"No, like this," Korian said, not sounding as impatient as Eli would have expected him to be. For what was probably the tenth time the skinny giant of a man was showing him how to hold his bow. Once again his fingers and posture were adjusted, legs spread apart, body turned to the side.

He nocked an arrow slowly, nearly dropping it more than once. He was embarrassed at his fumbling, but a quick glance at Korian told him that the man didn't seem to mind. He pulled the bowstring back until his hand was sitting next to his jaw, like he had been instructed, aiming for the red and white target painted onto a tree in front of him.

Taking a deep breath, he released the arrow, watching it soar through the air. It struck the bark beneath the target and bounced off, landing on the wooden floor with a loud clatter. Eli sighed and stared at it forlornly, irritated that he just couldn't get it right.

Next, to him, Korian laughed heartily, something that only annoyed Eli more. Korian waved a hand, speaking too fast for him to understand. He narrowed his eyes, staring up at the blond boy until he stopped talking. "Sorry," Korian said, speaking much slower this time. "Good. Again."

Any time someone spoke to Eli, they would always have to speak slowly and use simple words so that he could understand them. He had only been there for two weeks and was learning their language as quickly as he could with the help of Korian and Amos.

However, seeing as Korian wasn't exactly the greatest at teaching languages, he mostly taught Eli how to fight. For the first week and a half, he had been taught how to hold a sword, as well as basic movements, how to swing it, lunge, and parry. In his own opinion, he wasn't terrible. According to Korian, he wasn't the worst out there. It was better than nothing.

Archery, on the other hand, was completely different. He shot another arrow and watched as it fell to the ground without even reaching the target. Angry, he looked to Korian. "Why?" he asked, voice resembling a growling dog.

There was a huff of a laugh and more words that Eli didn't know. A quick shake of his head and Korian stopped talking, obviously trying to think of another way to say what he wanted to say. "Aim up," he finally instructed, guiding Eli's arms up so that he was aiming a little above the target.

He didn't see how it would help, but Korian knew what he was doing, so he couldn't exactly ignore his judgement. With a roll of his eyes and a sigh, Eli let go of the arrow. He blinked rapidly, trying to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was. The arrow was embedded in the tree right at the bottom of the target. He had finally hit it.

He let out a cheer, resisting the urge to attempt a high five with Korian (he had tried it the week before, it had not gone well). Korian laughed at his cheerfulness. "Good," he told him. "Be back. Practice."

Eli wasn't sure how long he stood there, firing arrows again and again and only hitting the target a handful of times. There were other people around him, but he didn't dare look. He knew if he did he would get upset that he was terrible at archery.

He was so lost in his thoughts that he didn't even notice Korian return. He let out a yelp when he felt a hand land on his shoulder, the arrow he had fired going wide. Korian said a word that Eli could only assume was an apology. He lowered the bow, turning to look at the other man.

Eli suddenly found a backpack thrust in his face. He spluttered and took a step back, taking the bag from Korian's hands. "Why?" he asked his most common word so far it seemed.

"We are going to the village," he explained, speaking to Eli as if he were a child, "They have food. You need to learn to speak."

That was that it seemed. Eli put the backpack on his back and followed Korian towards one of the many rope ladders that led up to the tree base. The first platform had been build back when Korian was young but had been expanded after the Mage took control. Now it spanned across a large path of the forest and housed a little over two hundred people. They were the only survivors from Kiral, where the Mage was now based.

He hadn't been back to the village since he left, and if he was honest he was a little grateful for that. The people did not like him, for obvious reasons. Now he had no choice, he would just have to deal with it, as the townspeople would.

Korian allowed him to climb down first and as soon as they were both firmly on the ground they started walking. Eli kicked up dead leaves as he walked, huffing out a sigh. For the hundredth time over the two weeks, he was thinking of home and how much he wanted to get back. He hoped that time ran differently in Arumni, but part of him doubted it. It if didn't he would have been missing for two whole weeks. He winced, thinking of his poor mother, who would have no idea where he was.

Korian seemed to notice his bad mood, knocking him on the arm with his fist. He grinned when Eli looked to him and began speaking cheerfully, despite knowing Eli couldn't understand. Over the two weeks, the boy had noticed quite a few differences between Korian and his best friend. Korian was a lot more confident and friendly than Kory, who was a shy, nervous wreck most of the time. He also seemed to be a lot more brawn than brains, not that Eli was thinking he was stupid, it was just that he was nowhere near as intelligent as his friend. The more he thought about it, the less they seemed similar, and the less he thought of Kory when he looked at him.

