Wylinoris looked up into the night sky. Giethi kept striking an orange canister on a rock, with small sparks occasionally flying out. She kept hearing small firefly-like creatures buzz around slowly in the dense woodland, small mice and the occasional badger crawling through the small rounded-out area they were staying. A creek rolled through the area on the east side, which Citirth was running his hands through for some reason. “Giethi. That is your name… right?” Giethi stopped striking the boulder and looked at the battered canister. “Yes?” “You said you were going to explain to me once we get here. We’re in the middle of nowhere, I assume you can tell me now.” Giethi got up and sat next to her. “Why I wanted to wait is that Mages aren’t allowed in Northhath. Now that we’re away from any technology that could record us-” She stopped herself. “Citirth, mind making sure that there isn’t any left?”

Citirth took his hands out of the water and took out a small device from his coat pocket. It contained a single crystal that glowed orange when he pressed a button. It had small details on it, to make it look like wood although it was metal. A faint buzzing sound illuminated the small plain. “You are an experiment. We- I say that but you were more like a hostage of the government.” “But why did you come after me?” “Your parents suddenly dropped some information in their will that also includes you. We don't know if they were bluffing or not, but it’s still nice to have a Southhathener back in their hometown.”

“Why can’t I remember anything? All my life has been in Northhath!” “Metal injections in your head. Nasty stuff. Impedes the brain from accessing certain memories.” Wylinoris scooted back and looked at the stars. The white noise from the object filled her head. “Wylinoris?” Giethi waved her hand in front of her face. She motioned for Citirth to take his hand off of the device.

“Giethi, the container is pretty much ruined. Stop scraping it on that rock.” Giethi threw the orange container into the creek and took another one out of her pocket. Four hours had passed, and now where Wylinoris was looking, a crescent moon was in the direct center of her vision. She snapped out of the blankness in her head and tried to tone out the creek which was raging now. “Hello? Earth to Wylinoris?” She got startled and quickly looked over to Giethi, who had just managed to generate a spark. The liquid in the container shot up and then began to rest slowly while glowing brightly white. She stuck the bottom of it in her mouth and inhaled slowly to breathe in the exhaust. “What is that stuff?” “Bit like a cig. But like, a hundred times more efficient. What happened to you? You just spaced out, and we couldn’t shake you out of it. It’s like your brain broke. Citirth picked up a jar full of light blue powder near the creek. “Done. It’s pretty late already, I assume we’ll just settle down here for a bit.” Wylinoris zipped up her coat. “You and Citirth have like gauntlets on your right arm… What is that?”

Giethi sighed. “You know in all those stories, mages have those big wooden staffs which they cast their spells and stuff from that?” Wylinoris nodded. “Well, they’re a bit clumsy. They’re massive and if you have a small mage- like me, for example, it’d be pretty difficult to carry around a magic stick that’s two times taller than you.” Wylinoris remembered some depictions of mages. “You aren’t saying… You’re like a witch?” “Mages, and if you’re going to use that, I might as well call you the wicked witch of the north!”

“Wizards aren’t real,” Wylinoris said, confidently. “They’re just what’d you find in a fiction story, in a children’s library.” “Maybe in Northhath. We had to illegally cross the border just to see you. All Southhatheners were banned following Cobalt. But hey, we’re almost at Southhath.” A branch cracked in the distance. Giethi touched a small matte button on the thenar part of the gauntlet. The lower arm part violently flipped up and compacted, while the fingers came together and extended. At the very tip, a large sort of claw rested at the top. Wylinoris scooted back and examined the staff. It narrowed in on the very top and had a brilliant shine to it. It looked as if it was made of pink gold, and had small orbs of pulsating color-changing liquids in the rod. The claw was propped up using metal struts. “Exhibit A. Voila.” Wylinoris held it in her hand.

There was a certain nice weight to it, and just holding it upright was pleasing and relaxing. “Woah.” It was like her brain started to relax, and she could finally start thinking. “Oh wow, this is nice.” “I know,” Giethi said. “It’s mine.” She grabbed it out of Wylinoris’s hand and began spinning it. “I know this is a waste of mana, but it’d be nice to” She grunted. “Show you what- Agh, forget about what I was saying.” A small bubble of water started to form in the center of the staff. The bubble suddenly transformed into a high-pressure beam that began grinding at the tree. After a second or two, it began losing its pressure and the length of the beam started to shrink. “Ran out of mana. That spell isn’t a very efficient one, but very quick.” “Hold on-,” Wylinoris got up and touched the ground-up tree. “What the hell is that?” Giethi stuck the rod to the ground. “Ya mean mana? In layman’s terms, magic powder.” “Hoi, Citirth- Oh. Shh. He’s asleep.” Giethi whispered. He had a pile of cotton on his blade and was using it as a pillow. “He's ecstatic to get home. After this, he’ll finally get enough money to move to a better part of the city with his little bro.” Giethi inhaled the glowing liquid again. A harsh wind blew through the forest. “Gah... And we still have to cross the border.” More branches broke in the distance. “Do you hear something?” Wylinoris said.

