“O wicked Mage of Darlocke Forest. Heretic of the Gods. Your life ends today!” Yoviene imagined that this was what adventurers shouted at the Mage before they charged straight at him with swords in hand. Idiots.

Yoviene and her small band of adventurers hid behind some trees surrounding the Mage as he wandered through the forest. The figure stopped periodically to pull out a worn-out brown satchel from inside his robe and plucked some flowers and leaves from shrubs. When the Mage paused in front of a tree with a hole in its center, and he peered inside before placing a hand in.

At this point, Sylvar was looking down at him from a different tree to the Mage’s left side. He was thankful that the insects were apathetic to his presence. The elven man readied his daggers as he opened his mind to Yoviene. She and Bronson are on the Mage's right side, and Gaerra waited further back with the Boar. Yoviene felt her companion probing her mind and sent a thought to him: Do it.

As her thoughts reached him, Sylvar jumped off the tree branch and soared toward the Mage like a hawk swooping down to catch a field mouse. Sylvar was a few feet away as he raised both arms for two clean strikes to the Mage’s chest and back, his target still rummaging inside the tree.

Got him. Sylvar thought.

Before the daggers had a chance to make contact, the Mage held his free hand out toward Sylvar, and the air swirled and tightened into the shape of a large sphere. Sylvar can’t react in the time as the concentration of air shot out from the Mage’s palm and smacked him in the chest. The force flipped Sylvar backward, and he fell to the ground. The elven man placed a hand to his side and felt cracks on his ribs.

The Mage pulled out whatever he’s searching for out of the tree cavity and put it into his bag, still unacknowledging his attacker. With surprising speed for his large frame, Bronson rushed up to the Mage and raised his arms, ax in hand. Bronson swung his weapon down, and the Mage quickly leaped back. As he moved, the Mage swiped a hand down and created a curtain of fire in front of him. Bronson gave out a loud triumphant laugh as the flames only touched the tip of Bronson’s battle-ax.

“I don’t know how you scared off all those people. Your aim’s shit!” Bronson taunted as he ran to make another attack.

As Bronson moved, he failed to notice the flames that still lingered on the ax-blade are now quickly engulfing the entire weapon. Once the heat reached his hands, Bronson immediately came to a stop and dropped his weapon. The blade liquefied into a silvery mess on the ground, and the wooden handle turned to ash.

“I just bought that!” Bronson yelled to the Mage and then dug his hands into the ground. He focused on the cool earth beneath him and willed it to mold itself into a pair of stone gauntlets. As Bronson used his blessing to make a new weapon, the Mage held a hand up and pulled the air around him to form another blast of wind.

Before the Mage released his spell, Yoviene quickly dashed at him from behind and swung her blade. The magus quickly changed targets and sent his blast straight at the woman. Yoviene blocked it with her buckler, and the force of the blast knocked her back a few feet. Her left arm was stiff from the blow, but she was still standing.

Bronson went to back up Yoviene, and the pair started fighting together, forcing the Mage to dodge their punches and slashes instead of using any magic. As the spellcaster started to move sluggishly, Gaerra’s saw her opportunity and gave the boar her command: Kill the black-robed figure.

The Erymanthian Boar’s black eyes turned a misty gray color as it bellowed and darted toward the Mage. Yoviene and Bronson jumped out of the way. The Mage managed to leap into the air as the creature dashed past him. The spell caster floated high enough in the air so the beast cannot reach him. He wagged a finger mockingly to Yoviene and Bronson.

“We won’t make this easy for you!” Sylvar shouted as he leaped once again from a tree and kicked the Mage’s back.

The blow was strong enough to knock the Mage to the ground. Yoviene channeled the fiery energy inside her, transferring it to her blade, causing a burst of flames to engulf her weapon. She swung her blade in front of the Mage, causing him to stumble up quickly and back into something hard behind him, Bronson.

The large man opened his arms up, hands open, as if to embrace the smaller man, and smacked his gauntlets against the Mage’s skull. Bronson struck with so much force that his earthen gauntlets crumbled in his hands. The noise of the impact rang throughout the area. The Mage wobbled from side to side. Even after the blow, he still stood.

“He as hard-headed as I am!” Bronson laughed with mock sadness in his voice as he remembered countless men falling before him when he walloped their heads in the same manner.

The Mage gripped his head with one hand and touched Bronson’s torso with the other. The hand touching Bronson began to glow a blueish color. The bald man felt a tingling sensation that increased in intensity, and he screamed in pain. Yoviene saw arcs of lightning moving about her companion’s body as if an invisible seamstress was threading through his body erratically. She immediately rushed forward with her sword and swung at the Mage. He moved languidly out of the way, narrowly dodging the fiery blade. Bronson fell to the ground with a heavy thud, releasing a painful whimper from his mouth.

Yoviene checked on him and could see that Bronson was still breathing and gave him a friendly pat on the cheek, “You’ll be alright. Ya, big baby.” She said tenderly.

The woman turned and saw the Mage leaning on a nearby tree for support. He tilted forward and held his chest as he quickly inhaled and exhaled.

Just a little more. She thought to herself.

ROAR

The boar charged the Mage at full speed. The caster used the tree to keep him up and held his arms out at the beast—Flames streamed out of the caster’s hands like rushing water. The boar ignored the fire and continued its charge.

Gasp

The boar gored the Mage’s body, and blood flooded the ground. Gaerra, who was still a short distance away, turned her head away from the scene and sent a command for the boar to move back. The creature pulled its tusks out of the Mage’s body, causing more blood to splatter. Yoviene heard shallow breaths from the “fearsome Mage” as he slumped to the ground and stared at his bloody hands.

Before Yoviene had a chance to move, the Mage lifted his head to the sky and unleashed an earsplitting screech. The scream was inhuman, filling the entire forest with the death knell. Yoviene, Gaerra, and Sylvar were frozen in place. They felt the ground shake as if to respond to the Mage.

***

The scream traveled beyond the forest, waking up the sleeping villagers.

“What’s going on!?”

“Is it a monster?”

“Is the Mage attacking again?”

The villagers asked each other as they all stepped outside. A few of the men and women brought out swords and sharp farming tools, anything sharp. Meisla brought her bow, but her father did not stop her. Meisla and Renlo were both familiar with the sound they hear. The sound an animal made when the killing blow was struck. Meisla smiled in amazement.

“They did it. They injured the Mage.” She said in a low whisper.

“He’s dying!”