I was under strict orders from basically every Core Guardian to never interact with my mage until the Choosing.

     So now here I was, dragging the boy along with me through the forest.

     Man, I'm gonna be in so much trouble..

     The mage apprentice yelped as I suddenly stopped, only a few inches away from a stupidly big ditch.

     "Could you.. please.. slow down, Theo??" He said, between deep breaths. 

     "No." I replied, smiling.

     "What's your name, by the way? Or would you prefer to be called 'random tree kid' from now on?" 

     The mage caught his breath and stared at me for a few seconds before standing up straight.

     "Yuka. Yuka Anaikin." He said.

     I nodded and looked back at the ditch.

     "So... you got magic fancy stuff to get over this?" I asked.

     Yuka looked at it skeptically. "Yes... but that would take a big amount of magic. Aliki would kill me if she found out.."

      I raised an eyebrow. "You wanna see the cool thing or not?"

     Yuka hesitated before sighing.

     I felt a slight rumbling, and turned back around.

     A bridge made of roots and dirt was now there, one last root curling around another.

     Yuka motioned to the bridge. "After you." 

     "What a gentleman." I said, laughing.

     I walked after Theo, careful not to loose control of the spell.

     But that was a bit hard to do when I'm walking behind the second most attractive man I had seen in my life.

     Ah, right.

     Instead of focusing on Theo, I focused on something else.

     Olive.

     Apparently, he would be here, at the Choosing, but I haven't seen him at all since his visit to the island.

     Theo stopped in front of me, and turned.

     "What?" I asked.

     "Did you mean to do that?" Theo said, stepping to the side to reveal a small olive branch.

     It immediately retracted.

     "No. Uh, walk faster I can't hold the bridge for much longer." I said quickly, walking in front of him.

     I felt Theo watch me for a while before I finally heard his footsteps follow mine.

     We reached the end of the bridge a few seconds later.

     That quick walk felt like an eternity.

     Theo looked around, then grabbed my hand again and started running.

     Goddammnit.

     I accepted my fate and stumbled to catch up and avoid falling and hitting my head on a sharp rock.

     After a while of running, I tested something.

     Theo was dragging me through a field so I thought it would be safe to loosen my grip a bit.

     This man continued to drag me, quite literally this time, and he wasn't even breaking a sweat. 

     I made a mental note to never do that again, brushing grass and dirt smudges off my robe.

 

     Theo abruptly stopped once again. 

     We had been walking for 10 minutes (counted myself), and I spotted multiple mud stains amd leaves stuck in my hair. 

    "What is it now?" I asked.

     Theo stepped aside "See for yourself."

     We had come to a stop in a small clearing, lush with plants and animals. A large waterfall flowed into the lake that sat in the middle of it. 

     I stared up at it in wonder, at the rainbow reflections that came from the spray of water hitting water.

     Theo nudged me, "Up there." 

     He pointed to the top of the waterfall. 

     And there sat another person, this one transparent.

     And in their lap, they held a crystal blue orb, glowing with the same rainbow arcs of the waterfall.