making her feel as if she was being crushed. All she had time for was a gasp before her body was pressed to the ground. The air around her felt as if it weighed hundreds of pounds. Just breathing was becoming difficult.
“Sarena! What’s happening? Where did this aura come from?” Tyrus yelled in her mind, panic in his voice. Sarena could feel power flooding into her from Tyrus, far more than normal. Immediately the pressure on Sarena lessened, and she was able to struggle to her feet, breathing hard as she did so.
“What’s going on Tyrus?” She asked. “Is there a beast somewhere around here? This is exactly why I said I couldn’t risk losing your power for a day. I would have been dead before either one of us could react otherwise," Sarena drew Tyrus, her eyes scanning the surroundings.
Tyrus was silent for a few moments before answering. “I’m not sure. This aura is...different from any I’ve ever seen. I can’t understand it at all. Whoever or whatever it belongs to is far more powerful than anything we’ve ever encountered. I can’t find the source of it in any direction.”