Content Warning: Coarse language

“So, you said yesterday that you’re not really that good at controlling your lightning magic,” Astatine said as he and Eskil walked through the dappled light under the canopy of trees.  The dried leaves crunched beneath their feet.  They stepped over protruding tree roots and ducked under fallen moss-covered trunks that were propped up by other trees.  The occasional squirrel scurried across their path.

“Mm, yes,” Eskil replied.

“Did you undergo any sort of magic training?”

“Some…I wasn’t a fast learner…”

“Oh…well, that’s okay, it took me a while to learn magic too, since I wasn’t born into a family of mages.  My lady said she saw my potential, and she helped me cultivate it…um…sorry, I’m just rambling about myself again…”

Eskil gave him a side glance.

“Were your parents mages?” Astatine asked.

“Um…my mother had magic abilities…”

“Was she the one who taught you?”

Eskil turned his gaze downward.

Astatine sighed.  “Sorry, I keep saying I won’t pry but my curiosity keeps taking over.”

Eskil looked up at him.  “Why are you so curious anyway?”

Astatine winced.  “I…well, if we’re going to travel together, I’d like to know more about you.  But if you don’t want to tell me, that’s fine too.”  He frowned.  Oh, but then he might follow suit and ask about my past too…  "Slightly different topic…do you want to develop your magic abilities more?  I could help…”

“Um…” Eskil gripped the handle of his bag.  “Sure…if you want…how are you going to do that though?”

“Ah…” Astatine chuckled.  “Yeah, I should have come up with a plan before I offered.  I guess I could mimic what my lady did when she tried to teach me.”

“You keep saying ‘my lady’,” Eskil cut in.  “I remember you mentioned who it was the first day, but could you tell me again who she is?  A priestess?”

“Earth Priestess,” Astatine replied.  Damn, now he really is going to pry into my past.  This is what I get for asking him too many questions.  “She…is a powerful mage in the Southern Region.”  I’m not going to explain the whole goddess system now.  It’ll be too much information.

“And you studied under her?”

“Yes…”

“You said you weren’t from a family of mages.  Did your parents want you to study magic?”

“Um…” Astatine hesitated.  “She came to our village one time and decided that I had some potential, so she offered to teach me.”  Technically not a lie, since she was at my village and she did see my potential after meeting me, but the circumstances were much different.

“Oh, what did she teach you?”

“Earth magic.  Teleportation.  The-...other things…” Almost mentioned the ravens.  Don’t want to talk about the ravens.

“Teleportation?”

“Yeah, it’s pretty neat.  With a wave of your hand, you can transport yourself to another location.  It does drain a lot of energy though, so you can only do it a number of times before you become depleted.”

“How do you know where you’ll end up?”

“Generally you think of a specific location.  Or if you don’t want to be that specific, you just think of a direction you want to go in, and you’ll be transported that way.  It’s like jumping, except you disappear and reappear.”

“Huh…”

“Do you want a demonstration?”

“Um…okay…”

Astatine waved his hand and disappeared in a swirl of smoke.  Eskil’s eyes widened.

“Up here!” said a voice from above.  Eskil looked towards the tree branches and saw Astatine perched on one of them.

“Wow…” Eskil breathed.  Astatine jumped off the tree branch and Eskil gasped.  Astatine landed softly on the forest floor, scattering some leaves to the side.

“That was a simple one,” said Astatine.  “I can go further, but I don’t want to tire myself out.”

“So…” Eskil hesitated.  “Can you only transport yourself or…”

“I can transport other people or things, as long as I’m in contact with them when I make the jump.” The corner of his mouth turned upward.  “Do you want to try?”

“Ah-” Eskil’s face flushed.  “I don’t know.  Is it dangerous?  What actually happens between disappearing and reappearing?”

“You know, I’m not really sure.  It happens so quickly that I don’t give it much thought.”

Eskil’s eyes widened further and his mouth hung slightly ajar.  “I…maybe not today then…”

“Okay, that’s fine.  Actually…where are we?  We were originally going to collect firewood and we’ve just been walking and talking and getting further and further into the forest.  The horse is still at the cottage.”

“I don’t know.  I’m just following you.”

“Ah…let’s just stop here then.  Need to get my bearings so we can find our way back later.”

“Bearings?  Are we going to retrace our steps?”

“Possibly, although that might take a while.  How long have we been walking?  An hour?  Not that we have anywhere else we urgently need to be right now.”

Eskil shrugged.  Astatine leaned his back against a tree trunk and closed his eyes.  He stood like that for a while, not saying a word.

“What are you doing?” Eskil asked.

“I’m trying to build a mental map of where we’ve been so we can get back easily,” Astatine replied, opening his eyes.  “Also would help with teleportation, in case we really need to use that.”  He saw the change in Eskil’s expression and added,  “as a last resort, of course.”

“Ah,” Eskil uttered.  He sat down on a fallen log and brought the bag with the egg to his chest.  “Do you have a good memory?”

“Not for everything.  Just…some things…”

Eskil blinked.  He opened his mouth as if he wanted to ask more, but closed it again. He rested his chin on the curved shape of his bag.  The leaves rustled overhead as a gust of wind weaved through the canopy.

“It seems like…” Astatine said after a long silence, “there’s a large body of water nearby…”

“Oh?  How do you know?”

