Emily’s thoughts subsided as her vision settled on a tree across from her. It had something in front of it: a person! Who.. are you? The person’s presence was familiar, but Emily forgot who they were. The person lifted a finger up to its mouth, as if signaling for her to keep quiet. It then began to make a series of hand signals with one thought being clear: follow me. She nodded her head, then weakly moved up to her feet while keeping low. She began to creep towards the figure as it moved through the shadows. The two of them slipped through the bushes and trees, seemingly alone. As they continued, the figure slowed to speak to her as they moved along.
“Three targets,” it was a familiar man’s voice; the pirate man she saw before. He sounded serious and now quite... deadly. “The VIP will arrive shortly. We’re going to make it so they don’t realize they are in danger. One target is posted in a tree near the hit-site, another by the mock checkpoint, and a third in a bush. I’ll take the bush-man and follow up with the checkpoint-er. You take care of the tree hugger. We go on my mark.”
What in the world is going on? Who is this person? Her thoughts were cut short as the man stopped, leaving her time to just barely react and halt as well. He put out a hand, about waist-level with Emily, to keep her back as his vision was directed straight forward. Ahead, a light lit up a narrow road with one nearly indistinguishable figure standing close by. He whispered a few words, not loud enough for her to hear, and her vision abruptly changed. Before her eyes, a shockwave-esque wave of light pushed out from her and formed a thin outline of a barrier around the two of them. The barrier lit up 3 red, pulsing circles in the area; one of the circles were directly in the chest of the person near the light. The sensation, which didn’t necessarily light up the entire area, occurred again and again every few seconds. It was clear the three people were unaware of this magic.
“On my mark, now. Three,” his countdown started. Emily rapidly snapped her attention to the highest pulse of light, the one was no doubt in a tree. “Two,” she focused her mind on her mother’s teachings, readying her hand. “One,” as a final thought left her mind, Emily felt clarity. “Now.” Emily whipped her hand forward and closed her eyes. She felt the magical power fly out, but didn’t want to see what happened afterwards. The man, by this point, had leaped from his position and was already dealing with the two others. She clammed up as she heard the struggling of one of them as they were choked out. She saw flashes of images in her mind as a thud rustled some bushes past the far side of the road. Another thud, more rustling, and the sound of metal splitting flesh made her drop to the ground.
All was quiet for the next minute or so. Once the sounds of the forest had gotten back to her, Emily realized that her face was wet with streaks running down from her eyes. “Hot-blooded assassin, are you?” The man’s voice spoke once again, still quiet and serious. Emily looked up from the ground to see all three pulses on the ground. They were all near where they were before apart from the tree pulse being below the tree and the checkpoint pulse being farther in the bushes. The light no longer flickered. She turned her vision to the man and gave a short nod before stopping her gaze at his chest. No pulse rang from his body.
The man stood and the adjusted vision Emily was given faded. What are you? She thought about the man. Was it an effect of the spell that made him not register a pulse? She should have looked down at herself when she had the chance, yet it was too late by this point. “Don’t worry too much about them. They’re all just objects aiming to do wrong in the world. There’s nothing wrong with snuffing their lights out.”
Emily spoke up, probably for the first time in hours. “Wh- Who are you?”
The man kept his sight forward and spoke with the same dull tone, “Caviere Monuele. It was in the folder for the briefing.” This made Emily confused, so he decided not to ask anymore questions. It was better in her mind just to follow this stranger’s instructions. He began to move again, this time not seeming to have a true direction. “Where... are you going?” she failed her plan not to ask more questions.
“Back to base.” He kept moving, not seeming to care much about the environment around him. Emily stood, then winced. Her stomach and head ached. In fact, all of her body ached. She needed food, rest, and some water. She took a step forward, then another. The world became blurry and her stomach ate at itself. The blast she sent at the man in the tree took most of her energy out of her, probably because she doesn’t practice magic near as much as she used to with her mother. It’s barely been a week. I need you, Mother. By the fifth step, Emily dropped to the ground. Blackness engulfed her mind as sleep enveloped her once more.
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