5

My eyes fluttered open. I surveyed the unfamiliar surroundings. There was a small pond in the center of this little forest, trees growing out in every direction. A bridge created a warped walkway that passed over the small pond, ducks the same color of tree bark resting around it.

I looked behind me. Ferns the size of a bear surrounded a sunset streaked white brick walkway, looping in a circle around the park. I gazed up to see the red tinted shade of the sky, slowly becoming the hues of an abyss.

𝘐𝘴𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴?

I walked past the pond until I found a brown beach, covered in moss.

"It really is a park…. or at least it was."

I brushed my hand over the moss, tickling my palm in the progress. Nevertheless, I sat down on the forgotten creation. With hands like a cowboy at high noon, I pulled out my smartphone. I browsed through my sea of contacts and selected one of the five. Its loud ring gave me a small headache. It persisted three times before going to voicemail.

"No bars, I guess. I wanted to make sure she was ok."

The sun was moving farther and farther down the horizon. I looked down at the palm of my hand.

𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦? 𝘈𝘳𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭?

I brushed off the leaves from my slacks and dark hair as I stood up. I heard my phone hit the mossy ground.

"Great, "my breath exasperated.

This is definitely one of those pocket dimensions I read about. They were worlds that existed in a plane of their own and could only be created and controlled by the creator. It was like building your own world in a game except others were forced into it. Maybe it was the headmaster's magic. I didn't really care at this point. My gaze was fixated upon my fallen device. I reached down for it. As I did, I was hit with an affliction of ice. The chill reminded me of Niflheim, the coldest of the nine Nordic realms. All the hairs on my body sprung up at once. I dropped my phone into my pocket and broke into a sprint.

𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦.

A shiver shot through me. I put my back to one of the massive trees deeper in the park. I shot a glance at the pond. The water was now like an hourglass, frozen in time.

"Oh no. I missed."

He sounded sarcastic and fiendish. I made the decision to sneak a peek and looked past the tree. A white-haired boy in my school uniform made eye contact with me. His eyes were bright green, but as cold as his stare. His impish grin gave me insight to who the student was. I never met him at school, but I know he almost killed someone from the class next to mine. He was pretty infamous in our senior class.

"Gelum Hiemis," I muttered

He was ten feet away. His cold demeanor was complemented by the icy aura that surrounded him. Multiple icicles had formed above his head and were pointed my way.

"Oi, lucky me. Not only do I get to fight without getting in trouble. My first opponent is the magicless dipshit."

He continued to slowly walk towards me. I spun my head around. I guess a magicless 4th year would be as infamous as him, but I liked to keep a low profile. I guess that didn't work. I now needed a plan.

𝘙𝘶𝘯? 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘩𝘪𝘮? 𝘞𝘦𝘢𝘱𝘰𝘯? 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘐 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘮? 𝘐 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘬 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘥. 𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘴𝘩𝘦𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘶𝘤𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘢𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘶𝘭𝘵.

I was running out of time. I looked down for anything I could use. I spotted a broken tree branch by my feet. It was about as thick as my arm (which wasn't saying much), but it would have to do. I didn't look over now, but I knew what I would do. My hands shook intensively as I picked it up. I prepped my makeshift bat, awaiting judgement. Sweat was oozing out of every one of my pores. My temper began to rise and with it my body temperature began to drop.

"Oi, you better not still be there. I'm always ready to make a skewer or a new statue."

I was pretty sure I could tell where he was from the position of his voice. I sprung out from the right side of the tree, where his blind spot should have been. The front half of his body was already past the tree. I swiftly brought up the weapon over my head.

"Yaaaaah---Gah!"

Even though he wasn't facing me, his icicles still flew at me like homing missiles. One grazed my left arm while another dug deep into my right knee. I dropped the weapon and crumpled to the ground. The pain filled my body with the hymn of chaos. I struggled to move.

"Aaaaah!"

"You thought you could give me a little roundabout, didn't you?"

His cold eyes were once again fixed on me. More icicles formed around him.

"You put up a good fight... well not really, but at least you will be killed by the one who will become the mage."

My breath got heavier. Blood roared in my ears. He placed his foot on my head. I could see his pointed boot in high definition.

"Oi, well, I have had my fun now. Time to go."

He raised his hand up like a general issuing the sentence to death. I closed my eyes like a child, waiting for the storm to leave me alone.

𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦. 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘯'𝘵 𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘨𝘶𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤 𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘵. 𝘐 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘍𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢.

He kicked me onto my back. My chest was clearly exposed. He launched his arsenal. Blood trickling down from the chest. I gagged. However, it wasn't my chest.

"Awwwk!"

A jet-black spear was protruding from his chest. "Wah iz dat..."

He crumpled to the floor. A shadow in a humanoid form was the spears owner. It was fairly humanoid, but as dark as a nebula. I was frozen with shock. Suddenly the right hand of the figure began to grow skin, its hand becoming enveloped in flesh. Now it had a hand resembling my own. It glowed for a moment before disappearing from view. Though if I squinted hard enough, I could see the human-like hand again.

Its spear faded from existence and it turned my way, slowly rising from the ground until I could see its entire body.

"What the hell are you!"

Its solemn glare faced my direction, its body still facing away from me.

"𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐰, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐬, 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐬𝐨𝐮𝐥. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐜."

"My...my shadow?" I cranked my neck to look behind me, sure enough, my shadow was gone. It nodded.

"𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐦𝐚𝐠𝐞𝐬 𝐈 𝐤𝐢𝐥𝐥, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐈 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐛𝐲 𝐠𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐥𝐞𝐬𝐡. 𝐀𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐬𝐭 𝐦𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬, 𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫."

I gazed toward my shadow, my hand to my chin.

𝘚𝘰, 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘮y 𝘧𝘢𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘺'𝘴 𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘤. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘳. 𝘞𝘩𝘺 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯'𝘵 𝘪𝘵 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘶𝘱 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘯𝘰𝘸?

Something was off about all of this and I didn't know what. I want to trust this thing since it did save me, but….

"𝐌𝐚𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐰𝐚𝐲. 𝐏𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐜𝐞𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧."

With this new personal guardian appearing, I felt somewhat powerful for the first time in my measly existence.

"Let him come. I'm sure we can take him."

I slowly got to my feet. My shadow materialized at my back.

"𝐈𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐧𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭. 𝐌𝐨𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐰."

I was about to complain about my leg, but I felt fine. I looked down at the rip in my slacks.

"It's gone."

"𝐈 𝐮𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐜𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐫 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐲𝐨𝐮. 𝐍𝐨𝐰 𝐠𝐨!"

I couldn't figure out why we couldn't just take him on. I mean, I felt great.

𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯, 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨. 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘱𝘪𝘥 𝘨𝘢𝘮𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯'𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘪𝘦 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.

There was someone waiting for me when I got out. That one thought was swarming around in my mind. I couldn't shake it and I didn't want to.

𝘍𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢. 𝘐𝘧 𝘐 𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘷e 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴, 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘵𝘰𝘨𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳.

I had even more motivation to get out of here. Be it by winning or by somehow managing to escape, I would win.