He was fleeing.
Not that he couldn’t
fight or that he was any weaker. He just didn’t want to make it more
complicated as it was. After all, mages couldn’t be too perfect right?
He was getting a bit
bored of the run around and was already taking most of his efforts to stop
himself from being turning around to deal with the monstrosity chasing him. It
was an exercise, they were told, to test how they would react in lieu of their
natural environment. ‘Them’ were the
demons, the ultimate foe of mankind and ones who were squandering innocent
villages and killing bystanders.
He was running around in
an effort to pass his time, his assigned demon already lost sight of him from a
few moments back. When he felt an overwhelming energy sprouting almost
suddenly. He stopped.
What an incredible control.
He knew from experience
that controlling the energy from wielding could be tedious and that not a lot
of mages (in training) could pass it off like THAT. Even demons that they’ve
already studied and encountered were not able to exhibit such capability. He
paused and concentrated, standing still assessing the surroundings. He was
already at the far edge of the forest, no one within a 50 km estimated radius based
on his initial scan. His mapping skills were incomparable, as what the masters
of the academy told him, and within that radius he could easily map the heat
signatures. He closed his eyes, trying to get a visual. He turned to run
towards that hazy blot with such excitement – it was a first that he got an
inconclusive response to his mapping.
He got to a small
clearing, exactly as what he had mapped in his mind. It was more chaotic than
he could imagine. His map showed him a hazy blot in a space, the actual space
gives out an opaline gleam which he couldn’t make any sense apart from a
powerful energy. In addition, he could sense that the energy was somehow
limited to a certain range, like his mapping does. This particular range covers
a rather small part in meters radius.
He opened his eyes,
dispelling his map after memorizing the inconclusive image. The first thing
that he saw was a demon.
A plantae type. Herbivore
and attacks only by defense. It was a teenager, in terms of growth, about 6
feet in height. It’s built was man-like, bulky, lank, and nude in patches of the
color of a variety of leaves. It stands erect on two limbs, two other pairs of
limbs sticking on its flanks. One pair drawn to protect its chest, one pair in
defense poised to attack once provoked.
He lifted his eyes to its
face. It was apparently stronger than the demon chasing him. It was hostile,
distracted even, that it didn’t even notice anything apart from what it was
looking at. It was staring through solid black eyes, face contorted in fear (it
was hard to tell as their faces lack too much of the human features) with its thin
antennas quivering. He gave a start, it was quivering. He hadn’t seen demons
quiver before.
“You
can understand me, can you?”
The voice startled him.
This was probably what the demon had been looking at. He didn’t notice anything
but the demon, and when he found the object to where the energy was emanating, his
eyes widened at the sight of its owner. A mage novice. A tiny one. She looks
about one of the youngest prospects who entered the academy, only 14-15 years
of age. She had her back turned from him, but she is clearly wearing a novice
uniform. It had a ring and 5 beads – an indication that she was on her first
year, 5 months from when she entered the academy. It was not surprising that
there should be a novice within these woods, it is a joint session between them
and the transcendence. What was surprising was how he could feel her presence
more than the demon itself.
“Then
hear me out, little one. See, I don’t mean any harm.” She was answering to a
gesture the demon made that he missed upon his observing her.
What is she doing?
He casted all prejudices
aside to contemplate later, he felt the need to observe this unusual exchange.
Gradually, he felt the changes. The energy declined. Dramatically. He felt more
of the demon now contrast to the massive energy she had been emitting earlier. The
energy dropped almost next to nothingness and he saw how the demon visibly
relaxed. The novice raised he hand a bit slightly in a non-threatening manner as
if to show the demon on how she is surrendering to what she had been demanding,
and walked towards it slowly, cautious even, but confident. Her long black hair
swaying with the wind.
“What are you doing, fearless one?”
“I…”
She stopped. “…am letting you go.”
It was a split second, he
saw her hand lift outstretched, level to her shoulders before there was an
instant moment of bright light. He couldn’t tell where the light came from, it
was as if he closed his eyes and found the bright light instead of darkness.
When he was brought by to his senses, and the light seemed that it never
existed, the demon was already gone. He was stunned, she couldn’t have killed
it. She was just a novice. It was altogether too clean for annihilation even
for the most powerful.
What did she do?
A sounding alarm went
off. It was a signal that the exercise is just about done. The novice still had
her back turned from him and was just about to go when he found his voice. He
coughed just on the slightest, almost inaudible but was satisfyingly enough. At
least for the novice. She turned towards the noise, her wide eyes, bright red
like fresh blood, staring fearfully at his. He’s already pressed for time.
“I’ll
see you around.”
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I've had a lot of Neurotic Tendencies, er, daydreaming fantasy and stuff.
