Eros, the mage, and I were walking swiftly down the street. As I didn't know where we going, I decided to ask the mage.

“So, Where are we going?”, I asked the mage.

“To my shop”, the mage answered.

To his shop? Weren't we getting out of town? Maybe he is just getting his stuff, but how would he carry it all? Oh, wait. He would just use magic. Should have thought of that.

I looked over at Eros, who was carrying all our stuff. He had not said a word since we were down at the bar. While I wanted to ask if I should help with all our stuff, Eros didn't even seem like he had trouble walking. If I had to carry that many weapons, I would figuratively die of exhaustion in under a second.

Must be nice, having that much strength.

For the rest of the walk, we said nothing to each other.

We were all to tense, and I didn't know why.

Only the mage does, I thought, with a grim face.

After walking for a few minutes, we came to the mages shop.

The mage pulled out a big key and put it in the door.

While not even twisting the key, the door slowly opened. He didn't even push it.

Wonder if that's something every door has or is it just his?

The mage walks into the shop, and we follow him inside.

The mage simply ignores everything in the shop, and walk further into the building.

Must have the important stuff in the private area.

We simply follow him, while around.

The silence followed us from this tense situation. But wasn't it the silence that made it tense?

We followed the mage into the next room and looked around.

It seemed that this was the mages personal room. It had the usual stuff you would expect from a bedroom. A single bed, a table with a couple chairs, a little mirror, and a painting of some young woman.

Would have expected more from him, I thought.

The mage walked over to the painting of a young woman and grabbed each side of it. He then took the painting off the wall, revealing a hidden cabinet in the wall.

Honestly, didn't expect that from him. Little too cliche from my taste.

He opened the door to the hidden cabinet, with it, revealing a wide assortment of stuff.

There was everything from scrolls and glowing crystals to skulls and daggers. There even was a few wands.

Who would even use wands?

The mage began searching through the stuff in the cabinet. It took him a couple minutes before finally finding what he looked for.

He pulled out a perfectly round stone. The stone is about the shape, and size, of an apple. The stone had lines all over it, and the lines pulsated in a blue light every few seconds. It was as if you could feel the power behind each pulse. You could feel each pulse like a weak pressure on your skin.

It was then the mage began speaking, breaking my concentration.

“It will take me a few seconds to activate it”, he said, while beginning to stare at the stone.

It was then something bad happened.

There was a roar in the distance. A familiar roar.

I seized up. My body in a panic.

My mind was not in a panic, so why is my body?

It seemed I was the only one of us that had their body frozen. The mage had stopped staring and was looking silently. Eros was just doing nothing but staring into empty air.

“Why are you affected?”, the mage asked. “Shouldn't you be the least affected as…”

The mage didn't have time to finish his thoughts about it.

Another roar came. This time closer than before.

It's in the town.

The mage simply pondered for a few seconds before speaking.

“Here, take this”, he said, while putting out the hand with the stone.

Due to my lack of reaction, due to my frozen body, the mage seemed displeased.

He then murmured a few words, while his eyes brightened for a few seconds.

My body stopped being frozen, and I could move again.

I thought he was a seer. Isn't he?

“Can you now take it?”, the mage asked, with an irritated voice.

I take the round stone out of his hand.

Little lighter than I thought.

The mage then explained what to do with it.

“You need to focus on where you want to go, and this stone will teleport you to it. Focus on the name Hel. He can, and will, help you”, he explained, in a serious voice.

I didn't know what this Hel would help me with, but I did not disobey the mage's words.

Wouldn't want him to get angry.

After explaining what to do with the stone, the mage walked out of the room. He didn't explain why, but I didn't ask even though I wanted to.

I began focusing on the name Hel. The name itself was weird. If somebody was named Hel, should it not be a woman? I mean, after all, the name itself came from the woman version of Satan. Should they not honor it?

The stone slowly turned brighter, while pulsating faster and faster. The pressure on the skin deepened. I felt it as something crawling under it. While I wanted to stop, the mage told me to do it.

I heard the third roar, but I just ignored it. If I didn't need to move, why would I worry about it? I just kept focusing, and something finally something happened.

The stone had become so bright that I had trouble even looking in it directions with closed eyes. The pulsating, from the stone, had also become so intense, that I could feel it in my whole body.

It felt weird, and I wanted to stop focusing, but I stopped myself. I had come so far, so why should I stop now?

Suddenly the pulsating, from the stone, became so powerful, that I felt it as a sound.

And with that, it stopped.

There wasn't any bright light anymore, and I didn't feel even a hint of a pulse.

Seems like the teleportation worked, I thought, as I heard the sound of a body hitting the floor behind me.

I turned my head to the side, expecting Eros to have fallen from the teleportation. But it wasn't Eros who was lying on the ground.

It was the mage.

I didn't have time to react to it, because it was at that moment I heard a voice.

“Well, look what we have here.”

As I walked out of the door, I began thinking.

Was this the right decision? Was there not another way?