“Probably deer passing through. Nothing of our concern.” The breeze got wilder. “Something is off…” Wylinoris muttered. “I can feel it, like when you’re about to do something really stupid.” Faint light illuminated the area. “Wylinoris… What day is it?” Giethi shivered. “Thursday.” Giethi dropped her container. “Hell. It’s twelve after midnight. It’s a Friday.” A small rat-like creature crawled out of the brush and stole the glowing container. “Hey! That’s mine!”

It scuttled off quickly into the thicket, and Giethi ran after the zig-zagging light pattern. “Hey! You can’t just leave us here!” Wylinoris shouted. She looked at Citirth sleeping and decided to run after Giethi. The light got farther and faster, and she couldn’t hear Giethi running anymore. “Giethi? Are you there?”

A heavy thumping slowly intensified. The light appeared again, and she chased it. Some sort of white and orange light began to illuminate the forest. Wylinoris got closer and saw Giethi’s hood. “Ah, there you are!” She stepped into the clearing. Two torches were lit and hung on a cave that looked carved and not naturally formed. Giethi was slowly crawling away on the ground. “Wylinoris-” “Huh?! What is it?!” Two stone doors slammed shut in the cave. “Get your ass out of here! Wake up Citirth and- ugh… Rip up his shitty robe! It’s more useful as a bandage anyways...” Wylinoris helped Giethi up and looked at the deep crimson wounds. “I couldn’t see it. It was like…” Wylinoris gently took off the gauntlet Giethi was wearing. “What the hell do you think you are doing?” “You’re too weak, and you’re the only one with a weapon. I’ve done some heavy lifting, even without some magic this claw should be able to do some damage. “What are you talking about, you idiot?! Even with strong spells, it was unphased by anything! What makes you think that smacking it upright makes it run back to its mother?!” Wylinoris chuckled. “Because I do dumb shit.” She pressed the button on the gauntlet and it began to form back into a rod. “You see, I don’t know how to use this. But there’s a pointy thing on the top, which means I can stab something with it.” Wylinoris stepped into the cave. “This place you’re taking me better be nice.” She quickly stepped out, plucked the torch off of the entryway, and proceeded with caution. The cave had grooves in it like it was clawed out. In one of the groves, Wylinoris could see a faint orange light. “Huh?” She approached it carefully. The container was oozing out the glowing, pulsating liquid. “Gross.” Wylinoris picked it up and the liquid started flickering. “Hm.” It suddenly started to violently spurt itself out, revealing 8 small grey rods. “Well, there’s that.” She tossed it behind her back. She trod slowly, constantly looking behind her before she started to smell a sort of fresh scent.

“Liar. I can smell flowers through the cave.” She told herself. As she thought she could see the moonlight, one star suddenly appeared, but something was off about it. “Is it the color? Or the shape of it?”

She froze in place. She could feel cold sweat running down the back of her neck. The single star quickly disappeared and reappeared with a twin, about a foot from the main star. A breeze of warm and humid air rushed through the cave. “Oh fuck, oh shit, oh-” A large claw, which looked made more of bone than flesh pounded the rock next to her to a rough, jagged powder. When it lifted its claw, a thick and clear mucus had formed with it. “Fu~uck!” The moon swiftly got closer to her face and breathed on her. She lifted the torch, to reveal a thick and slimy black skin, speckled with tiny dots. The beast’s nostrils flared up in joy, while its toothy grin of interlocked yellow tusks began to reveal itself. She quickly threw the staff to draw away the monstrosity’s attention and bolted for the door. The monster quickly gained its focus and began darkling.

“Giethi! You asshole!” She looked behind her to see the monster closing in onto her, and opening its slimy mouth. A large puff of soot enclosed the entrance and two heavy boulders began to close the cavity. She looked back at her torch and threw it at the closing gap. All the light in the cave suddenly disappeared, only leaving the fluorescent scales of the wyvern barely illuminating themselves. She heard some large and heavy wings quickly extending and hitting the walls of the cavern. She tried to get a glimpse of Giethi through the large dust cloud. “Giethi!” No reply. The wings slammed shut, creating a large gust of wind that blew away the torch.

“Shit.” The boulders lodged themselves into the cavity. Wylinoris was afraid to turn around, feeling more warm humid air breathing on her neck. One digit of the paw slowly pressed against her shoulder and began to push her around.

She tried to resist the beast, but that made it want to play with her more.

Crunch.

The beast had accidentally stuck its claw deep into her shoulder. “Ow-” It immediately swung her around to reveal its massive jaws. “Naralalajoja…” The leviathan muttered. It paused and closed up its mouth. Wylinoris crept away silently and began hitting the broken orange container on the ground. The beast was very egotistical, prancing, and pretending to spare Wylinoris. She took off her jacket, covered up the bleeding wound on her right shoulder, and then realized how chilly it was in the cave. All light was absent, except for the moving scales on the wyvern. She noticed that hazy drops of some sort of liquid were constantly battering through the cave, leaving the brute wet. It started to sting the bleeding wound, so she tightened her jacket harder. She took out one of the graphite rods on the orange container. The beast scooped her up off the floor. Wylinoris stared down at the beast. “Why wouldn’t you kill me right away?” The monster froze. “You’re like a big dog, a gentle giant I guess?” It quickly lunged at Wylinoris and shoved her into its mouth.

Crunch.