It wasn't long before he found himself in the tiny village, Korian still chatting away excitedly. There were people in the streets, much like there had been when he had first arrived two weeks back. They still looked at him warily, as though he would suddenly jump out and attack them. It made sense to him, but it didn't mean he liked the looks.

He stuck by Korian as the man made his way from stall to stall, talking to the stall owners as if they were old friends. He did try to teach Eli some words, but without Amos there to translate them into English it was a lot harder. Eli would point out objects that he saw and ask what they were, repeating the word over and over again when Korian told him, but that was the extent of his learning.

Seeing that Korian was with him, the villagers were a lot friendlier than they had been last time, even if they still looked at him suspiciously. One man had even apologised for their reaction when they had first seen him, but Eli hadn't been able to think of a way to reply. He had only nodded and smiled.

He wasn't exactly sure why he had been dragged along, maybe to learn more words, maybe for the people to see that he wasn't dangerous. He couldn't be bothered to ask. He wasn't really complaining anyway; it was nice to be out of the trees for a bit.

They were walking down the familiar middle road of the village, Korian pointing out all the different kinds of stalls there were. Fish, vegetables, meats, trinkets, even one for flowers. It was like a medieval shopping centre. Eli was lost in his thoughts, looking around but barely paying any attention to what he was seeing.

He glanced over at the hills he had wandered when he had first arrived, the memory bringing a sick feeling to his stomach. On a far hill, there was a blackened tree, the leaves stripped away. He hissed, knowing that it meant the village would slowly die off too, and it wouldn't be long before that started happening.

A quick second glance told him that, no, it wasn't a tree. It was moving closer, and surprisingly quickly too. Eyebrows furrowed and eye wide, he tried to find Korian, who was standing at a nearby stall.

"Korian!" he cried desperately. "Korian!"

The man turned to stare at him, a questioning look on his face. All Eli could do was point at the faraway object, forgetting the word for 'look' in his panic. Another glance told him that there were more and that the first one was starting to take the shape of a person.

Korian stared for a few long seconds before his eyes widened and his face paled as if he was sick. Before Eli could even blink, a hand was on his wrist and Korian was pulling him away from the main road.

"What is going on?" Eli asked, breath coming out in loud pants.

"We need to hide!" Korian yelled to him, pulling him around more corners than he could count.

"From who?" he questioned but got no reply. Korian turned suddenly and pushed Eli into what looked to be a tiny house, much cleaner and nicer than Amos's. He let go of Eli's wrist and immediately made for a nearby window. Eli stood in the middle of the empty kitchen, staring at him.

Korian never replied, only stood at the window and stared. Eli moved closer, desperate to see what was going on. Even though they had run around the little village, the house they had gone into still had a window that showed a view of the main road if he stood at the right angle. By the time he made it over to the window, the men he had seen had made it to the main road of the Village.

There weren't many of them, only a small group of black-cloaked men, twenty at most. One stood in front of the rest, obviously the leader of the group. There was a hood over his head, hiding his face from view. He began to speak, louder than Eli would have expected. Only the most basic of words were familiar to Eli, meaning that he had no idea what was being said.

The people ran screaming, gathering women and children and rushing into the buildings around them. The lead man let out a laugh, flinging a hand forward. With that, the group of men behind him chased after the villagers, a sick joy on their faces. Eli couldn't see what was being done to them, but he could hear the pained screams.

Korian was gripping his forearm tightly, and Eli could hear his shaky breathing. He found that he couldn't look away from the window, drawn by the fear and power the hooded man held. "Who?" he asked, even though a part of him knew Korian wouldn't answer him.

It was as though the lead man had heard his question, deciding then to pull down his hood. Eli gasped, a tiny voice in the back of his head telling him he should have known. The Mage, his own face, pulled back into that same shark-like grin Eli had seen in the mirror.

It was strange to see his own face pulled into such an evil expression, like an unbelievably realistic painting. He felt sick to his stomach, felt like he would vomit any second, but he couldn't tear his eyes away. He was hypnotised by it, his face, being used by someone completely different.

"Korian?" Eli said, still not looking at the other man. His grip had tightened, but he hadn't done anything else. "What do we do?"

Silence, Korian said nothing. The only sign that he was still there was the painful grip on Eli's arm. Finally, Eli looked at him, seeing that he was just staring at the Mage wearing Eli's face as if there was nothing he could do.

Breath coming out in short pants, panic rising in him, Eli looked back at the Mage. With a loud gasp, he found himself staring into the deadly green eyes of his reflection.