“Don’t know.  Something about the air.”  Astatine started walking forward.  Eskil slowly stood up from the log and trailed after him.  They threaded through the labyrinth of trees until the shadows gave away to light and they entered a clearing.

Before them was a large lake, flat like a mirror.  Instead of a vibrant blue, the water had a grayish hue.  Bare branches were washed up along a shore full of jagged rocks.  It was eerily silent.

Astatine felt his chest tighten, as if invisible claws were trying to crush him.  A dreadful chill swept over his limbs and his breathing became shallow.  An acidic taste formed in the back of his throat.  He covered his mouth with his hand, suppressing the urge to vomit.

“Astatine?” Eskil said with worried eyes, gripping the strap of his bag tighter.

What is this awful, noxious feeling? Astatine thought.  It’s as if this place was surrounded by a cloud of miasma.  He looked at Eskil, who was still standing as if unaffected, and removed the hand from his mouth.  “You don’t…feel this?”

“I…” Eskil reached his hand toward Astatine, but then hesitated and lowered it again.  “It feels a little cold…”

Astatine raised his eyebrow.  Just a little cold?  Why is he not affected by this?  I feel really ill.  Is it because he’s a healer?

They were interrupted by a faint splash and turned their eyes toward the direction of the lake.  Mist began to arise from the water.  The faint lines of a silhouette materialized in the middle of the haze.  Astatine’s hazel eyes widened as his breath caught in his throat.

In the middle of the lake was a figure dressed in worn-out armor with a helmet and a ragged cloak.  Instead of a face, there was a skull.  Bony fingers gripped the reins of his mount, which was not an ordinary horse, but the skeleton of one.  The skeleton soldier raised its index finger and pointed it directly at Astatine and Eskil.  Hundreds of similar soldiers on horses emerged from the water.

“What…the…actual…fuck…” Astatine stammered.  Eskil gasped and stepped backwards.

The soldiers began to charge at them, splashing the grayish water as they emitted a shrill battle cry that pierced Astatine and Eskil’s ears.  The ground shook as they approached the edge of the lake.

“Fucking hell!  Run!” Astatine shouted.  This felt way more dangerous than the giant wolf he had battled back in Orkent.  He grabbed Eskil’s arm and began to sprint.  Eskil stumbled a bit but caught himself before he fell over completely.  He ran slightly behind Astatine, his pulse beating wildly in his wrist under Astatine’s hand.  Astatine looked behind him to see how close the soldiers were.  They were about to reach the jagged rock shore.  When they did, their bone horses suddenly leapt into the air.  They drew their swords, revealing blades of obsidian.  Hundreds of sharp points loomed right above Astatine and Eskil.

“Oh shit…” Astatine breathed.  The soldiers and horses were now sailing overhead, closing in on them.  Without a second thought, he stopped running and let his boots skid against the gravel.  Eskil, who had a lot of forward momentum from being pulled along, ran into him.  The impact was jarring.  Eskil’s wide grayish blue eyes stared at him.  Astatine wrapped his arms around Eskil and waved his hand.

As the obsidian blades came crashing down, they pierced nothing but smoke.

***

They materialized in mid-air in the interior of the cottage.  Astatine turned so that he bore the brunt of the impact with the wooden floor.

“Ow!” he yelped as he winced.  His heart was pounding and he could feel another rapid heartbeat against his chest.  He looked down and saw that he still had his arms wrapped tightly around Eskil, whose eyes were squeezed shut.  Eskil slowly opened his eyes and looked up at him.

“Hey…” Astatine said softly.  “You all right?”

Eskil shot up and broke away from Astatine.  He tumbled backwards onto the wooden floor.  “What…what just happened?”

“I…uh…teleported us back,” Astatine said.

“What?!” Eskil’s eyes were a mixture of disbelief and anguish.

“We didn’t have much of a choice.  We were about to be skewered by a bunch of skeletons riding a bunch of other skeletons.”

Eskil took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.  “Hmm, I guess you’re right.”

“I mean, we could have stayed there and fought like we did with the wolf, but something about the atmosphere there made me think the odds were not in our favor.  So we ran…like cowards.” Astatine laughed bitterly.  Eskil smiled a bit.

“Is your…back…okay?” Eskil asked.  “You broke our fall.”

“Ahhh, it’s okay…I don’t think I broke any bones.  It’s just a little sore.”

“I…” Eskil reached out.  “I could…heal it…if you want…”

“Oh…?  Um…sure…”

Eskil helped Astatine sit up and placed his hand on Astatine’s back.  Faint blue light emitted from his palm and his eyes glowed.  A pleasant warmth ran down Astatine’s spine.  Astatine turned his head and gazed at Eskil.

“Thank you,” he said.

“Mm, I should thank you,” Eskil replied.  “You saved me again.”

They sat there in silence as the faint blue glow illuminated their space in the room.

“The teleportation was a bit scary though,” Eskil continued.  “I felt like I was in free fall and that I completely disintegrated.”

“Yeah, sorry about that.  I should have given you some warning beforehand.  But there wasn’t really any time to say anything.”

“It’s okay…at least we’re alive.”

Astatine smiled.  Eskil’s eyes returned to normal and the faint blue glow dissipated.

“Astatine?”

“Hm?”

“You were offering earlier to help me develop my lightning magic skills?”

“Yes, I did.”

“Does that offer still stand?”

Astatine smiled again.  “Of course.”