There was not enough time for them to use the stone, because the creature would be there before they could get away. Because of that, I had to fend it off.

The certainly was plenty of other ways, and almost all of them would end with us getting out of it alive. But, with almost every single one, my students magic could be harmed.

Everything but that was acceptable.

The plan was to distract the creature outside. I did not know much about, but I knew one thing.

It was after my student.

Now, there could be many reasons it wanted to get to my student specifically. Maybe it needed my student to get his abilities. Some creatures could absorb talents from others. That didn't seem to be the reason, though. Most of those creatures were too powerful to even be on this world.

Then what could it be?

There was one personal theory I had about it. When the first roar came, my student froze up. I could tell immediately that it was magic, so the reaction seemed normal for a novice. There was a problem though. The magic seemed enhanced in my student. It was as if the creature and my student had some form of a bond. What bond, I didn't know, but it seemed the most viable explanation, with what limited information I had.

Now, you might have a little question.

How would you be able to hold a powerful creature off?

First off: that creature wasn't even in the top million species that could be dangerous to me. In my prime, I could kill it by just giving it a glance. I had originally lied to my student about myself. I wasn't some weak old mage. Well, I was old. Like, super old. And, I am still very powerful. There is one problem with my power, though.

Many years ago, there was another primal mage. He was my equal in mana reserves, and that should mean I had a chance. But I didn't. Nobody has a chance with primal mages. He even became angry at me, when I lost to him. “Weaklings like you shouldn't even live”, he said to me. He cursed me to be forever weak, and only a more powerful mage could dispel him.

I can still use my power, but there is a problem with it. If I try to use even 5% of my power, would die. Because of that, I would limit myself to 1% of my power. It wouldn't be enough to kill it, but it would be enough to distract it.

I slowly released my power. Didn't want too much, nor too little. I wanted precisely 1%. The power flowing through me felt refreshing. It was as if my old and weak bones were stronger than diamond. It felt good.

My power was now released. Well, at least a little.

I could see the creature in the distance. It was about 4 meters tall and 2,5 meters wide. It wasn't made out of anything physical. Except for its eyes and mouth, which were lighting up with a white light, it was completely see through. It was made out of something that looked like fog contained in a shape. The shape of a bear. I didn't like it.

It ran as fast as it could towards my shop. Towards my students.

I won't allow that.

I created a forcefield in front of it. Before you ask, if a mage becomes powerful enough, they can use some ´basic´ spells from other talents. As I was a walking legend in some areas, I was powerful enough to have access to some pretty cool spells.

The creature was forced to a stop when it hit the forcefield.

It was confused for a second. Nothing had stopped it before. Who dared try to stop it from reaching its prey!

The creature looked around for a few seconds before it saw me.

It looked at me as if it tried to kill me with its death stare. Wasn't working.

It roared and charged me.

I knew it would be stupid to let it hit me, so I used my favorite spell. The flaming flight spell. The spell activated, and my legs were engulfed in red flames. It didn't hurt. It actually felt kinda cool.

This spell would allow me to fly, without any restraints.

The spell completed, and I soared up to 10 meters.

The creature, again, looked confused. It had not expected this kind of resistance. It seemed like it needed to be serious.

The creature stared at me again.

It roared a second time, but this one was filled with magic.

It created a mist around the street, making it impossible for a normal person to even see their own hand.

Though, as I said. It would only be impossible for a normal person.

Activated a seer ability called mana sight. It allowed me to see the mana in my surroundings. With a lot of fine tuning, I could make it sense the mana in my opponents so that even if they are invisible, I will know where they are.

The creature was trying to be stealthy. It was slowly crawling on the ground towards me.

I will not let it get close though.

I created a wall of pure force. It traveled fast to where the creature was crawling. The wall smashed the ground while obliterating the creature from existence.

I do love magic.

There was one problem though. When the creature died, it died in a rainbow-colored smoke. I was using mana sight to see, so it didn't make sense.

The only magic that makes rainbow smoke is- OH SHIT.

It was an illusion.

The creature was smarter than it seemed.

It had lured me into a trap, born from my own overconfidence.

That doesn't mean, I wouldn't fight back.

I sent a wave of pure force after it, but it just leaped over it.

It was a few meters from me now.

I had to escape.

I used as much power as I could, without dying, to propel me to the side. The creatures paw didn't hit me in the heart, or any of the vitals. It just scratches my arm.

I was glad that it didn't hit anything serious until I looked at my arm. It seemed as if it was rotting. I couldn't feel it, but I could see it.

I looked over at the shop, just in time for me to see the light from the teleportation.

The creature had been distracted. Though at a cost.

I needed this wound treated.

I knew only one person I could reach in time.

Hel.

I used my magic to teleport myself to my student. I thought I could do it without overextending my power. I was wrong.

When I teleported myself to him, I used 4% of the power. The pain came rushing in, and everything on my head began to bleed.

Seems I will owe Hel a favor now, I thought, as I passed out from the pain.